Screams and shouting filled the inside of the palisade as the bandits woke to the sounds of fire and destruction outside their simple tents. They picked up their weapons as quickly as they could and rushed outside, most wore light padded armor which they slept in. Only a few wore actual leather armor and they mostly consisted of the leadership.
The few bandits that were able to immediately run to the burning wall found one of their allies once watching atop a tower was now on the ground with a hole in his chest punching through his padded armor. The other on the very same wall was screaming out in pain as he held his shoulder. “We are under attack!” He shouted down as he tried pulling something out from his arm.
Suddenly he flinched and recoiled before falling backwards off of the tower and landing with a thud. The nearest bandit rushed up to him and fell to his knees to get a better look.
“He had something sticking out of his throat!” The bandit shouted as he inspected the thin brown cylinder object sticking out of his allies throat.
“Forget about him!” another shouted as he arrived with a bucket full of water. “We need to keep the palisade from burning down.” The nearby bandits noticed the one carrying the bucket was wearing proper leather armor, a sign of his authority. Without wasting a moment the bandits ignored their dead allies and began following his lead.
“We need to get this bucket dumped on the outside of the wall, dumping it out here won’t do anything since the fire is on the outside. That is why we need to get on top of the towers. You two grab the bows these sorry fools drop and get up there, I will be right behind you.” The two bandits he pointed at looked at each other nervously for a moment before running to one of the dead watchers and picking up their respective bows before climbing the nearby towers.
Both could feel the cheap wooden towers sway slightly as they climbed up the ladders, they only hoped that the whole thing wouldn’t come crashing down the moment they climbed to the top. The bandit at the middle tower was the first to reach the top and peeked over the edge on the other side of the wall.
He couldn’t see all that much on the other side of the palisade, the fight that was enveloping the wall just a handful of feet away from his face made the task as difficult as finding a fire bug next to a bonfire. All he could see was the enemy didn’t have any sources of light before something shot out towards him with a small whoosh and struck nearby.
Startled by the sudden near death experience, he lost his grip on the ladder and fell back down to the ground with a loud thud, the two nearby bandits rushing to his side the moment they realized he was still alive. “Dear gods, they almost got me!” He shouted as he sat up.
The other two bandits, the one with the bucket and the other climbing up the second tower, however didn’t pay any attention. The one with the bucket started climbing up after his subordinate was already halfway up.
Unlike his ally who only peeked over the edge this bandit climbed all the way up to get a good look. He peered over the burning section of the palisade and saw nothing but darkness and the distant tree line. Then suddenly he heard something in the distance, a small whoosh that was followed with the sound of something piercing flesh at the same moment he felt something strike him in the chest and knock him back a step.
Then a moment later he realized he couldn’t breathe, he looked down and saw something sticking out from his chest on the left side. He could feel his legs slowly give out from under him and he slowly slumped to the ground and fell to his side. He kept trying to breathe, to say or do anything, but it was like his lungs could work any more.
“What are you doing?! Get up!” The bandit with the bucket in his hands shouted as he reached the last step in the ladder. Before he could say anything else he spied the little brown object sticking out from the chest of his subordinate.
“A geomancer?!” He shouted out in surprise and he ducked back below the top of the tower. “Shit shit shit. This is far worse than what I thought.” He said to himself as he climbed back down with the bucket still in his hands.
“They have a mage in their midst!” He shouted to the surviving bandits the moment his feet touched the ground. “Gather everyone you can to his location! We need to be ready when they break down the wall and come charging in here!”
Two of the bandits ran off towards the tents where the majority of the bandits were collecting themselves. The bandit with the bucket looked around at the two remaining bandits still with him, like him and a majority of the others; they were young human men. He could see in their unsteady hands they were worried and fearful of what was about to happen.
The crackling of the palisade drowned out most other noises, it was what made the sudden collapse of a small section so surprising to the three.
The leading bandit quickly jumped back as it started leaning backwards, the two bandits nearby nearly shrieked as the wave of heat filled their eyes and the sounds of marching filled their ears. From the opening came a formation of armored men each carrying a shield and a spear, it was nearly impossible to call out anything specific about them with the flames casting light from behind.
“Hold steady!” A voice shouted from somewhere in the formation.
“Forward march! Maintain a shield wall and point those spears forwards!” The voice shouted again. The armored men followed the command and raised their rectangular shields up and held their spears out from the right side. Without missing a beat they continued moving forwards towards the three bandits watching with a mix of surprise and anger.
“The bastards!” The leading bandit muttered with his teeth bared and his eyes forwards.
“Turn back!” He shouted to the two bandits nearby. “Turn back and retreat to the others. The three of us will not last against an organized formation like this.”
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The two bandits looked at each other for just a second before turning and running like the armored men were right behind them leaving their superior by himself.
“I'll get you bastards!” He muttered once again as he took a few steps back. “I’ll get you good!” He finished as he turned and broke into a sprint.
********
Sergeant Gallio smiled as he looked upon his men before him. While it was normally unbefitting for a sergeant to stay behind his or her men and bark orders he had secondary and tertiary objectives. The secondary was of course to keep both of the mages he managed to wrangle to the assault alive in case something unexpected happened, the tertiary was to give his men experience with minimal orders in a real combat situation with minimal risks.
