Chapter 053:

Ivano held himself back from raging at those in his command tent. All his subordinates stood motionless in complete silence. The map of the Qaiviel Kingdom lay infront of him. Seeing the map, and the relative position of their and the enemies forces, only increased his anger and frustration.

He felt like he had been here before just the day before.

A significant portion of their forces had been lost to no avail. Over the night many riders and messengers had come to him, telling him of the increasingly dire situation they were falling into.

“Almost five thousand Orcs and one thousand of our Clansmen. That fool Zig was not able to take Maxill.” Ivano said aloud, none willing to say anything. “And now, they're following us and hounding our rear forces.”

“The Orcs said there was some sort of fire mage that was hiding in the forest.” Brenna said.

She was the only one there brave enough to speak up when he was in such a state of tranquil fury. He had heard the story from the tired and broken Orcs when they caught up with the main force. Many Orcs collapsed at the camp perimeter, but not before telling him some nonsensical story.

“A fire mage that could actually do what they say....” Ivano shook his head. “No. It's something else. Everyone would have heard about such a powerful person. There's no way that the Qaiviel Kingdom would keep such thing a secret. A few of their hunters just set fire to the forest with oil traps and ran. I saw the smoke coming from the forest. Zig cannot blame his failings on some made up magician. If he had committed all of his soldiers like he said he would...”

“What about the lightning?” Brenna asked, a strange look on her face.

That stumped Ivano. For that he had no explanation. Using lightning magic, to the scale that the Orcs reported, could be possible. But only if there was a team of experienced and powerful mages. Ones he knew that would not be staying at Maxill. Whatever it was, it only made him more worried about what might be coming for them. He rested his hands on his chin and stared at the map. Only the sound of movement and work from his Clansmen, from outside, filled the tent.

Even if there was a mage of that strength...perhaps a few mages, they could not have withstood all of the Orcs coming at them. If Zig had committed more...No mage can last indefinitely...Nothing can be done about it now.

Finally Ivano sighed, running his hands through his hair.

“Someone find Zig.” he said, his anger rising when he spoke that name. "That runt hasn't even dared to show his face to me since he arrived back."

The other Clansmen present bowed and made for the exit. Something stirred within him as he continued to think about that worm. He stood up, knocking back the chair, and slammed his fists into the table.

“And make sure that everyone that he considers a leader, is brought as well! I want all of them here!” he bellowed after the exiting clansmen.

They jumped at the sound and scurried out. He had not meant to direct his anger at them, but it was becoming too hard to keep himself calm. Looking over the forces, disregarding the supposed magician, he was becoming increasingly worried. It was almost certain that messages had gotten out from Maxill on the first day of the siege, not that any feasible plan could have stopped that. Especially with the Qaiviel hunters roaming the forest. Now they could be attacked from the rear with Maxill still standing. It was a good staging and resupply point. A few thousand soldiers was not a threat to their army but it gave him pause. That they were actually following implied that there was some sort of plan.

He sat in silence and continued to pour his mental energy into the map.

It took some time for Zig, and his commanders, to arrive. The clansmen walked in normally, but time dragged on as Ivano stared lifelessly at the tent flap. The moments passed, his subordinates avoiding his gaze. All waiting for Zig. He sighed and returned to looking at the map. He was not going to play Zig's games.

Finally Zig burst through the tent as dramatically as he could, throwing the flap up with all his might as he confidently strode in. Ivano looked up at the Orc and his entourage. His followers were dressed like professional Orc soldiers while he was still wearing the flamboyant yellow, orange and blue clothes. Still like a pretending noble. Seeing his face brought back the creeping feeling of nausea whenever he saw him. But, looking past that, there was nothing on his face that even hinted at the possible disaster that they were facing. Or his retreat and now their pursuers chasing after them. Zig was smiling like he had won a massive and overwhelming victory.

Ivano took a deep breath to calm his nerves before he spoke.

“I'm glad you came, Zig.” Ivan tried his best to keep his voice steady, but it was far more difficult than he imagined.

“Your people gave me the impression that it was urgent.”

Hearing that made his blood boil, but he kept himself calm.

How could this not be urgent?

He waved to some of the Clansmen nearby to get some chairs. Zig and his Orcs took them, sitting opposite Ivano. Now Zig looked so much smaller and weaker than the others. The fact that they had not killed him already was quite puzzling, especially with how his father came to power. And how he was behaving now.

“What happened at Maxill?” Ivano asked softly. “You said that the Orcs were going to march and take the city...and yet, I saw most of them travelling with us.”

Zig barred his teeth at Ivano. He took a quick glance at the Orcs either side of him.

“We thought that six thousand Orcs would be enough.” he said.

“Six thousand Orcs?” Ivano trailed off.

He leaned forward, repeatedly stubbing his finger on the marker for Maxill.

“The city is still standing, and not under our control.”

Zig did not have a response, merely looking at the map.

“No sacking or looting of resources. Now they can use that as a base where they can continue attacks on us, which they are now doing. You told me that you could handle this small city.” Ivano glanced up at Zig, who remained still. “Well. What you have to say?”

