by Dean Henegar
The various groups that made up his army obeyed their master. The scallywags looked particularly disappointed as they tried to stuff the last of their loot into any available bag space. With the losses and the reinforcements from home, it was a good time to get a fresh count on his army, something that was much easier to do as it formed up.
Hypogean Forces:
Troggs: 11849.
Imp Warriors: 1500.
Conscripts: 2132.
Deep Gnomes: 425.
Skittering Death: 600.
Razorbunnies: 392.
Lurkers: 665.
Town Guard: 221.
Giant Bats: 283.
Scallywags: 200.
Ikbose Warriors: 150.
Deathicorns: 100.
Troll Warriors (Elite): 48.
Kobold Miners: 31.
Imp Mages: 5.
Ikbose Painweavers: 4.
Tunnel Wurms (Elite): 3.
Pox Hydra (Elite): 1.
Despite the casualties incurred thus far, Zipp and Lilly’s combined army was massive and should be able to grind Raytak and his town into dust. Without controlling the whole zone, he was facing a loyalty penalty with the population and needed to keep a lid on the captured areas or face partisan activity. He couldn’t afford to leave any forces behind and would rely on the small garrisons that spawned at each location he captured.
It was past noon by the time he got them moving. The formation was a mess, but at least all of its components were following the road south. Zipp figured once he hit the crossroads near the ruins, he could split off forces to take out the dwarven mines and the southern transition point. That would be another good chance to get his sister and Brax out of his hair for a while.
For an order of march, he had blocks of a thousand troggs dispersed throughout the army with the pox hydra bringing up the rear. He was worried about the twenty-foot-tall monstrosity, as it had open sores that wept toxic diseases. Lilly had assured him the hydra’s toxins would only affect hostile forces, but Zipp had his doubts about that. Still, even if it caused a few casualties among his disposable troops, the monster should be very effective in breaching the main gates of the city.
The other various groups marched together but in no particular order. The only exception was that he kept the gnomes along with their siege and supply wagons in the center for extra protection. The spiders and the deathicorns roamed around the flanks of the formation, looking for unwary wildlife. His painweavers and Lilly’s trolls kept everyone in line and pointed them in the right direction. Zipp, as the army’s rightful leader, was mounted on Snuggles near the front of the column. The position would allow him to respond to any threats and, more importantly, avoid much of the dust and smell the long column created.
When night began to fall, the smoldering remains of Holdfast were still visible in the distance. He called a halt to his army, and the various groups began to queue up for rations and then look for a place to bed down for the night. Fires were lit and meals were cooked—for those that didn’t take their food raw.
“Master, how shall I set the guard rotation?” one of Lilly’s trolls asked him.
It was a good question, and looking over his list of troops, Zipp thought he had a solution. “Task the town guard with doing that. After all, the job is in their name, isn’t it?”
The troll looked unconvinced but obediently bowed before leaving to carry out its task. Not needing food, Zipp instead curled up on the back of Snuggles and drifted off to sleep.
***
“Master, Master, wake up, please. There has been some trouble,” one of the painweavers said, gently shaking him.
“Yeah, what is it? It’s not even morning yet,” Zipp said with annoyance. Though it was still dark, the eastern sky was beginning to lighten as dawn approached. The rat he was curled up on top of jolted awake, sliding him unceremoniously off the side and into the grassy spot they had chosen for their rest.
“Master, the guards placed on the last watch are dead, all of them. Also, several troggs have had their throats slit in the night,” the painweaver explained.
“How many killed?” Zipp asked incredulously. Who would approach his massive army and take out his troops? Raytak’s army didn’t have any assassins in its roster, as far as he knew.
“Twenty-five of the town guard was on watch at the time. When the new shift awoke to relieve them, they found the others dead, along with a dozen troggs that were sleeping near the southern edge of the camp,” the painweaver advised. It was a negligible loss, but an annoying one nonetheless.
