Cain noticed an area where the land was higher than its surroundings. On one side the land was considerably lower, half-a-mile distance was a small lake. Cain tagged the raised area so the location icon would float on his HUD.
"How many do you think there are, or we'll find?" Daphne asked as the jogged toward the icon Cain had planted.
"If they noticed they lost the patrol to the She-Devils, I'm assuming that is our Amazons, yet these four are out on their own. I think these are a group of distance scouts, like a picket guard, though mobile," Cain replied.
Forty minutes later they reached the area where the land got higher, and harder to climb. They could hear the waterfall from half a mile away. Keeping to the trees they worked their way to the bottom of the waterfall. They could see where somebody had created and set up a semi-permanent base.
Spending ten minutes checking the location out they set off for the caravan. Checking the maps, Cain noticed the caravan was around three miles from their location, heading down toward the lower ground after travelling through a pass. Cain sent a party message.
They made it back to the caravan, taking one hour and eleven minutes, as they had to avoid another mobile picket. They shared the evening meal, and everyone was ready for the mission. All those going had the enchanted pendants that Bethany made, there were enough to equip one group staying behind too.
Moving with a larger group would have been difficult but as it was now dark, they knew the mobile pickets would have stopped. They passed one group of Centaurs who were busy around a large camp fire, where one Centaur turned a spit as they cooked what looked like a sheep. The light from their campfire was a handy stay away beacon.
One and a half hours after leaving they were in the woods overlooking the camp near the waterfall. The noise of the waterfall enabled them to move with little chance of detection. Cain and Sophie skirted the camp, keeping to the shadows they returned meeting fifteen minutes after leaving.
Cain counted twenty-four, Sophie twenty-one. Sophie had missed three Centaurs who walked out of a large tent after she passed it. They captured the two guards at gladius point, Toni promised not to kill them if they did not struggle. They gagged and bound their hands, then allowed them movement on a yard long hobble. One Centaur was grateful, as he mumbled through the gag he told Cain,
"Most of the Centaurs would not fight normally, but the magic of the war horns controls us, we have no option over our choice. I heard a human high priest came to the so called leader of the Centaurs and blessed his tribe's hunting horns, making them war horns. When they are blown they make us Centaurs into fierce fighters, make us not worry about our wounds or wounded.
"When the horns are blown they gave those who hold them control over all Centaurs within hearing distance. We are being forced to fight. They keep our females separate to enforce our compliance, once the war horn magic wears off." With that information, Cain, with the Centaur's agreement temporary blocked its ears with beeswax.
Moving and working carefully they gagged, bound, blocked their ears and hobbled twenty of the centaurs. The last tent would be difficult as those Centaurs were awake and talking; from, what the other Centaurs told them these were the leaders. The four Centaurs, three warriors and one gladiator, part of Thaumas' herd, the leader of the Centaurs on the island.
Cain decided he would rap on the tent and call the Centaurs to come out. Once ready he knocked on the tent's frame. One of the Centaurs inside the tent shouted unless it was urgent then go away. Enoch had changed Cain's voice, and he said it was urgent, there are humans and She-Devils here.
Moving back and allowing the four Centaurs to rush out of the tent, Cain shouted to them, telling them there was no need to fight. The Centaurs could not see the Amazons who encircled their tent, they had doused all torches in around the encampment.
The largest of the four shouted for the troops to gather. When there was no response, he took his war horn and blew three times, still no response.
Toni lit a torch and went to stand with Cain, so the Centaurs could see who they were talking to. Cain offered them the chance to stand down and surrender. The lead Centaur, said why should he Dictyus surrender to a puny human. He made a bellowing sound and drew his large bastard-sized sword and charged Cain and Toni.
Toni, wrapped her left arm around Cain and dropped the torch. Once he bent his knees Cain leapt high above Dictyus, landing beside one of the three standing near the tent. Offering them the same deal, they refused saying the war horn Dictyus sounded, bound them to fight when Dictyus told them.
