Lonnie
Commander Harpsarro sat on his jet black horse overlooking a small settlement of about 500 people surrounded by hectors of beautiful farm land. The look of mystification on his face was one that he did not wear often. Impeduex noticed Harpsarro’s look of amazement and couldn’t let this pass without comment.
Impeduex looked over at Harpsarro and asked. “Do you see something strange?”
Harpsarro continued to look down at the small village while contemplating a response to Revered Impeduex’s question. Harpsarro had a reputation for thoughtfulness and a steady hand in combat so his short delay in answering the Revered One’s question was not unusual.
Harpsarro slowly turned his head toward Revered Impeduex and answered in his slow but deliberate manner. “Revered One, I have traveled from one end of our land to another and made dozens of incursions to the land of the infidels, but I’ve never seen anything like this place.”
Impeduex took another look at the small community before looking back to the commander of his assigned military detachment and saying. “I’m not sure what you mean Commander? I don’t see anything remarkable about this village. With the possible excepting of the lack of a shrine to our most holy Venere and I assure you we will remedy that situation once we get there.” Impeduex paused long enough to stretch a little in the saddle in an attempt to appear taller before getting into his now all too familiar pontification pose. He looked back to the village and made a sweeping gesture with his right had before continuing his impromptu speech.
“These people are obviously ignoring the law and thumbing there noses to our most revered and glorious god. They must pay for their insult in blood and of course render proper tribute as the law demands. Would you not agree Commander Harpsarro?”
Harpsarro answered without taking his eyes off of the village. “Of course Revered One, we must always punish the unbelievers. I’m just wondering how we could not have known this place was here before now. I’ve been traveling through this area for years and never saw or even heard there was anything like this place in this park of the country. Look at the fields and the buildings my lord; they look like they’ve never been touched by war. The fields are pristine, the animals and the people are plump, as if they have never known hunger.”
“You sound as if you are admiring these heathens commander,” Impeduex said with a scolding tone.
His self-assured disposition was a hallmark of the young Revered Ones, which were assigned to lead each century of soldiers. The “spiritual leaders” were ostensibly there to act as the direct representative for the one true god, Venere and guide the soldiers to victory. At least that’s what had been told to Commander Harpsarro since he was taken from his Mother’s farm at the age of 14 and pressed into the “Glorious Unconquerable Armies of Venere.” In truth Harpsarro knew they were really there to maintain the loyalty of the troops and to insure they toed the line of Venere’s dogma.
With Harpsarro’s long experience of placating Venere’s representatives he responded flatly. “No Revered One, I do not admire them. I’m simply intrigued by how an entire village could be here all this time without our knowledge.”
“Well you shall not have to wait long Commander. Tell your men to move out immediately and insure the impressers are ready to bring the villager’s young men into the Glorious armies of Venere. From the looks of this place, we may be able to bring in a few hundred men into our glorious victory,” Impeduex said with an air of self assurance he was prone to use when ordering other to do his bidding.
“Yes Revered One,” Harpsarro said. Using the opportunity to quickly leave Impeduex presence and ride over to his sub commanders. The four sub commanders were dismounted and milling around the Standard bearer who had stopped the column of light cavalry about a hundred yards short of the over watching bluff.
“Sir, what trouble is the young pup going to get us into now,” Joens said pointing in the direction of Impeduex with a slight head nod?
“Belay that my friend and that goes for the rest of you surly lot too,” Harpsarro said in as quite a voice as possible while still being heard by those few around him.
Harpsarro paused long enough to look at each of his sub commanders before laying out the upcoming action. He always took action very seriously and was known for his extensive planning when time allowed. He began by assigning the maneuver formation, two squadrons one on each flank, two up the middle. His most senior commanders would be the farthest away and would have the freedom to adjust as the situation developed.
This was the opposite of most commanders in the army of Venere who maintained very tight control and thought very little of any sub commander who didn’t follow their explicit orders. At forty years old, Harpsarro was one of the oldest commanders in the army of Venere. Most of this could be contributed to his lack of clean blood status. Most commanders were drawn from the ranks of the Dukatus or clean bloods. However, the constant battles had left the ranks of the clean bloods seriously depleted and a full third of the century commanders were no longer members of the ruling Dukatus class. Harpsarro was fully aware that regardless of his personal valor and skill as a commander, he had attained the highest rank that he would ever be allowed. For though a third of the commanders were now not members of the Dukatus class, the entire General Staff were and that was most assuredly never going to change.
