Chapter 338 - Attrition

Reivyn walked along behind the mercenary company, a steady rain coming down and soaking everything beyond measure. Mud covered his lower body all the way from his boots to his lower waist. He even had some splashes of mud all the way up to his face. He didn’t remember how it had gotten there, but it was pervasive.

The mercenary company in front of him Marched along in the rain, their shoulders drooping a bit. Morale was low overall among the allies, though Reivyn was a bit impressed at his own men and women holding up marginally better than the others. As he surveyed the mercenaries, one of them slipped in the mud, down to a knee as he struggled to maintain his balance, adding to the caked-on dirt already covering the front of his body. His comrades on either side grabbed him by the shoulders, steadying him and helping him back to his feet.

The mercenaries all had Skills to help their balance and footing, even in the slippery mud, but they were all mentally strained from the slog of a campaign. They focused their attention during actual combat, letting their minds wander and their bodies relax when they were just Marching. A little slip when walking was annoying, but a little slip when fighting was deadly. If they tried to keep their Skills focused at all times, there was a chance they would falter when it really mattered, so they took the opportunities to recharge their mental batteries when they could.

The allied forces were moving most of the time, whether it was to engage in battle, intercept a target, or retreat for better positioning. There was very little downtime in a bivouac, and what time they did have, Reivyn and the officers ensured they were kept busy.

Pretty soon the opportunity cost of keeping them busy won’t make any difference, Reivyn thought as they Marched in the rain. They’re already having a hard time thinking about anything other than the miserable conditions they’re in. The point of keeping them busy is to prevent brooding, and the campaign itself will take care of that soon enough. I’ll tell the captain to ease up a bit on the busy work.

If he pushed them too hard, despite the good intentions, the mercenaries would break. There was only so much stress a person could handle, no matter their Stats. Reivyn was lucky in that he not only had more freedom with his role as a roving Party, but that he had the Dreams of the Past to acclimate him to this environment.

The allied forces had moved beyond the range of the mountain fortress and surrounding lowlands. The terrain slowly rose as they Marched in pursuit of the invaders, ensuring they were always walking slightly uphill. There were dips and hills dotted across the landscape, but the overall trend was slightly upward. One wouldn’t notice it right away, but they had been walking and fighting in those conditions for weeks. It was just one more thing to sap the energy and morale of the soldiers.

The mercenary company was actually handling the slog much better than their allied counterparts. They were just beyond Reivyn’s regular sight, but he could see them struggling if he concentrated with his Eagle Eye Skill. The mercenaries had to pace themselves to not overtake them and mess up the line, but the officers and NCO’s did a good job of keeping everyone where they needed to be. The regular mercenaries didn’t have to worry about it. They just had to follow the commands given by the leadership.

The armies continued moving in the rain. The visibility was fairly low, with the rain and mist forming a white wall only approximately a hundred yards or so in the distance. The commanders relied heavily on their maps and scouts to keep them on track. As they continued to give chase to the invaders, the allied forces were slowly consolidating their positions and converging together. Both forces were narrowing the scope of the battlefield.

The day dragged on with no encounters with the enemy. It was just one long March into the white mist. They didn’t always have a fight everyday, and this was one of those days. As the light began to dim as the distant, hidden sun began to descend, the armies halted their forward advance. The orders came down from central command, and the various companies began setting up tents.

The mercenaries didn’t miss a beat, extracting logs and other various wooden building materials from their supplies. When they were close to a wood line, they would harvest the trees directly for their materials while stockpiling extras for the occasions where there weren’t any trees readily available. That was the situation now, as they were on a mostly empty plains area. There were tree lines in the distance, according to the maps, but it would be foolish to send a working party out alone to get some wood when they had the materials already stockpiled. They would simply replenish their supplies at a later date.

