TNL 31 – Bandits Part Two
When he arrives in Niroma, Morris immediately rushes to the palace. His first priority is to ensure that he gets an audience with the Empress.
To get an audience, he reports to the clerk who is in charge of the audiences. This official has an office adjacent to the arrivals hall of the palace. The clerk is a small man who has piles of papers everywhere.
"Sorry, I can't give you an audience. Since you are in the service of the army, you will have to arrange audiences through the general staff. If they decide that you need to speak to the Empress, they can request it. Unfortunately, I can't do anything for you."
"What do you mean through the general staff? I have been assigned to the New Legion, which falls directly under the Empress. We have been told that we should report to her, not to the general staff."
"I understand the problem, sir, but I also got my guidelines from my superiors. I can't give an audience, so could you please leave now?"
Morris can do nothing but leave before he is thrown out of the palace. Since he can't do anything else, he decides to try his hand with the general staff.
"Little chance of that succeeding," he hums to himself.
Indeed, that attempt appears to be doomed to failure. Arriving at the army headquarters, he is almost immediately shown the door.
"Unfortunately, I can't help you," says the clerk of the general staff. "The generals have clearly indicated that everything and everyone who works with the New Legion is not ours. We can't help you. If you want to have an audience, you have to request it from the palace."
When this attempt has also failed, Morris decides to see how the squad of soldiers and their prisoners are doing. After arriving, they went to prison to deliver their prisoners. Then they would wait for him at the courthouse.
A little later it appears that at least this part of the mission has been brought to a successful conclusion. When Morris arrives at the courthouse, the soldiers are already waiting for him.
"Mission complete, Morris," one of the soldiers reports. "The prisoners have been delivered and accepted by the custodian."
"At least we've been able to accomplish something," Morris replies, then tells us how he fared at the palace.
"What I have to do," Morris concludes afterwards, "is to speak to my contacts in the palace in order to get to the Empress. If all goes well, I know someone who runs the evening shift in the palace. If I can speak to him, I should be able to give our report to the Empress. But first we have another assignment."
Moments later, Morris knocks on the door of a cottage in the southwest quadrant of Niroma. A tired-looking woman opens.
"No!" she shouts and seems to start crying. "Tell me it's not true!" Her hands go to her face as she bursts into tears.
"Easy, madam, nothing has happened to your son. We were sent here by our sergeant. He himself could not leave his post and sent us."
"But what does that have to do with me? You just said nothing happened to my son."
"Ah, maybe I should be a little clearer. I myself have been assigned to the New Legion as an instructor. The sergeant and commander of the New Legion is your son Raidon. I and some of his soldiers are here to deliver a package of his to you."
Morris gives her a pouch from which the ringing sound of coins sounds.
"If I'm right, he's given you pretty much everything he's earned so far. Furthermore, there is a letter for you if I am not mistaken."
Morris gives a salute, before leaving the surprised woman in the doorway.
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Alyena is just planning to take a break and have dinner when one of her clerks comes in.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, your majesty," the clerk begins. "A friend of mine has asked me to ask you for an audience. He belongs to the New Legion. What can I tell him?"
Alyena is a little surprised at first when this clerk comes up with a request for such a personal favor, but her mood changes when she hears the rest.
"Is he here? Have him come in."
When the man enters, she immediately recognizes him from the meeting with the leader of the New Legion.
"It was Morris, wasn't it?" she asks him.
"Yes, your Majesty, I apologize for disturbing you like this. It seems impossible for us to schedule a normal audience with you. That is why I had to try to speak to you this way. I have a report for you from Sergeant Raidon. There have been some things that happened in the province of Aran that you need to be informed about."
"Wait a minute, I'll get to the report in a minute. How do you mean you couldn't get an audience? I told you to come to me if there was anything?"
"Yes, your majesty, but apparently rules have been introduced whereby all soldiers must request an audience by the general staff. Unfortunately, we are not part of the army, so that is not possible for us."
