The night was tense. While Count Gregory was confident that the army’s rear was secure, the forest on the other side of the stream was a complete unknown. Varre was worried that it secretly hid additional goblin units, just waiting for the opportunity to strike and defeat the overconfident humans. Even if they lacked the numbers to win, they could do plenty of damage if they managed to surprise the defenders.

  Many of the men went to sleep afraid of waking up to their throats being slit. For the commanders, that meant there were plenty of volunteers willing to join the guards and patrols. There wasn’t enough time to set up a proper palisade, but the army did the best they could.

  The first line of defense were the scouts. They spread out through the area armed with torches and horns to raise alarm. If even a single one spotted an attack coming, they could warn thousands of soldiers within an instant.

  No place was as carefully watched as the stream itself. While it was a minor obstacle to a human, a tiny goblin would have struggled much more when attempting to cross. They’d need to conduct a major operation, likely with makeshift bridges, ropes, or plenty of mounts. Varre’s men should be able to spot the enemies coming from a mile away, especially since the water was not obscured by dense foliage.

  Meanwhile, the Elves were hard at work exploring the opposite side. Light riders supported them from a safe distance carrying messages back and forth, but the risk of them falling into traps was too great to let them get close.

  Sofia’s people were more observant. They could instantly tell when the ground had been disturbed, or whether plants had been messed with. While they weren’t perfect, pit traps and other obstacles posed a lot less danger to these experts.

  They also knew which bushes made the best hiding spots and made sure to carefully investigate each one. After the battle, before it got too dark to continue, they discovered several goblins biding their time. Individual warriors posed little threat, but they could deliver reports back to their leaders. The creatures were killed on sight, since no one wanted to take any risks.

  The next morning the army was ready to continue on its journey. While the men packed up their tents a team of specialists approached the stream. They built a wide, makeshift bridge across allowing the wagons to cross unimpeded.

  Varre decided to reinforce it and he left a small team of around two hundred people to continue defending it. Over time, they were to build some watch towers and a palisade to ensure safety.

  The further the troops got from Amesbury, the more threatened the supply lines became. The wagons, along with fresh reinforcements, traveled through the wilderness, trying to catch up. It was a decent enough system, since if Varre ever started running low on food, he could simply bunker down and wait for them to arrive. But it was vulnerable.

  While all of Wantage was teeming with scouts, small groups of goblins could get across unseen. Even if they failed in a direct attack, they could still destroy plenty of precious supplies before they were stopped. Yesterday’s battle proved their willingness to accept high casualties for their goal, so the king didn’t want to risk it.

  The newly constructed fort wouldn’t stop an army of thousands, but such a force was too big to move in secret. Instead, it would serve as a base of operation for patrols and would offer a safe haven for caravans to spend the night. The closer the soldiers got to the heart of the enemy invasion, the more important such points would become.

  The army carefully trudged forward as scouts led the way, making sure there were no ambushes ahead. Now that they’ve reached areas with undeniable goblin presence, they had to be more careful. As they rode down the narrow animal paths, Varre analyzed the reports that continued to come in.

  “The left flank is proceeding on schedule,” Gregory announced, reading from a scroll of parchment, “their scouts have taken some light casualties, just like us but they stopped at the same stream we had last night. They should have crossed it by morning.”

  “Excellent,” the king replied, “nobody tried to stop them?”

  “No your majesty,” the count confirmed, “it seems like the goblins only tried to stop us.”

  “I wonder if they’re even aware that we split our forces into three groups,” Elvira wonder out loud.

  “They must be,” Duke Jan assured, “they might not have spotted the side armies directly, but the sheer number of scouts makes it obvious where we are. We’re moving through the forest in force.”

  “There’s no other way,” Varre said, “I’d much rather sacrifice stealth than have my men walk into an ambush.”

  “Agreed,” the senior commander nodded, “it’s inevitable. In fact, I’m sure they’re doing the exact same thing on their end. They might not know how many prongs we’ve split into, but they must assume that we did.”

  “What about the right flank?” the king turned back to the head of the scouts.

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  “They’ve fallen slightly behind,” Gregory admitted, “they’re sticking close to the Wester river. It meanders quite a bit so the terrain there is rougher. They should reach the same stream as we did later today, your majesty.”

  “Half a day behind,” Varre said, quickly visualizing the situation in his mind, “is the crossing safe?”

  “Yes,” the count confirmed, “the scouts investigated it. A few stayed behind to keep watch.”

  “Good idea. The Wester river could serve an important purpose in this conflict,” the king commended, “are we able to ship some of the supplies through it?”

  “Some, perhaps,” Gregory said cautiously, “but it’s too shallow, your majesty. Only small boats can make the journey safely and we’d need hundreds of those to feed our forces. I’m afraid we have no choice but to stick to the forests.”

