Chapter 181
Chapter 181
Under the cover of the darkness, while the leaders of the Ereian Army were busy enjoying the pleasures of the mortal flesh, two squads of Verakhs crept silently near their camp. They were the ones who have been following and observing them for days and seeking for a chance to sabotage or caused them some damage.
“You, the one on the leftmost…You, the one beside the one at the leftmost…You, target the one at the middle… Yours will be the one beside the one at the rightmost… Aim for the one at the rightmost… Marksman, take out the one who is dozing up in the tower and Bakrah take out the other one inside the tower.” the squad leader of the Fourth Squad of Verakhs whispered to the ears of his warriors and gave them their targets. “The rest, keep your eyes open for any sign of our enemies who are on patrol.” he glanced towards his other members.
“Take your aim and wait for my command…” he continued as he observed the movements of the other group of their enemies, who were also on a patrol. He doesn’t want their enemies to discover them too quickly, as they need to cause as much damage to them as possible.
“Prepare now… Fire after the count of three…” the squad leader muttered in a hushed tone. The members of his squad had their fingers on the triggers of their weapons as they waited for the signal to fire. “One… their leader started to count, and those who were given targets put all their focus on the targets that were assigned to them.
“Two… Three…” After he uttered the word “Three” the sound of many iron bolts whistling through to the air sounded as they flew towards their targets to deliver them to the embrace of death. The wind howled ever so slightly, but that was enough to cover the sound of the iron bolts traversing through the air.
All the shooters were successful in taking out their assigned targets. The sentries that were posted on the western side of the Ereian camp close to the center were all taken out by the Fourth Squad of Verakhs.
“Perfect…” the leader of the Fourth Squad muttered as he gave his members a thumbs up with both hands. “Tsk.. We have been together for many months now, Kroth, and you still don’t fully trust our capabilities.” Bakrah clicked his tongue as he shook his head, which earned him a stern gaze from Kroth.
“I have confidence in your capabilities, but your overconfidence needs to be kept in check. And that is Captain Kroth to you.” Kroth stared at Bakrah who just shrugged his shoulders at him in reply.
“Alright… Captain… What’s the plan?” Bakrah questioned while heavily emphasizing on the word “Captain” to sound as sarcastic as possible. Kroth just shook his head at his second in command and his sarcasm.
“Infiltrate their camp and destroy their supplies. Food, water and animal feed will be at top of our list. The Twelfth Squad will watch our backs while we move in. If you hear the sound of the special bolt, retreat as fast as you can and get to back to the camp.” Kroth uttered as he looked ahead and from where they were, they could hear the loud and boisterous laughter coming from the joined tents in the center of their enemies’ camp.
“The Twelfth Squad? You mean the squad that had more than one troll as a member of their squad?” Bakrah asked in a worried tone. He had some bad experiences teaming up with trolls before, as they would most likely endanger their teammates in more ways than just one.
“Yes… That’s right… Do you have something against the Twelfth Squad or against trolls?” Kroth stared at him with a confused look on his face.
“No… I don’t have a problem with the Twelfth Squad, but I have a problem with the trolls. Are you sure that they won’t put us in danger? And where are they exactly?” Bakrah replied, he was really worried judging by the tone of his voice.
“Relax… They got our backs… They know what they are doing…” Kroth patted Bakrah on the shoulder and assured him.
“That’s what I am worried about… They are the ones watching our backs…” Bakrah continued to express his worry.
“Let’s just go… Move out…” Kroth ordered and cut Bakrah’s complaining short, who had no other choice but to follow after his comrades who went on ahead and infiltrated the camp. They removed the iron bolts that was sticking out of the bodies of the sentries that they just killed and had them lean on each other, on the foot of the tower and on the sides of the tower to make them appear to be just dozing off.
Using the cover of the shadows, the Fourth Squad Verakhs went around the camp of the Ereians without being noticed. They were moving together as a single group and is watching each other’s back.
It took them some time before they were finally able to find one of their targets. Quietly sitting there were wagons containing barrels after barrels of freshwater.
“Puncture holes in those barrels and let them leak on the sands. Move…” Kroth commanded and his members quickly obliged as they took out an iron bolt each and started making holes in the freshwater supply of their enemies. Bakrah even filled his own container of water from one of the barrels and took a sip before returning his container to his waist and safely attached it to his belt. He wasn’t done with just refilling water as he started washing his face, then his arms with the barrels of water.
“That’s enough… Let’s go…” Kroth ordered them to move as they have more targets. Bakrah glanced at their captain for a moment, then back at the barrel of water before shaking his head. “I haven’t bathed for days… Ah… What a waste of water…” he mumbled before jumping down from the wagon with regret as he was planning to get himself clean with all the water available.
They moved around while playing hide and seek with the patrols that came their way from time to time. Using anything and everything around them that they can to make themselves remain unseen, Bakrah even jumped inside a huge jar just to keep himself out of the sights of the patrols. He was lucky as the jar that he used to hide was filled with only ash and charcoal and no ember or else he might have blown their cover already.
Arriving near the camp that was filled with laughter, Bakrah was tempted to peek inside and see what was going on, but he controlled himself and just followed behind his comrades.