TNL 33 – Pirates Part Two
All in all, it takes almost a week before the expedition is ready. First, both platoons have to gather in the garrison and supplies must be found. But then the time has finally come.
Both platoons are lined up at the harbor. It has been decided that each of the ten boats will take a squad of soldiers on board and part of the supplies. This is to allow for a more orderly embarkation.
One by one, the squads board the boats assigned to them. That morning, the necessary supplies have already been brought on board in the early hours. All in all, it only takes an hour before the boats are ready for departure. Raidon, together with the old fisherman, is the last to board a boat.
The crossing takes two days, just long enough for Raidon and the others to get used to the heaving of the boats. Then the fisherman on the lookout calls that there is land in sight, and a little later the first boats reach the beach. The fishermen do not often land on an unknown beach and for a while it is exciting. But for the soldiers of the New Legion, who are called landlubbers by some fishermen, it is very intense. Because of their heavy armor, they would drown immediately if the boats overturned.
When the boats slide home on the beach a little later, the relief is great. The soldiers quickly rush off board. Once on the beach, it is not over for many of them. After the time at sea, many men have acquired sea legs. For the fishermen it turns out to be a very comical sight. The old fisherman is not the only one who is doubled over with laughter.
"You should see what that looks like! And that after such a small breeze. Just wait until it's autumn in a few weeks, then we'll sail again!" the old man shouts to Raidon after he has dropped out of the boat on the beach and then stays there as if he wants to hug the ground. He is certainly not the only one, because more than half of the soldiers have become seasick in the small fishing boats. Therefore, when disembarking, nothing can be seen of the orderly embarkation of a few days ago.
A few minutes later, however, Raidon has recovered far enough that he resumes his obligations. He therefore stands up to call orders. But he sees that the unloading of the supplies has already been started by the men who were not seasick and also that there is already a beginning of a camp. Then he sees Brandon laughing at him from the firmer ground a little further away.
"So you have woken up again from your beauty sleep, Sergeant!?" a soldier with a bag of grain on his shoulder shouts to Raidon.
"Well, this great appearance has to be maintained!" replies Raidon, after which he walks up to Brandon.
"What is the situation?"
"Almost everyone has recovered a bit from the trip. Another man or twenty are still a bit unsteady or have similar symptoms. Furthermore, we are halfway through unloading the supplies. All in all, we should be ready setting up camp in half an hour."
"Just make it an hour or two," Raidon replies. "I want to have a fortified camp here. A few fishermen will stay here for messages and the like and I want to be able to withdraw if necessary. So put the men to work when they are ready, then they can recover in a safe camp for the rest of the day."
The next day they move on. In column, the two platoons set off. Since the camp is made on an elevation where the ground is firmer, walking is much easier than through the loose sand on the water. However, the soldiers now suffer from the long grass and one hill after another.
"I think these hills are called dunes," Gareth says.
An hour later they are finally on the edge of this terrain. As soon as the soldiers see the first trees, they are relieved, but even then it takes almost twenty minutes before they reach the forest. The shade under the trees is a huge relief. Raidon hears the soldiers sigh as soon as they are out of the scorching sun. He himself is also relieved when he walks under the trees.
The forest turns out to be fairly easily passable. Here and there they have to walk around if trees have fallen over or many fallen branches block the road, but all in all it is not too bad. There is only a little low vegetation to make it more difficult to move on.
By noon, the soldiers have traveled through the forest. Now they see a huge open plain. However, there are many low plants here, in which many soldiers get stuck with their feet. Several soldiers go down hard, which makes an enormous noise thanks to their armor. The only way to stay on your feet is to lift the feet high. This requires extra concentration and thanks to the harnesses it is not easy to accomplish.
Moments later, Raidon stops.
"Enough, men, time for a break. I want each squad to leave one person on guard. Alternate on time."
The men don't have to be told a second time. Grateful, most of them sit down. The men are already so attuned to each other after all the training that each squad automatically has someone who takes the first guard.
After half an hour they leave again and by the evening they are finally at the end of the plain.
"Brandon!" shouts Raidon to the back as they stop. "What do you think? Will we camp between the trees or stay here on the plain? Both options have their pros and cons."
"Well, I think we better stay on the plain. Then at least we can see it when someone arrives. We just have to hope that the pirates don't have scouts so far from their camp."
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"Agreed. Put the men to work."
A little later, Raidon consults with the scouts about the distance they still have to travel.
"What do you think? How far have we come?"
"I think it will take us another three days, sergeant," says a scout. "When we came here, we had it a lot easier because we were lightly packed. We came to the end of the next forest area on the first day. In total it took us three days, but at the pace we have now, it will take us four."
"Hmm, let's hope we can make up some time tomorrow. I want to end this as soon as possible."
The scout is right. The next day the troops are held up again by the terrain. This time it is a forest area with a lot of undergrowth.
Eventually they come to the end of this area and they finally see terrain that they can work with. As far as they can see, there is now grassland. Also, the area seems quite flat. The hills of the coast have long since passed them and the way forward seems completely flat.
"Beautiful! Now we can finally make up some lost time." Brandon seems satisfied with the terrain.
