Fortunately, with the help of his alarm clock. It rang and made woke him by midnight strike! Hierd got up, although he had wobbled quite a bit. Struggling to keep his hat and suit, but as he opened the door and out came the cold of the night. His slept-self became fully awoke.
With the strike of the new-flown energy, he ran towards the Chief's house, pounding on the front door. And with each pound did it seem that Naturvege's bed moved an inch, thus finally awakening him. He opened the door in quite the hurry, seeing Hierd, he already knew what was to happen. Hierd waited by the door, as Naturvege was just suiting up his uniform.
"Awake the squad leaders, Naturvege, I shall go the Ridge village to inform them to awake as well."
"Yes, captain."
They two went their seperate ways. Hierd went towards the temporary housing that was the Ridge village's chief's home. He knocked once, and to his suprise.
"Good Evening, captain!" Friedrick had opened the door with a jovial look to his face.
"Have you slept? You certainly seem energized." Questioned Hierd.
"I have, just that, even a footstep can be heard in this creaky home, your knock had just rocked me up in my sleep."
"I see..." Hierd looked at his clothing, "You must dress yourself and ready your soldiers for battle."
"Yes, captain."
It was quite the quick encounter, after Hierd had finished business with Friedrick, of whom was already busying himself with waking the soldiers and bringing them hot meals that the Hierd had 'brought up from nowhere.' So that they'd waken with energized minds.
Hierd went back to the main road, and saw a rather large formation. For every truck, there being five, (he left the one he had already used for the village to use in the attack), ten could fit neatly inside with all the trinkets and guns packed. For they had only ninety all-in-all soldiers. Hierd wanted to instead take only twenty-five men. It being made up of two Artillery squads, both Heduc's and Jeane's squads, and Hierd's own squad of five.
"Thirty soldiers, one chance." Hierd looked distressed. "This plan's stupid, the city's big. But, im saucy like that." The frog in his throat disapeared and began to calm himself for the journey that was to ensue.
Heduc went towards him. "Captain, we should depart now."
"That we should." Hierd walked away, Hierd following him. He placed himself in the front of the formation of thirty soldiers. "Soldiers! My men!" His exordium had straightened their postures and intently did they look at Hierd.
"Today will certainly become one of this village's most important, or most detrimental day. Your lives, your loved one's lives, they rest in your decisions in following the words of your superiors, and may it benefit others, following your morals. For we will storm straight into a path unknown, understand that you can die, understand that you can get injured. However, if you can't comprehend death, you are not my soldier!"
"Those 'knights." He put it jokingly, "Will not, will never ever deface our village's reputation! For Unchean to dare declare their war, I call it stupid, I call them stupid! And we? Victims of a corrupt stupidity!"
"I don't think that makes sense, since I was the one who 'technically' invaded Unchean. But fuck, I don't care anymore."
"For they say they'll strike at dawn, we in stead will strike their lord's head by noon!" To hype up the statement, to which had stoke the soldier's hearts in a weird way, he shouted; "To Unchean, for our Kingdom!"
( * )
You are able to see the map in the comment of this sentence. :o (Currently can't put in the image because Webnovel's giving me the; "Sorry, the request you submitted may pose a threat to the website." Treatment :(".
The five trucks, were headed straight into the forest where the said secret path was, and indeed, with Hierd's further inspection of the area, that it was indeed a dirt path, it was not that wide, yet was not that narrow that their trucks could not pass.
Friedrick and Gelmund (the ones who were instigated to govern the farm in the invasion) had installed or improved on the defences that were put by the villagemen. There were some culdesacs on each end of a farm fence where defences were strengthed to provide protection to the machine gunners who would be stationed there with the help of handcrafted wooden shields that'd help stop an arrow's infiltration.
In the center of the farm, where the farmhouse was, they set up a military camp that had contained in it the boxes that Hierd had given them, which were stacks upon stacks upon stacks. With the help of the Artillery squad, landmines were placed all over the perimeter of the farm fence, however, because of Hierd's doubts on protection, he asked for said landmines to be labeled, remembered, and have a clear signal of where one is.
It'd remove the illusion of suprise but instead rise the fact of danger. Why would they assault the farm with horses where they could explode when they step on such things.
Continuing the trek inside the forest, the journey was slow and the terrain was at times wonky. With Hierd at the front of the lane, giving signals to the drivers behind him of upcoming obstacles. The ride's smoothness went better by such factor. It was rather boring, sitting on the back of the truck, as the soldiers had figeted their hands, talked to each and each, or even napping (but Hierd noticed and yelled that the ones who nap will recieve punishment). But, in all the soldier's heads, they thought of one thing entirely, they held their guns in embrace as they awaited either death or success. Their lives were in the balance, and the captain was in charge what side he'd put his soldiers on a falling ceramic plate.
But, in their minds, not one was doubtful of what the captain can and shall do. But it seemed that the captain was the one doubtful of his actions. As he never had such the capability to run a group of people in the world he came from, why would he be able to run a military? Before the captain could come with any so what conclusion on that topic, Hierd heared a horn beep.
He stopped. The ones at the back doing as such too. He looked at the side mirror and saw Heduc coming towards him. He stopped at the window and Hierd rolled it down. "What is it?"
"Captain, its an Unchean camp."
"This is gold! We're storming the fuck outta this camp."
"Where did you see it?" Heduc didn't say anything but instead had walked. Hierd had saw Jeane and his squad's drivers getting off as well.
Heduc stopped and pointed some south-east from the path. "There, captain." He took a sigh before saying; "No man won't ever bypass my keen eyes. That captain, which seems like a lamp's light, is infact a lamp's light."
"Hah." Hierd looked at in more keenly. After observing some bits longer saw a silhoute of what he understood it to be, "A knight."
