by Galen Wolf
I smiled. "Okay let's get busy."
Ahn nodded. "We'll do what you say, boss."
"You're the boss here, Ahn. You're still my guildmaster." I bowed to him.
I needed to get my troops in shape. At least the builders had finished the stone defensive walls. I gave the command to pull back all NPCs who would normally be going outside into the forest to collect stone or ore. Then I looked around. My village had become a town. A small one, but a town nevertheless. People were still tending the gardens and walking the streets, but distinct anxiety played on the faces of the NPCs. It was amazing the developers managed to program the AI characters to look and behave as if they were nervous.
Once again, I felt protective towards them. In a sense, I was their father—I brought them to life, and it was my duty to protect them.
I thought of my idea of setting up a shop. I still wanted to do that. I had the runes from Harald Runestorm. I smiled grimly. This was absolutely not the time to set up a commercial venture. But I was determined that once the Horrabian menace was defeated, that's exactly what I would do.
Soon I had the militia on the city walls and the two regiments of skirmishers and two regiments of archers paraded on the main street.
I told Ahn that I wanted one regiment of his spearmen on the bridge with the other to be right behind it to act as the reserve. The Great River ran from south-west to north-east obliquely across the front of the town of Pennred. We had built the city walls to encompass the Corn Mill. The Corn Mill needed access to the river to work, but it was an obvious weak point. Including the Corn Mill, the tall stone walls extended around the settlement. Heavy stone gate houses with platforms above the entrances protected the gates. Iron portcullises barred the way behind the massive wooden gates and our soldiers could use the platforms to throw projectiles and tip boiling oil down onto any invaders who got within the gate houses.
The river was crossable in two places—by the grey stone bridge over which Ermine Street ran, and which was directly in line with our north gate; and to the left of the bridge was the older Ford of Dreams. The water in the river ran waist high here due to recent rain, but it would not stop determined Horrabian troops from crossing. On second thoughts, I placed the second spear regiment to guard the ford.
Ajora appeared, out of breath. She'd been running. "Sorry, I've been really busy with some things in real-life. I've only just got here. Has it started?"
Gone was a normal sarcastic tone when speaking with me. There was even a touch of respect in her voice. I said, "Nah, you haven't missed the show."
She laughed, but she looked on edge.
"Ajora", I said. "I want you to take a unit of skirmishers and a unit of archers." I pointed over the ford to the thick undergrowth of the Forest of Nightmares that stood on the far bank. The forest was dark and strung with web. It would serve our purpose well because it was difficult for anyone to see into the trees, and, because of its reputation, most people would rather go on the road than venture within the shadow of those sinister trees. Also, our light troops were much better suited to operating in the forest than the more heavily armored Horrabians.
"I see," Ajora said.
I said. "I want you to have the skirmishers in loose formation among the trees and behind them the archers. Do nothing until I give the command. We want to draw the Horrabians down towards the town. Hopefully they'll think we have all our troops inside the walls. That would be the sensible course of action."
"But you're not taking the sensible course of action?" She raised a blond eyebrow.
I sucked my teeth. "You will have to trust me on this one."
She gave a lop-sided smile. "I wondered whether you would use the walls. Remember, Barcud, the purpose of Pennred is to buy time..."
I snorted. "... For Vinab. But what if Vinab doesn't come?" I shook my head. "No, it looks like we're on our own, Ajora."
She sighed. "I'll trust your judgement in military matters." She brushed back hair from her face. "I have to."
Then, sensing she might have gone too far, she put her hand on my upper arm and said, "I want to, as well."
"If you can get those troops moving as quickly as possible. And remember don't act until you get the message via the HUD."
I signaled Griffin: Get back.
Griffin: On my way.
He was observing the Horrabian advance and slowly falling back as they came south. Griffin was too valuable to be up in the sky. I wondered whether we had another source of reconnaissance. Of the other two rangers there, Sinuviel was a level 8 and therefore had no eagle, Gearhart was a level 9 so neither did he. I would also have felt terrible putting them in harm's way like that.
