Lance, Saltmaker of Oceanside

I blinked my eyes again, trying to get rid of the people in front of me that I was sure were hallucinations. It was happening more often now. I don't know how long it had been since I slept, and I hadn't found water in a while. I had to push through the pain and dizziness. The aberrations of my father and mother, lying dead or in chains, were happening more often. A few times, they had even spoken to me, telling me I wasn't hurrying fast enough or condemning me for abandoning them.

I was bleeding from the cuts and scrapes I had received from rushing through the forests. Brambles had torn my clothes to shreds, and the open wounds were causing me to become feverish. I didn't care. I had to reach North Point. I couldn't die before I reached them and let them know about Oceanside.

As my mind spun, I almost didn't recognize the change in lighting. The shadows of the trees were replaced by the bright light of the sun. I stumbled as my feet recognized the dirt road.

Had I really made it to the north road?

A wave of dizziness hit me, and I collapsed to my knees. I vomited up the last remaining fluids in my stomach. The bile burned my throat, giving me momentary clarity.

North, I have to go north. I…

My vision faded as a wave of feverish chills overcame me.

********

I groaned as a sharp pain in my hand radiated up my arm, letting me know I was alive. I heard a deep laugh. "Looks like the peasant is alive."

The pressure from the boot that had been grinding my hand into the dirt eased.

"Should we take him to the medicine man?" a voice asked.

Another voice scoffed. "We are men-at-arms. Let the peasants take care of their own. The peasant rabble isn't far behind. They can deal with him.

*********

I felt my body being moved, but the feeling felt distant.

"He's alive but probably not for long." The voice sounded as if it were underwater.

I felt water touch my lips, but I couldn't seem to swallow the tiny amount that trickled into my mouth.

"Curse those nobles and their men-at-arms. They were sure to have come across him. Would it have killed them to help the boy? We're all in the same army."

Another man laughed. "Try telling that to them. We may all be going down to fight the Hitub together, but they will never consider us more than dogs."

The words washed over me without any meaning. I had something to tell them. Something important. I…what was it?

The vision of my father loomed before me. His body was bloodied and in chains. I tried to speak, but my tongue felt like lead. "Oceanside." The word came out garbled. I forced myself to try again, but with no better results.

"Shhh. Boy, you need to rest." A gentle voice said.

"Raiders." I tried to say.

"What did he say? It sounded like he said raiders."

"He must have seen the raiders traveling North and came to warn us."

"A little late for that. The raiders are already at the cove by now."

I didn't understand what they were talking about, but I needed them to listen to me. "Oceanside, raiders."

"Oceanside?"

"Oceanside, Raiders," I repeated over and over, trying to make them understand.

"Mike, send a runner to the Malcomp knights. I think he is saying there are raiders in Oceanside."

I could no longer understand their words. I said it again, hoping they understood. "Oceanside, raiders, Oceanside, raiders, Oceanside, raiders, Oceanside, raiders, Oceanside, raiders…"

Able, North Cove Defense Force Scout

I crouched in the soft mud, dithering between two choices. That is what my mother called it. I was always dithering. I thought I had gotten over it, but here I was doing it again.

I had been watching the camp of the raiders as best I could for over a day now. Finally, they were on the move, which relieved the boredom, but they were not moving in the direction I expected. They moved east along the coast to the canal that was diverting the water into the cove. I followed through the marsh.

The outfit Amos had designed made me practically invisible while standing still. He called it a gillie suit. It was made of leather with strips of cotton fabric dyed the color of the swamp covering every inch of it. When I first observed a scout wearing one, I thought a piece of the moss-colored tree had broken away from it and begun to wander into the forest. It was perfect camouflage. An Enemy scout had even walked right past me, a mere twenty meters away, and I got a clean shot at his back. The light crossbows developed by Pine Ridge were amazing. They were small, made of wood, and did not have the power to punch through a person's armor like the larger ones. It also didn't have their range, but for my purpose, they were perfect.

I moved behind the raiders like a phantom. They had no clue I was watching as they traveled up the path that could barely be called such. If they had come later in the spring, the trampled grass and dirt would have disappeared under the spring growth, leaving no evidence that it had ever been there. Now, however, it was a beacon indicating that something may be further up the slope. Since they were moving most of their people up the side of the canal, I could only assume that they had found the fort.

So the question that was making me dither was whether I should find a way around them and warn the people of Pine Grove or run to Marsh Fort to get reinforcements. If I went to Pine Grove, it might give them a little time to prepare, but they would still be outnumbered. If I went to Marsh Fort, it would take much longer. I would have to carefully make my way through the harsh terrain of the marsh and constantly be watching for scouts. Pine Grove may have fallen by the time I reach the fort.

