190 The Great Escape (1/2)

Enacting an escape plan under such dire circumstances might have been difficult for most folks, but we Foolhardies were used to these kinds of situations. In fact, you could say surviving against all odds was a specialty of ours.

Our retreat had three stages.

The first stage was to set up barricades around the oasis itself to impede the passage of enemies once they've climbed over the northern slope, which at this point was half a winter wonderland already.

Luckily the forces below didn't have any fliers so they had no choice but to struggle and climb. Just wading through slick ice and then an uneven sand slope made even more slippery with blood would buy us a bit of time too.

Included in this first stage were the straw soldiers we'd made to confuse the enemies, but honestly, we'd made them mostly to piss the enemy off.

The second stage was to move our forces down the southern slope in turns while the units that remained in our vanguard held the enemy back as long as they could. This role belonged to the Bastards and the Shield squads which some would argue were the sturdiest soldiers among the unit.

Ty hung back with the vanguard as well which added to a boost to morale. There was just something so reassuring to our people when you told them the chosen one had their back. Although the man himself could be heard complaining loudly that he wasn't cut out to be in the front line.

”I'm more of a long-range specialist,” he explained to anyone who'd listen.

Of course, Ashley set him straight with, ”Weren't you training with Azuma so you could learn close-quarters combat?”

”Y-yeah… that hasn't gone well,” Ty said.

”That's because you keep running away!” Ashley yelled as she slammed the front of her shield against a, particularly rowdy kobold. ”Man up, Tiberius!

I imagine hearing those words from your former crush was crushing to Ty. I could only hope it would fuel his future growth than weaken him more. The chosen one really needed to shape up some more.

I heard all this because I'd remained where I was throughout the evacuation, resolving to be the last one to step off the oasis and leave no man behind.

Sadly, Aura was pulling at my arm and urging me to come with her which kind of removed the previous choice from my hands.

”The Commander has to survive,” she reminded me. ”That's how the unit thrives.”

I don't think she meant for it to rhyme, but the possibility that she did remained in my mind all throughout our dash from the north end of the oasis and back to the south. Yeah, the weirdest things stick to my mind in a crisis.

As for Luca and Xanthor's cavalries, they were already making their way down the eastern slope and ready to cover the escape of any squad that had to hightail it out of Point Brave on foot.

The rest of us would have to march from the south of the oasis' sand dune in an easterly line back to the safety of our side of the battlefield. This was stage three of our plan.

If things had progressed smoothly on their end — and I was certain either Llewellyn or Redbull would make the most of the opportunity we'd given them — safety wouldn't be too far away. At the very least, I expected the middle of our huge battlefield to be under the control of Garm's army by now.

”Have you heard from Verania?” I asked Al as we climbed down together on the scaffolding we'd set up at the southern slope.

Al shook his head. ”I left my sprite with her but haven't heard anything from them yet…”

”You don't think…” I was afraid to say the word 'failed' as I didn't want to tempt fate.

But it wasn't Al who responded, but Aura who said, ”I don't know much about Dain, but Verania will get the job done… you can count on it.”

I guess she'd know about how tough Verania was. They'd been rivals since they were kids, after all.

We reached the bottom of the sand dune where I was glad to see that panic hadn't settled in among the troops. This was clear in the orderly lines of injured making their way to the gliders and in the formations of soldiers ready to march the hell out of this hell hole.

”What do you think you're doing, old man?” I asked Azuma who I found at the head of the formation of soldiers ready to march. ”You're already gassed out.”

”I can march just as easily as the next injured man, Commander,” he said stubbornly.

I understood him why though. He lost a lot of men today and as the gliders were reserved for the injured, which meant many of his uninjured men would still be at risk from our pursuers later.

Thankfully, Aura had a way around telling stubborn people to do what she asked.