Chapter 8

Almo agreed to adopt my training suggestions. We decided to try having Almo train Opso in the mornings while I trained the rest of the recruits on the more mundane principles of fighting with the sword. It looked to me like my idea of concentrating on knife and baton fighting was not going to do what we needed. Instead, I was going to teach the men how to use the longsword and the small shield. It seemed that the skeletons were lousy fighters, but whoever had chosen the small shield and the longsword for them had the right idea.

We had enough shields and swords taken from the skeletons to equip the current squads, so we were kind of even in the game. I spent nearly an hour explaining why I was having the men switch weapons. It took that long for some of the more stubborn ones to accept my new idea, but it was finally settled. I was going to have to get them adequate armor before the training could go very far, but I figured that could be accomplished with the aid of the magic that permeated our lives in this dimension.

I had explained that we would have to cut back on the patrols into enemy territory until we could get them the protective gear and some basic training. With that in mind, I wanted them to go to level B-3 and start looking through the crates down there. We could leave the barrels until later. Okay, this was enough like a treasure hunt to whet the men’s interest. We went down to B-3 and started checking on what was in the crates.

Hooray! One of the first things discovered was a cache of metal chest and back armor. In that same general area were a crate of bracers and a crate of metal gloves. We already had helmets, so we had enough armor to begin practicing with the swords. Somehow, the swords were magically treated so that the cutting edge was not harmed by striking a piece of metal, so I could have the men practice with the swords and armor that they would be using in the field. That was a big plus.

We spent the rest of the day getting each man outfitted with a full set of upper armor, and we would begin practice the next morning. The men had a lot of fun parading around in their new armor. We decided to have a kind of parade for their families once we found the necessary lower body armor needed to make a full uniform.

Opso was also fitted out in the armor that we had, and he and Almo were going to use the non-magical swords for the training in an effort to keep down the number of accidents.

We got lucky the next day because the wives found the rest of the needed armor while the husbands were learning the basics of sword fighting. That afternoon, we made sure that every man had a full set of armor from his helmet to his boots. Now we were ready to start the training in earnest.

The next 12 days were spent in training the men in how to handle their swords well enough to keep from being chopped into mincemeat the first time they ran into a monster or a demon. Everybody, including the trainees, realized that they were still not fully trained, but the monsters and demons in our neighborhood were pretty damned inept as fighters, so the men could get some idea of what a real battle would be like.

Our first day on patrol was organized a little differently from our previous excursions. We split into three groups led by Almo, Opso, and me. Our purpose was to get Opso some training as a leader and to show the other men that it was worthwhile to follow Opso. We three each led three men, with Almo and me keeping a close eye on Opso and his three subordinates to make sure that they did not get into too much trouble.

All of the families were on the roof of the fort to see us march off and to cheer us as we left on patrol. That was a great morale booster for the men and for their families. I just hoped that the return would be as happy as the departure.

Our first encounter was with seven satyrs. Almo and Opso were leading our group, and I was trailing with my men as the mobile reserve. Almo signaled Opso to lead his men into battle, and that may have been a mistake. Opso and his men were so high on adrenaline that they ran toward the satyrs. The satyrs were all armed with swords, so I was not sure that our people would get through without too many wounds.

Opso had his magic sword with its poison enhancement, so he had a marked advantage in the coming skirmish. Still, if the satyrs had been better troops, they might have been able to use their numerical advantage to put some serious hurt on Opso and his men. We had our healing charms and rings, so we didn’t expect any fatalities on our side, but there could be a lot of pain.

The satyrs reacted by matching the charge of Opso’s group, and they could run faster because they were not burdened by the metal armor as were our men. Actually, this charge by the satyrs was a disaster from their point of view because the satyrs seemed to forget why they were there.

As our men had been instructed, they were charging with their swords pointed toward the satyrs, while the satyrs were charging with their swords pointed into the sky. Our men remembered the instructions about getting inside the killing zone of the enemy swords and to stab at the abdomen of their enemies. Well, this was a classic example of one side knowing what to do and doing it, versus the other side not having a clue.

