Chapter 87: Chapter 87: The Old Trout’s Game Changer

“You are likely all aware of our situation, so I need not speak more to it right now. As we speak, the southern lords should be sending men to bolster our numbers, that means that whilst they are not here it would be wise to keep your men on alert. I do not want to wake up to find that we have been overrun by the enemy in the night.” Aled said as he sat upon his ‘throne’, since they were travelling it was nothing as regal as in the palace but it was by far the grandest seat in the room. Nobody really expected it would happen, both sides were still gathering their forces, only an incompetent or insane commander would commence an all out night attack right now. That would only happen if one side was desperate and outnumbered.

“Then since there are no objections, I would like to move onto the reason this meeting was even called. Duke Oakley should have something prepared for us?” Seeing that there was no response, Aled decided to stop delaying any further, before he lost the attention of the already bored nobles. Instead he turned to Duke Oakley, immediately getting those same bored nobles to perk up a bit, while many were on Oakley’s side there was still a significant number that were here to see him make a fool of himself.

“Indeed I do, I have made my claims and I will stand by them.” When he confirmed that he was not backing down, it only got people more interested. If he had backed down, it could have been assumed that his stunt was to reduce the number of men that his faction lost in the war and got the southern dukes to take up that slack. It would have resulted in a minor embarrassment but he would have survived. But now that he was doubling down, he was either going to rise or fall with his claims.

“And to prove my claims, I would like to invite the gentlemen to step outside with me, my men have a demonstration to make.” As the Duke turned to leave, those not already allied with him turned to look at the King, currently they were the only two faction heads that had made their way to the joint camp. If anyone was going to spearhead opposition to him it was the King. But to the surprise of many, the king also rose to his feet to go and see what the Duke had come up with.

“Has he already seen what Oakley has to show?” Braydon whispered to Cinar, wanting to confirm his suspicion.

“It would explain why he was willing to walk in with the old trout.” Cinar whispered back with a serious look on his face.

“Trout?” Braydon couldn’t help but ask, he knew what a trout was but why that was what Cinar had decided to call Duke Oakley was beyond him.

“Did that not spread to the younger generation? Back when we were young and just taking up our titles, it was widely thought that Oakley’s face held a mighty resemblance to a trout.” When it was explained, Braydon paused to imagine it before starting to laugh, it was just too fitting. He was glad that the people around them had also been chatting amongst themselves as they made their way to the demonstration that the duke had set up, otherwise he would have been in a really awkward situation.

“It’s just an archery range.” Rhydian’s first comment when he saw where they had been led showed he was less than impressed. Archery was not a new thing, almost all armies had archers, unless the noble in question was particularly poor or had very few soldiers. And judging from the surrounding conversations, even the most militarily illiterate there knew that too.

“Now I know what you are thinking so let me set your questions straight, I am not here to say that archers are the answer to winning. Instead, I am here to show off a new weapon that I have managed to get my hands on.” Duke Oakley addressed the dissatisfied crowd before turning to a nearby soldier and instructing him to bring one of the weapons he was talking about. This got both Braydon and Rhydian’s interest and worry immediately. They were both slightly more than interested in combat and weapons, but this was a new and unseen weapon in the hands of Duke Oakley. And, by extension, could soon be in the hands of his brother. 

“It looks like a ballista.” This was Rhydian’s first observation when the soldier returned, weapon in hand. And indeed it did, there were a number of ballista stationed on the walls of Boshil and every other major capital in Ezaes. Ballista had long been both the siege and defensive weapon of choice of all static weapons. The only downsides were that they were too big and expensive to realistically be used anywhere other than the richest of cities or to accompany armies trying to siege them down.

“But it is so small, can it even shoot anything? And just how are you meant to even reload it?” Braydon was unsure of how they would even work, the reason why ballista were so big was because they would have more power, and thus be able to hit harder and shoot further. But this weapon would be getting rid of both of these benefits. ‘Would it not just be better to get one or two ballista or train archers instead?’

“If it is able to reload easily, then it could still be quite formidable. Though I am not sure how it would.” Cinar looked at it more favourably than Braydon did but being able to easily reload a weapon designed after a siege engine would be a tall task. After all, ‘small’ was only relative to a ballista, this thing could easily stand half as tall as a grown man when pointed at the ground. And if it was really based on a ballista, then the string would be impossible to pull back without assistance.

“This is what gives me my confidence! It is called a crossbow. Apparently the design comes from Ciai but has not seen much use there, however I think they have been blind to it’s true capabilities. Indeed it works much like a ballista with a reduced range and power, but do not be fooled. It still shoots with a greater force than normal archers could hope to achieve.” As he said this, the Duke turned to face the shooting targets, and fired the preloaded projectile.

“While I may not have shot from an impressive distance, you may want to note that it almost completely shot through the target.” It was true, 30 paces was not far, but shooting through the target was truly unheard of. As the crowd was murmuring about the impressive power of this new weapon, Rhydian nudged Braydon before pointing at the Duke.

“What is he..?” Braydon’s question was cut short, it was obvious that he was reloading the weapon. While it took several seconds, that was still huge, the power of the weapon more than made up for it’s slower reload speed.

“It’s a game changer.” Cinar said, also having seen the Duke reload his crossbow.