Chapter 6

Spreading across a massive area, the Silveroak Forest served as a natural border between southern and central Linirea. Despite presiding in the human-dominated kingdom, it was a home to the large elven colony of Silveroak. Originally a mere trading hub, it grew up in size following the end of the Twilight War in which the elven homeland was ravaged by the civil war. Many of refugees made their way to the safer lands of Linirea.

Due to King Denas, who was a Prince at that time, being one of the major allies who assisted in the war effort, the relations between humans and elves blossomed into a genuine friendship which had led to the rise of importance for Silveroak. In the end a major agreement was brokered out between the Kingdom and the elven representatives.

In exchange for maintaining the forest and providing the majority of the Kingdom's lumber as well as providing the troops when the Kingdom was in danger, the Silveroak Forest became a special region, lowering the realm's taxes and having the Sylvan Council, the colony's government, be represented in the Royal Court. In addition, all human settlements in the area would answer to the Council first and the Kingdom second.

Now of course, there were those that opposed this agreement. Namely the lumber barons who used the forest to earn major profits. Their protests, however, were largely ignored, and in the end the barons themselves became nothing more than a distant memory.

Back to the present, after consulting the map, General Blackwood ordered a march towards Silveroak, justifying it as necessary. He had received the confirmation that the troops were being assembled. In addition, as the settlement was in the middle of the forest, he could reliably support anywhere in the forest should there be any attacks. His officers did want to protest, stating the fact that it was a detour away from the direct road that would take them straight to the capital. In the end, however, none could find a better reason so they accepted the order.

And so, the force marched for a day and a half to reach the elven city. Along the way, General, alongside some of his officers, started becoming concerned. A scouting party was sent ahead of the force and yet not a single report came back. With the raining conditions amplified by distant rain, the normally pleasant forest became ominous despite the promise of friendly faces guarding it. It was bad enough that the rain had slowed down the force, the question of having no information on what was up ahead made it worse.

The mood did improve the next day as the skies had cleared up. Yet, even with the ground drying up and allowing a quicker movement, there had been no indications of the scouts anywhere. As the force continued their march, Clancy rode up to the General. "Permission to speak?"

"You don't have to ask when it's about something so obvious. I am seriously concerned about them."

"As am I. There is no reason they shouldn't have sent at least something by now, even there is nothing to report."

"And there certainly should be. We should have made contact with the colony by now. I don't understand what-"

Before he could finish, there was a yelling coming behind them. "HALT! SILENCE!" Everyone turned to the source of it. It was Agate riding on his goat as he rode in full stride. Seeing his dwarf officer in panic, General had obeyed to his demand forcing everyone to halt their march. As the clamour of the march died down and everyone became silent, the reason for Agate's demand became obvious. A distant sound of thunder.

Agate rode up to the General and Clancy and asked: "Do you hear that?"

General nodded. "Great. Even more rain." Despite his statement, however, it was clear he himself was unsure about it. As far as everyone could see, the skies were clear. There was not a sign of clouds, let alone the ones that caused lightning. Even more worrying was the direction the sound was coming from. Had they not have made a detour towards Silveroak, they would have been in that area, marching through to the capital.

For several minutes, there was only silence occasionally broken by the sound of the thunder. As the force rested and General contemplated on what to do next, his hand was forced by the arrival of elven scouts. Their wolf riders made their way to the General. "General Blackwood. I was kinda hoping we wouldn't encounter you here."

"What's going on? Is that thunder what I think it is?"

The elf nodded. "It's the bombard at the Silveroak Outpost. They are currently under attack. We were supposed to make sure no enemy tries to bypass while on our way there."

General was disheartened by that, but still remained composed. "Send the news to them that we are on our way. We will be there as soon as possible."

After the salute, the wolf riders went ahead of them. Clancy commented about something that he had realized. "The scouts went ahead of us yesterday? As usual, right?"

General nodded, realizing the magnitude of the problem. "Ah-ha. We really screwed up." He immediately rode out across the convoy, issuing the order to force march towards Silveroak Outpost. After the entire force changed direction and started marching eastward, General spent his way there pondering about the colossal mistake he had made.

Indeed, it later turned out that there was a miscommunication and that no one informed the scouts about the change in plans. The scouts continued as per usual, unaware that the force wasn't following behind them which in turn caused the lack of reports that the officers were concerned about. However, there was no time to discuss who was at fault. The battle took the priority.

After over an hour of forced march, they had reached their destination, the damaged Silveroak Outpost. There were many corpses strung around it, mostly goblinoid ones, while the elven and human troops were doing their best to control the situation. Many runners were carrying back the wounded into the fort while there was the sound of the bombard still being in use south from the outpost.

As soon as the force was spotted, the acting elven commander made a beeline towards the General. "Good to see all of you still kicking. I was worried you got ambushed along the way."

General shook his head. "You won't like when you find out why, but now's not the time. What's the current situation, Miss?"

"Alleria Swiftwind, currently in charge. The attacks have been happening since yesterday. We have been trying to contain them, but honestly, without your help we might have broke soon enough. Currently, we are trying to intercept them at the crossroad while we tend to the wounded."

