Por waited until his mount had padded to the summit of the low grassy hill before clucking his tongue to signal Kerrier to stop. The Aralez obeyed immediately and stood sniffing the air as Por took in the view ahead. There was another gentle grassy slope heading away from Por down to a small stream meandering along a shallow valley, on the other side of the stream the ground rose again to another low rise in this landscape of seeming endless grassy hills. Por sighed and leaned forwards to stroke the furry neck of his mount, as he did, he looked to his left and saw another Halfling on Aralez crest the hill some quarter of a mile away, Por waved then glanced to his right, sure enough there was already a third mounted scout on the ridge line. Por rested his heavy rifle across the front of his saddle then turned himself around so that he could see behind him. Just at the bottom of the hill he had just climbed was another screen of Halfling riders , each one mounted on a rangy shaggy large dog called an Aralez , bred for the Halflings to ride and faster and more fierce than the traditional ponies, the Aralez were ideally suited to this role of scouting and protecting the main caravan of the Halfling Merchant guild with their slow moving Aurochs pulled wagons that plied their trade backwards and forwards across the grass seas of the vast steppelands.
Por ran his keen-eyed gaze along the long line of large wooden wagons, each pulled by a team of the huge woolly cows with their impressive horns, he took in the shapes of Wild Runners and wild Lancers screening the ponderous Merchant convoy, he looked back along the long line of wagons until he could see the broad Pennon fluttering over the Guild master’s Wagon at the rear of the line. He looked further back along the trail that they had followed, he blinked and shaded his eyes with his hand as the far hill appeared to have a black outline across its crest, he pulled a leather cylinder from his blanket roll at the rear of his saddle and extended it into a telescope, flicking off the end covers to dangle on their lanyards, he trained it on the far hillcrest.
Immediately his small circle of vision was filled with a gaping mouth rimmed with dagger like teeth, as he adjusted the focus slightly his view expanded to show a ragged beast with a furry mane being ridden by a leering red skinned Goblin clad in rusty armour and waving a crude spear, panning his spyglass left and right revealed a multitude more of the vicious creatures bearing down on the rear of the Caravan. As Por snapped his telescope shut and called to Kerrier to wheel about he heard the first of the Horns being blown by the Guild Master to warn of the attack. Almost at once the scattered groups and individual Scouts began to fall back on the wagons to aid in their defence.
As he rode down the hill Por came across another of his troop, Rinsey Croft, waiting and watching. “Rinsey, get onto the crest of this hill with your horn and keep an eye out for any more of the Red Goblin Raiders, you have the keenest eyes of all of us” Por said. Rinsey paused for a slight second and then with a curt nod she wheeled her mount and sped up the hill the way Por had come. As Por reached the bottom of the slope, he was gratified to see the rest of his troop of Wild Runners riding in to join him and a quick look around showed him that the rest of the Halfling guard force was doing similar, forming up into their Troops and Regiments ready to protect the wagons.
Mabe Burnthouse had spent the morning carefully watching the brightly painted back end of the wagon in front over the heads of his Aurochs team, carefully ensuring that he kept the correct distance away just as his Gaffer had shown him, this was Mabe’s first time driving solo and he was concentrating so hard he missed the first blast of the horn, the second blast and the abrupt turn to the left that the wagon in front of him took, shook Mabe out of his ruminations and he automatically began to turn the wagon to follow. At that moment the Guild Muster Sergeant galloped past on his Aralez, standing in the stirrups and yelling “Wagonburg! Wagonburg!” Mabe desperately tried to remember his Guild Training and was starting to panic when a hand on his shoulder and a gruff voice brought him back to his senses, “Just follow him round until he stops lad, we’re in the same Burg division as him” said the Gaffer who then moved back into the wagon to loosen the fastenings on the sides and wake the rest of the crew.
On the Guild master’s Wagon, Tolgus Vean, the Muster Captain for this Caravan stood on the high observation platform beneath the Turquoise and Yellow Pennon of the Guild and watched his wagons manoeuvring with agonising slowness into positions, the various divisions wheeling about to form the roughly square wall of wagons. Once each division was in place the outer sides of the wagon were released and swung downwards to cover the wheels and bottom of the wagons whilst the crews manhandled portable palisades out to cover the Aurochs and any gaps between the wagons. The dropped sides of the Wagons revealed firing slits and on several of the wagons, organ guns on turntables. Tolgus watched as the escort force of Wild Runners and Wild Lancers formed up on either side of the Wagonburg and waited. Their job was not to prevent the attack on the Wagonburg but rather to harry the flanks and rear of the attackers once they had committed to attacking the valuable caravan. Each wagon had its contingent of troops, usually the extended Halfling family that owned the wagon but occasionally hired Guild Troops and these were armed with a mixture of Rifles and Spears with which to fight from the armoured sides of their large mobile fortresses. Tolgus turned back to watch the Raider’s progress and noted with a professional detachment the occasional bangs and puffs of smoke telling him that scattered Wild Runners were engaging the Red Goblins with their rifles although the few shots would do nothing to really slow the fast moving fleabag riders it would help the morale of his own troops. The Guild masters wagon finally moved into its designated position in the Wagonburg and the well-practised crew jumped out to link their wagon the ones on either side, the falling side of the Guild master’s Wagon revealing twinned Organ Guns and its ready troop of Turquoise and Yellow clad Guild Soldiers, some already sighting along their rifles to pick their Targets.
