by Dean Henegar
By late afternoon, the men were rested enough to continue our travels. Unless the enemy was pressing hard, I would keep the legion on its normal rest cycle so the troops would remain in fighting shape. While our legion camp was being taken down, I looked out over Holdfast and tried to decide how best to defend the place. My garrison fort was strong, but so were the town’s walls now that Delling had upgraded them. It didn’t make sense to have the town’s defenders split between two points, and I wanted the defenders to be consolidated at one location. I called for the NCO commanding the garrison to report to me.
“Sir, how can I be of assistance?” the NCO said as he saluted. Blevins waved him in, annoyed at the interruption of his duties, which, in this case, involved trying to decide what luxuries he would take with him into the field.
“Sergeant, the legion is heading out into battle and there is a good chance the enemy will assault Holdfast at some point. It doesn’t make sense to defend two fortifications so close to each other, and I’m considering moving the garrison into the town once danger presents itself. What are your thoughts?” I asked. He was the NCO assigned to defend the place, and if I was missing something, I figured the AI would use him to give me a hint.
“Sir, I agree that we shouldn’t try to hold both the garrison fort and the town at the same time. The town will be harder to defend with its size, but its defenses are strong, and if my force was combined with the guard, we should be able to maintain a strong defense. I can also see if the engineers can rig up some surprises for anyone trying to take advantage of our empty garrison,” the sergeant replied.
Having the engineers rig up some traps, if possible, was a good idea. My experience in the real world led me to believe that the only thing engineers liked better than building stuff was blowing it up.
“Very well, Sergeant. Make plans to defend the town and refuse the use of the garrison to our enemies. I’ve already started calling up the town reserves, so you should have some extra swords at your disposal. They might be underequipped, so feel free to issue them any surplus gear you have on hand. I also want you to limit your longer patrols. If the enemy is spotted, I need your force concentrated here, not strung out along the roadways,” I ordered.
“Roger that, sir. The bandits may be more riled up than normal without our patrols, but I doubt they’ll stick around if a war is going on,” the NCO confirmed before saluting and rushing off to carry out my orders.
“Private Blevins! What in the Limitless Lands do you think you’re doing?” I shouted as I left my quarters to see the private stacking mounds of personal items into one of our supply wagons. He was in the middle of directing a pair of soldiers to load his favorite recliner chair onto the already-overburdened wagon.
“Sir, I need all these items to execute my duties. You can’t expect me to leave all this behind and risk it falling into the hands of the enemy, do you?” the private whined.
“Soldier,” I said, addressing one of the privates Blevins had hornswoggled into helping him. “How much personal gear are you permitted in the field?”
“Sir, each legionnaire is allocated to bring any personal gear he can fit into the designated container attached to his pack,” the soldier replied, pulling out a small leather cylinder about the size of a soda can. Most soldiers used it to hold writing materials, cards, dice, or some treats for the road.
“Private Blevins, there is your answer on how much you can bring,” I said, holding up my hand to stop the inevitable barrage of complaints. “I understand your duties require you to carry more than a soldier in the field, so I will generously allow you to bring whatever you can fit in here.” I pointed to one of the half dozen storage chests he had already loaded. The chest was bigger than I would have liked, but the private did have to carry sensitive documents and organizational materials.
“Very well, sir. With protest, I will pare down my necessities to disastrously low levels,” Blevins said with a sigh.
“Make sure you don’t forget your armor, weapons, and field pack. This is a battle we’re heading to, and despite being my aide, you are still a soldier,” I said with a growl. The other privates heard the anger in my voice and made themselves scarce, leaving Blevins to sort out his junk on his own. Feeling better after having dressed down my problem private, I called the NCOs into my quarters for a quick meeting. “Gentlemen, we’re heading into our biggest fight yet, as you all know. We’ve marched hard to get here. Are your soldiers ready?”
“Sir, Alpha Company is ready!”
“Sir, Bravo Company is formed up for march!”
