Fourteen – Training Part Three

A short distance from the recruits, their attackers stop. It is now overly clear that these are not Chakras, as John had shouted so loudly. These are simple bandits that you can find everywhere.

One of the bandits walks a little further forward and shouts: "Surrender! There are three times as many of us as there are of you. Give us that beautiful equipment and all your money, and we'll let you live. But if you don't surrender, we'll kill you all."

Some of the recruits start to get a little restless, but Raidon speaks to them:

"Take it easy, guys, we have our harnesses and they only have those rags. And look at their weapons! Some only have a bat. Even with ten to one, they would have no chance. Let alone with only three to one!"

Actually, he is terrified himself, but he does not want to let the others know. His voice does skip a bit, but no one seems to notice.

When there is no reaction from the recruits, the bandits attack. The archers shoot their last arrows. They only have a few left, and not one manages to get through the shields and armor. Now that the recruits are prepared, even the shields hardly move when they are hit.

Then the seven archers go and stand next to their fellow bandits. Now there are almost thirty bandits facing the patrol of ten recruits.

When the archers have readied their weapons, they all charge together towards Raidon and the others. From three sides, the recruits are now being attacked by the bony bandits.

"Let them get tired against our shields and armor, men," Raidon shouts. "When they've exhausted themselves, we'll take them. They won't know what's happening."

The bandits, waving wildly with their improvised bunch of weapons, begin to let loose on the large rectangular shields of the recruits. Raidon is almost thrown backwards thanks to the first attack by a bandit, a head taller than himself, who starts his attack with a huge kick against Raidon's shield.

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"Brace yourself!" Shouts Raidon to the others as a warning. Immediately the recruits adjust their stand a little, as they were taught during their training. Partly because of this, everyone manages to stay standing. Where possible, they help each other to keep their balance.

Now that the first blows have been exchanged, their formation begins to be a little less pressed. There is even occasional room to pull off a counter attack. When Raidon himself tries to hit his attacker with his spear, he finds out that this is very difficult in the tight space. Maybe this works a bit better if we have a more spacious formation, he thinks. With ten men who are almost with their backs against each other, you are more likely to hit the person behind you than to hit an opponent.

When he looks carefully around him, while he covers behind his shield, he sees that almost all the recruits still have their spears in their hands. That is why Raidon invokes his next order:

"Spear down, use your swords!"

Some scraping later, everyone has their sword in hand. Some even use them right away! Suddenly, three bandits fall to the ground. Stabbed in the stomach by the recruits.

"Ugh, this one shit his pants!" Shouts John.

"You're used to that, aren't you, John?" Gareth jokes from the other side.

Raidon himself has little time to make jokes after he has given his command. He is still facing the large bandit. Despite his large shield, he finds it quite difficult to keep the man busy. He has already received a number of blows against his armor. Fortunately, the harness turns out to be strong enough to absorb the blows with ease. All he's left with is a bunch of bruises.

Suddenly he sees his chance. The bandit grabs his sword with two hands and starts a big swing. This opens his defenses to a counterattack by Raidon. Quickly as a snake, he sticks his sword forward. The sword penetrates inches deep into the bandit's belly. With a twist of his wrist, Raidon opens the wound even further. A moan escapes from the bandit's throat, who releases his sword to try to keep his intestines inside. He staggers a few steps back and then falls to his knees.

Four bandits have now been eliminated. And the recruits become a bit more comfortable. Apart from the blood and noise, it's a lot like the training. Thanks to their harnesses, there are few places where they can be hit. For example, there are some spots in the faces of the helmets and the moving parts, such as the elbows, are also less strong than the thicker parts of the harnesses.

A few minutes later, the bandits clearly begin to run out of breath. There are fewer blows on the shields of the recruits and the bandits start to look around a bit restlessly.

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That's why Raidon shouts:

"Push and attack!"

As during their training, the soldiers all strike at the enemy with their shields at the same time, with the iron boss in the middle of the shield right to the face of the opponent. Right away, they also take a step forward.

The bandits are thrown backwards by the enormous weight of the armored soldiers. Within a few seconds, seven other bandits are dead or seriously injured.

Because they have suddenly lost almost a third of their number, the bandits instinctively move towards each other for protection. Soon the recruits are only attacked from one side of the circle. As a result, some recruits now have no one in front of them. Raidon stands with John and Gareth at the back. Looking over his shoulder, he realizes that this is the opportunity for a counterattack.

"On my sign we form a line shield wall and we are going to attack. John, Gareth, are you ready?"

When both nod, Raidon shouts:

"Shape a shield wall on James!"

This means that the circle formation splits right in front of James. James is standing in the middle of the side that is still under attack. Fortunately, everyone knows exactly what to do thanks to their training. As the men in the back rush to the sides, James and the men next to him make sure they withdraw slightly.

Since the circle of the ten men was very small, it only takes a few moments for everyone to be ready.

