“JUMP!”
“Ohhh… shit!”
Twenty-five attackers jumped straight up, while those standing behind simultaneously shoved them forward. The net effect was a wall of 25 large tower shields launching into the now unprotected defenders above the wall.
Some tried to use their spears to fend off the human projectiles, but they quickly discovered that the airborne shields had more than enough momentum to overcome their grip. Others were forced to move their weapons out of the way, or have them moved by force.
This didn’t change the fact that the human missiles were still careening toward them, and most were knocked back when they made impact. The unlucky ones were hit by attackers that punched out with their shield when they got into range; those students ended up being launched back into the second line, and were instantly wounded by stakes that would have impaled them if they hadn’t been protected by their medallions.
Yaric and Sven were knocked back with the others. It didn’t take them long to recover, and both were counterattacking by the time the assault force had pulled themselves back together. Reinforcements were already running up to plug the gap between the defensive lines and prevent freedom of movement.
Yaric found himself facing a virtual wall of shields. The assault force had jumped side by side, and were still very close to each other, so Yaric took a page out of Li Na’s book.
The first attacker went flying back and over the edge of the wall, his arms and legs flailing comically. Yaric’s shield bash carried him slightly past the rest of the attackers. He had pierced the wall.
Sven, meanwhile, had been forced to drop his spear. He was left with no space to draw his sword, so he ran right up against the nearest shield and crouched down, pushing up and back, forcing his opponent to retreat. Three steps later, the kid's foot found open air, and a second attacker went tumbling.
Yaric had decided to attack to his right, allowing him to keep his shield facing the attackers that were still below the wall. None of them seemed to be carrying spears, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before they joined their friends.
Yaric’s first opponent went down in an instant, not even seeing who stabbed him. Unfortunately, the next in line turned to face Yaric before he could land a blow. Yaric was able to defend himself well enough, but found it almost impossible to get around the elf’s defenses.
Not even 5 seconds had passed yet, which while not long when sparring, left Yaric feeling anxious. There were another 25 attackers on his left, and they should have already made it up the wall as well. Yaric chose to repeat his earlier action.
The tower shield provided excellent cover, but in such close quarters, it restricted mobility and vision. Charging fast and low, Yaric augmented his whole body as Li Na had taught him, crashing into shield. He hit with enough force that the elf was lifted off his feet, propelling him into the next 2 attackers as well.
It was almost impossible to get back up quickly when you were prone on your back, covered ankle to shoulder by a heavy rigid shield, and holding a sword in your hand. In hindsight, the elf probably should have let go of the sword. He didn’t...
Yaric was able to leap forward and stab down twice in quick succession, taking out another 2 attackers. Looking up quickly, Yaric reset his stance to take the next guy in the line. This opponent had stepped over the third attacker who'd been knocked down, and was already moving to defend his teammate.
Thuds sounded out from Yaric’s left as multiple opponents leaped up from below. The knocked over fighter stood back up and joined his friend. Yaric was trapped.
Sven had been having similar difficulties, made even worse by the fact that he didn’t have a shield.
He had been able to draw his sword after pushing the first guy off the wall, and had also quickly dispatched a second with a lethal thrust. But now the next two had turned to face him, leaving him at a decided disadvantage.
Frantic steps and evasions were all that saved Sven as he struggled to defend himself. It was two on one, and he only had the sword in his hand. It would just be a matter of time before one of his opponents landed a crippling blow, if not outright lethal. Then the rest of the attackers arrived.
Taking a risk, Sven leaped backwards, looking over his shoulder as he did. He was just in time to see Yaric appear to lunge dramatically, turning it into a feint, then awkwardly reach down and pick up one of the dropped tower shields.
With one big heave, Yaric tossed the shield over the second palisade line and onto the stakes beyond. He followed it almost immediately after, leaping over the palisade and landing safely on the shield, before jumping a second time and landing safely on the other side.
Sven copied his actions, landing on the shield himself just 2 seconds later. The shield started to splinter underfoot, unable to take the pressure of Sven landing above while supported by sharpened stakes below. It cracked as he launched himself off.
Yaric hadn’t waited. He had already unstrapped his shield and sheathed his sword. With his previously discarded bow back in hand, Yaric started firing arrows as quickly as he could.
