Chapter 45

Using his bow, Darras prodded the bush next to him, causing it to move suddenly. Three arrows from the darkened stable interior flashed out to cut through the bush even as two arrows from Traskis and Balat were loosed at the probable location of the enemy archers, though only wounding one, Erren told Darras.

‘Tinara and Tarmeet have eliminated the fanatics in the dwelling you sent them to. They are moving to the next one, ’ Erren then informed Darras.

“Good, though I expect this lot to attempt a mass breakout soon,” Darras replied.

‘Yes, but at the moment they are just confused and unaware of your numbers.’

“The villagers?”

‘Are staying out of this and are very fearful.’

At this point Darras was joined by Sondrast, who was also carrying a bow, though Darras knew he was not terribly skilled with it.

“Annos is guarding the rear of the building,” he informed Darras. “There’s only the one window and it’s up high, but they may try to slip someone out of it.”

“Yes, I suspect they’ll be attempting to come up with a plan soon. Their cover is blown here and no matter the fanaticism, they won’t get many victims now,” Darras replied.

“Seems unlikely, yes.”

“Got any lethal spells you can cast into the stable to illuminate where they are?”

“Plenty of lethal spells, but they all rely on me seeing the target, sorry.”

“Ask Balat to set up his phantasm in the barn. It gave off a bit of a glow and might help here, please,” Darras requested.

“On it,” Sondrast replied then scrambled away.

It didn’t take too long before Darras spotted the ghostly figure glowing slightly and giving a glimpse of the interior of the stables. Three arrows flashed out at the unwary figures who, in their confused state, stumbled towards it, taking them down. Arrows also flashed out from the stables towards where Darras and his companions had fired from, though none came too close.

“How many left, Erren?” Darras asked.

‘Thirty five ... no, thirty four, Tinara just got another one and Amina’s group are closing in on the final dwelling.’

“Still far too many,” Darras muttered, his eyes always scanning the stable interior for a target.

‘I know, but the phantasm is confusing them still, even as they try to ignore it, ’ Erren explained.

“A stalemate,” Darras sighed.

‘It is what it is, my love. This was never going to be easy.’

At this point Darras heard the approach of several horses, though they remained out of his sight. His suspicions were confirmed when he spotted Jertin and Rigilo along with a squad of archers stealthily moving up into the village, waving back when Darras signalled them.

“Your leaving the camp was noticed, Darras,” Jertin informed him. “Then one of Erren’s priests passed on a message to me,” he finished with a chuckle.

“There’s a Thenarronian suicide squad holed up in the stable,” Darras explained. “Currently we’re at a standoff.”

“Why didn’t they try rushing you?” Rigilo asked.

“They don’t know our numbers as we’ve been selectively targeting them,” Darras explained.

“Ah, they thought you were setting a trap,” Rigilo nodded. “How many are there?”

“Thirty-one in the stable, the others are being eliminated by my colleagues.”

“We have armoured knights, we can rush them,” Jertin said thoughtfully.

“Just remember, they are fanatics and likely to have weapons capable of taking out an armoured knight,” Darras replied.

‘They are planning a sortie. They believe you are few in number, ’ Erren informed Darras. ‘The other houses are now clear.’

“Get ready, I believe they are going to try a rush,” Darras warned.

Rigilo and Jertin signalled their archers whilst Jertin also drew his sword, swiftly followed by Rigilo, as a swarm of men charged out of the stable towards where Darras had been shooting from. Had they tried this fifteen minutes earlier, Darras would have been in real trouble, but instead they were cut down by a hail of arrows from the Rachtelin archers who stood ready. This was followed up by a charge by the few dismounted knights led by Jertin and Rigilo even as the Elves continued to snipe accurately at any exposed target. Exposed and with the option of retreat gone, the Thenarronians fell, though did manage to bring down a couple of knights and silence fell in the area.

“Enough of them to have been a serious threat to any of our scouting groups,” Jertin observed as the bodies were laid out and searched.

“Fanatics too, according to Erren,” Darras replied. “Their sole purpose was to kill and keep on killing till they fell.”

“Well, they cannot do that now. We’ll return in the morning and deal with Tramanto, though as they took no part in this, we’ll be lenient.”

“Aye,” Darras nodded as his colleagues approached. “Though I suspect this may be a regular occurrence as they become more desperate.”

“Seems likely,” Jertin agreed. “We’ll be careful.”

The Rachtelin forces withdrew from the village as did Darras and his colleagues and made their way back to the encampment. There, sleep came easily as the encampment was as safe a spot in Thenarron, with little or no chance of any surprises, at least not for the moment.

Darras’s team were slow off the mark the following morning as the encampment was dismantled in preparation for moving to a new site. What scouting was done, was done by regular companies of the Rachtelin knights and mounted archers who had moved upon Tramanto at first light and dealt with the aftermath of the ambush the previous night. This essentially involved getting the villagers to bury the bodies in their fields as well as posting the rules of occupation as well as verbally informing the village elder of them as literacy was the usual problem in small villages. As ever in the small villages and towns of Thenarron that had been occupied so far, the residents were technically worshippers of the dark lord, however there were no Temples as such or priests to lead any form of worship. The term dark lord to them acted more in the form of a talisman to emphasize certain verbal retorts or occasionally blessings. What the various priests of the liberating forces had found, was a reluctance in the villagers to change their ways and swap religious affiliation, although it was suspected this might change should the liberation succeed. The troops themselves were mostly kept out of the towns and villages to avoid friction, though traders had established a few links there as the locals finally had access to a variety of products they’d been unable to get a hold of for over twenty years.