Cain shouted for the groups to move in closer as Dictyus turned rather sharply and rushed again at Cain. Toni shouted and told Dictyus they did not want to kill him.
"Ha, as if a puny female She-Devil can best me. I am one of Thaumas' herd, blessed by Erebus' high priest, you cannot beat me. You will die woman, tonight will be your last, you She-Devil," Dictyus said.
Toni let go of Cain and walked over to the dropped torch. Daphne, expecting a leader fight used her fire magic, ignited the torches the Amazons now carried; letting Dictyus see who he was facing.
Toni stood waiting near the torch as Dictyus dug his hooves into the loamy earth and charged toward her. Dictyus was confident of his size and strength, knowing he would win over the puny if beautiful She-Devil with purple hair. Toni knew Dictyus had to die, he would not surrender as he held sway over this group of Centaurs.
Dictyus tried to stomp Toni into the ground, to crush her under his huge feet, but Toni was fast and nimble, she moved aside from Dictyus' flailing feet the three times he tried to stomp her. Pulling his bastard sword, he turned again; his hooves churned more of the loamy earth, the richness of its loam reaching his nostrils as he made another charge, aiming to cut the pesky She-Devil in half.
As the bastard sword whistled through the space Toni previously occupied, Dictyus though moving at a fast speed could not match nor stop Toni as she pulled her gladius free of her scabbard.
Toni bent like a reed in a storm, she leant backward and ran her gladius across the flank of Dictyus, turning the blade downwards to the ground. Dictyus screamed in agony crumpling, crashing to the ground, his intestines spread out behind his now prone form, blood running from severed veins and spurted from the femoral artery on his rear leg.
The three Centaurs from the tent, charged as one to attack Toni, as she knelt by Dictyus she watched as he laid dying. Cain leapt from the side, jumping over thirty feet, landing on the back of the Centaur nearest to Toni, slitting its throat so hard he decapitated it; the centaur crashed body-first as Cain leapt from its back he threw the head at another Centaur.
The Amazons, with bows already drawn, filled the two others with forty-three arrows, bringing them to their knees as they crashed to the loamy earth, their blood spilling into the ground as the head of their companion landed between them, its eyes glazed over. As the Centaur he killed crashed to the ground, Cain leapt off and landed next to Toni, she stood and watched death explode around her. She wrapped her arms around Cain and responded to his kiss.
Cain thanked the Amazons for the prompt attack in killing the other two. The Centaurs they captured looked on in shock, at the way these humans casually killed without remorse. They knew then there were worse humans than the She-Devils.
With Dictyus dead, his war horn smashed by Toni, they released all the Centaurs, now free from the horns cloying magic. They were so grateful but there was nothing they could offer. "If we hear the sound of a war horn, the magic will ensnare us again and we would be forced to fight you," said a Centaur. Cain promised to free all Centaurs rather than kill them where he could.
All of the Centaurs minus two left the camp site and headed back the way Cain and his people had travelled, they said the
y were going to make a camp up the trail for the night.
Chapter 26
Mantabele Walls
The two Centaurs who stayed behind were Palisus and Stephanis, they were caught first and saved by Cain. They asked if they could travel with Cain and the caravan. "Our mates are being held by Thaumas, and we want to help free them," Palisus said. Cain said they could travel with them while he worked out what to do with them. He sent group two back to the caravan with the aim to guide the caravan to the new site before midday, Cain set Bounty up in Dictyus' large tent. He knew once inside Bounty they could talk easier, which made planning safer for them and the Amazons.
"We know from what Rahab and Enoch have told us, we are one of the most watched and recorded groups playing Forsaken. Our sex tape session in the zone two thousand and twenty-seven, tops the sales and viewing charts and has made us another four hundred million, each," Toni said.
Daphne asked what the money was for, Sophie explained in great detail and offered to show her some of the best parts in bed, then laughed as Daphne went beet red.
