Soul of the Warrior

Chapter 114: First Contact

"Who's taking care of the scouting?" Reivyn asked, walking among the other Provisional Lieutenants in his company.

He Marched alongside the men as long as he didn't need the mobility of the horse. None of the other officers were mounted, much less the enlisted men, and he didn't need the horse the vast majority of the time.

The other three officers shared a look with each other, and Jek shrugged his shoulders.

"As far as I've seen, none of the other companies have sent out any scouts," he answered.

"Not even the Major has ordered scouts out?" Reivyn was surprised. He had thought that no scouts had been sent out, but he wasn't 100% sure. The other officers had spent time with other platoon commanders from other companies on occasion, so he thought they might have had some additional information. He hadn't expected the Major to not send any scouts, either, from what he had seen of the man so far.

"Alright," Reivyn shook his head. "I guess we'll have to take care of it ourselves. Compile a list of people with the appropriate Classes and/or Skills. We need people with Tracking, Observation, and Movement Skills. We'll pick five people from each platoon and form a special twenty-man squad to perform the scouting duties." The other platoon commanders nodded their heads and headed back to their platoons to make the arrangements.

There was no cavalry in the battalion that could take on the mission, either. They had learned about tactics involving cavalry, and they had even practiced it, but all of the cavalries had been kept with the Colonel in the city.

Reivyn hadn't realized that all of the cavalries had been ordered to remain behind until the second day after they had been on the move for over an hour. He had thought that he just hadn't seen them, yet, and that they were out and about doing the job of scouts. He had kept an eye out for any returning to make reports. It was possible they would have been equipped with a communication magic device, but there still would have been some physical movement.

After an hour of not seeing anything, and having seen nothing from the first day, he had conferred with the other lieutenants.

How are we even going to find them at this rate? Reivyn thought. Are we just hoping to follow their tracks from Kirlon? Those tracks will have been scattered by the wind at this point. Even if they're still there, that will only tell us what happened a long time ago. There's been plenty of time for them to spread out and set up ambushes.

Reivyn took a deep breath as he tried to keep calm. He had had higher expectations from the Major, but aside from being no-nonsense in his personality, he wasn't living up to the image he portrayed.

The battalion of volunteers Marched for three weeks into the desert, chasing the tail of the aggressing army. The logistics were handled like couriers, orchestrated by a familiar face. First Lieutenant Kaerl, the man who had initially sent Reivyn to the officer candidate program, was the man in charge of supply. It was the one time, other than some of the senior officers and his own company commander, that Reivyn witnessed mounted soldiers.

They would travel in squads of ten, and they would ferry food, water, and other necessities in dozens of spatial storage bags at a time. First Lieutenant Kaerl wasn't embedded with the battalion, but he moved in and out in to supervise both ends of the spectrum. He was one of the most diligent officers Reivyn had seen in Oreck so far.

Word of Reivyn's company sending out scouts had spread through the battalion, and the Major had eventually passed down the order for the other companies to follow suit. The other company commanders weren't resistant to sending out scouts of their own until ordered to, but Reivyn had learned that Captain Sanjin had been boasting about how much more responsible he was than the other captains, and he had said he could handle the operation all on his own.

The Major had eventually recanted his decision to let the younger captain take all the credit when it became apparent the small 20-man squad of scouts wouldn't be able to keep up with the task on their own. Reivyn had hoped that setting the example would result in more companies following suit, but it had taken several days longer than he had hoped. His scouts were almost to the point of exhaustion from all the additional running about in the desert they had been required to do.

Reivyn had made arrangements for them to rest with the medical corps, which had wagons for transporting wounded when the other scouts were finally sent out.

It had taken just over a week to reach Kirlon, as traveling as a battalion was much slower than as a small Party. Nothing had changed in the surroundings of the city, but the tracks had become much less pronounced. There wasn't any water erosion, but the wind, like Reivyn had speculated, had blown over all but the deepest ruts.

The tracks led off to the northeast of Kirlon, moving tangentially to the desolate sands that were to the northwest. The desolate sands weren't a square block. It didn't have a definite shape, and it extended out and retracted inward in unpredictable ways. Traveling northeast from Kirlon, if nothing changed, meant they would reach one of the furthest extensions of the desolate sands. Though, they would remain outside of it.

The tracks became more clear over the following two weeks of Marching. The tracks maintained a straight path to the northeast, and it only veered to avoid obstacles in the path. If the hills were small enough, they would just move over them, but if there were cliffs, plateaus, or small rivers, the tracks would deviate long enough to pass around.

The Major got more serious about sending out and conferring with scouts once they finally started following in the footsteps of the enemy army. Reivyn assumed he had always planned on setting up the scouts, but he was just being complacent and wasn't going to send them out right away. Reivyn taking matters into his own hands had forced him to make the decision early.

