The Foolhardies 44 Waiting to Exhale

The great Eastern Philosopher, Sun Tzu, really knew exactly what to say. It was the perfect quote for the night we planned.

My Foolhardies were waiting for us beneath the hill. All hundred of them looked ready to fulfill the job Great General Darah gave us. This was clear in the confident looks and determined gazes on the variety of faces staring back at me. In fact, the only ones who seemed worried were my officers.

"Hey, Commander," Varda, her chainmail shirt gleaming underneath the folds of her midnight blue magician's robe, raised a hand in salute. "Qwipps says your plan's going to get us killed."

"What?!" Qwipps slanted eyes—the left one apple red and the right one electric blue—gazed wide-eyed at Varda. "You said that... I just agreed!"

Varda punched Qwipps in the gut to shut him up, forcing him to bend over as the wind was knocked out of him.

"It does sound kind of foolhardy," Ashley, who was dazzling to look at in her shieldmaiden white robe and silver breastplate, commented from beside Varda." Even if this sort of thing is kind of our M.O."

"A plan that risks much in exchange for vague rewards," Thom chuckled as he gripped tightly on the handle of his wooden bow. "I find myself liking you more and more, Commander."

After they'd expressed their varying opinions, I tapped each of them lightly on the shoulder while saying out loud, "Don't sweat it... believe in me... believe in our plan... and we'll make it through the night like we always have... covered in the trappings of victory!"

The Foolhardies resounding replies of "Yes, sir!" stayed present in my mind roughly two hours later after our hundred-man unit had traveled the distance to our target location.

We'd trekked past our hill and circled the bottom of another hill while keeping ourselves out of sight from the combatants on the field on the opposite side.

At one point, we heard the rumbling of tens of thousands of stomping feet and felt the tremors in the ground as the grey army marched forward. To me, this was a warning that the battle had begun between the two great armies and the countdown to our success or failure started ticking.

Unfortunately, this danger-close situation made our own march slower. We were all tense with the worry of discovery.

Our drow gliders were extra vigilant when they took to the skies and scouted the path ahead, allowing us to avoid any enemy outposts on this side of the hills. With this drow GPS, we were able to navigate the snaking paths between hills and cliffsides, allowing us to reach our destination to the rear of the enemy position.

Basically, we'd circled around the enemy until we were southwest of their main force, along several small hills which were right between them and their rear units. It was the perfect spot to set up an ambush for those daring enough to lie in wait between a hammer and its anvil—and so we dared.

The first spot we'd chosen was a wide stretch of road between two small hills that were dotted here and there with pine trees and thick bushes that could provide us with cover. As this was the straightest path to the battlefront from the rear, we guessed that it was the most likely supply route.

Qwipps, Ashley, Luca and I took forty men and positioned ourselves on the northern hill. We hid behind the trees and underneath bushes waiting for our prey to arrive.

Aura, Edo, and Varda stayed behind on the south hill. They too kept out of sight for our enemy's approach.

Thom took two drow and kept watch a mile away on the east side of the road. His cousin, Enna, took another two drow with her to camp the west side of the road. These two lookouts would alert us of any approaching hostiles from either side.

The waiting was a strain on my mind. A dozen thoughts raced through my brain, each one a worst-case scenario with each leading to total failure. What if we were in the wrong spot and the supply route was somewhere else? What if the enemy was too well guarded? What if my soldiers died because of my foolhardy plan?

Such thoughts made my hands clammy with sweat. My mouth turned dry. My brow creased.

On my right, I could hear Luca take a deep breath and then exhale all the air out of his lungs. He repeated this action several more times before I realized that he was going through his breathing exercise in an effort to calm himself.

Qwipps, who was standing behind a birch tree to the left of my bush, was whispering constantly to himself. I couldn't hear what he said but I had no doubt he was complaining about something.

Of course, I knew I wasn't the only one whose nerves were frayed. But I had to be the one to take their worries away which meant I needed to psych myself up so I could lead by example.

I took a long breath of cold night air into my lungs. It smelled of pines and wet grass. I exhaled the air while thinking about another piece of advice from Sun Tzu, "He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not will be victorious."

