It was four weeks later when we tracked down the first group of outcasts. As soon as the orcs had spotted us, they started forming into battle lines. The orcs’ philosophy when it came to war was to hit it straight on and hit it hard. No tactical manoeuvres or traps or anything, a straight-up melee or brawl was to be preferred.

“That’s a lot of orcs, Milord,” Caspar said from beside me, a little nervousness creeping into his voice. Despite everything, this was his first major battle. Only smaller skirmishes with bandits or the occasional band of raiders from other races. He had only been patrolling and protecting the Hold. Hrothgar and Isaac were my go-to’s when we had to participate in larger actions.

The composition of Caspar’s battalion was entirely made of cavalry units of some kind. Not that it was not useful for fighting at the front, it was just more useful for patrolling the Hold that had spread out a lot since I took it over.

“Don’t be nervous Caspar, we just need to make them suffer about twenty percent losses, without losing too many troopers,” I said cheerily. I was looking forward to some large scale fighting again. “Then they’ll demand an Honour Fight, which I’ll win and you’re looking at a lot of new troopers, not enemies.”

“Are you sure it’ll go like that?” Caspar questioned suspiciously.

“Of course I am, this one has been thought through,” I replied, maybe a bit cocky. However, I had talked a lot with Arkoshta on how the orcs generally would handle the different phases and situations in a large battle. She had provided a wealth of information. As was to be expected from a shaman of the Warrior Maiden.

I looked back at the almost five thousand mounted troopers behind me. The commanders were busy instructing their squadrons and the attached Unifier platoons. “Did you inform the commanders of how I want the Unifiers utilized in the battle?”

“Yes, Milord. I’m not sure why you micromanage the placement of the Unifiers’ platoons, but leave the rest to our discretion,” he wondered out loud.

“So accidents can be arranged for some dangerous people in their ranks,” I replied with a predatory smile. “Remember, if possible, disable instead of kill. The more that are left alive, the stronger our forces and allies will become.”

“Yes, Milord. I’ll get the roving patrols started,” he replied one last time before he rode off to start ordering troopers around.

“Can’t believe you won’t let me fight in the shield line,” Shenerah said from beside me. I knew she was pouting. She had been doing that a lot on this trip. Maybe I should have insisted on Emma coming along. She did not take on Yathanae’s hate after her death.

“You’re carrying our child—”

“Which doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” she interrupted me.

“I know, which is why I’ll have you with the rifles,” I said with a sigh.

“I want to be in the thick of it, I know you know how that feels, the exhilarating feeling of imminent death—” she started waxing on.

I shook my head. “You’ve never fought in a shield line, you’re quoting myself back to me. Either you join the rifles, or you’ll be sitting out the battle. You decide.”

“Fine, I know when I’m not wanted,” she huffed and turned her horse around. I felt a growing headache. I felt like I should say something, but I knew it would just lead to more arguing. Something I did not want to do right now.

Instead, I jumped off the horse and let a trooper from one of the support platoons take the reins. There were a total of thirteen support platoons. They mostly consisted of healers, stone, metal, and wood mages. The rest of them were beast mages that took care of the horses and drove the wagons. That left me with 146 combat platoons, well, 169 if you included the Unifiers.

It occurred to me that I did not know the man’s name. In the start I had not been interested in knowing my people’s names, then I learned that it was the right thing to do with them sacrificing their life for me. Now my army had grown so big I could not remember everyone. I tried to remember the commanders and senior squad leaders. ‘Maybe we need to implement a name tag in the uniform.’

Such thoughts could wait for another time, I needed to focus on the battle ahead. I joined the forty platoons carrying shields. Of course, I did not carry one. The shields they were carrying were tower shields imitating the form of the Roman shield. The thousand and eighty men were divided into three rows.

The first row had their shields altered to include metal spikes at the bottom. It was meant to help stabilize the shield line when it received a charge of angry five hundred pound orcs. When slammed into the ground the spikes would penetrate into the earth, helping to create more resistance when receiving the charge.

Besides their modified shields, the first row had a blunderbuss and a dragon for some ranged fighting, while only carrying a thick short sword meant for blocking and stabbing. It was also in the first row I had planted five Unifier platoons. Two of them included one of the hidden priests. One was a senior squad leader, while the other was disguised as a normal trooper.

