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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1469859" data-attributes="member: 15043">Skirmishes in the WoodsThe next morning, further south near the woods of Chandriol”Lucius!” Luke heard Siabrey’s pleasant voice call.  It was annoying... she kept dashing ahead every time he thought he almost caught her.  Now she was taunting him.“I’m going to get you!” he laughed, looking to the side and seeing her tunic top laying on the ground.  That caused him to stop for a moment, and lick his lips as he picked it up and ran the silky fabric through his fingers.  She was just on the other side of that hill, he could hear her giggling... his prize... waiting for him...“Lucius!” the voice was louder now, which confused him a bit.  It didn’t completely sound like Siabrey after all... oh well.  Whoever it was could wait, as he was about to crest the hill to find his love...“Luke!” Xanadu snarled, finally popping the sleeping boy in the head gently, “wake up!”“Nghrfh!” Lucius groaned, finally beginning to stir.  “Uh...”  His back hurt, his neck hurt, and his groggy brain realized why in a few minutes;  he had fallen asleep laying on the desk... right in the middle of talking to Siabrey.  He jumped, and stared at the pages in the larger book, oblivious to Xanadu.”Luke?”“You there?””Poor thing.... I bet you fell asleep!  I wear you out that much?  You need it... as do I.  Goodnight love... we’ll see each other again!”Xanadu’s clearing throat brought Luke’s bleary mind back to reality, and with a jump he slammed the large book shut.“Its an hour after sunrise and you still haven’t awakened.  Most of the troops are stirring and we’re starting to break camp, so if you wouldn’t mind getting up, we’d like to start breaking down your tent and getting the troops on the road,” Xanadu chided.  “We’ll be marching through the Chandriol Wood today... we need you to be on your toes.”Elenya frowned, looking at the deepening woods surrounding her and the hospital contingent.This is nothing like the woods I played in by Kulloden as a child she mused, as the woods rapidly grew deeper, their trees seeming to loom over the narrow road they traversed on, the ivies, bushes, and thickets growing so high on the road’s sides that one could barely see two feet into the woods on either side it seemed.   Every time she looked to the side, she was sure she saw movement.The deepness of the woods made her think of Shaun, even further north, and the news that they were stuck in the middle of a bog.  Poor Shauny... he has water, bugs, and giant frogs to deal with... on top of dense trees where you can’t see crap!  She wasn’t a worrisome person by nature, but she began worrying about him again.  Most of the time she would keep such thoughts to herself... but three days with him gone on a dangerous mission, and hearing news of only part of what he’d faced, was placing her near the breaking point.“Captain?” one of the younger nurses, the daughter of one of the commanders, whined, “its getting cold.”  The girl took out a fancy, multicolored shawl and wrapped it around her head.  Elenya snorted.“Barachis?  Why do you mock?” the girl asked, her voice changing from pleading to haughty and full of contempt.“First,” Elenya turned to the girl, her stress finally finding an outlet, “you will refer to me by my name, Elenya, whelp!”  Her finger then slashed out and pointed at the girl.  “Second, you will get rid of that condescending tone, or I will change your face into that of a ferret!”  The last was not an idle threat... one of the nicest spells she found in Xanadu’s spellbook was Polymorph Other, which she had practiced using.“Barachis, Lady Remnova, cease!” Wynistra snapped ahead of them.   “Quiet!”Suitably dressed down, both of them stopped their arguing, though resentment simmered, filling the air between them.I hope Shauny got out of the swamp ok... they were supposed to leave today... she thoguht.  Two days to teleport to Irulas... and maybe... four days to reach the army?  I could see him in less than a week! he grew giddy again.  I need to focus on something she thought as the cart she, Wynistra and Lady Remnova, as well as five other nurses occupied, rocked a little to the left as they went over a hole.  She pulled out Xanadu’s spellbook... now her spellbook, and began leafing through... to the page with lightning bolt.  Closing her eyes, she remembered the words and motions to the spell inherently...  she was intent on keeping it one of her ready spells at all times... if only to frighten the likes of Lady Remnova if she decided to be uppity again.A few hours later, and the dark Chandriol Wood seemed to grow oppressively closer, and now Elenya and the others could definitely see the movement of unknown wild animals inside the woods.  The undergrowth had cleared some, so they could now look some 30 to forty feet in... Which is unfortunate, Elenya thought, as now if someone wants to ambush us... they can from a good distance away...  her adventuring mind questioned.  