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Battle plans
I don't own Quaker Oats
8
Xena sat at the head of a table under the newly constructed command tent. To her left was Tellus, to her right was Velric, and across the table was Lyserius. Then suddenly Milatu showed up. Velric stated in a coarse disrespectful tone, "Milatu, no one other than squad leaders is allowed her."
Xena added with equal coldness, "Then you're the one who needs to leave Velric."
Velric shot a look of surprise at Xena. Xena's eyes were as cold as ice as they stared down the shocked Velric, "Your services as squad leader are no longer needed."
Velric's jumped to his feet in a rage, "How dare you. I supported you, I fought beside your brother, and now you're replacing me with this pathetic bastard!" Velric spit into Xena's face.
Xena's eye's turned dark; the oncoming wrath was visible underneath. Velric stepped back an inch, he knew something bad was about to happen.
Xena shouted her war cry as she leapt from the chair and on Velric, sending him crashing to the ground. She started punching him the face repeatedly busting open his nose. The other men went to grab Xena as she continued to smash his face with her fist. Tellus tried to grab Xena's left shoulder but he took an elbow in the eye as Xena smashed Velric's jaw.
Lyserius and Milatu managed to finally pull Xena off of him as Velric turned over to shield his face from Xena, blood was pouring out of his nose as he spit a pair of teeth on the tent floor. Xena shouted, "Let me go!" They held on for a second, but let go in fear receiving Xena's wrath. Xena stepped up to Velric and kicked him in the ribs.
Xena growled, "Leave my camp now! Before I kill you! And don't you dare go to Amphipolis; I'll kill you there too! Do you understand me?" He didn't respond at first so she kicked him in the ribs again.
He struggled painfully, "Yesss, I understand!" Xena jerked Velric to his feet, pulling on his ear, she led him to the tent door and threw him outside.
Xena took a few seconds to calm down, then she said, "So now that the waste has been disposed of, it's time to talk about the next step." Xena than finally sat down in her chair.
"What is it?" asked Tellus.
Xena continued, "Our army is not quite ready yet, but soon we need to make a move. An army of 25… um, 24 people is not enough to defend against a large force. We have to expand."
Lyserius asked, "What do you have in mind?"
Xena smiled, "We need to make a stand for Amphipolis, so far the only people who know who we are, are the people of Amphipolis. The same people who thinks we aren't anything but a gang of kids, and a few traders. If all we are going to do is rob trader caravans as they come through, we aren't going to grow, and there is only so much money to be made, they could start diverting around us to save their money."
Malitu added, "Worse still, we don't have the support of Amphipolis, so we don't have a base a town. We need towns, even if they are small that will support us."
Xena quickly agreed, "Exactly. We need towns, for men, money and reputation."
Lyserius dropped his shoulders, worried about what he was about to ask, and how Xena might react, "You are suggesting that we go and start attacking the local towns? Wouldn't that be…um… you know like Cortese?"
Xena was quick to reply, "No this is different, Cortese is a despotic warlord with ambitions of conquest, he didn't care who he hurt, we aren't going to be like that, we won't hurt anyone, and we don't demand more than they are able to give, we are doing this for the defense of Amphipolis."
Malitu mused, "So we could go east… or rather west. Which will it be Xena?"
Tellus asked, "What does it matter? Just expand."
Xena was quick to school the dim Tellus, "It means a great deal Tellus, it is very thoughtful question that needs a clear answer."
Tellus looked at her as he clearly did not understand. Xena continued, "It's simple, consider our potential enemies. An expansion to far west raises the ire of Thessaloniki, and other major city states, not to mention the Macedonians, they may be but a shadow of the days of Alexander but they remain a threat to our army. East means Philippi, Byzantium and eventually Persia, not to mention Troy is east. Neither directions are very promising, so we need to take a cautious course.
We need to take the small fishing village in the south, Eian, it would be a great place to give our army a test run."
Lyserius asked, "Why don't we just march out take everything?"
Xena answered, "No, we need control, direction, a goal. Otherwise we'll be marching aimlessly and therefore unable to truly build our powerbase."
"It sounds like you want to build an empire?"
Xena clinched her fist, "The only way to defeat the strong is to become the strong. These cities are exposed, this is the perfect location to forge the beginnings of something greater. This is all for Amphipolis of course, when Amphipolis sees what it's army has done we won't be rejected by the people anymore."
Malitu said, "Sounds like a plan? Eian first?"
Xena nodded, "Indeed, no better place than to test our army."
No one raised their hand as Xena continued, "Ok, Lyserius, Malitu, and Tellus, each of you need to start training your men for an offensive fight."
Tellus asked, "What about you?"
Xena replied, "I'm going to Eian, I want to see our first target for myself."
8
Ares smiled, Xena was taking a major step in a life of war, in a life that would lead to the world bowing before her. He knew she would have to, the army could not have continued to exist in its current state, it would've had to do something, and now he knew that they were going to do something. The time of Xena's first attack was coming.
