“Everyone gather round!” High Mage Strenger shouted. “Leave the guard duty, your instructors will take over for now!”
It was still early. The sky had started to lighten a long time ago, but the sun had not yet risen over forested hills. Large shadows darted overhead, silhouetted against the brightening sky, as the giant bats headed back to their roosts. Big fires still burned brightly despite the early hour, after being diligently tended to all through the night. The smoke from the fires was wafting almost invisibly upwards, a faint smudge against the sky, before being lit up high above, the bright red rays of the hidden sun creating what almost appeared to be a second fire, blazing far above the camp.
“I have some news to share with all of you. I also have some announcements to make, as there are some changes to the plans we made on our journey to Dragon’s Fang.”
“First! There are far, far more kobolds than we were led to believe. Four of your instructors went on reconnaissance missions last night, and they discovered no less than five kobold villages within 10 miles of this location. That is a significant number, and an unusually large density. We were not even expecting kobolds to be this far west.”
Many students started whispering amongst each other at the news.
“I’m sure you can all understand the problem. It will take months for a force our size to clear these forests. My biggest concern, however, is the risk of more than one village engaging us at the same time. There is a good chance that multiple villages will pick up our movements, and a battle against one will not only stop us, but will clearly indicate our position to any nearby hostiles. If this happens, we could find ourselves under attack from a second kobold village, from an unexpected direction, while already engaged with the first.”
“This is a risk that 5th years are not expected to undertake. You do not have the training or skill necessary to deal with this situation. Because of these circumstances, your instructors will be taking on a combat role when necessary. Do not misunderstand me! They will NOT get involved under normal combat conditions! Not unless you mess up beyond recovery! Rather, they will handle any situation that we have not yet prepared you for. They will also help with the camp, which is part of the second announcement.”
“Second! We will no longer be making marching camps each day. We will spend this day fortifying our current camp. Tomorrow, we will head for one of the nearer villages, and once it is destroyed, we will be coming back. This camp is now your home for the next few days!”
“From now on we will be establishing a more permanent camp at each location and clearing out a different village each day. You will leave your bags behind, to be protected within the camp. We will not be moving on from our camp until every nearby village has been wiped out. Only then will we move on to a new location, where we will establish another more permanent camp and repeat. There are too few of you to both clear out kobolds and guard this camp, so some of your instructors will stay behind. They will not do any work in the camp! Do not expect them to collect water or prepare firewood. They will defend against any kobold attack, and that is all!”
“Mage Barret has already been dispatched with a message for the duke in charge of this region. We will continue clearing the kobold infestation until such a time as the duke’s soldiers arrive, at which point we will hand the task over to the professionals. If we are still within the time frame of the expedition, we may stay to continue operations with professional soldiers, provided they agree. Let us show them what fifth year Prospects can do!”
The students cheered at the news, eager to get out there and clear as many villages as possible, the panicked fighting of the day before already forgotten.
High Mage Strenger quickly threw cold water on their enthusiasm.
“I’m glad to see you all so fired up to get working on our camp! Get to it! Chop chop!” he laughed to himself. No one else joined him.
Plans were made for extending and enhancing the defenses, and work teams were quickly put together. The entire morning was spent clearing nearby trees and cutting them into the needed pieces, digging the defensive ditch deeper, and building up the barricades.
A second, smaller ditch was dug as well. This ditch was deliberately dug unevenly, designed to be much easier to get through at key points, in order to funnel any attacking kobolds to specific areas of the defenses.
Normally this would not be something they would want to encourage, but they were more than capable of handling almost any number of kobolds, as long as they ran into proper defenses. With the students so spread out, and the kobolds roaming in such large numbers, the biggest danger was actually an evenly spread-out attack that could create gaps. A concentrated attack on a small part of the defenses was surprisingly what was wanted in this situation.
The High Mage was very firm in pointing out that this was a highly unusual situation. He made it a point to mention this fact as often as possible, to the annoyance of the students. Everyone perfectly understood that a concentration of force against a small area of fortifications was deadly in almost any other situation.
Word spread that one of the students had mentioned the issue of kobold carcasses building up and getting in the way, so the ramparts were modified to have a steeper angle, while all defensive stakes were removed, in order to ensure that dead or wounded kobolds would easily roll back down.
