A/N
I sincerely apologise as I will be busy these few weeks and updates may be delayed by one or two days but I ensure you. I haven't in the slightest lost my motivation to write, not in the slightest.
Please read and review, thank you.
3rd Person POV: a year ago
Kharkov, leader of the South wasn't stupid he was more than aware of the Northern debacle that had taken place in the Northern pack.
In his mind, it was a distant affair and all the better for himself he thought as his goal had always been the conquest of the Yoho satellite pack and beyond. The Yoho satellite pack was created in his opinion out of land rightfully belonging to the South and was in his opinion a rogue state.
He was more than prepared for the task after all for someone who had united the numerous waring Southern states under one continuous rule. He was cunning as a fox and smooth with managing diplomacy among the wide and disparate nation of the Southern pack.
The Southern pack had never looked upon as one nation and was instead fashioned out of the ruins of the Northern Empire which fell to the then Eastern, Western packs and the Yoho packs.
They were wide and diverse people and were a mixed breed of Northern wolves and normal grey wolves which gave their coats a lack of consistency with splotches of grey and black in patches.
Fur colour was especially important in any pack for it gave a sense of unity. For instance, Yoho wolves were cream coated, Northern wolves had a black coat whilst united pack wolves were usually grey.
Hence, the Southerners were usually perceived as mongrels no better than the sub-wolves known as dogs which humans tended to keep as pets
But they were fierce and industrious warriors with some of the most brilliant mind drawn out from their conquered lands.
Hence, Kharkov riding out with his father's little city state had conquered a wide and diverse people but they had some of the brightest minds in the pack. He surrounded himself with men and women of wisdom drawn from all corners of his empire.
His plan was where his forefathers had failed to do to march out, conquer the Yoho satellite pack's capital of Warsk and turn it into a city of his own creation.
It would have been a crowning moment of his glory for his forces time and time again had been bested by the imperial Yoho army. In spite of a lack of support for the Yoho satellite pack from its former imperial masters which to the contrary diverted forces to other theatres of war and was hard pressed for manpower it held on. Not even the southern hordes could shatter their small but determined army.
First, he had gathered his armies into hordes of blood thirsty troops they had no regular pay but then he didn't need to they were paid in terms of rich bootie.
He had the brightest military minds of the day and swept through all terrain be it tundra, hilly or forested making use of speed and lightning strikes as a weapon.
His southern armies bypassed strong points wherever their enemies had prepared a line of defence against them. Instead, they ran into the wide open countryside where he was free to rampage and could defeat enemy armies in a battle of encirclement.
He had acquired these from the plundered regions they had refused to surrender and were brought to their knees. His first target had been the Banff National Park's packs from them he had won himself admiration from his people and the rich spoils of war.
Hundreds of caribou, a harem of new brides and slaves were acquired from those lands and many more were paid in tribute from friendly city states.
However, he did not fit the Southern model of a fierce warlord there was a reason after all for the brutal practises of infanticides.
It was customary even of warlords when examining a new litter of puppies to remove all those they felt were omegas or runts and to murder them in a bizarre pagan ritual of burning.
It was what kept their race strong but for the warlord family they would take it a step further and kill all but one male pup that was the strongest of the litter and the next ruler. Also, a few choice females whom would me married off for alliances with other warlords.
Kharkov was that male pup but when it came to governance he was rather different much to the dismay of some of the old guard.
He was also a fair and just ruler If a city state had decided to surrender, throwing open their defences and submitting before his great hordes they would be spared.
This was unlike what the nomadic wandering people had known and they were fairly opposed to this new course of action. His father, Aldrich saw it essential that he learn from the best scholars the land had to offer a very wise wolf skilled in the arts of economics, arts and the sciences among others.
In those days there were no such things as public school the closest thing was alpha school which tended to teach practical skills as opposed to the essentials of governance. Hence, the alternative of that was an apprenticeship with the wise scholar whom had indoctrinated in the intricacies of governance.
A further reason from this was that he had been counselled from his favourite wife (he had a dozen which is perfectly normal for his time) called Alexandria. She was not born of nobility but she was still nevertheless an intelligent woman.
She had said that to be a wise ruler one had to be a steward of the land and to utilise its potential and distribute the proceeds of the land to its people. Kharkov listened and through his many wise advisors which formed a consul in which he would consult before undertaking any decision of major importance whose advice he would listen to.
With his great reservoir of skills and with that he set out for the first time to truly create a unified empire.
They believed that it was the Southern way to pillage from the defeated people and take whatever they wanted. But Kharkov was different; he set to work improving public works, digging canals and irrigation that would create farms in these new regions using vast quantities of labour.