“Sir, Charlie Company is always ready for a fight!”
“Sir, Delta Company is rested and ready to march!”
“Sir, Echo Company will teach these invaders a lesson!”
The NCOs of each company all reported with genuine enthusiasm and were chomping at the bit for a fight.
“The engineering unit has our siege engines packed and ready for the road,” Sergeant Tavers said. “There are ample reloads for our weapons and building materials for any repairs we might need. I’ve had the men precut defensive stakes for when we camp, which should cut down on the time needed to create our defenses each night.”
“Gux and da boys is ready for killing time!” a large member of the ogre auxiliaries shouted.
I jumped back a bit; I hadn’t heard him approach over the sounds of the entire legion getting ready for the march. The auxiliary had become a named NPC, somehow, and his rank now stood at corporal. I made a note to add respawn protection for him if I could once I was back at the war table. While the other named auxiliary unit, the dwarven runesmith Harbox, hadn’t been eligible, I had hopes that the ogre being kitted up like a legionnaire might allow me to add him. The mind mage NCO didn’t end up as a named unit, so I’d go with the ogre.
“Thank you, Corporal Gux. Glad to have your boys here for the fight,” I replied, genuinely excited to see how the giant-sized legionnaires performed.
“The runesmiths are ready to march. We have a standard loadout of runes prepared and can shift our mix each day if needed,” Harbox, the leader of the runesmith auxiliaries, added.
“Sir, my mages stand ready to assist. Perhaps we can review some tactical options for their employment once we’re on the road,” the war mage NCO said. It would be good to hear the mage’s ideas once we began our march, and I was excited to see how we could use their power in battle.
“We’re as ready as we’ll ever be, sir. Our supplies are replenished from the garrison stores, and I was able to add four additional supply wagons that the garrison here wasn’t going to use,” First Sergeant Brooks advised.
“Excellent, based on what we know of the road ahead, we’ll keep in column formation until we pass through the high grass and those damn terror birds. Keep extra lookouts. I refuse to take casualties from stupid birds. Bring the pain to any soldier who does something stupid. We’ll need every sword once we reach the enemy,” I ordered, remembering how some foolish privates had tried to bait the birds since they were, admittedly, tasty—yet dangerous—beasts.
“Order of march will be Alpha in the lead, followed by Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo,” I ordered. “We’ll shift the order of march a few times each day so the men don’t get complacent. Once free of terror bird territory, we’ll have half the scouts out at any given time. Supply wagons and siege engines will be spaced out evenly between each company, which should give them some protection. A pair of scorpion carts will support each company, and for the time being, our auxiliaries will place themselves at the center of the formation so we can move them quickly to any threat. If there isn’t anything else, let’s get moving.”
Chapter 12
It was only early afternoon when Zipp ordered the army to halt for the night. Narbos expected him to go farther but understood his desire to delay and coax Raytak into attacking a superior force. To that end, Narbos watched several of the lurkers scamper out of camp in order to keep an eye out for enemy scouts. The
creatures were deadly, and with their good sense of smell, they should be able to sniff out anyone hiding nearby. They had located—and eaten—several scouts that Raytak had left outside of the transition point, and Narbos was confident they could deal with any other stragglers. For now, he believed his enemy was clueless as to how big this invading force truly was.
“Nothing like a restful meal at the campfire to end a day of adventure, right, bud?” Zipp said to him.
Narbos was startled a bit by the imp’s appearance. He had been so engrossed in watching the army that Zipp, on his rat Snuggles, seemed to pop out of nowhere. Campfires began to spring up as their forces rested, the army of Bharga’s Crossing choosing to camp well away from the monstrous forces Zipp had brought.
“I’m ready to get this whole thing started. How long do you think it’ll be until Raytak shows up?” Narbos asked.
