Chapter 6

Signs of Organization

Freeman sat down with Whistler to hear what had happened to the fists that had set out to join the attack on the freehold.

Why had it taken them hours to take a journey only twenty minutes long.

Whistler had a long gash in his left leg. It looked like something had tried to grasp the leg and tear it from his body.

Whistler did not seem to suffer any effects form teh would but others in his group were suffering from more serious wounds.
As the men set up several large fires to cook the evening meal for the group Whistler and Freeman sat down in what was once a

sheep cote. It was near dusk and the long shadows made the freehold an eerie place. Whistler sat down with a grunt as the

bandaged pinched at his wounded leg. Freeman asked him if he needed to see a medic. Whistler shock his head and started his

report.

“I figured it would take me less than an hour to circle to the north an be ready to attack the freehold. But within minutes

of leaving there was a change in the forest. For the first time in days there seemed to be normal forest sounds. We heard

birds calling and smaller animals running through the underbrush.” Whistler looked off into the distance as if watching the

story in the distance as he related it to Freeman.

“The effect on the men was immediate,” Whistler said, turning and locking gazes with Freeman, “It was remarkable. It was like

everyone there let out a breath that they had not realized they were holding in. One of the men pointed out a small deer not

far from the path we were taking. One of the men took a shot at it, hoping to put the animal on our supper table tonight.”

“Don't tell me your men were hunting deer while we were fighting for our lives!” Freeman yelled at the man.

“No! No, we were making good time. I was more worried we would arrive too soon, rather than too late.” Whistler reported. “We

were just about ready to circle back the the south when the rear guard reported that a group of animals were following our

path.”

“Surely you can't expect me to believe that there was a pack of something was trailing you?” Freeman was starting to think

that Whistler was not the right man to be leading. He started to think about men he could promote.

“Not a pack, a group. I went and looked for myself. There were squirrels, deer, and a few other animals just walking behind

us following our path. At first I thought it was just coincidence. But I split the group and the group always followed the

largest group. That was when I made my mistake. I stopped the group and prepared to disperse the group following us. When we

stopped and formed up a fireing line the forest went silent. After a quarter hour of normal forest noises the silence was

disturbing. And when we fired into the trailing group the forest itself seemed to come alive and attack us.”

“What do yo mean?” Freeman asked, He had a good idea what had happened now and was starting to thing that Whistler was the

man to lead. Maybe it was the enemy they were facing that he had misjudged.

“From all sides we were suddenly attacked. There were small animals and birds everywhere. For the most part it was a nuisance

at worst. There were a few problems though. Directly blocking our path were some large animals. A pack of wolves and a few

deer and elk. The biggest problem was the bears. “

Whistler paused when a bannerman came in an reported that the freehold was indeed secured and that the evening meal would be

ready within a few minutes. Freeman told the bannerman to make sure that the remaining men were divided into four groups. The

wounded were to be placed into the homes of the freehold and cared for. The remaining three groups were to be split ingot a

group on duty, a group on support - cooking and repairing equipment - and the third group off duty. This rotation should

remain ion place until they were ready to leave the freehold. The bannerman marched off to complete his orders.

When the bannerman had left Freeman took up the story where Whistler had left off. “So you were still north of this position

when you were attacked. You said there was a problem with the bears.”

“Yes sir,” Whistler continued. “When the animals, or I should say undead animals attacked, the small animals were no problem

for the men. Most could be ignored of brushed off. The larger animals however were quite effective. The bears in particular.

They hit the men from the east and caused most of our casualties. They were quite large and it didn't seem that our weapons

were having much effect. It took quite some time for the men to take the bears down and by them we had moved a considerable

distance to the north. “

“I had the men form up and we started to hurry to the freehold, we knew by then you would have reached here and would be

assaulting the site. The animals however kept up a harrying attack driving us off course. The smaller animals acted as

diversions to get the larger animals inside the rage of our archers. It took considerable time to get the men free of the

animals and by that time we were too late to join the attack.”

“We started to approach the freehold but saw only the results of the battle here. I split the group in case we would have to

attack the farm alone. The strangest thing of all Sir, is that when we got to within forty paces of the clearing the animals

all left. “

“Do you mean they were chased off?” Freeman asked.

“No, There were too many for my group to defeat easily. So We only killed those that attacked ups or got in our path. The

rest just left. It was like they were on our flanks on moment and disappearing on to the forest the next.”

Freeman thought about the implications of what he was hearing. The enemy he was facing was much more organized than they were

prepared for. They seemed to also be able to plan ahead, and co-ordinate attacks. This was more than a mindless mob of

ruthlessly hungry beasts. This was an organized force. As much an army as the men in the freehold. Freeman was thinking about

what this meant to his plan to move towards the Grey river when he realized there was something missing from Whistler's

story.

“You didn't mention what happened to your leg?” Freeman asked.

“One of the bears got through our main defensive line and into the heart of the unit. It grabbed me by the leg and pulled me

down. It pinned me down with a single paw and would have killed me if not for the actions of a few bannermen. They managed to

sever the foreleg that had me pinned. Unfortunately the claws were embedded deep in the leg and the removal process was not

clean.”

“Thank you Whistler. I know you came as soon as you could. I want you to make sure a healer takes a look at your leg and then

get some food and some rest. I want to stay in the freehold until our wounded are in better shape. Then we will bolt towards

the Grey river. I hope we can get to the Grey and perhaps even construct some rafts in a single day.” Freeman was

uninterrupted by Whistler's intake of breath. “I know it is a lot to ask of these men, but we can't take another assault like

we did today. We are not prepared to take on these creatures. They keep surprising us and if we are to get these reports back

to base we need to run rather than fight.”

Whistler nodded.

Freeman dismissed Whistler and turned his thoughts to the events of the day. He started to think about the other groups that

split up just that morning. Commander Luuk would be halfway to the corrupted land border by now, would his group have faced

another attack Freeman wondered. And the other group led by Beckmin, hopefully Freeman's group had suffered losses to allow

his group to get clear of the combat zone and back to base without facing another assault.