Awaken: Book 1 (Chronicles of Ghost Company)

by Shawn Muller

  “No they haven’t. So, for now we have the upper hand. And so far all is running as expected.”

  This left her perplexed as to what we had planned for the next few days.

  Soon we were on our horses again, heading slightly east towards the distant boundary of the battlefield. Dusk came, and eventually we settled down for the night, both man and horse weary from the long day’s ride. I estimated we were almost halfway across the battlefield. Tomorrow we would have to proceed with more caution so as not to be spotted by the enemy. Sometime during the day Tachojay would lead his scouts out ahead of us to make visual contact with the enemy army. From there our plan would swing into action.

  We broke camp before sunrise the next day, starting off with hard riding to try gain time catching up to Prince Owyne’s army. My spies reported that they were still marching steadily west, but by nightfall they would turn due south. We only had a short stop at noon, more to water the horses than for ourselves. I sent Tachojay and his squad of scouts out ahead of us once we were on our way again. I didn’t want to run into the enemy until I chose to. Later in the afternoon, I led the troops into a gentle walk, fearing that any hard riding would raise clouds of dust for the enemy to spot. In the far distance, north of us, were their dust clouds. Tachojay came back as the sun was beginning to set over the horizon. Prince Owyne’s scouts were worried more by what was ahead of them than what was on their flanks. We had very little risk of being spotted, for now.

  “I have Deez hiding in his ghillie suit watching them from a hill. So far they are not stopping for the night. I suggest we stick off the hills and rather hide behind them until it is darker,” Tachojay advised.

  “Good idea. Tonight we initiate operation Low Blow,” I told him and Max.

  Both commanders nodded and left to spread the word. We led the horses by foot now, finding a large, grassy hill about five kilometres away from the opposing army’s route. Here we picketed the horses and began to prepare for the evening operation.

  The rangers, led by Tachojay and Deez, changed into black leather armour over soft, black clothing. Their daggers and swords were sheathed in black leather, the blades painted with black enamel as well. Charcoal dust was smeared over faces and exposed skin, making them all pitch black and difficult to spot at night. The rest of us readied our weapons, making sure our armour was tight, blades sharp and only what was needed for the mission was with us. All the spares were loaded onto the spare horses, which were led away by three men who would meet us at the rendezvous point. We also covered ourselves with ghillie suits and war paint before settling down to wait for the darkest time of the night. We ate a cold supper, keeping all noise to a bare minimum. The scouts on the hills took turns to come down and rest while their replacements crawled up with their ghillie suits to keep an eye on the enemy camp. The hours dragged by as the enemy camp slowly settled down for the night, the cooking and heating fires slowly dying down.

  Eventually I gave the order and we quietly moved out, leaving the horses behind under the watch of three other soldiers. Two more would keep watch on the hills as we carried out the mission. Mia, dressed in her black cloak, joined the guards on the hill where she could keep an eye on us without hindering us. The camp was maybe six kilometres away from us, which made it a fairly long walk in the dark. Tachojay and Deez ranged far ahead of us, with Li and Bruce acting as the guides, showing us the best paths to follow. About five hundred metres away, we halted, lying in the grass so we could watch the sentries walk their patrols.

  Security was lax – one guard walked on patrol while two others seem to be playing a dice game by a fire. We were approaching the camp from the east, heading for the supply wagons. If anything, the amount of security should be the heaviest there. Our spies were waiting for us among the wagons of supplies, ready to help us with the mission. First, Tachojay, Li and Deez slipped close to the three guards, eliminating them before they even knew what was happening. This left the entire east side open for us to exploit. The spies then led the rangers through the camp to where the Elves were camped, on the southern side. The rest of us spread out among the wagons, sabotaging water barrels by knocking holes in them, taking oil and pouring it over the food wagons and out the camp so that we could light it as we left, damaging axels and wheels where we could. If somebody began to stir, we simply slit their throats in their sleep. We also poured oil over the weapon supply carts, hoping to damage them enough to severely hamper the enemy.

  An hour later, the three men slipped back among us, the spies nowhere to be seen. I motioned for us to pull back and we slowly disappeared back towards the horses. I was the last to leave and grabbed a stick from the dead guard’s fire and tossed it on the line of oil we had poured. With an audible whoosh, it caught and immediately a flame raced off back down the line towards the wagons. I did not wait to see if they would catch fire. The destruction of the supply wagons was just the bonus mission. As I reached the apex of the hill, the first wagon went up in flames, igniting a pot of oil that caused it to explode. This woke the enemy camp to a mass of confusion as the other wagons began to catch fire, each one exploding as the oil pots we had placed in them exploded, sending burning debris over the panicking soldiers. The last scout and I hurried off the hill and mounted our horses before joining the rest of the company to head off to our rendezvous point.

  By mid-morning, we had arrived at a small hillock with a small copse of trees at its base. We had a hasty meal before catching a brief rest. Thackeray contacted our spies, who confirmed that the mission had been a success.

  “Gather around, men,” I said.

