Alt Much?

A bit late (into D7) but here it is:

D5 Goal: 8334
Word Count: 7121
85% of Target.

*******************

Burn halted the formation after another two hours of travel. The wind was picking up which tossed the grey soot into the air making it hard to breath for both man and beast. The grey false fog reduced visibility so he wanted to take the opportunity to suggest they tighten ranks and stop at regular intervals for a head count. Dismounting, the young tracker scanned the area for any recent indicators that anything else had passed through the area recently. The rest of his team kept watch and looked to the sky every so often. They didn’t relish the thought of being on the receiving end of an ork-a-pult.

Meirien reigned in next to Burn, staying quiet while his tracker did his job.

“Nothing new to report sir. No recent passage. Older marks seems to indicate shod horse which would make sense seeing as this is one of the routes we take on the way to the remote base. It might be a good idea to close it in a little and take a regular count if this wind picks up any more.”

“Very good Burn, I’ll let the others know. We will stop in another two hours or so unless you spot something amiss. We should reach the camp shortly after that if all goes well.”

“Roger sir.”

Burn nodded then turned to gesture the hand signals that would indicate a closer formation. Meirien put his horse into a trot and left to pass the message on to the other two teams.

The next two hours passed uneventfully. This time the squad dismounted, stretched their legs, fed and watered the horses. Most were used to eating in the saddle so this break was mainly for the benefit of their beasts of burden. Talia, Burn, Granis and Meirien gathered in the center of the squad to check their line of travel and come up with a plan for approaching the patrol base.

“The base hasn’t been heard from in over a week. Their last dispatch indicated an uptick in Demi activity to the east of their location but they didn’t suspect a mobilization. They were going to send a small detachment out to investigate and were to report back to Lord Garren what they found. That should have taken no more than two days and with one day for messenger travel we should have heard something by now. Since the scrizzards are unable to scry that area they suspect that the base has been compromised.”

Meirien pointed to the map they had spread out on the ground before them, “From my reconing we are about 11 leagues or so from the camp. We will call a halt a couple of leagues short of where the camp should be. We will then send out a smaller scout party ahead of the main formation. Talia, Granis, I also want your teams to send out two man outrider parties at regular intervals. We don’t want to get caught unawares by the Demi in their backyard.”

The squad leader took his dagger and began to roughly etch out the patrol camp and its surrounding are into the earth. He drew arrows indicating the squads approximate avenue of travel then a north facing arrow so that everyone could get a better grasp of how the drawing related to their maps.

“The camp is situated on a plan about half a league from this burned out woodline. The squad will halt in the cover of the woods while the scouting party will proceed to the camp. They are to discern if the camp still stands. One flash of the signal mirror will indicate the camp has held. Two flashes will indicate something is wrong. If the latter the scouts will have about half an hour to investigate. If they think it is safe then they will signal with one flash and the rest of the squad will break from the woodline and make their way to join them. If, on the other hand, they think something is wrong they are to return immediately to the woodline directly west of our location. We will then move to join with them. Questions?”

All three team leaders looked at the marking Meirien had drawn on the ground and took a moment to absorb his instruction. Not seeing any obvious flaw in the plan they all shook their head in the negative.

“Good, Burn I want you to lead the scout party. Take two others with you. Who will they be?”

Burn pursed his lips and though a moment before answering, “Well I’d like to take Grey if that’s alright with Granis. His experience with both Demimonde and the Hollows will be a great asset. I’ll also be taking Decklan since I’ve been teaching him a bit about tracking. He has good eyes and a quick mind.”

“Granis, any objections?”

“Nah, take the bugger. If anyone is good at sniffing out an ambush it’d be Grey.”

“Alright,” Meirien pointed to the map and drawing on the ground, “Each of you has about ten minuets to brief your teams and take turns bringing your teams here so that everyone gets a good look at what we are going to do. The last team will bring me the map and erase the drawing. Move out.”

The leaders broke and returned to their teams. In about ten minutes everyone had been briefed and were mounting up. The corporal gave the signal and they resumed traveling deeper in to the Hollow Lands. Soon they were traveling through what was once a heavily canopied forest. Now it stood stark and open, the burned husks of ancient trees stood up from the ground like skeletal fingers reaching towards the grey sky. They traveled through the silent, gloomy terrain for another hour. The eerie silence indicated a land devoid of life and some of the greener recruits found it a bit unnerving.

Meirien moved up to Burn’s team and signaled for the squad to adjust ranks as he sent Burn forward with this scouting party. He lead the remainder of the squad forward at a slower pace as Burn and his small group pulled ahead. The squad traveled in this fashion with Talia and Granis ending outriders every now and then to keep and eye on the flanks. The troopers did their best trying to keep to what little concealment there was in the burned wood. Eventually they came upon the advanced party and Meirien had everyone dismount. Every fourth trooper grabbed his comrades reins and lead the horses back a little deeper into the woods for better concealment. The corporal meanwhile moved to confer with Burn.

The camp still stood at least from all outward appearance. Thick walls were made of trees felled and tied together. A small watchtower stood a little higher than the wall of lumber and a pennant of the Overlands fluttered weakly in the breeze. There was a ring of smaller diameter, sharpened poles formed an abaitis that surrounded the camp except for one gap that allowed troops to pass through to the gate.

“Sir, as you can see the palisades surrounding the camp still stand, but we’ve been here for some time and there has been no activity that we could see. There is also no cookfire smoke which is pretty strange. We circled the camp from the woodline and the entire wall seems sound. The abaitis has not been breached.”