Then I remembered my Brown Owl Companion skill. I'd never used it, but it could be helpful now. I thought the command and the tawny owl fluttered in from the trees nearby. I checked and saw that a video feed from the owl's eyes came through on my HUD. I commanded the owl to fly up Ermine Street to within distance of the advancing Horrabians. She fluttered off to do my bidding.
I recalled Griffin now I had other eyes in the sky, and he landed his eagle near the Village Hall. I walked back to greet him past crowds of nervous townsfolk who followed me with their gaze but said nothing. I tried to smile confidently, but I knew my apprehension showed through. Griffin stood near his eagle on the land to the front of the Village Hall. I needed to upgrade it to a Town Hall, but that could wait.
I said, "Griffin, I want you to command two units. Would you take a unit of skirmishers and a unit of archers? Then cross the river into the Forest of Nightmares on the right-hand side of Ermine Street. Ajora has another two units hidden in the forest on the opposite side of Ermine Street. What I want you to do is to wait for my command and when we've drawn the Horrabian forces to the bridge, then both you and Ajora will attack from the flanks."
Solid old Griffin. He was so even tempered. I rarely saw him angry and rarer still saw him sad. He smiled. "Sure."
I hesitated. "If you get the worst of it, fall back into the forest. Remember, our lightly armored skirmishers are far nimbler than the mailed Horrabians and we'll have a big advantage among the trees."
He gave me a salute. It was in fun, but he was also serious. I watched him go with his troops. Then I joined Ahn with the spearmen by the bridge. Sinuviel and Gearhart stood nervously nearby.
"And this is us," Ahn said. He sighed. "I still have hope that the Vinab army will arrive in time."
"Hope's a wonderful thing," I said. A militiaman ran up from behind to say a wagon was approaching from the south. I was about to send them away, thinking it was just more traders wanting access to Ermine Street. This was not a good time for business. Even in their own best interests they shouldn't be here.
But the militia guard told me it was a representative of the Druids’ Guild.
Ahn heard and raised his eyebrows. "I know they won't fight, but even moral support would be good. And they could do a little healing."
I ordered the militia to allow the druids in. Then I walked to the south gate to greet them. It was Birog with a Tree Kin and a dryad guard. She had three laden cargo wagons. On one was timber, the second iron ore, and in the third some healing herbs and provisions.
I was overjoyed to see her. And as I went to hug her, I saw a priestess I recognized sitting in the second wagon. It was Elfhair. She slid off the cart to the ground, her dainty leather boots scuffing the gravel. The two women came towards me and gave me friendly hugs.
Elfhair said, "I couldn't let you face this alone, Barcud. After all what would you do without me?" I noticed that she was now level 8.
Birog frowned. It is against our oath to fight, but we owe you this support at least."
I said, "Where's Rohan?"
Birog said, "He's back in Avalon with the rest of the Guild. We're making what preparations we can to evacuate. We fear the worst."
"But where would you go?"
She shrugged. "Avalon is our home. We have no real destination. We t
hought we could retreat down south into the Silver Glades. But Horrabia will follow us there. If you don't stop Horrabia, they'll take over the whole continent."
"Well, we'll try to stop them."
Birog glanced around. "But you have so few troops. And I see no sign of the Vinab army."
Elfhair's brow furrowed. "I heard Astral Bob was finding it very difficult to persuade the elders of Vinab to go to war with Horrabia."
Birog said, "They're so short-sighted. Don't they realize that Horrabia won't be satisfied with taking over ranger territory, or druid territory come to that."
"We have to work with what we've got, I said. "But I'm very grateful for your support." I paused, a smile coming to my lips. "By the way I was speaking to a friend of yours recently."
Birog looked puzzled. "Oh yes, who?"
"Harald Runestorm."
Birog burst into laughter. "My friend? You know he robbed the last supply train we were trying to get to you?"
"I shook my head."
She sneered. "Harald is hardly my friend."