It was devastating.
Each member of the assault force had leaped up onto the wall, only to be met with a second barricade, reinforced with a field of stakes. The only reasonable way across such a distance was through the few narrow gaps that were left as pathways, forcing the attackers to turn either left or right and move sideways along the wall. With Yaric on the other side of the defenses, and almost directly in the middle, every attacker was forced to show their backs when dealing with the defenders that blocked their paths to the sides.
Of course, Yaric and Sven hadn’t gone unnoticed when they used a shield as a platform to leap across the second defensive line.
Two more followed. They used the same shield, and the first to jump was successful. Sven was currently engaged in a battle with him, trying to cover Yaric as he kept unleashing arrow after arrow into the attackers' rear.
His opponent was particularly good, not to mention a year ahead. Sven would have stood no chance if he hadn’t taken Yaric’s shield. As it was, they were evenly matched, and both fought furiously. Both Sven and Yaric were extremely lucky, however.
Because the second jumper had not been so lucky.
His leap had been perfectly timed. He soared across the barricade in his partner’s wake, landing perfectly on top of the shield - and finally splintering it into pieces. The stakes below would have splintered bone as well if he hadn’t been wearing his medallion.
The crash of shield on shield beside him drew Yaric’s attention. He turned just in time to see both fighters get knocked back from the other. Twisting at the waist, he unleashed his arrow from 5 yards away, straight into the 6th years side.
An amber mage shield blocked the arrow. Sven’s opponent crumpled, paralyzed by the simulated injury and unable to stop Sven from stepping forward to finish him off.
Arrow after arrow flew from Yaric's bow, desperately trying to stem the relentless assault.
Sven joined those trying to block the pathways, but it was no use. Once the attackers had made it into the gaps, Yaric was no longer firing at their backs. The large tower shields also made it difficult for spear wielders to seriously injure anyone, and they were slowly being pushed back.
Finally, victory cries were shouted as the attacking force pushed the last few feet and past the last line of fortifications. Four more attackers had gotten impatient, and they used shields from fallen teammates to replicate Yaric’s feat, bypassing the traffic jam entirely.
Yaric’s stomach sank. He knew it was over.
His remaining teammates were gradually pushed down the other side of the hill, back toward their base camp. Yaric was forced to retreat with them so he wouldn’t get cut off. He tried to keep firing, but firing uphill was very ineffective, and they were well protected from projectiles.
'Damn, now I’m the one with no shield!'
The attacking force had suffered heavy casualties, but it wasn’t enough. Team Flagbearer had taken a massive hit in the very first assault; ten of them had been ‘killed’ in the opening moments, when the first wave had leaped into their line. That alone was 20% of their fighters. The concentration of force had then helped the attackers to take the initiative, dispatching even more of Yaric’s teammates before the chokepoints again helped stem the tide.
Now there were no more choke points left. Not up on the hill anyway.
Every surviving member of Team Flagbearer pulled back in a fighting retreat. A small rearguard tried to form up to allow the others to run ahead, but they were quickly flanked, forcing more fighters to move back up and block.
They all split around the palisade when they reached the bottom, some team members going left, the rest going right.
This choke point was much harder to get through. It was too narrow for the tower shields, and the difference between the bright sunshine outside and dark interior made the passage between the palisade and the stone of their building impossible to see into.
The entire attacking force hesitated outside. Yaric could hear them discussing the issue while some tested the wall, trying to see if they could simply pull it down. Most of them just seemed to be trying to catch their breath.
“Come out and surrender! We will just tie you up instead of taking the kills, but only if you come out now!”
It was that same asshole from the beginning of the attack. He had unfortunately not been one of the casualties.
Sven smirked. “Come in here and we can discuss it!”
“Come out, or we will just burn this wall down!”
“Why are you always issuing orders from behind your team? Come inside so we can talk face to face!”
“Oh, just walk into your base by myself? What’s to stop you from killing me as soon as I’m through the door?”
“What’s to stop me? Why would anything stop me? I haven’t surrendered! Maybe I didn’t make myself clear? Come inside so I can test your medallion for you. You have it charged I hope?”
“Suit yourselves… I hope you enjoy sucking on smoke!”
