by Jamie Davis
Three days later Hal’s secret fears were confirmed.
The attack came at dawn when a troop of imperial cavalry swept in from the east. The mounted imperials swept out of the woods at a gallop, riding down the sentries before they could sound the alarm.
Luckily, most of the camp had already started to rise and not many were trampled in their bed rolls by the charging horses. Unfortunately, too many were spitted on lances or sabers as they ran away from the attack.
In the command area, Hal heard the commotion and ran from his cabin to see a group of twenty horsemen riding straight at his position in the center of the camp. He grabbed a spear from a nearby rack and threw it at the lead rider. The broad bladed spearhead slammed into the imperial cavalry man’s chest. He pitched backward from his saddle and was trampled under the hooves of the troopers riding behind him.
1,200 experience points awarded.
Two more troopers were driven out of their saddles as arrows drove into them from Junica. The archer stood perched atop a wagon nearby and sent arrow after arrow flying at the imperial cavalrymen as they rode by.
Hal drew his sword and ran for the wagon. He had to reach it before he was ridden down by the approaching troops.
The sound of pounding hooves right behind him set Hal’s back itching right between his shoulder blades, expecting a lance or sword point to jab him at any moment. He dove under the wagon just in time, thwarting an imperial lancer from pinning him to the ground.
After the rider passed by, Hal got to his feet and climbed up on top of the wagon where he could assess the situation and decide what to do next. Kay had reached the relative safety of the wagon as well and she was firing and reloading a crossbow as fast as she could.
Junica dropped a few more troopers while Hal looked around and took in the chaos of the camp attack.
He had to rally the troops and drive off the cavalry. There were less than a hundred imperial troopers in the attack. They must have gathered several patrols together to mount the attack on the camp.
The lancer who’d chased him under the wagon had wheeled his horse around and was charging back at the wagon, leveling his lance at Hal.
The slots in Hal’s head started spinning once again as a plan started to come together in his head.
Hal stood in the back of the wagon and faced down the charging lancer giving him an easy target. At the last instant, he launched himself up in the air, diving over the approaching lance while he drove his sword into the side of the trooper.
The dying imperial cavalryman toppled from the saddle to the ground as Hal grabbed ahold of the saddle’s pommel and slid his feet into the stirrups, sliding into the saddle as smooth as glass. His gamble had worked and the slots chimed in his head signaling his uncanny luck at work once again.
1,200 experience points awarded.
Tugging at the reins, he stopped the horse next to the wagon.
“I’m going to rally the rest of the gladiators. You two keep picking off any imperials you can. We have to drive off this attack before they rout the entire army. This is only a small force.”
Kay and Junica nodded and continued their work with bow and crossbow.
Hal kicked his mount and raced towards the knot of defenders where the gladiators were making their stand against the cavalry assault.
Imperials raced around the gladiators drawn up in a circle so the mounted trooper couldn’t get behind any of them. Otto and Rune anchored the circular line, fending off attacks by lance and saber.
Hal charged at a cluster of troopers readying a group assault on the thin line of defenders. His sudden arrival broke up the pending attack. He lay about him with his long sword and swung wildly at the mounted soldiers around him, unaccustomed to attacking from horseback.
He still managed to unseat two of them before the others could react. One was dead from a blow that nearly decapitated him, the other died in his fall from a broken neck.
1,200 experience points awarded.
1,200 experience points awarded.
Hal had little time to rest on his laurels. The remaining cavalry troopers recovered from their surprise at his attack and pressed in on him from all sides.
A lance snaked in and nearly knocked him from the saddle. Pain flared in his other side from a saber thrust. A second lance drove into his right thigh.
Health damage: Health -12
Health damage: Health -6
Health damage: Health -12
Hal wished he had his shield. At least then he could cover himself on one side of this unfamiliar conflict. He swung his sword wildly from side to side, trying to drive back his attackers.
Help arrived in the form of Otto and the other gladiators. Seeing their attackers distracted by Hal’s attack, they charged at the rear of the enemy, descending on the knot of horsemen around Hal and dragged most of the surprised troopers from their saddles to be killed on the ground.
A horn sounded to the east and the remaining imperials broke off their attack, riding back towards the rising sun, just peeking over the trees. Hal counted about thirty imperials who escaped into the morning mist still swirling around the tree trunks despite the sun burning through the leaves above.
“Otto, take a group of gladiators and make sure they don’t return from another direction,” Hal said. “Rune, check on the goblin and orc encampment. They might have been attacked as well.”
“You’re injured, Hal,” Rune said. “Let me look at your wounds.”
“I’ll be fine, check on our allies. I’ll still be here when you get back.”
“As you wish,” Rune said and he ran off to the far side of the camp where the non-humans lived.
Kay and Junica ran over to join him as he slid off the horse to the ground. He landed and nearly toppled over from the pain in his injured leg. He had to steady himself against the horse’s side until he regained his balance.