The mercenary company was deft at constructing their defensive palisade and moat. They had plenty of practice constructing temporary forts, having done so many times while conducting field exercises in garrison and each night outside of the fortress on the current campaign. They divided up the roles as they built their walls and dug a decent sized moat to surround it.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, but what’s the purpose of the moat?” Kefira asked as they watched the mercenaries work. “Can’t Tier 3’s easily jump over it?”

“Well, yeah, individually,” Reivyn answered. “It’s not much of an obstacle to a single person, but have them lined up in a formation, and it’s not that easy. Even if a group do clear the moat, they have the wall to contend with, and now their formation is disrupted. There’s not enough room for all of them to clear the moat. Even that little bit of hindrance will tip the odds in our favor if we’re attacked.”

“I don’t see any of the other armies building little forts every night,” Kefira pointed out, looking int he direction of the other companies.

“Lack of discipline,” Reivyn grunted. “Or they just don’t understand. A little bit of extra effort now means a bit of an advantage later. I would rather the men waste their time and not need it than not have it when it matters.”

“I’ll leave these matters to the expert,” Kefira said with a smile. “I was just curious.”

With their Stats, Skills, and practice, it took almost no time to have a little wooden fort constructed. The mercenaries erected their tents within the confines of the walls, and sentries were posted. Most of the mercenaries would get a full-night’s rest, but they rotated the responsibilities of those who had to stand watch through the night. The sentries would only have to stand for an hour before they were relieved, though. Those having to stand watch in the middle of the night were the ones worst off with their rest interrupted half-way through. The first and last shifts were the most coveted for those having to work as guards. They didn’t just have stationary sentries, either. There were a couple of roving pairs patrolling just outside the walls, too.

At least the other companies put out a night watch, Reivyn thought to himself. I would be seriously worried if they didn’t at least do that.

Reivyn glanced at Kefira and the others.

“Let’s go ahead and get our tents pitched, too,” he said.

The Party shared a hot meal cooked over a fire near their bivouac area inside the palisade. Conversation was muted, and after filling their stomachs they all retreated to their tents to get out of the rain and get some rest. Reivyn and Teilon shared a tent together, his parents having one to themselves, and the girls shared a slightly larger one together.

The interior of their tent was heated with a bit of Reivyn’s Mana, mainly for Teilon’s comfort. Reivyn was a firm believer in sharing the same suffering conditions as his men, but he wasn’t going to hold that same standard to his friends if he didn’t have to.

Reivyn quickly fell asleep, but he only rested for a couple of hours before his internal clock woke him in the middle of the night. Careful to not make any noise, Reivyn extracted himself from his sleeping bag and got dressed in his armor. He glanced over at Teilon, seeing that his friend was sprawled out like a starfish under his sleeping bag. Reivyn smirked and shook his head, ducking out of the tent.

The camp was silent all around as everyone took the opportunity to get as much rest as they could. There were no late-night bonfires with mercenaries playing dice or cards or just shooting the breeze with each other. On some campaigns, that might be a common scene, but this one was just too mind numbing. Nobody had any interest in wasting time that could be spent asleep if they didn’t have to.

Reivyn surveyed the camp. The tents were neatly arranged and packed together to make maximum use of the space. The palisade had little platforms at each of the corners, and a sentry was posted at each one. Reivyn’s Divine Sense informed him of the pair of mercenaries patrolling just outside the palisade walls, keeping vigil.

Reivyn immediately felt the difference in temperature. It wasn’t necessarily cold, but the constant drizzle drained the heat away, and Reivyn rubbed his arms together as he hunched forward to keep his body heat centralized. If it was any colder, he could have seen his breath, but it wasn’t quite that bad, yet. The temperature was slowly getting lower and lower each day, though. Pretty soon, if the rain didn’t stop, it would turn into sleet or snow.

Reivyn extended his Mana senses to verify that the pull on the ambient Mana was still there as he made his way to the first platform sentry. There was a short ladder leading up to the platform, but Reivyn ignored it as he simply hopped up to the platform.