“Fine, have the bodies be given to the beasts for their breakfast and find that fool troll that set up the watch rotation last night,” Zipp ordered. Snuggles shifted uneasily under him as the animal felt Zipp’s anger mount. The troll from yesterday marched over and bowed.
“How may I serve, Master?”
“How can you serve? I’ll tell you how you can serve. You can serve by telling me why your entire watch, along with some of my troggs, was found dead this morning with their throats slit,” Zipp said, drilling his gaze into the troll.
“My apologies, Master, but it was not known the enemy would launch a sneak attack last night,” the troll offered as a flimsy excuse. Such failure would have to be dealt with.
“Painweaver, bring this troll down,” Zipp ordered coldly. One of his painweavers cast a spell that lanced into the troll, causing excruciating pain. The monstrous creature dropped to its knees, gasping and squealing as its muscles contracted to the point that bones snapped. Teeth ground together in agony before shattering into sharp fragments that dug into the troll’s lips and gums. Blood leaked from its nose, eyes, and ears until the monster finally stopped squealing and flopped over, motionless.
“Shall I have the body given to the beasts, Master?” The painweaver asked, gasping from the exertion of maintaining the spell it had just used.
“No, I suspect it will be awake here in a moment. You need fire, acid, and the like to take these things out permanently.” True to his prediction, the troll took a gasp of air and slowly came to. While he watched, new, sharp teeth pushed out the shattered stubs of the ones that had broken. The troll sat up, holding its head and gathering its wits before bowing before Zipp once again.
“I accept my punishment, Master. I will not fail again in my task,” it offered.
“That’s right—you won’t. If we get hit again like last night, I’ll have one of your hands cut off and the stump burned so it won’t grow back. Do you understand what I’m talking about here, big guy?” Zipp asked the groggy monster.
“Yes, Master. I will see to it the guard is reinforced and ready for anything tonight,” the troll replied.
“Yeah, yeah, go get some food in you and get everyone ready to march,” Zipp said, his false pleasant demeanor back now that he had taken the time to inflict a little pain on someone. Seeing others suffer had always been a surefire way to improve his mood as far back as he could remember.
The army slowly shook itself into motion as the various groups formed up and took their place on the road. It would be a long day of marching, and Zipp was prepared to push his forces as hard as he could get away with. From the updates that Brax had given him when he arrived, things were tense in the Hypogean realm, and it looked like their neighbors were gearing up to make a run on the Zisilerpicazant territories.
With a sigh, Zipp looked back at the column. His troops were moving way too slowly and he didn’t have any idea how to get them to pick up the pace. He had tried using the painweavers to instill some “motivation” in the slower groups, but that only sped them up for a time before they became exhausted and dropped back to an even slower pace. To make matters worse, his column was beginning to come apart as the faster units pulled ahead of the slower ones. Leading an army on the surface wasn’t turning out to be as much fun as he had thought.
It was getting close to midday and a much-anticipated break when some commotion at the end of the column caught his
attention. He charged toward the rear as fast as Snuggles could take him. A troll was running toward him, flagging him down. Zipp pulled to a stop as the troll panted from the exertion for a moment before speaking.
“Master, a force of enemy centaurs charged into the kobold miners before fleeing into the forest. A force of skittering death is in pursuit. What are your orders?”
“What? Centaurs? Where did the horse boys come from and how many are there?” Zipp asked.
“Around fifty, Master. They charged from the forest and struck before we could form any defense,” the troll advised.
Looking off to the sides of the road, Zipp could see that the forest was less than a hundred yards away. Once inside the woods, his spiders should have no problem chasing the centaurs down. Centaurs were fast, but they weren’t maneuverable inside the woods.
“Get the column moving again. The skittering death will catch them. How many are in pursuit?” Zipp asked.
“The count was forty, Master. Should I order more to assist them?” the troll asked.
