Chapter 172: 155: Relief

"What are losses?" Harry asked the Commander. They were able to get a good rest last night as the enemy made no move to attack through the twilight hours. They too were counting their losses just like they were.

The Commander had plenty of time yesterday to count their losses and pick up any corpses left outside the wall. He should have a good estimate now of where their current forces stand.

"They aren't too bad," the gruff man answered. "We gave as good as we got, even more so I believe. There are 133 Dead who have been laid to rest, 256 Severely Injured who the healers and mediwitches assure us will make it as those that couldn't already passed away last night, and finally 102 Lightly Injured who would be able to come back after some rest and recovery. So all in all nearly 500 out of action for now!"

"500, huh," Harry muttered as he rested his hands on the battlements. More than anything he was focusing on the 133, all dead for him. How many more would die for his cause. He was sure it would be more. Today was a new day, and that meant brand new engagements.

Suddenly, Harry felt a palm rest on his shoulder, "Don't beat yourself over this, boy!" the Commander addressed him softly. "They have fought and died for their liege lord, there is no greater honor in that. Their families and loved ones will be well compensated, and we shall continue to support them. This is the way!"

"Alright," Harry nodded his head, "but do add a bit of incentive to their families compensation. For my sake and my consciousness," he added. Money really didn't matter to him, he had more than enough to last him several lifetimes and at the rate he was going, sell his new products and items, he would be earning that income twice over each year.

"Your wish is my command," the gruff man nodded his head.

"So how many men are we left with right now?" Harry asked. "And how are their current situation at this particular time?"

"Presently we have 3,500 soldiers left. Basically, each respected Cohort that fought today took a small loss, not a crippling blows, but still they are short a Century or two. Thus each soldier will need to make up for their downed brothers and sisters. Morale is at a all time high as we have been able to repel the enemy force and gave them deep blow."

"Good, good," Harry nodded his head. Soldier morale is the most important any good commanders would consider. It was the pivotal point that could decide battles, show how willing soldiers are to endure sacrifices and hardships, and so much more.

"How are our foodstuffs and supplies looking?" Harry then asked, but then suddenly a messenger came running up, he was breathing heavily and had to catch his breath before he could speak up. "My lord," he finally spoke up, "a message has been left for you in the command room."

"Mhmm, here let me see," Harry said. He had all his calls and messages directed to the command room. He couldn't break his attention away from the siege which required constant monitoring, so he had messages and calls transcribed and brought up to him.

Handing him the parchment of the transcribed message, harry silently read it as he finished reading it a smile spread across his face.

The Commander took notice of it and asked, "What's the good news you got."

"Ha, we will soon be relieved," Harry answered with a chuckle, "now I can't wait to see the look on the Nott force."

"Would you like to send a reply, my lord," the messenger asked.

"Yes, tell her I am deeply comforted and I am in her debt!"

"Well do, my lord," the messenger said as he gave a salute and ran off.

"Commander, ready all our forces, this siege will soon be drawn to a close!" Harry ordered as he turned back to face the horizon and looked at the Nott camp parked before his fortress. They made a really bad mistake coming here, and now they would pay the price.

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Back in the Nott family camp, in the largest tent which served as the central command, there was a meeting going on. All the officers and captains of the Grim battalion had gathered there seated around a desk while they faced the young man seated on a black throne backed chair.

"How are things looking, General?" Theodore Nott asked his commander of his armed forces.

"Not good, my lord. There are 694 Dead, 851 Severely Injured, and finally 502 Lightly Injured. That makes the grand total of nearly 2,000 soldiers out of action. Those Potter bastards really ripped us a new one. Presently we have 3,00 men left with morale at an all time low! The men might break soon, and the siege has just been started."

"We should have taken it slow and easy," an old man spoke up. "Pushing through those killing zones costed us a lot. And those artillery weapons of the Potters are not something to take lightly, we can see that from our beasts."

"This was a mistake!" a captain shouted. "We should have never tried to besiege this fortress. Who in their right mind would even consider it! Us and the Potter family's Griffin Legion stand at nearly the same number in military capability, any good commander would tell you that you need 5 or even 10 times the number of the fortified and bunkered enemy. This shouldn't have been even con-...."

Before the man could finish what he was saying a dark whip of ghostly shadow wrapped around his neck constricting his windpipe as he gasped and struggled like a fish on water.

Everyone at the table watched as the man was literally choked to death right before their eyes. No one moved to help or even spoke up, they all sat there silently without a single muscle twitching.

Finally, as the dead man's body fell to the table and then slowly slide down to the ground, the whip that was constricting around his throat like a boa constrictor disappeared back to the wand it came from which was held in the young Lord of House Nott's hands.

"Does anyone have conflicting thoughts about our invasion of the Potters lands?"

Quick nods and shake of heads were given in answer as no dared to refute the little tyrant.

"Get out, all of you GET OUT," the young lord shouted with a sneer on his face. There was no need to emphasize the point, as each man and woman were pushing and shoving each other in their hurry to leave the tent.

Only the General and Nott were left in the tent as silence fell over the place.

Looking down at the dead captain, the General flipped with the bottom of his feet, laying him on his stomach. "You do know that we will need to get a new captain now."

"Well get a new one," the young lord waved his hand dismissively.