  “Thackeray has just informed me that Operation Low Blow was a success.”

  The men gave a quiet cheer at the news before I carried on.

  “The Elven commander, Lord Manirie, and his lieutenant, have been assassinated successfully. Well done to Tachojay and the lads there. As a bonus, we managed to destroy all their water and most of their food supplies. Our friends in the camp say that they are being delayed by a few days or so to gather more supplies from Port Eire. This leaves them open for the next phase of the operation.” I looked around at the eager faces.

  The troops were anxious to get on with the next phase of Operation Low Blow.

  “Max, take your squad and set up an ambush for the returning caravan. Tachojay set up your observation posts again. The rest of us will rest here and tonight we hit them hard from the west. Any questions?” I asked.

  None came and soon Max was heading off with his men to set up the ambush. Tachojay and his small group readied themselves once more and set off not long after, heading back to the hills overlooking the camp. Bruce and Ivan took turns keeping watch with two other men as the remainder rested for the morning.

  Midday brought a rather hot breeze blowing from the north. This would help by dispersing any dust we made away from the camp. Reniek, the other Elf who had made it through our boot camp soon after we set up the new HQ, ranged ahead of us, keeping a lookout for any scouting parties. We circled far to the south around the enemy camp, careful to walk the horses in a single line to try hide how many were travelling through the area. By nightfall we were in position and Reniek, with Bruce, had moved forward under ghillie suits to scout the base. A lone sentry was posted and the rest of us took the chance to catch some sleep.

  Mia sat near me, unable to sleep. I opened an eye and looked at her sitting there under the stars. She looked angelic.

  “Why do you keep staring at me?” she asked.

  “Because I think you’re the most beautiful woman I have ever met,” I replied.

  She gave a throaty chuckle at that.

  “Flattery will get you nowhere, Commander Robert.”

  “It wasn’t flattery,” I said, sitting up.

  She looked at me out the corner of her eye before speaking again. “You hardly know me, yet you flatter me with those words.”

  “Well, I wasn’t lying when I said them.”

  She looked away and k
ept quiet.

  I feared that I had upset and said, “Look, Mia, I apologise.”

  “No need to apologise for something that is on your heart. We barely know each other and may never get to know each other. My skills require me to move from town to town, never to settle down. Finding love is almost impossible for me.”

  “Who said anything about love?” I asked, my heart thumping in my chest by now.

  “I just assumed,” she replied.

  Before I could reply, Reniek approached us.

  “Sorry to disturb, sir, but a large group of riders has left the camping heading for Port Eire.”

  “Seems that Max hit them earlier than planned. All right, boys, load up! It’s our turn now.” The men jumped to their feet and quickly donned their weapons, covering themselves with war paint and checking their horses.

  “Bob, I will wait here for you. Be careful,” Mia said.

  I nodded to her and led the men off into the gloom towards the camp. Reniek and Bruce cleared the way for us, silencing the patrolling guards in our sector. Security was tighter than last night, but it seemed that the leaders did not take it too seriously.

  This time we rode in hard, brandishing torches that we hurled into tents and onto wagons. We struck down anybody who got close to us and like a fierce wind blowing off the sea we raised hell. Before any resistance could be formed, we turned tail and ran back the way we had appeared, leaving behind burning tents, wagons, the cries of injured men and the silence of those dead. Some Elves tried to follow us by horse, but Reniek and Bruce who were still hiding in ghillie suits, shot them out of their saddles without being seen, causing more chaos among the enemy camp. The two rear guards quickly fought off our pursuit before they joined us where we had left Mia. Within minutes, we were heading west at a gallop, putting a fair amount of distance between us and any other pursuit.

  Early morning saw a build-up rain clouds from the south, which might actually help us further. We were camped well west of the enemy, who had begun their march, once more heading south.

  Max had found the caravan, but things did not go so smooth with the raid.

  “They had camped a few kilometres outside of the town and only had one guard on duty. We hit them hard, threw torches into the wagons and rode out. But it was all an ambush on their part. A large body of heavy horse were waiting for us near the lake where we were supposed to rally before high tailing back to you,’ a bedraggled Max said.

  “We rode straight into them before we know what was happening. The fighting to extract ourselves was brutal, but a few of us managed to escape. The rest were killed or captured.”

  In other words our ambush was ambushed?” I asked.

  Max nodded his head which had a bandage wrapped around an oozing wound just above his right ear.

  “Which means we may have a spy ourselves,” he answered.

  “A spy within the Ghosts?” I was shocked at the notion of this accusation.

  “Not saying with us. But, look at it Bob. They knew exactly what my group was going to do and what our escape route was.”

  “Okay. Worst case scenario. There is a spy within the company. All of our plans are then, compromised. Best case they know some of them and we can still follow through with the plans.”

  “We need to work on a plan B,” said Max

  “Agreed. For now, let’s stick to the plan. Last night’s raid went well. We hit them soon after that same group left the camp, looking good so far. Farpae reports from within the camp that the commanders are bickering among themselves as to who is to blame for the lack of guards. They seemed spooked by the attacks so early in the games,” I told him.

