TNL 30 – Bandits Part One

Now that the tax collectors are out of the picture, it is clear to the inhabitants of Aran that the New Legion is quite honorable. The population cannot believe its luck and despite the many damages, the people are now fully prepared to support the New Legion.

Suddenly Raidon gets everything done that was impossible before. Soon after the fight, the mayor sends a message that he has information about several raids that have taken place in the past. Of course Raidon sends a message back to invite the mayor to the garrison.

When he arrives at the garrison, the man is not alone. Two other civilians have come with him. The mayor introduces his companions:

"These are Marcel and Borus, two of the traders from the city who were ambushed."

"Pleasant," Raidon replies, although both traders have unfriendly appearances. Raidon is this close to taking a wash after being near them.

"You have information about the raids?" he then asks the mayor.

"Yes, and so do these two gentlemen. As you may have heard, the raids are getting more and more common. From the moment the previous commander took over the garrison until you took over, he did not send out one patrol. As a result, almost every bandit in the wider area has come to our province. They could just do what they want here! I have repeatedly sent the commander a message and even personally tried to persuade him to send out patrols. Unfortunately, he didn't want to know about it! His job was to keep the city safe, I was told."

"That doesn't surprise me, mayor, but unfortunately I can't do much with that information."

"Yes, well, that's right. Sorry, I let myself go. The bottom line is that all these bandits have joined together. In the beginning there were raids of a few bandits, sometimes with a raid in which about ten bandits participated. But as time went on, they formed larger and larger groups, so that now as many as a hundred can participate in one attack. As a result, the villages are no longer safe."

"He's right," says one of the merchants. "When my caravan was raided, it was something like fifty bandits. There was nothing me and the few guards I had could do. We would have had a chance against ten, but not five times as much."

"I was ambushed two months later and had a large caravan with twenty-five guards. Then it was seventy-five bandits," the other merchant continues.

"As you hear, it seems like the bandits have built up a considerable force. If this continues for another year, I fear that even our city is at risk," the mayor takes over the conversation again.

Raidon thinks for a moment before nodding.

"I agree with you that that is a possibility. I have no intention of waiting that long. That is why I would like to get all the information you have about the robberies. Places, numbers and preferably also the loot. Then I can see if we can get hold of these bandits. The fact that they work in larger groups is useful, because then we can get hold of them all at once."

The mayor promises to send the information to Raidon as soon as possible, after which he and the two merchants leave.

That same afternoon Raidon receives the first information from the mayor. A whole pile of papers shows that the mayor has been mapping the raids all this time. Raidon doesn't waste any time and immediately starts going through the large amount of papers.

While Raidon and his soldiers were busy with the tax collectors, three new raids were committed, according to reports. One from the sea and two from land. Raidon can do little about the attack from the sea now. Around the entire continent are places where pirates are active, although all trade is done by land. There is little traffic by sea, because almost all large places are inland. The few islands on which villages are located are either self-sufficient, or they get the few things they need with their fishing boats. The only ships larger than a fishing boat are the pirate ships.

Catching the pirates at sea is impossible, because they are the only ones with larger ships. A fishing boat has little chance against a large ship, no matter how many soldiers are placed on it. The heavy armor is also a disadvantage on a ship, especially if the soldiers have to try to enter a larger, taller ship. Therefore, a fight on land is the only way to deal with the pirates. Whether it is possible to catch them on land, Raidon will have to consider that later. Therefore, he decides to focus on the raids of the bandits.

"Since the New Legion restored Fort Alpha, there have been virtually no attacks nearby. It seems as if the patrols are useful from there. One fact that helps is that few people travel through the wilderness," Raidon tells his friend and squad leader Gareth. Gareth is one of the men who was promoted after the fight with the tax collectors.

"The other villages are not doing so well. It seems as if the bandits have indeed joined together to raid villages. The attacks are getting bigger and bigger and the bandits now also dare to tackle the larger villages. Several houses have already been burned down and there is a lot of damage. About thirty people have also been killed."

"I don't see how we could get a hold of them, Raidon. If we are lucky, we come across them and even then we can not do anything with a single patrol. Even with our harnesses, it is impossible to take on such a large group."

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"That's right. Nor should we do this with a single patrol. What we need to do is figure out where they're going to make their big move next time. We have to find a pattern in the raids."

"And how do we do that?"

"Well, it's easier said than done, but we need to look into the reports and see how they choose their targets."

Gareth looks at Raidon incredulously.

"But they randomly choose a village in the province!"

Raidon laughs a little.

"Do you really think so? I don't. How do they know there's any loot to take? Or that a large caravan is expected? Somewhere there is something that makes them know that. We just have to find out what that is."

Raidon continues to send out his patrols from the city. With the information that the patrols collect, combined with the information Raidon has received from the mayor and other citizens, he starts to map out the attacks. After he has recorded almost twenty raids, he already sees that they are indeed not completely random. But how they choose their targets still eludes him.

In the meantime, they are now a week further and still the patrols have not seen a bandit once. Two minor attacks were done this week. But then finally Raidon gets the message he's been waiting for. Another big raid has happened!