High Mage Strenger dismissed the question of whether the path down to the river needed to be fortified, pointing out that it wouldn’t be defensible and that warnings from scouts should be more than enough. He was much more impressed when Sven mentioned that the tree stumps left over from cutting down the trees were a hinderance and not a benefit. Kobolds were small enough that they both gave cover, and were ineffective at breaking up an attack.
Sven’s classmates were less impressed when they were given the job of digging up and clearing out the closest stumps. Some stumps ended up being incorporated into the defensive structures, making a convenient platform that raised a defender a couple of feet higher. This would allow archers to more easily shoot over the students defending the palisades.
Lunch was taken in shifts, keeping the work going nonstop through midday. The towers they were building to give early warning had just been started when perimeter guards came running toward the camp.
“Kobolds! We’re under attack!”
Each of them took their weapons with them to wherever they were working, ensuring they were always nearby, so now everyone was able to just drop what they were doing and moved to their weapons. Every student moved to their defensive positions as the guards ran into the camp, pulling in the basic log bridges that lay over the ditches, and dropping the preprepared palisade pieces into place at the camp entrances.
The guards were running in from the north, so most of the students moved in that direction, while the students who had previously been guarding the flanks of the spear wall now moved to the east and west walls, just in case any kobolds moved around the camp for some reason. Designated scouts moved to the east, west and south as well, quickly leaving the camp and moving away to provide early warning should another group attack from a different direction while the defenders were focused on the northern side.
Fighting creatures that were not capable of the most basic organized assaults made things significantly easier than they would have been had they been fighting intelligent opponents, something High Mage Strenger made sure to repeatedly remind them of again and again.
Yaric was not one of the designated scouts, so he made his way over to the northern palisade and pushed in next to Li Na. Both had their spears in hand.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself. You ready to slaughter some chickens?”
“Chickens? They look like lizards, and you call them chickens? You haven’t noticed the scales?”
“You haven’t looked at a chicken before? What do they have all over their legs, huh?”
“Fine, but what about their feathers then?”
“Some kobolds have feathers! Look on top of their heads, some have a couple of feathers just randomly growing there!”
“Two legged lizards that might or might not have feathers on their heads, and you call them chickens,” said Yaric, shaking his head. “Lizards that are supposed to be distantly related to dragons!”
“Pshhh… two legged, just like chickens! And they are nothing like a dragon. Definitely closer to a chicken than a dragon!”
“You’re…” Yaric paused as what Li Na had said caught up with him. “Huh... I can’t argue with that.”
Li Na smirked and opened her mouth to continue, but the first kobolds burst through the distant tree line at that moment, and everyone went silent. The defenders watched the kobolds sweep across the open ground and into the first ditch. There was a pause as they made their way up the other side while out of sight, before surging out of the easier to climb areas. Kobolds still climbed out at every point, but the choke points concentrated a significant number of kobolds across several small areas.
Then the kobolds dropped into the second, larger ditch, right in front of the ramparts. Every kobold scrambled up the sides, straight into the spears thrusting down. Their scramble up the ramparts required them to use both hands, leaving the kobolds to be skewered with their own spears held flat against the ground.
No kobolds made their way around the camp, and no other group joined in from a different direction. The kobolds numbers would have no doubt made them a very real threat out in the open, but with the defenses that had been put in place, there was no battle, just a slaughter. Kobolds died by the dozen, wiped out like pests. Which is exactly why the students were there in the first place.
The attack lasted several minutes, during which time over a thousand kobolds climbed up into the spear points, only to roll back down into the bottom of the ditch. Not a single student was injured in any way. No one was even in danger of being overwhelmed.
Fighting from behind the fortifications put the defenders in an unassailable position when assaulted by such primitive attackers, leaving the fight feeling more like a chore that everyone had to get through. The cleanup was an even bigger chore, as the carcasses had to be carried up and out of the ditches, through the defensive structures, and out into an open clearing to be burnt.
“Bet you don’t think they’re much like chickens now,” Yaric grunted, passing up a dead kobold.
“It’s only made it more obvious that they are. See? I’m plucking this one now,” Li Na replied, leaning down to take the kobold while waggling her eyebrows.
Yaric paused for a moment before groaning and rolling his eyes, ignoring Li Na and turning around to get another one.
One of the students was reprimanded severely when he rolled a dead kobold down the hill instead of carrying it to the piles they were making. High Mage Strenger made it very clear what he would do to anyone he found tainting their water source with carcasses, and the student hurried down to fetch the dead kobold and carry it all the way back up.
