Mage-Guard of Hamor by L. E. Modesitt Page B

Eswyt, if you would begin . . ."
    "Yes, ser. At the moment, it appears that the rebels hold all the possibledeep-water ports from just west of the south Heldyn Cliffs to a point close to due west of Jabuti and Alsenyi. They have fortified and reinforced the ports. A direct coastal assault would be close to suicidal for those involved. Prince Golyat's chaos-mages would be able to concentrate on individual vessels and boats . . . Most important are the facilities at Nubyat and Sastak. The Jeranyi are supplying the rebels, as well as raiding commerce in the area, and there have been sightings of ships reported as bearing Sligan and Spidarlian ensigns, and those are usually vessels under the control of Fairhaven, but the white wizards have been careful to date to keep their warships away from our coasts . . ."
    The commander went on to detail the positions of the Hamorian fleets before concluding, ". . . our principal advantage is the loyalty of the navy. To our knowledge, not a single naval vessel supports the rebels."
    "Commander Surrylt?"
    "Unfortunately, we are not faring nearly so well in terms of troops. Prince Golyat has a minimum of fifteen thousand men under arms, and this does not include irregulars or those locals who may be conscripted and armed. Within a season, we may be facing more than thirty thousand armed men. Currently, our entire army is only thirty-odd thousand, and there are only another three thousand naval marines. . . ."
    When Surrylt concluded, the marshal glanced toward the older overcaptain. "Beltryx."
    "We have five river steamers that we can use to transport our forces to Kysha. Farther south than that the Swarth River is not navigable. Even so, there will be considerable delays in using the locks around the second and third cataracts. Three of the steamers were requisitioned and refitted quickly, but the
Fyrador
and the
Syadtar
had always been used for supply and company transport. They can each carry four hundred men and their field equipment. The other three are limited to somewhat fewer, around three hundred men each. The trip upriver will take a minimum of five days and the return slightly less than four days. Consider the need for a day at each end . . ."
    Rahl tried to calculate the time and requirements. As he figured the numbers, it would take most of a season to move even ten thousand men.
    ". . . mitigated by the fact that we already had five thousand men inKysha, and the steamers are now returning from transporting yet another two thousand men, but it must be noted that even by the main roads, which are paved, it is almost seven hundred kays from Kysha either to Nubyat or Sastak, and yet they are each two hundred and fifty kays apart. That means that either we must have two large forces or we must proceed first to one port, then the other . . ."
    Not for the first time, it came to Rahl just how big Hamor was. The senior officers were talking about a rebel administrative region that might amount to a tenth of Hamor, and yet probably comprised an area five times that of all Recluce.
    When the overcaptain finished, Taryl asked, "How much control do the rebels actually have outside of the ports and the larger towns?"
    "Very little, we think," replied Commander Eswyt. "Most of the local Imperial administrators are still reporting and sending their tariffs to Cigoerne. At this point, the regional garrison at Dawhut is still in our hands, and that's halfway to the coast. We've already sent transport wagons and horses to Kysha, enough to transport half the force."
    "Is there any way you could use the navy to land forces on the coast?"
    Marshal Byrna shook his head. "No way at all. Ships aren't designed except to port, and we don't have enough boats to row or sail troops into land. They could pick off our men easily with their chaos-mages. Now . . . once we take Nubyat, we can pour men and supplies in." He looked hard at Taryl. "What about your mages? How many are there in Merowey? How many are