Chapter 14
The next day a very unhappy Sid finished interrogating the Colonel that had been captured in the raid five days earlier. The information that he had gotten from the man didn't represent good news. The Colonel had been leading five groups of a hundred men each. Each group followed the previous group by thirty minutes. He hadn't left Hunter to face a second group of a hundred, but a second, third, fourth, and fifth group of a hundred. It was too late to help Hunter, but he hoped the young man had managed to pull off a major miracle.
The news was even worse than that. He had learned that Danny Sun wasn't being very effective in his campaign. That had freed a lot of enemy troops that could be brought to bear on the more effective generals. Half of them were headed in his direction and that meant trouble.
His attention was drawn away from that problem by the arrival of Hunter in a huge crowd of men. He gave a sigh of relief on seeing the young man. He was accompanied by one of the raiding parties and most of his men. The entire party looked in bad shape.
Hunter left his men and stopped a short distance away from Sid. He didn't care if Sid was going to yell at him about ordering him to leave. What he had gone through justified that many times over. Looking down at the ground, he said, "I'm reporting as you ordered, General."
"How did the ambush go?" Sid asked noticing that Hunter had a bandage on his arm.
"I lost twenty men and had another forty four wounded," Hunter answered.
"What happened?"
"We ambushed the second set of troops and things went alright. Two of our men were killed and ten were wounded. The problem was that there was a third set of troops fifteen minutes behind them. We were caught by surprise and had to fight a strategic retreat for two days," Hunter answered.
"What about the scout? Why didn't he warn you of their approach?" Sid asked wondering why they hadn't learned about the third force.
"At the time, I figured he was dead. I later learned that he had been chased for almost four hours by the enemy's mounted soldiers before getting away," Hunter said.
"Tell me about the retreat," Sid said feeling like Hunter must have done an exemplary job of controlling the men to have survived three engagements in a single day.
"Well, we picked up our shields and our spears as soon as we heard the enemy coming. Estimating that we faced an equal or greater force, I ordered that all of the prisoners be killed. If they got free, we'd be fighting them for a second time and I couldn't risk the lives of my men for theirs," Hunter said fully believing that Sid would criticize him for not doing something else with the prisoners.
"Understandable," Sid said knowing that Hunter had been in a tough position. He probably had about fifty prisoners and less than a hundred men. Retreating with fifty prisoners was impossible and adding almost half your force to the pursuit was suicidal.
"We headed down the road before they saw us. I figure that coming across that many dead bodies slowed them down for half an hour. We used that half an hour to get as far as possible and then stopped to catch our breath. It was an open area with no cover to be found. I chose to make a stand at that location. The last thing I wanted was to be chased down in disarray," Hunter said. He figured that break actually saved his men.
"By the time we had caught our breath, the enemy was within sight. We used that turtle defense where we locked shields and used our spears to keep them off of us. I couldn't believe how effective it was. When they would charge, we'd just poke out a spear at any body part that came into view. When they backed off, we continued our retreat down the road in formation," Hunter said. It had been the longest day of his life.
"They must have charged us twenty or thirty times that afternoon. Each time, it was an ugly fight with lots of blood; mostly theirs, but occasionally some of ours. We lost eight men that afternoon. We held each time, but we were getting weaker. They kept getting more and more reinforcements. It finally got too dark to fight, but we continued moving down the road for half of the night staying in that turtle formation. I'd say that we got about four hours of rest before the sun rose.
"When dawn came, the enemy was still in sight. They had followed us in the dark, but couldn't see well enough to co- ordinate an attack. I'm halfway convinced that they were terrified of facing our defensive position when they couldn't see well enough to dodge our spears. That morning, they attacked us again. My men were exhausted, but each of them stood their ground and fought with a ferocity that should be commended," Hunter said looking at Sid.
"Have no doubts about that," Sid said.
"It was nearing noon and I wasn't sure that we were going to be able to hang on for another minute when the scout showed up with the raiding party led by Theodore Forester. I was down to forty people who were still capable of fighting and Theodore had fifty mounted men. The enemy was still well over a hundred," Hunter said. He remembered looking out between shields and seeing the charge of Forester's men. His first thought was that another group of enemy reinforcements had arrived.
"What did you do?"
"His charge pulled the men from one side of our formation. I ordered our men to form into a line and to advance. I think the enemy was very surprised to find itself facing four rows of spearmen advancing behind a wall of shields. It turned into a melee, General. I don't know how my men did it, but they stood until the tide had turned. Forester's men mopped up the enemy," Hunter said.
Nodding his head, Sid asked, "How many of the enemy do you estimate were killed or wounded?"
