An Empire Forged: Book Two of the Southern Empire Trilogy by Michael Greenfield

Author:Michael Greenfield [Greenfield, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-22T22:00:00+00:00

Having fun

Aaron Helding had joined the Rangers over ten years before. He had been just short of his twentieth birthday on the day he had stood before his new Commander, though he would have been surprised to discover that Farsighter remembered the day almost as clearly as he did himself.

Now, he was considered one of the most efficient and deadly members of the small grouping of the Kingdom’s best warriors. He would have agreed whole-heartedly with Commander Collett in the assessment that they were not the best ‘soldiers’, as soldiers were taught to obey their officers and only question the more ridiculous commands.

Rangers were taught to question everything. If they thought they knew a better way of doing something, they spoke up. Then the new idea was considered and either accepted or rejected depending upon its merits. Perversely, this never caused any rancour between the officers and the ranks. Something many regular officers couldn’t understand was how this seemed to bond the Rangers together even tighter.

In this particular case they didn’t have to worry about deciding which plan was the better. The instructions had been simple before they left Riversmeet, go and cause trouble. That was something they all knew how to do.

They had left the fort in groups of eight but once they had penetrated the lengthy line held by the J’dar they had split into units of just four.

Helding was the senior amongst his group of four, and he was currently lying beneath a small bush in a shallow depression just below its lower branches.

Beside him, his long-time friend Marcus Lend lay also. They had joined at the same time and had formed a solid bond during training that meant that today they hardly needed to speak to know what each other was thinking. Although occasionally they did need to say something.

“They don’t seem to like sentry duty, do they?”

Lend sniggered, the objects of their derision slowly wandering about the camp that was no more than a hundred yards in front of them. “Desert people, no head for the rain.”

The J’dar supply camp they were observing had been in place for over three months now, without any kind of disturbance interrupting their slow moving, daily routine. Supplies came to them from the northeast, and they sent them on their way to the front lines to the southwest. For the J’dar manning the camp it was seen as being one of the easiest tasks they had ever been asked to do.

“I bet we could make our way through the outer pickets and up to the supply area without even having to silence a single sentry.” Helding’s eyes flicked to those of his friend’s.

“No bet,” he responded, “how many naptha pouches have we got?”

“Half a dozen each.”

“Good, let’s go have some fun.”

They quickly made their way back to where the other two members of their group waited. In the gloom surrounding the camp their grey cloaks blended with the shadows almost perfectly.

Helding motioned them forward before speaking, “Simple one tonight,”

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