II.
"Explain to me, in your own words how this happened," stated Colonel Geissen to the forth scared private that day. Geissen was pushing fifty years old and graying hair, but he was still a cunning fighter and was held in high regard by his superiors for that fact. Of course, it helped that he had participated and lived in the last two of three invasions of Sirion. As embarrassing as the outcomes to those two invasions were. He supposed that was why he was in command of this company, now based out of Kira, and specifically, the Homely Inn, which until the Mindrans had taken over, had a neutral stance in the Mirdra/Sirion conflicts. Of course, that neutral stance was helped along by the few oddly placed death threats. It never hurt to cow your new underlings.
The private gulped and wiped the sweat from his brow. He still had his black armor on, even though he was unarmed. Geissen figured he'd present the same story as the others, even though he was an orc, who had a pension for lying to get out of trouble. Geissen had no problem with Mindra's alliance with the orcs, as long as they were obedient and trustworthy. And the orcs under his command were defiantly trustworthy and obedient.
"Well sir, um, we were loading the trolls into the stables down the road and well, Private Gads got lazy I suppose and didn't call the mage to check the charms on the trolls. I suppose he figured that they were calm enough already. Well, anyway, um, Gads opened the gate of the carrier wagon and the two trolls inside came charging out. They had somehow snapped their chains and they, um, decapitated Gads sir. Well, most of us were weaponless so we scattered and both trolls ran off, but they killed four or five more men. Our trackers found that one had apparently killed the other some distance from here. That's about it sir."
Geissen sighed. "Very well private, dismissed." That was the problem with under trained trolls, he mused. You can't control them if the permanent charms haven't been properly placed. And the charms on ours weren't properly placed. Of course, it doesn't help that we were given the cheapest and most untrained units as possible. He leaned forward in his chair. He finished the incident report and signed it, marking as a postscript the ineptness of Mindra's mages.
Dammit, I need more men! He reflected. Mindra was attempting to extend and reinforce its borders along the Testerian River and to do so they needed the use of his advance company. On the way to Kira, the town the company was now stationed in, they encountered a Knight of Solaris expedition and were brought down to sixty or so men by their hit-and-run tactics. Plus, his superiors knew of the Ranger Patrols that passed through these areas, but they did not know the number that these patrols carried. Therefore, the incident was very costly to him. He lost two trolls to that conflict and now the other two. Mindra City Headquarters was not going to like the request for more. Even though the trolls were scantly equipped, the trolls were expensive to capture, breed, maintain, and train so it was doubtful he was going to get what he asked for. Even so he called for a runner.
When the man walked in Geissen gave him a scroll container. "Here you go corporal. The incident report, the request for reinforcements and the weekly report are all here, just so you know what you're carrying. Please emphasize to headquarters that summer is soon to set in, and Sirion patrols will be more frequent, as they will want to check on their new towns. Also, tell them that we were harassed by a group of bandits coming in here, and inform them we may not be alone in this town as Sirion spies may be present."
The runner saluted, "Yes, sir! I should be back in the next few days, sir," and with that he left for his horse. Geissen stepped out into the sunlight from the Homely Inn and smiled. Work was going well. The town was on the bank of the Testerian and surrounded by forest, but his men were steadily cutting the forest down to finish the walls that were being erected. They were going to turn this town into a front line base, since Mindra was going to need a forward post, and Geissen's company had advanced the furthest, they started the fastest.
Geissen nodded at two orcish privates passing by who were carrying wood and turned to follow him. He figured that if he helped with the construction of the wall, he would keep his strength up instead of just sitting in the Inn all day. He stretched his muscles, picked up a hammer and smiled. ________________________________________________________________________
They arrived outside the 'village' at nightfall. Tired, hungry, and still in the woods that bordered the village, Therrin's patrol was eager to take refuge in the inn. The only thing that had gone the better for the Patrol was that it had quit raining and they were starting to dry out.
"Yeah Major, what a 'village.' And you said that logger's maps would be correct," Ponch grunted, now, instead of being supported by Maxwell, he had a walking stick that he was leaning heavily on.
Therrin shot him a glare. "How was I supposed to know this place had grown that much. After all, that logger gave me his word." Therrin, who was leading the line, walked back to look at Kiffle, still being carried on the strecher. At the moment, he was conscious although he was fading in and out of consciousness even after almost forty minutes of medical work by Therrin. Therrin motioned for Gais and Maxwell to set him down for a moment.
