Twenty Three – Forgiveness Part Two
After being attacked, Raidon has expanded his patrols. He sends the patrols further and further away from the fort, because he thinks it is important to know what the area looks like. That is why he always lets the squad leaders make maps of what they see. He himself puts these maps together and despite the differences in the reports, a map of the area begins to form.
Raidon himself occasionally goes on patrols. Especially if a previous patrol has seen something that may be of interest.
The previous evening, a patrol from the north returned with the message that they had seen traces of people. The squad leader thought it looked like there were quite a few people around.
Raidon decides to send two patrols in that direction today and to go with one of the patrols himself. Once on the road, it doesn't take long before they find the tracks. Two hours after they have left, they already find the first traces. Today Raidon brought one of the instructors to serve as a tracker. He knows how to tell that the track has been made today.
Carefully they follow the tracks, only to arrive at the edge of a clearing a little later. From this position, they can oversee the entire clearing. A camp has been set up consisting of a huge variety of shelters. In the middle of the camp is a large group of men. In some huts they see a few women who are apparently kept as slaves. In the middle of the group of men they see even more prisoners.
Raidon asks the instructor for confirmation, because he thinks he recognizes a few prisoners.
"Don't those prisoners belong to the imperial guard? I think I saw some of them when we were practicing for our trip to training camp."
The instructor takes another look and then yelps. In a smothered voice, he says:
"Yes, that's Captain Cervik of the Imperial Guards!"
Then his breath stops. A noblewoman is drawn from the midst of the prisoners. Raidon immediately sees what is going on, and before the instructor can tell who the noblewoman is, Raidon picks up his horn and sounds it as hard as he can.
The sound should be heard far and wide and as soon as the other squad hears it, they will come towards it. To be on the safe side, he sounds it two more times to emphasize the importance of the signal. He then orders the attack.
"We attack in formation. Then we protect the prisoners until the others arrive."
The pounding sound of running soldiers in armor sounds and within moments the soldiers close in with the bandits. These run in all directions to get out of the way, but some are not fast enough. The slowest bandits are knocked over by the shields of the soldiers. Then, a protective circle is formed around the prisoners.
Raidon has the instructor quickly cut loose the hands of the noblewoman and her escort. Raidon blows his horn once again and now that they see that there are so few attackers and that Raidon is calling reinforcements, the bandits decide to defeat their attackers out as soon as possible. They are just under fifty men as far as Raidon can see. Some have already been killed when the soldiers made their way to the prisoners.
Fortunately, the bandits are not used to heavy infantry. Although Raidon has only ten men with him, the bandits break against the shields of the soldiers. However, the pressure is so high that Raidon does not know how long they can last.
Suddenly the pressure decreases and Raidon hears a second horn from behind the bandits. The second squad has arrived and immediately attacked.
"We'll counter at my sign!" shouts Raidon, and a moment later: "Now!"
The bandits are now being attacked from two sides. Raidon's men are helped by the noblewoman's escort. Where possible, the guards have taken weapons from the fallen bandits and they know how to use them. The bandits do not last long.
A little later, all the bandits are dead or heavily wounded, and a few are captured. Among the soldiers there are only a few small wounds to be seen. The harnesses have done their job once again.
Only after he is sure that all the bandits are dead or captured, Raidon turns to the noblewoman.
"Lady, I would like to invite you to our fortress. Tomorrow we can accompany you and your escort to the city of Aran. The garrison there will likely be able to help you further."
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Alyena laughs and Raidon doesn't understand why. When she done laughing, he asks her:
"Why are you laughing?"
To which the Empress explains who she is and what the situation is. Even before she's gotten far, Raidon interrupts her.
"Your Majesty, I would love to hear the whole story when we are back in our fort, Fort Alpha. There, the environment is just a bit more refined than in this carnage."
Raidon then orders the second patrol to search the bandit camp and take the useful items with him.
"Jayden, you and your patrol are finishing up here. Don't forget to bring those other prisoners. We can bring them to Nicaea."
The other patrol accompanies Raidon, the Empress and the guards back to the fort.
Once at the fort, Raidon calls Brandon and Morris to hear the empress's story. Before they can start, they have to convince Morris not to throw himself on the ground in front of the empress. They also need to put everyone back to work. After hearing the faint sound of a horn in the distance, the entire camp had been ready to repel an attack.
