(and the other person upthread who also posted this).
I can only deduce that what must have happened was that
Presby & Weber were writing so fast that they forgot which
fort was where. Of course the Third Dragoon Division came
out of Nairsom, took the fort and camp guarding the portal
to Thermyn (which was named in R2H, but I lack my copy now),
then split, sending two brigades to Ghartoum, heading for
Failcham, Ft. Mosanik, and Karys, and the other brigade to
Ft Brithik & New Uromath on its way to Hell's Gate.
Then it was in Failcham that the dragons saw them,
their field artillery killed the Red foolish enough to get
too close, and the others fled with the (belated) news.
We must remember that the authors concentrate on the story,
more than on the geography.
Another example: in HHNF (book 2) Weber & Evans established
that Thermyn's Portal to Nairsom was near Durango, Mexico, but
in R2H (book 3) it is near El Paso, Texas, on the Rio Grande.
That makes it more than 1/3rd of the way closer to the other
two Thermyn Portals, easier for the Third Division.
HTM
Thierfielder wrote:You are both right, but I'm not wrong. I went back and reread very carefully the last chapters of the book and I think I solved the mystery. It is true that I got the locations of Fort Ghartoun and Fort Brithik wrong, but so does the book.
{snip much accurate data - htm}
[...]
It’s twelve hundred miles from Ghartoun to Brithik, but Third Brigade’s only got eight hundred and fifty miles to go from Coyote Canyon.
And in the next chapter they have their dragon encounter... still in Thermyn.
Chapter 42 wrote:Which didn’t make the three-day flight from Traisum all the way back to Hell’s Gate any less boring. For that matter, why couldn’t he and Sky Sabre stop here in Thermyn, spend three or four days hunting, and then pick up a fresh transport flight on its way back to the front? It wasn’t as if—
And, as the skirmish unfold, we see yet again the Forts location messed up:
Chapter 42 wrote:“No, you idiot!” Yoril Jerstan shouted, even though there was no way in the world Hostyra could have heard him. He groped for his flare projector, triggering off the yellow-yellow-green sequence that ordered Hostyra to break off, but the young twenty-five paid no attention. His dragon’s dive angle only steepened, increasing his airspeed, and Jerstan swore again.
He fired the break off sequence a second time, and banked Grayscale hard to the right, away from the oncoming Sharonians. The other transports followed him promptly, but Hostyra’s wingman hesitated. He held on in Sky Sabre’s wake for a handful of seconds before he slowly, grudgingly brought his own dragon around to follow the transports back towards Fort Brithik.
[...]
Most of the Arcanan dragons had broken off, and chan Werkan’s jaw tightened as they headed back towards the Failcham portal through which they must have come.
Interestingly enough, that only happens in that chapter. When a bit earlier the escapees and mutineers plot their run, they actually have to traverse both Thermyn and New Uromath to reach Hell's Gate. So I guess at some point during the writing process both Forts got switched, and the mistake wasn't detected before publishing either.
It's not that big an issue, since both Brithik and Ghartoun have now been retaken, but it seems to me that considering this, the advance must necessarily have stopped at Ghartoun, in the Thermyn - Failcham portal. Of course, I could still be wrong, and I'd appreciate if someone could confirm whether that's the case.[/quote]