"If we use Palisus and Stephanis to scout out the land and count the size of the herd, we could make a better plan for beating them, without us wiping them all out," Cain said.
"You know Athena gave us the pendants for the Amazons, I wonder if I could make a similar thing enchanting it to make the wearer resistant to magical coercion," said Bethany. They agreed to ask Palisus and Stephanis if they would scout the herd and let them know the numbers and where the female Centaurs were being held. Cain decided he would not tell them they knew where the female Centaurs were.
Their cover story, should they be stopped by patrols, was Dictyus sent them with a broken Xiphos saying their supplies are of poor quality. They also took the news that a patrol of thirty which Dictyus sent out, they have gone missing, without a trace. They were to blame the Amazons, or She-Devils as the Centaurs called them.
With the planning finished, it was three in the morning they hit the bed for a few of hours of sleep. Myrina was the first to wake, and she slipped off the bed heading to the shower room. While in the shower Myrina prayed to Athena, asking for guidance. Athena spoke to her and told her to build a small shrine for her at the camp-site.
Myrina told everyone what happened as they ate breakfast. Cain thought it was a good idea since the Amazons were aligned to Athena rather than Cybele. Bethany stayed in Bounty while everyone left and helped Myrina build the shrine. Two hours later they finished the shrine, the last split log being fastened in place as the caravan arrived.
They made Athena's shrine from a piece of pink granite, which Daphne called up from the earth. She shaped it like a shield resting against a large rock. The Amazons built an open structure around the shrine, covering the roof with split cottonwood trunks. They covered the floor with crushed pink granite chips as they were easy to make for Daphne.
Once the caravan arrived they held a service at the shrine. Athena's presence lit the shrine with a glowing reddish light. Athena spoke so all could hear, "My dearest Amazons, I promise you will have a great victory over the Centaurs. Joseph is my general and with his wives, their plans will win the day."
"That's nice of Athena. It's not like we were making the plans as we went. I think Athena has the hots for you, hubby," said Toni. Daphne and Sophie laughed as they agreed with her. :Damn, seven women is enough. I don't think I can cope with a goddess no matter how hot she looks,: he thought.
They pulled everyone together, sent out two squads on point duty twenty minutes later they set off toward Mantabele, and the looming conflict with the Centaurs. Seven hours later and they made camp, outside a small empty village, whose homes look like they vacated them in rather a hurry.
Picking the largest home in the centre of the village, they erected Bounty out of sight. Outside Areto insisted on using the double circle as a solid way to protect the caravans. They hobbled the caravan horses in the centre of the inner of the two circles, to protect them.
"I have looked at the world map, I think we will reach Mantabele by around one or two tomorrow afternoon. I'm surprised we have not come across any other patrols or mobile pickets.
"Maybe Thaumas has received a warning we are coming, and has been told to pull everyone back. I can imagine the old JW Killers clan leader doing that, can't you? Or Giant Dick will have respawn by now, he'll be blubbering about the loss of Erebus' temple in Agiasobele," Toni said.
After sharing their evening meal with the Amazons, they left Myrina and Areto with the Amazons letting them set the night watched. Cain and his original women returned to Bounty. Inside they planned as a group on how they could win in several scenarios, such as an all-out fight, a surgical strike taking out the Centaur leaders or by discussion.
"We have to dismiss the discussion option, as Dictyus made it clear, Thaumas received a cloying dark blessing from Erebus high priest. Thaumas will be unable to think clearly because of the magic," said Cain. Sophie asked did anyone know who the centaurs worshipped.
[There is no record I have currently accessed showing who the Centaurs worshipped, mostly history written regards and records them as smart beasts of burden. It could be easy to ensnare them, such as Erebus' high priest has apparently done. The paying public have paid and watched your fight with the thirty Centaurs over six hundred million times.
[Don't expect the Centaurs not to have heard how easy you took those thirty Centaurs out, especially if Jason has seen the fight. You are all getting a good reputation, the 'keep clear if you want to live' reputation. Obviously, the NPCs can't do that, since most are pre-programmed.
