All Adventure Begins with Tragedy

Chapter X: Hammerites' territory isn't the nicest

We woke up early and donned our gear. Each soldier carried all of their weapons, plus tents, cooking gear, and food. It definitely was not easy on us. We had lost all of the pack beasts, and didn't even have any Degobeis. Coincidentally, we didn't have any cavalry or archers. All of us were foot soldiers. Having to tote the shields, swords, bucklers, and lances, back packs full of gear, and our pike-axes in hand, we were all close to falling over.

"Silver sir!"

"Yes Jonathan?" I responded.

"The men can't keep this up for long, we will need to make often stops," he pointed out.

"Good point. Tell every one to take a break."

"But sir, if they catch up to us, We will barely have a fighting chance!"

"Do it anyway Jonathan, I know what I'm doing."

"Yes sir," he said submitting.

Thankfully, the men and women sat down to rest.

"Are there any among you who can continue going?" I asked.

"Sir! I can!" A young man said standing up.

"Ethan, if I'm not correct?" I asked what is name was.

"Yes sir," he responded.

"I can keep going to!" Another man said.

Soon a third stood up.

Ethan, Ezra, and Toru were the three men that volunteered.

"I want you three fine boys to find us a cart and horse," I commanded them, "Can you do that?"

"Yessir!" They answered in unison then took off running.

"Stay together and do us a favor and don't die!" I yelled after them.

Then we waited. We seemed to do a lot of waiting these days.

The men were glad for the rest. It had been a sweaty half a day. We were all exhausted beyond compression. Most of us drifted off to sleep. The sun steadily moved above us, and soon brilliant streaks of red and gold filled the sky. Not many of us were in the realm of the living to witness it. Most were asleep. The old red sun dipped below the horizon and the brilliant pictorial scene disappeared.

Then I became alert, in the distance where the three had gone, was a cloud of dust. The column of dust spiraled into the starry night sky. As it approached, I could see it was a oxen pulled wagon. Behind it were three eight weary figures. Three detached themselves from the group and sprinted forward.

"Sir! We found the wagon like you told us to! The men that owned it wanted to join our cause, so all five boys came with us," Ethan reported.

"Okay, thank you boys. To be honest I didn't think you would find anything out here, you have surprised me beyond all expectations," I congratulated them proudly. They were the same age as me really.

The other five hobbled up. As soon as they arrived, I sat them down to let them rest, then distributed weapons. They brought our total number to thirty five. Five squads of seven.

The next morning I decided to organize the squads, putting myself, Jonathan, Rachel, Arthur, and Ethan in charge of the squads. I then reminded them that it was temporary, and that with the influx of men, the others would be put in charge.

We loaded all the gear into the wagon, except the bucklers and lances. I personally preferred the lances over the pike-axes and shield walls. They were more mobile, so they could be used more effectively in gorilla warfare tactics. Thankfully, due to the insight of Jonathan, each soldier had carried two bucklers and two lances. Because they we're so light, it didn't pose a problem. The five new soldiers were able to get their equipment needs met.

We all marched along side the wagon in no discernible order. It wasn't long before we reached the first town.

It was burned to the ground. The entire town was charred, and we found a few terribly burnt bodies. It was a gruesome site to behold. We marched on by with out looking around. At least we knew we were in Hammerite territory.

After resting for the night, we continued on. We passed through a forest of chopped down trees. It seemed the Hammerites were attempting to industrialize their land.

No factories. In fact, I barely even remember what factories did. Something about hard polycarbonate. I really should have paid attention in school.

There were no factories in this day and age. No, when I say industrialized, I mean they were using up the natural resources to build mechanisms of war. Not a good thing when you think about it.

We passed through several such areas, plus water reservoirs that were empty, abandoned mines and quarries, and discarded war machines that had broken on the path to war. It was a broken country.

A few times we passed by towns that were not burned to the ground. We skirted around them, but we sent scouts to check them out. The Hammerites had set up a police state. Soldiers constantly patrolled the inside of the towns, and we even saw them setting up for public executions twice. It was not the world we wanted to live in. Seeing these things strengthened our resolve to end this.

Along the way we passed a few farms that had able-bodied men willing to fight for us. We picked up thirteen in the first four days of being behind enemy lines. That brought our total to forty eight. We were able to create one more squad of seven and a second with six. My hope was to get all thirty of us originals in charge of a squad. To do that we would need two hundred and ten men total. That kind of force would be most formidable if we planned our strikes right.

On the eve of the fifth day, our scouts found a stronghold for the Hammerites. It looked to be a minor one, mostly because it was so far back from the boarder. It was a large squat base with basics such as barracks and stables, with a large watch tower rising out of the fort. The walls were thick, and relatively high. The whole thing was laid out like an eight-pointed star.

"Now that looks like something ripe for the picking!" Ethan commented to me.

"So what's the plan boss? How do we take it!" Jonathan asked.

They were assuming we were going to take it. Or at least try. Better go along with them.

"We cut off all supplies. Capture the supplies for our selves. If someone tries to get out, we kill them. We will also launch bombardments at it somehow. Eventually they will give up. Sound good?"

"So we are basically laying siege to them," Ethan observed.

"Yes, but we will need an inside man," I tacked on to my first idea.

"Well there's no one better for the job than Luke!" Luke said sneaking up behind us.

Luke was our best scout. I had made that last squad a squad for scouts. Luke was the leader. The six that were apart of it were the best in the business (or so they boasted) and Luke was the best of them all.

"Okay then, you know what to do! Get your men and get going!" I ordered.

"Yessir!" He responded with a silly grim plastered across his face, "I personally can't wait! Oh.. and sir? Do I have permission to make some folks "disappear" to strengthen our act?"

"Yes Luke, do what you think best," I gave an exaggerated eye roll.

He scampered away chuckling.

"Well looks like we are committed," Adalayde observed.

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WOHOO! Chapter ten! How yall liking the story? Also, do you want me to have a sign off at the end of chapters like this one? Are my chapters too long? Please tell me! I have been cutting them down from two thousand five hundred words to around one thousand and some. Is that better? Also, if you were a character in the story, who would you be? Thanks for the votes and support!

Silver... AWAY!!!!