Harpsarro continued briefing his battle plan, giving instructions in detail on his expectations for resistance from the village and any possible contingencies. As he was finishing, explaining his personal location in the middle of the formation slightly to the rear of the lead element Impeduex stepped into the middle of the command huddle and began to bellow.
“That is quite enough Commander, you have been procrastinating enough already. You have not been given command of this army to sit on your ass and talk war. If you are not ready to march into that heathen village in five minutes I will lead the men to victory myself. You act like this gaggle of farmers could possibly stand up to the glorious army of Venere. Well Commander, are you ready to do your duty or has cowardliness touched your soul?”
The quickness and violence of Harpsarro surprised all those present, even the sub commanders who had seen Harpsarro in combat many times. Before Impeduex realized what happened he was lying on his back at Harpsarro’s feet. Impeduex was now looking at the tip of Harpsarro’s sword poised above his throat, which had been drawn in the time that it took him to hit the ground.
With a sardonic bitterness rarely seen by any of those present, Harpsarro looked down at the young Impeduex and said. “Most Revered One, if you ever question my bravery again you will not live to see another minute on this earth. I’ll remove you head from your body before you can even begin to utter a prayer to mighty Venere.” Looking over to his sub commanders while sheathing his sword he curtly ordered them to assume control of their troops at prepare to move out.
Impeduex recovered quickly once the sword was removed from in front of him and with the anger only shame or fear can bring out; he began to point to those around him and stammered quickly. “You there, Sub Commander Haslan, arrest Commander Harpsarro at once and you, pointing to another sub commander that was quickly mounting his horse, bring up the impressers to take charge of the prisoner.”
The now mounted Sub Commander Haslan looked down at Impeduex and said. “If those Impresser scum, come near the commander their blood will flow more freely then those poor dumb bastard down in the village. Revered One, I would suggest you mount your horse, you wouldn’t want to get left behind no would you sir?”
Impeduex, more livid then ever yelled out loud enough for all those around him to hear, “If you will not do as you are ordered, I’ll do it myself.” He quickly walked toward the mounted Harpsarro and called out. “Fisaro!” With the command word, Impeduex’s hands bust into fire. The glow from the flame lit his face in a terrifying look so devious that almost anyone would have shrunk back. However, Harpsarro and his men had been together a long time and had seen almost everything over the years that a battlefield could offer. Before Impeduex could make it to Harpsarro, two of the sub commanders quickly rode in front of the flaming Impeduex with swords out.
Haslan looked down at Impeduex, who was notably aghast that someone would dare to block his way and stated in his best matter of fact voice. “Sir, I suggest you mount up and take your position with your impressers. “Battlefields are dangerous places and even more so when you are alone.”
This seemed to bring Impeduex out of his rage long enough to look around. The two Sub Commanders in front of Impeduex were joined by the other two Sub Commanders and formed into a circle around him. Livnious, one of the Sub Commanders behind Impeduex, had the young hot head’s horse by the rains and said. “Sir, it would be my pleasure to take you back to your position now.”
Impeduex took a long look around and didn’t bothering hiding his contempt before extinguishing the flames and quickly mounted his horse. However, when he reached for the reins, Livnious was already pulling the horse back to the rear of the formation. By the time Impeduex was able to regain control of his horse he was at the rear of the formation next to Livnious’ troop of 60 men.
At the head of the formation Harpsarro and Joens were stopped at the tree line observing the village. Joens looked over to his commander and in a soft voice that only the two could hear and asked. “Ok sir, now you’re in the soup. That young man is going to have your head and your ass when we get back to the marching camp.”
Harpsarro responded without taking his eyes from the village. “I know, but sometimes a man has had enough. He’ll rant and rave when we get back and I’ll present the latest group of glorious volunteers to the Deca Commander and he will let me off with a thorough tong lashing. ”Harpsarro slowly turned and following a stretch said. “Joens, do you ever just get tired of the killing and nothing ever changing. Look at this little village. We’re going to ride in, take all the able bodied men and within a year most of them will be dead. Nothing will be different, the war ’ll go on and the two of us will simply be a year older.”