The tracks of the enemy army were getting clearer and clearer each day, and it was getting apparent that they were closing in on the much larger force. The enemy army wasn't just a larger military unit, but they were also apparently hauling around a large civilian population with them. It made perfect sense that they would move considerably slower than the volunteer battalion. The battalion only moved slightly slower than Reivyn had in his Party with Kefira and the others, but the enemy was apparently moving at a snail's pace.

Reivyn surveyed the terrain on the map as the company dug in to build their camp. Engagement was imminent, and the Major had ordered them to set up their base camp. A platoon from the first company would be responsible for defending the base camp as the rest of the battalion set out in the morning for the expected confrontation.

Shortly before the Major had held an all-hands briefing with the officers to lay out the plan of attack, and Reivyn couldn't really find any major faults. It was simple enough: The vast majority of the battalion would assault a corner of the enemy once they were found, after a bombardment from the entirety of the Mage Corps, and there were two platoons in the fourth company that had been especially manned with the fastest Classes. They would sneak around and corral the civilians to lead them away. The rest of the battalion would then need to cover their escape, and hopefully, they would be able to disengage.

The overall strategy was fine, as they would have to do something similar no matter what Reivyn could contribute. The only way to change anything would be if they were strong enough to actually soundly defeat the enemy without them being able to resort to slaughtering the civilians. It wouldn't be feasible to sneak into the enemy camp to mount the rescue, as there were far too many people to move.

Reivyn just wished they had been allowed to bring their cavalry unit along with them. Even with the Mage Corps, having a military unit consisting entirely of infantry was a serious disadvantage.

Reivyn poured over the map, running his hands along the topographical lines. He felt a synergy of his Skills, mainly consisting of his Mana Skills, trying to tug at his awareness, but he was stumped as to what it could be. He continued to search the map to try and figure out what it was, but he only had the vague feeling that there was something there. His frown continued to deepen the longer he studied the map.

"What's with the frown?' Jek asked, entering Reivyn's tent.

"There's something more going on here, I can feel it, but I just don't know enough to put the pieces together," Reivyn explained, leaning back in his chair. "Is the encampment coming along?"

"Yep," Jek nodded. "They're pretty much squared away by now. Why in such a rush to get the camp built? We didn't need to push so hard, I don't think. We have hours of daylight left, and we still haven't actually made contact with the enemy."

"Have you seen any of the other companies preparing to send out patrols?" Reivyn asked back.

"Not that I've seen," Jek shook his head. "The Major apparently wants everyone to be fresh for moving out tomorrow."

"Everyone..." Reivyn tapped the map on his desk as he considered. "Ok, well, this is the same concept as with the scouts. I don't understand why he's not sending any patrols out, but it's a necessity. If nobody else is going to do it, then we need to do it.

"My orders from Captain Sanjin, and I quote, are 'Take charge of the company, follow the Major's orders, and don't do anything unnecessary.'

"The orders from the Major were to just build the base camp and be prepared to move out in the morning, and, in my opinion, sending out a patrol is absolutely necessary.

"I'll be taking my platoon out on patrol this evening. I'll need you to stand in for me as the XO for a couple of hours. Everything's already been seen to, so the only thing that could happen is an unexpected visit from the captain, but that's unlikely. He hasn't shown his face in front of the troops since the final exercise almost a month ago."

"Sure thing. I'll even have my platoon get some rest earlier so they can handle the duties of fire watch that your men would have taken."

"Thanks."

Jek left soon after, not wanting to waste Reivyn's time as he had indicated he would need to get some rest for the evening expedition. Reivyn had Jekle and Paul order the platoon to eat dinner and get some sleep early, not hiding the fact that they would be Marching out in the evening. He made sure to convey the orders for all of the men to tie all of their loose equipment down so it wouldn't bounce around and make noise. Sound carried surprisingly far in the clear night air.

"Our mission is simple," Reivyn whispered to the men huddled around to listen in the darkness of night. "We're scouting in force. Because we're scouting in force, we're able to go beyond what the squad of scouts has been safely able to. We'll spend a couple of hours hiking out, do a large loop, and then return to get a couple more hours of rest before we're needed with the battalion.

"I understand that this will be a bit taxing on all of us, but if I didn't think it was necessary, I wouldn't be doing it.

"Once we step out, there is to be absolutely no idle conversation. If you need to convey a message, use hand signals. If you can't get the message across that way, then you may whisper no louder than I am now. Sound will carry way further than you think, and we don't know what the Perception Stats of those guarding against us will be.

"There will be no cadence of any kind, so all of you will have to utilize your Marching Skill to the best of your abilities. It's not strictly necessary to maintain a perfect formation with perfect step, but it will help with keeping you from walking all over each other.

"Senior Sergeant Paul, form up the platoon and get them moving."

