Dark Tide: Book Five of the Phantom Badgers

by RW Krpoun

  “Any problems in the buildings?”

  “A couple Goblins,” Janna shrugged.

  “Nothing in mine,” Maxmillian advised.

  “Two Humans who appear to be Hand agents, killed them both,” Arian said. “And the store had been pretty well looted before we got here.”

  “All right, each platoon dig into your building, fortify as best you can. I’ll be with Blue Platoon, along with Dayyan and Henri; Axel, you go with Gold, while Bridget and the Doctor stay with Silver. Starr, have your section gather up all the Dayar’s shields, I had a look at one, and they’re well made. We can take the Hand insignia off the front, it’s painted on cloth that’s tacked in place. Once you’re done split your section into pairs and scout the surrounding area. I expect the Hand to come through the square in force once they realize that the redoubt’s under attack, and it’s our job to slow them down. Once we get dug in and the scouts report back we’ll see about picking up some more loot.”

  “Starr, there’s several hand-carts in back of the store,” Arian advised the Corporal. “Ought to make gathering the shields a lot easier.”

  “We need to burn those three corpses where they lie, necromancers are notorious for carrying strange diseases,” Bridget announced.

  “Fine, Janna, give Bridget three Badgers to help her. Anything else? All right, good job, Bridget, now let’s get busy.”

  Each platoon fortified as their platoon leader saw fit, but the basics were the same: send some Badgers onto the roof to cut away the thatching (the store had a shingle roof), take the interior doors off their hinges and knock the legs off of tables, then use the doors and table tops to cover windows (after cutting arrow slits in them), knock holes in interior walls to allow easy access between rooms, and pile furniture behind the nailed-shut exterior doors. Additional niceties such as boards with rows of exposed nail-points, tripping ropes, knee-breaker holes cut into the floor, and the like, were added as the defenders found time.

  All around them the battle was joined; to the east the main battle got underway, while the Baron of Kordia ordered his forces to charge the ridge and the Sagenhoftian cohorts went into action. The Badgers were not able to sustain their role as spectators for long; the Scout Section had just wheeled the laden hand carts into the store when a mixed force of Goblins and Dayar came trotting u, heading to the redoubt known as Point North. The Company opened fire with missile weapons and spells, smashing the first attack through surprise as much as force. The enemy hastily reformed and charged again, this time trying to break into the north inn and silence the archers that prevented their advance, while small groups of Goblins slipped past by circling further out.

  The Hand troops managed to breach a side door after losing numerous troops in the effort, and Blue Platoon was forced to give ground, fighting room by room as they fell back. Janna, as usual, was in the forefront of the action, rallying her troops, engaging in personal combat, and directing her platoon. Weight of numbers eventually told, however, and Blue Platoon retreated from the building.

  Silver Platoon’s turn was next; the Goblins broke in quickly (the Dayar were useless in storming the store as Bridget was supporting Silver Platoon) as they had ripped out a central beam from a nearby house which they used as a battering ram, but found the going especially fierce; Silver Platoon finally withdrew, but only after inflicting heavy losses upon the enemy.

  The south inn was the last strong point before the main Hand forces could move in strength to Point North, and Gold Platoon knew it; they had braced their doors with timbers torn from interior walls, and fought both the enemy and fires started by improvised fire-pots, refusing to quit their burning inn until a runner brought word from Durek that it was all right to pull back, the other two platoons had reformed and dug into houses on the south edge of town. Even as Gold pulled back, however, the Kordian foot were breaking through the town’s defenses and pouring in, while the Sagenhoftian troops were finishing the last of the defenders in Point North and Point South.

  Commander Descente watched the battle progress; he was on the offensive, pushing his troops hard and the Heartland Army harder in the hopes of carrying not only the day but the field as well. That bastard Laffery had been deft at Apartia and Salcie, but it would be interesting to see how he fared when caught between a hammer and an anvil. He had been surprised to see the bulk, if not the entirety of the foe arrayed in the main battle line; he had expected Laffery to defend to the east while trying to break through to the west, but only a modest number of foot were unaccounted for, certainly not enough to carry the fortifications on the ridge, though the personal banner of the Baron of Kordia was absent as well, and that madman was capable of many things. There was some sort of raid against Dorog going on, they had received a report just before the battle started that there was small-scale skirmishing in the central portion of the town, but it hadn’t sounded too worrisome, although due to the energies expended in summoning the Dayar no Watcher, Seer, or enchanted device could give him a clearer picture.

