It was not that long afterwards that I found myself inspecting the men of my new temporary command. They were arrayed in four rows of twelve with a fifth row of only four one of which had a fresh and nasty-looking scar just below his left ear.
“Alright men my name is Niel Ryder and I will be temporarily taking over command of the Platoon left vacant after the recent death of your former Lieutenant but before saying anything else I would first like you to join me in a minute of silence in honour of our late comrades Lieutenant Steven Yeaton, Corporal Paul Simone and Private Kevin Dunn of this platoon plus Private Billy Maxwell of First Platoon and Sergeant Dan Webster of the Headquarters Platoon. We will also pray to Telondian for the speedy recovery of our comrades wounded at the same time who were not as lucky as Private Ronald Quimbe”
At this point I stopped talking to them until I had judged a little over a minute had passed and during that time the men that I would no doubt be commanding in battle very shortly were silent too.
“They paid the ultimate sacrifice that each of us that take up the mantle of the soldier no matter the form know we could be called to make at any time. They were cut down with little warning, not in the field of battle but rather by surprise but this too we who take up the mantle know in our hearts what could be our fate and still we answer the call.
We cannot claim to do so for pure reason but so what, no matter the why of it we are aware of the varied possible outcomes that it might lead us to. Some of course we fear more than others and I cannot promise you that one of them will not be your fate. What I can however promise is that I will face that possibility with you and if they be my fate then it is a price I like Lieutenant Yeaton am willing to pay, are you? No that is not a question I expect you to answer for I already know what you would say and that makes me proud to be your commander.
The captain is expecting an attack any time and so am I, we do not know what form it will take however. A full-out assault perhaps or just a probe but we must be ready when it comes and with that in mind, I must tell you of the foe we are about to face.
The Mibritum are a bastard blend of Under-dweller and Water Borne and while we do not think they outnumber us they are indeed formidable foes the likes of which you have yet to face. They are stronger than you, they are slightly faster than you, can take more punishment and have more stamina than you so do not underestimate them. However they have one weakness above all others, they are at best hunters not soldiers and certainly not experienced ones. As far as we are aware this is the first battle they will have fought and the least of you I am told have faced many.
Just over an hour ago, I lead my squad of scouts to face a number of the enemy to see what they are made of and other than the attack by their slingers this is the only battlefield encounter we have had with them. From this, I learnt a few things about them that I wish to impart to you now, listen closely for this may save your lives later.
Apart from their slings, those we have faced so far use one of two primary weapons, a large claymore-like sword and a long double-ended thrusting spear with various not necessarily matching types of points. Due to their advantages over us, it is advised that we when at all possible fight in pairs. When this is not possible you should use caution at all times.
Our main advantage over them is that we are behind stout defences and thus they must come to us and we will try our hardest to cut them down before they reach our walls. To make this even harder on them we have placed traps that they must cross to reach us. However, as I said earlier they are hunters, not soldiers and they seem to make extensive use of traps. Thus it is likely they will avoid most but not all of the traps and quickly attempt to scale our walls all the while they will make the best use of their slingers to impede us in our duties. To counter this we will have to rely on the archers from the scouts and third Platoon plus the locals.
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Now I wish we could take as much time as we need to practice fighting in pairs but since the enemy could attack anytime now we don’t have that luxury as you will need all your stamina when they come. However Sergeant Tucker and Corporal Randolph will with my help demonstrate fighting in pairs and then for a full hour or however long we have you will spend five minutes on and five minutes off practising yourselves with each, taking turns at individually playing the part of the enemy.”
I gave the sergeant and Corporal a few minutes to work out amongst themselves how best to work together before having them face me. It all went rather better than I had feared and while I certainly proved a challenge to them they were quickly able to realise the best way to work together to defeat me. However, when it came time for the others to practice things did not start out even half as well but thankfully they quickly started to improve and it wasn’t until the hour was nearly up that I heard the bell that signalled the enemies' approach.
“Alright men practice is over and now it’s time for the real thing, to your stations please while I go and see what’s up and don’t forget that they are likely as scared of us as we are of them.”
I found the captain exactly where I’d expected him to be, with the other lieutenants and his lordship at the western gate of the hastily erected fortress combining the two fortlets and the area around them. The enemy I found where aligned directly in front of it just outside the range of all but our finest archers not quite including myself. Let’s hope the same can be said for their slingers. We were facing slightly more of them than we had expected but not by that much, a hundred and thirty or so I thought.
Well sir do you think they’ll just charge at us all at once and take it from there or perhaps issue some kind of formal challenge first.”
“If as we believe they are just hunters and not trained soldiers then a charge would seem to be the best option for them but we can’t count on it I’m afraid, we’ll just have to wait and see. How is your temporary command treating you, is the second platoon ready and willing to face the enemy?”
“Absolutely sir they won’t let you down, have all the scouts returned safely?”
“The last of your lot arrived just moments ago but the ones I sent out earlier are yet to return and I fear the worst.”
“No doubt fallen to enemy traps or Telondian knows what.”
“I’ve had your lot join the other archers, even with the addition of his lordship mounted men we don’t have enough cavalry to do any real damage to them so their no need for them to sortie until and unless we can drive them back. It looks like things are about to kick off so see to your men and good luck everyone.”
My Platoon were awaiting me on the part of the wall assigned to us and they were raring to go.
“Alright everyone things could kick off any time now and from the moment they start to charge they’ll be upon us sooner than you think. Now have your shields at the ready, the enemy might start bombarding us with projectiles before they charge and we certainly don’t want to be caught unawares. I don’t expect them to bring siege ladders but rather attempt to bring our walls down around us or perhaps jump over them if they can. If that proves to be the case then things might get rather interesting.
Sergeants, corporals see to your men and best of luck to all of you.”
The challenge I had expected could occur did not and neither did an all-out attack on our walls. Instead, the enemy stayed right where they were and other than a few futile attempts to use their slings against us from further away than was practical they didn’t move an inch. After half an hour without any further action on their part, I was worried and Telondian knows what the others thought.
There were several possible reasons for their actions that I could determine, perhaps they were waiting for reinforcements or for another force we had yet to spot to get into position. Perhaps they were attempting to dig a tunnel to undermine us though we had been assured by the under-dwellers that they couldn’t attempt to do so without their efforts being spotted. They might have thought that by doing so they could force us to launch an attack on them which would negate our advantage against them.
After thinking on it further I could only come to the conclusion that they with their greater stamina thought they could tire us out before attacking or simply sap our morale. It wasn’t until the second hour had passed that we started showing signs that their plan was perhaps beginning to work. When another hour had almost come and gone the Mibritum made their move.