"There are only so many capable men, and although Dillion forget his place from time to time he did at least have a good head on his shoulder. Something I can not say the same about the rest of these bootlicker and asskissers."

"Ha, you know I was losing control of the situation, I needed to set an example for those so called bootlicker and asskissers, or else they would be up in mutiny."

"You are losing control of the situation fast, and I see you are losing control of yourself as well!" the General pointed out. "Are you sure you were in the right state leading us all?!"

Clenching his fist, the young man answered angrily, "I needed to respond. How could I let that damnable bastard get away, how could I let her steal her from me."

"Well, we are in the shits buckets now. We can either pull out which would be the wise decision, or we can continue down this path..."

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"We will continue, no matter what I will crack open the fortress like an egg and finally get my hands on Potter!"

Sighing, the General nodded his head, "then I will have the Grim Battalion up and running so we can attack the walls again."

"Do that, and I shall make m own preparations as well."

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"My lord, there has been some commotion spotted in the enemy camp," a messenger came running up to him.

"Aha, they are already planning on wasting themselves against us, again! Ha, I say let them come," Lieutenant Riley chuckled out loud as he smacked his fist into his open palm.

"What did you do to the little lordling to get him this angry with you?" Lieutenant Tia asked with a shake of her head.

"Stolen the girl that he thought belonged to him," Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"How are the artillery weapons coming along?" Harry asked.

"They are up and running my lord," a man with a grey beard and a black sooted face answered. He was short and stout with a bulbous nose and slightly pointed ear. Harry was sure he had some dwarf or made even gnome blood in him. But Harry didn't care for that, he was the best artillerymen man he had and engineer.

"Good, have them up and loaded, and ready!"

"Yes, my lord," Thaggir replied as he run off.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Harry said as he turned to his Lieutenants and Commander. "I have some good news for you all, this will most likely be the last day of the siege. I want you to give it your all, and make your men do as well. This is the final push before we have the enemy completely routed."

"Really, my lord?" Lieutenant Alex asked in open surprise.

"But how? I have heard nothing of this?" Lieutenant Hakim spoke up. 

Grinning at them, Harry simply answered, "it will be a surprise that you will have to wait and find out!"

"You heard the man," the Commander shouted, "Now let's move out!"

Already the Nott forces were getting into neat and orderly formations, however Harry took notice of the down cast looks in their faces. These were men and women who really didn't want anything to do with war, but their oaths kept on pushing them forward. Just the slightest breeze would shatter them.

"Lieutenant Tia," Harry called out to the leader of the Third Cohort, the Demigryph units.

"Yes, my lord," the woman turned to face him with a clear stoic look.

"Today is your day finally, I want you to come at the Grim Battalion from their flanks and really give it to them when I give you the order."

"It would be my honor," the woman gave a ghost of a smile.

"Thaggir, when they are in range... You know what to do," Harry shouted to the half-dwarf.

This time, Harry was changing it up, he knew that the enemy force was adapting to their tactics so from right out of the woodwork he would be doing something they didn't expect.

As soon as they got in range of the artillery weapons, they fired. The sounds of bolts, javelins, giant flaming stones, and much more filled the air, and the Nott forces reacted quickly. A giant dome of protective shield was put up causing the ordnance to bounce off the shields.

Harry was already expecting that, there was no way the enemy forces would want to suffer the same fates as their creatures. So Harry shouted, "Lieutenant Alex and Lieutenant Martin, I want you to head in with your First and Fifth Cohorts to break those shields and do some real damage."

The two men and their Cohorts were already on stand by, so once his order was given they immediately went in.

The Griffin Cohort took to the air while the Hieracosphinx Cohorts bounced across the land. It did indeed come to the enemy as a surprise when they saw giant creatures honing in on them, before they could react the massive Griffin-kin creatures struck against the massive protective dome.

Their gain bulks caused the shield to shudder and flick in and out for a second before it stabilized. However the giant Griffin-kin beasts did not stop there, they ripped and tore at the shield with their gleaming sharp talons while also running headfirst into it.

Harry could see the enemy forces panicking and dread slowly seeping in because it really wasn't long before the shield broke up into flimsy bits of magical shards that disappeared into the air before they fell to the ground.

"Lieutenant Otto and Lieutenant Riley go support our bigger units. And Lieutenant Tia, you can enter with your men now!" They weren't the only ones he sent out, he soon had the Grecian doing support and then he had Lieutenant Kate let loose the Keythong in all their savage glory.

It wasn't long before Harry's family army was fully engaged with the enemy force. The battlefield turned into a big old brawl, everyone was going at each other with no mercy given at all.

"This can't go for so long," the Commander spoke up. "Our enemy might not care for their own men, but soon we will be taking skyhigh rates of casualties along with the Nott family. All this would become is a pyrrhic victory for us, a victory yes, but one as crippling to us as the enemy."

The Commander did have a fine point, and Harry would have never gone with this engagement if relief wasn't coming so soon. He planned to battle it out for weeks or even months on end with the Nott family as he slowly whittled down their forces one by one.

"Don't worry, soon we will be joined by the Gr-..."

Before he could even finish what he was saying there was a loud blaring trumpet that echoed all through the mountains. Everyone seemed to pause for that spilt second as they turned to where that sound came from....

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