Chapter 13
Putting his hands on the saddle horn, Sid leaned forward and looked down the road as if searching for something. He could hear the sounds of a column of men on horseback with the shuffle of men marching behind them. Turning his head to look at Gregor, Sid said, "They are coming."
"I can hear them," Gregor said looking around. He asked, "Shouldn't we get into the woods before they come around the bend in the road?"
"No, we'll wait for them here," Sid said with a wink of his eye.
"I don't want to end up being a slave again," Derek said looking down the road with a frown. He looked around at the small party waiting in the road. There were a dozen of them -- Sid, Gregor, Fred, himself, and eight men at arms who Connor had ordered to guard Sid from harm. From the sounds, it was clear that they were about to face a hundred men.
"I wouldn't worry about that," Sid said looking over at Derek. He added, "They won't make us slaves, they'll kill us. It will probably be a horrible and painful death."
When Derek turned pale, Fred chuckled and said, "Sid, sometimes you are so reassuring."
Sid chuckled and said, "Wait and watch. We're the distraction."
The head of the column came around the corner and held up his hand to get the troops behind to stop. He stared at Sid trying to make sense of the handful of men blocking the road. Two men rode up to the man at the front of the column. The discussion was short and heated.
Sid leaned over to Derek and said, "They are debating about rushing us or having a parley."
"What if they chose a parley?" Derek asked.
"It's too late for that. Half of the men behind them are about to be dead," Sid answered even as shouts broke out down the road. The shouts grew loud and then started to die off. Sid listened to the sounds and said, "There goes the other half."
"How do you know?" Gregor asked looking at Sid.
"The shouting has stopped," Sid answered watching the three men down the road. The men turned their horses and rushed around the corner to investigate the noises.
A man slipped into view from the woods and waved to Sid. Kicking his horse, Sid said, "Let's go see how many prisoners we have."
"We were just down there. I didn't see his troops," Derek said to Gregor wondering what had happened around the corner. The two men realized Sid was halfway to the corner and kicked their horses to get them moving.
Gregor pulled back on the reins when he finally was able to see where the ambush had taken place. Half of the bushes that had bordered the forest were lying on the ground. Bending down, he examined the bush and realized that it was actually a bush tied to a very large shield. Looking up, he asked, "What is this?"
"Camouflaged shields," Sid answered with a grin. Climbing off his horse, he picked up the shield and squatted behind it. From the front it looked like any other green bush that grew along side the road. The slight breeze hid any movement of the shield.
"That really does look like a bush," Gregor commented.
Sid pushed the shield forward to reveal that he was behind it holding a bow. Looking over at Gregor, he said, "The man in this position would fire one arrow and then lift the shield back into place. From the edge of the woods across the road, a man would drop his shield and fire an arrow once the troops have turned to take care of the initial attackers. Those that go after the first set of attackers find that they are facing a forest of spears coming out from behind these bushes and arrows falling on their backs. Those that go after the second set of attackers only have to deal with the spears."
Dropping the bow to the ground, Sid stood up. Stepping forward, he said, "Once the column has been broken into small groups, our men come out and take them down at a three to one advantage."
"Nice," Gregor said looking over the devastation of the battlefield. Sid's men were dispatching the terminally wounded slavers and placing the bodies in a line beside the road. The others were bandaged and herded to one area where they were held under guard.
Horses, weapons, and supplies were quickly collected. Less than ten minutes had passed since the attack and the area was almost clear of any sign of the attack other than the row of bodies. Derek watched and asked, "What will you do with the prisoners?"
"We'll question them and then send them to the rear as indentured servants," Sid said.
"Isn't that slavery of a different kind?" Derek asked despite the fact that it was a common way of dealing with prisoners during war. It was just after his experience as a slave, he was exceptionally sensitive to losing control over his life.
"In a way, but it is just for the duration of the war," Sid answered. He had thought about setting up prison camps, but that required more resources than he had to spare. The common practice of a limited indentured servitude was the only way he could see to deal with the numbers of prisoners that he expected.
The man in charge of the raid noticed Sid and started walking towards where he was standing. Gregor pointed to the man before he asked, "Who is that?"
"That's Hunter. He's one of our young leaders. I'm planning on promoting him to command a thousand man brigade," Sid answered. Shifting in his saddle, Sid watched the man approach. He recalled when Hunter's father had requested that his sons be allowed to join Sid's army back at the Jones Citadel. His brother, Sneak, was one of the best scouts in the entire army. Both men were a credit to their father.