The sentry at the first corner startled at the sudden intrusion, whipping his head around, hand going to his waist where his sword was sheathed. He straightened up and dropped his hand as soon as he recognized Reivyn, though. He turned back to the outside, continuing his scan of the darkness.

“How’s it looking so far?” Reivyn asked.

“Same old, same old, sir,” The mercenary responded. “Not much to look at but a wall of black.”

Reivyn could see a bit more with his Skills, his Divine Sense really telling him the difference where it spread, but he understood the sentiment. Even for him, his Night Vision only extended how far he could see without any celestial lighting illuminating the world.

Reivyn chuckled, clapping the man on the shoulder.

“Yeah, well, keep up the good work. It’s important what you’re doing right now.”

“Oh yeah, I feel so important,” the man grunted, rolling his eyes.

Reivyn didn’t take any offense at the man’s words. He simply chuckled as he hopped off the platform and headed toward a different platform. Reivyn would have been more worried about total silence in regards to his comment, relatively. Just being quiet wasn’t necessarily cause for concern, but complaining outright, especially to the commanding officer of the entire Mercenary Corp, even if he wasn’t here in that capacity, told Reivyn that the man still had some spark in him.

Reivyn visited each of the sentries, checking up on them. The main focus of his mid-evening inspection was to verify each of the sentries was alert and doing their job. It wouldn’t do to have any men sleeping on the job. That’s how people got killed. Ascertaining their level of moral by how they acted while on night watch was just a bonus.

The camp wasn’t large, and the posts weren’t far apart. It only took a couple of minutes for Reivyn to check in with each of the four sentries. After briefly speaking to the last man, he hopped over the wall instead of back inside, and he made his way toward the patrolling pair of mercenaries. As he got close enough for them to vaguely see his outline, approaching them from the front on purpose, the two immediately leveled their spears towards him.

“Halt! Identify yourself!” One of the mercenaries called out.

Reivyn silently nodded to himself in approval. He raised his hands up over his shoulders as he took a couple more steps forward before stopping.

“It’s me, Major Reivyn,” He called out. The two patrollers cautiously stepped forward until they could see his face in the darkness before they put their spears back in the resting position.

“Yes, sir. Is there anything we can help you with?” The second mercenary asked.

Reivyn shook his head.

“Nope. Just carrying out the nightly inspection,” he replied. “How’s it been so far?”

“Surprisingly, I like the patrol better than the sentry,” the first mercenary responded, opening up a bit. “At least we get to walk around instead of having to stand in one place while staring at nothing. The darkness does tend to play tricks on our senses, though.”

“How so?” Reivyn perked up at the answer. It wasn’t unusual to see things that weren’t actually there when one was tired and having one’s vision so limited. That didn’t mean there was nothing to worry about, though, as it could also actually be something.

“It’s nothing like that, sir,” the mercenary responded. “‘If we had seen shadows at the edge of our vision, we would have reported it. I’m just seeing indistinct shapes flying about at the edge of my vision, occasionally.”

“Okay. Make sure to get some good rest after  your patrol,” Reivyn said. “Sounds like classic sleep deprivation to me.”

“Yes, sir. I thought so, too.”

Suddenly, a ball of white, blinding light exploded in the sky. It was high up in the sky that it illuminated the entire surroundings, but it was low enough to not get caught in the clouds above, still spewing drain on their heads below. Reivyn instinctively closed his right eye, his dominant eye. He noticed the patrolling mercenaries do the same thing with a mental nod of approval. It was important to not lose one’s night-sight by protecting the dominant eye. If both eyes were suddenly subjected to much higher intensity of light, it would hinder their ability to see in the dark.

With his other, non-dominant eye, Reivyn immediately scanned the horizon in the direction of the invaders. He had to wrestle with his instincts for a moment to keep from looking up directly at the light. Everyone had a natural reaction to look directly towards something that startled them. It was a well-known phenomenon called the startle reflex. They trained to overcome the response through discipline just for this very reason.

