His men had been ready to pull triggers for ages before Adrian fired. When he did, they all jerked the trigger in reflex. Men were falling, jumping for the woods, taking cover behind men in front of them while they tried to figure out what to do. Men were screaming and bleeding. Men were fumbling for their rifles and two or three men tried to return fire. All in the space of a second. The first volley ripped bullets through chests and heads and legs.
Adrian carefully aimed and squeezed off two more shots, hitting his targets each time. Now it was time for Adrian to see to his men. He couldn’t carry this battle on his own, though he could do one hell of a lot of damage. What he could do best now was show these men how to vanquish their enemy. He moved along the line from man to man, watching each man as he chose a target and fired. Adrian gave pats on the back and words of encouragement. He had no intention of trying to embarrass or correct any of these men at this moment, unless one of them was over the edge with panic. Even then, a few encouraging words, a reminder on the meaning of the acronym brass, and a pat on the back would do more good than anything else at a moment like that.
His men were pouring a slow and lethal fire into Wolfgang’s men. They were doing as told, taking their time, and shooting with deadly efficiency. Wolfgang’s men had moved into the forest edge on both sides of the road. They were panicked, and their bullets were mostly flying high, thudding into trees and breaking off limbs over the heads of Adrian’s men. Wolfgang was taking a beating. Adrian had held one group back as a quick strike team in the event that Wolfgang tried a flanking movement. It would have been a good move on his part, but unless his men were trained in combat maneuvers, it would have been difficult to carry off. There was also the element of time. Darkness would be descending soon. Wolfgang didn’t have a lot of time to experiment, so Adrian made the choice to move the strike force to the front line.
Adrian knew that Wolfgang had two other options: a full frontal assault or retreat back to the cabins. A full frontal assault would be disastrous against the withering fire Adrian’s men were putting into their opponents, and he doubted that Wolfgang could persuade his men to even try it. Withdrawal was probably only moments away. Adrian moved up and down the line, warning his men to stay in position no matter what came next. Under no circumstances was any man to try and follow a retreat. He didn’t want to lose his men due to stupidity. They had won two major encounters today without a single injury so far. They had put a frightful hurting on the enemy. Being too greedy wasn’t going to win this war—intelligence was.
Adrian had been constantly on the watch for a shot at Wolfgang, but the man had stayed completely out of sight. As he watched, Wolfgang’s men began a slow disengagement. The men in front were pulling back from tree to tree while the men in back gave covering fire. Adrian’s men were still shooting effectively. Once the battle had stabilized they had gotten into a very good rhythm of fire. They couldn’t have done better. Within twenty minutes from the first shot, the firing had trickled to a stop. Adrian checked his men—two minor injuries. He sent scouts out to check the camp perimeter and report back. Adrian walked carefully through the woods where Wolfgang’s men had taken cover. They hadn’t taken their dead with them, and had left two critically wounded, dying in the dirt. Pulling out his pistol he shot them in the head. He had no way to take care of prisoners. He counted the bodies. Thirteen dead, no telling how many wounded. “Excellent. Just beautifully excellent. These are some fighting sons-of-bitches.”
He went back to his men. “Gather round, men. I shot two wounded men. We can’t take prisoners, we can’t keep prisoners, we can’t guard prisoners, we can’t feed prisoners, and we can’t turn enemies loose to ambush us later. There will be no prisoners. This is a war to the complete death of every single enemy. Does anyone want to talk about it? If you know of a way to do this better, I am listening.”
There were several seconds of silence as the men looked at each other or Adrian or down at their feet. It was not something they had contemplated, and they didn’t like it. But it was reality.
“I don’t like it either, but remember, you didn’t ask these assholes to attack your village or kill and eat people. They get what they deserve—death. Remember that they won’t treat you any differently, except they may let you lie there and die slowly, then roast you for dinner.
We’ll be moving all night. You men have performed so much better than I could have dreamed of… there are no words to tell you how proud I am of you. I would be happy to lead you men into hell and take on the devil himself. What you have done in one day is impossible, yet I watched you do it. Now it’s time to dig deep and find the resolve to keep at it. Tomorrow has more bad things in store for Wolfgang. I think I know what his next move will be, but I’m not sure of the exact direction it will come from.”
Chapter 23
“THINK LIKE HE DOES. FIGURE out what he will have to do next. He knows only one way to survive—taking from others. He doesn’t have the skills to be self-sufficient. He has the skills to brutalize and steal. He has always been a wolf among sheep. Now he is faced with a simple problem—how to neutralize a superior force. And we, men, are that force.
“My thought is that he will try to work his way behind us and get into the village, take the village hostage, and demand our surrender. He kills three birds with one stone. He secures food, neutralizes our fighting ability, and creates a secure base. His old base is no longer tenable.
