TNLB2 1 - Prologue Book Two

It is already late in the afternoon when the last carts are driven through the gate. For Sergeant Alderman, the day is almost over. Only these last two carts have to be unloaded, then all the supplies for the second attack are ready.

"Hurry up!" shouts Alderman to the drivers. He lost his good mood hours ago, when an incompetent moron managed to hit another with his cart. It took ages to reattach both wheels.

For most drivers, this is their first time in Fort Shi. As a result, they often stop in the middle of the road to ask where to go, which causes major delays. In addition, almost half of the drivers are prisoners of war. Only the whips of the guards ensure that those guys do not destroy the carts by crashing them on purpose.

"If those idiots had broken through with the first attack, we wouldn't have these problems. Odds of two dozen to one, and still they manage to screw it up." mutters the sergeant.

It has only been a few days since the sergeant himself arrived at Fort Shi, as part of the Fifth Chakran Army. Together with the seventh and eighth, they would put the Falwyn border under such pressure that they could win the war with one blow.

Unfortunately, things have turned out differently in reality. The fifth were still about four days out from Fort Shi, when word came that the eighth had started the attack early. Together with the first two regiments of the seventh, they had attacked the border city of Linh, while five other regiments of the seventh performed diversionary maneuvers. Why Fort Shi needed three regiments to reinforce the defenses was a mystery to Sergeant Alderman.

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The general of the Fifth Chakran Army, who was to organized the attack, almost exploded with anger when he heard what had happened. The two generals of the Seventh and Eighth were both sent to the city of Chakra to answer, along with a big portion of the officers of both armies. It was not the failed attack that they were to be charged for, but the part that the attack had failed.

The attacking army had done considerable damage to Falwyn's border armies, and they had even almost succeeded in capturing the border city. If that had succeeded, the generals would probably have been rewarded considerably. Now they will have a good chance that they will have to pay with their lives. A force of four regiments had advanced to the border city, which had only a few hundred men as a garrison. Just as the city was about to surrender, however, the Chakran force was defeated.

According to the reports Sergeant Alderman had seen, the army had been defeated by less than three hundred enemies. The losses had been high, more than a regiment of dead and almost as many wounded. The greatest loss, however, was that the fleeing remnants of the regiments had ignited their comrades while they were about to capture the central fortress.

"Less than 1500 dead, and almost ten times that number of warriors flee. If they had fought on, there would have been nothing wrong, but no, they flee from a handful of enemies. No wonder General Crag decimated the entire Eighth Chakran Army. Now we have to inspire those slackers all over again to carry out another attack. I hope the general knows what he has started. Especially now that Falwyn knows what we are up to. All this effort to sneak away from the northern border, and for what? Fortunately, we now have more than twenty-five thousand warriors. That should be enough if we attack before reinforcements arrive for Falwyn's troops."

Alderman lets out a deep sigh. The chance that the general will get everyone to attack again before Falwyn's reinforcements are there, is not very high. In addition, there are now fifteen thousand warriors whose morale has been completely destroyed. With a few weeks of discipline, that can easily be remedied, but by then it will already be too late.

Something will have to be done now and the general will come up with something. He has always done that so far.