  “Sir,” a staff officer galloped up from the direction of the tent where adepts monitored the various means of enchanted communication. “Dorog is under attack, as are both primary redoubts covering the gap.”

  “In what strength?”

  “Apparently a division assaulting up-slope on either side of the gap, some skirmishing further to the north of town, and we had reports of heavy fighting inside the town and both primary redoubts.”

  “Inside the redoubts?” Descente gave the man his full attention.

  “Yes, sir, it appears that the enemy got four to six hundred troops to within feet of the redoubts before they were detected, and both forts are now at least partially over-run; both commanders report their positions will be lost unless they receive substantial help. The area commander reports that his reserve of Dayar is lost, and there are enemy troops dug into a blocking position which must first be eliminated before he can break through. He reports the enemy are well supported with spellcasters, including someone extremely well versed in dealing with Dayar. The Goblins are fighting very well, but they are taking heavy losses.”

  The Grand Commander nodded and waved to acknowledge the order. So Laffery had had a trick up his sleeve, a couple Gates most likely, or something similar. The barrier was broken, but the Heartland was still on the wrong side of a ridge that was at least partially in Descente’s control. “Are you still in contact with the commanders on the ridge?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good; advise the redoubt commanders and the commander of the town garrison to fight to the last drop of blood. Advise the area commander to strip the unattacked redoubts down to the minimum safe strength and use the force so raised to retake the redoubts overlooking the gap. Tell him help is on the way.”

  “Yes, sir.” The staff officer spurred his mount back towards the tent.

  “Sir, how can we get troops to them in time?” his operations officer asked.

  “We can’t; I don’t expect we’ll see many of those on the ridge again, but they’ll keep the Heartland forces on the ridge busy. The battle is far from lost.”

  “What’s the numbers?” Durek asked Axel as the wizard joined the Captain on the roof of a house overlooking the fields to the east.

  “Three dead, none of them officers or above the rank of Full Badger.” Axel passed the Dwarf a list of names. “Twenty wounded too badly to be able to fight any more today, including Rolf, Corporal Philip Milden, and Bulldog. How goes the battle?”

  “Poorly,” Durek shook his head, clearly upset over the fallen. “Have you seen our carts?”

  “Yes, they came through the gap at the head of the Sagenhoftian baggage train even as the redoubts were falling. I’ve found two farm carts and a couple good mules to pull them for our loot.”

  “What did we get?”

  “The shields, which we’ll be issuing for years, sixty pairs of boots, twenty light crossbows and four siege crossbows, sheaves of bolts and arrows, a few hundred
sling bullets, forty-five war hammers, a few broad axes, and enough rations to feed the Company for ten days, plus some fodder. It will leave us with absolutely no excess room on any of our carts even if we keep those farm carts.”

  “Which we will,” the Captain murmured, watching the battle. “We’re going to end up in Sagenhoft in a few weeks, mark my words, and once there we won’t have to worry about moving our loot until we have eaten, issued, or sold nearly all of it. Leave the Scout Section with me and take the rest of the Company and our dead back to the carts and stay with them; we’ve done enough fighting for one day.”

  The battle was not going well for the Heartland; Bohca Tatbik was attacking all along their front as the baggage train began to withdraw through the gap, although the light, high-wheeled carts of the Imperial Legions passed up the ridge and through the outskirts of Dorog to help reduce the congestion.

