Sorry, this took so long. But I was sick, took a writing break and have two other stories to write as well ^^
Still, enjoy :)
Disclaimer: not mine
"I hereby transfer command of the army back to you, General." Korgana said, saluting Baribusa who stood in front of him.
Baribusa saluted back and looked around the camp. The gigantic area was sprawling with rat soldiers, most of them milling around while his elite storm troopers were already training again, having taken their assigned areas quickly and efficiently. A wide wooden aqueduct transported water into the camp, most of it running through smaller byways into the various camp quarters and the remaining water going into the underground caves where the breeders and almost forty percent of the army were housed.
"Why are they still working on the tower?" Baribusa asked, pointing to the top where the slaves were still working.
"We had a few... uh... disruptions." Korgana shrugged.
"Such as?"
"For one, before our arrival, the enemy had cut a sizable part of the forest down, so we had to range farther to get wood. Then they blocked the regular run of the river, forcing us to build this aqueduct to get water into our camp."
"Alright." Baribusa nodded.
"Also, some of the slaves got eaten." Korgana added.
"What? By predators in the forest?"
"No, by our own forces." Korgana explained. "We had food shortages and one battalion killed about a hundred slaves to eat them."
"What unit was this." Baribusa ground out, his rage rising.
"Doesn't matter, the unit doesn't exist anymore. Severe punishment was given."
"Very well." Baribusa nodded, watching Lyanna's cage being rolled into the underground caves, the female tiger staring at him, which somewhat discomforted him. "Lets get up to the tower and show me our enemy."
"Where is Rattus?" Korgana asked as the slaves at the foot of the tower turned the wheel that lifted their carriage into the air.
"Our esteemed lord?" Baribusa smirked, his voice laced with sarcasm. "As far as I know, he's still back in Xinan."
"Xinan?" Korgana looked at his superior.
"That was the name of the town our base used to be."
"Is it weird that I never knew that?"
"It's not like you have been there often." Baribusa chuckled. "When I left, Rattus was nowhere to be seen. Maybe we're in luck and he fell into a vat of poison in the alchemists labs."
"That's a bad thing to say about our illustrious leader." Korgana joined in the laughter but both stopped when arriving at the top where the slaves were still busy building the roof.
"General." the lead slave bowed deep, the other stopping their work to do the same.
"Carry on." Baribusa nodded to them. "So the tower seems to be a bit far away. How do we watch the enemy from here?"
"We use these." Korgana produced a pipe and several lenses.
"What's this?"
"A looking glass." Korgana told him. "You look through it and put these lenses into these slots. The more you put in, the further you can see."
"Interesting." Baribusa nodded impressed and inserted two of the three lenses. "So, what have you done so far?"
"The only thing I could." Korgana sighed. "I threw almost half of the army at the enemy so they could be slaughtered, otherwise I would have had to deal with starving troops."
"You sacrificed several hundred thousand troops?"
"Yes. Luckily, the enemy doesn't impede our slaves when they recover the bodies of our dead. They even help us since it empties the battlefield and doesn't risk disease in their ranks."
"That seems odd." Baribusa looked at him.
"I doubt they know what we do with our fallen." Korgana shrugged.
"And what have you done since then?"
"The only thing I could. I had our regular forces train while I used the freshly born rats to keep the enemy busy. Then recovering their corpses to feed the breeders and doing the same thing again."
"From now on, our attacks will be more focused." Baribusa proclaimed after watching the fight for a while and seeing the rhinos open their shields to bash their hammers forward and then switching places with the next line.
"In what way?" Korgana asked, confused.
"So far, you only attacked them head on, right?"
"Of course, it's not like there are other possibilities with the drop on the right and the sheer cliff walls on the left." Korgana said, wondering where Baribusa was going with this.
"True, but we're going to send one of the elite companies with each attack force. They will hang back and watch for opportunities to break through that shield wall."
"Even with their bigger mass, the elites are still vastly inferior to these enemies." Korgana argued. "That armor they are wearing has only one weakness that I've seen, and that's the eyes."
"Then that's where we have to stab them through." Baribusa stated.
"Easier said then done."
"I never said it would be easy." Baribusa growled. "But we can't go on like this and hope that the enemy loses the will to fight."
"So how will this go?"
"As I said, I'll order the storm troopers to hang back and watch. I see two opportunities to break through the wall." Baribusa told him.
"I do too." Korgana retorted. "But so far, none of my forces have managed to get anywhere close when they switch places or go above it. The long spears of the second row prevent that."
"I didn't even consider going above them." Baribusa chuckled.