“We weren't expecting those rats to have a Grand Mage with them. What was I supposed to do? I am supposed to be able to predict this shit? I can't do anything like that Grand Mage.” Zig frowned, leaning on one arm and pointing his finger at Ivano. "A Grand Mage that could set fire to a forest, and summon lightning, I might add. Explain that!"

“Ugh, this again.” Ivano grumbled. “I saw the smoke and fire, but that can be easily explained by those Qaiviel hunters setting the forest on fire rather than pulling a mage out of your arse. You didn't secure your perimeter or perform a search of the area before you brought out valuable siege equipment. Oil, tar and fire...You were beaten by your lack of attention to detail.”

Zig scoffed at his response.

“And the lightning? Was that the work of those hunters?”

Smugness formed on his face as Ivano could not answer that properly.

“No mage, even a Grand Mage, could keep doing that for long. If you have brought all of your forces Maxill would be a smouldering ruin, and not able to inform the enemy on our direction.”

“Perhaps.” Zig spoke after waiting for some time. “But it could have been a complete disaster. If there were more mages...”

A smiled formed on his face. “Then you would have no Orcs to fight for you.”

That might actually be a good thing.

“We should have committed all our forces on the attack.” Ivano mumbled. “Yours and ours. Then it would have been crushed.” Zig and the other Orcs looked genuinely surprised at his admission.

“But.” he continued. “This bickering will only aide our enemies.”

“...True.” Zig did not seem to know where to go with his words. He awkwardly scratched as his black beard.

Clansmen were known as a stubborn lot. Backing down or admitting they were wrong was something extremely rare. It caught Zig off guard.

“So....How many Orcs have you lost?”

Zig looked at his subordinates, who gave him a light nod.

“Four thousand.” he said quietly. “Though...”

“Though, what?”

“Not all died at Maxill. We don't even know if they are all actually dead.”

Ivano stared at him blankly.

“We retreated, after the fire and lightning magic, some of the Orcs stopped to loot the villages and hamlets-”

“I told you that was not to happen.” Ivano grumbled angrily.

Zig shrugged. “They said that they wanted to rest. And I let them. Those that had the strength to continue, did so. I have my reasons.”

Ivano sighed.

“You saw the state of them when they arrived at the camp.” Zig continued. “Some of those have already died from exhaustion.”

“They should have formed blocking forces to delay the potential counter attack.”

Zig scowled. "So that's all we are all to you? Just flesh and corpses for you to throw away to keep your precious Clansmen safe."

Just as Ivano was about to erupt in fury at the Orcs a Clansmen messenger came into the tent, beleaguered and drenched in sweat. A short neigh came through the tent. The messenger had ridden his horse through the entire camp. Something terrible was happening.

“Yes?” Ivano asked. The Orcs did not even turn around.

“On our patrol south we've spotted a small Qaiviel force, camped some miles south of us.” he said through short and laboured breaths. “About three, maybe four thousand. They've stopped in a burnt down village for the night."

Ivano stared silently at the Orcs. Zig had agreed with him that there was going to be no looting, but he had already broken that. Now there seemed to be wanton and random destruction. Such fire and death would only embolden and swell their enemies ranks with the survivors. And draw in young fighters from the surrounding villages looking for glory or revenge.

“Were you spotted?”

The messenger shook his head.

“Thank you for your report.” Ivan said, the messenger quickly departing.

Ivano turned his full attention to Zig.

“It seems that your Orcs did more than just loot.” he began. “And I doubt that they would burn down their own village down for no reason. Now they'll be even more angry.”

“So what?”

“So what? Now the peasants that survived could fight with the army. They won't be the best fighters, but they won't give in. Stories will spread out and they could recruit more from the villages. Who knows how many they could get...How many survived from that village alone? How many more villages are there? They could have thousands more by the time we get to the border.”

Zig only shrugged. Nothing on his face gave any hint of the sort of creeping dread that Ivano felt.

“There could be hundreds from that village alone that survived.” Ivano folded his arms in a huff, looking down at the map. He looked at the map where they were, around them there were dozens of small dots, the small dots of villages and hamlets. If they could get some soldiers from each, they could get a decent army to harass them. “We need to deal with them before we arrive at the Border Forts. That small force could cause some serious damage if they attack at the right time.”

“We know where they are...” Zig began. “A Clansmen attack could easily deal with them.”

“Are you afraid of your soldiers looking weak?” Ivano asked.

“The Orcs have suffered the brunt of this invasion.” Zig replied angrily. “The Clansmen have suffered very little and seemingly just walk away from fights. I do not want my Orcs whittled away while you keep yours safe with our blood.”

Ivano saw the looks of anger on their faces. They felt that they were the lesser in this campaign. They were. Not that they needed that hammered into them any more. These Orcs were nothing like the Orc clans of old. Far less discipline and prone to pointless violence. Primitive. Seeing how unstable these Orcs seemed to be he didn't want to agitate them further and potentially lead to an even worse state of cooperation between the two armies. If an outburst happened, and their armies turned on themselves, they would have no hope of succeeding against the Qaiviel Kingdom.

