Bloody Crucible- Lone Wolf

by E C Chii

  “No, you will only attack targets of opportunity where the risk of capture or death is low. Ordinarily, I would prefer you to only kill targets that have obvious and overt intentions of harming us and our interests. I don’t really intend for you to be a lone assassin or hit-woman. Who and what you are is your choice to be or become.”

  While this discussion, Frong had somehow worked some form of magic and finished a relatively well-made cotton shirt and pants. As he motioned to hand it out, all three women tried to bolt over and take the clothes. Several sharp barking insults between the women all in the Ghukliak language trying to get something others to let them have the clothing.

  “STOP!” Wolf shouted angrily. Forcing all three female goblins to instantly freeze.

  “You all need to get your shit together. Thrak, you get the first outfit. Frong you will get the next. Xen and then Dinish will get the ones after that. Lefful, as the leader your responsibility is first and foremost to see your subordinates have everything they need BEFORE you can get something. Is that clear?”

  To Wolf’s surprise all three managed to blush. For goblins, blushing was the sharp darkening of their face. Wolf figured that it was because their blood was black instead of red like his.

  Deciding to ensure that his instructions were understood, he repeated louder, “I asked, IS THAT CLEAR?”

  In unison all five goblins replied in Ghukliak, “YES!”

  Slightly irritated he added, “Also from this point forward the only language you will speak to others who do not know Ghukliak will be in common Algonan. Is that clear?”

  Again, all sounded in unison with “Yes!” Only this time it was in perfect Algonan.

  Looking on he saw that they were following his directions, “That’s what I thought”

  Chapter 26 – Oversight and Mistakes

  That night he set up a watch shifts. Each would be paired up in teams of two. One would walk the perimeter of the room, checking both blocked off entrances and ensuring that there was not a new tunnel broken open ever hour. Those on watch wore only their cotton clothing but wielded a small wooden round shield and carried a spear that almost all the goblins had. Xen and Frong had the first watch for three hours, followed by Dinish and Thrak, and concluding with Lefful and himself taking the last watch.

  The next day was already full and he couldn’t even start their training. They first needed to go out and scavenge anything and everything they could in the local area reuse or repurpose. Most importantly he needed to get thorough inventory of both what the goblins had, and himself. He wouldn’t be able to do this on his watch shift since he made it a strict rule that no personal activities could be performed while on duty. What he could do was teach Lefful about tactics and such when one of them was not on foot patrol, and that is just what he did.

  Slicing three to four-centimeter sections of one of the wooden spears, he had some solid cylinders to carve out figurines, and dice. To teach tactics he needed something he could tangibly see and touch. This would ensure that the information was properly transmitted to the student. Using one of his smaller knives he began to whittle the hunks of wood into figurines. Often, when he was on missions with the 799th. They would be forced to sit and wait in some far-flung areas, with no electricity for electronics. This forced each TRF member to pick up something low-tech to keep them busy while they were in the ‘hurry up and wait’ situations.

  Unfortunately, this new form he was forced into was not up to the same skill level as in the previous. The figurine he was attempting was intended to be a scutum shield. When he was finished it really could only be called a shield in the most literal sense. Though this one even poorly carved it would suit his purpose, he began carving the next. This time the shield came out much better than the last. He created six similar figures of three different types, a large heavy shield for standard infantry, an armored helmet for unmounted knights, and a large horseshoe for mounted cavalry. Each figure had some basic stats listed on them.

  The shift drug on slowly as he carved figurine after figurine. Some turned out quite well, while others not so much. When it was finally time for the pack to rise, he signaled for ‘Corporal Lefful’ to sound wake up, he giggled lightly as he covered the ears on top of his head. Hopefully his little wakeup call wouldn’t hurt his more sensitive ears. He watched her smile naughtily as she drew in a deep breath, placing a piece of carved wood to her lips and blew as hard as she could.

  A loud deafening whistle rang through the room disturbing the sleeping squad. Frong, Xen jumped to their feet, screaming and running around wildly. Dinish rolled to the left three times thinking she was about to be attacked, drawing a blade he didn’t know she even had. All the while Thrak lazily sat up, yawned, stretched and got ready like it was any other day. Watching this all unfold, Lefful and Wolf were rolling over the floor laughing, to Lefful this was the most hilarious thing she had ever seen or did in all her life. When Frong and Xen had calmed down, the perpetrators of this little wake up prank were laughing so hard they had tears streaking down their faces.

  Xen and Frong glared at them both, while Dinish only showed the slightest hint of annoyance. The only one not effected by the whole fiasco was Thrak, who seemed completely unfazed at all. Finally, when Wolf had recovered enough to talk without giggling too much, he addressed them.