"Then what is your second?"
"Take the looking glass." Baribusa held out the device. "Look closely when our forces impact on the shields."
"Yeah, so?"
"They use more than just their bodies to hold them together. They barely move when our forces impact, even when they attack only a small area."
"You think they are anchored in the ground?" Korgana asked, looking at the shield wall as it was attacked.
"Not as such." Baribusa shook his head. "When they open the shields, you don't see anything like an anchor dangling from it. No, I think they either use their weapons as anchors or they somehow tie these shields together to prevent us from getting through."
"So, to recap this, you want to attack the enemy in force, hold back your elite troopers, without them getting shot by arrows or causing the enemy to become suspicious to their presence, and have them crash through the shield wall when the enemy is closing it after destroying our front line."
"Exactly." Baribusa gave an evil grin.
"Alright." Korgana shrugged. "When do we start?"
"Nothing like the present." Baribusa laughed. "On my way here I trained a unit as signal core. They will relay messages with flags."
"How will that work?"
"Easy. One will always be with me in view of the tower. Another will be on top of the tower and a third will accompany our forces and stay on top of the serpentine with a few runners that will relay my orders to the front."
"That's... quite ingenious." Korgana nodded impressed. "But we still can't attack now. We need to assemble a force and move them up. Plus, daylight is fading already."
"Alright, then we go tomorrow morning. Choose the cannon fodder forces while I tell the elites what their job is."
"Very well." Korgana said and both Generals returned to the ground, leaving the rat slaves to finish the tower.
"Po?" Tigress asked after she found her mate sitting under an overhanging rock, using the claw on his right index finger to whittle down a piece of wood. "Everything alright?"
"No." Po sighed. "I'm tired."
"As in tired that you need to sleep?"
"No, tired of all this." Po waved his arm to his right, towards the pass. "So much death and destruction and for what?"
"I don't know." Tigress said sympathetic and sat down next to him, snuggling into his fur. "I don't really understand why they continue to fight. Each wave brakes against our blocking force and after the fight is over, they even clean up the corpses and debris the pass."
"That's another thing." Po interrupted her. "What are they doing with the corpses?"
"What do you mean?"
"They don't burn them, we would see the smoke, especially given how many rats the rhinos and archers have already killed. I highly doubt that they bury them somewhere." Po looked at her.
"You don't think... no, they can't, can they?" Tigress returned disbelievingly.
"I do think." Po nodded. "I think they use their corpses as food."
"That's reprehensible." Tigress gasped, feeling as if she had to throw up.
"If it's true." Po shrugged. "I could be wrong. I certainly hope I'm wrong."
"Come on, the next battalion is about to relieve the one in the pass, they need their food." Tigress said as she stood up, pressing a kiss on his cheek.
"Alright." Po smiled at her and followed her towards the camp.
Po and Tigress walked back towards the sprawling camp, which had developed into a small city really, the guards at the gate greeting them with a nod. Po went directly into the main kitchen, the cooks already having prepared every ingredient for him to mix together, the water with the main ingredients already boiling, waiting only for the secret additives that Po had gleaned from the Kung Fu scrolls.
Just as he was done cooking, the exhausted rhino battalion entered the camp, some almost falling down from exhaustion from the constant vigilance and frequent fighting. Their attendants helped them out of their armor, using washcloths to clean the soldiers who used their weapons to hold themselves up.
When their hygienic requirements were met, the battalion came into the mess hall, where Po had already placed the five cauldron on their hooks so the workers could ladle the broth out of the pot. The rhinos separated into five lines, one for each pot and the workers quickly and efficiently filled the bowls for the soldiers.
"Many thanks, Dragon Warrior." one of the rhinos nodded towards Po.
"Least I can do." Po told him. "You and the archers do all the fighting so far."
"But with you here, victory is assured." the soldier said proudly and went to sit down.
"I told you." Tigress whispered to him. "You're a hero to them, an icon."
"Don't remind me." Po groaned. "They are the true heroes."
"Come on, lets get some sleep."
They walked to the large barracks building and to the part that the troops had begun calling the Master's roundel, for its roundness and the five chambers it offered for the five Kung Fu Masters. Tigress followed Po into his chamber and waited until her panda had laid down in his bed before joining him, wrapping her arm around him before falling asleep.
Po, on the other hand, couldn't sleep. His mind whirled with the implications of what he alleged, of the enemy using the corpses of their slain to feed their army. Also, somehow, they must be replenishing it regularly, since no army could readily sustain such a continuous assault on their lines.