  “It can be used to send messages,” Jan suggested, “but now we’ve got the communication mages to take care of that. I must say they come in handy. We can get a far clearer picture of what’s going on in the forest.”

  Elvira smiled. “The students still have much to improve, but they’re growing quickly. They’re making less mistakes by the day, as they get used to these difficult conditions. Especially those who can’t rely on me.”

  “Yes. Thanks to them, we know exactly how many wagons are coming from Amesbury each day,” the duke agreed, “still can’t track them in the forests, but we know they’re there. And any time they pass by some scouts, we get to see the report back. We can also react quickly if the goblins ever try going for one of the flanks.”

  “Good, continue the communication,” Varre ordered, “I want to be sure that we can get back together and attack the enemy with our full force as soon as we find them. We cannot let them attack us one at a time.”

  Jan smirked. “Back during the Langogne war, we called that ‘a defeat in detail’. Rest assured, I won’t let that happen to us.”

  As the army marched onwards, they started to reach the furthest extension of the goblin operations. While the forests ahead were still more or less scouted, some of the riders had to retreat in the last few days, as the enemy’s presence became too overwhelming.

  As proof of that very point, the forward observers reported that one of the villages ahead had been destroyed. The main force was heading directly for the site. The attack happened last night, shortly after the two thousand goblins fell trying to stop the humans for crossing.

  “Could these things be related?” Varre asked, as soon as he received the news, “were they trying to make sure we wouldn’t get there in time to help?”

  “No,” Jan immediately declared, “it was too far. We wouldn’t have made it in time no matter what.”

  “It’s too far for our scouts as well,” Gregory added, “the distance is at around our limit. Even if we saw them gathering, by the time the message made it back, everything would be over.”

  By the early evening, the soldiers reached the still smoldering remains of the settlement. Some of the men felt uncomfortable about stopping for the night in a place of such death and destruction, but Varre decided to turn things around on their head.

  He organized a burial ceremony, where the bodies of the fallen villagers were dug out of the rubble. A few priests that traveled together with the camp followers prayed over the corpses and they were respectfully laid to rest in front of thousands of observers. It was a sad occasion, but instead of focusing on the tragedy, the king tried to focus on the positive aspects.

  The army was here now. The territory had returned to Logres. The soldiers would now fight to make sure such things never happened again.

  In a way it was motivating. People heard the stories of the previous wars plenty of times, but this was their first opportunity to experience the devastation first hand. Yesterday’s battle didn’t really deserve that name and it made the goblins seem more pathetic than dangerous. Now, everyone understood what was at risk if they were to fail. The destruction would spread through the entire duchy, until it eventually spilled to their homes as well.

  After the burial, the priests planted a large royal banner in the center of the destroyed settlement. It served as a symbol that the area would remain under human control from now on. The village would be rebuilt with time and security would return.

  As the army set up a new camp in the empty fields surrounding the village, Varre walked through the desolate streets. He wanted to see it with his own eyes. From up close.

  The first thing that stood out to him was the amount of bodies. Considering the number of houses, it was very low. Hopefully many of the locals managed to flee ahead of time. Those that didn’t were most likely captured, but no one had any idea of what was going to happen to them.

  Such raids were a constant threat during the invasion of the Elven Kingdoms, but some of the captives were recovered. These villagers were not completely beyond saving. Not yet.

  A couple of the corpses were pointed out as goblins. The king couldn’t be sure of their exact casualty rate, but it appeared low. The sheer number of boot prints in the mud around the village signified a force of at least a few hundred warriors. It would be strange to take most of the friendly bodies, while only burning a couple of the fallen, so most likely this was all of their dead.

  Unfortunately, whichever force performed this atrocity was long gone. The scouts investigated the area, making sure everything was clear, but they weren’t going to go on a mad dash to track them alone. It would be suicide. It was far wiser to report such events to the main army and allow the commanders to decide on a course of action.

  For now, the best option was to continue onwards.

  The following morning, the army packed up their tents and moved out with a renewed sense of purpose. The enemy was nearby. The smell of their destruction was still present in the air. They were itching for a chance to avenge the fallen innocents.

  They would get the opportunity soon. Later that day, scouts reported seeing a troubling sign. As they explored the woods, they encountered the largest force seen since the battle of the stream crossing.

  A few hundred goblins were seen approaching a nearby settlement. The village was well known and had been mapped a couple days earlier, but the original scouts had already retreated from the area. Some of the villagers decided to remain put instead of following the troops.

  The rider who spotted the threat attempted to warn the locals again, but found the place already surrounded from multiple directions. Rather than risk getting captured, he chose to flee back to the main army.

  He was unable to save the villagers himself, but there were others that could. Thousands of them in fact. If Varre acted quickly and decisively, his men might just make it in time before yet another settlement was slaughtered.