Chapter 56: Chapter 49 – Atrocity

"Scorched farmlands, with all the harvestable crops pillaged, and livestock taken away or butchered and eaten on the spot. Remains of eaten corpses of the former inhabitants haphazardly piled up without the slightest respect given, and torched buildings. Those were all that remained after elven raiders were done with a village. Unless the people had the good fortune to be forewarned and evacuated ahead of time, none would have been spared. All would have been slaughtered without mercy, butchered like livestock, and devoured wholesale." - Emir ibn Khalif Elam El-Ehr, recently enthroned ruler of the Assadun Emirate, circa 47 VA.

As soon as the sun had risen the next day, Faerghus and Qravor took to their horses and brought a small contingent of guards to ride with them. Reports from their far ranging scouts indicated that the elves had remained at the ransacked village, and there was a small hill a few hours away from the village that would allow them to observe relatively safely.

 

Elves might have sharp eyesight and hearing, but not even their eyesight was sharp enough to compete against spyglasses in the end, which was how the scouts managed to track their movement while staying well out of sight.

 

With how early they departed, they had not even bothered to eat their breakfast first, opting for a quick meal of hard bread and dried meats while they rode to their destination. It was with grim silence that they rode there, as they knew there was another village they were too late to help.

 

The hill itself was a reasonably tall one, a few hours' ride away from the village in question. In the distant horizon they could barely make out smoke rising from said village in spots, but could discern nothing more with just their eyes.

 

Fortunately for them though, when the Bone Lord had brought gifts to certify their alliance all those years ago after the incident with Aideen, one of the gifts he brought was a hundred new spyglasses from Elmaiya, enchanted ones capable of peering through a much further distance at that.

 

Every scouting detachment was given some, and each commander held one of the prized items as well. Faerghus raised his to his right eye, adjusted the dials to focus on the village, and peered through the enchanted device.

 

What he saw utterly revolted him and made his breakfast threaten to rise back up his throat.

 

The rising smoke he saw, originated from many bonfires the raiders had made to cook. Atop those bonfires, affixed on spits, were what few inhabitants of the village that refused to evacuate, butchered and roasted as if they were some game animals as the raider ate their flesh like a delicacy.

 

More worrisome than the atrocity they were committing however, were their numbers. Whereas the reports they received indicated that each of the three raiding parties had around a thousand raiders, Faerghus counted approximately two thousand elven raiders in the village, which was more than the troops he had.

 

On the other hand, the elves didn't seem to notice their presence yet. He handed the spyglass over to Qravor to allow the older veteran to assess the situation, while he pondered his options.

 

While he wished for nothing more than to charge and run down the savages, he was well aware that it would be folly with these numbers. On the other hand, the hill they stood on would make for a decent ambush location, where they might be able to strike the elves before the latter could react properly.

 

"What do you think, Qravor?" He asked his more experienced second in command. "They outnumber us, but an ambush… might just even the odds."

 

"We think alike," replied the old templar as he nodded with satisfaction. "I assume you wish to lay an ambush right here?"

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"Yes, indeed. If those raiders keep proceeding eastwards they'd pass here without doubt, and we can conceal our troops at the back of the hill," Faerghus said as he nodded in agreement. "Archers by the midsection, shield wall by the crest of the hill, and we lead the cavalry to strike from the flanks should they bite the bait and charge."

 

"Risky," evaluated the older man, but after some pondering he failed to come up with a better alternative. "But it looks like it's the best we have for now. I'll stay and keep watch over the raiders?"

 

"Please. I'll get the rest of the troops here as soon as possible."

 

With that, Faerghus hurried back to where his troops had camped, while Qravor kept watch over the elven raiders from his spot.

 

He rode his mount hard, and reached his troops in an hour of riding, where he had them all prepare for combat and hurriedly march with him towards the hill.

 

It turned out however, that they had not needed to hurry so, as when they arrived at the mountain two hours later, Qravor reported that the elves had just begun preparing to depart. Even with their fast travel speed, it would not be until the afternoon before they reached the vicinity of the hill, which gave Faerghus' troops a good four to six hours to prepare.

 

They immediately went to work, the wagons the militia traveled on, was lined up by the crest of the hill, and fixed in place, turned into a makeshift barricade, behind which militiamen armed with long spears and large shields awaited. The four hundred archers of the detachment lined up in a loose formation, with extra quivers of arrows laid by their feet, and their longbows stringed.

 

It was with some tension that the troops rested and had their lunch right where they were since the raiders were still hours away, but it was also tension that was tinged with excitement and nervousness.

 

Faerghus allowed the soldiers to rest and save up their energy, until the raiders were a mere fifteen minutes away, at which point he called for the soldiers to prepare themselves.

 

Spearmen formed up behind the makeshift fortifications, standing close enough to one another they could instantly lock shields to form a shield wall. Archers stood up, stretched their arms, and tested the tension of their bows one last time. Faerghus and Qravor separated, as each went to lead half of the five hundred templars with them, and mounted their horses, with weapons and shield in hand.

 

Now all that was left to do… was to wait for the elven raiders to pass as close to the hill as possible.

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