"Yes, but it also means that every fire we make can be seen from miles away. So we will have to make do with a cold camp," Raidon replies.
Halfway through the fourth day of their journey, they finally come close to the bay in the southwest of the island. Everyone can see from afar that the pirate base is here. It seems that it is a whole village with a wooden palisade and with two large farms outside. Raidon calls Brandon to him.
"Brandon, I want you and the second to attack that farm on the right. I'll take the first platoon and take the left. Make sure your men rest later, because we are attacking tonight. As soon as the scouts are back, we can decide how to proceed."
When the instructors return from their reconnaissance mission, they tell them that there are twenty pirates in both farms and about a hundred prisoners who maintain the farms. The two platoons split up to prepare their attacks.
It's around three o'clock at night when Raidon and Brandon launch their attacks. Raidon has his men move as quiet as possible, while the instructors move forward. Before the attack, he spoke to his men and explained the plan.
"The instructors go first, to eliminate the guards. When that is done, we will attack. There are only about twenty men in the house, so when we attack, the odds will be in our favor. I want this to happen quickly and preferably with as few losses as possible on both sides. Hit them with the knob of your sword if you can, but don't put yourself in danger."
The attack proceeds smoothly. The one guard is dozing by his fire at the entrance and the rest is half drunk. The instructor who accompanies the first platoon suddenly jumps up behind the guard. In a fluid motion, he hooks his arm around his neck. Meanwhile, his other hand comes over the watchman's mouth so that he cannot make a sound. The whole action takes less than two seconds. Then the soldiers come running and enter the building. Without anyone coming even close to being injured, they can overpower the pirates. John shows that despite his lesser attributes, he is still a great asset to the New Legion. He is one of the first to close with the sleeping pirates, and before the others have even taken in the situation, he has already slit the throats of the first two pirates.
All this happens in the silent night without there being more noise than the rumble of the dying pirates.
The action is repeated at the other farm by Brandon and before the hour has passed, both farms are in hands of the New Legion.
When Raidon and Brandon discussed the attacks, they also decided what to do with the prisoners in the farms. For now, they're leaving them be. When it's morning, it's early enough to tell them what has happened. It is better to let them sleep until there is light.
After the attacks, Raidon has a camp set up within sight of the pirate base. In the dark, the soldiers make a camp as quickly as possible, entirely with an earthen wall to protect the camp. There won't be much sleep this night.
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For Aulis, this is the third week of his imprisonment. A few weeks ago he was a carefree boy of eighteen with blond hair, who worked on the farm with his parents and brothers. Everything changed when he went to the market in the village with his father. Just as they were starting to unload their cart, the village was raided. The bandits beat down anyone who resisted, took everything of value and took the young men and women with them. Aulis' father was one of the men who resisted. Aulis himself was captured not knowing whether his father was dead or alive. Now he has been in this barn or working on the surrounding land for three weeks to grow crops for the pirates.
Since Aulis is used to the work, it is a little easier for him than most others. Some can hardly get up in the morning. Especially the city and village people have a hard time. But even for Aulis, it's starting to get harder and harder. They get little to eat from the pirates, which makes them weaker and weaker. That makes little difference to the pirates, since they always get new prisoners from the mainland.
One day when morning comes, the prisoners are not awakened at the normal time. The few prisoners who are still in good condition wake up early out of habit. The others remain sleeping until they are woken up by the pirates.
An hour later, however, the guards still haven't come. Slowly the prisoners begin to realize that something is wrong.
When a little later the door of the barn opens, everyone looks at the door with anticipation. Some with hope of liberation, some with fear of what awaits them now.
Blinking against the light, they see that there are no pirates in the opening. Instead of their usual guards, strangers now come in. Judging by their weapons, these must be real warriors. No pirate is so stupid as to put on such heavy equipment on a ship.
The warriors look like gods! The light reflects off their shiny armor and some prisoners can hardly look at it, that's how bright the light is.
Aulis can hardly believe his eyes. Will they finally be saved?
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Raidon has the prisoners freed by his men in the morning.
"Gods, they look so wretched," James exclaims as he first takes a look at one of the barns the prisoners are in.
"You're right, James. I'm glad we let them sleep a little longer while we got ready. It's a good thing we already have our plans ready, because we don't have to count on these guys when we need help. I doubt that more than half can stand up, let alone have the strength to defend themselves against those pirates," Raidon replies.
"Shouldn't we look at what we can do for them? Otherwise, I think there will be a whole bunch dead by the time we're done with the pirates."
"I think that's a good idea. Because it is your idea, you can also implement it. Choose two squads from both platoons to help you. Forty men should be enough, I think? Then you can use two shifts per farm."
When James has gathered his men and opens the doors wide open, the prisoners only look at him incredulously and sometimes even fearfully. Carefully, he and his men take the prisoners outside, and calmly tell them what is going on. Several prisoners burst into tears when they hear that they are free.
Since these people have never heard of the New Legion, it takes a lot of effort to convince them that it is not a joke. In the end, the best argument turns out to come from John. He arrives with a big breakfast of bread and toasted pig.
"Look, folk," John shouts cheerfully as he walks in tow with a bunch of others, "a nice breakfast, freshly stolen from your captors."