"Sir," Gais asked, "Can I go in the town and alert and doctors they might have to aid the Sar Major?"
Therrin nodded. "Yes, but be quiet about it. Just one doctor or cleric or whatever. We don't want to alert any possible Mindran spies." Gais nodded, drew his cloak about him, crouched, and started to pace towards the town.
Therrin crouched next to Kiffle and checked his bandages. They too were drying out and luckily, throughout the trip, none of them had ripped. Kiffle rolled his head towards the Major.
"Therrin. I'm okay, just let me-" his eyes went wide, "Major, Gais, look out!" he croaked, and then fell out of consciousness.
The patrol surrounding Kiffle looked up in time to see a shadowy jump from the middle of a bush and tackle Gais. Gais grunted, but managed to rise slightly and threw the figure from him. He then drew his sword and placed it against his assailants throat.
The man looked at Gais and smiled.
"Hello Gais, haven't seen you in a while." The man reached up to his collar and unbuttoned his cloak. Falling away, it revealed armor bearing the Sirion Ranger Crest.
Gais smiled and withdrew his blade. Reaching down he helped the man up and dusted him off. Then with a roar, he gave the man a bear hug, which lifted him off of the ground and shouted, "Krem, you bastard! I haven't seen you since Training Weeks. What the hell kind of joke was this, eh?" He released his vice grip on the man, now known as Krem, as the rest of the patrol ran up to see what exactly was happening.
Krem motioned for silence and then fell into a crouched position. He gestured for the others to do the same, and when Maxwell and Therrin had set Kiffle's stretcher down, he began to whisper.
"Gais, good to see you. I believe I'm the captain in charge of the Patrol that was intended to relieve you."
Therrin got a good look at the man when he whispered. He was defiantly from Sirion, the pale skin being a trademark of the country, and he was short. Black hair was in stark contrast to the piercing blue eyes and finished off with a muscle tone of one who has been in the woods for a time. Therrin nodded and held out his hand and Krem took it. "Judging from your armor," Therrin began and the fact that Gais knows you, you're not a spy. So I can believe your story. But why the silence? What's in these woods that you don't like?"
"Well sir, I suppose it would be the Black Legion presence here. I'll have to explain later, but right now we need to move into the village." He hopped off of the game trail they were meeting on and signaled for the Therrin's men to follow. He then turned and disappeared.
Therrin turned to Gais, "Your friend is awful secrective," the major stated, "But is he a good man under harsh conditions?"
They stood and turned to help Ponch up and Ponch winced with pain, but still sqeaked out, "Who the hell cares for right now, if he's a spy, at least we'll find out when we're healthy."
Gais laughed and turned to help Maxwell with the stretcher. "Major," he said, "Krem was the smartest, fastest man in our class and damn near the strongest. I'd trust him with my life all right."
The five of Therrin's Patrol headed into the deep brush after Krem and found him looking around. He moved to take over Maxwell's position on the stretcher.
"Oof, he's a heavy bastard," Krem said as he repositioned himself to bear the weight more.
Maxwell, who had heard the captain grunt, just smiled to himself and said "Try it for six miles captain."
Then, going in a far arc away from town, Krem led them away from any prying eyes before he cut back to the edge of the forest and motioned for them to be quiet and get down. Setting Kiffle down with Maxwell, he turned to the group. "Welcome lads, to the town of Kira, currently under control of the Mindran Black Legions. Luckily, half the people in the town like me. And Sirion. And the rest don't know me. Or Sirion. But the Innkeeper likes me an awful lot and she's been supplying me ever since the Legions arrived."
With that he and Maxwell picked up Kiffle and sprinted for the back door of the inn. When he was there, he turned and motioned for the rest of them to do the same. Gais sprinted and made it to the door okay and then turned to see if Therrin and Ponch needed help, which they did not. Therrin practically carried Ponch the whole way but they made it, and withdrew into the cellar portions of the Inn.
As soon as they Krem signaled all was safe, the entire Patrol practically collapsed onto the cellar floor, Therrin gave Krem a hard look and sighed out, "Okay, Krem, why are Mindran troops in our town? What's this all about?"
_____________________________________________________________________
~Crouton Note~
Hah! Update correcting the crapiness. I think. I don't know, I updated late at night too sooooo.. And sorry for lack of chapters. School started and writing papers takes precedence over stories. Unfortunatley.