The second row’s shields were without spikes, but about twenty percent taller. Instead, the top right and left corner were missing, creating a small indent for resting rifles or blunderbusses on to help with the aim. The second row was equipped with the same as the first row. Additionally, they were equipped with a spear each.

The third row’s shields were twenty percent shorter than the shields of the first row. The third row was also armed much differently. They carried the short sword and a dragon. However, their main armament was the many different grenades they were carrying.

There was everything from tear gas to explosive grenades. They even had some smoke grenades if needed. Of course, they were not as safe as I would like, since they were using fuses. I had invested almost two months of free time, which I did not have a lot off, into making permanent lighters that could be used to light the fuses.

On either flank, we had ten platoons of my men riding guard. They would use skirmish tactics, stay out of melee range, just generally harass any orcs trying to circumvent us. Behind us, the stone mages were already busy creating shooting platforms for another forty platoons.

“Milord!” one of the men in the first row shouted. “They’re starting to retreat.”

“That won’t do,” I said. I had thought that would be a likely case as soon as we started erecting defensive structures. Barka had said the leader of this group was a cowardly person. I created the illusion of a green banner high above my head, it dipped forward before waving in a circle. Next to it, a red banner appeared, which did the same, just circled counterclockwise instead.

It was the prearranged signal for two of the three reserve units to rush forward, flanking and encircling the orcs. The two reserve units consisted of two squadrons each, or 26 platoons, while the third reserve unit consisted of 17 platoons. They would attack from afar, keep their distance. The orcs would be able to break out of the encirclement, I was not going to sacrifice men on cornering them. However, they would be ground down slowly if they did so, the speed of our horses much greater than that of the orcs’ rather impressive speed.

The two reserve forces thundered by us and a couple of minutes later, we could hear the thunderous boom of their powerful dragons. The orc immediately retreated from the harassing horse riders. They started shouting insults, but my troops kept out of harm’s way. After ten minutes, the orcs stopped trying to vacate the battlefield. My dragoons had done the first part of their job. Next, they would need to harass them in our direction.

Events unfolded as I had predicted with the information supplied by Barka. The orcs learned that the only direction they could go where the cavalry would not attack them was in the direction of the rest of us. If they hunkered down, they got peppered with shots as well.

My troopers had been ordered to keep the killing to a minimum, considering there were children and other non-combatants present as well. However, after thirty minutes there were close to three hundred dead orcs. My troopers had suffered some casualties as well, but the difference in weaponry meant the numbers were only around two dozen.

All this was relayed to me by the lookouts, while I was lying on the grass, waiting. Who knew waiting for battle could be so boring?

“Milord, they’re coming in our direction now!” a shout informed me.

“Finally,” I muttered and got back to my feet. Looking around, I saw that a lot of the men had done the same as me. “Look alive, Men, they’ve finally deigned to entertain us. What say you that we invite them to a dance of steel and blood?”

“Orcish blood!” someone shouted.

“Spill the green blood!” another one shouted. Someone uninformed. I knew from experience that orc blood was red. Unfortunately, the erroneous chant got picked up, and up and down the line it went. “Green blood! Green blood! Spill the green blood!”

Not the most inventive or accurate chant, but whatever worked for the troopers. The men were shuffling to get the ranks reformed. I went to the front of the formation, looking proudly at the men and women that served me. The blue uniforms of the Unifiers stood out like sore thumbs.

I gave the priest on his horse behind the ranks a scathing look, followed by a contemptuous smile. I turned my look back to the troopers in front of me. I projected my voice with illusion magic, so every trooper could hear me. “Some of you may question the sanity in fighting the orcs in melee.”

A murmur of agreement went through the lines. “I know that they have got a ferocious reputation and some would call us foolhardy when we’ve got our guns. We’re not here to eradicate the orcs like some people want us to do. No, we’re here to subjugate them, make them a part of our Hold, our Family.”

“Yo—” the priest started screaming, but I threw a barrier of silence around him, and Nishka who was standing near him pointedly drew her dragons, pointing them in his general direction. He got the point.

