Adam and Max watched for a bit to see if the humans noticed their missing knight, but they didn’t seem to. There were a lot of knights running around, all in armor. The hustle and bustle of the moving army seemed to be enough that one knight gone wasn’t immediately noticeable. Adam and Max remained watchful, but when they withdrew at dusk it was because of low visibility, not alarm in the enemy ranks.
Luckily, their temporary camp wasn’t far. Greenbough had set up in a concealed spot near the town where Adam and his squad had raided with Ironblood before. The road they had been watching led into the town. Within a half hour, they were back at camp.
“You’re finally back?”
Dax and Greenbough's orc Yav had been assigned to scout a nearby village. It was a quicker job. They only needed to get a rough sense of the activity to gather the information. For Adam and Max, the road had to be watched until they could no longer see humans. An army that took an hour to pass through the road was very different than one that took a whole day. Dax’s job was easier and he knew it – he was gloating.
“Yes, some of us had a job that actually involved some effort and thinking,” Adam responded. The camp was a simple affair – a few logs and stones rolled into place around a fire for seating, and one large makeshift tent for all of them to sleep under. As Adam approached the fire, he dropped the large cloth bundle he was carrying on the ground. The armor inside clanked loudly.
Greenbough was sitting a few feet beyond Adam, drawing on the ground with a stick. The sound of ringing metal made him look up.
“What do you have there?”
Adam grinned and released the knot, letting the armor tumble out of the bundle. “Just a gift from a knight. I don’t think he’ll be needing it anymore.”
“Got yourself a knight, did you?” Greenbough grunted and grabbed the chestpiece, turning it over in his hands.
“He wandered away from the road, and Max and I took care of him. The armor was just a bonus. I was thinking we could use it for something, maybe throwing it at the humans to put some fear into them.”
“That’s not… Adam, that would only be a good idea if you wanted the humans to focus on killing you first. Remember that their numbers give them courage,” said Greenbough. He dropped a heavy finger on the breastplate, making a small clinking noise. “Still, we might find a use for this. It can be a tool, if we find the right angle. Keep thinking about it.”
Adam nodded. He had expected something like that. Greenbough motioned him over and pointed at the ground, where he had drawn a makeshift map.
“The humans are gathering at this town, with some split off to defend this village,” Greenbough grunted. Adam recognized both locations as the town and village he had visited with the chief. “In front of them is Ironblood’s camp. We killed enough of them that they aren’t likely to leave before Camp Ironblood is burned to the ground.”
He moved his stick to indicate the village.
“I had Dax and Yav take a look at the activity around this village. They’ve been moving grain from it all day. Did you see wagons on the road?” Greenbough asked. Before Adam could respond, Greenbough waved him off and continued, “They're transporting the grain to the town. At this point, there’s no reason for us to bother attacking the village. Anything important it held is already in the town.”
“We can hit them on the road at night. It'll be safer than attacking the town,” said Adam.
“We can't do such a thing.”
“But their troops will be spread out and if we time it right, they'll be tired from the march. We're looking for victory, not honor,” Adam argued.
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“Adam, I’m not Ironblood. I can see the logic in your idea. But attacking at night, like bandits? It’s condemning your men to shame. We still have honor.”
There’s that word again, Adam thought. Always getting in the way of the best idea. Greenbough had always seemed reasonable, but Adam suddenly realized that this had always been in comparison with the chief. Being more reasonable than a warchief who would pit himself and one other orc against hundreds of humans was a low bar.
“But it’s not just honor, Adam. The best moves aren’t just moves that lead to temporary victories. They are the ones that set you up for future victories, that bring success again and again.”
Greenbough took his stick and spent a few moments sketching the other orc camps, camps that were further from the border with the humans.
“We need a head-on battle, something that stops the human advance. Something other orcs can hear about and see. We need a victory that will draw warriors from here, where they do no good,” Greenbough moved his stick, indicated the safe camps and then the border camp they were headed to, “To here, where they can bolster our numbers. But for that, we need an actual victory. We need a battle we can actually win.”
Adam could start to see Greenbough's logic. An ambush might delay the humans, but it would be frowned upon by the rest of the orcs.
Greenbough rubbed his temples, then slid his foot across his drawings, erasing them.
“I’ll talk to you about them in the morning.” Greenbough stood and withdrew to the tent. Shortly after, Yav followed him. Within a few minutes Adam and his team could hear both orcs snoring away.
Max looked up from the fire and moved nearer to Adam, followed by Dax.
“Adam, what’s your take on Greenbough? Me and Dax want to trust him, but…”
Dax nodded along with Max’s words, then cut in, “He did lose a camp. We know he was facing a lot of humans, and we know he’s been involving us in decisions. It’s just…”
Max jumped back in, “We're not sure about him. We wanted to hear from you about it.”
Adam sunk into thought for a few moments. He took Max and Dax’s worry seriously. Leaving the suicidal defense of a doomed camp wasn’t a very hard task but that didn't mean Greenbough was always right. Beyond that, they knew little about Greenbough.
Adam thought back to the conversations he had with Greenbough. The ideas from Greenbough were quite similar to the chief. He said he was supportive of tactics, but none of his descriptions of the loss of his camp indicated anything but the same old straight-ahead orc charge. He was definitely different from the chief, who only valued strength, but he had just talked about honor when there was an easier path to victory.
Did his appreciation for thinking during a fight come afterward?
Adam had traditionally relied on Luke to dampen his enthusiasm and pull him back from getting things over his head. Unknowingly, Max and Dax were filling the same function, and Adam was thankful for it.
In the end, Adam couldn’t find the words to reassure Max and Dax as much as he would have liked. There were just too many unknowns.
“I can’t promise you that we will follow Greenbough forever. There’s just too much we don’t know about him. But I’m not dismissing you. I have some of the same concerns. I’ll be keeping an eye on him,” said Adam.
That was enough for Max and Dax.
—
The next morning, Greenbough shook the orcs awake before the sun was up, and led them towards the town. It wasn’t a long walk, and the orcs were still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes and yawning as Greenbough stood pointing at the warehouses at the edge of town. He spoke in hushed tones but was so clearly excited that his voice came out in a forced hiss.
“I realized it last night: humans have to eat. An army has to eat a lot. And humans don’t gather what they need: they farm. They farm and store.” He held up his arm, and the orcs could see he was holding a makeshift torch. “We are going to attack the town, and destroy their grain stores.”
The orcs looked at each other, confused.
“Just us? The four of us?” Adam asked, “Against an army?”
“Their numbers only matter if they can stop us – if they can break our charge, if they can break your formation. And without knights, they can’t do that.”
Greenbough looked at his orc.
“Yav. Strap the armor Adam brought to yourself. Not for protection, but like it’s a joke. The uglier, the better. Go near the town and taunt them. I know how these knights are. They consider themselves a brotherhood. They will chase you.”
He turned to Adam and his orcs.
“While they do, we will attack in Adam’s formation. Adam and I will hold shields and plow through them. And when we get to the warehouses…” He held up his hands, then drew them apart. “Poof, just like that, the food will be gone. And the humans will either need to withdraw to somewhere there is food, or stop their advance to hunt and gather. Either way, we will have bought some time.”
It was a good plan, Adam thought. It would probably work if the knights chased Yav. And if were distracted from returning. And if the warehouses burned quickly and easily. And if the townspeople didn’t get in a lucky shot, or act unusually bravely.
If they come back or anything else goes wrong, we will be trapped. Is Greenbough willing to risk that much?