The words of my mother stuck in my head. "You just need to make a decision and stick with it. There are always consequences, and you don't necessarily know if the action you didn't take would have been better than the one you did. But the worst decision is to wait until the choice is taken away from you."

So I made a decision and tried not to think too much about what I was doing. I made my way as fast as possible towards Pine Grove.

Lieutenant Griff

"General Draves, I want to send a group of men north towards the coast. We haven't heard from our Scouts near the fort in a while, and I would like an update." I said firmly. I had come to know the general even more intimately over the last few months since I had been given this position, and one thing I knew for sure was that he liked boldness and action.

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"Do you think our men have died? They are only supposed to report it if there is movement. It isn't that surprising that the Rabiss have not made a move. The last report we got said that some of the ships left; the rest may still be formulating a plan."

"I don't think they would have stayed if they didn't have a plan. Also, they are raiders. From what I have been told, they rely on speed to gather as many resources and slaves as they can and leave. Would they really not act immediately?"

General Draves gave me one of his penetrating looks. And finally, after what felt like an eternity, he said, "What do you suggest?"

"I would like to send out two scouts to sweep the trail while I take men on horses as close to the cove as we can get before we have to turn back. If we have to fight, ten men on horses with our best armor can handle quite a bit, and if we have to flee, then it will be a quick retreat."

"Permission granted. It is your land after all. Also, if you can get close to the fort, I want you to check on the tunnel that our men were supposed to escape through. The whole place blew up early, and those men never returned. I suspect the worst, and their families deserve to know."

The thought of those men trapped in the tunnel made me shudder. They were good men and had volunteered for what they had done. They deserved the utmost honor.

The fact that I was now a knight and Fort Cove or a nearby area would be given to me was surreal. I would be responsible for a fiefdom. My wife and children were ecstatic, but I also understood that I would be leading a group of men down to Hitub possibly. Even though I did not feel qualified for the responsibility, I prayed to the Endless One that I would survive long enough to see my village established.

*********

We moved as quickly as we could, with scouts heading out in front of us. There had been men in gillie suits positioned along the road to try to harry the enemy with what Amos called hit-and-run tactics. They joined us when they saw us traveling to the coast, and a bell before sunset, we had reached the cove.

The scouts moved ahead, and a half a bell later came with a report. One man stepped forward and said, "We killed two scouts before reaching the cove. It is strange, the ships are there, but there are only twenty men in a small camp on the coast. It looks like they are packing things up."

"You think that all their other men are back on the ships?" I asked.

"Not with how much stuff was there. It would make more sense to have more men helping, not just sitting on a ship that is on the shore."

"Then, possibly a ruse to make us think they are leaving? How are their fortifications?"

The man thought for a moment and said, "They have no real fortifications other than being able to hide behind the supplies they are getting ready to load onto the ships."

"Have a few men circle around and see if you can spot an ambush. We all have crossbows, so if there is no ambush waiting for us, let's kill as many as we can in a volley and subdue the rest before support can come. Maybe we can get some answers." This all seems strange. We had to move quickly as the light began to fade.

A report came back from one of the scouts, "Sir, we had men circle around. One man went further up the coast. There is no ambush. They have lit torches to continue the last portion of their work in the dark. We now have fewer targets we can easily see, but we would take them completely by surprise. Our men are in position to strike as soon as you start your charge."

The man faded into the twilight as we prepared our charge. I gave a shout, and ten horses lunged forward from the camp, accelerating into a gallop, counting on our sudden approach to confuse the Rabiss as soon as they heard the thundering of our horses' hooves. The scouts we had gathered fired their crossbows into the camp.

Shouts rose up from the enemies. Whether in pain or surprise, I couldn't tell. We had not brought the long spears, Amos called lances, so we aimed to do a quick strike with the shorter spears on our first pass. This should give our scout time to reload their crossbows.

This was my first time charging real foes, and it was exhilarating. Blood pumped in my ears as my spear pierced the back of a fleeing enemy. With the added momentum from the charge, the spear plunged all the way through the man, and I was forced to let go as the raider was flung to the side like a straw doll.

Immediately after our first charge through the camp, another volley was loosed as we turned around. We trotted the short distance to the camp. I shouted for the few remaining men to surrender. Iur scouts were already moving towards the two remaining boats to capture them before anyone aboard could react. The men on shore quickly surrendered. Tying them up, I began our questioning as my remaining men went to help subdue the ships.