“Here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll post lookouts near his camp to watch for his departure, which I think will come at about three this morning because he will want to sneak past us in the dark and arrive at dawn. We will post scouts across the areas that he is most likely to travel. Scouts will have a central return point to report to. First sign of movement, and once they know his men’s direction, and the scout rushes back to us so we can move into ambush position. We’ll need scouts to continue to watch them in case they change direction, so scouts will be in pairs—one to report and one to continue to track their direction.
This means we’ll largely be scattered out in the forest without communication. The camp scouts will stay in position until Wolfgang has moved out. The scouts in the forest will return after daybreak to the rendezvous point. Keep your ears open for gunfire. If you hear gunfire, move towards it immediately, come around from the south side, our side, and join in the fight. Night fighting is extremely difficult; I know you’re thinking about that. Just remember, it is as hard on them as it is on you, so it equalizes out and you remain the superior force.”
Adrian then assigned men to scout duty and told them where to position themselves. Over half the men were involved in the scouting, leaving a small strike force to respond to the eventual incoming information. He was aware that this small group would have to hold all of Wolfgang’s men at bay until the rest of the men returned to the battle. It worried him, but the camp was not a good target to attack. Wolfgang would hole up in the cabins and any attempt to attack across open ground would incur too many casualties. Setting the cabins on fire would expose the men to counterattack, because Wolfgang would be waiting for some such tactic.
The best bet would be to locate them on the move in the forest, get ahead of them in a good spot, and repeat the drubbing they had already given them once. This time, their forces would be reduced to the point that pursuing them through the woods, although extremely dangerous, would be necessary. Otherwise the survivors would be able to regroup yet again and find another opportunity to attack the village. They would inevitably be drawn back by the promise of food, the only large supply they knew of. There were three tribes in the area they could attack, each one an opportunity for food, and probably they would attack them before taking on the village. Once scattered out they would be hard to locate and destroy.
After the scouts had departed, Adrian gathered the remaining men. “Try to rest. If you can sleep, do so. I don’t think we’ll be here more than a few hours before we are hustling to a new location, so while
we are waiting, rest. Soldiers learn quickly to eat and sleep when they can.”
As the men rested, Adrian sat and waited. Waiting made him edgy. He was restless, willing the action to come but hoping it could be held until daylight when they would be able to see. Night fighting with untrained men and no communication was a bad proposition, perhaps unavoidable, but not something these men were really ready or equipped for. The fairly strong moonlight would help, but perhaps not enough.
His thoughts drifted to Alice. He had felt her presence with him—nothing supernatural but still real to him—he had felt her until the moment he almost died himself. Her presence had been strongest as he was dying. But since awakening in a rage he hadn’t felt her, not until he saw the hostages at the camp. As soon as he saw the hostages, the feeling of her had come roaring back. He was aware that he could now think of her without shutting down. The pain was still there, but buried deeper and a tiny bit muted. That ache would never go away, but he could tell that it would decrease until he could live with it. It was the first time he had begun to believe that paint might level off; Roman had been right again.
Adrian was also aware that he had rediscovered a talent for leading men into battle, training them, and teaching them how to fight. The pride he felt in these men was a strong emotion, one of deep satisfaction. He was beginning to realize that perhaps his mission in life was to help people defend themselves. Organizing and training and leading them as conditions warranted. His thoughts cast back to the Palo Duro Canyon and the group he had found there. In a very short time he had led them from despair and starvation to a functioning tribe with hope and direction and a future. He had felt pride in the accomplishment at the time, but it had been overwhelmed by bitter sorrow.
He also recognized that he had left Fort Brazos with a death wish. It wasn’t that he had wanted to explore, but that he had gone seeking death, the only release from the pain he could think of. It explained his immediate attack on the grizzly bear with only a flint-tipped spear. It explained his continued risk of the guerrilla warfare he employed against Wolfgang. As long as it was just him and Wolfgang, that could have gone on for a long time. Seeing the hostages had changed that. Seeing them had snapped him back to himself. He had, for the briefest of moments, resented the hostages for taking away his game. But realization that it wasn’t their fault, and that his game had been one of selfish meanness, had swiftly overcome it. Adrian came to the full realization that his actions against Wolfgang and his men had been over the border of sanity. He was almost repulsed by his own actions against these men; almost but not quite. They had deserved that treatment and worse. Seeing now what he was capable of descending to shook him up badly.
His thoughts returned to the upcoming battle. He was confident that they could win, destroy the enemy, and bring an end to the threat. His concern was for his men. Leading them into the battle without losing any of them was his goal. These men had shown extraordinary courage, and would be forever changed by this day. They were good men, the kind this world needed now in the worst kind of way. When this was over, he might head back home, secure in the knowledge that these men would protect their village against all enemies in the future. They would have discipline and order and, most importantly, experience. They had received an overnight instruction in how to fight effectively. He had two missions: destroy Wolfgang with these men while trying to keep them safe from harm. It was a tall order.
One of the camp scouts returned at four in the morning. “They snuck out an hour ago, took a course to the Southwest. They started off following the draw that leads down the mountain. I followed a little ways to make sure.”
Another scout came in, one that had been posted to the Southwest. “They’re coming, slowly, but coming down the draw.”
