TtOW! - Interlude 52.1: The Road to Castra Turannia (Patreon)

Dux Canus sat on a horse atop a hill. He was overlooking the road, which was packed to the brim with people.  Limitanei walked in bunches, vaguely formed into platoons. All around them were evacuating civilians: noncombatants, children, elderly, and wagons filled to the brim with whatever they could carry.

More people joined them every minute, streaming in from towns and villages and farms in the countryside.

And, of course, it was raining.

Canus heaved a sigh. These add-ons had disrupted the orderly columns of his men. He had tried to keep order as best he could but these were not the immaculately drilled, constantly trained soldiers of the comitatenses. These were limitanei, the farmers who trained maybe a two weeks a year and who were currently surrounded by their friends and family on an evacuation march. He considered it to his soldiers’ credit that they were still in their units and the column was still moving, albeit at a snail’s pace.

And he frowned.

He had faced dire odds in the past…but always with the comitatenses at his side. Real, trained soldiers he could maneuver with and use to make plays. The limitanei couldn’t do much more than hold the line, they just didn’t have the experience, skills, or gear for it. They had no initiative, and so Canus had no tools to work with. All he could do was arrange the formation as best he could and hope that they held. His fate was no longer in his own hands.

If it were him…he would have sent his family as far away as possible. Even with Castra Turannia’s defenses, the chance of actually winning this war was miniscule. They could probably hold Castra Turannia for a surprisingly long time, but they would lose the entire province in the meantime. Anyone remaining was not going back to their homes or their lives for a long, long time, if ever.

So his men either didn’t know how dire the situation was…or knew but could do nothing about it anyways. Either way was going to shake their morale, but what could he do? He hadn’t even evacuated his own descendants for fear of sparking a panic, just dropping some hints and hoping they would make their own inferences and choices.

Just then, he heard screaming for down the column. A soldier rushed up the hill towards him. Canus rode his horse down to meet him.

“What’s going on?”

The soldier trembled.

“Dux, we’re under attack! They’ve…they’ve caught up to us!”

“Steady man! The horde is still a ways off. This is probably a scouting party.”

He nodded at his tribune, who took the panicking man aside and then rushed to keep the line calm and moving. He then turned to the one piece he did have to play.

“Miallói, can I count on you?”

Miallói just nodded silently and motioned to her group. The Selkie had heeded the call as well, and a small group of their warriors had joined up with Canus’s column. They were probably the most effective and experienced fighters here.

Limitanei could probably hold against a Dobhar scouting party…but a scouting party wasn’t intended to win. The Dobhar were harassing them, trying to slow them down so their army could catch up. And with all the non-combatants and refugees, they had a very good chance of doing just that. So this party needed to be handled swiftly and efficiently and the limitanei couldn’t do that.

Canus raised an eyebrow as two young teens moved to go with Miallói.

“You’re taking them too?”

Miallói just nodded.

“Are you sure? They seem a bit fresh for Exploratores.”

“Not Exploratores. Warriors.”

And with that, Miallói headed out, Ateia Niraemia following after her.

Canus gripped his fist.

But his hands were tied. He technically couldn’t order an Exploratores directly, and as cadets those two fell under Miallói’s authority until she approved them for duty. So they were glued to Miallói for the foreseeable future and he definitely needed Miallói in the fight. So, instead of being kept safely away, the girl was now headed directly into danger.

Canus heaved a sigh.

Unfortunately, this was still the right choice. This scouting party needed to be dealt with or the column would devolve into a panic and he’d lose all control. Miallói was the only one who could deal with it right now, and he couldn’t send her alone. And screening the main force was technically the job of Exploratores to begin with. Once his column was away, they could make their own way to Castra Turannia.

It was just that Miallói had no idea who she had at her side. And probably wouldn’t have cared.

But…

Miallói had called them warriors.

That was a huge sign of respect from the Selkie. They had apparently impressed her in this short amount of time.

She believed in them, and so Canus would too. Not that he had a choice.

So the best thing he could do was get this column moving. The faster they reached Castra Turannia, the safer the girl would be.

He looked around at his officers.

“Let’s go, people. These boys and girls might be farmers but they’re still Legion, and I expect a showing worthy of the Empire. Let’s whip them into shape!”

Ateia and Taog followed after Miallói, a group of Selkie warriors gathering around them. They rushed to the end of the column, where a group of farmers were trying to push a wagon out of the mud. Behind them, a century of limitanei stood at the ready with shields and spears, shouting and crying.

And behind the limitaenei were the Dobhar.