"Explain to me, in your own words how this happened," stated Colonel Geissen to the forth scared private that day. Geissen was pushing fifty years old and graying hair, but he was still a cunning fighter and was held in high regard by his superiors for that fact. Of course, it helped that he had participated and lived in the last two of three invasions of Sirion. As embarrassing as the outcomes to those two invasions were. He supposed that was why he was in command of this company, now based out of Kira, and specifically, the Homely Inn, which until the Mindrans had taken over, had a neutral stance in the Mirdra/Sirion conflicts. Of course, that neutral stance was helped along by the few oddly placed death threats. It never hurt to cow your new underlings.
The private gulped and wiped the sweat from his brow. He still had his black armor on, even though he was unarmed. Geissen figured he'd present the same story as the others, even though he was an orc, who had a pension for lying to get out of trouble. Geissen had no problem with Mindra's alliance with the orcs, as long as they were obedient and trustworthy. And the orcs under his command were defiantly trustworthy and obedient.
"Well sir, um, we were loading the trolls into the stables down the road and well, Private Gads got lazy I suppose and didn't call the mage to check the charms on the trolls. I suppose he figured that they were calm enough already. Well, anyway, um, Gads opened the gate of the carrier wagon and the two trolls inside came charging out. They had somehow snapped their chains and they, um, decapitated Gads sir. Well, most of us were weaponless so we scattered and both trolls ran off, but they killed four or five more men. Our trackers found that one had apparently killed the other some distance from here. That's about it sir."
Geissen sighed. "Very well private, dismissed." That was the problem with under trained trolls, he mused. You can't control them if the permanent charms haven't been properly placed. And the charms on ours weren't properly placed. Of course, it doesn't help that we were given the cheapest and most untrained units as possible. He leaned forward in his chair. He finished the incident report and signed it, marking as a postscript the ineptness of Mindra's mages.
Dammit, I need more men! He reflected. Mindra was attempting to extend and reinforce its borders along the Testerian River and to do so they needed the use of his advance company. On the way to Kira, the town the company was now stationed in, they encountered a Knight of Solaris expedition and were brought down to sixty or so men by their hit-and-run tactics. Plus, his superiors knew of the Ranger Patrols that passed through these areas, but they did not know the number that these patrols carried. Therefore, the incident was very costly to him. He lost two trolls to that conflict and now the other two. Mindra City Headquarters was not going to like the request for more. Even though the trolls were scantly equipped, the trolls were expensive to capture, breed, maintain, and train so it was doubtful he was going to get what he asked for. Even so he called for a runner.
When the man walked in Geissen gave him a scroll container. "Here you go corporal. The incident report, the request for reinforcements and the weekly report are all here, just so you know what you're carrying. Please emphasize to headquarters that summer is soon to set in, and Sirion patrols will be more frequent, as they will want to check on their new towns. Also, tell them that we were harassed by a group of bandits coming in here, and inform them we may not be alone in this town as Sirion spies may be present."
The runner saluted, "Yes, sir! I should be back in the next few days, sir," and with that he left for his horse. Geissen stepped out into the sunlight from the Homely Inn and smiled. Work was going well. The town was on the bank of the Testerian and surrounded by forest, but his men were steadily cutting the forest down to finish the walls that were being erected. They were going to turn this town into a front line base, since Mindra was going to need a forward post, and Geissen's company had advanced the furthest, they started the fastest.
Geissen nodded at two orcish privates passing by who were carrying wood and turned to follow him. He figured that if he helped with the construction of the wall, he would keep his strength up instead of just sitting in the Inn all day. He stretched his muscles, picked up a hammer and smiled. ________________________________________________________________________
They arrived outside the 'village' at nightfall. Tired, hungry, and still in the woods that bordered the village, Therrin's patrol was eager to take refuge in the inn. The only thing that had gone the better for the Patrol was that it had quit raining and they were starting to dry out.
"Yeah Major, what a 'village.' And you said that logger's maps would be correct," Ponch grunted, now, instead of being supported by Maxwell, he had a walking stick that he was leaning heavily on.
Therrin shot him a glare. "How was I supposed to know this place had grown that much. After all, that logger gave me his word." Therrin, who was leading the line, walked back to look at Kiffle, still being carried on the strecher. At the moment, he was conscious although he was fading in and out of consciousness even after almost forty minutes of medical work by Therrin. Therrin motioned for Gais and Maxwell to set him down for a moment.