"Get ready! Now!" shouts Raidon.

The ten men rush forward at the same time as they strike at the bandits with their shields.

These have no answer to this ferocious attack. With desperation they still try to defend themselves, but there is little hope for them.

A few moments later, the bandits are literally hunted down. They can't stand up against these heavily armored soldiers. A few minutes later, only a few bandits are still alive.

"Spread and finish!" Is Raidon's command. He himself also carries out his command and goes after the bandits. These kinds of people are criminals, and Raidon doesn't dare to leave these guys alive.

Raidon faces the bandits' captain. This bandit actually has a good sword. But while he knows a little bit about how to use his sword, he has little chance against Raidon. The armor captures all the blows that manage to evade Raidon's shield, and the bandit himself has a hard time dodging Raidon's blows.

This also shows the lack of training of the bandit. With a feint learned to Raidon in the second week, he breaks through the bandit's defense and pierces him. One on one, the bandits have clearly less experience than the recruits.

Then it slowly calms down. All the bandits are dead. The last one by a thrown spear that John picked up when his opponent tried to escape. Now that action is over, the recruits look around. When they see what they've done, a few recruits start to look green. Soon Raidon isn't the only one to get on his knees on the grass moments later. When he feels better again, he notices that the others look at him for orders.

Although the recruits look tired and dirty, Raidon realizes they're not done yet. Therefore, he orders them to search the bandits' clothing and drag the bodies to the side of the path.

"Well, they don't have much. These men clearly didn't choose a much-traveled road to raid," Gareth notes.

"That's why they tried to catch us. We were probably the first people here in a long time," Raidon replies. "Let's see where they have camped. That shouldn't be too difficult. It seems as if they have chopped a complete road through the bushes."

They go in search of the camp of the bandits. John leads the way with his bloodied spear and shield in his hands. The others, including Raidon, struggle to keep up with the former wanderer. The uneven terrain does not seem to stop him at all, while the others often stumble over the loose branches and bushes.

The camp turns out to be quite easy to find. The bandits have set up camp only twenty meters away from the path. There is not much to be found. Some skinned rabbits for supper, an old cart on which, according to Gareth, cabbage was once transported and an iron pot where a dubious-looking meal is already simmering over a fire circled with stones.

"Throw everything of value on that cart. And don't forget the weapons and other stuff they had with them," Raidon orders. "Then it's time to go back. We are already far too late."

When they come back to the camp, it is almost dark. On the square they find the rest of the platoon ready to search for their patrol. This under the direction of the captain.

As soon as the captain sees Raidon and the others coming, he starts screaming.

"And where have you been? You are three hours late! The whole platoon has been ordered to stop what they were doing and look for you. You will be punished for this!"

Then he sees the cart.

"And what do we have here? Something you found along the way? Or did you rob a bunch of citizens of their stuff?"

Raidon's companions look at him with a look that asks for an explanation.

"This is the loot we have collected from twenty-seven bandits and their camp, sir."

"There are no bandits for dozens of miles, recruit!"

"Not anymore!" shouts one of the them, to which some of the others chuckle.

Just as the captain is about to respond, Major Quinn comes out.

"What is this? Are they back? Captain, report!" He shouts.

"They're back ... With a car full of stuff that they probably stole somewhere," says the captain with a sour face.

"Okay, let's see. Then I will decide what we are going to do with them," Major Quinn replies.

They walk to Raidon's squad. Once there, Raidon takes the lead.

"We didn't steal this, sir! In the forest, a few kilometers before the halfway mark, we were attacked. Twenty-seven bandits fired arrows at us and then asked us to hand over our armor. When we didn't accept their proposal, they attacked us. Afterwards, all the bandits were dead, so we put them next to the road. We took all this stuff with us as proof."

The captain speaks before Major Quinn has time to respond:

"Yes, twenty-seven bandits ambush you and you defeat them without anyone getting hurt? What an unlikely story."

"You can send someone tomorrow to look at the bodies, sir. As you can see, our armor made all the difference. They got some scratches on them. And we got some scratches and bruises ourselves, but that's all."

Then Major Quinn interrupts the conversation:

"We'll figure it out tomorrow, recruits. For now, you can all go back to the barracks. Don't leave the camp."

"Or we hang you," the captain adds viciously.

All the recruits go back to their barracks. Once there, the whole platoon wants to hear the story again and this time including all the details. That's why they decide to stay together outside of the barracks for a while.

"So you were the one who organized everything?" one of the younger recruits asks Raidon.

"Yes, he did!" Shouts one of Raidon's squad members. "Most of us were too scared to even think about what was happening and then he shouted what we had to do. He said it the same way as the instructors do. He saved us!"

"Let's just go to sleep, okay," Raidon says. "We have to get up early tomorrow."

He doesn't know how to react to all the praise, so he quickly goes to his bed.