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Alyena is impressed as they approach the camp. According to her generals, her New Legion would consist of an undisciplined and its members would never be able to become soldiers.
What she sees here and what she has seen in her rescue is very different. The camp of the New Legion looks nothing like a mess of tents. This camp has stone walls, watchtowers, buildings and even the ground is paved throughout the camp. The men are strong, work well together and seem ready for anything. No wonder they repelled a poorly coordinated attack from the garrison, she thinks.
"Pretty impressive, don't you think?" she remarks to Captain Cervik, who has recovered a bit from the blow to his head.
"Yes, your majesty. These men make a very different impression than the last time I saw them. Especially their captain. I remember that young boy from then, who would have thought that he would grow into such a leader."
"Indeed, he was certainly not insecure, when he told me that we should speak further in their fort."
Raidon calls a few others, after which they go inside the largest tent in the camp. This is the captains own tent and therefore the most suitable for a consultation. Once inside, the men remain standing, while a chair is grabbed for Alyena. The chair comes from behind a desk and is the only one in the tent.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but in terms of comfort we are not very well equiped," says one of the men.
As soon as Alyena sits down, the officer who saved her starts talking. "I will first introduce everyone. That man without shiny armor is instructor Morris. He was the lead instructor in our training camp. He is currently leading our scouts and other special forces. Next to him stands squad leader Brandon. He is commander of the second platoon. I myself am Sergeant Raidon and I command both the first platoon and the entire New Legion."
"You’ve chosen your own commanders?" begins Alyena. "I thought the army generals had selected officers. Where are they?"
"Well, ma'am, it's like that. The harnesses themselves determine who is able to lead and who is not. After a bandit attack, Raidon and a few others were promoted from recruit to soldier. Raidon was even promoted to sergeant. When the officer ordered our captain Bras to put on a suit of armor, a large red cross immediately appeared on it. The harnesses are therefore not easy to steal and use," says the instructor.
"And in addition, that captain was not exactly the best for that task," adds the squad leader, after which a look from his commander silences him.
Alyena explains that she has come to find out exactly what is going on with this rebellion. After hearing the whole story, she is furious and tells that she only found out by chance that something was wrong.
"I noticed that your pay had not been paid and started asking questions. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known anything was wrong."
"So you never received our message?" the instructor asks. "We reported the whole story in a report to the generals, with a copy for you."
"No, I didn't get anything. But that's not the biggest problem. General Colling has decided that the garrison in this area has to stop you. The whole garrison will march against you. That's ten times the amount of warriors that were in the previous senseless attack."
"WHAT!" exclaims Brandon as he quickly steps forward. "We have to get ready to leave, right now. By morning we can already be at the edge of the forest."
"Calm down, Brandon," Raidon responds, "it's not that easy, organizing a big attack. We’ll get enough of a warning in advance."
"That won’t be necessary," says Alyena, "I've seen and heard enough to know that you're not to blame. Tomorrow I will travel to Aran to revoke those orders." Followed by a dry tone:
"After all, that was my goal for this expedition."
Of course, the men are relieved. But they know that the generals will look for another way to thwart them. However, the Empress is not finished yet.
"Furthermore, I’ll separate your unit from the regular army. It is clear that your approach is totally different from that of the regular army. In addition, Colling is not exactly a forgiving man. From this moment on, you are my personal division. The army cannot give you orders, and neither can you give their troops orders. Orders will still come through the generals, but will always be signed by me personally. I will sign your appointment as soon as I am back in the palace."
After that declaration they decide that it has been enough for today. The second patrol has recovered the empress's belongings and a sleeping place has been set up for her. Her guards are also taken care of and where necessary, they are already in bed.
The next day Alyena is up early. She is still angry about the attack on her and her guards and also that her generals are withholding messages from her. She decides to deal with both of these things as soon as she is back in the palace.
She uses this morning to talk to soldiers and also to the other people in the camp such as the cooks, clerks and instructors. Their stories are surprisingly similar to the one she heard last night.
In the afternoon an escort is arranged for the empress. The entire first platoon will accompany Empress Alyena and her remaining guards to the town of Aran. There the garrison will take over the escort.
When the escort is ready, Captain Cervik offers the remaining horses to Raidon and some of his soldiers, but is turned down.
"With these harnesses on, we are too heavy for the horses. On foot we will be faster," Raidon explains.