  “Suppose we can expect proper guard patrols now?” Max asked.

  “Yep, orc infantry mostly by the sounds of it with a unit of cavalry in reserve, perfect really,” I replied.

  “We send Reniek out so long to find them and implement plan C of Low Blow, and take it from there. In the meantime go get patched up and rest,” I said.

  The army hadn’t moved fast that day. The troops were shaken, thanks to the recent attacks and those wounded by us seemed to hold them up. We hid on the far side of another biggish hill, waiting for the army to settle down for their meals. This time only half of us would ride out on horseback. The other half were laying in hiding on the reverse slope of the hill in their ghillie suits armed with bows. I was going to feint an attack by horse, firing arrows at the camp. As soon as the cavalry charged us, we would retreat around the hill and lead them into an ambush. Once they were dealt with, we would all circle around north and strike them again from the east. This time, the whole company would attack with bows, firing flaming arrows before falling back and heading south to hit them just before dawn again.

  Reniek slide down the hill quietly and reported that most of the troops were eating. This was it. Mia once again waited far behind us, observing us as we raided the enemy.

  Reniek slid down the hill quietly and reported that most of the troops were eating. This was it. Mia once again waited far behind us, observing us as we raided the enemy.

  The handful of sentries were the first to go down, most taking arrows to the throats to prevent them from crying out an alarm. By the time, we were close enough to the perimeter for them to hear us it was too late. Each of us had trained extensively to fire from horseback.

  We managed to fire at least twenty arrows into the eating mass of men in just over a minute. Screams of pain and fear pierced the night sky as those men caught in the hail of arrows panicked, kicking over cooking pans, weapon stands, tents and each other as they tried to escape the rain of death. Fires broke out once again within the camp as some of the soldiers ran through the cooking fire to escape the chaos.

  Within moments, a horn sounded from the elven sector, the alarm given to our raid. I turned my horse and beat a retreat back to the hill. My men followed, shooting the odd arrow here and there to keep those soldiers who had weapons at bay. I halted my horse just at the base of the hill and waited for my men to pass me, checking them over to make sure they were all here. One or two had arrows sticking out of them, but nothing life threatening. The elven horsemen burst out of the enemy camp, heading straight for me. I wheeled my horse around and followed the last Ghost around the hill.

  My horsemen had waited a bit further away from the hill, leaving enough space for my ambushers to fire into the backs of the chasing elves without hitting us. I quickly joined them, notching an arrow in my composite horsebow and waited for the Elves to show themselves.

  I did not have to wait long. They came streaming around the hill in pursuit of us brandishing their curved sabre swords, shouting at their horses to run faster to catch us. When the lead horseman saw us, he gave a cry of triumph and thumped the rump of his horse with the flat of his blade, urging the poor beast to run even faster. Ten, fifteen, thirty, forty-five horsemen road hard towards us.

  A shout went out and the air was filled with twangs of bows and arrows flying into the backs of the unsuspecting elves. Those not hit halted and violently wheeled their wild-eyed horses around to meet this new attack. The ambushers had fallen back to the ground, allowing their ghillie suits to hide them again.

  Now it was our turn to charge the elves. I shouted a command and my horsemen released their arrows, sending a score of elves off their horses to join those already dead or wounded. We immediately charged the milling survivors, hacking them out of their saddles before they could recover. The ambushing squad joined the fray, cutting off those who tried to escape. We had wiped out the forty-five elves in quick, brutal fashion.

  Looking around me for any more elves, I saw that I had lost two men in the melee, their horses running around in a panic. I issued a command to secure those horses, as well as those of the elves. We quickly gathered the horses, whatever supplies the dead elves had carried and the men on foot before heading off to our next rendezvous point. Mia joined us on the way, emerging from a deep shadow under a hill. She looked excited and slig
htly out of breath. We had gone maybe two clicks from the ambush site when I heard an almighty bellow, followed by a sting of very loud and explicit curses aimed at us.

  “Good, so far it was working,” I thought to myself.

  We high tailed it out of the area and made for our next rally point where we could see the damage done to us.

  It took the rest of the night to circle back around the enemy camp where we were supposed to attack. Again, the plan was simple – surprise the guards by charging the camp on horseback. This time we had flaming torches in our hands which we would have thrown on to the tents and supplies before breaking off and riding like hell back to our camp.

  This time we were ambushed. The orcs had pre-empted us and hid within the long grass as we rode closer to the camp. As we lit torches, they rose up among us and began to attack us, pulling us from our horses.

  I slammed my boot into the face of an orc while I tried to pull my sword free. I frantically kicked my horse into motion, hoping to trample the orc who stood in front of me. Curses from my men, screams of horses going down and the grunt of falling bodies filled the fragile early morning air. The dark, predawn sky leant us a slight advantage as it was too dark to make out much of what was happening. I shouted a retreat and smashed my way out of the clutched of the orcs, the survivors of my company following close behind me. Half would not be joining us.