Chapter 27

Sid looked over at the man leading a full battalion of men and asked, "Sneak, what's going on here?"

"Getting ready for a big battle," Sneak answered flashing a huge smile at his General. The previous day he had learned that Sid was in the area when one of his scouts reported the army moving into the area. He had dispatched a patrol to lead Sid to them, but had been pretty sure that Sid would be too late to help them in this particular engagement. Five minutes earlier he had been given the news that Sid had arrived along with two thousand men, including a thousand warriors of the Rider Clan. He was just in time.

"You're a scout. What are you doing leading these men?" Sid asked wondering if he had arrived too late to save Hunter.

Sneak laughed and pointed in the direction of the woods that hid the field below from sight. Although they couldn't see it, three armies were moving into position on the battlefield. He answered, "On the other side of the woods is a large wheat field. Hunter is down there pretending to be our entire army. I was the only one he trusted to lead this motley crew."

Sid looked in the direction of the battlefield and shook his head in dismay. Unable to see the battlefield, he asked, "What's the distribution of forces?"

Pointing to one end of the woods, Sneak said, "The slaver army is over there. Directly across the field from them is Hunter with his troops. Next to Hunter's army are the forces that Holland is leading. The official plan is that Hunter and Holland will advance on the slavers and engage them in a head-on fight."

Assuming that Sneak's men were the reserve, Sid said, "We've got to tell Hunter that Holland is going to attack him."

When Sid prepared to ride down the hill, Sneak grabbed Sid's arm before he could kick his horse. He said, "He knows."

"What?"

"He knows. When the battle starts, Hunter is going to follow the unofficial plan. His forces are going to turn and attack Holland while my forces charge the slaver army," Sneak said. The beginning of the battle would be announced by the sounding of horns.

"I don't understand how that would work with Holland knowing that you are up here," Sid said. The enemy would surely take Sneak's men into account in setting up the battlefield.

"Well, that's a long story. The short version is that they don't know about us."

"What?" Sid asked.

"It seems that Hunter has been having a lot of trouble with men deserting, higher than average causalities when he engages the enemy, and problems with his supply lines. At least, that is what Holland believes," Sneak said with a grin. It had taken them a month to come up with a plan that would allow them to trick the enemy.

Fred looked at the troops assembled behind him and, incredulous, asked, "Do you mean to tell me that the enemy thinks all of these men deserted? There's got to be a thousand of them."

"Well, it took us about seven weeks to assemble this force. Ten men here, twenty there, and a dozen on this raid or that," Sneak answered with a grin. The entire time men were sneaking out of camp, Holland's man, Matt, was giving Hunter advice that would further justify men in deserting. Shaking his head, he said, "Hunter even had a whole mounted patrol disappear a week ago. I understand that he put on a pretty good show at being furious. The man Holland assigned to serve a liaison and advisor acted really surprised, but the man could hardly keep from dancing with joy."

Open mouthed at the audacity of the plan, Fred asked, "How did your guy know about Holland?"

"Oh, we found a couple survivors from Danny Sun's army about the same time that Holland saddled us with his man, Matt. They told us all about Holland's treachery," Sneak answered. His manner became more serious when discussing Holland.

Frowning at the fact that he was not informed about the intelligence, Sid asked, "Why didn't you let me know?"

"Our messengers were getting killed. We couldn't risk having that message fall into the hands of the enemy," Sneak answered. The only messages that they sent were identical to the ones that they were sending to Holland fully aware that Holland would receive word about what was in the messages to Sid.

Sid looked over his shoulder at Gregor. Smiling he asked, "Would you like to take some of your mounted men and provide Hunter with some unexpected support?"

Gregor grinned at the chance to reward treachery in the best manner possible and that was by defeating the traitors. He said, "You bet."

Having spent the discussion mentally sizing up the battlefield, Sebeson suggested, "How about you put your men on the other side of Holland's men?"

"Sounds perfect to me," Sid answered with a grin. He could imagine the expression on Holland's face when an army suddenly appeared at his back.

Gregor turned his horse and rode off. Fred maneuvered his horse into the spot vacated by the man and his horse. Sid looked over at Connor and said, "You know. I bet a thousand men behind the slaver army would surprise them as well."

