Corin needed to keep his troop movements secret. The crux of the plan was timing. The attack would have to happen at night. The desert was mostly flat. Where the mercenary company was camping was mostly open terrain. A few boulders had been scattered about with an occasional dry shrub sticking out from the sand. Corin had sent a couple of bands of scouts out first. They would work to clean up the area surrounding the camp. The next group to leave were his mages. Their ranks were lightly peppered with wights. Corin joined the rest of his soldiers. There were a mixed unit of infantry and Calvary. They should arrive first The horses the men road were covered with cloth, to help protect against the biting cold. Corin wore a mix of heavy cloth and chain. It was mostly to keep himself warm on the march. His soldiers were mostly dressed the same way. Defending more against the cold than the potential weapons of their enemies for the night. Corin decided against wearing heavier armor. He didn’t want to overburden the horse. The beast below him was warm. Corin had started seeing his breath over an hour ago. Such was life in the desert, scorching hot sun in the day and freezing cold nights.

It was odd that the camp had been so close to his own. It was strange that none of his scouts patrolling around the area had spotted them. Corin and The Venerated Razors were far from subtle. In addition to the soldiers, they had amassed quite a number of camp followers. It was possible that the other camp had spotted them, but Corin thought he accounted for that. He had a small number of mages that he had gathered from his original company with him. The enemy camp had been surrounded by a few barriers that had been built, they were spaced to help prevent calvary running through the camp. They were light, and portable. They wouldn’t stand up to a determined attacker, but Corin was confident that his troops would be able to overrun them in the night. The enhancements that they had gone through had helped with night vision.

Corin started to recognize the terrain around him and he focused his mind on what was to come. The barriers around the camp were more complete than before. The horses were not going to be as useful as he thought. He dismounted and passed the horse on to one of the mages. He flashed a hand signal and the mounted soldiers split from the group. A loud whistling sound came from the east. It continued until a loud shriek was heard as the spell hit the ground. The signal. A mage from his side shot a colored pattern in the sky which erupted into existence above the enemy camp. It started.

Bursts of sound erupted from the camp as orbs of pure magical force beat themselves into the sand. A general alarm was let out in the camp. Corin and the infantry ran towards the camp. The only sound was the sound of feet beating across the sand. When they reached the barrier the mage at his side fired another burst of color above the camp. The bombardment had already stopped. Fires had spread to a few of the tents. There as the sound of men yelling, both in anger and agony. Corin and his men started pulling the barriers down as quickly as they could. The camp was in chaos. They had found the direction of the mage’s bombardment and a group had exited to fight them. More soldiers were gathering their wits, either injured or surprised. The bombardment hadn’t killed as many as Corin would have liked, but this would do. Distant flashes of light indicated the mages had started fighting their own fight. This made Corin start to hurry his actions. Then the last barrier started to fall. His men had made it into the camp.

When the last barrier had been dismantled Corin and his men poured into the camp.

“Now!” shouted Corin.

His men shouted along. They poured in, killing the stragglers. Small groups of soldiers started breaking off and pulling down tents. They had been instructed to kill any who hid. Corin didn’t want to kill them all, but it would be less work down the road. The shouting became a roar as they started pushing into the rear of the enemy. It was effective. They had been alerted by Corin’s roaring troops and then became confused. Corin chopped at the armor of a downed man that had been struggling to get to his feet after being pulled down to the ground by the advancing line. Blood had been flowing from a nasty shoulder wound. Corin’s blow had separated the limb from the body. He was sure to be trampled as they pushed forward. There were casualties on Corin’s side. He had helped encircle a spear wielder and the man that stood beside him had driven the spear into his stomach. The man walked into the spear and held onto it, forcing the enemy soldier to flee. A man with a mace had crushed his leg to the sound of a breaking femur. Corin advanced. The soldier with the mace had finished the job, silencing the bloodcurdling screams. Corin had lost the mage as he chased down a half naked man, bleeding from cuts from his arms. Corin had tackled him. Corin’s saber was knocked free. Corin had lost a glove, somewhere. He drove his freed claws into the man’s neck and squeezed around the spine until it snapped. He stood and looked for his saber.

Stolen story; please report.

Another man had attacked Corin. His movements were smooth. His swordsmanship was praiseworthy. Corin had never had any official training and had only learned battle. He could certainly sense the gaps in skill. Corin had recovered a round shield. Was it a buckler? Only his enhanced reflexes had kept Corin safe. He deflected blow after blow with the shield. When he tried to attack an opening it had turned into a feint and Corin was punished. Another duo had been fighting nearby and one of his soldiers backed into the sword’s man causing them both to fall. Corin took advantage of the situation by throwing the shield at the still standing soldier. The dodge took precious time and allowed his soldier back to his feet. Corin thrust his weapon into the stomach of the man. An organ or two must have been ruined. The man tried to get to his feet despite the pain, driving Corin back with a wild slash of his own. The sword’s movement was sluggish and Corin kicked the man’s wound with his armored foot. The man let out a throaty grunt as he tried to stabilize himself. Corin left him to his fate and went to find another man to fight.

A light pattern erupted above the camp. Corin nodded, satisfied that the mages were preforming their duties. He ran down another target. As the night’s darkness was burned away to the sun. Corin was tired. Physically he was fine, but something about the whole scenario had sapped his mental energy. He sighed. The sun had revealed the blood and destruction that had visited the camp in the night. His troops were far more effective than he anticipated. There was a tentative number of 12 dead of The Venerable Razors, and they had nearly wiped out unknown mercenary band. They might have been mercenaries. It was also possible that they could have been well equipped for a bandit camp. The captured soldiers were lead away from the results of the night. Corin wanted them well fed and watched for. He stopped a few of the victory games. There was no need to be cruel. They would be joining him in the future and it wouldn’t sit right. The rest of the soldiers had started gathering the bodies in the center of a camp. The mages thew the unusable bodies into the pit that had been caused by the screaming spell. The bodies that had been in better condition were piled together. Those with missing limbs and questionable chances of being useful were set aside. The mages would work and do their best.

It was a shame there hadn’t been more living. He walked around what was left of the camp. A few of his logistics group had found provisions and had set out to bring the supplies to the camp. He wanted to be sure that the soldiers’ personal belongings were kept together and given to the captured soldiers when they were enhanced. There might be some theft, sure. It wasn’t as if the dead would care. There were a few hundred soldiers at this camp. It was going to be a pain to keep personal belongings together, but he trusted his men. As he thought deeper on it, he realized he didn’t need to trust his men. He looked at his hand. He still hadn’t found the glove. The claws were awkward at first, but they certainly made things easier. He could remember how it felt to crush the neck of the man. An odd sensation ran through his body. It was subtle, but something had certainly changed. He looked toward the center of the camp. The bodies were hard to miss. Corin felt pride. This was his doing. There was a distant memory that played through his head of something similar. Corin couldn’t relate, nor process the emotion in the old memory. He mounted his horse and gathered together a couple of men to escort him back to his camp. He world receive reports from the leaders of the other groups. They would see if there could be any improvements that could be made for their plans. For the time being, however, Corin though everyone preformed excellently. Casualties that low were unheard of. This was a total victory against a group with similar strength on paper.