“He should be on his way. Those legion guys are pretty efficient about moving their armies around. They’re organized, but that won’t make any difference in the coming fight. It’s about time I fill you in on the strategy I have laid out,” Zipp said, hopping off Snuggles and motioning for a table to be brought over from the supply wagons. The imp pulled out a map and spread it over the small table while icons representing their forces and all estimated enemy positions popped up.
“I know you’re not an expert on this stuff,” Zipp continued, “so I’ll give you just a broad overview. According to everything we know, Raytak will be here with around a thousand troops at most. His little friends and allies might bring another five to six hundred or so if they can make it here to join him on time. Ideally, we want all his forces here so we don’t have to go chasing him around Hayden’s Knoll for who knows how long.”
Zipp moved around icons that represented Raytak’s army. “To win the coming fight with the fewest casualties, we need to play to our strengths, which is to say our superior numbers. Once we know Raytak is approaching, I’m going to take a large chunk of our army to go around and hit him from behind while a sizeable force holds Raytak in place. The goody two-shoes will never stand a chance.”
More icons moved around, these ones representing the forces that would hold Raytak in place and those Zipp would take to flank the enemy. It looked like Zipp would take most of the Hypogean forces along with the scallywags, the kobold miners, and a thousand of Narbos’s conscripts.
“While you’re marching around and trying to get behind Raytak, what do you need me to do?” Narbos asked.
“You’ll stay here and attack Raytak. It’s called fixing the enemy in place. He’ll be focused on your forces and won’t notice the hammer coming down. If he tries to pull out and retreat, my force will be there to stop him. I’ll leave you some of the Hypogean troops to give you some flexibility,” Zipp said, moving some icons around. It looked like he would be given a hundred lurkers and a tunnel wurm to bolster his forces.
“How long will it take you to finish circling around behind Raytak’s army?” Narbos asked.
“I’ll have to swing the army wide to avoid his scouts . . .” Zipp paused as he muttered to himself about timelines.
“Problem?” Narbos asked.
“No. To make it easy, why don’t we say I’ll attack at midnight on the night after Raytak’s army arrives? That will give us time to get into position, and my forces can see much better in the dark anyway. You’ll need to engage Raytak as soon as you can. Keep him focused on you while we get into position. You’ll take casualties, but it will help us win in the long run,” Zipp told him.
The plan was sound and Narbos felt they had a good chance of winning this thing quickly. The next day, they made another slow and short advance into Hayden’s Knoll. If Raytak didn’t arrive within the next couple of days, they would take out the ogres and then continue toward Holdfast. Heading toward the city should draw Raytak out into the open. If not, they would take over the zone one critical location at a time. Around noon, they stopped the column for a long break when some commotion broke out behind Narbos.
Narbos ran toward the rear of their column and straight into a fight. A half dozen lurkers were tearing into a formation of his conscripts. Half the conscripts were trying to flee while the other half tried to fight back with their makeshift weapons. The conscripts’ shovels and pitchforks were no match against the claws, teeth, and raw strength of the lurkers. More and more of the conscripts fled as Narbos approached.
“Stop that!” Narbos shouted at the rampaging lurkers who, for the most part, ignored him. All but one of the creatures stopped their pursuit, but not because of anything Narbos had said; they were hungry. The beasts tore huge gobbets of flesh from the fallen conscripts, happily chewing away at their “allies” and paying no heed to Narbos. He watched as one of the lurkers began to charge, madness and hunger showing in the monster’s eyes as it focused on him.
He was about to activate the Boarding Party ability when a ball of fire streaked in and engulfed the charging lurker. Zipp scurried up on the back of Snuggles, blowing on his fingers like they were a pistol in an Old West show. At the imp’s command, the remaining lurkers left their meals and scampered away, terrified of their master.
“Sorry about that, bud. These guys are a little high strung and aren’t big fans of our rations. They’re used to fresh meat, and I guess some of them conscripts looked mighty tasty,” Zipp said without concern. Narbos had lost two dozen conscripts as well as the dead lurker.