“Ok, we will proceed as planned. Take your team in and remember the signal pattern. One flash for clear, two for danger. If you have to get out of there in a hurry remember not to drag whatever is chasing you directly back to us. If you angle of we will have time to set up a hasty ambush and perhaps save your bacon.”

“Roger sir.” Burn nodded and then turned to tap Grey and Decklan on the shoulder.

The trio mounted up and proceeded into the clearing that circled the patrol base. There was indeed no movement discernable from within the camp even after the scouts broke from the woodline. There should have at least been some activity in the watch tower as observers relaid information the the approaching figures to the camp below.

“Grey, what d’you think?”

“Whelp, ah can’t rightly say. ‘Tis strange alright. No signs of a Demi attack but no o’er signs of life neither. We need be careful. Could be sickness in the camp we don’t want to catch it.”

Nodding, Burn indicated to Grey and Decklan that they should spread out a bit. They slowly approached the camp but were not verbally challenged even when right up at the gate. The gate itself was closed. Burn pounded on the gate but received no response. Taking out his small mirror he gave two short flashes back to where the rest of the squad was hidden. He then reached behind him and untied the rope he had secured to his saddle.

“Feel like doing a little climbing Decklan?”

Decklan nodded his agreement but didn’t look all to happy about the prospect. Grey was busy fixing his signal mirror to his sword. The top of the palisade wasn’t too much higher than a man ahorse and they wanted to at least get a look to see if there was anyone on the other side waiting to put an arrow in anything that popped over the top. It took a couple of tries but Burn was able to loop the rope over one of the logs in the wall and Decklan moved into position to climb while Burn steadies his mount.

“Looks t’be clear on the other side.” Grey had his arm and sword outstretched above him, the mirror had been affixed at angle that allowed the scout to see into the camp.

“Ok Decklan up you go. Up and over as quickly as possible. You should be able to unbar the gate once on the other side.”
Decklan took a deep breath to steady his fears then scampered up the wall. He was up and over in a flash, landing on the other side with a soft thump. Burn and Grey could hear the young lad struggle to get the crosspiece up and over the locking brace. They heard the sharp crack of heavy wood hitting hardened dirt and the gate slowly swung open.

Decklan stood in the opening gate with a huge grin on his face, “Easy peasy pudd …”

The lads eyes suddenly went wide as he was staggered forward by the force of a giant arrow punching through his heavy leather armor.

**************
Talia watched as the three men approached the patrol base. The half league distance was no problem for her as elves were known for their keen eyesight. Corporal Meirien stood next to her with a small looking glass. Together they watched as the three scouts attempted to get a response from inside the camp.

“Two flashes, well that confirms what we suspected.”

“Grey is a crafty devil, he’s using the mirror to look over the wall. I wonder how he attached to his sword.”

“Damn your elfin eyes Talia.” Granis said to the elf maid as he approached.

“Looks like Decklan is going over. They should be able to enter soon.” Meirien turned to see if the rest of the squat had ranged out as he had ordered. This action had both a fortunate and unfortunate effect. Unfortunate in that he caught a glimpse of an ork moving silently at the rear of his squad. Fortunate in that the arrow that was speading to his heart only managed to pass into the left side of his chest as he completed his turn.

Granis was the quickest to react, “Orks incoming!” he yelled, his deep vibrato cutting through the dead forest, “To horse! Move to the camp!”

Now that they had lost the element of surprise, the orks launched their attack with a blood curdling ‘WAAAGH!”

The woods errupted in chaos. Some of the Overlander troopers scrambled to fend of attacking orks while others followed the grizzled duergar veteran’s orders and sprung up on their horses trying to break from the woods and head towards the camp. Arrows whizzed by as Granis unlimbered his shield and axe and stepped in from of Talia while the elf started to cast a spell. An arrow thudded into Granis’ shield as the duergar grumbled under his breath about how some elves took all day to cast a simple arc lightning spell.

“Sloth, stop playing with the orks and get yer ass to the camp!” The huge trooper had formed up with two other troopers to effect a rear defense allowing a sizeable portion of the squad to recover and fight through the initial ambush. Sloth swung his huge two handed sword about causing the orks that were closest to him to move backwards into their oncoming fellow orks. This tactic was only mildly succesful as most of the orks simply passed around the trio who were soon surrounded.

“…chareth-ZIRRACH!” shouted Talia as a bolt of lightening leapt from her fingertips and arched towards the onrushing ork horde. The bolt smashed through one of the orks attempting to surround Sloth and his compatriots then sprang twice more taking two more orks out of the fight. Sloth used the sudden opening to his advantage and shouldered passed one of the stunned orks and barreled his way towards Granis and Talia.

By now the squad was streaming past the two team leaders, a few were slumped over with arrows sticking at odd angles from their bodies. Talia sprang up onto her horse while Granis reached down and hauled Meirien up from the ground. The corporal was still breathing but just barely. Granis snapped the arrow off just below the fletching then slung the man over the saddle in front of Talia.
Slapping the elfs horse on the rump, Granis turned to mount his own horse and saw that Sloth had managed to win his way to Meirien’s steed and was reaching down towards his one remaining comrade. The other was a few feet away, face down with three arrows burried deep in his back.

Granis wheeled about one last time. Sloth flew by with Jimmy riding pillion. An arrow whizzed by Granis’ ear.

“Right, enough of this.”

The duergar wheeled about once more and galloped after his squadmates easily outdistancing the range of the orkish arrows. The rest of the squad was ahead oh him, quickly covering the half league between the woodline and the camp.