  “Okay, so you got your introduction to reveille. As soon as we can get a bugle or something we will change it but until then remember. A single long burst is an immediate call to arms, what this means is that if you are not already in your armor with weapons in hand after five minutes, you are dead. Got it?” Wolf asked.

  “Alright first order of business. Each morning we will do what is called a formation.” Wolf looked over to Lefful as she marched sharply up to Thrak.

  She pulled and pushed him gently until he was in the proper position, then she pulled out a rock and scratched a line in front of his feet. She repeated this process with each until all four were lined up in a single rank. As soon as she was done she took position three steps in front of them stood with her heels together pointing out at a forty-five-degree angle fingers curled into a fist and placed at her sides.

  Wolf nodded at her in approval, before he addressed the others who were just standing around casually.

  “Alright pups, the position you are currently in is called the formation. You will assume this exact spot each morning we rise, if someone is missing you had better be able to tell your squad leader exactly where they are. The way Lefful is currently standing, is called the position of attention. Look at it and notice it in detail, as you will be doing it just the same as her. EXECUTE!”

  Again, uncertainty, and hesitation delayed most from acting. Thrak being the usual first to figure it out assumed the position he was instructed to, shortly followed by the rest. Wolf walked around the formation giving out pointers, correcting posture, and generally just refining the sloppiness of the goblins. When he felt that they just couldn’t get any better he walked forward and stood directly in front of Lefful.

  Snapping off a crisp salute and sounding off in a loud clear voice. “Wolf, your pack is assembled.”

  Wolf returned the salute just as crisply, “Take your position.”

  Lefful took a single step back, then pivoted on her right heel, and ball of her left foot turning sharply to the right and proceeded to walk toward her position. When she arrived, she placed her right foot just a few centimeters behind her left heel, and spun in controlled fashion until she was facing the same direction as the others. Once her movement was arrested, Wolf gave her a nod of approval. A brief smile splashed across her face slightly baring the tusks that jutted out from her lower jaw.

  “The next command I will give you is called ‘At-ease’. This command is to place you at a more relaxed position allowing you to bend your knees and generally not be as uncomfortable. When you receive this command, your feet will be placed at shoulder length apart, with your arms folded behind you. Watch my demonstra
tion.”

  Wolf proceeded to slowly demonstrate how he expected them to move. Demonstrating each, step slowly so they understood properly. Repeating the whole thing in a much faster pace he gave them the rundown of the first and most core aspect of the military life he had grown to know so well.

  Once they all understood the purpose and proper positioning for the command he ran them through transitioning between the two. Like all new recruits, they somehow made even the most simplistic and easiest of drill and ceremony look sloppy. When they stopped looking like a giant bowl of soup salad, he finished with them being in the ‘at ease’ position.

  “Alright troops. This is going to be the agenda for the day. We need a complete and total inventory of everything in the immediate area. Frong your task is to see what types of weapons and armor you repair, make or modify. That rotten garbage you were wearing is not going to be worn. So, make into something that is not a pile of rotting shit. I do not want any armor that will decay as that will spread disease. Work with Thrak as he is our Weapons master. His experience in battle and knowledge in weapons should help. Is that clear?”

  “Yes” Frong replied sharply

  “Dinish, you will be on patrol. If you see anything that could be valuable let Xen or one of the others know so they can harvest it. Primarily keep an eye out for anything that we can use as food. Alright, that’s it. Xen, you are with me after I give command back to Lefful. Any questions?”

  “Wolf, is there anything specific that you wish me to focus crafting? Weapons, armor, or auxiliary items?” Frong asked.

  “For now, let’s focus more on armor, depending on our food stock we will have ample time to either make or find better weapons for you all to use until then. Anything else?”

  With none speaking up he decided it would be good to end the formation and allow them to get on with their tasks.

  As they dispersed from the formation he called Lefful over to him.

  “Corporal, I made several figures I want look at and think about over the course of several days and tell me what you think they represent, your perceived strengths and weaknesses that they may have.” Wolf said as he handed her several figures each representing a different class of unit.”

  Lefful took these bone figures and stared at them intently. “Wolf, what are these?” she asked curiously.

  “These are the first few pieces of homework I am giving you. As you understand their strengths and weaknesses, I will give you other various pieces to do similar. Each piece is part of an ancient game played from my homeland and I will be teaching you this game over time. On the base of each will tells you how many spaces they can move in any given turn. Originally it was based off a game we called ‘Chess’.”

  “Okay, do I need to tell you what I think now, or do I have time to think about it?” Lefful asked.

  “Tell me what you think now and, later after you have had some time to think about it. If you still think your initial conclusions are still valid or not will determine when you get the next set.”

  Lefful stared long and hard at the three figures before her, and then turning them over several times.