This thought calmed me slightly because it reminded me that I was doing things the right way. There was no need for panic. It was just a time for waiting to take action.

Fifteen minutes and a few breaths of cold air later, a warning from the east arrived in the form of Thom Blackthorn.

"You may just be as clever as I thought you were, Commander," Thom said in that mocking tone of his. "Several large elken wagons are on the way here. By the way, the wagons looked to be sagging under the weight of what they're carrying, I believe there's a fifty-fifty chance we've found what we're looking for."

"Are the elken having a hard time pulling the wagons?" I asked.

Elken are the Fayne's version of deers, but they had green fur instead of brown and were bigger than their Mudgardian counterparts. They were almost twice the size of an adult brown bear.

Thom looked thoughtful for a second before replying with, "Perhaps a little... I did notice the wagon wheels tracking heavily on the soft earth."

"How many enemies are we looking at?" Luca asked.

He and Qwipps had drifted to me when Thom arrived.

Thom's smile turned into a maniacal grin after hearing Luca's question. "I counted about a hundred heads."

"Damn..." Luca hissed. "That's more than our ninety..."

"I told you this was a bad plan..." Qwipps combed long fingers through his black, brushed-back hair. "Zarz and the supply team should have joined the ambush..."

"Can you two quit panicking," I hissed. "This is within our calculations..."

It really was. In fact, Arah and I expected to encounter a unit twice our numbers. So, to me at least, facing off against an equal number of opponents was a stroke of luck. It was down to quality now, as well as the advantageous position of an ambush. These facts I explained to Luca and Qwipps to calm them down.

I nodded to Thom. "Alright. Send word to your cousin and get to your position on the northside to let Aura know too."
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Thom nodded back to me before disappearing into the shadows like the ninja stories back on Mudgard.

"Qwipps... wait for the head of the caravan to past us before your squad rains arrows down on them," I instructed. "It's important that we pin them to this spot."

"What if they escape from the rear?" Luca asked as he crouched down beside me.

"Varda's got that covered," I answered. "She's been dying to try out her new Earthen Wall spell... That should take care of the back."

Qwipps shook his head. "You spoil that dwarf too much, Dean... next thing you know, she'll be asking you to let her practice her spells on us..."

I could always rely on Qwipps' pessimism for some comic relief. It helped lighten the load squeezing my chest.

Yes, my heart still felt heavy with worry. I couldn't seem to shake off the feeling that something would go terribly wrong despite convincing myself earlier that now was no time for panic.

My left arm suddenly felt warm. When I glanced down to look at it, I saw the soft golden glow rising out of Aura's bracelet. And as I gazed at its pulsing light, a sense of calm entered my mind like a soothing balm flowed out of the bracelet and filled me with tranquil thoughts.

"What's with the dopey face, Dean?" Luca asked.

When I turned to look at him, my face continued to exude tranquility. I couldn't help it because I was thinking of Aura. She must've felt my anxiety through the connection we shared and sent me happy thoughts to calm me. I really lucked out with her as a partner.

"Dude... you look like your high... Cut it out..." Luca protested.

"Looks like his regular loopy face to me," Qwipps added coolly.

Their annoying comments forced my expression back to tense and moody. "Can you two shut up and get to your positions already. they're almost here."

I was right.

To the east, the head of the supply caravan had finally come into view. At the very front was an elf who was mounted on a small elken roughly the size of a warhorse.

His long brown hair flowed down to the steel breastplate he wore. He was also decked in a gray cloak similar to the elf commander I'd slain on the hilltop many months ago.

Thankfully, the elf was the only one with a mount. His soldiers, ranging from human viseres to elves and hobgoblins, were all on foot. There were no trolls in sight either. At least not anywhere near the front of their caravan.

I exhaled the long breath I'd been holding in since I noticed the enemy's arrival.

My thoughts turned from worry to anticipation. The battle would soon be joined. The time for action was here, and when it did, we would follow the wise words of Sun Tzu, "When you move, fall like a thunderbolt."

Chapter end