"That's not acceptable! I will personally make sure that those rules are changed. I will look at the report in a moment. Come back in an hour and take a seat in the waiting room. I will make sure that you are the first to have an audience after lunch so that we can discuss the report."
Morris salutes, after which he leaves the room.
Two hours later, Morris is admitted back in the presence of the Empress.
"Ah, Morris, good to have you here. I've read Sergeant Raidon's report, but I'd also like to hear your version. Tell me what you think was going on in Aran."
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
When Morris has finished telling his story, the Empress replies:
"That's about the same as what the report says. It is clear that there is too little supervision of my tax collectors. Another problem to solve. You have acted correct. I will make sure that the entire province of Aran is exempted from paying taxes this year. I can hardly miss it, but if we can stand our ground in the war, it will bring in more taxes in the future. You can go back to Aran and I'll fix the loose ends here. Thank you for coming to explain the problems."
It's clear that the Empress is done with Morris and that she won't let go of these problems. Morris gathers his squad of soldiers and begins the journey back.
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It takes three days to bring the eight squads together in Aran.
"We really need to find a better way to send orders," Brandon notes. "This way, everything takes so long."
Raidon agrees.
"It would make a difference if we had a mounted unit. But we only have the instructors at the moment. And if we use them to send a message, they all have to go together. I really want to send at least five people at a time for safety."
"Is it an idea to ask for a few extra people from the army? I know they're not very happy with us, but surely there must be a few with whom we can work just like with Morris?"
"Hmm, I'll think about it. Maybe we can recruit a few local messengers. Or even train them as mounted soldiers."
Raidon immediately begins to think about the possibility. But then he shakes his head.
"It's a good idea, but it will have to wait. When we are done with this mission, we will think about it again."
Raidon and Brandon set off with the eight squads under their command.
"This time we really have to stop the raids. If this mission fails and the generals are told about the failure, we could be in a lot of trouble," Raidon tells Brandon as they march together at the head of the column.
"Yes, if it succeeds, we will get away with it, but otherwise even the Empress will have a hard time defending our actions."
Just before sunset they arrive at the village. Raidon visits the mayor to warn him.
"There will probably be an attack tomorrow morning just before or after sunrise," he tells the mayor. "What you and your people have to do is hide in the town hall and barricade it. That is the strongest building in your village. Keep as quiet as possible and make sure no one can get in."
The mayor doesn’t seem entirely convinced, but he too has heard about the recent raids on villages and he decides to do as he’s told. Within ten minutes the whole village is informed and it is a chaos of people wanting to voice their opinion.
One of Brandon's crews hides in the houses to smoke the chimneys at sunrise. This way it looks like it is a normal day for the village. The other squads hide nearby in a farm.
Just after sunrise the attack on the village starts. The bandits attack from the south. As soon as Raidon and Brandon see that the bandits are entering the village, they surround the village.
Two squads at either end of the road block the entrances to the village while the rest spread around the village to close off other escape routes. Meanwhile, the soldiers who have been hiding in the village run off so as not to get stuck in the middle of the bandits.
Unfortunately they are discovered by the bandits before they are even halfway to safety! And these run after the soldiers. Of the ten soldiers, nine escape. The latter steps into a rabbit hole on the way, causing him to sprain his ankle. The bandits catch up with him, but the soldier sells his life dearly and four bandits die before a giant of a guy arrives with a big hammer. He manages to hit the soldier on his head, causing him to get knocked out. Then the bandits finish him off. Fortunately, the other nine soldiers manage to reach Brandon's formation.
The bandits now find that they are trapped and try to get away. They see Brandon and his three squads and try to break through. There are one hundred and fifty bandits attacking Brandon's twenty-nine men. After a few minutes, twelve bandits are dead or wounded and only one of the soldiers in Brandon's squad is lightly wounded. Then two squads arrive from the side to encircle the bandits. As soon as they see that, the bandits run off again. On the other side of the village they try to break through at Raidon’s position. The outcome of the confrontation is almost as bad for them this time around. Seven more bandits lie dead or wounded. The remaining bandits begin to panic and run away in all directions.
