209 Two Friends (2/2)
”We'll follow your lead as always, Commander,” she said with eyes alight with trust.
”Yup, even though most of your plans end up a little too crazy,” Varda added.
”Don't encourage him, Varda,” Luca sighed. Then he glanced sideways at me. ”Technically, if you do agree to their offer, won't that make you a temporary general?”
Luca said the thought out loud. Not me. So I was allowed to feel a little pride at the thought.
”Don't let that get to your head, Dean,” Arah chuckled.
I glared at her because I wasn't about to forgive her for this foolish stunt she pulled, at least not yet.
”You sure you can keep up with my tactics?” I challenged.
”Puhlease, my tactics could run circles around your tactics,” she fired back at me.
”This isn't Starcraft or Chess or Call of Duty, Arah… These are real people who will die if we f*ck up,” I chided her as she was being a little too smug.
That did the trick. It was one thing to be smart and be a great chest player — which Arah certainly was — but it was another thing to carry the weight of lives on your shoulders. It was a fact that drove me to tears and frustration that first time I led the Foolhardies against Azuma.
Thankfully, the splash of uncertainty that momentarily appeared on Arah's face comforted me. At the very least, she was self-aware of the challenge before her.
”I know, Dean…” she said with a determined voice that matched the change in her expression. ”But I will handle my sh*t if it means bringing you guys home.”
”Why did you do this? Why put yourself in harm's way?” I asked frustrated.
”Because we're friends,” she stated matter-of-factly.
And just like that, whatever annoyance I'd felt appearance evaporated.
I sighed just before I smiled at her. ”Alright, Kitsune, tell me what kind of fire power you brought with you.”
Arah returned my smile before answering, ”The Pilgrimage brought their big guns just to impress you, Dean… and they are an impressive operation.”
The temporary pilgrim strategist wasn't kidding. The army they'd brought with them really was impressive.
At the front stood the three-thousand heavy infantry, and they all wore matching electrum-grade chainmail armor underneath their pilgrim tabards. They wore heavy metal helmets shaped like buckets with slits where the eyes would be. The sword and kite-shields they held in each hand were all silver-tier too.
The three-thousand light infantry behind the heavy infantry all wore electrum-grade cuirasses which they combined with padded jackets, metal armguards, steel-toed boots, and barbute helmets. Their collective weapons of choice were two-handed halberds.
On the cliffs above, two thousand archers, all in padded white armor and barbute helmets, each carried steel crossbows that you'd be hard-pressed to find in the Fayne because fairies had a particular love for the wooden longbow.
”They're repeating crossbows but unlike any design seen in Mudgard,” Arah explained. ”Each one can fire five bolts as fast as a colt with a maximum range of three-hundred meters.”
”Human science combined with fairy technology, huh?” I guessed.
”Probably the same thing you've been doing with that gnome friend of yours,” Arah agreed.
”But we'd never thought to bring gunpowder into the Fayne as it would set a dangerous precedent, but I understand you've already done this very thing, Dean,” Liu Xiang interrupted.
”Black powder isn't gunpowder… it's totally a Fayne product,” I said defensively. ”Give me some credit. I know what kind of implications bringing gunpowder to the Fayne would have.”
This was a half-truth as I really was thinking of making gunpowder when Zarz and I stumbled instead on the black powder recipe.
Behind the infantry and waiting by the entrance to the gorge was a cavalry unit of fifteen hundred swifthart riders. They wore similar gear as the heavy infantry but with lances instead of swords.
To round off the army were the five-hundred support and supply staff, all of whom were humans dressed in white pilgrim robes. In fact, there wasn't a single fairy among them apart from my unit which I divided into squads and positioned among other units of similar types.
”Impressed yet?” Arah asked playfully.
”Yup, they're definitely something else,” I said. ”At least in terms of equipment and discipline… but how are they in a fight?”
”Honestly, that might be a challenge,” Arah admitted. ”From what I've learned, the Pilgrimage usually deals in hit-and-run tactics… this standing army is more of an experiment.”
”So they're mostly amateurs at warfare,” I guessed.
”Which is where you and the Foolhardies come in,” Arah admitted. ”Dean… there's more to it…”
”They want to recruit me,” I answered, guessing as much. ”They want me to fight for human interests in the Fayne against the fairy clans.”
Arah nodded wordlessly.
”Well, that's a problem for another day,” I reasoned. ”Right now, we've got a great general to frighten away… care to join me and Aura when we meet him?”