"I'd say about four hundred if we include the first two ambushes," Hunter said.
"And you started with a hundred men," Sid said rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He said, "You lost twenty men and had forty four wounded. Does that include the one dead and four wounded in the initial engagement?"
"Yes, sir," Hunter said.
"You do realize that you actually engaged five hundred of the enemy?" Sid asked.
"It sure felt like it," Hunter said.
Sid looked at Hunter very impressed with how the man had dealt with the situation. He said, "I want you to know that I'm very impressed with how your men handled themselves through that entire ordeal. They demonstrated exactly the kind of discipline and strength of character that I want in our men."
"Thank you, General. I'll let them know that," Hunter said.
"You don't have to let them know that. I'll tell them that myself," Sid said with a smile. Sid rubbed his chin and asked, "I want your honest assessment about another matter."
"Yes, sir," Hunter said.
"How would you evaluate your performance?" Sid asked.
"I'd say that I was right in sending you away and I was wrong in staying for the second ambush. After that mistake, the only thing I could do was hold off the inevitable for as long as possible. We were lucky that we were rescued by Forester's raiders," Hunter answered.
"That's where I have to disagree with you," Sid said.
"I was right in sending you away, sir," Hunter said.
"That was a given. You might think I was upset by that, but I was more amused than anything else. I don't think you were wrong in staying for the second ambush. I also think that you didn't just hold off the inevitable. That understates your performance. You held together a force of men who were so tired that I imagine they just dropped to the ground when it was all over. Your men performed admirably, but that was because you demonstrated the leadership skills that brought that performance out of them."
Blinking, Hunter said, "Thank you, General."
"No. I should by thanking you, Hunter. You did an outstanding job. You managed to save eighty of your men when you were facing three to one odds. That was an impressive demonstration of leadership,"
Hunter didn't know what to say. He went with the tried and true response. "Thank you, General."
Pacing in front of Hunter, Sid said, "You may have wondered why I asked you to report here when I left."
"I figured it was for asking you to leave," Hunter said.
Sid laughed and said, "That wasn't the reason why, although I did leave you with that impression. No, the reason I asked you here was to promote you. You're going to be leading a brigade from now on."
"You're kidding," Hunter said looking at Sid in disbelief.
"No and now that I've heard your report, I can say without a doubt that I wasn't wrong in wanting to promote you," Sid said patting Hunter on the shoulder.
"Thank you, General," Hunter said. As far as he knew, there were only a handful of men who had command over thousand men in all of Chaos. In most campaigns, that would make him a general.
"You deserve it, Hunter. Now, if you'll take my advice then I suggest that you have your men relax this afternoon without any duties. Let them sleep, fish, play, or do what ever they want until noon tomorrow. I would like them to stand in formation at the bridge at noon tomorrow so that I can address them," Sid said.
"I'll let the men know that."
"Once you've done that, you might decide how you want to spend your time," Sid said.
"Thank you, General. I think I'll just take a nap in a hammock," Hunter said. He waited to be dismissed.
Seeing the young man still standing there, Sid made a shooing gesture and said, "Run along and play."
"Yes, General," Hunter said with a laugh. He walked away shaking his head in amazement.
Turning to the crowd that had gathered behind him, Sid asked, "Well, Gregor. What do you think of Hunter?"
"He's good. I'm very impressed," Gregor answered. He was more impressed that Sid managed to train his junior leaders to such high levels of performance.
"I'm impressed as well," Sid said. Shaking his head, he added, "I imagine that he lived through hell out there."
"Indeed, General," Fred said with a nod. It had dawned on him about halfway through the story that Hunter could have retreated through the area where the slaves had just been freed. It was likely that if he had done that, the enemy would have been held up to deal with the freed slaves. He could have gotten away after a two hour retreat rather than a two day retreat.
Sid turned to Fred and noticed the expression on his face. Smiling, Sid said, "I see that you figured it out, too.'
"He figured out what?" Derek asked.
"That he led the enemy away from the men and women we had freed earlier that day," Sid said.
Derek frowned and said, "He could have used their help against the enemy."
"He would have gotten most of them killed," Sid said raising an eyebrow.
Realizing that he had known many of the folks that had been freed, Derek understood that Hunter had done something very noble. Rather than risk hundreds to save his own skin, he had risked his to save them. Nodding his head, he said, "I understand."
Gregor said, "They're going to send an even larger force out there now."
"I know," Sid said with a frown. He figured that there were five hundred men at the base where the original forces had been camped. It would take a day for one of the survivors to return to the base. It wouldn't be until the next day that a force would leave for the farms. Then, it would be another day on the road before the force made it to the farms. He decided that the farm had three days from the day of the battle before they would be facing enemy forces.