Nodding his head, Connor said, "I'm on it."

Connor turned his horse and rode off in a hurry. The commander of the remaining troops was getting his men organized to set up camp. It would take ten minutes to get them prepared for battle and even more time to get them into position. Connor gave them the orders and then returned to Sid's position.

Gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb, Connor said, "The men are five minutes march behind us. It's going to take them some time to get in position."

Nodding his head, Sneak said, "I had better dispatch someone to let Hunter know that he has some unexpected help. He'll need to delay a little to give your men a chance to get into position."

"That would be a good idea. How will you manage it without alerting the enemy?" Sid asked.

"We've got a latrine set up by the woods. No one watches what goes on around a latrine," Sneak answered with a chuckle. He turned and pointed to one of the men standing to the side. In a soft voice, he said, "Go down there and let Hunter know that General Sid is here. We've put a force in place behind Holland's army and another force is getting into position behind the slavers. We need thirty minutes delay for them to get into place."

"Yes, sir," the man answered before running down the hill. He quickly disappeared into the thick woods.

Sid didn't like being in a position where a major battle was about to take place without having prepared the battlefield. The thick trees kept him from even seeing it and that was making him nervous. He said, "I'd like to see the battlefield."

Sneak shook his head and said, "I'd love to show you the battlefield, but we can't risk being seen. I'm pretty sure that the enemy would retreat if they were to discover that we are up here."

"You're right," Sebeson said.

"Any chance they know you are here?" Fred asked finding it difficult to believe that they could hide a thousand men from the enemy. The audacity of the plan was staggering.

"There's always a chance that they know, but we've been very careful," Sneak answered making reference to the efforts they had taken. Any time they encountered the enemy, they had fought to make sure there were no survivors of the engagement even if it meant greater casualties than they would normally accept.

It seemed like forever for thirty minutes to pass, but the time finally came when horns sounded from the battlefield below them. Sneak's forces, led by Sneak himself, raced through the trees to attack the enemy while it was charging Hunter's forces. Sid was anxious to see the battle and said, "Let's go down and check it out. The need to stay hidden is over."

"Yes, General," Connor said and nudged his horse to head to the rear of Hunter's lines.

Unlike the troops, the party was not in any special hurry to reach the battlefield. Before they reached the battlefield, Sid noticed a man lying on the ground. He rode over and bent down to examine the man. In the center of his forehead was a huge red spot. Sid looked around and shook his head. A dozen paces away a saddled horse was placidly eating grass. He dismounted and knelt beside the downed man.

Connor rode over and down at the man on the ground. Concerned that it suggested something ominous, he asked, "What happened?"

"He hit his head on a branch in his race to get to the battlefield and knocked himself out," Sid answered checking to see how badly injured the man was.

"He's going to be feeling that for a day or two," Connor said shaking his head. It would have been funny, but this was a serious matter.

"Where are the medics camped?" Sid asked.

"Back the way we came," Connor answered meaning the healers that remained in their camp. He looked around for someone to send and realized that their party was the only ones around.

Knowing that he was the least important person there, Fred said, "I'll go get one of them to fetch this fellow."

"Thanks, Fred," Sid said standing up. Shaking his head, he said, "He'll be seeing double for a week if I'm not mistaken. I imagine his friends will tease him about this for years to come."

Watching Fred ride off, Connor laughed and said, "Not all injuries in a battle are delivered by the enemy. The ones we give ourselves just don't seem to have that same heroic quality."

"True," Sid said with a chuckle. He looked over at Connor and asked, "Did that ever happen to you?"

"Not really. I nearly broke my foot tripping over a root while running at the enemy once. I was lucky; one of the enemy soldiers rushed me and tripped over another root. I was able to pass off the time spent on the ground cursing from the injury as a major stroke of strategic genius," Connor answered with a grin.

A wry grin crossed Sid's face and he said, "I'm sure all the fellows with you were convinced you were telling the truth."

"Not a single one believed it," Connor said chuckling.

Satisfied that Fred would take care of the downed man, Sid remounted. Turning his horse so that it faced the proper direction, he said, "Let's see what's happening on the battlefield."