"He speaks very highly of you Birog." I winked. "I think he has a crush on you."
This caused Birog to howl with laughter. "Poor old Harald! He tries so hard to be bad. And underneath he's just an old softy."
Elfhair frowned. "From what I heard of him, that's not exactly true."
A clamor arose from the militia on the town walls. I turned my head to see what caused it. The first flight of raptors was visible to the north over the Forest of Nightmares. The militia had bows as well as spears, though they were neither as good archers as the archer unit was or as good spearmen as the spearmen unit. I gave them orders to shoot down the raptors if they overflew the town.
I turned to Birog and Elfhair. "It looks like you're locked in with us now, ladies."
"That's what we intended," Elfhair said. "But I can hold my own in a fight, don't you worry."
Birog smiled and shrugged. "I'll try to do my best to help."
The north gate was still open. I walked through it and ordered the militia to close the gates and draw down the portcullis behind me. The iron grille lowered on its chains with a groan until it thudded into the earth, its prongs raising individual clouds of dust.
"What about if our forces need to retreat?" A militia guard yelled down from the gate house.
"I'm not anticipating retreat," I said.
I saw the dust raised by the hooves of the Horrabian cavalry before I could make out the riders themselves. My Brown Owl was watching them from a tree. I saw they were heavily armored knights with lances, their red feathers bobbing at the tops of their helmets. On their breasts was embossed the black bat symbol of Horrabia. There were around two hundred of them in two units. Pennants fluttered as they rode. Behind the cavalry marched three units of heavily armored spearmen. These guys would punch a hole in our spears without a doubt, but they were behind the knights, and these mailed and iron shod troops could not fight easily in the forests either side of the road.
But then that was that. There were no other troops of any kind. I recognized my old enemy Samwise at the head of the heavy cavalry. I remembered Astral Bob telling me Samwise was commanding the southern Horrabian army with Attila. It looked like Attila and the main force was still way behind. This was merely the vanguard.
Samwise had been foolish. He should have waited for his main army, but knowing him, I guessed he wanted to grab the glory for himself and thought the capture of the little ranger village of Pennred would be a simple matter. It was my job to prove him wrong.
Ajora: My troops were in place. We can see the raptors overhead. You want us to shoot them down?
Me: No, hold your fire.
Ajora: Roger that, I got a message from Griffin with his troops on the other side of Ermine Street.
The cavalry in their eagerness to close with our men on the bridge, had opened a gap between them and their supporting infantry.
I saw our spearmen shift and sensed the edge of apprehension and anxiety in our soldiers. I looked at Ahn who was standing in front of me. I called over, "My guess is that they will try to simply punch a hole through your troops on the bridge. You'd better get your guys ready."
The Horrabian heavy cavalry was straight ahead of us now down Ermine Street. I saw them break into a canter.
Ahn gave the order: "Spears – brace for cavalry."
As heavy as they were, no cavalry ever liked charging onto fixed spears. I saw the spearmen on the bridge fix the butts of their spears against the stone floor. The first rank of spearmen sunk to their knees, shields on their left arms, long spears protruding above the shields. The next rank of spearmen stood with their spears at hip height, shields also held ready. The final rank held their spears on the shoulders, shields up so that our front rank resembled an armored porcupine.
Ahn commanded. "Spearmen by the ford, brace for cavalry." I heard the crunch of boots and the sound of shields readying as they carried out Ahn's order.
The Horrabian cavalry commanded by Samwise broke into a gallop. The hooves of their mounts threw up clouds of dust. They leveled their lances, preparing to attack, but their speed made an even larger gap between themselves and their following infantry who broke into a run to catch up. "That's it," I muttered. "Tire yourselves out."
Ajora: Infantry level with us now. The cavalry has passed by.
Me: hold your fire.
Griffin: Copy that.
The first unit of Horrabian heavy cavalry under Samwise yelled out their charge and aimed for our braced spearmen on the bridge. The second unit peeled off to attack our spearmen across the ford. Above us raptors screamed into the attack.