The rest of the day was spent repairing some minor damage to the fortifications, and finishing off the small towers they had already started on. Lennon let them off early. They only had a quick discussion about the kobold attack, before guard rotations were set up and the rest of the class got some time to rest.
Piles of wood were stacked earlier, which had been used as a base for the mounds of dead kobolds. These were lit when the sun started to set. Most students came past to have a look, but everyone quickly left as the smell of burning kobolds started to spread.
“This should keep things quiet tonight,” High Mage Strenger said as night fell. “Kobolds have an amazing sense of smell. That is likely how that last tribe came straight to us like they did – we had fires going all night, and then the cooking fires all afternoon. The smell of burning kobolds should keep them away, although we might get a few curious scouts coming to take a peek.”
“They have scouts, High Mage Strenger?” Yaric asked, alarmed.
“Ha ha, yes,” the High Mage chuckled, “not unlike how many pack animals spread out to hunt and signal to each other when they find prey. Don’t be alarmed, it’s just instinct.”
Yaric nodded, feeling better.
“So the smell of kobolds burning won’t attract the others instead of scaring them off?” asked Lauren.
“No, I don’t think so. Especially in this weather. It’s still quite cool at night, and in the mornings, so the kobolds are less active right now. They would be moving much faster if it was summer.”
Yaric and Lauren were taken aback at that piece of information.
“It’s far more likely that they will simply patrol their own territories more actively, and try to attack us in the open. We will probably be fighting them on the way to their little villages, not in the villages themselves,” High Mage Strenger added. “I highly doubt any kobold tribes will be caught off guard now.”
Yaric, Lauren and Sven looked to each other when the High Mage strode away. Li Na grinned.
“This will be fun! They’re not so tough! And look how much damage they’ve caused already. How many farmers and travelers will be safe once we’ve cleared out the kobolds?”
“Wow Lina, I didn’t think you ever looked so far ahead! You sure you’re not just enjoying all the fighting we’re going to be doing?” Yaric teased.
“No, she just doesn’t want to go back to hours of training every day. She would rather stab lizards occasionally and laze about the rest of the day,” Lauren added.
“Chickens, Lauren! It’s been definitively proven that they’re chickens, not lizards! And I don’t laze about all day, for your information! While you and Yaric are off by yourselves, walking around the forest and enjoying the scenery, we are working. Carrying all your stuff!” she added accusingly.
Lauren leaned forward. “You mean, we’re out there all day keeping everyone safe, while you’re porting all our things like a servant? Fetch me my bag Lina.”
The piece of firewood Li Na threw bounced harmlessly off Lauren’s armor.
“I might just have to carry your bag through some nettles next time! See how you enjoy your strolls through forest with a rash breaking out everywhere!”
The teasing and jokes went on all through the evening, and were mirrored around every fire. High Mage Strenger did nothing to discourage this. There was no real danger during the last attack, but everyone had been out in the wilds for several weeks now. The constant marching had taken a toll on everyone, and now the stress of combat was starting to build up as well. Being under the constant threat of attack was difficult to deal with; the build up of stress was often subtle and unnoticed. Releasing tension with friends was one of the best things they could do right now, and High Mage Strenger would do nothing to hinder them.
Finally, everyone started making their way to their own tents. The next few days were going to be long; they needed all the sleep they could get.
Yaric was sent off early the next morning, along with the other scouts. They already knew where they were going to go, but the scouts were moving ahead to screen for attacking kobolds. An early warning went a long way to improving their odds.
The earlier scouting from the treetops had shown clearly where all of the nearby villages were. The smoke from their fires was a dead giveaway. The hard part now would be to get safely into position to engage them, and to try and do so without running into a second village at the same time.
Yaric stalked quietly through the undergrowth, moving as quickly as he dared. He was in front of his class, heading straight to the village that was their intended target. His job included warning everyone when they drew close.
There was nothing moving on the forest floor. Yaric hadn’t spotted a single one of the deer that were usually bountiful in the forests, nor had there been any boar, or anything else for that matter. The only signs of life were in the treetops, with the birds flitting from tree to tree and filling the forest with their song. The occasional squirrel scurried around tree trunks at his approach, but otherwise Yaric was all alone in the silence beneath the canopy.