“Are you certain this is a wise course of action staying in the rear while ordering your men?” The pyromancer woman suddenly asked as the three bypassed through the opening in the palisade. He turned his eyes away from the battle ahead for a moment to see she looked at him with confusion in her expression.
“This is a good opportunity to see how they fare in a situation with a minimal amount of input from a superior, and if the situation does start to deteriorate I will be here to take control again.” Sergeant Gallio quickly replied as he turned his attention back towards the battle ahead of them.
Suddenly from the far side the sound of an arrow cutting through the air came and was quickly followed by an arrow striking the sergeant’s raised shield. With just a quick look both of the mages were able to quickly deduce the arrow came from the other side of the camp. That however was just the general direction it came from, anything more specific would require a proper scholar and several minutes to run the calculations.
“Looks like the bandits aren't very happy with our actions.” The geomancer man stated as he stepped forwards and conjured up a thin barrier that could block any attacks coming from above a forty five degree angle.
“This isn’t very thick or strong, but it should be enough to keep anyone from putting an arrow through our skulls from the other side of the camp.” The geomancer said as he continued walking forwards, the only indication of the strain maintaining such magic on him was his left hand being raised and the palm facing upwards.
The three followed the guardsmen as they maintained their formation and easily destroyed any of the small pockets of resistance they encountered, as this happened a handful of arrows struck the earthen barrier above their heads with loud thunks. After three such attempts the attack stopped, likely seeing his or her attacks were pointless.
Suddenly numerous voices all shouting farther into the camp were quickly followed by the sounds of numerous sets of feet running in their direction. Turning to look, the three could see the bandits had regrouped and were now running towards them with their weapons in hand with a very noticeable person leading the charge.
A woman wearing armor made from a rough animal hide and wearing what looked to be thick bandages around her head and face leaving only her face exposed. In her hands she carried a two handed war cleaver, only when they got close could the dried blood coating the blade become noticeable.
“No survivors!” She shouted as she raised the cleaver above her head in a rallying cry, the bandits behind her cried out as well and seemed to move even faster.
“Shields up!” Sergeant Gallio yelled in response as the bandits came closer. His men followed his command and raised their spears up as well, forming a spear wall.
The bandits were forced to slow down slightly to avoid running into the spear tips and swung their weapons to try and force them away with minimal success. The only one to have any significant success was the bandit leader with her two handed battle cleaver, she managed to slice the spear tip right off of the wooden handle and bash herself into the shield the poor guardsman had as his last line of defense.
“I am going to cut your face off and force you to eat it!” She shouted at the half terrified guard who tried reaching for the short sword he had as a sidearm.
The bandit leader tried pushing her advantage and raised her battle cleaver to strike at the guardsman shield in an attempt to break it apart, however the guardsman in the second line raised his spear up and over his allies shoulder and began stabbing towards the bandit leader like he was carrying a pike. It wasn’t quite as effective as a pike would have, but it managed to give the spear-less guardsman a chance to draw his sidearm and push the dangerous bandit away.
“This isn’t going well sergeant, they need proper support if you want to avoid any major casualties.” Calavia practically shouted at Sergeant Gallio as the three stood and watched the messy melee between the guardsmen and the bandits.
Sergeant Gallio turned to Arthur as if to ask for his help in the matter but was quickly turned down. “Don’t look at me.” He stated. “She is the one who has done this before. If you want advice, listen to what she has to say.”
Sergeant Gallio fitted his teeth as he looked at his men and then the bandits, he could see the situation getting worse for both sides as time went on. He wanted to give his men an opportunity to work on their own without anyone barking orders over their shoulders. ‘They need situations like this to build trust amongst each other, but things are indeed getting worse. The butcher is definitely a major factor in that with how she is pushing a few of my men back, I think she even disarmed one of them.’
Sergeant Gallio weighed the options in his mind, either allow his men to continue on their own and risk numerous casualties or allow the mages to provide cover fire and take out some of the more dangerous bandits. The answer came as he turned to the pyromancer with an unhappy yet stern expression on his face.
“Go ahead.” He said with a flat tone. “Lob a few spells over my men and into the bandits ranks. That should put some pressure on them.”
Without missing a beat Calavia raised her hands over her head and conjured up three fist sized balls of fire with a quick wave of her hands, she had cast in quick succession a tier two spell three times. Without waiting she punched her open fist up and forwards over the guardsmen and the first ball followed.
Like Sergeant Gallio asked, the spell lobed over his own men and practically exploded upon contact with three bandits on the far right, within moments of contact they shouted and screamed in pain as they suffered terrible burns across their upper bodies.
Again Calavia punched both her open hands and the last two fireballs followed her and made contact again, only this time she aimed for the bandits wielding ranged weapons in the back. Like before the fireballs sailed through the air towards their intended targets, only these bandits were able to move around without leaving themselves open to a well aimed spear. And they tried to do just that, they quickly turned to the left or the right and with haste jogged over several meters before turning their attention back to the balls of fire that would surely miss them.
But that was a fatal mistake.
Anyone that had any basic form of magical training or knew what it entailed would know that mages do have a certain degree of control over their magic, this of course applies to spells even after they have been casted.
So with just a few adjustments Calavia was able to redirect the balls of fire when they weren’t looking, and when they did look back they could feel the heat before they saw the flames.
