The Three Peaks: Part 6 - The Military Mind
The War Room
Thorgrim stood over the map, his fingers tracing the routes, calculating distances and supply lines with the precision of someone who had been doing this for thirty years.
Lokum entered without knocking. They had been working together long enough that ceremony was unnecessary.
“Hargrim returned,” Lokum reported. “Stellarim has declared the eastern settlement as their interest. If we move against it, we move against them.”
Thorgrim smiled slightly.
“That’s what we expected,” he said. “Udil Sparkstone doesn’t make decisions lightly, and she would have calculated that defending the settlement is worth the cost. Which means she understands what Urist is building.”
“A threat,” Lokum said.
“A rival,” Thorgrim corrected. “Not quite the same thing. A threat is immediate. A rival is political and long-term.” He tapped the map. “Stellarim isn’t threatening military action against us. That means they’re willing to discuss if it comes to that. Which means we have options.”
Lokum came to stand beside his commander, looking at the maps they had studied for weeks.
“You’re thinking about negotiation,” Lokum said.
“I’m thinking about what happens if we succeed in conquering the eastern settlement,” Thorgrim said. “We kill most of the dwarves—forty to sixty of them, including some workers and civilians. We capture the artifact. Then what?”
“We bring it here to Irondelve. We become the fortress in possession of a legendary artifact.”
“And Stellarim, the richest fortress in the known world, decides it doesn’t like having rivals and comes after us,” Thorgrim said flatly. “With better defenses, better resources, and better craftsmanship. They would crush us within a year.”
“So what are you proposing?” Lokum asked.
“A negotiation,” Thorgrim said. “Before we attack. We offer the eastern settlement a choice: surrender the artifact and join our protective alliance, or we take it by force. We give them a chance to preserve their settlement, preserve most of their lives, and avoid the intervention of Stellarim.”
“That’s merciful,” Lokum said, and he didn’t sound approving.
“It’s practical,” Thorgrim corrected. “If we offer them a way to save themselves without resistance, most will take it. Urist McForgemaster is talented, but he’s not a warrior. He’ll calculate that the cost of resistance is too high. And if he surrenders the artifact voluntarily, Stellarim can’t claim we stole it—they can only claim that Urist made a pragmatic choice to align with the stronger military power.”
“You’re planning to make Irondelve the military guardian of the artifact,” Lokum said, understanding dawning. “To position ourselves as the essential force that the eastern settlement needs.”
“Exactly,” Thorgrim said. “The settlement keeps functioning. Urist keeps his legendary craftsmanship. The artifact stays in the eastern mountains. But it’s protected by Irondelve’s army. And Irondelve gains strategic presence in the eastern mountains.”
“That’s not conquest,” Lokum said. “That’s domination.”
“It’s strategy,” Thorgrim said. “It’s the difference between taking what we want and building what we need.”
The Preparation
Over the next weeks, Irondelve mobilized with even greater intensity. But now there was a negotiation to prepare, a scenario to present that would make the eastern settlement fold without significant resistance.
Lokum worked with the supply lines, calculating what they would need to sustain an army in the eastern mountains. Not for a long siege, but for a brief occupation, followed by a sustained garrison.
The soldiers trained for maneuvers designed to impress rather than annihilate: displays of force, shows of discipline, demonstrations of military superiority that would convince Urist that resistance was impossible.
And Thorgrim wrote the letter himself—a document that was invitation and threat wrapped together in careful language.
“To Urist McForgemaster, Founder of the Eastern Settlement,” it began.
“It has come to my attention that your settlement harbors a legendary artifact of considerable power. This artifact, in the hands of an unfortified settlement, represents not an opportunity but a liability. Rival forces will seek it. Thieves will hunger for it. Enemies will come to claim it.”
“Irondelve offers an alternative. Allow us to garrison a military force at your settlement—not to control it, but to protect it. In exchange, the artifact remains under our mutual protection. Your settlement grows. Your craftsmanship flourishes. Irondelve provides the military security that prevents rival fortresses from coveting what you have built.”
“You have ten days to respond. After that, we will assume your answer is no, and we will take the artifact and the settlement by force.”
It was a negotiation wrapped in a threat. Urist would understand it. The only question was whether he would accept it.
Lokum’s Doubt
On the eve of deployment, Lokum and Thorgrim sat alone in the war room, drinking ale and looking over the maps for what felt like the hundredth time.
“I’ve been thinking about something,” Lokum said quietly. “What if Urist says no?”
“He won’t,” Thorgrim said.
“But if he does?”
Thorgrim was quiet for a moment.
“Then we take everything he built by force,” Thorgrim said finally. “And we hold it, and we defend it from Stellarim, and we establish Irondelve as the greatest fortress in the region through military strength.”
“That’s not victory,” Lokum said. “That’s domination. And domination requires constant vigilance, constant military presence, constant fear.”
“That’s how empires work,” Thorgrim said.
“That’s how empires fall,” Lokum replied. “I’ve read the histories. Every fortress that tried to rule through fear rather than partnership eventually crumbled. Sometimes slowly. Sometimes quickly. But always.”
“And what’s the alternative?” Thorgrim asked. “To abandon expansion? To let Stellarim grow while we stagnate?”
“I don’t know,” Lokum admitted. “But I know that I’ve spent thirty years creating weapons and training soldiers, and I’m starting to wonder if I should have learned politics instead.”
Thorgrim reached across and put a hand on Lokum’s shoulder.
“You’re starting to get old, my friend,” he said not unkindly. “When we were young, these questions seemed simpler. Now they’re complex. But the answer is still the same: we do what we must to ensure our fortress survives. Everything else is philosophy.”
“Philosophy is all that separates us from beasts,” Lokum said.
“Then we’ll be beasts if that’s what it takes,” Thorgrim said. “And we’ll sleep well at night knowing we did what was necessary.”
Lokum didn’t answer. Instead, he drank his ale and looked at the map of the eastern mountains, where an old man and his family were building something that Lokum was about to destroy or convert into a tool.
Either way, their story was about to change. And he wasn’t sure anymore which outcome would be worse.
Next in the series: The Three Peaks: Part 7 - Desperation and Defenses