It was unnerving. But it made his adrenaline pump!
Yaric already had an arrow nocked as he crept forward, keeping low. He tried to listen as he went, but the silence itself seemed deafening.
'Wait, silence? What happened to the birds?'
Yaric received his answer a moment later, when he spotted sharpened sticks poking their way around some bushes far ahead. Far ahead was relative, it was about as far forward as he could see through the trees, but the distance was only 40 yards.
Yaric stopped and started inching his way backwards, first slowly and carefully, then much faster as he realized that the kobolds were drawing closer. Soon he was running back as quickly as he could.
“High Mage Strenger! Sir!” Yaric shouted as he made his way to the marching column. They were spread out in a rough vee shape, to enable them to more easily and more quickly form a line that could face almost any direction. Everyone started looking around and moving their spears to hold them with both hands.
“They’re not here yet!” Yaric shouted. “They’re behind me, less than a mile now. They are moving this way!”
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“How fast were they moving?” High Mage Strenger asked.
“Much slower than the other times, sir. They were moving quickly, but they looked like they were trying to be quiet.”
“A hunting party then.” Lennon then turned around to face the rest of the students, raising his voice. “You all remember how kobolds hunt? They will be moving in a large group like we’ve seen, just slower and more carefully. But remember, hunting parties send out long lines ahead and to their sides, to encircle and trap their prey! Tell me what the implications are and how you will deal with them.”
“Sir,” Neven Mataxas, one of the dwarven students called out, “they will be in a formation that looks like a bull’s head. The horns will encircle us while we are engaged with the center force.”
“Correct! They use this to hunt. It prevents faster prey from escaping, as their prey will simply run right into the kobolds that are moving around. But it is also highly effective against our main formation. So what will you do now?”
“Form a box, sir,” Sven called out as he approached. “Forty front, forty rear, and twenty to each side. We can use the difference to add their spears in the corners, and keep the spear density across the line.”
“And the center of the rear line? They are unlikely to see combat.”
“They close the gap, protecting everyone else. Kobolds attack whatever is in front of them, but they are still smart enough to see a large hole in defenders if it’s right there. We can thin them out a bit and move some of us to any points that are under pressure. Like an active reserve.”
“Not my initial thoughts, but that should suffice. We don’t have much time, is everyone happy with this?”
At that moment, scouts came running in from ahead, one each from the left and right.
“Kobolds!” they both called as they drew up.
“The group I saw are going to go past us on our left,” Chelsea added as she approached the waiting group. “They’re in a long column and they didn’t see me. We can hit their flank if we move now.”
“The group I saw is doing the same, but they will pass within sight of us,” Delmar said.
“Hunting party!” exclaimed Chelsea. “There will be a main group directly in front of us sir! The columns we saw will move in on our flanks when they hear us engage the main force!”
“Well done Chelsea, yes. That is correct. We have already had word of the force in front of us. Fortunately, it would seem that we are not directly in the center of their hunting group. With the column to our right being so close, we’re almost outside of it. How does this affect your plans? Quickly now.”
“Uh, it doesn’t sir?” suggested Yaric.
“Sir, is it advisable to form an uneven square?” Sven asked.
“Uneven?”
“Is it tactically sound to have a strong line to the front and right, and close the formation with a single line along the rear?”
“You mean a triangle?” the High Mage laughed. Sven blushed a little at his oversight.
“No, that would not be a good idea. They would not be very effective against kobolds moving around or coming from our left. But you can make a strong front line, and anchor it with another strong line on the right. Only two or three fighters with shields will be needed to protect the end of the spear wall. Don’t forget that the horns of their formation have far fewer kobolds than the center. You can put the rest of the sword and shield fighters on the left flank. But I won’t help you any more than this, you have to learn through experience!”
Most of the students nearby looked very concerned at this, but they were out of time. Everyone rushed to take their places. Li Na was carrying an extra spear for both Lauren and Yaric, so Yaric quickly found her and took his place in the front line.
Quiet calls came down the line, each student taking it in turn to quietly alternate between saying ‘odd’ or ‘even'. Everyone went quiet once they were all in position and had their designations, and Yaric immediately noted the oppressive silence that had fallen.
The kobolds arrived soon after.
Ear splitting screeches echoed amongst the trees as the kobolds spotted the waiting intruders. Fast moving kobolds swarmed through the trees, intent on attacking their prey. They hit the lines at full speed, and Yaric felt a kobold impact his spear for the first time.
