Upon receiving the news Captain Walker asked the messenger for more information, seeking clarification of just what we were about to face, when and where exactly the enemy had been spotted, their numbers and how much time we had before they reached the fortlets and the cavern, if indeed they were even headed here.
“Well, sir they must have spent a long time digging tunnels underground for they appeared this morning from at least two holes in the ground that weren’t there last night.
One is situated on farmland about two miles east of here and the other in fallow land the same distance west of us, there could of course be other holes we haven’t found yet but let’s hope not.
As for what their currently up to well all they’ve really done so far is to scare people away from the holes to prevent us from knowing their numbers I suppose. From what could be seen before they started doing so there were anywhere between twenty and fifty of them at both locations, as for now well who knows. The best guess is that they’ll attack as soon as their all out of the holes and gathered together in one spot”
“Yudi have you any idea where they could have dug those holes from or how long it would have taken them to do so?”
“Well Captain Walker according to our records from when we inhabited this area theirs a large system of caverns deep under our feet that stretches for hundreds of miles in all directions. Even we never explored all of it but as far as I am aware there aren’t any entrances anywhere nearby. Even with access to our records and a usable entrance, they could have spent months finding a suitable spot in the system to dig holes to here.
As to how long it would take for the actual digging I’m afraid I have no idea. Even though we live underground for us it’s more a case of widening existing natural tunnels than digging entirely new ones. The area that the Hixtum inhabit is mountainous and they are better built than us to dig so they might be experts at it by now. For all we know they might have been planning all this since the last pilgrimage so they could have had plenty of time to prepare.”
“Thanks for the information Senior Sky watcher, I’m sure it could prove useful, now any idea of what kind of numbers we could be facing?”
“As I said earlier we haven’t had any contact with them in years but when we did it was believed that there weren’t more than a thousand of them. It’s been many generations since then even for us but I don’t imagine them having more than doubled their numbers since and they could conceivably even have less by now. They live quite a distance from here and they can’t have travelled the whole way underground so unless they were travelling in small groups I would have thought someone would have spotted them and if it was done by humans they would no doubt have reported it. Since you aren’t aware of any such reports I can’t imagine we’re facing more than a couple hundred of them. However, in battle-trained or otherwise, they’d be worth two of you if not more I imagine so whatever you do be careful.”
“Too many unknowns, with your permission Lord Moore, since they have kindly provided us with the gift of time before they attack and since I think it would be bad manners to reject their invitation I’d like to send a small force to see if they can get a better grip on the numbers we face and if possible either engage them in conversation or battle if the former proves impossible.”
“If you think it worth the risk then you may proceed Captain.”
“Sergeant Ryder once you have gathered together your full force of scouts I would like you to take them to either of the two locations where the enemy has gathered and proceed as outlined earlier.”
Mission: Scout the Mibritum generated
“I will carry out your orders sir and if by the time I am ready to act, they have gathered together in a third location or run into them on my way there?”
“If they have left behind a force numbering less than half that of yours you are to try and talk to them and if that proves unsuccessful you are to attack them and if possible render the hole they have dug unusable in the short term at least. If you meet them away from their tunnels then try and disengage with them in a fighting retreat back here.”
Thankfully I didn’t have to wait too long to gather the two half squads of my scouts together since Ian Young had been informed of the situation before me and had immediately started heading back to base with his squad.
“Alright men I won’t lie to you this is going to be a tough one, we will be facing a force no human to my knowledge has ever before encountered, whose tactics and strength we can only guess. The good news is that the opposite is also true and while we are trained experienced soldiers they are unlike to be. I will try my best not to waste the life of a single one of you but things might not go according to plan. We will be heading to the enemy to the west of us and after first scouting them we will try to engage them in conversation.
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However, the likelihood of them being agreeable to this approach is low which will require us to launch a probing attack on them. I will try to keep it to a quick in-and-out affair but the enemy will no doubt do their utmost to prevent us from doing so. If in the unlikely event, they surprise us on the way then a fighting retreat is called for. Now mount up we have an appointment with the enemy and I for one don’t want to be late to the party.”
