Chapter 3

“Interesting...”

The Baron mumbled to himself as he watched the battle from a nearby hill. His coalition of mercenaries was about to battle their enemy. It seemed like the rebels were hoping to knock the coalition of mercenaries out of their province, because they chose to sally out before their town was put under siege, apparently hoping that a field battle would work out better than a siege.

The three mercenary companies were standing in a long line, distinguished mostly by the different colors of their companies, black and white for the Schneebedekt Berg, red and gray for Die Bande des Wolfs, and Blue and Orange for the Klarwasser Mercenary Company. The Baron’s men were set up between the two other companies.

Ludwin had the men set up with the swordsmen at the front in a shield wall, the spearmen standing in parade rest behind them, ready to form up within the shieldwall should cavalry reach the swordsmen. They were far back enough to stay out of the swordsmen's way, but close enough to hide within the shieldwall when archers were firing.

The archers were standing in front of the swordsmen to fire volleys at approaching troops, and the musketeers were standing in the swordsmen’s line, waiting for the signal to form ranks and pepper the approaching troops. Additionally, there was a cannon hiding behind the swordsmen loaded with grapeshot ready to do the same. He couldn’t be sure but the Baron thought that Ludwin was purposely hiding the muskets and cannon from the approaching enemy.

He could also see the flowing mane of Udo at the front, using a longsword with no helmet or shield. The shields the men were using were big enough to protect him should the need arise, and his armor looked sturdy enough to deflect an arrow or two, but it still seemed foolhardy to go into battle without a helmet.

Soon, the enemy began to move. First their archers stepped forward and began to lose their volleys. It looked as though they were subpar archers, as most of their arrows fell either too short or too far, but a few landed amongst allied archers. The Baron’s archers, on the other hand, seemed to be far more accurate. Their arrows rained down on the opposing archers, taking down numerous men with each volley.

After the first volley, the opposing sword and spearmen began to approach. They were using a chevron formation, the men forming a V shape and charging forward. The formation was generally used by cavalry to punch through formations, but its weakness was that it was very compact, meaning missile fire would be more effective.

The enemy wouldn’t be using it if they knew about the muskets and the cannons, meaning their intelligence network is very poor. The arrow fire was doing very little against the charging forces, their shields and armor were holding up well so they took few casualties.

Ludwin shouted something and one of his men hoisted up a flag with an emblem of a pair of legs with an arrow pointing away from it. Apparently every unit had a flagbearer to watch for and relay orders. The archer’s flag bearer hoisted up the same flag and they began to move back. Ludwin shouted again and his flag bearer hoisted up a flag with a gun on it and an arrow pointing in front of it.

After the musketmen’s flagbearer acknowledged the order, the muskets moved forward and formed up in a line two rows deep. As soon as they formed up fully the first row aimed and fired. Many of the bullets were deflected or missed, but just as many hit home, punching through the weak armor and shields in the formation. The first row kneeled to allow the second row to fire over them and began to reload. The second volley felled more men, though it seemed to injure more than it killed as the Baron could see some of the men who fell over writhing around on the battlefield. I hope they don’t bleed out before we get to them, these people seem more like conscripts than hardcore treasonous revolutionaries and they don’t deserve to be treated as such.

The musketmen fired off one more volley from each line before retreating into the backline. There weren't any more flags from Ludwin so most likely this was just something the men were told to do beforehand. As soon as the muskets got back some of them got on the cannon, pushing it forward to stick out the front of the formation. Again, there were no flags from Ludwin so most likely this was discussed with them beforehand.

A musketman lit a cord and placed it onto a stick, touching the match to the top of the cannon shortly after another man gave him a thumbs up. There was a bright flash and then a thunderous boom. The grapeshot smashed through the charging men, even the ones who’s shield and armor deflected the musketballs earlier, peppering them and littering the battlefield with even more dead men. Having accomplished their goal, the crew pulled the cannon back and affixed bayonets to their muskets, which looked like it was just a spike they plugged into the bore hole, going to join the men in the front.

The charging men did not stop, though they were obviously charging slower than before, seeming shaken by their casualties. If they make it to Ludwin’s men it should still be a hard fought battle. the cannons and muskets thinned them out well, the forces have gone from around 1.5 to 1 to 1.3 to 1. If the enemy has roughly equal skill to Ludwin's men then the fight would be anything but easy. I can’t help but feel like more gunmen could have broken their lines outright.

Ludwin shouted an order and his flag bearer held up a flag with a spear on it. Soon after the spearmen stood up and formed up, lifting their spears to head level and resting the shaft on shields of the men in front of them, creating the appearance of a phalanx which used swords as well as spears.