Under him, the conquered regions prospered they had more food than they knew what to do with and these were sent to all corners of the vast empire. This was done by digging canals and floating the food over on rafts.
Occasionally, when a province suffered from drought, locusts or any other reason and received a poor harvest he did not penalise them and helped them to recover.
He set aside a granary especially for these circumstances and offered food to the poor at no cost. Kharkov offered tax concessions from these lands allowing them to recover, he sent in deltas from throughout the empire to develop new and innovative solutions to whatever was the difficulty.
But not everyone was happy with his rule, some continued to argue with Kharkov over the old ways. They craved for the times when they spent many years on one long and extended campaign covering hundreds of kilometres.
They wanted to run till their coats grew long and thick during winter shed it off again and start the process all over again destroying all in their path.
But Kharkov refused saying that it was the best way to unify a divided nation.
Thus, did enemies of his regime rebel against his rule with the motive of appointing his brother called Temin as the new puppet ruler. The insurrectionists dreamed of returning to the old ways and thought of Kharkov's ambitions as blasphemy to the 'Southern way'.
Kharkov was dismayed he knew that as king and ruler nothing was more destructive than civil war. He had returned from the hard won campaign in the Banff National park when all was subjugated under his rule.
He was close to despair for he had to fight his own people to maintain his place. Hence, he went over to where their encampment lay with his victorious and battle hardened army skilled from years of fighting.
Needless to say, the coup was short-lived the leaders of the dissenters were swiftly executed after a short campaign for his troops had both numbers and experience in their favour.
However, he spared the lives of the soldiers whom had gone against him choosing instead to bring them back under his control. However, the leader's dwellings which to the eyes of the other packs were little more than a crude hole in the ground did not suit the needs of a new Southern empire.
Instead, he wanted to take over Warsk the rich imperial Yoho city to make be his which would be his new capital city for a glorious Southern empire.
The encounter with the Yoho satellite pack started well initially, they pushed in hard and fast like in their previous campaigns expecting this campaign like the rest to be swift and decisive. The Yoho satellite pack was ready for them and there were only brief scuffles with the enemy soon thrown into what he thought was a panicked rout.
However, it was only a withdrawal albeit a slightly rushed and disorganised one but still a retreat nonetheless to a fortified line that their deltas had built. The line ran across the shortest part of the country with ancient imperial forts on the hills in-between.
The line was almost impossible to penetrate and held them up for months but Southern ingenuity came up with a solution, it always did.
They made use of infiltrators, specially trained units to creep up to the Yoho satellite pack's lines and soon the small force had won control of one of the forts slaughtering every one inside.
The Yoho satellite pack's forces were thrown into panic and fled for their capital, Warsk. Kharkov was confident. Warsk and the rest of this stolen Southern land will be mine he thought to himself now that he had overrun about 30% of the country.
However, an unpleasant surprise hadarrived the Yoho pack had started to arrive in force to save their ally putting up a steadily stiffening resistance.
But the worst was yet to come, what had been a poorly protected imperial city through the help of the skilled Yoho deltas had turned itself into a fortress. It had an all- round defensive walls made out of strong concrete to stop their battering rams.
In addition to that there was a secondary wall which the deltas had added which were a further four meters high inside the first wall with thick oak doors that would not barge against the battering rams.
From the top rained down a shower of brick and stone as the defenders pelted their attackers. It was hopeless. The Yoho pack had halted the Southern advance while still maintaining a line of supply to the beleaguered city so the South could not besiege it.
3rd Person POV: Now
Time was moving by for the south as the united pack's forces was defeated by the Yoho pack which would free up forces originally intended there.
Furthermore, there were rumours of the united pack's forces joining up with the new Northern pack against the Yoho pack. He had to move fast before his hated rivals had conquered territory meant for the South to take.
Finally, Kharkov's troops were by now not only impatient at the lack of progress but desperate to launch their final attack to capture the fortress city.
He finally had the means of his disposal to do so a very light- weight yet strong wooden armour. Forged by his policies, welcoming the very best and they had succeeded brilliantly.
The armour was so light that it felt almost nothing and could enable his troops to float. It was also so strong that no blow however hard could destroy it only ever cracked the top plate of the armour revealing interlinked pieces of thick pine with softer woods to cushion impacts.
It came just in time too for his troops had been holding the line they had retreated to the line captured from the Yoho pack and the front had descended into stalemate and had taken no new ground.
His troops were still loyal to him by now paid a fixed salary of caribou for them now that the colonies were producing a substantial quantity of caribou and other agricultural produce for him men.
However, his situation was changing for the worst he had heard about the Yoho's pack's new colony in the far north of Havana and that the Yoho pack had received some elite Northern alphas and was marching on them.
