The Iron Revolution Chapter 52: All or Nothing

Chapter 52: All or Nothing

The road from the mine went southwest. After a couple days underground, Beorn noticed the difference imdiately. The air no longer was the stagnant sll of pooled water. Instead, smoke from Ashmark’s cook fires rose above the treeline before the walls ca into view.

His hand moved toward the saddlebag ledger twice, then stopped both tis. There was no new entry to make. The drainage system was functioning and Wulf’s foren had control of the next phase.

He was back to Ashmark.

The convoy had shrunk. Five n were dead. Eight injured had been sent ahead on the first day. That left fewer riders, and the remaining horses showed clear fatigue in their gait and breathing.

The militia still with him were those who had survived the Hollow Hound lee. Experience had changed their behavior in asurable ways.

Godric moved up from the rear without prompting. "So of the n showed potential during the skirmish," he said. "I suggest to focus on them for a new batch of officers."

Beorn checked the smoke again, recalculating distance.

"Agreed, I’ll have it written after we arrive." he said.

A figure appeared ahead at the roadside, roughly three-quarters of a mile from the walls. The man stood beside a horse held on a long lead in the scrub. He had clear sightlines in both directions and could disengage quickly if needed.

Before Beorn gave any command, Godric signaled two militian outward to cover outwardly.

The convoy slowed and stopped at a distance. Far enough to avoid easy crossbow range.

Lewin stepped forward. His posture was rigid, with signs of sleep deprivation, but his focus was intact. He had already organized what he needed to report.

"Coss moved while you were outside the city," Lewin said. "The city has been throw into chaos since then."

Beorn stopped, a flash of recognition draping on his face, and then overwheld by cold professionalism.

"What do they control?" Beorn asked.

"The warehouse district north of the main road is theirs. Ald’s bays are closed unless traffic runs through their checkpoints. The high quarter was sealed by his private force, they locked all access roads."

Lewin glanced toward the distant walls.

"The main gate structure is partially ours. Their people have taken over the road outside it. The crown soldiers inside the gate haven’t submitted to them, but they have neither permitted us to garrison the gate."

Beorn frowned. The crown soldiers were trying to force a position of neutrality, letting the protectorate representative and the local lords fight against each other.

"And our forces?"

"Holding the garrison quarter, citadel block, and the northeastern wall repair site. We’ve stayed within the defensive periter since."

Lewin shifted his focus briefly to the convoy, then back.

"There has been street fighting in the slums and residential district. The militia maintained discipline, but there has been twenty and one injured. One in critical stage."

The losses were already significant for the early stages.

"They have also been targeting anyone tied to the protectorate’s logistics. They knew exactly where and how to find them."

Beorn pursed his lips. That wasn’t simply a show of force. Coss was attempting to dismantle every move he had made in his ti on the city, cutting him from his supporters and force him into isolation.

"Coss himself?"

"He is likely on the high quarter. We cannot access it through their blockade."

Lewin produced a folded sheet.

"One additional detail. The man in the brown coat from the drill ground. He left the militia the day after you departed. My network tracked him from garrison quarter to the warehouse district. Two stops in the north district. Then he entered a building behind Ald’s main bay. He did not exit before the district locked down."

Lewin paused, then added, "I did not have sufficient grounds to act before that."

Beorn considered the constraint, then dismissed it.

"Keep tracking him down," he said. "He will lead us to Coss."

Lewin accepted the command and waited for the next directive.

"What’s the situation on the south gate," Beorn said.

"It’s ours, they have no presence on that route. The entrance to the slums is contested but lightly, there’s no organized force below the residential quarters."

That was their way back inside the city.

Godric had already turned and was moving toward the rear of the convoy, relaying adjustnts without waiting for formal orders.

Aestrith watched the smoke over the city, thinking.

"He’s been waiting for this," she said. "Weeks at least. Just for the opportunity to show up."

Beorn nodded. There was so much Coss could take before he made the decision it wasn’t worth the effort to puppet him.

"So have I," he said.

She looked at him, narrowing the problem further.

"What’s the gaplan then?"

That was the right mindset.

"We contest their presence in every quarter of the city. I’m afraid Coss greatly overestimated how easily he could stage a takeover." Beorn said.

She watched his expression for a mont, then returned her attention to the city.

Lewin resud once the exchange ended.

"We are ready to proceed,"

"Take us in."

The convoy left the main road and followed a curved track around the eastern side of the city. The southern route ca into view. The gate there was smaller than the main entrance, designed for limited throughput.

The militia stood on watch there. They recognized the convoy at roughly forty yards. By the ti Beorn reached the gate, it was already open.

Through the gate, the slums presented imdiate anomalies. The packed buildings were the sa, the braziers sat in their usual doorways, but the streets were mostly empty.

One shutter stood open on the first building. The occupant withdrew as the convoy approached.

Two streets in, a family stood against a wall with bundled possessions. Their condition suggested recent travel, not long-term residence. They watched the militia carefully, withholding judgnt.

One building past them, a shutter hung broken from its hinge. The wood at the break was still pale.

Beorn mapped these details. There were signs of forced entry, of population displacent. Coss was attempting to control the slums through fear.

The route to the citadel remained open.

The militia stationed along the path were as tense as a bow ready to fire. Their attention tracked elevated positions as well as ground level, ready for any hostile approach.

They recognized Godric first. Then Beorn. Their posture adjusted slightly, the tension reduced by their leader presence.

At the citadel, the gate was closed. The guards stood on watch with their with crossbows ready.

One tracked the convoy from initial sightline until recognition.

He signaled.

The gate opened.

Beorn halted at the entrance.

He reviewed the situation as a system.

The city was in conflict with a single figure who had held power for decades. Coss was targeting their supply lines, disrupting trade, terrorizing the population to put it against the protectorate.

That approach was correct. If the network failed, the larger structure would collapse.

Coss understood the system.

But he still overestimated his forces.

The militia was new, but under Beorn’s modern military doctrine and Godric’s fierce training, they didn’t falter under Coss’s n pressure. The recruits were also renegades, n that were either born in the Badlands or had no one else to go but here. They were by no ans weak.

The broader structure had been built increntally since Beorn’s arrival. What remained after that construction was not vulnerable to the point it would collapse with one disruption.

Coss’s move wasn’t too late, but it wasn’t perfect either. He had given ti for preparations to be made.

Beorn stepped forward through the gate.

All pieces were now committed.

All or nothing.