She shifted towards the front of the cart towards a box, which she climbed up and sat on.  It gave her an unblocked view... and a clear field of fire.“Oh, my, if the barmaid has not decided that she is better than the rest of us!” Lady Remnova gasped with mockery.  “Heaven forbid that she let any of her lice spread to us noble ladies!”  A few twitters went around among the other nurses, most of them daughters or sisters of commanders who had come to help.  “Perhaps she doesn’t want us to know all the men in camp she has spread disease to in her late night disappearances!  Maybe she’s trying to have 10 babies at the same time!”“I may have been a waitress,” Elenya purposefully put in the correct term, “but at least I don’t look like an ox that got beat with an ugly stick.”  The barb was a clear shot and Remnova, who indeed was rather pudgy with a piggish look.  “And where I go on my off hours are my business... most assuredly they do not involve any disease spreading activity.  Your face, however, does a good job of spreading retching around the army!”“Why you... not knowing your station!  If my father heard that comment...” Remnova began before Elenya leaned forward with a vicious snarl.“You father would piss his pants, as he’d know who he was screwing with!”  There were numerous gasps from the women, who now twittered about Elenya’s dirty mouth.“Further evidence of inbreeding,” pronounced an elderly crone, a Lady Holgren whose husband was chief of something.  “A foul mouth, and an unladylike temperament... deplorable.”Elenya was about to shoot another vicious reply when she caught sight of a shape to the left... which darted away.  The others caught her eyes going in that direction, and began eagerly craning.“What is it?” some of the more polite ones asked, while Remnova shouted, “Don’t ask that, its probably the sheep or goat that gave her the disease she’s spreading!”“Ssshh!” Elenya hissed for quiet, as she saw more movement.“Its animals,” Holgren announced dryly.  “Stop trying to dissuade attention when you dispense out such unwanted comments.”“No,” Elenya said quietly.  “There was a man running.  Don’t point!” she hissed.  “We don’t want them to know we’ve seen them!”“Why not?  Wouldn’t that dissuade an ambush, if an ambush is even there?” Remnova asked, her voice dripping with venom towards Elenya.“I have a surprise,” Elenya smiled, the words and gestures to her favorite spell running through her head even before a yell arose from the woods she was looking at, and ten fox-faced men came charging out, swords upraised.Elenya waited slightly... for dramatic effect, starting a split second later than the soonest she could have begun her incantation... she used this time to slowly rise, striking a slightly dramatic pose before the words left her mouth.”El Baragis mak nen haren,” she began, even as screams rose from the nurses down below as they all dashed for the opposite side of the cart.   None had enough sense to have brought along even daggers.  The fox men were closer now, about 15 feet from the cart, swords that looked like Siabrey’s katana above their heads.“...mullan starig blektaren,” Elenya continued, moving her hands through the motions, seeming to reach for the sky.  The fox men were now only 10 feet away.“ebel mik taren,”  they were only 5 feet away, as Elenya’s skyward hand slowly lowered.  The screams from the other nurses, even Captain, were louder.“pilias ebel nok brog!” Elenya finished with a roar, just as the first of the fox-faced mongrels leapt up, hauling himself up the side of the cart.  His head was perfectly in her line of sight, with the chest and belly of two more of the foxmen in a direct line behind him.  Elenya’s finger, crackling with pent up power, pointed at the leading culprits head, and with another snarl of “Brog!” the electricity lanced out of her hand, blasting the first man’s head into pieces, boring through the chest of hte second, and gutting the third before setting the tree behind the third one afire.  The pulse of magical electricity was accompanied by an ear-splitting thunderclap, as the bolt of lightning made its way through her foes.The other mongrelmen screamed at the display of power, and began bounding away.  Even as they did so, Elenya’s incantation began again.  Just before they could jump over a small hill 40 feet into the woods, another bolt lanced from her fingers, and with another mighty blast of thunder, two more were felled.  The cart bucked from the higher speed the frightened horses were pulling it, but Elenya kept her balance with ease, and gave her own condescending look down on the nurses that so recently had been mocking her.Holgren and the Captain were still staring at the smoldering corpses of the three mongrels by the roadside, a tree burning behind them.  