by Ryan Evans
The trip north was quiet. The long grasses provided cover, and thankfully, we encountered no new threats. Everyone had a lot to process since we’d engaged the enemy and seen what they would do to us if they had a chance. While all the villagers were dead when we arrived, several of their wounds pointed to a gruesome end. If we found ourselves faced with a losing battle, none of us wanted to be taken alive.
Just like the previous village, we arrived to another burned ruin of what once was. Unlike earlier in the day, they had already cleaned this village out. There were no bodies or bones. Only rusted tools and burned timber remained. Afraid of what we would find, I ordered the squad south to Vega Point.
We traveled parallel to the small road leading away from the village. If the enemy was near, we wouldn’t make it easy for them to find us. As we moved towards the town, I thought about what might await us. While the two villages were only big enough for between one and two hundred, Vega Point housed nearly one thousand beast-kind. If the saurians could sack such a place, the only explanation would be their unifying into a sizable force.
We reached the cleared area near the town as the sun was setting. I’d expected a charred graveyard like the two villages we’d seen previously. Instead, we found a town actively under siege. Vega Point was large enough for a palisade and a single gate. The gate was closed and saurians had spread out around it looking to gain entrance.
I decided that we needed to gather more information before we proceeded. There was an enormous amount of noise, chaos and movement as the saurians tried to get into the town. I wasn’t afraid of our being discovered on the edge of the tall grasses. The only thing that might ruin our hiding spot was if the saurians had posted patrols in the area. Based on what I was seeing before me, I highly doubted that they had.
We slowly circled the cleared zone around the town. At a rough guess, there were upwards of eight hundred saurians encircling the town. They maintained no formation or discipline we could see. Occasionally a group would try to scale the walls, and arrows or spears would stop them from gaining purchase. There was no discernable rhyme or reason to their actions, but after some time watching them, it was clear that they were receiving direction from somewhere.
Luck was on our side as, in the jumbled press of bodies, a central nucleus became visible. A circle of six brutes seemed to be guarding someone. While other saurians would approach the group, they never split up or allowed anyone beyond their perimeter. I decided that we’d stay at the edge of the clearing and continue observing them. We couldn’t do anything to break the siege at present, but we couldn’t leave either. It would take several hours to reach our force, and I was sure that, by the time we returned with help, the saurians would have broken through already. If there was a chance we could help even some of the townspeople, we had to stay and try.
It was full dark when we got our opportunity. We’d been keeping the brute bodyguards and their charges in view for hours. After a time, we saw there were two brutes and a chirper within the circle of guards that seemed to be directing the others. The only difference between them and the rest of the troops were strange white necklaces they wore.
We brainstormed various plans to neutralize the three and their bodyguards, but couldn’t come up with a plan that didn’t include our being ripped apart. We were too badly outnumbered. Nothing we thought of gave us even a remote shot at success.
About the time I had given up on doing anything but alerting our main force, a commotion broke out at the front gates. Arrows and javelins rained down on the besieging saurians from the gates, causing the entire force to charge the offending section of defenses. Whatever had happened pushed the enemy into finishing the stalemate.
While the main force was busy focusing on a blind assault of the town’s gates, the saurian leadership gravitated away from the danger and stood apart from the battle. The other saurians were so intent on breaking the gate they didn’t even look back towards the group of leaders and their guards. They’d transformed into a rabid mob.
Taking the development as our only chance to make a difference, I ordered the squad to follow me towards the enemy at a quick jog. I used hand signals to give directions as we neared our targets. Upon our arrival, several soldiers moved to the guards behind and to the side of the three leaders and slit their throats or stabbed them through the chest with their short swords. While the soldiers dispatched the guards, Sergeant Iglias and I darted into the center of the circle to fell the three saurian leaders.
My plan wasn’t perfect, but it was all I could think of in such a short window. The soldiers accomplished their tasks flawlessly, and I killed a brute and chirper leader while Sergeant Iglias took down the other brute.
The front two guards had been our biggest vulnerability. They weren’t reachable until we dispatched the others. Upon hearing the sounds behind them, they turned to see what was happening. As they did, soldiers stepped forward and finished the two before they got their bearings or raised an alarm.
I snatched up one of the strange necklaces and was about to order the squad back to the grass line when a saurian at the gate turned and saw us standing over their dead leaders. The world froze momentarily as all of us tensed and prepared to run. We wouldn’t be able to outrun them unless we shifted, but that would leave my squad exhausted and unarmored after their time was spent. Saurians were natural hunters, and they’d track our scent even after the three or four hour shift duration of my troops.
I readied myself to command my troops to shift. I would change forms as soon as I gave the order and hold off the enemy for the several minutes my team would need. Blaring horns sounded from within the town palisade just as I was about to commit to my decision. At the same time, the gates were pushed open roughly from the inside. The gates caught the saurians looking in our direction unaware and knocked several off balance. Soldiers dressed in imperial colors burst through the opening portal, striking down the disoriented saurians around them.
