Chapter 4
Signs of Trouble
Freeman got his men together and started them off towards the Grey River. He was a bit disappointed at the prospect. Why would he be promoted just to take the safe path back to base. Freeman had spent the previous night preparing to go with Luuk towards the corrupted lands. He was not prepared to take his men on a diversion run. He knew that his mission was to make noise and draw any attacks away from the main host. He was to make sure he was the target, not the group heading towards the border, and not the group carrying the wounded back to base.
Freeman set out three sets of scouts. Two groups he sent ahead to make sure there were no surprises waiting for them. A third group he set on his back trail. They were a rear guard but they were also to make sure that the path they took was well marked. He wanted the path he took to be clear to anyone who wanted to follow.
The land they traveled through was difficult. The forest was dense with trees and undergrowth, and the path they followed went up and down steep hills. They tried to stay in the valleys when they could but often the valleys were across the intended path of the men.
The forest was typical of what the men expected with one exception. There was no sound other than the footfalls of the soldiers. As the day progressed the huffing breaths broke the cadence of the march. There were no birds, or animals. They heard no wild dogs or wolves. There was no rustling in the undergrowth. Freeman saw that his men were affected by the forced march, the attacks of the day before, and the odd silence of the environment.
“At least yesterday there was wildlife.” Freeman muttered to himself.
After several miles Freeman called for a meal break. He set several men to felling trees to fuel the cook fires and set the rest to patrols around the temporary camp. It took considerable time to prepare meals for sixty men. By the time the meal was served a large area had been searched.
Freemen called in the scouts and they started to eat in shifts. One third of the men eating, one third guarding, and one third out scouting. The men seemed to have higher spirits after eating. They cleaned up the camp and continued traveling towards the Grey river.
Freeman was lost in thought during the afternoon when his scouts reported they had found a farm site. It looked like a freehold. Freeman had the main body slow down and went with the advanced scouts to see the site. The scouts lead Freeman up to the site. One look and Freeman was sure that it was a freehold. It was walled for one thing and all the buildings were linked.
As they watched the farm Freeman caught his breath. He heard others take in a sudden breath as well. Freeman called over his shoulder to one of his fist leaders. “Kyndul!” Freeman barked, “Go back and get the rest of the men here fast.” He turned to the remaining men. He counted them. Twice. Only none. “We need to move fast. I know you saw what I just saw. There are people inside that freehold, and I counted four Reavers move into the clearing. I need you four to take out those Reavers, while the rest of use get to those people out of there. Now, lets move.”
All the men moved at the same time. As soon as they left the trees the Reavers saw them and started to run towards the group. The four men Freeman had told to kill the Reavers moved to meet them.
Freeman looked at the creatures. They were about eight feet tall, with massive upper torsos. Running hunched over, using hands as well as feet, the beasts started to screech and yell. They had a wide over sized mouths with long broad fangs. Reavers' were built for the quick kill. They didn't have much stamina but they had massive strength. As the men met the Reavers near the walls of the freehold Freeman and his men got to the walls of the farm and started along the walls to the main gate. Freeman watched as two of his men attacked a Reaver. The Reaver made a mad swing that was easily evaded, the men struck in unison and dropped the beast. The next Reaver grabbed one of the men and ripped into his chest. The reacer started to feed on the dead man. The sick ripping sounds the Reaver was making were almost too much to bear after the silence of the march. The men were screaming as they took down the second Reaver. This one did not die cleanly as the first one had. Reavers did not have massively muscled legs but the death throws of the beast knocked out one of the remaining men. The two remaining men guarded their fallen companion just as they were trained to do.
Freeman was amazed at the ferocity of the battle. Something was wrong though, Freeman watched as the gate to the freehold was opening when he realized what it was. There was no sound coming from the freehold. Freeman pressed his weight against the opening doors of the freehold just as the first farmer emerged from the gate.
“Fall back! Fall Back!” Freeman yelled.