"The slaver army had three days to get there. Five days have passed since the ambush," Gregor said. His mind had gone through the same calculation as Sid.
"And we're four days from there," Sid said with a nod. With a worried expression on his face, he said, "I'm confident that Forester made sure that they were protected."
Theodore Forester had been standing behind Fred waiting for a chance to report. In a soft voice, he said, "Hunter wouldn't leave until I convinced him that at least five raiding parties remained in the area, General."
Surprised, Sid turned around and asked, "Were the raiding parties informed of what they could expect?"
"Yes, General. The story of Hunter's retreat was told to one and all. I'm sure that the enemy has no idea what they are about to walk into," Forester answered with an expression of delight on his face. He added, "You have no idea what effect that story had on the men, sir. A hundred men facing five to one odds and emerging victorious is a quite a standard to meet. I'm sure that our two hundred and fifty mounted men will not allow five hundred of the enemy to be victorious."
The next day Sid stood in front of the gathered men of Hunter's company. All other men and women in camp were in attendance. Sid gave a speech in which he praised Hunter for his leadership and announced his promotion.
In an army where men worked for pay and medals were meaningless, it was customary to reward men with money. A shell was the typical award for a common soldier. He handed Hunter a rather large bag containing five conches, with two of the conches in shells. With fifty shells per conch, that would allow Hunter to give each man a shell. He knew that Hunter would distribute a shell to the each of the men under him.
After that little speech was over, Sid addressed the men concerning their heroism and discipline in the face of the enemy. He then handed out bags containing three shells in the form of two shells and four quads. The men appreciated the unexpected bonus and Sid was widely praised. That praise was then directed to Hunter when he distributed another shell to each man.
It was three days later when a man rode into River Camp with news from the field. He was wearing a bandage on his arm and one on his leg. He rode to the building where Sid was staying and climbed off his horse. He moved gingerly as if in pain. Sid stepped out of the building and looked over the man taking in his condition. Laura and Fred came out behind him.
The man straightened and said, "Martin Dickenson reporting from the field, General."
"What's the news?"
"Our forces engaged the enemy at Hunter's Crossroad and were victorious. The fort in which the enemy had been billeted has been burned to the ground. Their supplies have been added to ours," Martin said.
Sid's eyebrows rose on hearing that the battlefield had been named after Hunter. He wondered how Hunter would react to that. He asked, "How many men did the enemy send out?"
"Over eight hundred men, General. We were rather surprised by the number of men that they had. They completely emptied their fort to field that many men."
"How many of our men were there?"
"Three hundred, General. Six groups of raiders with fifty men each," Martin said.
"Have a seat and then tell me the whole story," Sid said gesturing to one of several stumps in front of the building.
Martin sat down and said, "Initially there were five raiding parties waiting for the enemy. Sneak was scouting around the enemy fort and saw how many men were marching out. He rode back to where our group was camped in the woods a day's march from the fort. Jackson sent out a rider to find additional raiding parties to join in the battle. The rider was only able to find one more raiding party."
"Well, there are only ten raiding parties active at a time. I'd be surprised if there was another one to be found within a two day ride," Sid said. He was rather surprised that the rider had been able to find one.
"Our group allowed the enemy to march past us while we hid in the woods about a four hour march from the road. Once they had passed us, we went back to their fort and took their supplies. Then we burned down the fort. You could see the smoke for a day's march in every direction.
"The enemy sent back a fifty man patrol to investigate. We took care of them using our standard tactics; quick sorties that took out five or six of their men at time," Martin said with a grin.
"Good move," Sid said.
Martin looked down at the ground for a second and then said, "We went after the rest of their forces figuring that we could harass them from the rear. They had a hundred mounted men, fifty leading the way and fifty following the rest of the troops. We haven't had many occasions where we've had to face mounted men and our quick sorties approach wasn't going to work since they could give us pursuit. We had to change it a little. Ten of us would charge them from the rear and take out a man or two before turning around and riding off. They would pursue us back down the road only to find forty men charging from the side with lances. It was a pretty effective tactic. It only took about six sorties to destroy their mounted support and we ended up with half of their horses."
"Whose idea was that?" Sid asked.
"Dick Jackson, General. He said that if we could do that with men marching, then we could do something similar for men on horseback. It was just a matter of figuring out how to destroy their discipline."
"Smart man," Sid commented trying to recall Dick Jackson. If he remembered correctly, he had been one of the freed slaves who had joined up with his army.