Halfway to where the enemy tunnel entrance was located and without having encountered them I had the men dismount beside a small group of trees that had grown beside a small hedge separating several fields from each other. I then ordered Corporal Young to take Private Downes to see if they could scout out the enemy.
He returned ten minutes later to inform me that while he couldn’t get as close to the tunnel entrance as he would have liked and he couldn’t be sure he wasn’t spotted in turn he was able to clearly see what he believed to be all the enemy. There were fifty-five of them and he was able to draw me a simple map of the area around the tunnel entrance with the location of the enemy as they were when he had scouted them marked on it. Thankfully he didn’t spot any archers or crossbowmen amongst them though this didn’t mean there weren’t any just that they weren’t like anyone's primary weapon.
However, he was able to spot the enemy laying down some traps around their positions and even noticed some of them that they had laid out earlier. This was concerning as it was unlikely that he had spotted them all and there was a high likelihood that we might fall prey to one or more of them if we weren’t careful. From this information, I was able to form the outlines of a plan for how to proceed and I laid it out to the rest of the squad.
“When we are within five hundred yards of the tunnel entrance you will hold back while I approach it and see if I can talk to the enemy, in the likely event this proves impossible we will quickly withdraw to seven hundred yards. At this point, I will pick out the weakest link I can find and engage it in battle. Then it is the job of each of you to protect me and each other from the rest of the enemy force. I will try and dispatch him as quickly as I can and if this proves impossible I with withdraw like a bat out of hell and you will immediately follow, is this understood?”
“Yes, Sergeant.”
Things started out ok and quickly deteriorated from there, I was able to approach within three hundred and fifty yards of the tunnel entrance and I was even able to speak.
‘Hello, the camp.”
They didn’t respond in kind however and one of them instead took it as a signal to attack since my horse was pelleted by a projectile launched from a sling. This startled my horse and a lesser horseman than myself might not have been able to prevent it from running into a nearby trap. In any case, I was able to withdraw to the seven-hundred-yard mark with the rest of the men.
“Sorry sergeant, I haven't seen someone use a sling in battle before or I would have been on the lookout for one.”
“You’ll know for the next time and if I don’t make it out of here be sure to mention them to the captain.”
When I had been planning for this operation I wasn’t sure if the enemy would come charging after us or not but I was surprised to see that they had split the difference. This of course made what I was about to do less of a challenge but if they had one slinger they might have others which could make things difficult. I was easily able to identify the weakest of those charging but he wasn’t in the best position as far as I was concerned so I settled for the next weakest one instead.
It was quite a fight if I do say so myself and there was no doubt in my mind that I was saved at one point by the enemy slinger misjudging the relevant future positions of me and the Mibritum I was fighting. In a surprisingly amateur mistake in the heat of battle, he aimed at where we were and not where we would be by the time the projectile reached us and even then he missed both of us. Adding insult to injury he give up on his sling and drew his sword before charging at one of my men.
In the end, while I lost my lance the enemy was a far less experienced swordsman than myself who while much stronger had probably never faced a mounted enemy before or as I felt might be the case any enemy for that matter. Being stronger than an ox he did however force me off my horse at one point towards the end but I was quick to recover and he hadn’t expected it any more than I had.
You have Slain (Level 12 Miner)
50% Bonus Exp awarded for first Kill (Human v Mibritum)
New Title Awarded: First Slayer of Mibritum (Human)
Congratulations you are the first Human to ever kill a Mibritum on the field of battle or anywhere else for that matter. Sure you were the first of your kind to ever not flee from a Mibritum upon first meeting one and instead engage it in battle, but I’ll allow it.
Strength, Endurance +1
Your Level has increased to 15, One Free Stat Points and an extra Skill slot awarded
As the battle wasn’t over yet I decided to leave distributing my Free Stat Point and selecting my next slot until later
In the end, I even managed to get away with the rest of the squad though not mounted on my own horse I must add since it had fallen prey to the slinger from earlier who had eventually got his act together. Not counting my horse we didn’t however escape unscathed as while we left none of our comrade's bodies behind Private Pen lost an arm and that was only the worst of the wounds the squad received.
Mission: Scout the Mibritum completed