Nuffzed couldn’t see naff all, hardly even the back of the Fleabag rider in front, as his mount charged across the grassy plain the bouncing motion of the beast kept jolting his ill fitting rusty helmet down over his eyes and he didn’t have a hand free to hold it in place, when he got back to camp he needed to rob a strap or some string to sort it he growled to himself, he was bound to find some Goblin with a bit of something he could use , they may even be smaller than him so he could beat them up rather than steal and that made him grin with happiness before his mount crashed into his buttocks and his helmet slammed down over his eyes once more.
Por glanced towards the Muster Sergeant, sitting on his Aralez next to his Banner Bearer that desinated the mobile Command Post and Rallying point for the Halfling Cavalry forces , he could hear the loud bangs of Rifle Fire and the deeper, tearing roar that signified the firing of a multi-barrelled Organ gun from the Wagonburg although the Wagonburg itself had disappeared in a low cloud of Gunpowder smoke and the dust kicked up by the paws of the multitude of Fleabag riders that surrounded it. In between the Wagonburg and its assailants there were a number of Regiments of spear armed Fleabag riders , cautiously advancing towards the Muster Sergeants assembled forces, occasionally several would fall to a volley of Wild Runner fire and the rest would halt or retreat until they brought their mounts under control or regained their nerve to advance slowly again. With both sides mounts fairly evenly matched in speed and aggressiveness there was a reluctance by either side to be the ones doing the charging but Por knew that the stalemate would need to be broken before the Wagonburg suffered too much damage or even fell to the whirling Red Goblin Raiders, but the Muster Sergeant seemed to be content to let his Rifles hold off the Raiders for the time being.
Gwel gunned the engine of his craft and felt the familiar lurch as it broke contact with the ground, he glances across at Tod and Nance and saw they were both in the same situation , gleefully he pumped his fist up and down and then pointed skyward, a gesture acknowledged by the others of his flight with thumbs up, Gwel increased power to his engine and pulled back on the controls “Now they would show those cheeky Goblins” he thought as a wide grin plastered itself below his flying goggles.
Nuffzed still couldn’t see, but he knew things were going well as he was hearing more and more desperate Halfling voices and less screams of stricken Goblins, which was usually a good sign in a battle. He could hear a loud whirring noise over the cacophony of battle which he had not heard before, he was just contemplating trying to push his helmet up for a better view when he saw a bright flash from below and had a brief sensation of being weightless and the smell of burnt hair before he hit the ground head first and his helmet was firmly seated on his head forever..
Por heard the whirring noise and gaped in astonishment as three large turquoise and Yellow egg shaped objects rose from the centre of the Wagonburg, his surprised mind registered that each had a small wooden gondola beneath it in which sat a begoggled Halfling, the strange craft floated over the top of the Fleabag horde and then there was the sparkle of explosions in the dust and smoke and the sound of gunpowder bombs detonating, followed by the screams of stricken Goblins reached the ears of the Halfling Cavalry that stood waiting. At that moment the Muster sergeants Banner bearer gave a great blast on his horn and the muster sergeant stood in his stirrups waving his sword “Chaaaaarge” he yelled and the various Wild Lancers and Wild Runner units sprang forwards at the gallop. The Goblin Fleabags standing before them had turned to view the carnage inflicted on their fellows by the newly arrived aeronauts and now the charge of the Halfling cavalry broke their nerve, almost as one Goblin they turned and sped away from the battlefield, closely followed by the survivors of the attack on the Wagonburg and the whirring bomb throwing Aeronaut balloons.
Tolgus Vean leaned on the parapet of the Guild Masters wagon and watched the Aeronauts and Halfling cavalry pursuing the fleeing Goblins, he turned to one of his officers and said “ let them pursue to the crest of the hill then no further , be ready to call them back” the officer saluted and left Tolgus on his own. As he tamped down the tobacco on his long pipe his muster sergeant reined in his Aralez below him and waved. “Well Sir, that was a break from the usual routine eh ?” the Sergeant called up, “Aye it was Mansey , it was” Tolgus agreed.
“Do Ye think they’ll be back?” Mansey asked.
“Mebbe, them or another lot like them, quite a lot hereabouts” mused Tolgus
“And if they do come back” said Mansey with a raised eyebrow.
Tolgus struck his flint and held it to his pipebowl, drawing a long puff of the aromatic smoke.
“Business as Usual” was the reply.
Comments