The Dobhar appeared as humanoid otters just barely shorter than a human. And they held wicked, barbed harpoons crafted from bone. They tossed these at the limitanei who struggled to hold their shields up. One of the harpoons found purchase and the Dobhar pulled on the rope tied to it. A limitanei fell to the ground with a cry and shot forward as the Dobhar pulled him from the line, were the Dobhar immediately set upon him. The limitanei gasped and cried, their centurion trying to keep them steady.

“You two, help.”

Ateia and Taog nodded and leapt into action.

Ateia drew her bow and let an arrow loose, barely pausing in time to wrap it in mana. The arrow glowed with her power shot skill and struck one of the Dobhar, barely sinking into its solid hide. Then Ateia and Taog grabbed the mana chain connected to the arrow and pulled.

The Dobhar yelped in surprise as it was pulled to the ground and into the line of limitanei.

They treated it much as it had treated their comrade, and stabbed into it with a dozen spears at once.

[The skill Harpoon Shot is now level 5!]

[You have slain Dobhar (level 13)!]

[Gained 10 XP!]

Fortunately these were just the scouts, the young and fresh Dobhar looking to take their first victories. They had not yet developed the tough hides their species was known for.

And so Ateia’s arrows found purchase.

As she brought down another Dobhar, a volley of harpoons assaulted the limitanei once again. One man didn’t bring up his shield in time and a harpoon struck him. He fell on his back as the Dobhar pulled…

Taog rushed forward and leapt over the line, swinging his sword. He managed to cut through the line, then grabbed the end of it and pulled. The Dobhar holding onto it stumbled forward in surprise, allowing Ateia to target it with another arrow. The centurion shouted and the limitanei grabbed onto Ateia’s mana chain and pulled.

Another Dobhar scout quickly found the tables turned.

And then the rain started to intensify, pouring down even harder, creating a slight fog in the area. The Legion and the Dobhar lost sight of one another.

Ateia and Taog started to grin.

This was a rain they were intimately familiar with.

Only far, far stronger.

Within the rain the Dobhar glanced around, holding their spears. The Dobhar spent most of their time at sea and had adapted to marine conditions much like the animals they shared appearance with. So their vision, while much better underwater, was even weaker than a human’s out in the air.

So they had no innate countermeasures to foggy rain.

Normally, a veteran Dobhar might rely on its tough hide. It could try to grab the incoming harpoons and counterattack directly, or it could run through the rain until it found a better location to fight. Or it might have some water magic of its own it could use to counteract the mana in the rain.

But these Dobhar, who had yet to prove themselves?

A bone harpoon appeared out of nowhere, sticking out of one of the Dobhar. It barely had time to yelp before it vanished into the mist.

The Dobhar jumped at that. They tossed their harpoons in the direction the assault had come from…but they hit nothing.

And then a Dobhar on the other side of the group yelped and vanished.

The Dobhar began huddling together, pointing their spears out in a circle.

Another yelp, and another scout vanished.

And then they heard a woman start to cackle, her piercing voice echoing in the fog.

They spun about each and every way.  They lobbed their harpoons in all directions. One Dobhar broke down and started shouting, rushing into the mist with its harpoon held high.

One by one, the Dobhar vanished.

Until there were none left.

And then the mist faded, and the rain returned to normal.

Miallói and the Selkie warriors stood before the limitanei, the rain washing blood from their harpoons.

She nodded at Ateia, who jumped a bit and then turned to the centurion.

“Ateai Niraemia, Exploratores cadet. Dux Canus asked us to hold the line, he wants the rest of you moving.”

The centurion nodded and turned to shout at his men. The limitanei gathered their dead and then started marching away, moving as briskly as they could while staying roughly in formation. They grabbed the farmers and pulled them off the stuck wagon, dragging them back towards the column.

Several more Dobhar scout parties approached the retreating Imperials but all of them were halted in the same place as the first.  The Imperial column continued moving and put some distance between itself and the Dobhar. Dux Canus would reach Castra Turannia safely now.

Dobhar scouting parties continued to vanish until their main army approached, and the Selkie were forced to retreat.

Author’s Note:

Hey look, the valued allies are actually being valuable! If we define valuable as ‘continuing to get carried by someone really strong’!

They are very good at being carried by someone really strong.

If you're wondering about Ateia only getting 10XP and if she's super high level now or something, that kill was a team effort and so the XP got split. A fact that has never come up before because, you know, Seero always needs so much help with termination.

Anyways!

Can the Legion hold at Castra Turannia? Can Canus and Miallói find a solution to this crisis? Will the valued allies continue to be ‘valuable’? Tune in next time, to find out!