The platoon automatically moved back to their position at the order from Reivyn, and Paul had them moving out in short order. Reivyn didn't have Jekle leading the men like before and simply had Paul do so. Jekle kept pace by Reivyn's side. There was no reason for Paul to be in the position of issuing Marching orders, so he acted as the Guide to the platoon.

The first couple of hours Marching in the dark had been pretty boring. It had taken a little while for everyone to get their eyes adjusted to the dark, but once they did, visibility wasn't too bad. The moon wasn't full or anything, but the ambient light from it and the stars were enough to easily see by. Most things in the distance were still shadows, but they weren't obscure or hard to see.

Reivyn had the platoon march east before turning north to make a large loop across the northern front in the area between the battalion and where the tracks led. The platoon was kept in the gulleys and valleys between the hills, and if they couldn't easily go around, Reivyn made sure nobody was ever on top of a ridge. Skylining in this scenario would make them visible for miles and miles.

Even though they were acting as a scouting unit themselves, Reivyn still had several of the soldiers acting as scouts for them, as well. They had the unenviable task of traveling across all of the hills and slopes to keep an eye on their surroundings, and the platoon was basically acting as a ship for them to launch from for the real task of observation.

Shortly before it was time for the platoon to change their trajectory north, one of the scouts came scrambling down from a nearby hill, sprinting toward Reivyn. Reivyn gave a meaningful glance to Jekle, and he took off to have Paul stop the platoon.

"Sir," the scout ran up, panting. "There's a small force just on the other side of the hill over there. They're heading in a direction that they'll intersect with us, and they have about thirty people. I scanned further ahead, but I didn't see any other forces anywhere, and none of the other scouts have reported anything, either."

"Very good," Reivyn nodded. "Class and weapon make-up? What kind of force are we dealing with?"

"I couldn't really make it out, sir. I didn't see any spears or shields, and I could only see some crude one-handed weapons. It didn't look like everyone even had a weapon."

"Ok. Get back to the platoon." The man saluted before rushing to take up his position in his squad again.

Reivyn ran over to join up with Jekle and Paul as they hurried over to him from the front of the platoon.

"Get the men up on top of the hill," Reivyn ordered. "Not the very top," he quickly clarified, "and have them circle around so we can charge down on the approaching force. Have them be ready to launch a javelin volley on my signal."

"Yes, Sir!" The two men whispered fiercely.

Reivyn took up his position to the side of the platoon. He wouldn't be a part of the formation combat. His job was to direct the men and make sure there were no unexpected threats that they couldn't handle. He wasn't to the level where he was so far above them as Knight-Captain Reifold had been to his men, but he was still the most Skilled combatant in the platoon and the only one who could use magic.

The platoon quickly and silently made their way into position, crouching down to further obscure their visibility as they got into position. Reivyn was able to instantly spot the force of thirty men moving along the other side of the hill.

They weren't rowdy and talking and laughing or anything, but they were definitely disorganized. They didn't have properly dressed lines, and they weren't even trying to keep in step. They were just a jumble of thirty men, and their equipment was even worse off than he had expected from the report from the scout.

None of the enemy force, and Reivyn was 100% sure they were part of the enemy force, had any armor of any kind. They didn't even have helmets, the one piece of armor that was absolutely mandatory for an infantry force. If people weren't provided gear by their unit and had to supply their own, the one piece of gear they would absolutely show up with was a helmet. A blow to the head was far more lethal than a stab to the gut. One would kill right away, and the other could usually live long enough to seek out medical attention.

None of that was found here. Most of the men were also completely unarmed, like the scout had said, and they wore simple trousers without even a shirt. Reivyn could only see ten people with a weapon, and not all of them were appropriate for combat. Most of them simply had long knives, and the ones that did have swords were clearly low quality, even from Reivyn's distant vantage.

The hostile force meandered forward, coming abreast of the platoon's flank. Reivyn stepped forward slightly so he was visible, and slowly raised his hand into the air. As soon as the enemy was in a position for maximum engagement from Reivyn's platoon, he chopped his hand down fiercely.

The smaller spears used as javelins sailed through the air without making any noise, and they crashed into the jumble of men below. Shouts of surprise, anger, and pain filled the air as Reivyn stood up fully, drawing his sword and leveling it down at the enemy troops.

"Charge!" Reivyn Commanded.

The platoon charged down in an orderly fashion, only twenty yards away from the hostile force. The javelin ambush had been extremely successful, and most of them had found a mark. Only about four of the enemy had died from the initial barrage, though, and most of them simply had spears impaled in their bodies.

Reivyn watched with wide eyes as several of the enemy troops simply helped each other yank the spears out before wielding them themselves to ward off the attack. The injuries they suffered didn't seem to slow them down at all, and those that didn't manage to get a spear and were still unarmed simply threw themselves at the attacking platoon.