“Hal, that was insane. You barely know how to ride a horse, let alone fight from one,” Kay chastised.
“No time like the present to learn,” Hal smiled. “Besides, I had to break up the momentum of the attack. We need to assess the injuries and count the dead, then we have to pack up and move from here. Those troops will assuredly bring back reinforcements when they return. We’ve just proven we’re not up to standing against any kind of organized force yet.”
“You’re not wrong, but all was not lost, Hal,” Bilham said. The old soldier approached with a group of spear wielding recruits. Some were bloodied and battered but they looked like they’d be able to withstand an attack on their part of the camp if it comes again.”
The group of recruits were wide-eyed and gripped their spears with such force, they had white knuckles. Hal raised an eyebrow in question to Bilham. The older man smiled and nodded.
“Once I was able to rally them, they were able to form a spear square and fend off the cavalry,” Bilham continued. “They’ve seen what a little cooperation can do to help defend themselves. This isn’t a total loss. We can build on the lessons learned here.”
“I’m glad you think so, Bilham, but we still have to move the camp. We aren’t ready for a pitched battle yet, not by a long shot.”
“No, but there’s promise in these recruits. Give me some more time and I’ll make them the equal of anything the imperials can send against us. Remember, their army is newly assembled and full of recruits just like ours.”
“I hope you’re right,” Hal said. “We may have to prove it against Norak and his army sooner than we think if they keep after us.”
Churg and a few of the goblin warriors trotted across the camp a few minutes later. They were armed and armored for battle but looked none the worse for wear after everything that happened that morning.
“We heard the attack and prepared to defend ourselves but the cavalry never made it back to our part of the camp,” Churg explained. “Is there anything you need of us?”
“Yes,” Hal said. “I need you and your warriors to scout to the east a
nd make sure we don’t have any more surprises from the Imperials. We are going to break camp and prepare to move deeper into the hills and try and put some distance between us and any imperial pursuit.”
“We can do that,” Churg said. “I’ll leave my second with you to seek us out once you find a new location for the encampment. Do not worry. We will provide plenty of warning if there is a larger force of imperial troops nearby.”
“Thank you, my friend.” Hal reached out and clasped wrists with the goblin chief before he left to organize the rear-guard scouts.
The others all looked at Hal, waiting for him to tell them what to do as well.
“Bilham, prepare the recruits to march. Maybe we can get them some time drilling in formation while we move.”
“Good idea. I’ll see to it.”
Bilham left and Hal turned to Kay and Junica.
“See to the wounded. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to bury the dead. We’ll have to leave them where they lay.”
“That seems harsh, Hal,” Kay said. “We could take a little time to see to some arrangements.”
“I hate to do it, Kay, but maybe it will signal any pursuers that we left in a rout rather than as an organized force. It might make them think we scattered and that there were fewer of us than they thought.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Junica said. “It isn’t going to be a popular decision with the rank and file. Hell, I don’t like it either.”
“We do it anyway,” Hal replied. “Survival is more important than propriety. See to the arrangements to break camp. Keeping them busy will keep their minds off any complaints. I want us on the road west within an hour.”
The two women moved off and started barking orders, organizing the former slaves, now recruits in this rebel army, for the tasks needed to pack up their camp and move it west. Hal turned eastward and wondered how far away Norak and the main imperial force was. If they were closer than they thought, even an hour would be too little time to break away and escape.
27
The next several days were a blur for Hal and the rest of his force. They kept moving constantly, never camping in the same location twice always moving farther west and north. Hal and the other leaders wanted to keep heading deeper into the forested hill country to the west until they were sure they’d escaped the attack that surprised them days earlier.
Churg and his force of goblin and orc scouts served well as a rear guard and reconnaissance unit. They located and shadowed the larger imperial force that came the day after the dawn cavalry attack. Norak and his army of several thousand green troops, all new recruits from in and around Hyroth, got disorganized and lost in the thick forest despite the experienced sergeants Norak had brought along. Churg recounted several instances where he and his scouts took down small groups of imperial troops who got separated from the main force.
Eventually, Norak and his army pulled back to the plains just west of Hyroth and sent out their more experienced cavalry scouts to search for the missing rebel force. By that time, Hal and his rebel army had found a remote mountain valley in which to set up camp and begin training the recruits in earnest.
The following week after they reached the valley was the most productive since they left the city. Bilham and the gladiators acting as trainers made excellent progress with the freed slaves. They started to look like a cohesive force when they marched around the valley’s open meadows with their spears and shields. Those who trained with swords and crossbows also improved.
Hal learned a lot in that time, too. He became a student of tactics and strategy at the hands of both Rune and Bilham. Both worked with him long into the evening. The monk had a surprising amount of knowledge about historical battles and the disposition of troops. Between Rune and Bilham, Hal picked up new ideas about combined arms and using different types of troops in different ways.
