Interlude - An Unlikely Skirmish (Alketros)

War is business.

Such a sentence sang odd to someone like Alketros. The man had led armies before and he had been familiar with the notion that war was not exactly an easy subject to understand. The mere idea that someone would actually try to give it meaning in such a cruelly flat manner felt like a slap to his profession…

But in truth, this was all but a matter of moral pride.

Yes, as much as Alketros was tempted to use his ‘control’ over Pyro the Kobold Leader to put him to shame for being so forward at times, he couldn’t help but refrain from doing so. Pride and discipline were not meant to be so conflicting within someone that had several decades of drilling his troops to shape and honing his senses to new wars.

In this matter, however, he felt both finding a culmination in true skirmish when changes started to happen in a way that made Alketros both displeased and… pleased.

The ‘additions’ were good ones. The reorganization of the logistical system was something that was intriguing due to the relevance logistics had in war. A highly-mobile force, as Pyro quickly described him to him, required a supply line that was able to form equally if not far faster than its units’ pace.

Merchants were thus invited to aid in that, and while some may have been inexperienced in handling ‘war wares’ some of the weapon producers were surprisingly perfect for the job.

Likewise, the ‘shifting’ of cannons from mere defensive tools to outright sieging pieces felt like a good thing for any potential long-range picking. The firepower that was usually reserved to handle potential enemy ships could be used against large concentrations of foes, thus becoming a deadly weapon against organized groups.

This was further expanded by slowly integrating ‘magically-enhanced’ projectiles meant to penetrate any magical shields. Since Dark Elves had as strong if not stronger magical powers compared to their standard Elven brethren, the chances of them blocking explosive rounds from hitting them via barrier was nothing short of expected.

Then it was a matter of preparing the rest of the army. Pyro merely watched as troops were being drilled. He took notes, inquired a few times on some methods used to train the new recruits but overall set aside to leave this task to those that were ‘better-suited’ to this.

The same didn’t extend to the chain of command as this is where most headaches started to come. Alketros knew for a thing that nobility had little to no reason to be deployed as leading figures due to a lack of training, and while early on he had to take the unpleasant role of opposing Pyro’s idea of employing ‘commoner officers’ in this planned attack, the overall compromise made both happy and… strained.

Alketros was glad he didn’t have to hear a dangerous kind of whining, but he still had to endure some whining when he personally took charge of ‘teaching’ these officers how to lead troops.

It was painfully obvious that there was a major issue in that aspect of the military, with too many inexperienced officers being caught off-guard by what they were meant to know but… didn’t.

It was grave. And it was enough to put efforts in several days to get this very issue dealt with. With each day, however, the army of Dark Elves started to get even more prominent as more of those dangerous entities were encroaching out of the mountains and into the forests within the Principality’s border.

But the finest elements of the army were already prepared. It wasn’t much to lead a war against a big country, but it was far enough to handle some troublesome pests. It took very few hours to get the large contingent to be mobilized and turned towards the location of where most of the dark elves’ raids were known to happen and, much to Alketros’ quiet delight, there was a fairly big group of dark elves already prepared massing up for what felt a large attack.

They had gotten ready way faster than their current enemies had suspected and the panicked formation of attackers that suddenly marched towards them gave them an optimal chance to strike.

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The forest was intricate which made any potential attacks with the full might of the small army quite dulled, but they had the advantage of their foes deciding to butt heads with the dwarven army right in the large clearing before ‘their forest’.

Magic spells were hurled fast, but none of the dangerous threats got through the barriers mustered by the magicians within the dwarven army. The lancers prepared for confrontation, but first there was an effort to ‘soften the hostile lines’ as Pyro called it.

The Kobold was there too, silently admiring the developing scene but keeping quiet as he had promised he would have done through the battle. Alketros was fine in allowing his advisors to aid him before battles, but this was his field for him to take. And there was no issue from anyone in that regard.

Soon, the order was dispatched to get the ‘softening’ to happen.

“Cannons, take aim!”

The mobile artillery pieces were deployed and aimed at the approaching groups of dark elves. It was a quick rush, but not quick enough to reach their target before the powerful siege pieces could get in proper position.

“FIRE!”

The rumbling of numerous long barrels delivering on specially-crafted reinforced orbs that slammed and detonated in pure magical effects from fiery to glacial attacks. The ‘softening’ felt more like a ‘butchering’, but the overall result gave them what they needed.

Hesitation from the Dark Elves’ side at the dreadful shredding of numerous rows of their own group.

“Lancers… FORWARD!”

Rushing fast would shatter their opportunity as their foes would just retreat fast and use the forest to their advantage. However, a slow cautious pace was ‘provoking’. Despite the hesitation, most of the Dark Elves resumed their assault, but with their lacking numbers, it was a slaughter for them.

Lances tore through their attempts to push through, the shielders holding mightily while magicians casted spells to protect any curses or jinxes to ensnare their fellow soldiers.

A few minutes later, the sight of the Dark Elves’ remnant running for the forest coupled with the many corpses now littering the victorious soldier’s steps raised a loud celebration roar from the entire small army.

Their first victory, that’s how they saw it, but Alketros saw it as it was: a small success in a far bigger battle. After all, the presence of light armors and weapons meant that what they faced was just a small scout force.

The bigger army was beyond the forest and… this was going to be tougher.

“Four squads. We will rely on four big squads with evenly split numbers of soldiers. The flanks will be covered, same for the rear, a central reinforcement pool shall be employed and the spearheading role is awarded to the kobolds.”

There were a few whiners at that last bit, but none could really condemn the might that the group led by Pyro could muster in this very needed moment. Especially when they had experience in fighting in a forest and could handle ambushes better than most troops.

Still, before the troops moved in formation to keep the overall forest guarded while the strike force moved in, the leading Kobold himself had something to ask.

“I have a question- it’s unrelated to the order.”

Alketros slowly nodded in permission, curious to see what was up in the little dragonkin fellow.

“Why are there only female elves here?”

Surprise flashed on the old general’s face as he knew that Pyro was referring to the corpses. Indeed, most of the corpses of the soldiers that they slain were all females, but so were the rest of those that managed to escape this confrontation.

“What do you mean by that? Dark Elves are made only by females of their kind.”

It was common knowledge… was it? It’s been so long, but perhaps the cultural books had gone to thin out the information available on Dark Elves due to how long it's been since contact had been made with that race.

“...No, they are not,” The Kobold replied informally, surprised and yet unwilling to keep quiet. “When we faced that Dark Elf a while ago, we could all tell it was a male.”

Alketros was taken aback by this response, but ruled it out as someone else.

“Perhaps you found one of their masculine warriors. One of those that… has taken the role of male in their community via magic.”

…

“WHAT?!”