“Can’t you control these guys? We have a big army, but even I know we can’t win if our troops are killing and eating each other,” Narbos said angrily.
“Whoa, big guy. The Hypogeans are under my sway, but even I can’t monitor all of them all the time. So we lost a few fodder troops? No big deal. We’ll be in battle soon, which means the lurkers and others who prefer fresh prey will have plenty of eats lying around,” the imp said dismissively.
“Fine, maybe we need to keep the hungry troops away from the tasty troops in the order of march,” Narbos said sarcastically.
“Not a bad idea. We’ll make a general of you yet,” Zipp replied.
***
Gunne watched the chaos unfolding in the invader’s camp. The monsters were fighting among themselves and eating the fallen. Unfortunately, the disruption had caused him to lose count of some of the enemy as they milled about in the aftermath of the fight. Now it would take him more time to get an accurate breakdown of the opposing force—time he did not want to spend this close to the enemy.
He was as brave a warrior as any Drebix, but Gunne also considered himself smart, smart enough to know that something was picking off their scouts. Beremund had a plan to deal with the losses, but Gunne didn’t want to be the first to try it. Still, their allies in the legion needed to know how massive the invasion force was. He continued his count, making marks on a piece of deer hide when he heard a howling sound in the distance.
Gunne knew the sounds of the land, the sounds its creatures made and which ones indicated danger or the chance at a good hunt. This sound was different. This sound was unnatural. This sound was death. He returned to his tally when the howl sounded once more, closer this time, much closer.
The Drebix placed the piece of deer hide in his pack, picked up his javelins, and crept away from the enemy camp. The howl sounded yet again. It was nearly upon him by the time he was far enough from the camp to stand and run without being seen. Drebix scouts were renowned for their ability to cover ground quickly, and Gunne ran like his life depended on it, which he figured it most certainly did.
Not veering from his path, even as a second howl joined the first, the scout headed toward a large patch of tall grass. Off to his left, another scout ran toward the same spot. He nearly stumbled in shock at the monster closing in on him. Gunne’s fellow scout never stood a chance, and the beast overtook him. The terrible monster’s long claws reached out and snagged the man Gunne now recognized as one of his neighbors. The scout looked at Gunne with terror in his eyes as he fell to the groun
d, the monster already tearing at his throat with its twisted teeth.
Gunne didn’t bother to look back; he knew a similar monster was even now closing in on him. He kept his focus on the tall grass only a few steps away, confident the foliage would hide his retreat. A smile broke out on his face as his feet touched the first tall blade. Before he could take another step, something hit him from behind. There was a burning pain in his back as the claws of his pursuer dug into him. Gunne could see that the monster was distracted and looking around before it made the final killing blow. His throwing spears were useless this close to his foe, so he tried to reach a small knife he kept at his waist. He had just grabbed the blade when the monster pressing down on him leaped off.
Rising from their hiding places in the grass, a dozen Drebix warriors stood and charged the monster. The beast howled back at the men in challenge before laying into the nearest warrior with its powerful claws. The warrior tried to block the blow with his shield and failed, his face obliterated by the slashing claw. With the weight off him, Gunne shot to his feet, grabbing his throwing spear as he rose. Almost effortlessly, the Drebix scout stood and threw in a fluid motion. His spear flew true and embedded itself into the monster, foul yellow-green blood pouring from the wound.
The monster turned to look at the bleeding Gunne, who reached down for another of his fallen spears. His axe brothers came through for him, and Gunne watched as the warriors took advantage of their distracted enemy. Axes chopped at the monster from all angles, taking it apart piece by piece. Another warrior fell before the monster finally dropped from the dozens of wounds it had sustained. Gunne readied his last throwing spear and turned toward the other beast, the one that had killed the fleeing scout. The monster was scurrying away, dragging the corpse of their friend along with it. Gunne started to follow, the berserker rage beginning to grow in him as a hand on his shoulder eased him back into control.