On reaching him, Hunter said, "We had one death and four wounded. The enemy had seventy four dead and thirty one wounded. We captured their leader. He is a Colonel in the Slaver Army."
"We'll have to question him. He's the highest ranking man we've captured," Sid said thinking about the intelligence they could get from the man.
Puzzled by the rank, Gregor looked at Sid and asked, "What's a Colonel?"
"It is a high rank in the army we're fighting," Sid answered while distracted by some very nasty thoughts. He couldn't help wondering what such a high level officer was doing there.
"You don't look happy. What's the matter?" Gregor asked thinking that they had a stroke of luck.
"It would be the same as having Hunter, here, leading a patrol of ten men. It is way beneath his command level," Sid answered thoughtfully. Turning to Hunter, he said, "Have some men take him back to River Camp."
"Yes, sir," Hunter said recognizing that he had been dismissed. He walked away to task someone with the job.
"I don't like it when an officer in the enemy army isn't acting his rank," Sid said.
Looking at Sid with a wry grin on his face, Gregor asked, "So what are you doing here?"
Sid laughed at the question and said, "Point taken."
Gregor went over to where the bodies were being laid out. Each man was wearing a common uniform. That practice was exceptionally rare in Chaos. Usually armies were comprised of mercenaries who wore their own clothes. Normally the only group that ever wore something that looked like a uniform was a city guard and they were a permanent force of men. He had seen the uniform several times when he was first taken as a prisoner, but it was only now that the full significance was dawning on him. Squatting down beside one of the bodies and looking up at Sid, he asked, "Do they all wear uniforms?"
"Yes, this is a permanent standing army," Sid answered.
"You say you are up against twenty thousand or so troops?" Gregor asked beginning to understand fully the scope of the war that Sid was fighting.
"I estimate the full size of the army to be around a hundred thousand," Sid answered.
The significance of that statement was not lost on Gregor. Usually each city guard was supported by taxes received from fifty locals. To have a standing army of a hundred thousand required a significant proportion of the tax money went to the army. It wasn't just the cost of paying the men. It was also the cost of outfitting them, housing, and feeding them. He figured that housing them would require between five thousand and ten thousand buildings. Looking over at Sid, he said, "I've never heard of a standing army of even a hundredth that size."
"Impressive accomplishment, isn't it?" Sid asked. It had taken him a long time to realize just how difficult it was to support an army of that size in a culture that had only limited sources of iron. Chaos was basically an agrarian society in which the productivity of individual farms was barely above subsistence level.
"You're going to have to start destroying their supporting infrastructure. At that size, I imagine it is pretty fragile," Gregor said. Trying to assure that food, clothes, materials, and money flowed to that many troops had to be a logistical nightmare.
"Our first job was to take out the men who were turning entire towns into slaves. We've stopped the raids along a front that is almost eight weeks march in length. Our next job was to start growing our army by freeing slaves. Now we're engaging their army."
"It's going to take a lot of engagements like this to get their numbers down," Gregor commented.
"We've been striking small groups of them with engagements like this one. We're hitting them five and six times a day across the front. At first they sent out ten men units, but now they are up to a hundred. They are pulling back into fixed positions. The only time they leave them is to engage us. These engagements are getting to be more and more like full scale battles. It wouldn't surprise me if we don't start facing five hundred man brigades before long," Sid said.
Derek shook his head at the thought of a thousand men on a battlefield fighting it out. This engagement had been an ambush. Good planning, surprise, and ruthlessness had won the battle before it even began. He couldn't help but wonder how Sid would fare in a head to head battle. He asked, "What's next?"
"We'll start destroying their distribution points and warehouses next," Sid answered.
Derek shook his head and said, "I don't see how you're going to win."
"You're forgetting something very important," Sid said.
"What?"
"Five out of seven people in enemy controlled territory are slaves. That's a big force to have behind enemy lines," Sid answered with a grin.
A rider came charging down the road and stopped in front Hunter. The two talked for a minute and then the rider took off back up the road. The other man called out to the woods and four men came running. There was a brief discussion and then the others went back into the woods. Looking over in the direction of Sid, Hunter shook his head and started walking over towards them.
Hunter stopped in front of Sid and said, "There's another patrol coming. They'll be here in about thirty minutes."