Then their captain manages to get above the noise and calls them back together.
"We're still with more men, guys!" he shouts.
The bandits gather on the field in front of the town hall. The soldiers of the New Legion enter the village in good order, but even before they get close to the bandits, those are startled again.
From the windows of the town hall all kinds of things start to come down. The inhabitants of the village have seen that the bandits are losing and have decided that they want to help. Everything they get their hands on is thrown at the bandits. One of the bandits is even knocked down by a full toilet bowl. Its contents are distributed amongst the other bandits standing nearby.
Then Raidon and Brandon arrive with their soldiers. In an instant, the bandits are surrounded and stand with their backs against a bunch of houses.
The soldiers of the New Legion take their places at their leisure. For the bandits, this is an impressive spectacle. Fifty-eight soldiers standing side by side and waving their shields forward at the same time until there is an uninterrupted wall of large shields and iron men.
Raidon gives Brandon a sign, after which both men give their orders.
"At my command, throw!"
Fifty-eight spears fly through the air. These do a lot more damage than the stuff from the town hall. Because the bandits have no shields and wear almost no reinforced clothing, one after the other is felled by the spears. Almost half of the spears find a purpose.
Immediately after throwing the spears, the soldiers step forward. The bandits have no chance to regroup before the soldiers arrive. As Raidon and Brandon advance, the bandits try to escape everywhere between and through the houses. Since the houses are very close together, the bandits can only escape from the encirclement very slowly. Once outside the village, these men are taken care of by the squads of the New Legion that are lined up around the village.
But then a group of fifty bandits together break down a wall of a house. On the other side of that wall, they clash with the second squad of Raidon's platoon. Seven bandits are fatally hit before the rest manage to get away.
Afterwards, Raidon discusses the fight with the newly promoted Sergeant Brandon and all the squad leaders.
"More than a hundred bandits have been killed, sergeant," reports one of the squad leaders. "There were also prisoners, but unfortunately the villagers got hold of them."
Brandon continues:
"We ourselves have twelve wounded and one man did not make it."
"We knew it was dangerous for the squad to hide in the village. Too bad he didn't make it," Raidon replies, then looks around the group. "On the positive side, I see that we have a lot of promotions."
"Yes," Brandon replies, "every squad now has a squad leader and a lot of decorations of courage have appeared. There is even a decoration of lifesaver. Soldier Manno of your second squad saved the others when they were almost overrun by the outbreak of the last bandits. Unfortunately, they have five wounded to mourn, one of whom is in bad shape."
"I know. Despite the victory, we didn't get off as easily this time," Raidon's reaction is, after which he continues with his orders. "Brandon, I want you to take your platoon with you to catch those bandits. You probably won't get a hold of them all, but the more we catch the better. I myself will take the first and all the wounded back to Aran."
When Brandon and the second platoon return to Aran a few days later, Raidon is told that three more small groups have been caught. Unfortunately, more have escaped because they broke up in smaller and smaller groups. But the big raids are a thing of the past. Raidon unfortunately has to tell Brandon that the badly wounded soldier did not make it.
A few days later, the day after Brandon and the second platoon have left to take back the garrison of Fort Alpha, Morris returns.
"I delivered the message to the Empress. It did take some effort to gain access to her. General Colling managed to set some rules that made it impossible to speak to her. In the end, I succeeded and delivered the message. She hadn't heard anything about this herself, but she thought we acted well. She is also going to change those rules and look at the taxes. I also visited your mother. I think she would like it if you would come by yourself, but at least now she knows that you are doing well. Did I miss anything here?"
"Well, we've decided that you and your men are going to train some local guys as scouts and messengers. Maybe even as light cavalry if that works? About twenty is perfect, then you and your instructors can all have a group of four to command."
Morris looks at Raidon for a moment at this unexpected answer.
"Hmm, that should be possible. But you need these guys to find those bandits? It may take a while before they are ready for that."
"That won't be necessary, those have already been dealt with," Raidon says with a steely face, after which he can no longer hold back and bursts out laughing at the sight of Morris' bewildered face.