He was lucky he had thrust just before impact; the kobold hadn’t slowed down at all and impaled itself deeply on his spear. It was only due to the extra extension from thrusting the spear forward that Yaric was able to withdraw the spear far enough to free the spear head.
Another kobold immediately followed. Now warned, Yaric made sure to leave enough room to pull his spear clear. The third kobold charged into his spear just as he heard the fighting start on the right flank. The noise wasn’t just from his right, but also from behind his exposed back, making Yaric’s hair stand on end. But he put that out of his mind, trusting in his friends to hold their own line. He had to focus on his own.
They were still fighting a minute later when panicked yells came from his left. Yaric looked over and saw around a dozen students with swords and shields holding the left flank, keeping the kobolds in front of Yaric from being able to swarm around their line.
And just beyond them, the second hook from the hunting kobolds was already moving in, running eagerly toward the battle.
Yaric took this all in in just a moment, and quickly whipped his head around to the right, checking their other main line.
They were still busy with the first horn. The second horn was now closing in on their undefended rear. There were only a dozen fighters between the backs of both lines and over a hundred charging kobolds…
Yaric desperately looked to High Mage Strenger, only to see him standing calmly with a slight smile, observing the entire fight as if it was a mildly interesting play.
The barest of nudges on his spear was all the warning Yaric got, as a kobold moved past his spear head and closer to their line, already almost in range with his own, shorter spear. Yaric leaped back, pulling his spear back as far as he could, only just managing to get the spear head back inbetween himself and the charging kobold.
Li Na and the other student moved slightly closer to close the gap Yaric had just made, while Yaric thrust hard with his whole body. There was not enough space to do too much damage, but he was able to push the kobold backward, and his second thrust finished it off.
Desperately looking around, Yaric saw that the instructors had now joined the fight, and they were slaughtering the kobolds on their left at a ridiculous rate. Only 6 of them were fighting, but they seemed to fly across the ground, blurring all over the forest floor to cleanly bisect every kobold that approached.
Yaric shouldered his way back into the line, ignoring the sideways glare from Li Na - his neck and ears felt like they were burning.
No one said anything when the fight was over. The students started collecting the carcasses, moving them into several more open spaces.
“All right, gather around everyone!” High Mage Strenger called out when they were finished. Yaric had already noted that most of the instructors and moved off into the forest.
“So who can tell me, what went wrong?”
There was silence all around. Most of the students were staring at the ground, or shuffling around as they looked around for someone to answer.
“No one?”
“Sir?” Sven spoke up. “We left our flank open when we knew there was an enemy force approaching from that direction.”
“And why did you do that? If I remember right, this was your idea?”
Sven turned scarlet. “Yes sir. I thought we would clear the force on the right, then they could reverse direction and move to our other flank in time for the kobolds on that side. Since they were further away from us and would take longer to arrive.”
“And how did that work out.”
Sven hesitated a moment. “It didn’t.”
“Why not?”
“The other flanking movement arrived before we could clear the first one, sir.”
High Mage Strenger looked around at everyone, before saying, “What I’m looking for is less about what went wrong, and more about where did you go wrong. What mistakes did you all make, and what should you have done instead?”
“We left our flank exposed to a known enemy position, sir,” suggested Cormac. “We should have formed the full square as we had originally intended.”
“And what of the rear line? You would have been taking them out of the fight. And while you are already heavily outnumbered too!”
There was silence at that. No one else had anything more to add.
“Well, your normal spear wall has your mobile fighters defending the flanks, doesn’t it? Why do you need to close your square? You could always make an open box. Your front facing spear wall has the left and right flanking spear walls at their ends. They can’t be flanked. The spear walls to your sides each have the front facing wall anchoring one end. Why wouldn’t you have your mobile fighters protecting the other ends of the flanking lines? Then you would have your entire force engaged. Your only concern would be to have some slight depth at the corners, so you don’t have big openings where the lines join.”
“What about if we are hit from behind then, sir? If we only have three sides to the square, we are exposed from the rear.”
“And how is that different from a regular spear wall?”
“We would have just moved through the area behind us, sir. And our scouts would have too. We would be confident that there is nothing behind us.”
“Ahhh… so just like what happened a few minutes ago?” Realization dawned on a few faces.
