Chapter 10 - Preparing the Assault

Chapter 10

Salran Mountains, Starnor Imperial Border Territories

Deep forests

"Relax, it's me." Said Airah as she caught up to the group of prisoners, as George whirled around, his sword drawn.

"Oh thank the Divines." Said George as he lowered his sword. "Are you alright? We heard screaming, and, well..." He gestured at Airah's blood soaked clothing.

The dragon chuckled.

"It's fine, none of it is mine." Okay, that was a small lie, some of it was hers. But most of it came from the bandit leader. It had neither been a quick or clean death.

The prisoners nodded, and Airah opened her bag of holding. She'd left most of her equipment in her cave, taking only what she thought she would need, but that had left her a lot of space for loot. Not that she even knew if that thing had a limit, at least horizontally.

"Here." She said as she extracted another pair of swords, and extended them towards the women, who took them gingerly. "There's also some armor in there, if you want it?"

Martha nodded, but Emma declined, citing that she was better off quick and agile. It was only the matter of a minute before they were geared up, and began moving again.

Almost a full day later, as the shadows deepened and the sun began to set, they finally burst through the forest into the fields surrounding Kaisersgrenze, the town visible in the distance.

They'd made it.

*****

"Well. You deliver above and beyond, lady Starfire." Said Lenna as she sat down in the guard post.

Airah chuckled.

"I am to please."

"Right." Lenna shook her head. "If your plan was to lay low by the way, it failed catastrophically." Airah rose an eyebrow, and Lenna smiled. "The three prisoners you rescued are already spreading tales of your exploit throughout town. That, plus my men mentioning your name and that you had saved me, has built quite the local legend."

"Oh. Well, it's not like we'd keep things secret forever anyway. I think this will make my presence more...acceptable once the truth breaks out."

"It would be acceptable anyway, great dragons are usually good news for whatever area they settle in. But yeah, being a local hero will help."

"Right. Well, concerning my payment...?"

Lenna nodded, and one of her men set down a small bag of gold onto the table.

"Fifty gold, as agreed, plus six coins for the bandits you killed, and a platinum coin, for my citizens you saved."

"Thank you." Airah had a feeling that the platinum coin was  more generous than was perhaps justified. "Why the generosity though?"

"You mean, besides trying to get on your good side?" Lenna chuckled as Airah nodded. "Well, rewarding people going above and beyond is always a good call, but you've also helped morale a lot." Lenna sighed. "Those bandit attacks have been relentless lately, and my men are doing their best, but we cannot be everywhere at once. You saving that trio has given those that had loved ones taken away hope."

"That's good."

"Very much so." Lenna leaned back into her chair. "Now, concerning the assault on the camp. My men are preparing to move out at dawn tomorrow. Will you join them?"

Airah nodded.

"Yes, but not at the gates of the city. I'll meet them near the camp. If nothing else, I'll be able to grab more reconnaissance while they make their way there."

"Right. Will you...go in with them in your true form?"

Airah shook her head.

"I'd rather delay revealing myself as much as possible. There will probably be survivors from the bandits, and if enough witnesses start talking about a golden dragon tearing bandits to pieces, someone will believe them, and they'll start taking measures to counter me. Thus, I'd rather keep that ace up my sleeve. And that way when we'll truly need my true form, we'll have the advantage of surprise."

"An excellent point." Lenna pushed the gold bag toward Airah. "Well, here is your payment. And I suppose I'll see you tomorrow."

Airah's eyebrow rose.

"You're accompanying the assault?"

"I'm a noble of a frontier territory, fighting besides my men is part of the job description. Besides, I need to be seen leading from the front."

Airah nodded, to take credit for the strike. Plus, it would probably a lot of good to the noble's reputation if she was seen rescuing prisoners and bringing them back to their families. Well, she'd just have to watch out and try to keep the baroness alive, should her personal guard fail to do so. It wouldn't do to have her only ally of noble blood so far, and the person paying her, die after all.

"Very well then. See you tomorrow!"

*****

"Well, we seem to have kicked quite the ant hill." Commented Stellyra as they flew over the bandit camp.

Airah nodded as she looked down. The camp was a frenzy of activity, figures running everywhere, charging looted wagons, preparing horses, and taking down tents.

"Do you think they'll make it in time?" Asked Airah as she watched the frenzy of activity.

"No. Too little too late, unless they're willing to abandon the prisoners and the most of their stuff."

Airah nodded once more. The prisoners weren't helping in the chaos, and were all corralled under heavy guard. The bandits had clearly realized their camp had been found, and once the prisoners knew the cavalry was on its way, having them help with the dismantling of the camp would be a recipe for disaster.

"Alright, let's stay up a bit, try to get  a headcount, and then let's land and try to sneak a closer look." They had gotten some good intel from the prisoners they'd rescued, but confirmation never hurt.

"Sounds like a plan."

