Reynolds went inside the cave, discovering wooden beams arching in the cavern walls and pickaxes, a small makeshift shaft. "Ho yeah, y'all know what this means. Not only do we get these. They don't!" Captain Reynolds lifted a pickaxe in his hand, and cheers erupted from the team. "No more bloody traps! No more Bloody Poverty! No more Bloody Babylonians!" They all roared, giving each other chest bumps and breaking kegs of their plunder, revealing ale in barrels.
But Davis shook his head.
As night fell, they began posting their perimeters, slumping over campfires, and passing kegs around. The camp was illuminated by soldiers gathering around for a song. "Hail Union! Our holy Union! Of grace to come! Kiss our nation! Oh! Our mighty nation! With gifts and songs! May we see the day! Oh! May we see today! Our Holy Union! Hail Union!" They applauded loudly and cheered, with woos and yippies echoing through the forest. Their melodies were a testament to the resilience that bound them together as howls and gathered owls released their voices.
Captain Davis approached a tipsy Reynolds. "Davis, good to see you and your team made it as scheduled at least, so I can't blame you for the excess blood." Reynolds offered a pint to Davis.
Davis returned the gesture with a nod as he grabbed the offered pint. "Likewise, Reynolds. What the hell happened? Did y'all get caught?" Reynolds went and grabbed another pint and shook it around. Good God, this guy kills a boy and now everything's back to normal?
"Yup! They had those damn traps everywhere, they were expecting us! That being said, we need to unearth before we have more casualties. Some of them are burning our men alive just by standing on them!" Reynolds raged.
"The mine is said to be full of copper that they won't be getting, like you said. If they can't get to it, we won't see any more of it on the frontline," said Davis. Cpt Reynolds heaved a sigh, leaning back against a weathered log, his brow furrowed deeply as he spoke.
"We'll need to bring additional personnel. We can establish a temporary base camp here on the ridge and start digging from there," Captain Davis noted.
"Agreed," Reynolds said, his voice carried away by the blowing breeze against rustling leaves. "We'll need to coordinate with Meadowcreek; have them bring extra men. We can begin the excavation process, though, since that would at least get us some extra plunder."
Davis sat across from Reynolds, letting out a sigh as he slumped his shoulders over the crackling campfire.
"Feeling tired yet, Reynolds?" Reynolds met his gaze with a begrudging nod, his clouded gray eyes reflecting heavy weariness upon them. "I wonder how many men you stabbed through yourself, hm?" He laughed within himself.
"I got some blood on my blade. In life, there's never a guarantee, which is what we should expect but never do," Davis said as he stuck a rabbit on a stick into the blazing fire, while Reynolds tossed an extra log, sending sparks of bright yellow cinder upwards.
"You'd know what Babylonians could never expect? Bunnies tied with dynamite. Send those hares sprawling towards them, then boom."
"Huh?" Davis spat out bits of his ale. "I've heard of animal cruelty, but that is just animal inhumanity. Hm. Yeah, you're hungry, here you can have this one."
Davis went and tossed his cooked rabbit on a stick towards Reynolds, who caught it over the crackling campfire, his fingers deftly picking it apart.
"Maybe," Davis spoke, "Maybe, we can reclaim Gianovi after this operation. If anything, Babylonia should be struggling with the revolting nations they captured," he mused.
Reynolds spoke, his voice laced with frustration. "As long as we can restore prosperity to our nation, the lost cities matter little to me."
Davis shook his head and met Reynolds' gaze. "They cannot remain under occupation, Reynolds. They're slaves. We're going to liberate them or we're no better off than them." He picked the meat off the rabbit's rib cage, hesitantly taking a bite of the nearly dried-out, bland flesh. "All or nothing," he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.
Reynolds got up to address the gathering soldiers. "Alright, listen up," he began. "We need... We need. We. Need. To organize who we have now with what we have and need Squadron Turquoise!"
"Yes sir!" Jackson responded eagerly.
"Have three men from your platoon begin the caravan back to MeadowBrooks; the remainder will scout out the cavern!"
"Yes sir!"
"Alright!" Davis continued on Reynolds's behalf, having fallen on his ass. "This was a great effort, a historic effort, that cost our people good and well-lived lives. WE CANNOT AND WILL NOT LET THEM BE IN VAIN!"
"Yeah!" The army shouted in unison.
"From this point forward! Every life of every city taken by the Babylonians will sing Hail UNION! Zeh Ha!" Davis roared their mantra and the army corresponded.
"Zeh Ha, Zeh Ha! Long live
Union!"
