July 3, 2022 - 4 minutes read - 793 words
“Burn the signal smoke!” Pat
At my direction, Mirko ignites the coal he was carrying in his pack. Soon, a lot of black smoke rises into the sky. I waited until we had begun our attack before lighting the smoke, I didn’t want our sneak attack to be discovered.
The Eighth Army defeats the tribal groups one after another, the tribals’ skill is abominably low, they just swing their spears like they’re hunting deer. The Eighth Army is overwhelmingly more powerful.
We attack the further away tribal warriors with our bows and arrows. They pierce warrior after warrior as they start to retreat.
“The smoke signal has appeared!” Guard shouts
“Ok! Archers, fire arrows at the enemies in front of the main gate! When most of them are down, we’ll sally out at once!” Commander
The soldiers inside the fortress start to move, but before they can start fighting, a magical bugle sounds.
“The enemy is retreating!” Kingdom Soldier
“Certainly! Success! Open the gate and charge!” Kingdom Commander
As soon as the main gate opens, the Kingdom’s cavalry charges out to push the tribesmen away from the fortress. The infantry follows close behind the cavalry. The Third Army and the Northern Army head out to relieve some stress.
The mountain tribe leaders had gotten impatient. They had stationed most of the warriors in siege positions around the fortress and had only a few stationed around the headquarters. The warriors had also been attacked from behind, so they were confused as well. Now the Kingdom cavalry is charging from the fort!
“Hey! Bring back warriors to the headquarters!” Tribal Commander A
The bugle sounds, but it takes time for the tribal warriors to get back on foot. Enemy cavalry will be attacking the headquarters by the time reinforcements arrive.
“What are you going to do? We’re dead at this rate!” Tribal Commander B
“Is it possible to retreat and regroup?” Tribal Commander A
“We would still have a numbers advantage, right?” Tribal Commander C
“Then we should retreat to regroup!” Tribal Commander A
“Before that, can we retreat?” Tribal Commander C
“In any case, doing nothing is just suicide!” Tribal Commander A
“Ok, Retreat! Signal!” Tribal Commander C
The bugle sounds the call to retreat!
The tribal headquarters descends into chaos as every person begins to simultaneously prepare to flee.
Until…
“Oof!” Tribal Commander A
“Gofu!” Tribal Commander B
One after another, the commanders began to fall down.
“What’s the matter? Is there an enemy?” Tribal Commander C
“I don’t know! I didn’t see any arrows, plus their wounds are slashes!” Tribal Warrior
“Then let’s get out of here!” Tribal Commander C
“I can’t let you go, you fancy looking guys are priority targets.” Pat
The tribal’s reacted to me as I finally made myself known.
“Who are you?” Tribal Commander C
“You started this war, didn’t you? Now you’re going to need to sound a surrender pretty quick, or most of your warriors aren’t going to see tomorrow! Do you really want to see your men die with nothing gained?” Pat
“You know nothing! All of our people will starve and die now! You have no idea how terrible it is to starve! We have no food, our friends and families are barely hanging on, and they’ll soon die of hunger ! Every time we come here in search of food, we’re simply driven away!” Tribal Warrior
“So you think it’s bad when nobody has food? What about when you’re beaten and kicked by your parents, siblings, and anybody around while they get to eat a lavish meal and you get nothing?” Pat
“Does such an evil person exist? A parent should be willing to go without so their children can eat!” Tribal Warrior
“I guess you had decent parents, but my parents were scum. They would lend out their child to strangers for a few coins to be beaten for stress relief. That being said, why are you here to plunder? Why didn’t you try to negotiate? Couldn’t you trade your labor for food for your people?” Pat
“I’m not here to negotiate!” Tribal Warrior
“Then parents and children would be separated!” Tribal Commander C
“Isn’t it better to live apart than to die together?” Pat
“If we were separated, how would we know the other is still alive?” Tribal Commander C
“It’s not impossible! Some could stay and swap out in summer… It’s too late for this. I’m not killing you though, you’re going to be useful later.” Pat
After my comments, I knocked the two down with my fists.
Author Note: Coal is not used in this world indoors since it is more expensive than firewood and produces black smoke, but it is sometimes used outdoors.
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