"Understood." After getting up to date on the situation, he ordered an immediate march to the nearby crossroad just south from there. He also finally made contact with his scouts and received the reports he was hoping for earlier.

Meanwhile, the force encountered a chaotic battlefield as the outpost garrison remnants struggled to keep themselves in line against the enemy with what few troops they had left. Bandits, brigands and giant spiders were giving them a lot of trouble. So, when the force charged with the loudest roar they could make, the garrison cheered up. They were finally being relieved. Most of the enemy, seeing the reinforcements, finally broke and retreated.

While the garrison was tending to their dead and wounded and then retreated to the outpost, the force was taking a break. A forced march and the charge took a lot of their energy already and they could use the break. Unfortunately, their weren't so lucky as the scout riding back to the camp would prove that. "Another wave incoming! They will be here in 15 minutes!" That was his report to the officers.

General dismissed him and then focused on the briefing. Alleria was the first one to speak. "Judging from the numbers reported earlier, this should be their last attack."

Clancy sighed as he commented sarcastically. "They couldn't even wait until we caught a break?"

General ignored his comment. "What are we expecting out there?"

Alleria answered. "Brigands and bandits are coming in from the southern road and the spiders from the forest road. Be careful, there are matriarchs around." After seeing that they were confused about something being highlighted without knowing why, Alleria continued. "They will drop small spiderlings that might quickly overwhelm any line they go up against. In addition, they are even bigger than the giant spiders."

After the realization had set in, General gave out his orders. "Sir Gerald, take the knights and a fifth of militia and take your position at the forest road."

"Why not footmen, Sir?"

"I will need them to anchor my southern line. Take the militia and task them against hatchlings and giant spiders only."

"Understood, Sir." As the time was of essence, Gerald immediately left. In the meantime, General continued. "Captain Clancy, take the remaining frontline troops and guard the southern road. Try to prepare some reserves in case Gerald needs them."

"Yes, Sir!"

"As for you, Lieutenant-" Before General could continue, Agate raised his hand. "My boys will get Bonne in her place. I will also get the range tables from the other crew." He left along with Clancy.

Once they were left alone, Alleria asked: "What about archers and mages? Who is in charge of them?"

"Right now no one."

"In that case, I shall take charge." Before General could ask, Alleria whistled and a large wildcat came running to her. Surprised at the scene, General could only blink quickly as his brain needed time to catch up. By the time it did, Alleria already left to take command. He couldn't help but wonder on who the blonde elf was, however, there was no time for that. The enemy was fast approaching.

From the south, the rebels were approaching, carrying their black and green flag with them. The troops, after seeing them, started banging their weapons up against their shields and the ground, successfully intimidating the enemy. As a result, the rebels sent the wulves ahead.

Expecting another easy fight with them, none noticed a surprise until the archers and the mages made their first volley and Clancy screamed afterwards. By now, the mages were able to inflict major wound, if not one-shot a wulf. So when a slightly larger one kept on going and there was barely any damage visible, the concern quickly grew.

By the time the difference in size was made apparent and one of those larger wulves removed the head from one of the militiamen, the line became shaken. Thankfully, Clancy's quick barking of the orders had kept the line intact. They held as the humans approached, only to be the subject of another surprise.

Two hulking giants approached the line with their large tridents. Initially mistaken as some sort of armoured ogres, as their faces were obscured, the mistake was quickly rectified as one of them threw his trident like a javelin, slamming it into two poor footmen who stood no chance.

Thankfully, a distraction rode out before the full realization would kick in. The line got to see something amazing. A blonde elf in her simple green outfit rode out on her wildcat, headshoting every target on her sights along the way. And then, after gaining the attention of the giants, she showed just how legendary the elven archery was.

Her first arrow pierced the mask from one of them, causing him quite a pain. His attempt to remove it failed miserably as he broke the arrow, the arrowhead remaining in his face. The anger from the pain caused him to go berserk. Meanwhile, another arrow pierced the other one's knee, forcing him to hobble around. The rebels, seeing the disaster the elf was bringing with her, tried their best to try and corner her. Unfortunately for them, Alleria slipped away.

Clancy, seeing the confusion that Alleria was causing, used the opportunity and ordered a full charge. Between the mess that the berserking giant was making and the charging troops, the rebels stood no chance. The bloody melee that ensued was chaotic, leaving none of the rebels alive.

Meanwhile, the battle at the forest was far less intense. Spiderlings and giant spiders charged in first with the matriarchs behind them. The attempt to overwhelm the knights failed miserably as the Rain of Fire spell struck right in their path, killing most of them instantly. The rest of them were cooked alive as they passed through the scorched ground in their charge.

The matriarchs tried their best to hatch more eggs and replace the losses but in the end it meant little. At the very least they made their mark as one of them encountered a trio of militiamen out of position. One was torn apart while the other two lost limbs to the matriarch.

The battle ended without much celebration. Most ended up dropping down from exhaustion as soon as they returned back to the camp. At the very least it was over. They had a long time of deserved rest ahead of them.