Even if he still abhorred killing, they all had to face the hard truth. The only way of winning this war would be getting out to the camp or camps of the rats and find out how they reproduce. And then destroy those means even if that would result in the annihilation of the entire species. With those disturbing thoughts going through his mind, he finally fell asleep.
The next morning, he cooked breakfast for himself and his friends, the camp's cooks preparing their own for the troops, which consisted of broth, bread and fruit. Po had to admit, the Emperor was as good as his word, keeping them well-supplied even though it must be depleting the northern stores tremendously, given the season.
"Dragon Warrior." Lupina greeted them as the wolf got his own breakfast.
"General." Po nodded. "Anything happen during the night?"
"No, apart from the enemy doing us a favor and cleaning the pass again. Sixth battalion has already relieved the fifth and is now guarding the pass." Lupina replied.
"Any other news?" Monkey wanted to know.
"Unfortunately, yes." Lupina nodded, his voice going quiet so his soldiers wouldn't hear. "Our aerial scouts saw an enormous army arrive yesterday. Seems the reinforcements have arrived."
"Numbers?" Mantis whispered.
"Best estimates say between three- and four hundred thousand."
"General, Po raised an interesting point yesterday." Tigress interjected. "What do you think they are doing with the corpses? They aren't burning them and it's not very feasible that they are burying them."
"Uh..." Lupina hummed, never having thought about it. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"
"We are." Po nodded. "We think they use them to feed their armies."
"Cannibalism or carrion eating is not that uncommon, fish do it a lot." Lupina shrugged. "But what would be the alternative? Are we supposed to collect the corpses and burn them?"
"Yes." Viper hissed, causing the other Masters to look at her. "If it meant shortening this war, then why not?"
"That would require sending scouts down there." Lupina sighed. "We have plenty of aerial reconnaissance but sending someone down there on the ground is practically impossible, given how many enemy soldiers are down there in that camp."
"I can't really believe that a camp that size could house over half a million." Mantis shook his head.
"I have seen them." Crane nodded. "They have even built a large aqueduct from the new outflow of the river to get water into their camp. And me and the other scouts believe that they use that big tower they built to watch the pass. We also saw holes in the ground where rats went in and came out of, so there is most likely a vast underground cave system."
"I included those information in my last report to the Emperor." Lupina nodded. "But quite frankly, I'm at a loss at how we can end this war. We can't go down there, since they are too many to attack and we can't simply continue to defend the pass forever."
"Then we really should start collecting their corpses and burn them." Viper stated. "If we can't kill them, let them starve."
"Alright." Lupina nodded. "I'll send a unit to Nan City to get their prisoners as a labor force. I'd rather not have my own soldiers do that kind of work."
"Why not use the former bandits?" Mantis asked.
"We'll use them until the other prisoners arrive." Lupina nodded.
"General?" an aide approached their table. "The enemy is attacking again."
"The game continues." Lupina sighed and stood up.
"I'm sorry General but this time, the attacking force is bigger and includes a few units of extraordinarily large rats with good weapons and armor." the aide continued.
"Okay, give orders to the seventh rhino battalion to make themselves ready to reinforce or relieve sixth." Lupina ordered. "Order a fresh unit of archers to get to the battlements and bring them more arrows as well."
"Yes, General." the aide saluted and left them alone.
"Should we make ready too?" Po asked.
"Nah, I don't think this will be much different than the other attacks." Lupina shook his head.
Unfortunately, during the last few weeks, General Lupina and the majority of the troops had fallen into the trap of complacency. Just because things were going well didn't mean that they can't suddenly go horribly wrong. While Lupina, even after ordering reinforcements into the pass, was complacent, the rhino battalion even more so, lazily hefting their weapons and bracing their shields while expecting another round of slaughtering a barely-trained enemy who couldn't do anything else than attack from the front.
The battalion commander shouted his usual orders, expecting the enemy to crash against their shield wall and it began just as he predicted. Hundreds of rats pushed against their shields, the hammers braced against them, adding an extra layer of strength to the block. On another command, the rhinos pushed, opened their shields and slammed their hammers forward, killing scores of enemies while the archers in the battlements rained death down into the pass.
A few archers saw the elite storm troopers of the rats and wondered why those weren't moving, only keeping themselves out of arrow range. The attack continued unabated for over an hour, rats crashing into shields, getting pushed back and killed. The rhinos kept walking backwards, step for step, repeating the process time and time again
The storm troopers began walking forward, using their shields to block incoming arrow fire, their efforts so successful that the archers soon stopped shooting at them, focusing their fire against the smaller rats, especially when the elites stopped moving before reaching the shield wall and let the smaller rats do the fighting.