The opposing forces crashed into the line. The scrape of metal on metal as the whirlwind of combat began was intensely loud, the Baron could hear it from his spot on the hill about 100 yards away. The fighting was brutal, in the beginning stages it was about as organized as war could get, but soon it devolved into a wild melee, at least for the opposing force who seemed to not understand what it meant to fight in a formation. Ludwin's men were too disciplined to break formation like that. They stuck together, protecting each other with sword, shield, and spear. Though, one man stood out amongst the crowd, literally in this case as he was at least a head taller than the rest of the men. Udo was a force to be reckoned with. He moved through the battlefield with a savage grace, downing men left and right, weaving around shields and striking with unreal power, destroying wooden shields with ease and cleaving helmets in two like they were made of paper mache.

Despite their slight numerical advantage, the conscripts were not faring well. The well trained veterans of the Klarwasser Mercenary Company were chewing through them at a respectable rate. Looking at the other mercenary companies, the story was roughly the same, though without the help of the grapeshot their men were having a rough time with the larger numbers that reached their lines, but they still seemed to be winning.

The outcome of this battle was all but decided, it was only a matter of time before they were routed. If their information networks were better, if they knew about the muskets and the cannon, they would have been able to think up a better strategy. Having seen all he needed to see, the Baron got on his horse and rode to Ludwin, ordering him to treat as many wounded as he could before heading to occupy the town.

“But sir, do you think that’s wise? What if the other companies get there before us?”

“They won't. The grapeshot really did a number on the opposing forces, and look at that! They broke while we were talking.” Ludwin turned around to see the conscripts either surrendering where they stood or running away as quickly as they could.

“Take some men to help the other mercenary companies, their enemies must be close to breaking by now, so go help them along so we can take some of their glory. I will take the remainder of the men to crush any remaining resistance and occupy the town. Also I am taking Udo with me, understood?”

“Yes sir!”

Ludwin took 50 swordsmen and spearmen and charged towards the battlelines of one of the other companies, Der Schneebedeckt Berg Company. Seeing a new force charging towards them, the conscripts decided it was best to run for their lives, and the other mercenary company started to pursue the retreating men. Seeing this, Ludwin wheeled around to make an attempt at relieving the other mercenary company, Die Bande des Wolfs. They seemed to be faring much worse, the fighting looked brutal, the only sense of order was the rough line the men were fighting within. The combatants were so focused on their own fighting that they didn’t notice the charging forces about to smash into their backs, and there was nothing their subcommander could do to organize the men enough to resist the charge.

Ludwin’s men crashed into their lines, the screeching of metal and roaring of men was deafening, the conscripts were taken completely by surprise. What looked to be a hard fought victory was turning into a crushing defeat. Ludwin’s forces managed to completely surround them, encircling them in a ring of steel that was slowly closing in. Soon they lost all spirit and surrendered. Ludwin told his men to stand down, but his fellow commander seemed less interested in saving lives, but after Ludwin pushed through their ranks and yelled at him he told his men to stand down.

“You! My fellow vice commander! I thank you for saving my men! We were a little tired from our march here from far away Orcland, we haven't even gotten around to putting on our summer uniforms! And we have had very heavy losses recently, a skirmish around one of the smaller towns up north turned into a full scale battle and we had somewhere between 30-40% losses. My boys are really used to fighting Orcs, they use different techniques. So unfortunately for us we are going to have to pass up the opportunity to loot Baktenburg, we're most likely going to return home to Waffenstadt and lick our wounds. My name is Georg Habersonne of Die Bande des Wolfs, based out of Rauchburg, please enlighten me to the name of my savior.”

“I am Ludwin Albrecht of the Klarwasser Mercenary Company, Lieutenant to Baron von Bickenstadt, we just refer to him as the Baron. Don’t feel so bad about missing out on the occupation, the Baron went ahead of me to occupy it before you guys could. If you could kindly cooperate with me in tending to the wounded, all of the wounded, which includes our enemies as well as allies, then the Klarwasser Mercenary Company will owe you guys a favor.”

“Well...I’ve had worse deals hoisted upon me, having a Baron in my debt sure is tempting...sure, we’ll lend you a hand. Send any wounded you guys can’t deal with immediately to my camp, after we’re done with them we’ll send them down to your camp, with an escort of course. I’m going to take my men back to camp so we can change into our summer gear, I forgot how hot it gets down south. Been dealing with orcs for the better part of two years now, they've had some large scale conflict recently.” They shook hands to solidify the deal and Ludwin began to leave, but Georg thought of something and called Ludwin back over.

“Say, if the Baron ever wants to do business with the Orcs, send him to talk to me first. I am well known and well liked in Nordland, and their wars are never ending, so I'm sure he can find some work. I’ll introduce him to some of the chieftains if he wants.”

“Thank you Georg, we'll keep that in mind. Be well, my new found friend. May the gods watch over us, and may Frau Abhilfe watch over our men.”

“May your steel contain Ulfric’s taint, and may your ventures be ever fruitful.” They both made the hand symbols of their patron gods and parted ways.