“Yeah, just to be safe, send another fifty. Have the others stay closer to the column and cover us from any other attacks. In fact, send out a couple hundred lurkers into the woods. If any more of Raytak’s friends are hiding in there, the lurkers will make a lunch out of them,” Zipp ordered. He continued toward the site of the attack on the kobolds. As he approached, he could see the crumpled bodies of his minions and the torn-up ground where the centaurs had begun their charge. Another batch of spiders scuttled off into the woods to join the pursuit.
The column continued, and Zipp ordered it not to stop unless he commanded it to. He couldn’t afford to have the pace of his over ten-thousand-strong force stopped by a paltry fifty centaurs. After ordering only a fifteen-minute break at noon, he pushed his army hard. Just when things got rolling again, he saw the same cursed troll running up to his place in the column. Once again, the troll brought him some bad news.
“So you’re telling me that forty of my spiders are dead and we killed exactly zero of the enemy centaurs?” Zipp inquired of the troll after receiving its report.
“Yes, Master. The spiders chased the centaurs into an ambush. Dozens of dwarves with their cursed crossbows hit them in a small clearing. When the skittering death were about to catch the dwarves, another force of centaurs charged into their flank. The enemy melted back into the woods and the second force of skittering death didn’t think it was a good idea to keep chasing.”
The troll looked terrified of the silent imp. Zipp let its fear build; it made things so much more fun that way.
“But the news is not all bad, Master. The lurkers on the other flank sniffed out a group of the enemy in the woods and chased them off, killing several,” the troll offered.
“How many did they kill and how many of their own did they lose?” Zipp asked, knowing that his flat, emotionless voice was more disturbing to a minion than shouting and angry outbursts.
“Well, they killed two dozen and broke the enemy forces. During the pursuit, they ran into some legion scouts with ranged weapons that killed a score of lurkers before the pursuit was called off. But do not fear, Master: the enemy was last seen fleeing deeper into the forest. They are truly too terrified to continue such assaults.”
“Nice try at spin, big guy. I appreciate the effort. I really do. Still, I can’t reward failure, now can I? You and your kind were supposed to be these great unit leaders my sister had found. Loyal and vicious, she said. Too bad she never mentioned the incompetent part. You see, normally I’d kill a messenger for bringing me bad news without having a solution to the problem. Instead of killing you, since I’m such a great guy, I think I’ll make an example of you. Have its left arm lopped off and the stump burned so it doesn’t grow back,” Zipp ordered.
A half dozen of his lurkers that were standing nearby grabbed at the troll. While trolls stood nearly eight feet tall, their gangly arms didn’t look very strong, but they were. Loyalty fled the equation when fire was involved with the creatures. The troll roared and lashed out, its claws raking across the nearest lurker, eviscerating the creature. Zipp spurred Snuggles away from the conflict as more of his forces joined in to stop the maddened troll. Blood and body parts flew for several minutes before his lurkers, with the help of nearby troggs, held down the monster. Screams of pain began as his troggs put their torches to good use.
The column ground on slowly throughout the rest of the day. There were a few incidents of sniping by the dwarven pathfinders or human scouts. The enemy would inflict a few casualties on the lead force and melt away into the woods. Whenever he was able to pursue the foe, an ambush would be waiting and more casualties were taken. The woods provided too much cover for the enemy, but to Zipp’s delight, it appeared that the forest was beginning to thin out and the road would soon enter more open areas with rolling hills. The change in terrain should drastically cut down on the incessant sniping.
When the column stopped for the night, Zipp set a reinforced guard consisting of troggs and lurkers. With their heightened sense of smell, the lurkers would be a good counter to any humans bumbling about in the dark. He also sent out sizeable patrols from the skittering death to search for the enemy camp. If Raytak’s forces were out there, he would find them. The dark was no place to try and hide from creatures of the Hypogean realm. Zipp tallied up their losses for the day, and it wasn’t a pretty picture.
Casualties in the Last 24 Hours:
Troggs: 41.
Skittering Death: 40.
Kobold Miners: 31.
Lurkers: 23.
Trolls: 1.
Enemy Losses:
Dwarves and Humans: 27.