”Take two men and gather the rest of the scouts back in,” Adrian ordered the scouts. “Tell them to meet us on the south side of the meadow with the big rock in the middle. I think they’ll be coming that way. Quickly, we don’t have much time. The rest of you, follow me. Tell the scouts to use the password.”
Adrian led the men to the meadow and put them in position. “Do not fire until I do. Fire as quickly as you can get on a target. We want to kill as many as we can before they run away, which I believe they will. I won’t shoot until the very last possible second.”
They had been in position for a nerve wracking forty minutes before they spotted movement. The men were alert and nervous, but more confident than before. The moon was at its apex and the light was as good as it was going to get that night. Adrian was grateful for no cloud cover. This mission would have been impossible in complete darkness. He checked each man once more, giving words of individual encouragement and reminders to fire as rapidly as accuracy allowed.
Adrian watched as the remaining mobile men of Wolfgang’s group finally entered the moonlit meadow. A tactical mistake made by rank amateurs. They had been in the dark forest for so long that he knew they felt relief to be out where they could see again. They had no idea that they had just walked into their own death trap. Instead they thought they had gone around the threat. Adrian waited while they came across the meadow towards him. They were strung out, moving slowly and talking quietly now and then. They had nearly zero battle discipline. The smart move would have been to avoid the meadow and stay in the forest, maneuvering around its edge. These men were not soldiers, they were thugs that had banded together out of convenience. They were not a unit, they were individuals working together in a rough fashion. Their leader was a brutish psychopath and not very smart. Adrian’s main fear now was that they would scatter before being killed, making them difficult to locate and finish off.
He waited and watched as they came closer. He waited until they all passed the big rock and were almost on top of him, then he fired at the man farthest back, hoping it was Wolfgang. The meadow’s south edge erupted in gunfire. Several of the scouts were still out, but Adrian knew they would be close by. They would hear the gunfire and come up behind them. He had alerted his men to this fact, to be extremely careful of shooting at anyone behind the opposing side. “Even if a few get behind us,” he had warned, “they won’t be much of a threat. Better to let them go and find them later than to shoot one of our own. Not an ideal situation, but it’s the best we can do right now.”
The men fired steadily, knocking down the men in the meadow quickly. Two made it back into the forest and disappeared. The shooting stopped. It had only lasted a minute. His men were deadly fighters. He called them together, took a head count, and checked for injuries. One more gunshot wound, serious but not life threatening. It was the only damage. Adrian was extraordinarily relieved. All of the scouts were back; the full contingent was in place.
“All right ,men, good job. Damn good job. Return to the village, post guards around the perimeter. This war is over. There are two men that got away and I am willing to bet Wolfgang was one of them. I’m going after him. I need one volunteer to go with me, to help watch my back.” Every man quickly raised his hand, including the two wounded soldiers.
“That’s the spirit. That’s what I love about you, men. You’ve got guts like I’ve never seen!” Every chest swelled with pride. General Bear, as they had taken to calling him privately, was proud of them. They admired everything about him, would lay their lives down for him, and he was telling them he loved them. Their spirits lifted higher than they had ever experienced, victorious in battle twice in twenty-four hours, adrenaline still surging. They had become warriors with the best war leader ever, and they loved him in the way men love each other in times of war.
Adrian picked one man, the one that scouted the camp and returned first. He had shown initiative twice and was fast on his feet, so he had the best chance of keeping up with Adrian. “Come on, we have to move fast. I’ve a hunch as to where they will be going and if I’m right we can cut them off. You men finish off any survivors, collect any useful guns and ammo, and return to the village. Tomorrow take half the men and go to their
camp and finish of the wounded ones. It’s a hard duty to kill those men, but it’s what has to be done. Make sure you choose men who have the ability to live with it the rest of their lives. We’ll be back in a few days.” Adrian quickly checked the bodies, looking for Wolfgang, and wasn’t surprised to find him missing. With that, they disappeared into the dark forest.
Chapter 24
THEY TRAVELLED THROUGH THE DARK forest at a fast walk, heading at an angle off from the meadow. Greg asked, “Where do you think they’re going?”
“Remember that small tribe about ten miles northwest of the camp? I’m sure Wolfgang knows of it. It’s as far from the village as he can get right now and still be in territory he knows. My hunch is he will head there, take over the tribe by killing the leader, and take their food. He’ll rest there for a couple of days while deciding what to do next. We want to get there ahead of him.”
As the sun came up they traveled faster, moving at double-time. They didn’t stop to rest. They moved relentlessly forward across the rough terrain. Wolfgang had a head start, but Adrian thought he could travel faster. Wolfgang would stop to rest occasionally; he wouldn’t know that he needed to hurry. Adrian wouldn’t stop and knew where he was going. He intended to get ahead of them, find a likely ambush spot, and finish them off once and for all. It wasn’t rocket science, but it was hard work, and required determination. Assuming Wolfgang did as Adrian thought he would, the plan would work.
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