Raidon calls Gareth and the other two squad leaders to join him.

"I just received a message that the village ...," he looks at the report, "Harta has been raided. That is a village about two days to the northwest of Aran. That is exactly in the area where we thought that the next attack would take place."

"How big was the attack?" asks one of the squad leaders.

"Something like seventy bandits as far as the inhabitants could tell. So it might be a little more or less, but it's a big group."

"Gareth, I want you and Ice to take the fourth and fifth squads to Fort Alpha. You temporarily take over the guard there. The first, second and third stay here with me. Gareth, you get orders for Brandon. I want him to take the whole second platoon here before he takes those bandits. It's the second’s turn for some action. I think we've had enough to deal with for the time being."

Three days later, the second platoon is ready. Raidon has told Brandon exactly what the plan is in the morning. Brandon seems to have mentally grown enormously since he was put in charge of Fort Alpha. In terms of behavior, he no longer resembles the angry rebellious man he used to be in the training camp.

As for the plan to tackle the bandits, Brandon had a few points of improvement, but otherwise he thought it was a good plan. Simple but solid. The second platoon will go to the village that, according to Raidon's calculation, will be the next target. If all goes well, they will arrive just in time for the next raid. The different squads will spread out around the village and catch the bandits.

When Brandon has left with second platoon, the barracks seem very empty. Now that Raidon only has three squads at his disposal, everyone has to work extra hard. He has only one squad to patrol the city and one to patrol around the city. The latter is needed at the gates. As a result, they are very spread out.

The past few days have somehow seemed less quiet. "Maybe because Brandon and the second can show up at any moment," Raidon muses.

The next two days are just as insignificant to Raidon as the first one. Only on the third day can he expect anything from Brandon and second platoon at the earliest. But the wait is hard for Raidon. That is why he himself also goes on some patrols. That and the paperwork are all he can do until the second is back. The paperwork is something he's still not used to. Reading reports and other messages is not such a problem. Answering these isn’t either. But in less than a week he has to prepare a quarterly report for the generals. For that he has to look at all expenses and calculate them, see which items are needed for replacement, calculate expenses for pay, and all other things.

"The fact that the New Legion has only recently taken over this position doesn't make it any easier," Raidon muses as he marches around the city with second squad. "The previous commander left little behind that I can use. I have to include his time as garrison commander in the quarterly report, but I don't even know exactly how many men he had or how much those warriors earned."

Then the squad comes to a piece of wall that is pretty broken-down.

"Sergeant, look!" shouts one of the soldiers. Raidon quickly looks up from his musings. And sure enough, there's a bunch of kids climbing over the wall! In amazement, the soldiers watch how a group of seven children has made a game of the derelict wall. Without much effort they climb the wall, and then go back down via a tree.

"That wall really can't stay like this. If children can get over the wall so easily, so can an enemy," Raidon says.

"Walls cost money, sir," one of the soldiers says. "The previous garrison probably preferred to keep the money themselves. And it is the duty of the garrison to take care of the maintenance. The mayor probably can't do anything."

"How do you know that?" asks Raidon to the soldier.

"My father is a bricklayer, sir. I used to help him with small things. I remember that a piece of wall had once collapsed and it took almost a month for the generals to free up enough money to repair it."

"Hmm, so another thing I have to include in my quarterly report."

Then, halfway through the next afternoon, just as Raidon is making progress with the report, a squad from second platoon arrives in the city. The soldiers are completely sweated from top to bottom from the long marching, but they have message from second platoon.

"We were just too late to stop the raid, sergeant," says the squad leader. "We arrived in the village less than two hours after the attack. The tracks disappeared after a few kilometers, which is why squad leader Brandon ordered to help the village out. He will stay for two days before returning to Aran. We were sent ahead to inform you."

This is a very frustrating message for Raidon. He would have liked to stop the attack. Now he has to figure out again where the next attack will take place. Well, in any case, the calculations of the place of the raids are correct. Now I just have to get the timing right, he thinks.

All in all, it takes Raidon three more days to find the next village that will be raided. Meanwhile, Brandon has come back with the second and has reported on their first attempt. According to Raidon's calculation, the next raid will be even bigger than the previous one. Possibly even with almost all bandits in the province. If Raidon is right, they will try to take the largest village in the province. This town is important, because it is becoming so big that it can get city rights in a few years. A raid there could weaken the entire province.

Raidon makes an important decision in consultation with Brandon.

"We're going to take a risky action," Raidon says. "Ice and Lenn can take care of the city and Fort Alpha. They will only get their own squads, so patrols are not possible. Brandon, we take the other eight squads and we are going to stop this raid. If we get hold of them, there are enough of us to stop the attacks in one big fight."

"It's a pity Morris hasn't returned yet, because we could use his help. And especially that of the squad he has with him," Brandon replies.

"Yes, but there is little we can do about it. His task is also important and this way we still have enough men to have a good chance of success. We're leaving as soon as possible, so if you could send Lenn and his squad back to Fort Alpha, I'll start preparing for the rest of the legion. Make sure he leaves within the hour."