  And congestion there was; the Sagenhoftian carts passed through quickly enough, followed by the Kordian remounts and then that force’s baggage, but the Arturian’s wagons poured onto the Highway in poor order, ignoring the staff officers from Laffery’s command assigned with controlling the flow. Further trouble arose when the Iltharian wagons failed to wait their turn and began entering the roadway before the Arturians had passed, intermingling the two baggage trains and eliminating all order and control. Within minutes the gap was four hundred yards of wheel-to-wheel wagons, one team’s noses pressing against the tail gate of the wain ahead. They were passing through the gap like grain flowing through a funnel, it was true, but all it would take was a single disabled wagon to paralyze the entire mass. The Arturian quartermaster abandoned his wains and instead directed his efforts in getting the irreplaceable remounts over the south section of ridge where it was still in friendly hands, while the Ilthanian horses were driven through Dorog on the heels of the last Imperial carts.

  Then the Hand struck; out on the plain the dragon made its appearance, savaging the Seventh Cohort of the Fifth Legion with a long streamer of fire, and dropping another net of logs onto that Legion’s Ninth Cohort, swinging back east amidst a storm of missile fire and fiery spells. Hard on the heels of this attack all five Sacred Bands charged the Fifth Legion, which held the center of the Heartland’s line. The Imperial Legionnaires are tough, well-equipped, and well-led, but they were human, and the twin hammer blows broke their line wider than the reserve cohort could close.

  Close behind the dragon’s attack came the wyverns and harpies, but instead of attacking the crumbling Heartland Army’s center, they swept into the gap in the ridge line and rained death and panic amidst the packed wagons there, killing teamsters and horses without distinction and sending a wave of terror through the wains like fire sweeping across a prairie of dry grass. A single pass turned a disorderly but moving mass of wagons into an impassable barricade as panic-stricken teams pulled their wains into ditches, dead horse held wagons immobile, and draymen fled their charges and raced on foot towards the west.

  Both Baron Noury and Duke Sorgen sent detachments down into the gap to try and clear the blockage, cutting dead horses free of their traces and dragging the bodies into the ditches while the wagons were driven out of the gap or man-handled aside, but both nobles’ forces were hard-pressed and only a few men could be spared.

  Durek led the Scout Section down a narrow foot-path into the gap at a trot, glad that he had required every Badger to learn the secrets of wagon driving and horse harnesses; coming upon an Ilthanian wagon that had been driven into the ditch and tipped on its side, the Captain issued his orders. “Get the team free of the wagon, unbuckle, don’t cut, the army’s running short of tack! You, you get on one of the lead horses and guide them to the west. Starr, get the wagon tongue loose of the wagon, we can use it as a lever. Good, now for the next.”

  Ten paces to the west a wagon stood motionless in the road, two of its team dead in the traces. “Right, unbuckle ‘em, and you, ride the two live ones to the west. Put the tongue here and heave on my count. One, two three, heave.” The wagon slowly tilted over and crashed into the ditch. “Good work, there’s six horses saved and a bit of road clear. Starr, get the dead horses dragged into the ditch. What’s wrong with this wagon, eh? Nothing but tangled traces and no teamster. You, think you can drive it on the ditch’s shoulder clear of the gap? Yes, good, they’re working on the west end, things are clearing up.”

  Two wagons later Durek had cleared sixty yards of the right-most lane of the Highway near the western end and was down to Starr, Duna, and Milo. He had gotten two wagons with their teams, eleven other horses, and three sets of team harnesses clear of the gap, but it amounted to virtually nothing against the solid mass of trapped wagons. The Kordians were working their way in from the west, concentrating on clearing the northern lane of traffic just as Durek had, and even now were reaching his small gap mid-way through the gap, while the Sagenhoftian detachment remained at the western end of the mess salvaging as many teams and wagons as they could. The four mercenaries fell in with the shrinking Kordian detachment and helped as much as they were able.

  Above them to the north the Lasharian remounts were passing through Dorog, while the Imperial artillery carts were crossing the ridge to the south.

  Despite heroic charges by the heavy horse, the Heartland could not mend its center or stop the bulge being driven in their lines, while up on the ridge the Kordian and Sagenhoftians foot held onto their positions in the face of bitter counterattacks. Grand Marshal Laffery sent the bulk of his staff officers back to the gap to help clear at least one lane, with orders to execute any who impeded the work or flow of traffic, while dispatching the remaining staff officers and most of his personal guards to bolster the cavalry reserve. Meanwhile his army was retreating all along the line, falling back at a steady walking pace as the ridge drew nearer and the pressure grew more intense.