"We then went after the men who were marching. Other raiding parties had joined in the action by then. We were hitting them twelve times a day; sometimes at the head of the column and sometimes at the rear, but mostly right across the middle. We kept that up for two days. By then, we had reduced their forces to a little fewer than six hundred men."
Frowning, Sid did the mental calculation. Their standard rate of success in a sortie was five enemy killed. They should have reduced the enemy by almost a hundred and twenty. Taking into account the hundred mounted men and the fifty sent back to the fort, the enemy should have had only a little more than five hundred men. He asked, "Why weren't the raids as effective as normal?"
"They were marching four abreast rather than the standard two. I think they were afraid of being ambushed, but it also made it a little more difficult for our sorties."
"They are adapting to our tactics," Sid said holding up a hand to keep Martin from telling him more of the story while he considered the implications of the change. It was going to be necessary to change how they ran a sortie. With a gesture, he let the man know that he was to continue telling the story.
"The enemy finally made it to Hunter's crossing and less than two hours march from the freed slaves. It was time for us to stop them, but we were still out numbered at almost two to one. The leaders of the raiding teams worked together to come up with a strategy to use the fact that we were mounted while they were on foot.
"It was decided that rather than charging into the enemy we would ride along their positions. Each of us would take out a man with our lance each pass. We tried to keep at least six feet of distance from the enemy closing only when we were ready to take out our man. If they came out to meet us, we'd change direction to make sure that we kept the six feet of distance. They ran all over that battlefield trying to close in with us," Martin said.
"Sounds like a reasonable strategy," Sid said thinking that it reminded him of how the Native Americans fought the wagon trains. They'd circle around the settlers firing arrows at a distance where the men couldn't reach them with handheld weapons. Of course, the rifle made that a mute point. Still, the motion of the mounted warrior made it difficult to actually hit the man. It was apparently easier to fire at a stationary target from horseback than to hit a moving target while standing stationary.
"Our horses got tired, but we each have a string of three horses. We changed horses rather frequently. The enemy being on foot didn't have that luxury. We kept it up for two hours before they broke and ran," Martin said. The retreat had been disorganized and fatal for almost all of those who ran.
"How many prisoners did you get?" Sid asked.
"Forty."
"It must have been a massacre."
"It was. Tired men can't run far. They can't think straight, either. Very few of them had the presence of mind to drop their weapons and surrender," Martin said.
"How many of our men were killed or wounded?"
"Eight killed and sixty wounded," Martin answered.
The low numbers surprised Sid. Looking at the bandages, Sid asked, "How did you get wounded?"
"I was riding along the enemy's position when one of them threw his sword at me," Martin answered. He shook his head and said, "They were a little frustrated that we didn't fight them head on."
Seated around the campfire that night, Sid and Gregor discussed the alterations in the tactics that the enemy was adopting. Sid expressed his concern that the enemy was going to be increasingly more successful in countering their tactics.
"When you rescued me, you said that you needed me. What can I do to help?" Gregor asked.
"Parker has been leading half of my army four weeks ride in that direction," Sid answered pointing to the west. Parker was one of the veterans who had been brought from the Jones Citadel. "I need to field a division of my army to the east. Would you be interested in leading it?"
Gregor sat on his stump watching the men moving around the camp while thinking about the offer. There were many reasons to accept it, but a few very good reasons not to take it. After a minute of thought, he asked, "Haven't you been training someone to do that?"
"Yes."
"I thought as much. It would be best to have that person lead the new division of your army," Gregor said in a thoughtful manner. Looking over at Sid, he said, "There's a Rider Clan saying that you don't change horses while crossing a stream. Go with your man. I'll return to the Rider Clan and raise a group to help you."
Nodding his head, Sid wasn't going to say that it was also an Earth saying. He said, "You are probably right. How many men do you think you can get?"
"The Rider Clan is large, maybe a little too large. I can probably pull together a thousand men," Gregor said. Looking over at Sid, he winked and added, "Maybe I'll be able to get some of my Nomadic relatives to join in. They are an impressive sight when they ride into battle."
"I've heard that," Sid said with a smile. It was a twenty week march to the Rider Citadel. A rider could make that in half of the time. It would take Gregor at least ten weeks to reach the Rider Citadel and then another ten weeks to return. With two or three weeks to recruit that many men, it would mean that it would take Gregor six months to arrive. He said, "It will take you six months to get there and back."
"Yes, it will. I'll be leaving in the morning," Gregor said looking
down at his wrists. They had healed, but the scars would remain for
life to serve as a constant reminder of the lowest point of his life.
He was going to make them pay for those scars.