In the distance, a line of enemy soldiers was formed up and Marching towards them. Reivyn shared a brief look with the patrollers who easily spotted the same thing under the shining light ball.

“Raise the alarm,” Reivyn calmly instructed them.

The two mercenaries pulled out whistles, enchanted with a bit of Mana to expand the noise level and abrasiveness of the sound. The combination helped jolt people’s brains alert. The four sentries followed on their heels with their own whistles immediately. The sentries on the wall facing the oncoming threat remained in place while the others rushed into the camp, first making sure the officers were woken.

The captain and the lieutenants were among the first mercenaries out of their tents. Mercenaries poured out of tents in various states of dress all around Reivyn as he quickly returned to his own tent. The officers immediately began taking charge of the situation, direction the mercenaries, and the mercenaries finished equipping themselves as they obeyed the orders.

Very quickly, the platoons were formed up inside the palisade. A line of platforms was quickly set up for the entire wall to be usable for a line of defenders. One of the officers stood at the end directing them as they armed themselves with ranged weapons. The mercenaries on the wall launched a volley of arrows at the oncoming enemy, followed by additional volleys commanded by the officers of the mercenaries formed up below the wall.

The arrows sailed through the night sky silently. There was no follow up noise to the attack. The sounds of any cries from struck enemies was soared up by the wind and rain.

Several more volleys were sent out before the mercenaries on the wall replaced their bows with spears, waiting in anticipation for the enemy to approach. The entrance to the palisade was located on the west side, the side opposite to where the enemy were coming from. Platoons stood ready to swarm up on additional platforms on the sides or replace the sentries already up there.

Reivyn met up with hi sParty members as they all patiently waited outside their trio of tents. Teilon looked more irritated at his sleep being interrupted than anything, but they were all wide awake. Reivyn simply nodded to each of them as he joined them.

“Lucky,” Refix said under his breath as Reivyn steppe dup next to him.

“Lucky?” Reivyn asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Yeah, you’re lucky the attack came while you were already awake,” Refix snorted. “No need to have to quickly force yourself awake and focus your mind.”

“Yeah, but I would still prefer there be no attack in the middle of the night,” Reivyn quipped back.

The sound of men yelling and screaming and the clash of metal on metal reached their ears, clearly coming from the distant, closest allied camp. There wasn’t much noise from their own camp, though Reivyn could see the mercenaries on the platforms being  stabbing down over the edge of the palisade as they waited.

The officers called for men to line the side platforms, forming additional lines of defense against the foe trying to overwhelm the defensive fort. Arms rose and spears fell. Cried accompanied the descent of the weapons, and the palisade continued to shake. Mercenaries switched out with their brethren to take on the duty of expelling the attack.

Reivyn shared a look with his Party members, indicating toward the open gate on the west side. They each quickly grasped his intention, and the Party raced over to take up a defensive positions. Reivyn spotted Captain Caivel and jogged over to the company commander. The man was watching his officers handle the situation calmly. Reivyn grabbed his attention.

“My Party will guard the west exit,” he informed the man. “Just let us know if you need us to do anything else.”

“Will do, sir,” the captain replied with a nod.

The fighting continued into the night, the light ball still hovering in the sky, illuminating the action below. The cries of men in life or death situations reached the mercenaries inside their little fortress throughout, though it was quiet on the inside of the walls as the men waited their turn to man the walls. Reivyn and the others didn’t have to do anything but wait as the enemy forces didn’t fully envelope the fortress.

The combat continued for about an hour before silence reigned over the field. Reivyn felt a prickling sensation in the back of his mind as the quiet spread. The lack of noise wasn’t the only difference, but it took him a moment to realize what it was that triggered his mental response.

After searching about with his Divine Sense and other Perception Skills and abilities, it finally came to him. He turned to the others.

“The ambient Mana draw has stopped,” he said.