[I don't think it will be easy to talk your way out of the battle. The Centaurs have more than likely been triggered by the code Jason instigated. Due to their twisting by the war horns and Erebus' magic, they will believe they can crush you, since there are roughly six hundred fighters.
[The only advantage is they are mostly warriors and gladiators. They have no mages, which will make the fight easier. Two of your plans have a good chance without killing all the Centaurs, talking to them would ensure they all die,] Rahab said.
Toni passed on what Rahab told her, they spent four hours into the early morning planning their attack options. They hit the bed mentally fatigued, tired and still clothed, settling down and sleeping like contented babies.
{We have been watching a stream from inside Mantabele, a group of players under the clan name 'The VETS.' Rahab has listened in on their party chats, she has identified seven players all are former military, from different arms.
{I think you will find that group of players would be willing to help you, once you lift the siege of Mantabele. They are mainly warriors, gladiators and rangers. When you finally cross to the mainland, they will hopefully join you and lead parts of the army you will need. With the Amazons, backed by some Centaurs you will control the island, keeping the mythical creatures in their place.
{There are several city states fighting against each other, we know the city you are aiming for and you will need to fight your way there once you land on the mainland. Anyway, it is time to rise; you have troops to lead,} Enoch said. Cain woke the others as he got from the bed, fifteen minutes later they were ready to go, they packed away Bounty in Daphne's inventory.
Cain sent group one ahead on back-up point duty, they followed Daphne and Lesley who were running ahead as the point team. Daphne would be the first to see the lay of the land and be ready to make the traps, which would thin down the Centaurs without hopefully eliminating them.
They pushed the caravan at a fast pace, the Amazons easily running alongside, as they climbed what Toni hoped was the last rise before they could look at Mantabele. Sophie who led group three called a halt, as they stopped before the crest of the hilltop. The caravan slowed then stopped one hundred yards before the crest of the incline they were travelling up.
Cain, Toni, Areto and Myrina ran up to join Sophie. Bethany was still enchanting items in a caravan, items to protect the Centau
rs from a war horn's effects. She sent the others a good luck message as she continued her enchanting. Palisus stood waiting with Sophie, he bowed to Cain, dropping to his front knees, before standing.
"My lord Joseph, I left Stephanis with the females, with his mate and mine. There were six humans, priests of Erebus with Thaumas when I gave him the message from Dictyus. One of the humans with Thaumas spoke to me, he wanted to know why Dictyus only sent two warriors with the message. I told them because Dictyus sent half of his troops to see if they could find what happened to the large patrol.
"I told the human who was with Thaumas, Dictyus sent his best troops to see if it was those She-Devils as he thought it was them who killed the thirty strong party. We have seen glimpses of what we think are She-Devils, I told him as we journeyed to pass Dictyus' message on.
"The human seemed worried there were more She-Devils roaming around outside of the city walls. Another human came across, he spoke to the other human telling him it could only be a small handful from your forces and not to worry. When they spoke to each other they ignored me, like I was not there and could not speak their language.
"I heard as the priest who questioned me speak to Thaumas, the one they seek to kill journeyed with a handful of weak She-Devils. They are coming from Agiasobele with a caravan of goods to open the main trail. When he arrives in four or five days, your forces will find it easy to kill him and his weak women.
"They dismissed us but carried on speaking, they allowed us to visit our mates, our reward for bringing the message, a human priest said. All the females are angry, but like us men they get affected too by the war horns," As Palisus was talking, Bethany walked up and spoke to Cain, who broke into a smile at her news.
Cain asked Palisus if he knew how many females were being held captive. Palisus said, "Around three hundred females, according to my mate. They are the mates of around half of the married ones in the fighting herd, the other married Centaurs are there by choice. It is our females whom Thaumas holds captive which force our hands.
Forsaken 337 BC Page 32