Gregor looked to Sid to see how he would deal with the problem. Sid nodded his head and asked, "What did you decide to do?"
"We're going to ambush them here," Hunter answered pointing to the sides of the woods where men were coming out and setting up behind their shields.
"You don't think that will be a little risky," Sid asked thinking that he would have done the same thing in this circumstance.
"Our normal procedure is for us to fall back to a secondary position. The problem is that don't have one set up here. Any further back, we're in farm land and there's no good cover. Between losing cover and having to fight straight out or risking two ambushes from the same spot, I'll take the risk of two ambushes from the same spot. I figure they won't be expecting us to remain here," Hunter said.
Sid turned to Gregor and asked, "What do you think?"
"Why didn't you have a back up position?" Gregor asked wondering why they deviated from their normal procedure.
"This was the only spot for an ambush. The ambush was necessary if we're going to keep the folks you set free safe long enough to establish some rudimentary guard," Hunter said.
"It sounds a little risky to me, but your assessment is probably correct," Gregor said. He looked at the young man thinking that he had a pretty clear grasp of the situation. He was aware of the larger picture as well as the immediate problem.
Hunter shrugged his shoulders and said, "We do what we can to minimize the risk."
The men had cleaned up the area. It wasn't perfect, but it would require someone to be extremely alert to spot the men hidden behind their shields. The previous ambush and rough treatment while clearing up after the battle had left most of the camouflage in rough shape. The beat up branches on the bushes actually made it appear that the fighting had occurred at the tree lines.
"We had better get out of sight before the... ," Gregor said.
Hunter interrupted, "General, you had better head back to a rear position."
"Are you trying to give me an order?"
"Not really, General. I was making a suggestion that I'm going to insist you follow," Hunter said with a tactful grin. Pointing to the horse, he said, "I'd appreciate it if you were to get on your horse and ride out of here. We're going to be hip deep in the enemy soon and I'd hate to lose you because the enemy gets lucky."
Knowing that Hunter was correct in his assessment, Sid said, "When you're done here, get over to River Camp. We have some things to talk about."
"Yes, General," Hunter said with a nod of his head. He hoped that he hadn't stepped over the line, but he didn't want Sid around for this fight.
Climbing into his saddle, Sid said, "I'll expect a full report when you reach River Camp."
"Yes, General."
As they rode off, Gregor gave Sid a wry grin and said, "He thinks you're mad at him for telling you to go."
"I know," Sid answered attempting to keep his face neutral.
"Are you?" Derek asked thinking the same thing, but not being amused by it.
"He's not, but that little misunderstanding just means that the promotion will be a bigger surprise," Fred answered with a grin while watching the back of Sid's head. Somehow he knew the expression on the man's face was one of amusement.
Four days later, the dozen men reached bridge gate to River Camp. River Camp was a fortification that Sid had set up on one side of a very wide river. The river was deep enough that it could only be crossed by the wooden bridge that spanned it or by boats. The next nearest crossing was two days march to the south where they had a second camp. In case the enemy showed up, they could burn the bridge and make good a retreat. This was their most secure encampment as evidenced by the fact that Sid had sent Laura to stay there.
The bridge gate was a monstrous two story wooden structure complete with guard towers at each side and a protected platform across the top from which archers could fire arrows on unwanted visitors. The gate itself was tall enough for a mounted man on horseback to enter while carrying a spear in an upright position. It was wide enough for four men to ride abreast.
Beside the bridge gate was a large meadow with fire rings scattered around it. A couple of wagons were parked in the meadow with men and women gathered around them gesturing in the time honored manner of people negotiating prices. There were a few tents occupied by men who were waiting, although what they were waiting for wasn't clear by looking at them.
Sid pulled up at the bridge gate and shouted up to the right-hand tower of the gate. "Hello, the guard."
"General, you're back early," the guard said leaning over to look down at Sid. His job was simple. He was to keep out spies and watch the road for the approach of the enemy. If the enemy showed, he was to secure the gate, sound the alarm, and set fire to the bridge while retreating to the town on the other side. There was no pretense of trying to defend the site from a real army. Keeping out spies was the trickier proposition.
"How are things?"
"Good. Barson and Olaf are here. The Colonel is in the stockade and is being interrogated," the guard replied knowing that was the kind of news that Sid wanted. He looked over at the two strangers with Sid and asked, "So who are your friends?"