In the end, their head count was roughly that which Georges had given them. Fifty or so bandits remaining, what with the six fatalities they had suffered.

A landing out of sight, and a solid hour of sneaking through the woods later, and Airah laid flat on her belly as gazed at the camp.

Getting closer would be a bad idea. The bandits were in a hurry, but they weren't completely stupid, and several bandits were actively scanning the woods for enemies. And Airah wasn't necessarily that great at sneaking around.

Well, it looks like they're a bit better armed than we thought. Said Stellyra over the mind link, and Airah frowned.

The she saw the man the AI was highlighting. He was standing guard near the prisoners...and he was holding the distinct shape of a musket.

Ah shit. Any more?

No, that seems to be it. But they might just have them in reserve. Or have some pistols tucked in somewhere.

Right.

Do you know what type of gun it is? All of these ancient weapons look the same to me.

Unsurprising, you even had trouble differentiating nukes from antimatter bombs.

Hey!

Airah chuckled mentally, before focusing on the man and his gun.

Hard to say for sure, but I think a flintlock musket. Definitely not a bolt action rifle. Might be rifled, can't say without looking down the barrel. It does have a ring bayonet though.

A what now?

A ring bayonet. The first bayonets when straight down the barrel, and you couldn't shoot while it was fixed. A ring bayonet slows down your rate of fire, but you could still fix bayonets and shoot.

How can you tell at this distance?

Because it's not sticking out of the barrel?

Oh. Right.

In any case, it means that he will be able to fire and fight in CQC, which sucks. But if it is a smooth bore musket, it isn't that much of a danger. These things are imprecise as hell, and if they can't mass them for a full volley it won't be very effective.

Right. Well, should be move towards the town? Lenna's little column shouldn't be far now.

Airah nodded. The sun was starting to set, and from what they'd seen at dawn, the strike force assembled by Lenna had been fairly speedy, all things considered. They should be there before the sun fully vanished below the horizon.

*****

Finding the column wasn't hard. Airah didn't even turn back to her dragon form to take to the skies and locate them. She simply put herself between the town and the camp, and waited for the sound of a few dozen heavily armed soldiers trying -and failing- to quietly hurry through the woods to reach her.

She whistled, and the forest went silent. Then someone whistled back, and Airah emerged from the undergrowth.

The whistle was the 'it's me don't shoot' signal. Still hadn't prevented the soldiers from drawing a dozen bows at her, but they immediately relaxed as they saw her.

Airah nodded at Lenna, who nodded back, and made her way to the baroness.

"So?" Said the noble without preamble.

"They're packing their camp in a hurry. Several guards on the perimeter, as well as a small team guarding the prisoners in a corral. But most of them are hurrying, trying to get everything squared away."

"Good. We must hit them while they are still disorganized." She looked at the sky. "A night attack could benefit us, but..." She shook her head. "We need to get as many of them as possible. I don't want most of them to just slip out into the night. Alright!" She turned towards Stavros. "Let's take a short breather, get everyone fed and watered, and we'll launch our assault afterwards."

"Yes milady! Right away."

Airah nodded in approval. Every text she'd read insisted on the importance of keeping your troops well fed and watered, even by eating right before a battle. Even just fighting on an empty stomach could turn the tide in terms of prowess or morale on the battlefield after all.

Lenna turned back towards Airah.

"Do you need...anything? We have some rations, but..."

"Don't worry, I ate not that long ago." Not a goat this time too, a boar. "But I won't turn down some rations." She chuckled. "My regimen gets a bit monotomous. Some bread and cheese would be wonderful!"

"Of course. We'll get you some."

It was a quiet and quick meal. Everyone knew what they were here for, and that some of them probably wouldn't be coming out of it alive. But they were doing it anyway. Because that was what soldiers did. Fight and die to save the innocent.

The rations tasted wonderful, and Airah descended upon them with a fury. She wasn't that hungry, but even a snack for a dragon was a full meal for a human, and she more than pulled her weight in terms of food. Some of the soldiers which had seen her eat after she'd rescued Lenna looked at her oddly when she stopped this early, but no one said anything.

Once everything was being squared away, and everyone was enjoying their cup of beverage of their choice, usually some kind of tisane akin to tea, which Airah tasted and decided that she needed to find an equivalent to cocoa asap, otherwise she might start thinking this atrocity to human taste buds was passable, Lenna got up.

"Men. All of you know why we are here. In a few minutes we will be storming the camp of the scum that have preyed on our people. In a few minutes, we will be descending on the scumbags that have taken and slain our loved ones. In a few minutes, we will rip their hearts from their bodies and feed it to their comrades! Ehre dem Imperium! Sieg oder Tod!"

According to Airah's admittedly parse knowledge of the german language -and also  the language subroutine once it was told to stop screwing around-, she realized Lenna had just shouted 'Glory to the Empire! Victory or death!'. Airah raised her glass along with the soldiers as they roared in response.

Not exactly discreet, but sometimes morale trumps surprise.