The Guerilla's First Strike

The general had learnt about the replacement soldiers who were coming along with a supply train, and he had taken some of his men and hidden them either side of the track the supply train was going to use, after first making sure that they were out of sight of the fort. He had used the few archers he had to take out the supply train's escort and the wagon drivers. The twenty or so soldiers that were going to replace some of the fort's contingent had up to then been trading inanities with each other. They weren't prepared for the men who roughly pulled them of the wagon that they had been travelling on. A few resisted; only to receive a sword in the gut. The others wisely went quietly with their captors.

Perhaps the general should have waited until someone had come looking for the supply train, but he had used up his recent supply of patience waiting for it to arrive. Instead he got one of the captured soldiers to go to the fort, closely followed behind by one of the archers to make him aware of the fact that if he tried to escape, he would get an arrow in the back.

Once the archer saw that soldier was going to do what was expected of him, he stood back out of the range of the archers guarding the gate. Even though he couldn't see them clearly, he got a thrill from knowing that they were itching to put an arrow in him, but couldn't. Once the soldier had managed to get his message through to them, and the gate had been opened, he gave the archers a cheeky wave and ran off out of sight.

Charles, the captain's second in command, had been close by. He eventually managed to get the details from the clearly agitated soldier. He rushed immediately to the captains office and went in without knocking. The captain's annoyance at this sudden interruption soon changed to concern when he saw the look of Charles's face. Charles was able to deliver it in a lot more calmer fashion, but the captain was feeling far from calm when Charles had finished. His first thoughts were about Henri, and then to Astra and the men that he had sent to guard them. They were unaware of the situation, and probably would end up captured or killed. What really irked him is there was nothing he could do about it.

He tried to think about more positive things, but his mind refused to cooperate. Instead, he found it turning to what the capital would do once they realised that the supply train wasn't going to return. They would probably send some men to investigate, very likely it would only be of platoon strength. They wouldn't stand a chance. Trouble is, once they didn't report back, the capital would probably sent yet another platoon to investigate. And the same thing would happen again. Only then would it be likely that the capital would send enough men to have a chance at dealing with the guerillas. Doing a quick estimation he came up with the total of three weeks before that happened. That, he admitted to himself gloomily, was probably a week longer then his men would stand. The loss of the second platoon would put the tin lid on it, and they'd probably rebel.

So deep in thought was he that he failed to notice that Charles had slipped quietly out. He checked to make sure that his sword was close at hand. Even if the fort did fall into enemy hands, he couldn't allow himself to be captured. Though he was only a lowly captain, it would still be a coup for the Esputans. Maybe it was a cliche to say that he was willing to go down fighting, but that didn't alter his determination any.

The general had now moved to the remainder of his men who were now facing the front of the fort. A large number of these were what he unkindly called knuckleheads, a liability in any battle. He therefore had no qualms about sending them to their deaths. He had heard all about the prowess of Tiranian archers, but he wanted to see how good they were for himself. His wormbait would be ideal for that.

He ordered those men to charge the main gate. Many were cut down before they got half way; the remainder not soon after that. The archers' rate of fire was something like six arrows a minute, and they weren't even performing at their very best. While the rest of the general's men looked at this carnage with a mixture of horror and fear, none of them noticed that their leader wasn't showing the slightest bit of emotion.

1. Back to Astra and the others, as they come across the current situation.
2. The guerillas start dropping to the floor, dead.
3. The trees attack the guerillas.
4. Can Henri, Astra and their escort be warned?

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