Losing over 130 troops in return for twenty or thirty enemies wasn’t a good exchange. Zipp would have to put some thought into how to counter these attacks. He had a couple of ideas he would have to try out tomorrow. Hopefully the rest of the trolls weren’t as stupid as the one he had to kill; there would be a lot of work for them in organizing the little surprise he had in mind. For now, it was time to get some rest after the long day’s march.
***
“Master, there has been an incident,” one of his painweavers said, waking him from a wonderful dream where Hayden’s Knoll burned.
“Oh, what is it now?” Zipp shouted, frustration mounting over the continued problems on his march to the enemy capital.
“It appears the trolls have left, my lord. They made off during the night and were last seen heading back to Holdfast by the guards.”
“Okay, why weren’t they stopped?” Zipp asked.
“Master, they are on our side and the guards just figured you had tasked them with some mission. The skittering death, lurkers, and the like had been rotating out on patrol all night, and they just figured the trolls were part of that rotation,” the painweaver answered.
Zipp had a sneaking suspicion that the sentries were merely trying to cover up the fact that they were too afraid of being torn apart by the trolls to question their movements.
“Bah, they’re my sister’s problem now. Let’s get everyone and everything up and moving. I’ve got some ideas we’re going to try out on our little march today. Raytak’s ambush teams are about to have a very bad day,” Zipp said.
Chapter 23
“Let them pass. Our target will be the stragglers at the end of the column,” Ty quietly said to the soldiers around him. They were hidden just behind the crest of a low hill overlooking the road. Yesterday had gone surprisingly well; they had inflicted at least a hundred casualties on the imp’s forces. While a hundred troops were nothing to an army the size of which they faced, the delays those casualties caused were critical. It would take Raytak and the dwarves some time to make it to the protection of the city. With young children and elderly among those traveling, they wouldn’t exactly be moving at a brisk pace.
“Hey, Ty, why did you send most of our army back to the ruins?” Quimby asked.
“They’re mostly melee troops and will
do better fighting in the ruins of the old town. Having regular infantry out here is going to be suicide now that the forest is thinning out. It’s up to the ranged troops to do most of the work over the next few days. The centaurs will cover us and brush back any fast-movers, but we can evade and hide better than the Blades or the Shield Brothers,” Ty replied.
“Got you. That makes sense, but it does feel like we’re exposed out here, even though I invested in decent stealth skills,” Quimby added.
“You’ll be fine. We have a concealed fallback position. We’re here to sting and move. Once the enemy presses us too hard, we’ll withdraw,” Ty replied.
Ty had looked over the ruins of the old town of Hayden’s Knoll and realized it was perfect for what he had planned. While the place had only been a small town, its narrow streets were natural choke points. Zipp would have to take the ruins and the nearby garrison if he wanted to control the crossroads that ran through them. If he just tried to bypass the location, he would risk Ty and his troops cutting off his supply route. Ty figured Zipp would have to take the ruins, and that was where the real killing would begin. For now, he had a column to delay.
“Okay, it looks like the dwarves are starting the party,” Ty said. On the other side of the road, near the front of the enemy column, a line of twenty dwarven pathfinders crawled out from under their camouflaged cloaks and took aim with their repeater crossbows. One flight of bolts flew out, striking among the tightly packed troggs in the vanguard. A second volley flew, and then the dwarves fled toward the nearest hill.
As Ty had expected, a force of lurkers took off in pursuit. Nearly a hundred of the creatures streamed out from the column, eager to get at their prey. It was apparent that they were going to overtake the dwarves before they reached the small tree-covered hill they were heading toward. A few of the lurkers stumbled and fell in their pursuit, injured and taken out of the fight by the scattered traps the dwarves had placed in front of their position. From over the top of the hill, a wedge of forty armored centaurs trotted. Pausing only for a moment, the heavily armored centaurs lowered their spears and began to charge the approaching lurkers. To their credit, the lurkers didn’t miss a step and seemed eager to get their claws on any foe, be it centaur or dwarf.
