Chpter twenty-three

Daniel watched Kiera's force moving through the scrub north of town. Enge's force had been in position for a few hours. It was time for him to enact his stage of the plan.
"Alright men, let's take this town."
He had the smallest of the forces, only about a hundred men. They were the bait. Once the troops in the mansion and the camp moved to attack him; Kiera and Enge would take the enemy positions. Then Kiera's main force would sweep the enemy rear, or was it tail?
"I want a squad on every house. Two men to a door minimum, I don't want any of them getting away this time."
It was slow progress, but he wasn't in a hurry. A thorough search always turned up more swag; if he was lucky there might even be some survivors.
"Sir! A company of Ga-Vok is advancing from the mansion."
A fast response, he liked that.
"What about the camp?"
"I don't think they've noticed yet."
That didn't make a big difference; his job would be mildly safer but he hadn't been worried in the first place.
"I want archers, crossbows, and any other projectiles overlooking the market. Everyone else barricade doors and protect the the ranged men."
It was a large plaza, all the stalls were broken. The enemy would be advancing under fire with minimal support. He could have won this fight without Kiera's force.
They were moving fast. They seemed to have left their armor in the mansion. He could hardly believe how easy this was. He'd had harder fights against children. He'd be the first one to admit his cousin was a strategic genius, but Alicea was still a child and it was still embarassing to have lost.

"Pull that debris over here and block the north road."

They may have been moving fast, but it was a long road. This probably would have been a pretty major town back before the attack. Provincial capitol maybe, That mansion did look pretty big.

"That'll do, get ready men."

The enemy warriors were exhausted by the time they entered the market. They were easy targets as they pulled themselves across the plaza. A few of them took cover in the builings on the other side of the square, but most were dead before they could react.

"Alright men, get over there and finish them off."
He could see Kiera leading two companies down the main street. She was taking her time. Apparently she had as much confidence in his men as he did. That or she just didn't think the surviving Ga-Vok a real threat.

"Alright, reorient to defend against the men from the camp. Get the debris and form a bunker around the fountain."
The men he'd sent to clear the buildings had already returned from their task.
"Take up positions on the south side of the market, It'll save you the time of running across to deal with them. Archers and such, north side of the market; Same as you just did."

Then he saw the force from the camp coming down the south road. He'd severly underestimated their numbers. There were probably several hundred of them.
"Kiera! Get your men down here. We're gonna need more men for this."