This time however, the elites had a special order. Their leader had told them in no uncertain terms what to look for and what to do. They were to watch the enemy and wait for an opening. The leader of the elite unit closest to the shield wall had noticed the way the rhinos were switching places behind the shield regularly, just as his their General had explained to them, providing a very short period when it was brittle. He had also noticed that the shields must be interlocked somehow, given that they barely bent when the rats were pushing against it even when the rhinos held their hammers visible to the rats.
Then the moment came.
Spying a moment when the rhinos were once again destroying the front line of the rats with their hammers, one of the storm troopers grabbed a lowly soldier by the neck and threw him as hard as he could against the shield wall, where two shields interlocked, just as the rhinos were closing the shields again. Due to the surprise, the rhino holding the shield moved his arm too far back and his movement made the rhino to his left miss with the latch, so it didn't lock with the shield the stumbling rhino was holding.
Screaming an order, the storm trooper corporal ran forward, his elite forces right behind him, creating a wedge that slammed into the shield wall right were it wasn't locked. The force of their charge bent the two shields inward, opening a hole where the rats began pouring through, widening the gap. The rhinos in the second rank, wielding long spears, couldn't drop them low enough to attack the storm rats and the other rows were too surprised by the sudden breach to react quickly enough, not that their dense formation allowed them to swing their swords.
Just as General Lupina had explained to Po a few weeks ago, a large enough number of rats was easily able to kill even a thickly armored rhino. With the rhinos clumped together so tightly, the rats could swing their swords at the weak spots in the armor, namely the eye slits and the storm rats, trained as they were, made good use of that weak spot, pushing their swords into the rhino's faces and killing them instantly.
Lowly rat soldiers poured through the gap and tackled the legs of the still standing rhinos, others sitting down on their arms as soon as they were down, allowing even a low rat soldier to kill the incapacitated rhino. The tigers and wolves inside the battlements were surprised by the sudden change in the battle as well but at least were alert enough to realize what was happening, one of them beginning to run back to the main camp while the other shook his comrades out of their stupor so they could begin to shoot at the storm rats, trying to stem the tide.
"GENERAL!" Lupina and the Masters heard a shout coming from the direction of the pass.
"What is it soldier?" Lupina asked when the tiger stopped in front of him.
"The rats have broken through!" the tiger reported breathlessly.
"WHAT?" Lupina shouted and his outburst coincided with the moment when the first rats ran out of the pass.
"What can we do?" Po asked, looking up at the wave of rats entering the plains.
"Sound the call to arms!" Lupina roared at his signaler, who blew a string of notes into his trumpet. "Master Crane, fly over the pass. Look how many rats have broken through and if reinforcements are coming up."
"Yes, General." Crane nodded and lifted off, a few scout eagles going after him.
"How did this happen?" Lupina rounded on the exhausted tiger.
"As far as I can tell, one of their elites threw one of his own comrades against the shield wall when they were closing it."
"Thereby knocking it in and preventing the latch to close." Lupina nodded, his military mind now easily deducting what had happened and also admiring the way these rats did this. "DAMMIT!"
"General, they're coming out of the pass." Po shouted, pointing to the pass where the rats were already spilling into the plain.
Back at the camp, units were gathering with commendable speed while those on call were already moving out of the camp to take formation. The tigers that weren't part of the archer force, were barely able to contain themselves, eager to get at the enemy and only the presence of Tigara and Pengana at their lead stopped them from charging headlong at the enemy. To hardly anyone's surprise, Tiganus was nowhere to be seen.
"Alright, listen up!" Pengana shouted at the tigers. "This is your chance to take revenge. But don't fight with reckless abandon. Anyone who gets killed because he couldn't control his rage will get into huge trouble."
That sentence brought a chuckle to the tigers, dispelling the tension that each felt. As the rats came closer, more rhino battalions formed, along with boars and wolves, every soldier hefting swords and shields, ready for battle. The seventh rhino battalion, having dressed in their heavy armor to replace the sixth in the pass, marched slowly towards it, their tower shields blocking the front. At General Lupina's command, several more companies took up places on their flanks and back, protecting them from side attacks until they reached the pass where the rocks would take over that job.
"Alright, this is for China!" Po shouted, his voice amplified as if he was holding a pipe, his eyes glowing with the hero's chi.
With a primal yell, the four masters, Crane still being airborne, along with thousands of rhinos, wolves and a hundred rabid tigers, charged at the oncoming rats.
Cliffhanger ^^ I know, I'm a bad person ;)
Review please :)