Remnova and the others were looking directly at Elenya when she turned, bringing her finger to a stop, it pointing to the middle of the cart between them all.  The eight gave a squeal of fear, until Elenya brought her finger up, its end giving off a slight magical smoke, which she blew away.“Not bad for someone that’s nothing more than a damn pregnant barmaid, huh?” she laughed.About the same time, Lucius was trotting ahead... far from where he’d promised Xanadu he would be.  A small retinue, including Quin, trotted alongside.  Siabrey wouldn’t mind if she knew I had guards with me, Lucius had reasoned... maybe...If something should happen, I’ll just stay behind... so I can tell her I wasn’t on the front line, like she asked... he thought as his eyes scanned to the left and right, looking for trouble.  Part of him thought this way, though part of him realized that should an attack happen, with his distinctive eagle armor, he’d likely be picked as first target.“M’lord!  Up ahead!” one of the younger knights Lucius had culled for the expedition, one Mengke Avaril, gestrued.  Ahead on the dark Lucius could make out seven riders in armor not matching any worn by the Imperials.  It was laquered brown, as if wood with metal attached, and looked to be scale mail, though it was more bulky, and seemed to extend further from the body.  Their headgear had extensive, long, and inflexible side and neckguards which draped down from the helm.  Most unusual was that their pieces protecting their face were not utilitarian nose guards or plain armor as with even the fanciest of Imperial arms, but screaming human faces, seemingly carved out of the wooden or wood-like material that they were made from.  Each had a large weapon, with a handle like a spear but a long blade like Siabrey’s sword on the end.   “Alright... everyone to your attack positions,” Lucius said, pulling out Ik Mataar, as the seven riders ahead of htem began to charge.  It was with apprehension and pride that Lucius watched his six lower their lances and dash forward, full gallop towards a crashing of mounts.  It was then Lucius heard noises to his side, and barely had time to see six more men, clad in similar armor, charging out of the woods at him, a weapon that was clearly a katana above the heads of each, while their other hands held a shorter, stubbier version of the katana.  The first leapt into the air almost immediately, his frame, with the head of a squirrel, heading straight towards Lucius.Luke couldn’t remember what he did exactly, but his training with Siabrey paid off.  Ik Mataar flashed up into a slash that caught the flying foe, and cut him open from his groin to his neck, aiding his flight by sending him sailing over Lucius towards the woods on the other side.  With his free hand, Luke began what he’d practiced extensively with Xanadu on the march... the only spell he knew where he needed no somatics.“Para ba Dur!” he shouted,  and a small bead formed on his fingertip and launched towards the edge of a wood.  There was a slight rustle, inaudible about the screaming, as it landed, before three of the six attackers exploded into pieces as a fireball turned the air around them into burning, scorching flames.  Ik Mataar was suddenly at the neck of one of the remaining mongrels, as Quin’s sword found the neck of the other.  Lucius’ scowl evidently conveyed his unspoken message, and the two dropped their swords.  As soon as Quin had picked up the weapons, he dashed into the woods to disarm the flying man, who was now moaning.Ahead, the crash of the Imperial lances on the armor of the enemy echoed loud and vicious through the forest.  The fighting was brief; one Imperial had been unhorsed, and lay in pain.  One of hte mongrels did as well, but the remaining six had, upon seeing their allies attempt at ambush fail, galloped away.“Hold up!” Lucius called out, his blood pumping even though the fight lasted barely twenty seconds.  Soldiers from the lead part of the column were coming into view behind, and several had rushed up to bind the two mongrels before Lucius.   His retinue turned, and came back, carrying the injured knight and mongrel back with them...“Hmmm,” Lucius mumbled several hours later as the army made camp beside the bubbling waters of the Inerman River.  “So we know for sure that they’re on the far side... with what again?” he asked, his voice straight and calm even as his mind was not.Please say thats not true, his mind hoped as Holgren and Xanadu once again went over the information obtained from the prisoners.“55,000 or so mongrels... 50 or so on giant spider mounts.  Some demons along with... we can’t confirm numbers save there are a few vrocks, many dretches...” Holgren began.“And one balor... with a red dragon of some kind in support,” Xanadu finished with a sigh of his own.  “A very powerful force... the dragon and balor alone are worth 10,000 troops...”“Dammit!” Luicus growled, his mind racing.  