High Mage Strenger chuckled quietly to himself.
“It’s good that you’re all taking this so seriously. Your lives will depend on it in the future. But don’t forget, you are all here to learn. Better to make mistakes like this, under controlled conditions, than in real combat. Especially with the situation that your generation finds themselves in. But don’t be so hard on yourselves. Making big decisions in the heat of combat is never easy. It won’t get easier either. What will change, is you will make better decisions as you gain more experience. The stress will never go away.”
“There are very few students who have any reason to be hard on themselves. For Prospect Sven, it is understandable. He stepped up and made the call that ended up going wrong, and will obviously feel responsible. He isn’t, but it will still feel that way. I would like to point out that he was the one who stepped up to make the call in the first place, no one else did. And not making any decision would have been worse than a bad one.”
“Prospect Kaylin as well, I’m not sure how you managed to lose your spear and end up in a spear wall with your sword drawn?” Lennon chuckled.
A few other students laughed, and Kaylin turned bright red as she muttered, “It got stuck in a kobold that fell funny. I couldn’t pull my spear out.”
“Which is a good lesson for everyone. Simply stabbing your enemy isn’t enough! You need to be able to recover and be ready for the next enemy. Losing your weapon is no different to be killed, at least while everyone is fighting. Killed or disarmed, you are out of the fight and can’t contribute anything. In a real battle in the future, you should pull out of the line and try to help any wounded. You will most certainly end up finding a spear that someone else is in no condition to use. Try to match weapons that don’t have fighters with fighters that don’t have weapons!”
Everyone laughed at that.
“Prospect Yaric deserves a mention as well.”
Yaric looked up in surprise.
“It seems that our scout doesn’t stop looking out for kobolds, because Prospect Yaric spent much of the battle in the front spear wall, looking around at the other defensive lines. I think I saw some dance moves come into play, when that kobold slipped past you?”
Yaric’s face was burning. Li Na took the opportunity to step forward and kick him in the shin, as if the High Mage wasn’t right in front of them. Obviously feeling that this wasn’t enough, she followed up with a hard right to his shoulder as well.
The High Mage made no reaction at all.
“This is another good lesson for everyone here. Always focus on your own job. It doesn’t matter what is happening somewhere else if you end up getting knocked out yourself. Trust your friends to do their job, and focus on your own. Just as you are relying on your friends to hold their own positions, they are relying on you. But most of all, never ignore the enemy that’s right in front of you, trying to kill you, by having a look at what other enemy fighters are doing elsewhere.”
“Right, that’s all I have to say for now, we will go into more detail back at the camp. First though, we have a village to burn. There will be more kobolds there as well. Not nearly as many as this, I think we got most of the village already, but do not let your guards down!”
“Once the village is destroyed, I would like a few of our scouts to range a bit further out to try and find us some game. We won’t have enough supplies to make it until the duke’s soldiers arrive, not unless we can supplement them. The rest of us will burn the kobolds and go back to camp. I think you all deserve a chance to catch your breaths and think over what you will do better next time.”
“Sir, what situation is our generation in? You said that we should learn now, especially with our situation?” asked Stewart.
“Ah, yes. It’s simple really. Peace. You’ve all grown up in a relatively peaceful period. But as you are all arcanists, there is no such thing as a peaceful life for any of you. Even if we have peace for the next hundred years, there will come a time when that peace will be shattered. Those times always come. And since each of you are effectively immortal, you will all live to see that shattering of the peace. Generations of Mages that were born during times of peace will often struggle during times of conflict. You simply don’t have the perspective or drive to learn how to fight, not like those who are born during periods of conflict do.”
“I thought we were meant to keep the peace, sir? Aren’t we training so that we can prevent conflict?”
High Mage Strenger smiled. “Yes, we are. I am glad that you understand that, too many don’t. But we cannot prevent every conflict. In those situations, your jobs will be to end that conflict. As quickly as you can, and with as little adverse effect as possible. When you can’t stop war, your job will be to end the war so we can get back to the peace we are here to keep.”
“Now, back to the task at hand. The earlier we take care of that kobold village, the more time we will leave for our scouts to find us some food. Perhaps Prospect Li Na will forgive Prospect Yaric for his blunder, if he is able to provide venison or pork for all of us?” High Mage Strenger suggested with a smile.