  “It looks like they would all counteract each other. A knight would be strong against these spear wielding people while they would be strong against the mounted warriors who would in turn be strong against the knights.” Lefful answered confidently

  “Good, but that is only half the answer, the numbers at the base are their rates of movement which determines how fast or slow they move and at the rate which they become tired. The knight while an extremely formidable foe on the battlefield will tire quicker than the pike men due to their heavier armor and weapons. The mounted warriors while able to quickly move in and strike fast have their own weaknesses. They are lightly armored and are very vulnerable to a tight formation of spears, more so are they are dependent on a steady supply of food and fodder for their mounts. The logistics officer must plan and prepare for two mouths to feed as opposed to one. It is always something to think about when planning a campaign or expedition, an army will always march on its stomach. You have a mind for tactics and leadership, but all of that is a small part of the equation when leading. Camping an army or even a squad in an area that does not have a good supply of water, food or adequate shelter can and will defeat your men far quicker than any opposing enemy.”

  Lefful fell silent at the revelation that there were many more factors that a good leader must account for.

  “That is enough for now, take some time to think about how much resources that you would need to support an army of these different types of troops. This will assist you in figuring out how long we can stay here.” Wolf said as he walked away to find Xen patiently waiting for him.

  Lefful trotted off after the others in the squad leaving Xen and Wolf to their own devices.

  Starting off Wolf emptied his satchel and every other bag he owned at the makeshift supply depot that they had quickly put together near the ruined gate. Slowly and methodically he and Xen would go through each item and write it down on a sheaf of parchment that Wolf had bought before leaving the village. Wolf watched as Xen would write down the list of materials in Algonan as they went through each series of items. Continuing to watch he thought about the future of his pack and quickly decided he would be teaching them how to write things in English. That way any enemy who happens to get ahold of their documents would not be able to understand it. Better to start practicing good operational security at an early stage then try and make up for failing to practice it later.

  Several hours passed while they did their inventory. Most of the time was spent organizing everything into an orderly and logical fashion so that it could be better accounted for and used more effectively.

  As they were just over three quarters through the inventory did Wolf’s stomach let out a loud whine followed by a deep gurgling indicating that his stomach was not happy with its lack of being fed this morning nor seeing lunch for a protracted time that day. Thinking to himself he realized that none of the goblins had breakfast either and were likely just as hungry. Waiting for Xen to finish counting the items she was currently working on he called her to halt. Once she had finished she walked over.

  “What’s wrong Wolf?”

  “Several things, first being that I am hungry. The second being that I don’t remember you or any of the others eating, and third that the squad leader didn’t come up to me and tell me that such a thing had been overlooked.” Wolf said with a frown mentally admonishing himself.

  With a dejected breath, he told Xen, “Go get Corporal Lefful please.” While motioning for her to hand him the sheaves of paper she was working on. Knowing that with the size of the cavern or room they were currently calling home, it would take at least ten to twenty minutes to find her and report back if she wasn’t slacking off. With that final thought he began to look over everything that was already done and see what he was working with.

  List of food stock that they had painted a rather dismal picture. With six of them to support they would only have about two weeks’ worth; one month if they rationed properly. Sitting on a larger stone that was blown off in the explosion at the gate he thought to himself. Two weeks was not long enough to properly train them into a functional unit and that didn’t include the time they may need to move through whatever this structure was. Hard decisions were needing to be made in this regard.

  When Xen and Corporal Lefful arrived, he put on his Drill Sergeant demeanor and glowered at Corporal Lefful.

  Taking the cue from his demeanor Corporal Lefful snapped to the position of attention and rendered a salute. “Corporal Lefful reporting as ordered Wolf.”

  Taking no pleasure in the scolding he was about to dish out as he was as at much fault as she was he rendered a return salute and spoke, “Corporal, you have failed your comrades. One of the basic tenants of being a leader is the welfare of your charges. In this case your squad. You failed to inform me that none of your subordinates had received thei
r morning meals and as such are likely very hungry. You will coordinate with Quartermaster Xen to get mid-day meal prepared for the squad. As a method of punishment both me and yourself will not be participating in this meal since it is our fault that this oversight has occurred. Do you have any questions?”

  Lefful was clearly unhappy with the scolding and frowned as a result, but stayed silent.

  Unsatisfied with the silence Wolf urged her to speak in a softer tone, “I too made this mistake and like you will not be partaking in the mid-day meal as recompense. Being a leader is not an easy job, nor does it receive any thanks when you do it right. It is both the hardest and rewarding job that exists. When your subordinates succeed, you succeed. When your subordinates fail…you fail. If you see a better way, remember something a superior forgets, or believe a decision that your superior is making is wrong or foolish. It is your duty to inform them. We are all mortal and flawed creatures; we are not perfect, so we will miss things. Do not be afraid to give or receive advice in the future as it will both develop yourself but also those who serve under you. Now go see that your squad gets fed. Dismissed”