They had to capture the great fortress city of Warsk or they would face the wrath of a determined counterattack in the derelict walls of the destroyed line.
He had never bothered with the repair of it judging the place only for use as a staging area for attacks against the Yoho pack and surely could not resist the full might of the Yoho's reinforced armies.
Combined, the new force would number about ninety which would include the defenders of the city and the new armies arriving from the North. However, Kharkov only had about a hundred men with him defending that thin strip of dirt and was likely to be defeated for the Northern alphas were legendary in their skill.
Fortunately, Mother Nature was on his side the weather had turned against the beleaguered defenders.
Torrential downpours had struck the fortress as were typical for the spring season but far heavier than anticipated, strong gale force winds pelted both the besieged and the besiegers blowing down a snow storm from the icy northern regions.
The ice and the snow blew over the great lake causing a part of it to freeze over at the edges before finally arriving at the south.
The concrete walls while strong in their own right were not particularly flexible at dealing with this sort of thing. It was something that the Yoho deltas had not provisioned for as gale force winds and torrential rains in this area were rare and the speed of the construction had made detailed planning all but impossible.
Sections of walls collapsed killing some of the defenders and it was the signal to the start of a renewed offensive together with his new armours there was simply no way that he could lose he thought.
Eric's POV: Now
It was like any other quiet day but better still the united pack had decided to vanish from their borders leaving only a token force behind. They were scared, cowering behind their dugouts and praying nothing would happen, suited me just find.
It was so quiet that there was little for me to do having finished off all duties early in the morning.
My troops really didn't like me calling me the 'taskmaster' for my belief in firm ethnics and regulation. Whenever I told them for instance, when I told them to not to take a nap on patrol they did so grudgingly and dozed off (I suspected) whenever my back was turned.
The Northern Cossack alphas were far more disciplined compared to the army of militia for them fighting and defending was a way of life and they followed orders to the letter.
I was leaving to visit my sister Gaille she was in the area for with the mobilisation orders no one was commissioning new paintings.
She was pretty bored and lonely after her husband was transferred to the Havana front in defence of the new colony against any Northern threats.
Just then urgent news had arrived from a messenger pigeon both that we were under attack in the North from the Northern omegas whom were marching in swarms and in great danger of overwhelming the beleaguered defenders. They were poring over the partially frozen lake anfd had caught the defenders badly off guard.
Furthermore, another pigeon minutes afterwards reports had come through that Warsk was getting overrun from a renewed southern offensive.
I was a little overwhelmed by the two pieces of information and decided to act swiftly. I was afraid for my people as we were now fighting a three front war one that was impossible to win.
This was not at all like the neat and orderly operations I had carried out full of fore-thought and deliberation before any action was taken.
It was swift and decisive action that was needed. My heart begin to pound rapidly in my heart I was frightened at the prospect of a further attack from the united pack and I knew that the whole strategy hinged on whether or not we could rush reinforcements to this threatened front.
I thought of my sister how calm she was in such situations how she always was the stronger one in the family. I really admired her she paid for mother's surgery when I earned a wage that could barely support myself let alone pay.
I thought of what she would do under those circumstances and I understood the importance of being calm and decisive.
Command right now was having their hands full and the Western front against the united pack was likely to be in the far corner of their minds. It was probably a mere sideshow in their minds and I was unlikely to receive new orders.
I took matters into my own hands and decided to take my army out of its jurisdiction and to help.
I decided that the Eastern and Western packs could be left for latter right now the most immediate danger was the South where Crown City bordered the Yoho satellite pack and was in danger of invasion.
I marched my force of twelve leaving a group of betas on "aggressive patrolling" to ward off the enemy and marched off with all due speed to reinforce the Southern front.
The shortest route passed by Crown City and I was greeted by confused looks from omegas not affected by the draft still moving in a slow carefree manner. To them the war was a distant adventure fought by 'volunteers' on some glorious crusade.
They simply didn't understand and I wouldn't blame them. For them the front was too far away to bother, it was truly upsetting as the distance between us military men and the civilians grew with each passing day.
I urged my troops forward and soon we hit the border markings of our close ally. It was a pass in between the Canadian Rockies that divided the two packs. However, there were no border guards protecting the scent marked boundaries that divided the two packs.
This was deeply disturbing for there were at least two protecting the nation's boundaries although now largely for symbolic reasons.
Instead, there was an eerie silence out of the woods which they should have been.
I sent forth several native log-sledding alphas to move forwards to scout out the woods and moved out of the pass with the rest only when they had reported the surrounding woods clear of an ambush. There was a slight rise from a low ridge line which I moved my troops over to get a view of what was going on.
In the hills and plains below lay the single biggest battle ground I had ever seen, there were hundreds of Yoho and Southern forces clashing, the South must have sent out all their warriors for this battle for the hills teemed with them.