Li Na kicked Yaric again, enjoying herself and causing everyone to laugh.
“That’s enough rest! I’m sure you all want to be back early! Form up! Scouts, get out there! Let’s get this done!” High Mage Strenger clapped his hands as he gave his last instruction, and everyone jumped to comply.
The village was very easy to find. There were still a lot of kobolds, but the warning from the scouts got everyone formed up in advance, and they were able to make it right to the outskirts before the were spotted.
There were a lot fewer kobolds in the village; there can’t have been more than a third of the number that attacked earlier. They also attacked in a far more staggered manner. Kobolds from the village ran right at them, so they arrived in small groups that were easily dispatched.
Yaric didn’t stay for the cleanup. He left as soon as people started collecting the dead kobolds, hoping to be able to find some game. There had been nothing around the kobold villages that he had seen so far.
It wasn’t until late evening, when Yaric had already given up, that he found a small group of wild boars. They seemed extremely cautious, and each of them only snuffled around for only a few moments before checking the area around them.
Yaric knew that his bow wouldn’t help much. It was highly unlikely that he would be able to get in a lethal shot that killed the boar quickly enough for it to be recovered. Instead, he took a big risk.
These boars seemed to be much more cautious than others he had seen, so he decided to risk it all. Yaric crept forward into the spot he had chosen. It was a small gap inside some dense brush, forming a dark tunnel through the undergrowth. Hopefully, it would be the obvious place for the boars to run to if they were disturbed. In fact, the wild boars had most likely formed the tunnel themselves, hopefully by moving up and down it very often.
Yaric dug a small depression in front of a root that crossed the tunnel, and further down the tunnel, he placed the small, rotting log he had picked up for this purpose. Then he wedged his spear into the natural groove in the log, and firmly pressed the butt of his spear in the root behind him. He needed to move the log further forward, as the spearhead had been lifted too high, but a minute later, everything was set.
Yaric crawled back the way he had come, and slowly made his way around the wild boars. This was it. A desperate gamble. He didn’t have his spear anymore, since he had left it behind to form his trap. Would these boars charge at the first sign of danger, like the others he had faced, or had these boars survived the kobolds by being more cautious? He was about to find out.
Drawing his sword with one hand, Yaric first tossed one stone far to his side with his other hand, then another stone much closer. They both landed near simultaneously, the noise startlingly loud in the darkening forest. Yaric jumped forward as the boars lifted their heads in alarm, his sword ready.
They ran.
Four of them just smashed their way right through the nearest bushes, but one of them went straight down the tunnel. The pained squeal told him he was successful, but how successful he was would have to be seen.
Yaric made his way forward cautiously, afraid that one or more of the boars might still turn back.
He made his way to the tunnel entrance, only now realizing the flaw in his plan. Yaric would have to crawl through the tunnel on his hands and knees. Into the dark abyss that even now grew darker still, with a wild boar likely on the other end. Dead or wounded, he wouldn’t know until he came right up to it.
Yaric almost chose to leave it, but the embarrassment of his earlier mistake drove him forward.
Forced onto hands and knees, Yaric inched his way forward, holding his sword up as best he could. 10 yards later, he found the boar.
It was already dead.
Now came the terrifying job of dragging it back. Dragging a boar backward was far harder than forwards, as instead of having the legs fold in against its body, they were now pulled out like purpose-built obstructions.
Legs caught on the undergrowth constantly, and the boar already weighted more than he did - it was at least 300lbs – so the constant snagging made things extremely difficult. This was compounded by the fact that he himself was forced to crawl backwards, in order to drag the boar through the tunnel.
But none of that compared to the dread he felt. Crawling backward in the gloom of the tunnel, his back completely exposed. He already knew there were boars in the area, obviously, and Yaric constantly felt like he was about to be struck in the back.
He finally made it out, and wasted no time in starting to process the meat. The light was falling fast, and he didn’t dare to light a fire. Worse, the boar was huge, so he had a lot of work to get done. On the positive side, there was a lot of meat, and the meat could be removed in just a few, very large chunks.
Once everything was harvested and stowed away in the hide Yaric had skinned, Yaric hefted the food over his shoulder.
'Damn! This is at least 170lbs!'
Moving as quickly as he could, Yaric headed back to camp. He hadn’t forgotten that there were still several kobold villages in the area, and night was falling fast. The memory of the loud squeal that the boar had made drove him to move faster, certain that kobolds must have heard.