  When the eastern slopes of the ridge were only five hundred yards from the back of his lines word reached him that one lane was clear and the rest of Arturian wains were passing through the gap, while work continued on a southern lane. The Ilthanian wagons, those that were still to the east of the ridge, were slowly ascending the slope and passing through the town, while Lasharian wagons did the same past Point South.

  Twenty minutes later Laffery ordered that any Arturian wagons remaining on the east side of the ridge were to be driven to the sides of the road and disabled by smashing the spokes on two wheels; the teams were to be unhitched and led over the ridge to the west side, where they would be used to salvage wains trapped within the gap, if possible. The Arturian foot marched down the single cleared lane, while the rest of the army formed a circular perimeter around the east opening of the gap.

  As the Sagenhoftian cavalry passed through the gap behind the Arturians the Grand Marshal extended his order to the Ilthanian wagons still caught on the eastern side of the ridge. The opening of the southern lane a few minutes later allowed both the Kordian and Ilthanian horse to withdraw, while the Imperial First Legion withdrew up the slope and through Dorog. The Grand Marshal extended his orders to any wagons on the eastern side to allow the Imperial Eleventh Legion to withdraw over the ridge.

  The constriction of the defender’s line allowed the Hand to get more troops up on the ridge line, and soon Dorog was under attack by Orcs, who forced the weary Kordian foot back through the burning town into Point North, closing the village as a line of retreat.

  The Gold Army’s horse, much thinned by heavy fighting, retreated through the gap next, as half of the Imperial Eighth Legion withdrew through Point South, the rest following the Arturians out through the gap. Now only the battered Fifth Legion and the Ilthanian foot stood on the east side of the ridge as Point South and North came under heavy attack. The two worst-hit cohorts of the Fifth retreated through the gap, followed by another cohort using the south lane while the first demi-brigade of Ilthanian foot retreated down the north.

  Things were going fairly well until the wyvern and harpies struck th
e remaining Ilthanian foot, followed closely by the Red Guard Sacred Band, three hundred medium cavalry coming at a full charge; the Ilthanians broke and fled up the ridge or through the gap, leaving the seven remaining cohorts of the Fifth Legion badly exposed. The Legion commander managed to pull his forces back to the very mouth of the gap and then withdrew his men company by company, finally withdrawing the last three cohorts on line through the gap itself as the Kordian and Sagenhoftian troops conducted a fighting withdrawal from the ridge line.

  The battle at Dorog was over.

  Grand Marshal Laffery listened to the reports being read to him as a Healer bound his arm; he had been wounded in the fighting as the Fifth Legion retreated through the gap, staying out at the front like a fool when his place was in the rear directing his army, but it had felt good to kill a couple Direbreed and he hadn’t felt very good since this campaign had begun. His nephew was dead, killed in one charge or another; by all accounts the lad had done well, fought bravely, and killed a goodly number of the foe. How he would explain it to his sister, he had no idea.

  His nephew was hardly alone; the army as a whole had taken a pounding, with the Fifth Legion having been mauled, and the Ilthanian Foot Guards were reduced to three hundred effectives, while the Arturian foot had barely twice as many. Half the army’s transport had been lost, and what was left was so disorganized as to be useless for days. He had enough fresh war horses left to fight another battle, and that a careful one, before having to let his cavalry spend at least a week recuperating. His infantry were dead tired, and their ranks were badly thinned. The Hand held the ridge, the ruins of Dorog, and nearly all the supply dumps his quartermasters had carefully accumulated over the last six months, not to mention the supplies lost with the wagons caught in the gap or to the east of the ridge. Once again, he had saved the army, but had failed to stop the enemy. He wondered how long his brother the king would hold against those who called for his dismissal, and whether he would be upset or relieved by the order to step down as commander of the Heartland Army.