The bravery of the imperial soldiers impressed me as they quickly cut down the attackers in front of them even though I thought it was the wrong move. Now that the gates were open, I expected the saurians to swarm the new threat and gain entry into the town. After all, they still had a huge numerical advantage. If I was going to make a last stand such as that, it would have been in beast form.
Instead of attacking the opened gates, some of those closest to the melee broke and ran for the long grass. The entire battlefield shuttered and paused for a split second before all the saurians in front of the soldiers tried to run from the force emerging out of the gate. The chaos and press of saurian bodies added to the loss of morale as more soldiers appeared and more of the enemy died or fled from the field. It quickly became a full route.
For a brief moment, I was happy, but then I noticed that many of the retreating saurians were heading right towards us. I ordered the squad into a circle formation with Sergeant Iglias and myself inside to provide support for any breaches in the shield wall. Even a small fraction of the incoming horde was enough to wash us away in a wave of bodies, and they’d be upon us too quickly for my soldiers to make the change and retreat. I need not have worried as, after a few saurians died by our swords, the rest ran around us.
Looking at the necklace I’d taken from the dead saurian leader, I knew we shouldn’t have survived this battle. Now that the danger was past, I collected the other two pieces of jewelry from the ground. As I slipped the strange pieces around my neck and under my armor, I tried to make sense of what had just happened. I was missing some part of the puzzle.
As soon as we had killed their leadership, the slightest risk of death had caused the saurian horde to turn and run. I’d have to think more on what I’d just witnessed later. Right now, I needed to get my soldiers to safety before the saurians reorganized and returned.
Chapter 13
The imperial soldiers in front of the gate moved in five soldier teams, stabbing the saurians lying around the palisade to make sure th
ey were dead. By the occasional hiss or growl, the detail was warranted. I even saw several saurians stand and make a run for the tall grass.
It was odd for imperial troops to be in a town this small so far from the fort, but the townspeople owed their lives to their presence. I had no doubt that the enemy would have easily breached the simple palisade without their support.
As we approached, it became obvious that an evacuation was being organized. Townspeople were right inside the gates holding on to possessions and children. Soldiers were preparing a formation that surrounded the townspeople for protection as best they could. From what I could see, upwards of nine hundred civilians were being guarded by no more than one hundred imperial soldiers.
“Who’s in charge here?” I asked one of the imperial soldiers by the gate. The boy, who couldn’t have been over sixteen, had a wild fear in his eyes and didn’t seem to know whether to answer me or not. It was clear by his expression that this siege had taken a toll on him.
Before I could repeat my question, Sergeant Iglias had enough of my being ignored. “A noble and an officer just asked you a question, soldier. You’ll do well to find your military bearing and answer him,” he said in a menacing tone I’d heard countless times during my training. It seemed to snap the soldier out of his fog, and he turned his head towards the town gates.
I assumed that he would point at his commanding officer while saying their name. As I turned my head to see who he’d point at, a firm female voice answered for him. “I’m Lady Kyla Cruento. Last time I checked, I was in charge here. Who are you?”
I looked at the woman who’d just answered standing only five steps in front of me. She was nearly my height with a slim but fit figure and red hair pulled back into a ponytail behind her head. Her eyes were a deep green color that seemed to change shades in the light of the surrounding torches.
She wore the imperial rank of captain and a falcon emblem above it. The falcon marked her as a member of the imperial knighthood, an elite group of officers dedicated to protecting the royal family and other high profile nobility. If she was a knight, it meant that she was among the strongest nobles of the empire.
Despite her being a knight, she looked to be barely older than me. It spoke volumes about her strength that she’d attained such an honor so early in her career. Even with her dirt and gore smeared face and clothing, I found her strikingly beautiful.
Unfortunately, her name sent a cold shiver down my spine. I’d grown up an orphan and didn’t care about any rivalries or grudges between noble families, but that would not be the case for the woman before me. The captain would have grown up with her family history forming the cornerstone of her education. Having a member of a long thought extinct rival family turn up before her might cause problems.
It took only a moment for me to process everything and come to a decision. Colonel Karsam had charged me with presenting my full name, and I wouldn’t hide my heritage. “I’m Lieutenant Valian Fero of Silvanti House,” I replied standing tall.
My squad tensed at my response and stood ready for action behind me. No doubt, they’d been waiting to see how I would give my name since the captain introduced herself. Their willingness to follow me to whatever end I faced gave me a sense of pride.
To Lady Kyla’s credit, she only froze in place for a couple of heartbeats before she continued as if I hadn’t just told her something seemingly impossible. “Well Lieutenant, I’m in the process of evacuating the town. I assume your house army is nearby?” she asked in a slightly shocked tone.
“My squad and I were tasked with scouting for enemy activity around the town. Our main force of three hundred continued towards Fort Granas. They are several hours ahead of us on the main road. If we travel through the night, we should have no trouble catching up to them,” I said in a professional tone, as if giving a report to one of my commanding officers. The last thing we needed was tension between us if we were to save any of the townspeople.
