“Sometimes misfortune just worked to cause more of itself over time.” - Old folk saying.
Despite how they had emerged triumphant from all the fighting they encountered so far during the campaign, the Free Lances had not exactly escaped unscathed.
Out of their two thousand or so members, nearly a tenth had been sidelined at the present, mostly from injuries that needed longer treatment or recuperation. Those with lighter injuries generally returned to the fighting as soon as their wounds had healed enough, while a small portion of their casualties were those unfortunate enough to lose their lives before they could be pulled back to safety.
Most platoons took a couple losses here and there, but a good majority of the casualties so far came from Alycea’s platoon and the third strike platoon from when they held the line against the enemy offensive just the day before. Both platoons were down a good third or so of their members, as many of the injured were unable to recuperate enough after only a single night.
As such, Reinhardt made arrangements to make up for the relative weakness of the platoons in question by shifting them around in the formation. Mischka’s first strike platoon were still responsible for leading the way, while the other two strike platoons followed behind them to keep the way opened, Erycea and Alycea’s following behind them as support, while Elfriede’s platoon was sequestered in the center of the spearhead.
Meanwhile Reinhardt and the rest formed up behind them to follow in their wake. Their target was simple: The head of the enemy commander, or that of their archer, should they not be one and the same. For that reason the spearhead would push hard and deposit Elfriede and her headhunters as close as they could to their target, while the rest would support them in that endeavor.
Erycea’s platoon, which was nearly at full strength, was set up by the diminished third strike platoon to make up for their lack of manpower. On the other side, Alycea’s platoon was set to fight alongside Grünhildr’s second strike platoon, which was similarly still at nearly full strength and had not taken many casualties as of yet.
When the enemy forces reacted and elite enemy infantry struck at them from the flanks, they happened to strike mostly towards Erycea’s and Alycea’s platoons, having correctly inferred that their lighter armored troops would have worse defensive capabilities compared to the heavily armored strike platoons ahead of them. Naturally the commanders of the strike platoons diverted some of their forces to alleviate the pressure, but for a moment, the two sisters and their platoons were all that stood against the enemy onslaught.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Erycea’s platoon was better off. The members were more experienced and battle-hardened since they had been with the company for several years by that point. While they buckled at first under the heavy assault of the enemy elites, Erycea and her closest companions spread out and stabilized the situation in person, relying on their prowess to carry the day.
Alycea’s platoon, however, had less experience and was already somewhat undermanned due to the losses they took the day before. While the region of the formation where Alycea and her companions – who were not quite as willful nor as skillful as those of her sister’s yet – were present held firmly against the onslaught, the enemy soldiers managed to break through other parts of their formation and struck at those behind them, which happened to be the rear end of Elfriede’s platoon.
Some of the mercenaries were caught off guard, having not expected their flank to crumble under the enemy onslaught, and a few fell under the blades of the opposing side before they could muster a proper defense. Instead, the one who reacted the fastest was Reinhardt who was some distance behind where the breach took place.
He was watching over the overall situation of the fighting from a bird’s eye view with his artifact and noticed the breach almost at the same time it happened. In the short moment that passed between when the enemy soldiers broke through Alycea’s platoon and hit Elfriede’s platoon’s rear, he passed on commands and warnings to several others.
One of those he gave a warning to was Alvaro whose platoon was covering the rear of Alycea’s platoon. Under Reinhardt’s command the former Warforged immediately led his fellows into a strong push that aimed to hit the flank of the enemies that struck the Free Lances’ own flank. On the opposing side Astrid and her platoon maneuvered to do the same, though they were less hurried since Erycea’s platoon held strong against the tides of enemy soldiers attacking them.
At the same time, Alva and Branka shifted their respective archer platoons to target the flanking enemies, while Egil’s slingers took over the harassment duties as they prevented the enemy soldiers to the sides of the mercenary formation from pushing against them too hard. While the goblins’ slings were less lethal than the bows and arrows of the archers, they brought out some of their nastier tricks.
While the things the goblins brought out might not be lethal, they were plenty to stop soldiers in their tracks. After all, it was nearly impossible for people to fight while constantly sneezing and being blinded from contact with an intense dose of finely powdered spicy peppers.
The last warning Reinhardt gave was to Elfriede at the front. After receiving his warning, she decisively turned around and told Ylisera to lead half the group ahead towards their target, while she personally took the other half and headed to the rear, where the enemy soldiers were. Reinhardt was uncertain whether Elfriede chose to turn back in person because she was worried about Alycea, or because she considered it an insult for the enemy to strike at her platoon. Probably a mixture of both, he figured.
Either way, he knew one thing for certain. Those enemies who managed to push through Alycea’s platoon were about to find themselves in truly lamentable circumstances of their own making.