CHAPTER 3
Revenge, Part 2
Regulus peaked out of the bushes. "It seems safe to attack now, sir."
"No, no, we wait until the middle of the night. We only have ten people, we need the element of surprise," Senatus responded.
Regulus repressed a groan, and said, "If we wait until night, our men will be tired. We should attack now, while they can perform at their best."
"We attack at night. End of discussion," growled Senatus.
"But-"
"We attack at night."
Senatus was far more like his father than he thought, or would like to believe. Even when he was wrong, he would remain completely sure of himself, to the point of endangering his group. He was a great strategist, however, and his leadership had saved the scouts many a time. Because of these successes, he became overconfident and proud.
"Sir, with all due respect, you're wrong. We have been traveling for two winters, and our men have not had a chance to sleep since we spotted the village. We cannot camp, or risk being spotted. Our men would fight best now, but in the dead of night, they would be sloppy and unable to perform their best," Regulus explained.
"We attack at night" Senatus repeated for the third time. He was quickly growing impatient with his second in command.
"Sir, I won't let you endanger the unit."
Senatus grabbed his club in anger, and thrust it in Regulus's face twice. His nose exploded in blood, and was crushed flat by the impact. Regulus tried to scream but no noise would come out.
"Now, will you cross me again?" Senatus asked, staring down into Regulus's face, now covered in blood.
Regulus whimpered softly.
Senatus got up and began to walk up the hill, and yelled down, "I expect you to be ready to attack tonight."
Regulus slowly got to his feet, and just stood there swaying for a moment. Blood continued to pour out of the pit where his nose used to be, but now it began to pour out of his eyes, and a dent in his forehead. His vision began to cloud, and he could no longer feel the immense pain in his head.
Regulus fell back to the ground, dead.
***
"Sir, sir!" Spurius yelled, running towards Rass-Arius.
"What?" Arius spun around, surprised.
Spurius panted for a moment, and explained, "A body was found on the outskirts of town, sir. His face was completely bashed in. It looks like murder, sir."
"WHAT?!? Has anyone identified him yet?" Arius looked much older in that moment than he had just moments ago. This had been the first murder since the massacre six years ago, and only three people had died of natural causes. Ever since the tribe had moved into the village, they had abandoned the tradition of pushing the elderly and sick off cliffs, and there was no starvation. Occasionally someone caught a disease, but they almost always recovered. There was no longer any need to hunt or fight, and the Rass-Ians no longer had any fighting prowess.
"No, his face had been too mangled for anyone to identify them. But..." Spurius paused.
"What, what?" Arius cried, now frantic.
"Well, he looked... he looked of Senty-Yum decent to me, sir."
Arius's expression instantly hardened.
Arius had had nightmares about this night since the raid. He was a smart man, he knew the Senty-Yum would want revenge for the massacre. And he knew the only suitable revenge for a massacre would be a massacre. It was no longer a fight over the village, but a fight for honor.
"How long until we can effectively defend the city?"
"A few hours. But sir, we don't know if they're even planning on-" Began Spurius, only to be interrupted.
"Just do it."
Arius walked away thinking about how much he needed a day off.
***
"Where's Regulus?" asked Senatus. The attack was only a few minutes away, and he needed all the help he could get.
"I haven't seen him since you got back from the base of the hill. What happened down there?" responded one of the scouts.
"...Shut up."
The scout did as he was told.
"Okay, men, we're going to continue the assault with or without Regulus. Remember, these barbarians took our homeland from us! Today we get to return the favor!"
The nine men charged down the hillside, clubs and spears in hand. When they arrived at the edge of town, they were surprised to see a perimeter around the village. The scouts were outnumbered at least five to one, and were spotted almost immediately. Most of the defense army began to charge towards the nine men, clubs raised and screaming. "Dammit, Regulus, dammit!", Senatus thought to himself, and prepared to fight.
The forty-seven men that made up the army were untrained and unfit, but had the advantage of numbers and superior weapons, such as sharpened clubs and spears without a bit of rust on them. The men had been expecting a much larger force, and went into the battle confident. It didn't matter if the Senty-Yum were better fighters, they could overwhelm them with shear numbers.
Unfortunately for them, they were wrong.
Each scout was much stronger than the Rass-Ian fighters, able to overpower two or more at a time. The Scouts had encountered the same, or even worse, odds before, and easily killed the majority of the army within fifteen minutes. The rest of the Rass-Ians retreated, thinking that the village would be a more defensible position than the land around the village.
"The village! Now's our chance to take it!" Yelled Senatus, beginning to run towards the village, hs men following him, "Now's our chance for glory!"
***
"What's the report from the ground?" asked Arius, now holed up in his palace.
"Not good. The defensive army was easily overwhelmed, and the force is charging towards the center of town..." whispered Spurius.
"Dammit!" Yelled Arius, "DAMMIT!"
As soon as Arius finished his little temper-tantrum, Senatus burst throught the palace door.
"Secrartarius sends his regards, sir." Senatus told Arius, and raised his club.
"Wh-" Began Arius, but before he could finish his thought, Senatus's club connected with his face, and all was dark.