“We will send five thousand Clansmen to attack this Qaiviel force, if you are willing to send that many Orcs as well.”

Something flashed over Zig's face. Surprise.

If there is a powerful mage, and we direct our whole army at it, we could take huge losses before we dealt with them. We could overwhelm them, but we might not have enough strength to take out the Border Forts or our secondary targets. Especially if there's a team of powerful mages there...

We'd also loose valuable time. Time for a message, that almost certainly got out of Maxill, to arrive and ready them for what's coming. Not to mention time to mobilise the Knight Orders. At the very least this force will delay the enemy while we continue to move...This is the best compromise I can think of.

“We cannot have them harassing our army.” Ivano said. “So, will you agree?”

Zig held up his hand and spoke with the Orcs either side in hushed whispers. As the moments dragged on Ivano's patience began to wear thin. He held himself together until they parted.

“Very well.” Zig clapped his hands. “We will send our forces to work together with your Clansmen. Who will be leading this assault?”

Ivano had not given it much thought. He had expected the Orcs to try and back out.

“I will leave it to you. Just make sure that you choose a good one.”

Zig smiled and nodded, holding out his hand to shake. It was smooth but a firm hand. Not like an Orc's.

“It will take some time to organise for the assault.” Zig began. “Do we launch a night assault?”

Ivano tapped his fingers impatiently.

If there really is a mage, of the strength the Orcs have described, there's every chance that the attack could be destroyed. After that, who's to say they won't attack us during the night and then run away. Hit and run attacks are going to wear us down to nothing before we reach the Border Forts.

Ivano slammed his fist onto the table, catching everyone by surprise.

“Prepare for a dawn raid. The enemy is resting but I don't want their hunters to pick us off while we move to attack their camp. I'm sure they'll have some in between our camps. Those hunters and archers, striking from the dark...our army might loose their nerve before they even make it to the enemy."

"They're an annoying bunch." Zig lamented.

"But, while those forces ready for the attack, we will put as much distance between our main force and the enemy before dawn. If the worse happens, and there is a powerful mage amongst them, they will do so much damage to them that they cannot follow. Or are destroyed.”

Zig frowned deeply, looking down at the map.

“And if they do fail there will be so much distance between us that they cannot reach us before we reach the Border Forts.”

Zig still looked unconvinced. Ivano still needed a little more encouragement to win him over.

“Then there won't be anything to stop us from bringing in all of our warriors to these land. Hundreds and thousands of Orcs and Clansmen...One mage won't be able to stand up to that.”

Zig chuckled, a honest smile forming on his green face.

“Very well. But I want all of the loot from the soldiers that we kill. And everything at the Border Forts. And the first five cities.”

“Agreed.”

Ivano had no care for looting the dead in such a manner. Nor of looting those forts or cities. Besides most of it would end up in the Clansmen's hands when they sell it to them. This was just a way of cutting out some of the work.

“I will ready my forces.” Zig said as he stood up. “I trust that you will do the same?”

Ivano nodded.

“Then we are done here. We need to return to begin moving my army.”

He gave a final nod before exiting the tent. Every clansmen present breathed a sigh of relief. Brenna, who had been standing very quietly in the corner, came forward and took one of the Orcs seats.

“Do you mean to do this?” she asked, a frown forming on her face.

“Of course.” Ivano replied. “That army will only grow as the Orcs pillage their way through the land. Better that it's dealt with now.”

Brenna shrugged. “I'll go and get our warriors ready to move-”

“Send the weakest.” he frowned deeply. “It's despicable for me to do this...But I don't want our forces to be significantly weakened before our main fight. Also give them specific order to retreat if any magicians are spotted. At the very least it'll convince them that we're not a big as a threat as we are.”

“Most of the 'weakest' are from the smaller clans.” she said. “The few they've sent might be all they've got. They may never recover.”

“I know.” he replied, sighing as he ran his hands through his hair. “That's why I don't want them to engage an actual battle with mages. Let those wretched Orcs do the dying.”

Brenna gave a nod and relayed the order to the other waiting Clansmen. They looked a little confused by his words but carried them out regardless. Brenna waited at the entrance and gave a final look back.

He smiled and looked up.

“Maybe...Maybe the Orcs will finally be of some use. Meat for the enemy to choke on.”

Brenna wore a blank face as he looked back down.

“Tell everyone that it will be a forced march from now on. Us included. We need to put as much distance between us and the Qaiviel forces before morning. I just hope Zig actually sends some capable warriors this time.”

He could not help the smile that formed on his face. Ivano picked up one of the Orc icons and slammed it into the map.

“Green meat for Qaiviel to choke on.”

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Hello!

Got another from the Clansmen side. Seeing how the Orc leader is deliusional about his position and Ivano more than willing to sacrifice Orcs to buy some time. But he still wants to complete his mission even though it might just be sending people to die, if the mage turns out to be real.

So...there you go. Just a bit more insight into how the Clansmen operate in these situations.

Also the problems of having two high level commanders with wildly different personalities and objectives.

Thanks for reading, and Any and All Donations!