"Gregor of the Rider Clan and his man, Derek," Sid answered.
The guard nodded and said, "Nice to meet you Gregor and Derek."
"They have privileges," Sid said to let the guard know that the two men could come and go as they wished. He amended it to allow them to bring people into the camp by adding, "Full privileges."
"Good to know," the guard said. He gestured to someone behind the gate and said, "Take them by the other fellows."
"Of course," Sid said. Turning to the rest of the men, he said, "Let's get into camp."
"What's with the privileges?" Gregor asked eyeing the gate carefully. He didn't miss the fact that there were a dozen slits from which arrows could be fired. The doors slowly opened and he found there were a dozen men facing him armed with swords.
"You can come and go from camp when you wish. With full privileges you can also bring in people," Sid answered. Anticipating the next few questions, he explained, "The guards only allow people in who they recognize, unless they are accompanied by someone they recognize who has the right to bring in people. They only allow people out who they recognize and have the right permissions."
"Sounds complicated," Gregor said riding through the gate with Sid.
"It's the only way to maintain security when you have people who are away for too long for passwords to be changed frequently enough to work."
"What if the guard doesn't recognize you?" Derek asked looking at all of the men around him.
"You ask for someone inside who would recognize you and has permission to bring in someone," Sid said. He pointed to the meadow and said, "We often have people camping over there for a day or two until someone comes along that knows them. A lot of trade takes place outside these gates."
In a voice that conveyed his doubts that it would work, Gregor said, "It might work."
"If you can come up with a better scheme, we'll use it," Sid said. He knew that one traitor could bring in a force large enough to overwhelm the base, but he had not identified a better way to control access to the fort.
He kicked his horse into motion and road through the gate followed by the rest of the party. Once through the gate, he halted his horse and turned to face the other men on guard duty. He called out to the men above the gate, "These two men with me have full privileges."
The men on the walkway over the gate waved acknowledgement to Sid. Gregor was impressed with the number of people at the gate. He asked, "Is it always manned with so many people?"
"Yes," Sid said. This was their most secure fortification this close to where the action was taking place. It wasn't their most forward base, but the forward bases tended to be moved every month.
They crossed the river finding a couple of men fishing from the bridge. The men had been out on raids for more than two months and were taking a well deserved break from action. Sid didn't bother them knowing that their commander would have taken them to task if they had been derelict in duty. As they passed, Sid asked, "Would you like to go fishing, Fred?"
"Uh, the thought did cross my mind," he answered.
"I wouldn't mind some fresh fish for dinner tonight," Sid said knowing that it was the easiest way to give Fred the kind of permission that he would accept. He added, "Of course, the only way to assure that it was fresh was if you caught it. We wouldn't want to trade for some fish that have been hanging around for a couple of days."
"Yes, General. I'll see what I can do," Fred said with a smile.
"I wish you luck," Sid said. He watched as Fred turned to head towards a building by the river. The building was a rest and recuperation facility that provided items for use by men in their off time. There were simple things like fishing poles, balls, hammocks, and other items that the men would use to while away their idle time. It had been another one of those slightly twisted ideas by Olaf and Barson.
Derek commented, "He sure looks happy."
Chuckling, Sid turned to Gregor and said, "Amazing how hard it is to give a guy a day off, isn't it?"
"Seems to me that you handled that well," Gregor commented. He looked over at Derek and asked, "What about you? Care to go fishing?"
"Maybe," Derek said. The past few months had been rough. As a slave, he hadn't been given a single chance to just relax. Even after his rescue, he'd been busy keeping up with Sid and Gregor.
Gregor held out both arms and looked at the rough red skin around his wrists. Frowning, he said, "I'm going fishing. Nothing in the world sounds better than sitting by the river drinking watered wine and watching a fishing pole."
Sid pointed to the building that Fred had entered. He said, "Go there and ask for some fishing poles."
"I can make my own," Derek said before he realized that he had lost all of his possessions and wouldn't be able to make his own pole.
"They've got at least fifty fishing poles over there for use by anyone who wants to fish. If everyone around here made their own pole, we wouldn't have a tree left within a mile of here," Sid said with a smile.
"I'm impressed," Gregor said.
"If you would rather swing from a hammock for a couple of hours, they can direct you to where they have one set up," Sid said.
Derek grinned at the idea of gently swinging in the breeze while
doing nothing and said, "That's what I'd like to do."