Some of the laughter outside was coming from people who were clearly moving away. Going to get wood for a fire no doubt.
The last of Team Flagbearer had made it into the tunnel by now. Their literal flagbearer had been one of the first to go through, carrying both teams’ flags. Yaric wished he could hide somewhere to see their faces when they found the tunnel and realized what had happened.
The two spearmen defending the entrance quickly followed the stragglers into the tunnel as well, leaving only Sven and Yaric behind.
“After you,” Sven whispered, gesturing to the tunnel with a big grin on his face.
Yaric returned his grin, shouldered his bow, and jumped straight in. It was cramped, trying to run while stooped over. And pitch black. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, so you needed to feel your way along the tunnel, while also watching out for things snagging on the logs that formed low ceiling. Yaric struggled in particular, with one end of his bow getting caught several times and often scraping along when it didn’t.
The uphill run wasn’t too bad. Downhill was a different story. You already had to bend forward to keep your head from hitting the top of the tunnel. Leaning forward while also feeling your way downhill was next to impossible. Yaric caught himself from falling forward several times during the short trip. Catching yourself was usually the problem. Standing up to keep your balance also brought your head up into the rows of logs above your head. All in all, it was very unpleasant.
It was with deep relief that Yaric spotted the light up ahead. He could make out the silhouettes of several people between him and the exit, but most had clearly exited already. Hopefully the silence outside the tunnel meant that they had not yet been discovered.
Bright sunlight greeted everyone as they jumped out onto the hillside. A few people were giggling as they watched one person after another climb out and turn to look back up the hill, squinting in the now blinding light. No one complained, however, not after the defeat they had just suffered.
And it was a defeat, despite escaping with their flags. They had no base, no supplies, and only the things that they each carried with them.
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They also had nowhere to go.
“Where to now?” Yaric asked Sven as they jogged down to the tree line and joined the rest of the team.
“No idea,” he replied thoughtfully, “we never planned this far. It was a bad oversight.”
The rest of the team was looking at them expectantly. Most still had grins on their faces, no doubt still imagining the faces of their attackers when they discovered that everyone had escaped with the flags.
“Come on,” Sven said, gesturing deeper into the forest. “We need to get some distance between us first. Who knows how long it will take them to find out what we did?”
Twenty-three members of Team Flagbearer began jogging through the forest. Eleven of them had some kind of wound simulation in effect, slowing the team down. They had no destination in mind other than ‘away’.
The mood became grimmer as time passed, with the thrill of their escape wearing off and the reality of the situation setting in. More than half their team had been ‘killed’, almost half the remainder were wounded, and they were left with nowhere to go. That left them exposed in the open forest - something each and every one of them was acutely aware of. Everyone ran in silence, eyes furtively scanning their surroundings.
It took over an hour to put 5 miles between them and their old camp. An hour would have been amazing just a year ago, but the ability to use basic augmentation changed everything. They all knew that a 6th year team could run them down without much effort.
“All right, lets pause here,” Sven announced, pulling to a stop. Team Flagbearer huddled around him, eager for some good news.
“We have a few things to discuss and some decisions to make. First off, we need to assess our supplies. We have no food, and we only have what water we were carrying with us when the attack happened. Some of you look like you lost your weapons as well?” Sven asked curiously, looking around at the many unarmed fighters amongst them.
“A lot of us had spears. We had to drop them in the tunnel because they kept stabbing the people in front,” added Vano, one of their dwarven teammates.
“Yeah, we should have had some practice runs. And left supplies by the exit!” added another.
“The path we've already travelled is always clearer than the one in front. Now we know some things for the future. But none of that helps us now. Focus on what we should be doing, not what we should have done.”
“We should decide on a destination first,” Yaric suggested. “That way we can run in the direction that we need to go, and some of us can scout ahead. My biggest concern is running into another team - we’d be slaughtered.”
Team Flagbearer was clearly in agreement. Those without weapons were feeling particularly vulnerable. Even more, having a goal in mind helped the whole team to cope with the current situation. Things were bad, but they were doing something about it.
“We should circle around our old camp, find our supply road.” Sven said with a thousand-yard stare, obviously deep in thought.