Freeman was having trouble getting the gate to close. His men looked at him confused. That was all the time it took. The man who had emerged from the gate reached out and tore the throat out of one of the bannermen. Then the others leaped into action. With quick efficiency they had the man cut down. Freeman was not able to close the gate so soon they had two more to deal with. Freeman let the gate go and started hacking at the things as they emerged from the freehold. He risked a glance over his shoulder and saw that the Reavers were down but he had lost two men and the third was wounded. The four remaining men were cutting down the once live monsters as they emerged from the freehold gate but freeman saw that it only a matter of time before they were overrun.
“We need to withdraw, soon” He shouted. “On my Mark I want to retreat twenty paces and form a controlled line of defense there.”
Another two of the monsters came through the gate and were cut down. Freeman saw his chance.
“Now! Fallback!” Freeman yelled.
As they fell back towards the tree line, one of the fallen former farmers grabbed one of the bannermen. The bannermen fell and before he could rise was ripped in half by the creature.
Freeman cursed and formed up his remaining men into a line. Freeman was hoping that Kundyl would arrive with the rest of his force before they were overrun.
“Sir! Look!” One of his bannermen pointed to the far side of the clearing. Freeman looked to where he was pointing. A mass of creatures was entering the clearing. This was a mass of forest creatures, from as large as deer and elk to as small as squirrels and foxes. A mass of undead forest creatures and a freehold of farmers. Freeman knew his men could not stand against both these forces.
A freehold might hold up to one hundred people. They had killed six people by the gate. There might be fifty to seventy forest creatures. Freeman had five men, one of them wounded.
“Retreat! Back to the camp! Now! Move! Move! Move!” Freeman yelled.
All the men turned and ran into the trees. They had about three thousand paces to get back to the main group. Freeman kept the men together, kept them at a jog. The creatures they were fleeing did not move very quickly so they were confident they could out pace the enemy.
About a third of the way back they met the force Kundyl was leading back.
“We have a massive force of creatures at the freehold.” Freeman said, “I want to form up and crush the site. We should hit it from multiple sides. Kundyl, take two fists and circle to the south. Whistler take another tow fists and circle to the north. The rest follow me and we will crush the creatures at the freehold.”
The men split smoothly and headed off to attack the freehold.
Freeman got his men together and started them off towards the Grey River. He was a bit disappointed at the prospect. Why would he be promoted just to take the safe path back to base. Freeman had spent the previous night preparing to go with Luuk towards the corrupted lands. He was not prepared to take his men on a diversion run. He knew that his mission was to make noise and draw any attacks away from the main host. He was to make sure he was the target, not the group heading towards the border, and not the group carrying the wounded back to base.
Freeman set out three sets of scouts. Two groups he sent ahead to make sure there were no surprises waiting for them. A third group he set on his back trail. They were a rear guard but they were also to make sure that the path they took was well marked. He wanted the path he took to be clear to anyone who wanted to follow.
The land they traveled through was difficult. The forest was dense with trees and undergrowth, and the path they followed went up and down steep hills. They tried to stay in the valleys when they could but often the valleys were across the intended path of the men.
The forest was typical of what the men expected with one exception. There was no sound other than the footfalls of the soldiers. As the day progressed the huffing breaths broke the cadence of the march. There were no birds, or animals. They heard no wild dogs or wolves. There was no rustling in the undergrowth. Freeman saw that his men were affected by the forced march, the attacks of the day before, and the odd silence of the environment.
“At least yesterday there was wildlife.” Freeman muttered to himself.
After several miles Freeman called for a meal break. He set several men to felling trees to fuel the cook fires and set the rest to patrols around the temporary camp. It took considerable time to prepare meals for sixty men. By the time the meal was served a large area had been searched.
Freemen called in the scouts and they started to eat in shifts. One third of the men eating, one third guarding, and one third out scouting. The men seemed to have higher spirits after eating. They cleaned up the camp and continued traveling towards the Grey river.
Freeman was lost in thought during the afternoon when his scouts reported they had found a farm site. It looked like a freehold. Freeman had the main body slow down and went with the advanced scouts to see the site. The scouts lead Freeman up to the site. One look and Freeman was sure that it was a freehold. It was walled for one thing and all the buildings were linked.