If we stand toe to toe with them.., they’ll crush us...  we need to break them somehow...“Though, from what our prisoners have said, their magical defenses appear far weaker than we even expected...” Xanadu began.  “The balor, vrocks, and the dragon of course can provide some cover for their troops magically, but they only have five true spellcasters in their entire army outside of demonic or draconic forces... while we have twenty dedicated battlemages, and then scores of people like yourself, m’lord, who innately know offensive magic in a pinch...”“Though can that be called an equal matchup?” Diogenes opened his mouth again, though he did not have the same anger or distrust in his voice as before, “I’ve heard what magic you used today, m’lord,” he nodded towards Lucius, “but that is hardly equal to the magic a balor, should the rumor be true, can put into the field.”Lucius nodded,  “True.”  While his voice was silent, Lucius’ mind ran through the options.   We could sit on this side of the river, and dare them to cross in front of us... they won’t.  They’ll keep a small force here and march to cross somewhere else, and try and threaten us.  We’ll have to backpedal, through the same woods... where their army WILL ambush us, instead of a few scouts...”Might we want to stay on this side of the river?” Diogenes asked, his tone respectful.  Lucius shook his head.  And repeated his thoughts aloud.“...and then we’ll be strung out, in narrow marching columns, and we’ll be crushed by an army twice our power in the woods... no, we can’t sit here.”  Lucius tensed, waiting for Diogenes to disagree, but instead the grizzled general nodded.  “What do you propose then?” Xanadu asked.We could pull back now, and try and meet them as they come out of the woods... but if we fail, that leaves Irulas with barely a day to get the alarm and prepare for siege... not enough time.   We can’t pull back... we can’t stay...”We’ll cross the river tomorrow, early.  I want the columns marching by sunrise,” Lucius announced with decisiveness, his brain running even faster.  “Your commands are going to be split up.  Mayn, Holgren, Esparlin, you will accompany me with all of the cavalry.  We’ll cross the river first.”  Lucius leaned over the map, and began pointing towards spots just across the river on it, spelling out his plan...”That is madness!” Xanadu snapped when he was sure all of the other commanders had left, and that he and Lucius were alone in his tent.  “For once I have to agree with Diogenes!  Sitting at the bottom of a hill, the river at our backs!?  Are you crazy!?”  Lucius sat in his chair and merely watched Xanadu as the dragon continued to vent.“...utter chaos!  If the army’s ranks are broken, there is no where to reform, no where to retreat to!  We risk utter destruction!” he finished, exasperated and out of breath.“I know,” Lucius said calmly.  Its the only way, his mind told him.  “It will give the soldiers reason to fight hard... tooth and nail, until the time is right for our surprise.  It also pulls them in... they assume we are weak and vulnerable...”“And you!” Xanadu’s breath came back, as he launched into another tirade, “Leading the cavalry in person!  If something happens to you... think of what will happen to the army!  To your fiefdom!  And if not those, for Tarantor’s sake think of your wife!”Siabrey...  Lucius blinked a few times, before shaking aside his own doubts.  “No.  The soldiers need an example... I would not ask them to fight against odds like this when I sit to the rear in a plush tent sipping on chardonnay!  I’m willing to fight, and... if needbe...”Xanadu gave a draconic growl of frustration, and his hands threw up in the air.  “Fine!  Fine fine fine!  Have it your way, but tomorrow I am fighting as a dragon, no ifs ands or buts!”  Lucius nodded.“Fine.  Remember what I want you to do... no wading into melee right away...”“Spells... I know,” Xanadu said a little quieter.  “But if I see the front is getting desperate, I’m wading in.  If it gets more desperate, I’m going to hunt for you.””Ok, Xanny,” Lucius said.  If things get that bad... I’ll probably be... Lucius’ mind refused to finish that thought.  “See to it that the infantry follows their part of the plan... the gods willing, we’ll meet in the middle.  Watch those spellcasters as well!” Lucius said.Xanadu nodded curtly, and with a short, hasty bow, left the tent.Later that night, he wrote out his fear to the only one he felt he could tell them to... Siabrey.  He spelled them out in detail, even as he added a small amount of bravado that it would be ok.  As he finished, he set back, his courage waning in favor of fear and weakness. I’m scared... he sniffed, I wish Siabrey was here... not to fight a balor or fight by my side... but to hold me.   For all his rank, there were many times when Lucius wished he could act his age, and put his head on a comforting shoulder...</blockquote>

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