From the first light of dusk, blocked out by cool wind nimbuses blowing through the green fresh Pine and Oak forest, vines flowed as the breeze swung those lines with their buds of flowers springing ever reds and violet petals, each with teardrops of the coming rain falling from their shining leaves.
Tents sprouted up like mushrooms, and the atmosphere thrummed with a shared sense of unease at the distant grumbling of a storm as light rain began to enclose.
Reynolds inspected from the top of their watch hill as the rain got heavier. The troops set spike traps in bushes and dug deep into the mud as rain poured in.
Then a soldier came up to Reynolds, "Captain, sir!" The rain blotted Lawson's voice with its heavy winds, and booming thunder surrounded them.
"What is it, Private Lawson?"
Shouted Reynolds.
sir, I knew the war wasn pretty, but yesterday! It was terrible, I saw their flesh fly out of their bodies, and burning
ounes ei aroma nte al
from my bullets!"
Clash! "I can still smell their grease-filled bodies, they were screaming half the time! I don't even know if it was them or ours! Am I going to witness worse, sir?"
Reynolds sighed, contemplating Lawson's words.
"Son, remember when you used to go into the medic tent and feast off our honey remedies with your triends: sometimes you swapped people's name tags and made a fool out of me.
"Yeah. I remember you snickered heavily then!" Shouted Lawson, "What good is that to you now?" Reynolds replied,
Clash! A lightning struck a tree as the winds pushed it down further, crashing it into the dirt!
"You see that?" Shouted Reynolds. "Like yesterday's battle, that was the cleanest strike you faced even with blunders! We're outside a major storm but we lucked out this time, next it could be our tree! Like Captain Davis would say, a valid lesson to never stop expecting the unexpected!"
The wind blew a gust then nudged the men nearly off their feet.
"Because like jokes, some land, and fall; you know what a good joke is?" Reynolds continued. Lawson shook his head. "No sir!"
"When it lands on your audience! Not on you! You better hope you can compare more lightning to battles, being that if you can't! You're either maimed or dead!" Lawson slumped his head and shoulder grew limp. "The reason I mention this is to tell you that you've entered the stages of a reality around you, the seriousness it demands and the childishness it throws into the gravel, so if you believe this was bad, hope for worse, just so you can be thankful it wasn't as bad, that is the life of a soldier!" Lawson lifted his face and gave a nod as he ran back to the site.
The site, now tranquil, echoed with the sounds of clanking against the cavern wall.
In the quilts of the night, beneath the clouded sky, Captain Reynolds and Captain Davis continued their discussions.
"Meadowbrooks is gonna have the first route to here it's gonna open an easy approach of enemies too.." said Davis "It's the transporter coming here being robbed That's the issue, this place is surrounded by woods, we'll need to chop it all down." Replied Reynolds.
Reynolds leaned forward, his brow furrowing in concentration. "We'll need to establish multiple spotting towers, and within the cave to maximize our resource extraction, we'll need to use explosives." Said Reynolds "Our teams should be well-organized and equipped with the necessary tools. Safety is a top priority; we can't afford accidents down there." Said Davis, tracing a possible route on the map. "I've already designated specific areas for mining teams when they head deeper, so the explosives aren't as dangerous." Said Reynolds.
"The mineshafts will be interfered with especially if rails are installed. Be vigilant, the odds are against dynamite in that enclosed space, we can have avalanches, cave-ins, personnel injury, we have to just take it slow."
Reynolds glanced at the map and then looked up at Davis. "Speaking of interference, we can't ignore the threat of Babylonian attacks. They'll undoubtedly be furious once they realize we've secured the cave. We'll need to burn this map."
Davis sighed, a light shake in his head as he held it with his hand seemingly overwhelmed. "I've stationed sentinels along the ridge, and we have scouts patrolling the surrounding areas. We're also fortifying our defenses within the cave itself. It's a natural chokepoint, so we can't use any compounds; the cavern will devour us. As far as the map. I'll hold onto it."
Reynolds shook his head, "We can't cross out dynamite just yet; let's just think about securing our trade route. We'll gather our scouting party to assess potential threats and ensure safe passage for our resources, and see the volatility of using dynamite, which will speed up our use of this cave and we get moving!"
Davis replied, "Major isn't gonna like more dead bodies when we can avoid it, Reynolds."
"Pfft Major. How he hasn't defeated Babylonia's entire army yet Oh!",Reynolds sarcastically tossed his arms spinning around "We parade his nickname, "The Banking Blood.",You know he killed his wife, right?" .
"Yeah,", Davis replied, "apparently, she asked too many questions, her being a Philistine too I wonder what caused him to marry?" Said, Davis.
"She was a siren. And I have to admit I didn't mind her songs either."
"Captains!" They were turned to a shouting miner drawing their combined attention..