She thought about the information I’d given her for a few moments before answering. Marching during the night made us a huge target for the saurians. They had much better night vision compared to our human forms. On the other hand, the enemy probably wouldn’t stay broken for long before they reorganized. There were simply too many left in the area.
“Very well, we’ll begin moving within the hour to meet Silvanti House’s troops. Three hundred won’t be enough to hold off the numbers we’ve seen here, but it will help. With luck, they’ll be busy reorganizing until we make the fort,” she said as much to herself as to me.
“I see several of your soldiers bear scratches and bandages. Are those wounds from this fight?” she asked as she assessed the squad at my back.
“No ma’am. We circled around and checked the nearby villages before coming to Vega Point. One of the villages still had saurians mutilating the corpses of their victims. We stopped them and put the dead to rest, though there were no survivors,” I said, some of my anger bleeding into my voice. She didn’t even seem phased by my reaction and nodded her understanding.
“Tend to any wounds your people might have and rest while you can. When we move out, you and your squad are leading the way,” she said as she turned back towards the town where most all the civilians were waiting to travel. Even though the situation was dire, I caught myself staring at her figure as she walked away. Sergeant Iglias clearing his throat snapped me out of my distraction, and I turned back to lead the squad towards where the road disappeared into the long grasses. If we were to rest, it wouldn’t be near so many dead bodies. We wouldn’t make Karsam’s deadline of midnight, but if we could help protect these civilians, it would be worth his anger.
True to her word, the gaggle of townspeople moved out within the hour. They didn’t march in formation, but their faces were determined and their pace was quick. Every beast-kind was a survivor at heart no matter their station in life. These people had few weapons between them, but if the saurians attacked us, I had no doubt that every one of the townspeople would shift and fight to the death.
I led five soldiers, including Sergeant Iglias, down the middle of the road within view of the main formation. The other two sergeants divided the rest of the squad into scouting groups to range ahead and shadow the formation on either side in the long grass. We didn’t have the numbers to stop an attack, but, hopefully, we’d be able to alert everyone of an ambush before it happened.
We marched through the night. Though we stopped several times for the townspeople to rest, I estimated that we’d still traveled nearly as fast as the Silvanti force had been traveling towards the fort. After a time, the pace showed in the stooped posture and grim faces of the townspeople. As the sun lightened the horizon, it was with a glad heart I saw the main road leading to Fort Granas.
I guessed that the Silvanti House troops had traveled four or five more hours before stopping the previous night. If my assumption was correct, they would only be an hour or two ahead of us after our nighttime travel. If I ran ahead and alerted the formation of the current situation, I hoped we could bring the townspeople under our protection with little delay. We were only two days from Fort Granas after all. If the ancestors were smiling on us, we might even be able to get there without being attacked again.
“Sergeant Iglias, you have command of the men until I return. Switch the soldiers’ assignments as you see fit, but continue our current formation. If the saurians attack, fall in with the imperials and defend the townspeople as best you can,” I ordered as I checked my pack to make sure everything was secured for my run.
He nodded his understanding, and I began jogging. It was highly irregular for an officer to act as a runner or messenger, but time was of the essence, and there were other things to consider. I could have sent Tristan as he was the fastest from among our class. I knew he could reach the formation in plenty of time, but I didn’t trust the other officers not to convince Colonel Karsam to keep going without waiting.
It was unthinkable that the hous
e army might not try to protect innocent townspeople from being butchered, but it could very well be the reality. House armies were trained and maintained for their own interests. From what I’d seen before the battle academy, there were plenty of groups that would balk at the idea of putting themselves at risk with nothing to gain their houses. The campaign was an imperial requirement, but we weren’t considered a part of it until we reached Fort Granas and presented ourselves to the imperial representative there.
Pushing away my thoughts, I focused on running. Now that I had gone through my awakening, I could access my full potential. At the battle academy, it was as if I had another level I could never touch. Now, I could put my full effort into running and hold nothing back. A part of me even wanted to shift and run, but I shrugged the thought off as overkill. They were only a couple of hours ahead, my beast form wasn’t needed.
My stride ate up the distance quickly, and it wasn’t long before I was past where I should have met up with the rear guard of the formation. An ominous feeling took hold as I saw none of the patrol that should have been on the trail. My unease only grew as I caught the scent of smoke on the breeze coming from somewhere nearby. Redoubling my efforts, I ran down the trail as fast as I could.
I stopped in my tracks a short time later. I stood at the edge of what had once been Silvanti House’s campsite. The smoke I smelled was from burning wagons and tents. The entire campsite was in disarray, and there were dead bodies everywhere.
As I walked into the ravaged camp, I noticed several soldiers sitting near a campfire. Some were armored, but some only wore under clothes and had the fatigued look of those who’d recently shifted forms. All of them looked as if they’d already given up. Every one of them had some degree of damage to their bodies. Some were bandaged and others bled freely. The only common thing about them were the hopeless expressions on their faces.