This additional education gave Hal ideas about how to use the more experienced non-human troops that were trickling in to join up as the word went out to the local tribes of goblins, orcs, and hill giants that an army had formed to stop the constant raids on their villages and farms to the north.
The final addition that gave Hal hope his army was almost ready to face Norak and his new Hyroth force was the arrival of a force of twenty rock trolls. Their presence made everyone a little nervous at first. Trolls were thought of by even the other non-human troops as unreliable allies.
The single rock troll who’d made it out of the city with Hal, had communicated he’d return with help when he left camp in the east weeks before. Hal couldn’t pronounce his name and decided to just call him Bob.
When Bob left the camp, many of the others told him not to believe in the promise to return. Hal had smiled and clasped wrists with the huge creature anyway before he left the camp in the hills weeks earlier. It was better to believe in someone’s honor than to believe in the prejudices of the others in his army.
Now that Bob had returned, Hal gave the huge rock troll a grin and reached out to clasp wrists once again. With a series of hand gestures, Hal was able to glean that the others were all from Bob’s tribe in the north. They all wanted to avenge the deaths of their comrades in slavery and would fight at the side of the humans and non-humans in Hal’s army.
Mammoth, the hill giant war leader, was able to understand the rock troll’s speech better than anyone else so Hal left it up to him to get the trolls settled in the camp near the giants’ portion of the camp. Overall, their number had swelled to nearly two thousand between the new arrivals and those who’d escaped the city weeks before.
After a full month in the valley, it was time to prepare to take some action against the imperials and let them know a real rebel army existed where only escaped slaves and gladiators stood before. Hal called all the leaders together and held a council at the end of their fourth week in the valley.
“It is time we build upon our successful training with a successful attack against imperial forces,” Hal announced.
“Are you sure it’s time?” Kay asked. “I’m not sure the troops are ready.”
“I think we need to take the best of the companies we’ve formed and give them an opportunity to put their training to the test. Churg’s scouts have come back with reports of a regular supply caravan traveling from Hyroth to Baron Norak’s primary encampment. If we work our way around the patrols between here and there, getting behind them, we can intercept that caravan and disrupt Norak’s supply chain at a time when he’s spread pretty thin.”
“Can we make it past the patrols?” Otto asked Churg.
“We can,” Churg replied. “They have fallen into a routine that is predictable. There are several large gaps in their coverage which will allow us to sneak a moderately large force through and attack the wagons on the trail.”
“Which units do we take?” Junica said. “I’m sure all will want to go and we can’t take all of them.”
“Bilham has some ideas,” Hal said.
The old caravan guard nodded and leaned forward over the camp table they were using as a council table.
“I have selected a few units to include. We’ll take a company from each of the groups in the camp, human and non-human. This will teach them all to work in concert and communicate with each other both on the march and in a combat situation.”
“That sounds risky,” Otto said.
Bilham shrugged. “This is a war. Everything’s risky when lives are on the line.”
Hal nodded and met the eyes of each of the captains around the table.
“The fact is, we knew we were going to have to leave the valley at some point and take the fight to Norak. This gives us a chance to try out our training methods against a real enemy force.”
Hal waited for any other questions or suggestions but no one had anything to add. When no one spoke up, Hal continued laying out his plan.
“Bilham will detail which of the recruits will join the raid. Churg, I’d like you to select the best of your goblin and
orc scouts.”
The goblin chieftain nodded.
“Junica, you’ll put together a force of newly trained crossbowmen and archers to accompany us. That will leave Kay, Otto, and Rune to come along to lead the teams Bilham assembles.”
“Sounds like you’re planning on leaving me here, boy,” Bilham grumbled.
“You’re much more valuable here continuing the training of those recruits who aren’t up to top grade yet,” Hal said. “I’m sure we’ll see plenty of action with you along soon enough.”
“Very well,” Bilham said with a sigh.
The old soldier didn’t seem happy with the order to stay but he was disciplined enough to hold back his objections and disappointment in public. Hal knew he was lucky to have him here training the ex-slaves to be soldiers. Now they’d get the chance to test that training.
“When do we leave?” Kay asked.
“First thing in the morning,” Hal responded. “It will take several days to reach the path the supply caravans take, then we’ll have to wait for the next one to arrive. They appear to travel past every week or so. The next one is due in three or four days.”
“That’s cutting it close,” Rune observed.
“I don’t want to wait ten days or more to catch the next one. Every day we delay is another day that Norak might get reinforcements, or worse, find out where our main camp is. I’m hoping if he has to divert troops to protect his supply chain, he will slow down his search for us, giving us more time to train. We outnumber him, but his troops are better trained and equipped than we are. I’d like the opportunity to shift that balance our way a little more before we are forced to face him in battle.”
“You think we have a chance against the Emperor’s greatest general even if he is commanding a new and untested army of his own?” Otto asked.