"Militia", I commanded. "Fire at will at the raptors." I was too fixed on the tactical battle to fight personally. I saw that Sinuviel and Gearhart had unslung their bows and shot at the raptors. One of the leathery beasts landed with a bloody thump to my left.
The cavalry was within feet of our spearmen. Then I heard an almighty crash. Groans and screams went up. The weight of mailed men on heavy horses was an enormous impact. I saw our spearmen reel. I waited for them to collapse. But they did not.
Horses and knights impaled themselves on our porcupine quills. No cavalry commander should ever charge into braced spears. And once the impact of the heavy cavalry charge was spent that was their greatest advantage gone. I remember reading that the Norman cavalry would pull back in charge again to use their weight in a further charge. But Samwise was not so clever. Some of the knights were on foot now flaying about them with their swords, but our men held up well under the command of Ahn.
I saw Ahn had transformed into a huge grizzly bear. He stood behind his men. Knowing him, he would be itching to get into the fight—but he was Ahn, and I knew he could remain rational and know his job was to support his soldiers. He screamed encouragement at his men, who at his word, redoubled their efforts and pushed back against the Horrabian knights.
Cries of pain, yells, and screams rang out above the clanging sound of combat.
To the left the second unit of Horrabian cavalry were up to their chests in the fast-flowing water of the Great River. The water had robbed them of any impetus the charge would have given. Awaiting them on the south bank was the second unit of spearmen.
The units of mailed spearmen belonging to Horrabia were catching up and rushing towards their embattled comrades on the bridge. I allowed myself a grim smile. Although these heavy spearmen would make mincemeat of our lighter armed spears—they simply couldn't get to them because their own knights were in the way. A mass of corpses now littered the bridge—nearly all of them belonging to Horrabia.
Above us the battle was about equal. The raptors were diving onto the city walls and picking off members of the militia. But the rangers and the militia with bows were making inroads into their numbers as well.
I checked with my brown owl— no sign of any further Horrabian troops following behind. The main army must be a long way back. Silly, silly Samwise.
> The second unit of cavalry was nearly across the river but struggled against the current. The Horrabian attack was a shambles.
The Horrabian spearmen were now stepping onto the bridge, queuing up in column, one unit after another. I wondered why on earth they didn't send some of the units over the ford? They'd be more useful there than the cavalry. But they had no leadership to speak of, and that was to our advantage. I allowed myself another smile.
The time was right. I messaged to Griffin and Ajora: send out the archers. Shoot down the spearmen.
From both sides of Ermine Street, green clad ranger archers emerged. They drew back their bows, and I heard the strum of a hundred bowstrings at once and a cloud of arrows like angry wasps arced through the air and struck the rear of the Horrabian spearmen who stood uselessly queuing to get into the battle on the bridge. Many Horrabians fell.
The archers drew again and let fly again killing more Horrabians. I sensed the first panic in the Horrabian ranks. The heavy knights on the bridge were making no headway into our shield wall. They began to tire and falter.
Two thirds of the raptors were shot down.
The Horrabians wavered. Our archers fired again. Some subordinate in the Horrabian spearmen, or perhaps it was Samwise himself, realized they had to do something about the archers. The remaining spearmen abandoned their plan to cross the bridge through our shield wall and turned to face the archers. They raised their shields and advanced.
Me: Griffin, Ajora—pull back the archers into the trees. Get ready with the skirmishers. But let these spearmen get well into the forest before attacking. Try to get around them with the skirmishers so they're surrounded amid the trees.
I glanced up and saw that Elfhair was on the walls, healing our spearmen from behind. Birog was also surreptitiously sending healing and blessings to them. I wondered whether the druids would realize one day that their oath not to fight let evil men win.
The first unit of Horrabian knights led by Samwise was almost decimated. The second had hesitated mid river crossing. Now they started to pull back and retreat.
Me: Ahn, send the spearmen over the ford after them.