The smell of wood smoke reached him first, and then the camp finally came into sight. Yaric’s arms and back were burning from the strain of carrying his load. The rough terrain hadn’t helped, but he was almost there.
Just as Yaric was about to reach the edge of the tree line a small, fast figure burst out several yards to his left. Then another, and another. Now they were coming from his right as well, and an instant later, the screeches that Yaric had been dreading started calling out all around him.
'Kobolds!'
And Yaric was right in the middle of them!
They had obviously moved up behind him but hadn’t noticed him yet in the dark. The smell of the campfires probably helped as well.
Yaric got over his panic quickly, and dropping his load, he sprinted toward the camp.
Kobolds were all around him, including in front, but the camp hadn’t spotted them yet. The tree line on this side of the camp was far enough away that the cries from the kobolds were not heard over the noise within the camp, and it was already too dark to spot anything this far out.
Yaric sprinted as fast as he could, lungs and legs burning. He slowly gained on the kobolds, desperately trying to keep on his feet while sprinting through the hard to see tree stumps. A few kobolds screeched in surprise, but turning toward him slowed their forward speed even more, and Yaric just pulled even further ahead of those that changed direction to get at him. He was right amongst them, but if he didn't warn the camp, the kobolds would get much closer before the alarm was raised.
“KOBOLDS!” he screamed. “KOBOLDS!”
He had only covered another 30 yards when more people started to appear over the barricades.
“Where are they?!”
“How far?”
The shouted questions seemed more inquisitive than panicked, and Yaric realized that they still couldn’t see him in the deep twilight shadow.
“HERE!” he gasped out. “WITH ME!”
Some of the kobolds in front had now realized that there was someone behind them, and they started slowing and turning around, looking for the easier prey right in their midst.
Yaric darted around all of them, most of them only spotting him as he flashed past.
It was the group in the lead that almost got him.
Yaric dodged around the figures that pulled up to a stop in front of him, finally being forced to jump to the side to avoid a collision. Falling now would be certain death, not even the Mages would be able to get to him in time.
That was when the burning pain seared across his hip. One of the kobolds had turned around, twisting with his spear, and unintentionally bringing the sharpened stone tip right in line with Yaric’s waist. It penetrated under his armor, tearing through his side.
The force twisted him to the side, which combined with the shock and pain to cause him to stumble. Yaric managed to keep on his feet though, and quickly sped back up. His momentum had carried him several yards past the kobolds furthest in front, and he was quickly back up to speed, pulling even further in front.
Yaric ran over the first bridge, shocked to find Rupert standing there with another student, too shrouded to recognize, waiting to pull the bridge as he crossed. He barely made it through the gates when he stumbled one final time, flailing his arms wildly.
Ice cold terror flooded Yaric’s body, frozen by memories being chased through a fog filled town, of falling as he made it through the town’s gates, of being torn apart by wicked claws.
Then he hit the ground, sliding in the dirt, and feeling came surging back.
Yaric rolled onto his back, clutching his side. Yells echoed from the palisades as the fight started.
Hands grabbed Yaric under his arms and lifted him slightly, dragging him back.
“You ok?” Li Na grunted.
“No… Got stabbed,” wheezed Yaric.
His lungs were burning almost as badly as his hip, but Yaric still struggled to get his legs under him. He finally succeeded in holding up his own weight, and Li Na helped him turn and make his way to the instructors’ tents. Hot liquid was running down his side.
Li Na helped him into the biggest tent, which had four basic cots set up. One of the instructors rushed forward immediately and helped to get Yaric onto one of the cots.
“This isn’t too bad; I can fully heal this myself. But you will have some pain for a few days, and you’ll need to take it easy tomorrow. Make sure you eat a good meal when you wake up.”
“Wake up?” Yaric asked, still out of breath.
“Yes, I’m going to put you to sleep while I heal you. It’s for your own safety.”
“Wait!” Yaric gasped, grabbing the instructor’s arm.
Yaric turned to Li Na, breathing deeply.
“Out by the tree line... Just inside…”
“Yes? What about it?” she asked curiously.
Yaric dropped back onto the cot, and the instructor lifted his hand over Yaric’s head.
“That’s where I dropped the bacon.”
And the next moment, it was Yaric who dropped - into a blissful, dreamless sleep.