As soon as the two groups came together, it seemed as if the satyrs aimed their bodies at the sword points of the humans. The satyrs simply ran onto the sword blades of the humans and were pierced through the body at the bellybutton, or close to it. The men jumped back, expecting to have to exchange blows with the satyrs, but that never happened. All four satyrs fell to the ground, mortally wounded. This had been insured by the men as they twisted their blades as they withdrew them, leaving a god-awful wound all the way through the satyr’s body. The other three satyrs were eliminated just as easily.

Of course, the satyr stabbed by Opso had been fatally poisoned, and it died on its way to the ground. Obviously, Opso had done the right thing and had set a good example for his men. Almo congratulated him on doing that, but all of us gathered around the fighters and did a lot of back-pounding and shouting of good wishes, so everybody was very happy. Naturally, they were also happy at the gold coins that had fallen to the ground, so that was something else that added to the good cheer.

We reorganized after this little battle to move Opso’s group to the rear to make room for my group to move up into their place. My men took on a confident air, and I could tell that they hoped to be the next to face battle. It didn’t take us long to reach a cave, and cries of human pain were coming from there. It was almost all I could do to keep my men from breaking ranks and charging into the cave to try to rescue the humans who were being tortured.

I led my people into the cave, and we were followed closely by Almo’s men and them Opso’s. It was dark inside the cave, but we had our light sources, so we could see well enough to advance confidently through the tunnel toward the source of the cries.

We came out of the narrow tunnel into a large chamber where there was no problem in spreading out. My group was still leading, but Almo took his men to our left and Opso took his to the right. What we saw was truly sickening. Four people were being burned alive while tied to stakes. Thank God, we had arrived soon enough so that the four people could be cured by our magic if we could get to them soon enough.

I shouted, “OPSO, HAVE YOUR PEOPLE PULL THE FIRES AWAY FROM THE STAKES! ALMO, PROTECT OPSO’S PEOPLE! WE’LL ATTACK THE AUDIENCE!” Nobody bothered to acknowledge my orders, they just ran to obey.

My people and I charged into the crowd of satyrs and small demons. This was one place where I had no compunction about having my lightning bolts go anywhere they might. There were so many monsters and demons that there were plenty for all to attack. I didn’t pay that kind of attention, but I am sure that my lightning bolts did the majority of the killing. Nevertheless, all of the other humans had plenty of enemies to kill. Because of the lightning bolts dancing around from Almo’s and my swords, the battle lasted less than 10 minutes. All four humans had badly burned legs and were in considerable pain, but the curing spells from our charm, ring, and sword soon took care of that.

Even though they were no longer in physical pain, there was considerable mental and emotional pain associated with their torture and near death that they still needed care. We left Opso in charge while Almo and I teleported the four victims to beds at our fort and had some of the wives look after them. We planned to talk to them later. We also reported to the wives that none of their men had been seriously injured.

Almo and I returned to the cave to find that it had been thoroughly searched under the direction of Opso. There was quite a stack of weapons and armor recovered from the cave, and they had found over 11,000 gold coins. We moved the loot to the fort and returned to consider our next move.

Everybody was in favor of continuing our patrol since we had been so successful so far. The trip into this cave had been something of a special case, so we went back to the formation we had been using with Opso’s squad trailing as the mobile reserve.

Our next action was with a bunch of small demons led by a shaman and two aurochs. It was still our turn to lead the fight, but this was really more than we could handle with four people, even if I was one of those people. I called for Almo to attack the shaman and the small demons while my squad went after the two aurochs.

I led my squad at a run to charge the two aurochs. I knew that my men really did not have the weapons to kill an aurochs right away, but I needed to see how much damage they could do. I would eliminate the other aurochs myself—that should not be too difficult. I took on the nearer of the two aurochs and directed my men to go after the other one, but to be very careful.

I was able to finish off my quarry with a single stroke of my baton. There was enough poison in the baton to take out the aurochs the first time I hit it. I was prepared to back up my baton with my electric sword if that became necessary, but the baton turned out to be quite satisfactory. The moment that aurochs dropped at my feet, I turned to see how my men were doing against their quarry.

The men were dancing around the aurochs and keeping it very confused. They were stabbing it with their swords, but the beast was simply too large for the non-magical swords to have much effect, except to cause it pain. Zeno, with his moderately poisonous sword was the only one who was having any real affect on the aurochs. The beast was noticeably slower to react than when the fight first started, but we needed more poison swords.