“Wolfram lead the way.”(E)

Wolfram starts to walk towards the arena exit I follow behind him.

“ALL MEN FOLLOW OUR LADY.”(V)

Following behind me the soldiers march in a single file line.

Leaving the arena we start to march through the town. As we leave the arena and have more space the soldiers start to march in two lines of three with the corporal at the front and the lance corporal at the back.

As we march through the town a lot of people are looking at and talking about us. There are not many of us but everyone down the street whether they be shopkeepers, guards, carpenters or blacksmiths they all come out to see us marching through the town. Some don’t mind us being here while others visibly and audibly show their displeasure for us being here.

Continuing forward we reach the end of the road and approach the wall. Unlike last time we did not go over the wall this time the guards used what I assume is sand magic to make an opening in the wall. Once we move through they close the wall behind us.

After marching out into the desert for about ten minutes I turn around to address the soldiers.

“For the duration of this operation as Wolfram has more experience than we do he will be second in command.”(E)

““YES MY LADY””

“Wolfram lead the way.”(E)

“Before that, you need to address your officers in a shorter manner. Saying yes my lady each time is to long in combat, shorten it.”(W)

“”YES SIR””

“let's get going”(W)

Following behind Wolfram we continue our journey.. We spend the next few hours marching through the desert looking for monsters to fight. As we move through the desert the soldiers are holding their rifles in a way that they can quickly react to any sudden engagement.

“Halt”(W)

Wolfram stops and kneels we do the same. Wolfram points at a sand dune.

“There are sand wolves over there.”(W)

“How do you know?”(E)

“Experience and sand magic. That sand dune has the sort of conditions that sand wolves like.”(W)

“What should we do?”(E)

“Your soldiers use ranged weapons don’t they? Shoot at them and make them come to use.”(W)

“Is that safe?”(E)

“No, but no battle is. It’s the easiest way.”(W)

I move closer to the colonel.

“Are you ready?”(E)

“Yes ma’am. Everyone is in position and awaiting your command.”(V)

“Good. Wolfram give the command when you think is best.”(E)

Wolfram nods in reply. The soldiers are in a line with about a two-metre gap between them on one knee holding their rifle up ready to fire. We silently wait for wolfram to give the order.

“FIRE”(w)

As this was said the air is filled with the sounds of rifles being fired.

They all open fire with limited success at this range it’s hard to hit but one does and the sand wolf turns into a cloud of sand.

Awooooooooo

The wolves start running towards us. As they run towards us more start to form and others appear from the other side of the sand dune.

“FIRE AT WILL”(V)

Once again the air filled with the sound of gunfire but this time it is accompanied by racking of bolts and the clinging of empty casings being ejected.

As the wolves got closer and the firing of the guns got more intense more wolves fell.

Fifty metres twenty wolves, forty metres 15 wolves, thirty metres ten wolves, twenty metres five wolves ten metres two wolves.

Standing up I take out my revolver and fire twice. Five metres zero wolves.

Is that all of them?

Awoooooo

There’s still one left?

“FIX BAYONETS.”(V)

I look around panicked. There I see the soldiers standing up and fixing bayonets. In front of them are more wolves ten of them about eight metres away.

They continue to fire but most of the wolves make it. The soldiers stand bayonets at the ready.

The wolves jump at them some end up being killed by the bayonets easily while others are harder. The soldiers end up in melee combat with the wolves. The four wolves left put up a fierce fight but eventually, the soldiers win.

“CASUALTY REPORT”(V)

“Three lightly injured, two with broken bones and need medical attention no deaths, sir”(Soldier)

I leave them to deal with the situation. I open the book to see how many points I got.

The book opened to a page that reads.

Battle report

killed - 31 sand wolves. 2 PP each

You killed - 2

Killed by soldiers - 29

Points earned – 33