Joens had heard all this before, though more often lately then ever before from his commander. He never had a good answer so he once again just responded with something sarcastic to break Harpsarro’s train of thought by saying. “But by then our spiritual master, the most Revered One will be someone else’s pain in the ass and we will have a new young clean-blood to keep us in line and lead us to glorious victory against the heathens of Outeer.”
This seemed to do the trick as both men smiled broadly. Joens saluted Harpsarro before heading away from his commander and taking up his position in front of the troops.
Harpsarro looked back toward his Standard Bearer and said. “All right boys, let’s move out. The two flank troops have had enough time to get into position. Raise the red Dragon up high and we’ll move out at the trot Joens.”
Once the two center troops saw the scarlet Dragon shaped flag move from the tree line they immediately moved into their well-trained positions. Haslan’s troop formed into line formation on the left side of Harpsarro. In turn, Troop One with Helias in command formed line formation to the right. Both sub commanders making minor corrections to insure no man or beast of burden fell back or moved in front of the line. Moving at the trot, the first two troops totaling about one hundred twenty men covered the quarter mile from tree line to Village outskirts in just a couple of minutes.
Harpsarro couldn’t help but sneak a quick look down at the lush farm fields and the black dirt that his horse’s hoofs kicked up during the crossing. Although he had been a Soldier for his entire adult life, Harpsarro’s early life growing up on a farm had instilled in him a love of the land and a thorough appreciation for the wealth in this dirt. He knew the next couple of hours would change the lives of everyone in this village forever. Once Impeduex and the impressers got their hands on those here, nothing of value would remain. Harpsarro looked into the sky. All mighty Venere, why can you not find peace with your brother and allow us lowly men to have a little peace?
No answer was expected and none given. As was the way of life on Outeer, only those of with clean blood were heard by the Gods.
Impeduex rode a short distance behind the main line of Harpsarro’s troops with a group of twenty Impressers. When he was sure he was out of ear shot of any of Harpsarro’s Soldiers he signaled for the lead impresser to ride over to him. Once there, Impeduex looked over to Licea and quickly gave him instructions for the upcoming action.
Licea and his band of Impressers were not soldiers and did not look like them either; where the soldiers had armor of metal and an impressive array of weapons, the Impressers preferred brightly colored Green tunics and a short sword that seldom saw the light of day. The real weapon that the Impressers were known for was the wrist bolt and lock. This simple device secured a man’s wrists to his waist and could be tied together with other locks to form an almost endless walking train of men. In this way a few Impressers could secure and march a large body of men to one of the many training camps. There always seemed to be an endless supply of these devices as there seemed to be an endless need for young men to feed into Venere’s holy war.
Impressers had the mission of scouring the countries for all able bodied boys and men to impress into service. Along with fresh soldiers, they were also tasked with collecting the taxes and gathering supplies for the constant wars. As with all Impresser bands, Licea worked directly for the Revered One and not for the Army commander.
After Impeduex was done with his instructions, Licea looked at Impeduex and said. “Sir, are you sure about this? Harpsarro is liked by his men and it might not go down well with them to see their commander killed in front of them.”
Impeduex worked hard to keep his voice down but was clearly incensed by this perceived lake of support. He pointed his finger directly into Licea’s face and with little bits of spit coming out of his mouth he said.
“Harpsarro disrespected me in front of those men that you say like him so well and when you disrespect me you disrespect all mighty Venere himself. He will pay for his insolence with his life and he will pay pain. When the men see how he’ll die, they will remember who has the true power here. You just keep your men close when we get to the village, I’ll take care of the rest. If you can’t handle this, maybe you would like to join Harpsarro.
“No Revered One, I will do my duty. All enemies of Venere must die,” said Licea with a noticeable sag in his shoulder. “If that is all sir, I’ll go and brief the men?” With that he quickly turned his horse around and headed back to the band of Impressers.
Impeduex now sat straighter in the saddle with a small self satisfied smile. He rode on behind the main line of Soldiers whispering small prayers to Venere preparing for the upcoming action that would bring new soldiers into the army of Venere, tribute from the heathens in the village and Harpsarro’s painful death. All in all, he was convinced that this would be a wonderful day that he would remember for a long time.
