Free Web NovelChapter 153: The Foothills Cleared
The fourth volley came down just as the previous three had. Rifle shots dropped into the valley from two directions at once, tearing through the camp floor from both sides and turning it into a kill zone the mercenaries could not answer.
Men near the fire had already gone down during the earlier volleys, some sprawled in the dirt with blood soaking into their clothes while others lay twisted beside overturned crates and split cookpots. Blood stained the ground around the camp center and the crossbow posts along the uphill perimeter. Nothing returned fire from below now.
During the first two exchanges the crossbowmen had tried shooting uphill, but their bolts had fallen twenty or thirty yards short of either ridge. By the third volley they had understood the situation and stopped wasting shots. The fourth volley killed whatever hope they still had left.
Swen watched the camp from above, checking for movement before committing the advance. The uphill perimeter had gone quiet. A few figures still moved near the far edge of camp, but they were retreating into the foothills behind the tents instead of trying to assault either firing position.
Their discipline had broken. freёwebnovel.com
The central campfire still burned unattended.
"Both contingents advance," Swen ordered. "Take the camp."
The command passed by the operatives to the nearest squad captain, who shoved the order down the line without hesitation.
"Move your asses, down the slope."
The company had practiced this transition enough times already today that no further explanation was needed.
The company descended from their ridges and entered the valley camp from opposite directions. Once the slope flattened near the perimeter, Swen moved in with the forward squads, reading the camp as he crossed into it. He watched for wounded men pretending death, hidden crossbows, or signs of a final defensive stand.
He found none.
The open ground near the fire had bodies from the first two volleys, several with rifle wounds punched straight through chest or throat. Crossbow positions along the uphill still had men slumped against the posts with their weapons lying beside them, one with half his jaw torn open where a shot had caught him sideways.
One crossbowman near the far-left position remained alive despite a rifle shot through the shoulder. Blood ran thick down his arm and pooled beneath him while he pressed one hand hard against the wound to keep from bleeding out.
The squads moving through the perimeter knew the standing orders regarding wounded enemies and unsecured camps. The few mercenaries still capable of movement had used the smoke from the fourth volley to escape through the far side of camp and into the foothills.
Swen marked the direction automatically. Rough terrain. Poor visibility. No efficient route back toward the oasis.
He did not assign pursuit. The ground would slow his squads more than the fleeing survivors, and the operation priority remained supply recovery.
Swen started to shout, "Squads four to ten on perimeter security. Everyone else starts supply inventory. Mark everything."
Aldwin’s contingent spread across the left half of the camp with practiced rhythm. Aldwin crossed toward Swen near the central campfire. He already had his numbers prepared, which meant his task had finished cleanly.
"Northwest sweep complete," Aldwin said. "Three camps cleared, whole place folded fast."
"Well done. Join the others in the perimeter" Swen nodded.
Osric was already working beside the main supply depot near the large tent when Swen reached him. His record book lay open atop a cleared crate, the quill moving in small strokes as he categorized the valley supplies.
He looked up as Swen approached, then shifted immediately to the prepared section of the record.
"Fifteen camps total."
Osric said, reading directly from the page. "Six at the oasis and nine more across the northeast and northwest sweeps, including this valley. All supply depots marked and reported to convoy lead."
"As expected."
Osric turned the page. "Hostile combat deaths approximately two hundred. Estimated survivors fleeing across all fifteen engagements from eighty to one hundred. "
He paused long enough to scratch another notation into the record.
"Some figures remain estimates where confirmation was impossible."
Swen watched the camp while Osric wrote. The inventory squads moved without wasted discussion, following the sequence they had established after the oasis assault. Every man already understood the process.
"Record it as approximately three hundred encountered."
"Already entered."
Osric moved into the supply section, which occupied nearly an entire page.
"Fifteen depots marked and added to convoy queue."
He checked the notations beneath the categories before continuing. "Preserved provisions, grain, salt, dried meat. Tools, rope, leather equipment. Payment goods received from settlements in exchange for completed monster-hunting contracts, while some payments were issued in goods instead of marks."
He shifted to the next notation. "Equipment and trade goods will require separate assessment after the return to Ashmark. The oasis spring remains active and the convoy lead has started to fill water barrels before departure.
"How long until the logistics crew is done?"
Osric flipped a page, "The lead reported at dawn. He expected the last wagon loaded by second hour past midday. The main train should begin movement during the afternoon."
Swen watched two soldiers carry a crate from the valley depot toward the chalk-marked inventory row outside the camp.
The valley supplies were smaller than the oasis stockpiles, but they had been stacked with the same discipline seen in the other camps. These mercenaries had expected prolonged operations, not temporary raiding.
Osric continued, consulting the record again. "Many mercenary camps were operating under active settlement contracts. Monster-hunting work. Badlands route protection. Nest removal."
He turned another page.
"Settlements named include Earnmere, Ealdswick, and at least one contract tied to Fenwold."
The quill rested across the page.
Swen looked toward the fire. The logs had collapsed inward into dark coals and the remaining heat was fading quickly. No one bothered feeding it. By the time the inventory finished, it would burn itself out.
"Put it in the record. The Badlands doesn’t care about a man’s purpose or character."
He watched the dying fire a moment longer.
"Some of ours took that worse than others."
Nearby, Godmar worked through a stack of crates near the far tent. He carried each one toward the marked inventory position with the steady pace he had maintained since the start of the operation.
He did not look at anyone when he spoke.
"Those settlements are fucked come spring."
He hefted the next crate and kept moving.
Swen turned back toward Osric.
"Final summary."
Osric moved to the last section of the record.
"The logistics crew is currently moving from the oasis site."
He checked the bottom of the page. freēwēbnovel.com
"Company casualties from the operation are nine injured, one serious. No fatalities."
Swen looked at him carefully.
"No deaths," Osric confirmed, eyes still on the record.
Swen considered the number. Nine injured across fifteen camps and roughly three hundred hostile mercenaries engaged. One gravely wounded. Still no dead. The difference in firepower, discipline and the element of surprise made the operation a slaughter.
"Report complete?"
"Report complete."
Swen turned toward the nearest squad captain.
"Form the company. Begin return movement to the oasis."
The afternoon had advanced farther than the pace of the operation made it feel. Col’s strike against Bound Iron had begun at the same dawn hour. Cedd’s operation against the Ashen Company had started then as well. Both had been assessed as single-day operations if resistance remained within expectation.
By Swen’s estimate, they should have finished already or would within the next hour.
He had no reports from either direction and would receive none until the company was returning to Ashmark. The outcomes were already decided one way or another. Waiting here would change nothing.
Around him the supply work continued with the disciplined pace established after occupying the valley. Crates shifted position, inventory marks were checked, squad counts continued along the perimeter while soldiers dragged bodies away from the supply lanes so the wagons could pass cleanly later.
The company moved through the process methodically, the routine refined across fifteen camps in a single morning.
Beyond the camp, the foothills carried the cold wind of the autumn afternoon while the sounds of soldiers working drifted through the valley and the last echoes of battle finally faded from the air.
Swen turned toward the oasis and started walking.