“How does the road help us?”
“I don’t care about the road. I want to intercept our supply drop. They are coming the day after tomorrow. I don’t want them going right through to our old camp.”
“Old camp?!” someone exclaimed.
“Yes. I don’t think we’d be able to get it back as we are. Maybe later. But I’m not sure if it’s even worth it. Things aren’t great out here, but they weren’t fantastic back there either.”
Sven looked around and made eye contact with each member of his team, one by one.
“Out here we are exposed, without any fortifications. But we have traded that for mobility and stealth. No one will know where we are. If we went back, we would be annihilated if we got attacked again! We only escaped because of that tunnel, which they will now know about. There would be no escaping a second time. Any future attack will leave us completely wiped out. I believe we should find somewhere that gives us good cover, good defense, and an easy retreat. Let them look while we attack as we please!”
Team Flagbearer started getting excited at the prospect of launching their own attacks, despite the fact that they would be consigning themselves to camping out in the forest.
“We can camp somewhere closer to the border, near where the supplies come in from. If we keep moving, no one can pin us down. And we can start to cache some supplies to prevent situations like this,” Sven added in a nod to the earlier complaint.
“So we start circling around our base camp now, and head up the supply path?” Yaric asked.
“Yes, let’s get started. We still need to find a suitable place to camp for the night.”
“Wait!” Chelsea called. “Why do we have to go straight there?”
“What do you mean? Where else would you want to go?” Sven asked, confused.
“Well, I happen to know of an enemy whose camp is very lightly defended right now.”
“Ah… you want revenge?” Sven asked as realization dawned. The rest of the team seemed to agree with Chelsea.
“But that wouldn’t serve any purpose, it would just delay us. And we don’t know exactly where their camp is either.”
“Their supplies!” Yaric exclaimed. “We could take what we need from them! And we can destroy the rest!”
Sven hesitated, but he was now interested in the idea.
“But we have a very good idea of their location, the only question is if we can still find them before their assault force gets back,” Gerrick informed them. “Camps are always in a rough circle around the center, and we know which side they came from. It shouldn’t take long to find them. Anton was planning to discuss this with you just before we were attacked.”
There had been some chaos in the wake of the initial wave during the assault, and Anton had single handedly blocked one of the passages between defensive lines, long enough for the defenders to recover and reinforce him. He had been one of the first to fall during the second phase.
“I vote we attack right now!” someone shouted, quickly followed by the entire team.
“Alright, alright!” Sven said loudly, raising his hands to quieten them. “We can’t let our emotions dictate our decisions, but this could be to our benefit. I’m only asking you to think of the consequences. We’ve just fought their team and escaped at the last second, with both our flag and theirs. Imagine if we got caught attacking their camp now? We would be delivering the flags for them, just after we thought we won.”
“Won?” Yaric asked.
“Technically, yes. I’m not trying to be overly optimistic,” he added hastily. “It’s just that this is still a competition about taking and defending flags. We did that. We lost our base, and all of our supplies, yes. But we also kept our flag and even have an additional one. And we are still able to compete and continue fighting.”
Sven looked around again. “So yes, we lost tactically, but we did win strategically. Even if that victory left us worse off than before. The team that attacked us did so with the goal of recovering their flag and taking ours as they tried to to begin with. We fought back to protect the flags. We succeeded, they failed. Now you all want to carry both those flags across to their base camp, just after we escaped?”
Team Flagbearer were quieter, but still determined. Sven noticed and quickly relented.
“Alright, but then we leave straight away. There can’t be more than two or three defenders left behind based on the number that attacked us. Pass backup weapons around to those who have nothing, and anyone who is unarmed will stay with the flags.”
“How can they leave so few behind?”
Sven shrugged. “Because they had no flag to lose? A calculated risk, hoping to leave and get back before anything happens? Either way, it’s something that we would have also been forced to do. Launching an assault is hard enough with equal numbers, but taking a fortified camp when you’re outnumbered by the defenders would be next to impossible.”
Weapons were quickly passed around, and everyone was soon organized. Yaric left first along with Chelsea. They would be scouting the area ahead. The rest either huddled around their flagbearer, or, for those who had weapons, formed a small perimeter guard.