As they watched the farm Freeman caught his breath. He heard others take in a sudden breath as well. Freeman called over his shoulder to one of his fist leaders. “Kyndul!” Freeman barked, “Go back and get the rest of the men here fast.” He turned to the remaining men. He counted them. Twice. Only none. “We need to move fast. I know you saw what I just saw. There are people inside that freehold, and I counted four Reavers move into the clearing. I need you four to take out those Reavers, while the rest of use get to those people out of there. Now, lets move.”
All the men moved at the same time. As soon as they left the trees the Reavers saw them and started to run towards the group. The four men Freeman had told to kill the Reavers moved to meet them.
Freeman looked at the creatures. They were about eight feet tall, with massive upper torsos. Running hunched over, using hands as well as feet, the beasts started to screech and yell. They had a wide over sized mouths with long broad fangs. Reavers' were built for the quick kill. They didn't have much stamina but they had massive strength. As the men met the Reavers near the walls of the freehold Freeman and his men got to the walls of the farm and started along the walls to the main gate. Freeman watched as two of his men attacked a Reaver. The Reaver made a mad swing that was easily evaded, the men struck in unison and dropped the beast. The next Reaver grabbed one of the men and ripped into his chest. The reacer started to feed on the dead man. The sick ripping sounds the Reaver was making were almost too much to bear after the silence of the march. The men were screaming as they took down the second Reaver. This one did not die cleanly as the first one had. Reavers did not have massively muscled legs but the death throws of the beast knocked out one of the remaining men. The two remaining men guarded their fallen companion just as they were trained to do.
Freeman was amazed at the ferocity of the battle. Something was wrong though, Freeman watched as the gate to the freehold was opening when he realized what it was. There was no sound coming from the freehold. Freeman pressed his weight against the opening doors of the freehold just as the first farmer emerged from the gate.
“Fall back! Fall Back!” Freeman yelled.
Freeman was having trouble getting the gate to close. His men looked at him confused. That was all the time it took. The man who had emerged from the gate reached out and tore the throat out of one of the bannermen. Then the others leaped into action. With quick efficiency they had the man cut down. Freeman was not able to close the gate so soon they had two more to deal with. Freeman let the gate go and started hacking at the things as they emerged from the freehold. He risked a glance over his shoulder and saw that the Reavers were down but he had lost two men and the third was wounded. The four remaining men were cutting down the once live monsters as they emerged from the freehold gate but freeman saw that it only a matter of time before they were overrun.
“We need to withdraw, soon” He shouted. “On my Mark I want to retreat twenty paces and form a controlled line of defense there.”
Another two of the monsters came through the gate and were cut down. Freeman saw his chance.
“Now! Fallback!” Freeman yelled.
As they fell back towards the tree line, one of the fallen former farmers grabbed one of the bannermen. The bannermen fell and before he could rise was ripped in half by the creature.
Freeman cursed and formed up his remaining men into a line. Freeman was hoping that Kundyl would arrive with the rest of his force before they were overrun.
“Sir! Look!” One of his bannermen pointed to the far side of the clearing. Freeman looked to where he was pointing. A mass of creatures was entering the clearing. This was a mass of forest creatures, from as large as deer and elk to as small as squirrels and foxes. A mass of undead forest creatures and a freehold of farmers. Freeman knew his men could not stand against both these forces.
A freehold might hold up to one hundred people. They had killed six people by the gate. There might be fifty to seventy forest creatures. Freeman had five men, one of them wounded.
“Retreat! Back to the camp! Now! Move! Move! Move!” Freeman yelled.
All the men turned and ran into the trees. They had about three thousand paces to get back to the main group. Freeman kept the men together, kept them at a jog. The creatures they were fleeing did not move very quickly so they were confident they could out pace the enemy.
About a third of the way back they met the force Kundyl was leading back.
“We have a massive force of creatures at the freehold.” Freeman said, “I want to form up and crush the site. We should hit it from multiple sides. Kundyl, take two fists and circle to the south. Whistler take another tow fists and circle to the north. The rest follow me and we will crush the creatures at the freehold.”
The men split smoothly and headed off to attack the freehold.
posted by shaneknysh at 23:27
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