He quickly looked behind him with the four drivers waiting for some command to be ushered from the captain's mouth. "I want for all of the soldiers to be ready and in formation, we'll siege the camp."
"Yes, captain!"
They scrambled to their trucks. And in a matter of what seemed like ten seconds, the soldiers were up and ready to fight. "Soldiers, we're going to trek slowly toward them, I want complete silence. We'll be scouting from the darkness, and once I give the command, our machine gunners will dump metal into their bodies."
The ominous incinuation of Hierd's words had by some means, frightened the soldiers. Once Hierd had walked, so did they. Crouching on the forest ground, the men had their Kar98k aimed at the camp if ever the knights that were there noticed their movement. As they neared the camp, Hierd stopped and observed.
"The camp isn't that big, however, that large tent at the middle..." Hearing this, Heduc intervened.
"It may be the lord, however, for the lord to be in this tent, in a place without much protection and troops, I find it hard to believe that that's the lord's tent."
"Figured." Hierd observed.
"Fire."
The machine gunners readied their guns and aimed.
A barrage of bullets.
The tents had fallen by the weight of the iron. And the knights who slept or those who hadn't were all evicerated by the bullet's hots pummels.
It was a long ten seconds, but after the fire came the silence that seemed to have stopped the world. Hierd stood up and took a bit of a breather, the gunners had reloaded. Seeing them finish, he said; "Head back, we'll continue the journey before the sun comes up."
"We're not going to check the tents?" Intervened Jeane. "And potentially, surviors?"
"No, whatever thing they would've given us, would be more than nothing for our objective. May they find this camp at dawn, shall their lord scream."
Hierd went back to his truck, the other drivers doing as such. The soldiers had eased themselves on their seats and had cleaned their guns, as Hierd had given handwritten invoices before to have the guns cleaned after everytime it is used. Attached to such invoices was a clean big cloth.
And with a blank expression, like he hadn't just witnessed and be apart of a legal massacre. Hierd started-up the truck once more and the convoy had continued their journey.
-BACK AT VENIT ILLE-
The sun had still not arisen, if the clock had existed in this day and age, then it would mean that it'd be about three in the morning. By that time, all of the soldiers were wide awake because of the movement of the Ridge soldiers up at the farm that were fortifying it.
Verdel and Naturvege were instructed to be guard and defend the bridge, and it was already jam packed of defenses, the artillery squad had notified the soldiers that there were trip mines at the side of it and that they should be cautious of sticks that stuck out from the ground.
Unfortunately, Hierd hadn't given them hot food (the ones who recently awoke) and instead relied upon the MRES that were given. It was bad, but had filled up their bellies well enough. Verdel had placed adjacent the bridge stations for machine gunners, there were two, to be exact. Of which the machine gunners can shoot at oncoming enemies while still being in the safety ring of the village-side of the lands.
Naturvege and two squads had went down to the prison land. Checking and ensuring that none had escaped during their absence. Certainly there weren't as the knights were quote-on-quote; 'Scared, frightened.' By the power they held. However, their captain had not even the slightest mind whether they were there or they were not, she stared only at the window in the room only she was inside of.
Naturvege had given them pre-opened MREs, they were of the 'better' ones, but the knights still commented of it's rather queer taste. The captain was none the wiser upon the mass opinion.
In the farm land, Friedrick was busying himself by maintaining the morale of his soldiers and Hierd's (his soldiers means more that because the aforementioned soldiers are from his village). Whilst his comrade, Gelmund was tending to the soldier's weaponry. Developing a 'system' of sorts along the way. The system had came upon the fact of the machine gunner's general supremity. With the added bonus that the machine gunners were defended by arrow fire, Gelmund proposed that two gunners be posted with one out-lier who would help deliver ammunitions and treat arrow wounds, if so ever shot.
There were four main machine gunner positions, spread by a way off distance. Handling two squad's worth of soldiers each. The minor ones used Gelmund's proposal and were either behind or adjacent the main ones. One was at the very top, with only one squad guarding it. There were two that faced the eastern forest which were classified an important point, and ever were it breached, would lead to the downfall of the farm. And the final one was at the gate of the farm, it was fortified in a way that had still a way for the trucks and soldiers to pass via the path and because of that, it was some ways; "A vunreable point." Said Friedrick.
"Yes, that is indeed, but they have swords, spears, and bows. We have guns. There's a difference to the two, sir." Commented Gelmund, who was not as shy to Friedrick as to Hierd. "And even were it that they pass, we have thirty-five ready soldiers."
"That is so, that is so." Friedrick looked onward to the skies, it was approaching dawn. "Unchean's army, will come no later, no sooner. Ready the soldiers for battle, sir."
"Yes, sir." He nodded to exaggerate his approval.
Naturvege had asked the same of Verdel over at the bridge of which had contained a more-or-less equal footing of soldiers, thirty. This shortened, however, because some ridge village troops were ordered to stay inside the village to tend to the villagers and relay information that'd be detrimental if not said. The large; thirty numbers, dropped down to fifteen. It included two normal squads and one artillery squad.
All fifteen soldiers, waiting anxiously for dawn to come.
-NOW AT HIERD-
As dawn neared, so too did Hierd's parade of trucks. There wasn't anything else in the way of the path, neither were there any campsites near or on the path, thankfully. They could see the dark outline of fortress, it was the city of Unchean.
They reached the end of the path, and stopped just before they could be seen by any unforeseen onlookers. Captain Hierd got out of his seat, he asked for the rest of the men to get off too. He crouched along the woodline, his soldiers following behind him. He stopped when he had sight of the gate. "That, soldiers." He started. "Is an army."
Indeed that is was, for at the entrance, was a staggering lot of soldiers, with the front of such a formation, a decorated horse, which sat atop its golden armor.
"Lord Peraux..."