The unarmed men practically let themselves get impaled by the pikes, but that didn't kill them. They twisted their bodies about so that the blows weren't immediately fatal, and they held the pikes down with their body weight so their compatriots could close the distance and engage. The unarmed that made it further leaped onto the shoulders of the first squad.

The enemy that had weapons then used this opportunity to launch vicious attacks at the soldiers that had their fighting ability impaired by the maneuver.

"First Squad! Abandon Pikes. Draw Swords!" Reivyn Commanded.

The troops were well coordinated to obey Reivyn's commands, even without him using his Skill, and they immediately abandoned their long weapons to draw swords and shields to defend against the crazed assault.

"First Squad! Shield Wall! Second Squad! Kneel and Repel! Third Squad! Hack and Slash! Fourth and Fifth Squads, peel off to envelope!"

The first two squads had pikes for stopping power with swords and shields to make a shield wall if needed. Reivyn had come up with the simple "Hack and Slash" Command for the third and fourth halberdier squads to let them know to use their axe edges. He had seen no reason to keep the second squad on their feet when they were using their pikes for stopping power when they had the shield wall in front of them, so he had them kneel down so as to allow for better reach and access for the halberdiers behind them.

The fourth and fifth squads weren't contributing where they were, and they would normally be used as a reserve to switch out with their squad-mates in front of them. This wasn't the kind of battle that was going to be fought over a long period of time, wearing down each other's stamina, though. The enemy was attacking with fervor, completely ignoring wounds and fatal damage.

It's like their basic strategy is to just throw bodies at the enemy in a manner to win as swiftly and brutally as possible, Reivyn noted. If they succeed, they'll be able to treat their wounds after and will most likely survive. If they can capture the momentum and demoralize their enemies with the tactic, as well, they'll be more likely to succeed.

In such a scenario, speed is crucial. We can't let them have the initiative, and we can't back down an inch.

His platoon recovered from their shock at the ferocity of the response, and the wounds on the enemy accumulated enough that they started to die. Even with the tide not turning in their favor, though, the enemy force never even tried to change their tactics.

Reivyn's platoon had managed to maintain their composure, and they flung the enemy troops off that had been trying to tie them down for the others that were armed. The enemy kept coming, and the platoon kept them in check. The fourth and fifth squads circled around on either side, and Reivyn thought they were finally going to surrender when it became completely hopeless for them to win the fight or even get away.

That wasn't the case, though, and Reivyn watched with a grim expression as the enemy practically forced Reivyn's platoon to massacre them to the last man. The last man standing didn't even pay attention to the death and destruction around him. He just kept continuing to try and kill the person in front of him until he himself was killed.

Silence descended over the desert night once more, and Reivyn surveyed the carnage. He only looked for a moment, verifying that none of his men were one of the ones dead on the ground.

"Do a head count," Reivyn instructed. "Make sure everyone is accounted for. Then assess the severity of any casualties. If simple bandages won't be enough, bring them to me and I'll cauterize the wound."

The platoon carried out his orders, and, thankfully, nobody was injured enough to require anything drastic like cauterizing the wounds. Most of the injuries from the initial frenzied response had been negated by the superior armor and equipment of the platoon members. Nicks and cuts had been suffered, but nobody even got close to losing half of their Health, much less getting seriously injured.

If they had been the ones to ambush, and not the other way around, it would have been a different story, Reivyn thought with a serious expression.

The fight had only lasted a couple of minutes. It would have lasted longer, but the enemy was intentionally letting themselves get hurt to try and win psychologically before they won physically. It hadn't worked against Reivyn's platoon, and the fight ended shortly after.

Another scout came running up to Reivyn as the platoon formed back up, ready to March off again.

"Sir, you need to see this," the scout said, catching his breath. He jerked his head to the hill on the other side of where they had just had their engagement.

"Get the men moving along the northern route we had planned," Reivyn ordered Jekle before following the scout across the valley and up the hill.

Once he got close to the ridgeline, Reivyn and the scout got down on their bellies to crawl forward. They made their way across, and Reivyn immediately spotted the unusuality that had caught the scout's attention. He focused his gaze into the distance and infused his eyes with Light Mana to enhance his vision.

Off in the distance, snaking through more hills littering the countryside, was a long line of people. Thousands upon thousands of people. Tens of thousands. Reivyn couldn't make everything out from this distance, but there was clearly one group being ushered by another. Even from this distance, though, Reivyn could make out the traces of their passing behind them.

Reivyn frowned as he witnessed the scene. They were headed in the same direction the battalion from Oreck was, just from a different trajectory. Something was nagging at Reivyn, and he finally realized what it was.

There are no tracks in the ground in front of or around them. That isn't a group that went off somewhere and came back.

That's an entirely different enemy force.