Revenge

Chapter 22: Tactics

I awoke to light pouring in my room, and a meal on my table. I drowsily rose out of my bed, and walked over to the silver platter on the table. I ate some delicious fresh bread, eggs, and well seasoned ham. Between the sleep and the hot meal, my many bruises were feeling a lot better. A different guard in the same amazing armor as the other came in, and guided me back to Lord Richard's office.

"Sit."

I obeyed his command, I felt oddly comfortable around him, perhaps from how he was treating me... It all felt weird.

"You are leading your men into battle, outnumbered 3 to 1. You have an army of predominantly archers, and no cavalry. The opposing army has a large amount of cavalry, but you have no pikemen. They also have a large deal of infantry. Here's a map of the terrain around the battle, what do you do?"

"I see there's a ridge here, station the archers on the ridge, spread wide. The infantry will be in between the chokepoint, and the edge of the ridge. If Cavalry charge, they'll run back to the archers and try and run them off the edge. If Infantry charge, they'll hold the choke while the archers cover them with arrows."

"Perplexing strategy, We'll see how it fairs."

"What do you mean?"

"Out to the courtyard, let's go!"

After a week of intense dueling, and strategic exercises, he felt I was ready to march with his next army the following week. During the time in between, he gave me a bit of a break physically, but drilled mental exercises into me.

"You're in a large, open field, with a forest to your left, and some hills to your right, and you have roughly 300 infantry units, and 100 archers. The opposition has 500 infantry, and 200 archers. Your decisions matter, think wisely."

"Send the archers into the hills with 100 infantry to back them, and another 100 infantry into the nearby forest. When their infantry charges, the archers in the hills reveal themselves, and open fire once their force is surrounded by our primary force and those in the forest. Send the infantry in the hills around to slaughter their archers."

"Good work, another brilliant strategy. We'll see how it goes."

"You always say that last part... 'We'll see how it goes' what do you mean?"

"I'm giving these orders to captains of mine, to use in actual combat. All of these scenarios are estimates of the forces and terrain of where the battles will take place. So far, your strategies have done wonders."

I was playing with human lives...

"I..bu.. What?"

"Hmm?"

"You had me toying with the lives of soldiers, all for what? Training? I'm not experienced!"

"You may not exactly be experienced, that takes time, but you are brilliant."

He gave me another scenario, and based on the frequency of situations, I had to assume there was a blazing war in the outside world.

Soon, the end of the day came and I was allowed to rest... I felt more tired than I did from the duels, I had to relieve my brain.

The next day was just as strenuous as the last, mental exercises, one after another. He gave me one scenario in particular, that stood out from the rest. We were vastly outnumbered.

"This time, a battle isn't imminent, so you can decide when to strike and what preparations to make. You have 300, 200 archers and 100 infantry units. The enemy has 1000, mostly infantry, roughly 700 with 300 archers. They are making a slow march in a small valley surrounded by forested hills. What do you do?"

"We..uhm..."

"Well?"

"Retreat."

"They'll catch up to you, you can't run.

"Send 50 archers, shoot their camp in the night. Send the rest of the troops out."

"You want to sacrifice 50 men?"

"If it saves the lives of 250, yes."

"Good. You're learning some common sense. Normal people don't matter, only the powerful ones, like us."

"That's horrible... It doesn't matter who they are, they are humans!"

"Right.. Oh well, your petty value for people might make you better. Pack your things, We'll leave in the morning after our last hot meal until we get back."