However, we were losing the South had fielded some sort of new armoured unit on the battlefield they could sustain teeth and claw without breakage. They weren't that many of them; here and there they were dotted about.
But wherever they was an engagement they would triumph simply charging into their opponents ignoring whatever was thrown into their wooden armours.
In the distance lay the city of Warsk less than a kilometre away and from the city whose walls had crumbled still had Southerners pouring in through the gaps of the walls was still resisting the invaders.
I ordered my forced about in an outflanking manoeuvre, running through the woods that lined the right-hand corner of the sprawling battlefield with units fanned out. There, I came across my first opponents Southerners with their patchy fur colour about six of them running through the woods trying to outflank.
I leapt in the lead gunning for the first Southern alpha, he was big at least a full head taller than me and judging from the vicious scaring was an experienced one. For my trouble I received a very nasty slash across the chest.
It stung for the Southerners had a peculiar tendency to sharpen their claws on rocks and it seems that this one was no different. His claw sliced deeply through my chest creating thin read lines before the blood pool on my chest started to spread.
It was not life threatening but it hurt like glass through the skin. I stood up tall which maybe came up to his shoulder level but I wasn't done yet. As all Yoho wolves were taught when dealing with larger opponents was to mob.
Another Yoho beta had ran forth and got him in the side while I had distracted the brute distracting him.
He howled in pain and I leapt onto his side clamping my jaw around his throat until the Southerner had stopped moving.
Warm blood flowed through my mouth as he kept struggling allowing my teeth to tear through flesh and muscle as he howled in pain.
I didn't have time to thank my fellow before he got in turn cut down by another southerner his throat hanging out and tumbling to the floor. I ordered the Northern Cossacks to charge in an outflanking manoeuvre to destroy the southern squad determined to prevent further loss of life.
To their credit they fought well and had truly acquitted themselves, their thick hides reducing the blunt of the blow until they could cleave at the throat and face of the Southerners. This was easy for them for they were very tall which made it easier to strike where it was most effective.
A massive paw would sweep forth slicing through neck, eyes or throat and the Southern wolf would be no more. Whenever they were themselves struck the Southerners paws simply bounced off their thick hides before in a growl of anger they were pulped with a giant paw from one of the Northerners.
The fight was over in less than thirty seconds and all six southerners were dead at the cost of one beta.
I urged my troops forwards and emerged in the flanks of the South no more than a hundred meters away was a battleground that was sure to be immortalised as one of the greatest. There were literally hundreds of wolves Northern, Southern and Yoho all clashing into swirling melees.
There was no time however to enjoy the scene for there was a battle to be fought.
I noticed a few wolves about five in all brought up by the South in this rear area and they were a curious sight. They were covered in a curious-looking wooden armour it did not seem particularly strong for it was thin and it had several of the pagan symbols for their deities (good luck).
However, looks were deceiving for there were claw marks that appeared to have deep gashes dug into the plates, exposing the wood underneath. In spite of the appearance on the armour the enemy southerner appeared to be perfectly unscathed.
They did not appear to notice the Yoho army creeping up behind them coming from the direction of further Southern reinforcements so they had assumed we were southerners. I let out a loud war cry and only then were they greeted by the sight of a Yoho army descending upon them.
Their armour proved very hard to crack as predicted. I ran towards a flailing Southern alpha already pinned down by a fellow. He tried to strike at the armour claws extended. Instead of going through the battered wooden plate he instead chipped his claw causing only a slight dent.
He hollered in pain from his bleeding paw and was pushed away, I went for a different approach to what the first had tried I went for the kinks in the armour. These kinks were small and hard to reach but we had an advantage, we outnumbered them more than two to one.
A fellow Beta slid up to join me as well as a Northerner and they kept him busy, long enough to ram a claw where the split between the neck guard and the rest of the armour was.
He hollered in pain as however hard I forced in my paw was restricted by the narrow opening and only dug shallow gashes. He flailed against me trying to throw me out a bloodied pushing weakly against my side.
He weakened as it was a three against one and soon the Northerner promptly lifted him up, brought him crashing to the ground and stomping on him till he submitted the extraordinary piece of armour still holding out in spite of the Northerners best efforts.
Before long we went for the rest, most were chased away and scattered for we stood no chance of penetrating the armour but they were wounded and could not join battle for some time. However, there was the prisoner and that was all that mattered.
I was elated… until I counted my men, only seven were still standing we had lost a further four when engaging the armoured forces. My heart sank five men who would never again be able to see their families and would be buried in a foreign land on the Yoho's satellite pack's territory.
There was no time to mourn, a battle still needed to be won.