It took 2 hours to find the base camp. A low hill formed a slight bow shape, with a small stone hut right in the center of the bow, at the very bottom of the hill. A second, smaller hill sat on the opposite side, sandwiching the building.
The building was identical to their own but directly defended. There were no defenses on any hilltop. A full and proper palisade surrounded the entire building, complete with a walkway along the top and ladders for easy access. Guard towers were stationed at intervals all around. Just inside the walls was what appeared to be a wide, shallow trench, which seemed to serve no purpose.
'Part of their earlier fortifications?' Yaric wondered.
An even larger guard tower was under construction inside, directly in front of where the building’s doorway should be. And right on top of the building, sitting on top of the flat roof, were two lookouts, positioned to face down the gaps between the hills. They could see anyone coming down a hill from anywhere on the roof, and their current positions prevented attackers from sneaking close by using the hillsides as cover.
Yaric and Chelsea immediately ran back to report.
“They’re just up ahead,” Chelsea informed them. Together, they broke down the situation and explained the defenses.
“And you’re sure there are only two lookouts?” Sven asked for the third time.
“Yes! As far as we can be. Like we said, there could be more in the towers.”
“No, one more person in a tower wouldn’t help anyone. I doubt they left more than two behind.”
“How will we get in? Do you want to jump?”
Sven stared at the ground, lost in thought. “No,” he said hesitantly, “I think that’s an unnecessary risk. There’s no way they don’t have something to stop us from going over. I would rather try to go through. Maybe we can pull a wall down?”
“Why pull the wall down?” Gerrick asked, grinning as he hefted his battle axe. “We can just go through instead?”
Sven looked unconvinced. “They wouldn’t build a wall that can just be cut down.”
“No, they wouldn’t build a wall that could be cut down while they defended it. Any wall can be brought down if there is no one to stop you.”
Sven grinned. “If you believe you can do it, we’ll give it a shot. So then, here’s the plan...”
It only took five minutes to discuss the plan, even with additions made by other team members. There was no need for anything complicated when the base camp was effectively undefended.
Another ten minutes later and everyone was ready. Several large piles of dry wood and kindling were bundled together and strapped to everyone’s back, groups were formed based on individual roles, a few torches were lit, and one very large battle axe had been meticulously sharpened.
The whole group made their way down and around the larger hill, approaching the base camp through one of the gaps between the hills. Very soon after, they were greeted by shouts, which were completely ignored.
Bundles of dry wood and kindling were quickly deposited in piles against the base of the wall, below the lookouts’ field of view, while Gerrick walked up alongside their chosen section and unleashed a mighty, augmented swing. The whole wall shuddered under the impact.
“The rest of our team is on their way back! You’ll be outnumbered two to one!”
Still Team Flagbearer ignored the lone lookouts.
Another massive chop shook the wall, and then another, slowly hacking away chunks from several poles.
“We can replace those poles in 10 minutes, you’re wasting your time!” they shouted, starting to sound frantic. No one wanted to sit out of the competition as a casualty.
“We don’t even have a flag! I swear, we don’t have one! You are taking a risk for nothing!”
“We know you don’t have it!” Yaric yelled back with a wide grin. “Because we took it from you three days ago!”
Silence greeted Yaric’s announcement, punctuated only by the chops of Gerrick’s battle axe.
“You made a mistake coming here!” they tried again. “Guess what’s happening at your base camp right as we speak!”
“We know!” Yaric responded. “Your grappling hook idea was clever. Pity it didn’t work out like you had expected!”
There was no silence this time, as a fierce discussion broke out on the roof, audible even from outside. They were clearly under the impression that their team had been wiped out again.
“Then what do you want? You already have our flag! You’ve left your own base camp undefended!”
“There are plenty of fighters in our camp!” Yaric yelled back, grinning. It was technically true.
Poles started to splinter just then, tipping over to land outside. Another followed them, and another, until only two poles stood in the section Gerrick had marked out. It didn’t take long to identify the issue; they were fastened to the walkway, apparently to help support it, but now the roles were reversed.
It didn’t change much. Gerrick swung up and over his shoulder, quickly taking them down one at a time, creating a 3ft gap in the wall. Team Flagbearer were soon stepping through.
