It was perhaps an hour before sunrise. Nathaniel, Papa Dante, the Prof and father O’Hara stood around a map on a table in the library. Candles provided ample flickering light and the fireplace had a blaze going, filling the room with warmth against the pre-dawn chill.
The marine was about to start talking when the doors opened and Janice walked in. Ahead of her she was pushing a wheelchair in which sat the injured captain.
Nathaniel immediately stood to rigid attention and saluted.
‘Captain.’
Axel saluted back, his movements slow and slightly uncoordinated.
‘Master sergeant. At ease, please. No need for that. I know that you are in charge of defense here, I simply wanted to put in my pennies worth. Carry on.’
‘Well, sir,’ said Nathaniel. ‘The first thing that I wanted to discuss is the question of how possible would it be to defend the abbey successfully.’
‘How many guns have you got, sergeant?’
‘Around twenty plus automatic rifles with Papa Dante’s people. The scholars, perhaps twenty shotguns and a few 22 target rifles.’
‘So, ten to twelve people per wall?’
Nathaniel nodded.
‘Well then, gunney, my informed opinion is, you’re well screwed.’
‘The walls are good and high, sir. Plus there’s a dry moat.’
‘They’ll come at night,’ said Axel. ‘First they’ll probe. Small groups, in, out fast. A few Molotovs, sniping. Grenades if they’ve manage to find any. Then they will probably attack in strength in two places at once. I would say the gates and one of the other walls. In the last skirmish that I had with them I would venture to say that we thinned their numbers a little but there are still close to two hundred of them. That means each wall will be receiving anything between seventy and one hundred attackers. They will come with plenty of ladders and will lay down overwhelming firepower. You will take casualties. If you manage to repel them they will do the same again the next night. And the next. Frankly, and I hate to say this, you cannot win.’
There was a pause and then Nathaniel spoke.
‘That’s pretty much what I suspected, sir. That’s why I was going to suggest a different way of looking at the whole thing. I propose that, instead of defending the abbey – we take the fight to them. We lay an ambush and we attack them. That way, we would choose the killing ground and we would be able to concentrate our firepower instead of splitting it between four walls.’
The marine pointed at the ordnance survey map.
‘This is the only route that they can take if they are coming from this village here, where they are currently stationed. Papa will send horse scouts out here and here so that we know when they are coming.’ He ran his finger down the track and then stabbed the paper. ‘Here. This is where we will destroy them. Note the gradients. Steep inclines on the sides of the road. A perfect pinch-point. Now this is what I want. Papa, get the scouts out ASAP. Secondly, Prof, I need all of the able bodied scholars to come with me to this point on the map. Don’t worry, they’ll all be safe, I merely need them to help prepare the ambush. We’ll need the two wagons we got from the hamlet. Prof, I seem to remember someone saying that there used to be a generator here before the pulse?’
The Prof nodded.
‘Diesel or gas?’ Asked Nathaniel.
‘Diesel.’
‘Great. Is there any fuel left?’
Prof nodded. ‘Hundreds of liters, actually.’
‘Excellent, could you get that loaded onto the wagons along with the scholars, some axes, shovels and picks?’
The Prof nodded.
‘Okay,’ continued the marine. ‘I am going to use Papa Dante’s people and myself in the ambush. The scholars, under the Prof and father O’Hara, will stay here as a second line of defense in case any of the horde get through. Oorah, gentlemen.’
There was silence.
Nathaniel raised his voice. ‘I said, ‘Oorah!’
Everyone shouted at once and the windows rattled so loud was the cry.
‘Oorah!’
Chapter 37