Only four of the seventeen men had been captured, and none of them would speak concerning their plans. We spent five hours trying to beat information out of them. As time passed, we became more abusive. We didn't have the time for anything long and drawn out, nor were any of us experts at dragging out information. Instead, we ended up killing one after the other until only one was left. But before we could execute him, our scout returned from his trip further up the coast.

"Sir, I think I found out where they went. I found a group of them near the canal. It was a smaller group, but it looked like some of them had traveled up the canal towards Pine Grove." By the smug look on our remaining captive's face, that is exactly what happened.

"That was always a possibility, though we thought it unlikely due to the narrowness of the trail. Jason and Frank, hurry back to the Marsh fort as fast as you can. It may be too late, but we need to send word to Pine Grove via pigeon." Looking around at the rest of the men, I sent four of the scouts to circle up and around the enemies and see what was going on in Pine Grove.

After slitting the throat of the last Rabiss and smashing their water barrels, I had two scouts watch this area and the rest of the horsemen retreat further back towards Marsh Fort. I sent another prayer to the Endless One, for the People of Pine Grove.

Headman Tarrence of Pine Grove

"You are all idiots, and if you were in the army of North Cove, you would be beaten and discharged!" I shouted at the two boys before me. Their friend had been taken to his parents' home to rest. "If you had been captured, those men would have tortured you until they flushed out any information you had about this location and any plans we had. As it is, I will leave it up to the count to decide what should be done with you."

In my inner thoughts, I was impressed with the three boys. They had burned down a ship right under the noses of the enemy. Doing it without orders was the problem. They also admitted to losing the Sanders drill, which would be coming with its own punishment when Sanders found out it was missing.

It had taken them until dawn to make their way back to the fort. Their families had not left due to the fact that they were missing, and now there would be no leaving. We hadn't had time to implement all of our plans, and although it was unlikely, there was a chance that the Rabiss would send some sort of force this way.

Just as I was thinking that, my second in command came up to me. My lord, a scout from Fort Marsh just came to the front gate. There is a large group of Rabiss making their way up the trail by the canal. We sent him out with a few of our own to monitor their progress and see if we can get an estimate on their forces. It is hard to tell because some of them are making their way up through the forest, and we will have a better idea once they pass through the trees. Currently, we estimate that they will be here by evening."

"Send out pigeons to the Marsh Fort and Bicman," I said.

"It's already done, and I've sent Adam to go gather the men to the square so we can figure out watch rotations. All the crossbows are being brought to the wall."

"Do we have an estimate on how many men are coming?"

"The young man seemed to think it was all of them. He estimated that there were between fifty and one hundred men.

"That's a wide range."

"I agree, but it seemed that the boy may not know all his numbers. Also, some were in the trees, so it would have been difficult."

"Either way, we only have thirty soldiers. Do we have enough crossbows?"

"No, my lord, most were sent to Marsh Fort, and Lord Amos's party took some with them. We have eighteen crossbows and a few bowmen."

"It will do. We have stones up there to drop on the enemy. They will probably take tomorrow morning to make ladders and a battering ram. The walls may not be stone, but they are sturdy, and if we can keep the crossbows firing on anyone trying to break down the gate, we should be able to hold out for reinforcements."

"I wish more of the crossbows were reliable."

I nodded. The crossbows were amazing inventions, but those that were made of metal warped quickly. The iron had weak points and was too soft. They would need occasional reforging, sometimes after twenty draws. Those that required a windlass actually wore out quicker. The composite wood ones were good, but we did not have enough seasoned wood, and it took multiple types of wood. They were amazing for what they were, but it was disappointing how unreliable they were.

********

About two bells before sunset, a scout came back. He was a young man in his late teens. He looked very nervous. "Sir, they have made it to the slope below the cleared area. Our best guess is that there are around one hundred of them."

I looked at him for a long moment before sternly saying, "You look worried, soldier."

He said nothing for a moment and then blurted out, "Forgive me, Headman, but can we fend off that many?"

"Yes, we can. We have a favorable position, we have crossbows, and reinforcements are coming from both Marsh Fort and Bicman. We will hold out for two days, and then the enemy will be surrounded."

Just then, Preston, the most enthusiastic member of what Amos called the demolition team, came running up. "Sir, I have something I think you will want to see. This will put the fear of the Endless One in those raiders," He said with a gleam in his eyes.

What had Amos called him, a pyromaniac? I wonder what he came up with?

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