"Sir," Gais asked, "Can I go in the town and alert and doctors they might have to aid the Sar Major?"
Therrin nodded. "Yes, but be quiet about it. Just one doctor or cleric or whatever. We don't want to alert any possible Mindran spies." Gais nodded, drew his cloak about him, crouched, and started to pace towards the town.
Therrin crouched next to Kiffle and checked his bandages. They too were drying out and luckily, throughout the trip, none of them had ripped. Kiffle rolled his head towards the Major.
"Therrin. I'm okay, just let me-" his eyes went wide, "Major, Gais, look out!" he croaked, and then fell out of consciousness.
The patrol surrounding Kiffle looked up in time to see a shadowy jump from the middle of a bush and tackle Gais. Gais grunted, but managed to rise slightly and threw the figure from him. He then drew his sword and placed it against his assailants throat.
The man looked at Gais and smiled.
"Hello Gais, haven't seen you in a while." The man reached up to his collar and unbuttoned his cloak. Falling away, it revealed armor bearing the Sirion Ranger Crest.
Gais smiled and withdrew his blade. Reaching down he helped the man up and dusted him off. Then with a roar, he gave the man a bear hug, which lifted him off of the ground and shouted, "Krem, you bastard! I haven't seen you since Training Weeks. What the hell kind of joke was this, eh?" He released his vice grip on the man, now known as Krem, as the rest of the patrol ran up to see what exactly was happening.
Krem motioned for silence and then fell into a crouched position. He gestured for the others to do the same, and when Maxwell and Therrin had set Kiffle's stretcher down, he began to whisper.
"Gais, good to see you. I believe I'm the captain in charge of the Patrol that was intended to relieve you."
Therrin got a good look at the man when he whispered. He was defiantly from Sirion, the pale skin being a trademark of the country, and he was short. Black hair was in stark contrast to the piercing blue eyes and finished off with a muscle tone of one who has been in the woods for a time. Therrin nodded and held out his hand and Krem took it. "Judging from your armor," Therrin began and the fact that Gais knows you, you're not a spy. So I can believe your story. But why the silence? What's in these woods that you don't like?"
"Well sir, I suppose it would be the Black Legion presence here. I'll have to explain later, but right now we need to move into the village." He hopped off of the game trail they were meeting on and signaled for the Therrin's men to follow. He then turned and disappeared.
Therrin turned to Gais, "Your friend is awful secrective," the major stated, "But is he a good man under harsh conditions?"
They stood and turned to help Ponch up and Ponch winced with pain, but still sqeaked out, "Who the hell cares for right now, if he's a spy, at least we'll find out when we're healthy."
Gais laughed and turned to help Maxwell with the stretcher. "Major," he said, "Krem was the smartest, fastest man in our class and damn near the strongest. I'd trust him with my life all right."
The five of Therrin's Patrol headed into the deep brush after Krem and found him looking around. He moved to take over Maxwell's position on the stretcher.
"Oof, he's a heavy bastard," Krem said as he repositioned himself to bear the weight more.
Maxwell, who had heard the captain grunt, just smiled to himself and said "Try it for six miles captain."
Then, going in a far arc away from town, Krem led them away from any prying eyes before he cut back to the edge of the forest and motioned for them to be quiet and get down. Setting Kiffle down with Maxwell, he turned to the group. "Welcome lads, to the town of Kira, currently under control of the Mindran Black Legions. Luckily, half the people in the town like me. And Sirion. And the rest don't know me. Or Sirion. But the Innkeeper likes me an awful lot and she's been supplying me ever since the Legions arrived."
With that he and Maxwell picked up Kiffle and sprinted for the back door of the inn. When he was there, he turned and motioned for the rest of them to do the same. Gais sprinted and made it to the door okay and then turned to see if Therrin and Ponch needed help, which they did not. Therrin practically carried Ponch the whole way but they made it, and withdrew into the cellar portions of the Inn.
As soon as they Krem signaled all was safe, the entire Patrol practically collapsed onto the cellar floor, Therrin gave Krem a hard look and sighed out, "Okay, Krem, why are Mindran troops in our town? What's this all about?"
_____________________________________________________________________
~Crouton Note~
Hah! Update correcting the crapiness. I think. I don't know, I updated late at night too sooooo.. And sorry for lack of chapters. School started and writing papers takes precedence over stories. Unfortunatley.