The tower in front of the door was unfinished, leaving the way inside wide open. The shallow trench that Yaric had spotted earlier ringed the inside of the camp. The whole thing was filled with sharpened stakes, waiting for anyone who tried to jump the palisades.
Yaric and his friends ran through the building room by room, checking what was available. There were a lot of desperately needed supplies in the storerooms, though no one felt that any supplies would be needed by this team when they returned. Revenge was sweet.
All of the supplies were dragged outside and sorted through. Even the bedding and clothes were piled high. The lookouts had barricaded themselves on the roof, and they hurled a constant stream of abuse down onto Team Flagbearer.
There was more than enough spare weapons to go around, and soon everyone was armed. Yaric still had the only bow, but everyone now had a sword and shield, and some carried more than one spear as well. Essential tools were also collected, along with five days’ worth of rations; Sven was concerned that there could be a problem with meeting their supply drop, so he wanted to ensure that there was no risk of running out of food.
All of the remaining supplies were thrown on top of the bedding. Even the neatly stacked firewood was put to good use. Large fires were prepared in the guard towers, including the unfinished tower over the building’s entrance. The remainder joined the piles spread along the wall outside.
Every member of Team Flagbearer insisted on personally lighting some of the piles. They took great pleasure in watching the wood catch fire and the flames start to spread, and the whole team gathered to watch the last two fires get started. They all insisted that Sven take the honor, and watched in satisfaction as the unfinished guard tower went up in flames, followed shortly after by the supplies they weren’t able to carry.
The lookouts on the roof had gone quiet.
“We should go,” Yaric said quietly, nudging Sven’s shoulder.
“Not yet. The fires need to catch properly, or those two upstairs could just put them out.”
Team Flagbearer marched back through the wall five minutes later, just twenty minutes after the attack had started. Wide columns of smoke were billowing upward relentlessly behind them.
Now that it was over, there was a renewed sense of urgency to get away, pushing the whole team to move as quickly as they could with their heavy loads. Too much was taken, but it was all they would have for another two days.
They took an even wider route back, hoping to go around the returning team. Two hours later and they were close to where they had first stopped, only an additional mile further from their camp. The return journey took almost as long as the outward journey had, despite the fact that they weren’t searching for a hidden camp. This time they were carrying a load of supplies.
The hill they stopped on had thick bushes that covered them well when seated and gave them a clear view all around. Trees obscured everything that was too far away, but Yaric thought he could spot the hilltop that surrounded their old base camp.
Their opponents’ camp was very easy to spot, however. Grey smoke still hung in the air over the location of the camp. Yaric had no doubt that their own camp had been dismantled, and their supplies had likely been raided as well but he felt it unlikely that the other team would have taken any clothing or bedding as well. They would soon regret that.
“Hey,” Yaric said, sitting down with Sven and a few others. “Are you ok with me going back to our camp?”
“That sounds like an unnecessary risk. What for?”
“I’m sure it will be empty. Those guys won’t split their defenders across two camps, they’ll just go back. And one or two people left in ours would just be killed if we came back.”
“True. I still don’t see what you’re hoping to achieve though.”
“I thought we should check on our personal packs. We might be able to recover our clothes and stuff. There might even be supplies left behind.”
“It’s a good idea, I’m just not sure if it’s worth it.”
“Well, I also want to see if our bedding is still there. If we can recover the bedrolls, we can burn the bedding that came with the camp. It will keep the other team from coming back to replace their own.”
“Sure, but what’s the point? That’s more vindictive than anything else.”
“But if they can’t take ours, they will be forced to add everything to a supply drop. That will slow down the delivery of other supplies.”
“Hmmm… ok. But there won’t be any point in going by yourself. You can’t carry enough on your own.” Sven paused in thought for a few moments. “We’ll find a camp location for tonight, then circle back around and reenter our camp in force. I want to see what they’ve done to our camp anyway.”
With that settled, Team Flagbearer picked their things back up, and set out once again. Yaric and Chelsea led the way, scouting ahead.
The whole team was now in much higher spirits. They were all armed again, were well supplied, and had inflicted two crushing defeats on a team of 6th year students - all in the same day!
Both their base camp and their fallen teammates had been avenged...