Firios finally re-joined the group later that morning after reporting to Linota to confirm the Forest Kingdom Elves of Iversirion were on their way. He then was given a request for the scouting group to move out and scout out the potential battlefield in front of the Voxilla woods, a densely wooded area with a single road as well as the river running through it and thought to be the most likely place to position an army to stop the allied advance.

Hence the group set off on the two days journey to the Voxilla area carrying enough supplies to maintain them as they’d be out in the field until the full army caught up with them. Villages were mostly avoided and were left to the Rachtelin scouting groups. Nor did the Elves use far-striding, as the purpose of the journey was to observe the terrain as well as note any potential problems for the army in their advance. Messages were passed on by the kirach birds carried by Sondrast and other than them returning with the message ‘acknowledged’ little else was heard from the army.

It was midday of the second day when the scouting group finally got within sight of the Voxilla woods which were mostly hidden by a sharp bend in the valley. They were recognised as a formidable barrier to the progress of the army which had to be passed through in order to gain the more open plains on the other side of it. The hills gave way to the large farming areas surrounding the town of Abramoch, a key manufactory site for Thenarron and the centre of a number of trades that the Kingdom used in their limited trading network.

“Yes, they’re there,” Darras murmured to Balat as the pair crouched in a small copse on top of a low hill overlooking the edge of the extensive woods.

“Nothing being dug outside the woods though,” Balat replied.

“Yes, it’s narrow enough to do something like that, either a ditch to stop knights or a soil barrier to give your infantry some cover whilst leaving your archers in the woods.”

“They can’t think we’d be so foolish as to march right in there?” Balat asked.

“I honestly don’t know what they are thinking,” Darras shrugged.

“No sign of any dark kin,” Firios stated as he also watched. “They may not have arrived or be deeper within.”

“You can try to get in there after dark. Just be careful, my friend,” Darras replied.

“We will,” Firios nodded. “Anything from the forest kin?” he asked Balat.

“Nothing as yet. They are warring against various goblin tribes occupying woods nearer the border,” Balat replied.

“So they have reached nuisance numbers?” Firios sighed.

“Yes, the forest kin will win, but this has slowed them immensely.”

“Understandable,” Darras nodded.

“We Elves will scout out the forest edges as soon as darkness falls,” Firios announced.

“Be careful,” Darras replied. “We’ll count campfires and work out numbers.”

“As will we.”

The Elves slipped away as darkness descended and Darras, Balat, Sondrast and the Thieves Guild began campfire counting and trying to estimate enemy numbers by their size and quantity.

“No signs of any magical usage either,” Sondrast informed Darras. “This is supposed to be a Kingdom with a large number of magical users, though what use there has been, has been limited to the one battle we witnessed and small in use there.”

“They may be saving it for when a town or city is assaulted,” Darras replied, though he was not sure if that was the case and neither was Erren.

“Even so, from the histories I read, there should be a lot more magical attempts to disrupt our armies,” Sondrast countered.

“Erren agrees, though she does not know why this is either,” Darras replied.

“I don’t understand their strategy ... assuming they have one at all,” Amina added.

“Neither do I. They don’t appear to scout, they simply believe they can grind us down when we do meet,” Darras agreed. “It might be that those in charge simply want both sides to destroy each other.”

“Guess the Rachtelin mounted archers came as a surprise then.”

“Yes, kept casualties on our side down as well as routed the Thenarronnians.”

Dawn was breaking when the Elves finally returned bringing news that the enemy camp was not fully occupied and was likely being prepared for the addition of a large number of dark kin.

“How would you know that it’s dark kin?” Balat asked.

“The camps are deeper into the woods and completely separate from the Human camps, which are all linked,” Tinara explained.

“Ah, right, you don’t mix with Humans?”

“Depends on the Humans, but most Elves, particularly women, get very uncomfortable around large groups of Human males, particularly troops, as they can be uncontrolled when drunk.”

“Ah,” Balat nodded, going slightly red.

“Elves tend to be monogamous,” Darras explained. “They don’t tend to be openly promiscuous.”

“Alright, I got it,” Balat replied, now openly embarrassed.

“No need to blush,” Firios chuckled. “It’s not like we Elves are perfect at times. Look at how we treat Dwarves.”

“They don’t particularly like you either, to be honest,” Darras added.

“True enough. Elves act superior, Dwarves are blunt to the point of being rude and Humans are promiscuous,” Firios replied with a smile. “Not completely the truth by any means, but a pretty good generalisation.”

“Any indication of when the dark kin will arrive?” Darras asked, changing the subject.

“None, but the encampments are all prepared so I doubt it will be long.”