“Because that’s what we are. We’re Family. You were rejected by Society, you were in all but the word enslaved by Society. Not because of what you had done, but because of how you were born. Something you had no influence over. Yet Fate set in stone your future, a future where you would die alone.”

An angry murmur went through my troopers and the Unifiers looked more than a bit uncomfortable. I went on. “It mattered not if you wanted to be a good citizen of the Society, wanted to pay their taxes, follow their rules, or worship their Gods. Your future had been set in stone by Fate. They would not even give you the chance, just because of the colour of your skin, hair, eyes, the shape of your ears, or because you have scales or fur instead of skin.

“You were not given a chance until the day we met. Look at you now, it matters not who your parents were, it matters not if you’re man or woman. We stand together because we are Family. Not the family we were born into, but the Family that choose us and we choose it back. Family!”

They picked up the shout, “Family! Family!”

“Now we’ve been ordered to eradicate every orc that we meet, just because some of them attacked us. Should we find and punish the guilty, because of their crimes? Absolutely. Should we kill the innocent just because they share the same race as the offenders?”

“No!” the troopers roared back. Some of the Unifiers actually joined in.

“What we should do is turn around and go home, look for the offenders in another way. But we cannot, because of Them!” The first part was said gently, while I shouted the last part while I pointed to the priest. Everyone turned their heads to look at the priest who looked incensed. “They want us to kill the orcs, eradicate them completely because they’re different. The way you’re different. So if we go home, they’ll just send someone else to do it. We’ll be labelled rebels. But we’re not rebels! We’re Family!

“So we’ll do what They command. We’ll find and punish the guilty and bring an end to the raiding scourge of the orcs. Just not in the way they envisioned them. We’ll make the orcs surrender, we’ll make them Family. They’ll join us and get to live a better life. They just don’t know it yet. So we’ve to subdue them. Sometimes, even Family needs a gentle, but firm hand to lead them back on track. Are you with me?”

“Yes!” they roared back, more out of duty than actual enthusiasm I think. It was a performance put on for the sake of the priests. The first of many performances.

I looked around, seeing I still had a couple of minutes to spare. I pointed at the approaching orcs. “Look at them. Now, look at yourself. You might wonder how are you going to stand against such big people?”

A nervous titter spread amongst them. Some started to look a little doubtful. “I know you’re afraid. In a moment they’ll charge you, bowl over you and rip you apart. That’s what you’re thinking, right?”

I did not wait for them to answer, but went on immediately, “You’re right to fear. They’re bigger than you, stronger than you. However, you’ve got something they don’t. Training and Family. Family. Look to your left, look to your right. This is your Family. Yes, even the Unifiers amongst us are Family. Today we fight together, today they’ve finally accepted you for who you are. Making us Family.

“So what if the orcs are bigger and stronger than us? That just means we’ve got to fight smarter and rely on the one thing that we got: Family. Family, who help each other and look out for each other. When you accepted your commission as troopers in my army, I gave you an oath that you would never fight alone. I will always fight together with my Family.”

As I had neared the end of what I wanted to say, I put on a bit of theatrics and used magic to lift me up into the air. At the same time, the ground beneath me erupted. Small stone spikes shout out of the ground, tearing grass away. Four metres from the front row, a three metres wide spike field was created.

It required a lot of mana, but the demonstration should help bolster the courage of my troopers. The cheering that erupted together with the spikes was an indication it worked.

I looked at the platforms that held our sharpshooters. “Sharpshooters, you’ve permission to kill anyone trying to circumvent the spikes. Otherwise, aim to disable!”

After a quick check on the orc’s progress, I landed on the ground again. The orcs were less than fifty metres away. Their war cries were getting loud. “Us being Family means that we never fight alone. Remember, Death awaits those that fight alone, but together we can change what Fate once set in stone. So together, we’ll give them hell!”

“Give them hell!” the troopers roared. First rank’s shields were slammed into the ground creating the shield wall, the troopers huddling down behind them. A leg pushed against the shield, better bracing it. The second rank put their shields against the backs of the first rank, to help them stand fast. I used a little wind magic to leap over the ranks and to the back of the formation. A Wolf Guard handed me my rifle.

“Open fire!” I shouted and lifted my rifle, snapping off a shot, claiming what would most likely be the first of many lives.