Chapter 29: Autumn Leaves
Personal System Calendar: Year 0009, Days 1-28 Month X: The Imperium
Imperial Calendar: Year 6854, 10th month, 1st to 28th Day
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End of Fall
Preparations had progressed steadily throughout the month for the anticipated clash with their northern neighbor, the western great forest known as the Lonely Forest of Shadowfen. The once isolated village had now transformed itself from a settlement hoping to avoid notice from the broader world into a fortified position preparing for war with the inhabitants of the forest itself.
The imperial troops who had remained after the portal incident had been rotated back to their former garrisons, their emergency deployment concluded. However, in accordance with the empire's agreement to act as protector of this newly recognized settlement, a permanent garrison force of 500 imperial soldiers would now be stationed at Maya Village. This represented the empire's ongoing commitment to their protectorate, a force that would be rotated annually with fresh troops to prevent the stagnation that came with overly long deployments.
The village council faced the immediate practical challenge of housing this garrison. Five hundred soldiers required significant infrastructure: barracks, training grounds, armory space, and administrative facilities. It was considerably smaller than the previous emergency detachment of nearly 6,000 troops, which made it more manageable given the village's current scale and food production capabilities.
Although the council wasn't required by imperial law to provide rations to the stationed soldiers, they had already made plans to do so anyway. It was a gesture of thanks, a way of acknowledging that these troops were here to help defend their home. Building goodwill with their permanent garrison seemed like simple wisdom.
The current rotation was led by Lieutenant Commander Da'alkapon, an adjutant of Captain Commander Hilda Burnguard-Solmane. He had been specifically requested for this assignment as a replacement commander and was tasked with leading the semi-permanent 500-soldier garrison force. He had his own command structure beneath him: ten Sergeants at Arms who were split to lead their own companies of fifty soldiers each within the larger force.
Lieutenant Commander Da'alkapon was a pragmatic officer with extensive experience in frontier postings. He understood that garrison duty in newly established settlements often meant dealing with unexpected complications. When the village leadership briefed him on the intelligence regarding the coming invasion from Shadowfen, his tactical mind immediately began calculating force requirements.
If the village leadership's information was accurate, and he had no reason to doubt the great beast's (Aetherwing's) assessment, then 500 soldiers would be insufficient for the scale of attack being predicted. He might need to request additional reinforcements from nearby regional commands. However, he was also prepared to make the best use of his current force for as long as humanly possible. Frontier officers learned to be resourceful, to maximize effectiveness with limited resources.
"We'll work with what we have," he told the village council during their initial strategic meeting. "Five hundred trained imperial soldiers, properly positioned and supported by your own defenders and the forest's beasts, can hold against significantly larger forces. We won't waste lives through reckless deployment, but we also won't request reinforcements until we've proven they're absolutely necessary."
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Defensive Preparations
The village was as ready as it could be given the time and resources available. Scouts had been positioned at strategic locations throughout the northern territories, places where approaching enemies could be spotted from maximum distance. These weren't just ground scouts but observation posts established high in the massive ancient trees that characterized the region.
The scouts used messenger birds called Speedies for communication. As their name indicated, these small avians were quick-moving and easily trainable, perfect for rapidly transmitting information across distances. They were far more reliable than trying to maintain magical communication crystals across the entire defensive perimeter, and they couldn't be disrupted by any shadow magic that they knew the enemy forces were known to employ.
Some observation posts also had mobile communication crystals as backup, but the Speedies were the primary system. Each scout station had a breeding pair and several trained birds ready to carry messages at a moment's notice.
The village itself had been fortified beyond its original defensive walls. Additional palisades had been constructed, creating layered defenses that would force any attacking force to funnel into killing zones and fight through multiple barriers. Additional archer platforms had been built along the walls, giving ranged fighters elevated positions with good sight lines.
Stockpiles of arrows, spears, and other ammunition had been accumulated in strategic locations around the defensive perimeter. Healing stations had been established with supplies of bandages, medicinal herbs, and healing potions. Evacuation routes for non-combatants had been planned and practiced.
Everyone in the village knew their role. The defenders understood their positions and responsibilities, as they have been through this before. Children had been taught where to shelter and how to recognize different warning signals. Even the elderly who couldn't fight had tasks related to logistics, medical support, or maintaining morale.
The preparation was thorough and systematic, born from the painful lessons learned during previous attacks. Hopefully, this time they would not lose anyone. Hopefully, the defensive measures would prove sufficient.
But hope was not a strategy, and everyone knew that casualties were almost inevitable in the scale of conflict being predicted.
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A Proposed Truce
Meanwhile, the forest inhabitants of Lonelywood Forest and the various beast factions had moved to their own rhythm of war. The recent conflicts had inflicted significant losses on all sides, damage that would take considerable time to recover from, especially for species whose reproductive rates were slower than others.
In response to these mounting casualties and the recognition that continued internal conflict would leave everyone vulnerable to external threats, an unprecedented agreement had been reached. Ozythalos the Equilibrium of the Depths had brokered a massive truce for the entire Lonelywoods Forest that would last for at least fifty years.
For the various beast lords and their vassals, fifty years represented a substantial period of peace, time for populations to recover and territories to stabilize. The terms of the truce were simple but comprehensive:
Attacks on other beast lords and those beneath them were strictly prohibited, regardless of previous rivalries or territorial disputes. Each faction was allowed to defend their homes against invading forces from outside the forest, but internal aggression was forbidden. No beast lords or their vassals were permitted to cross territorial borders for the duration of the truce except in cases of mutual agreement or pursuit of external invaders.
The truce represented a fundamental shift in the forest's internal politics. Creatures that had been enemies for generations would now exist in forced peace, their attention directed outward toward the common threat from Shadowfen rather than inward toward each other.
Aetherwing had been instrumental in securing agreement from the more aggressive beast lords, using a combination of diplomatic persuasion and thinly veiled threats about what would happen if they continued weakening the forest from within while their enemy (Pico) prepared her invasion. Even the most territorial predators recognized that being conquered by Shadowfen would be worse than temporary peace with old rivals.
The truce also had implications for Maya Village. It meant the village wouldn't need to worry about random beast attacks from within Lonelywoods specially within their own boundary while defending against Shadowfen's invasion. The forest's predators had agreed to treat the human settlement as part of the defensive alliance, at least for the duration of this crisis.
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Pieces in Place
The table was set for the final confrontation between their massive opponent, the Lonely Forest of Shadowfen, and the defending coalition of Lonelywoods Forest and its unlikely human allies. This was no longer a series of probing raids or limited incursions. This would be a decisive engagement that would determine the future of the entire region.
Other great forest regions throughout the central sub-continent were experiencing their own beast dominion wars, conflicts both internal and against neighboring territories. Many were watching the coming battle between Shadowfen and Lonelywoods with great interest. The outcome would shift the balance of power across multiple regions and potentially set precedents for how human settlements could exist within or alongside beast territories.
There would be many deaths and there would be a terrible price to pay. As the days of the final month of fall passed, everyone understood that the peace they had known, fragile as it had been, was about to end in violence on an unprecedented scale.
The enemies were finally spotted in force. A massive horde of beasts from the north, from the corrupted depths of Shadowfen, were amassing on the borders that they had captured and occupied over the previous months. The borderlands that had once belonged to Lonelywoods had become staging grounds for invasion.
Scouts returned with reports that made even experienced warriors pale. The numbers were staggering. Thousands upon thousands of creatures, ranging from minor corrupted beasts to powerful regional bosses, all coordinated under Pico's command. Some surviving shadow demons have also been spotted moving among them, creatures of pure malevolent energy.
There were flying predators filling the skies. Massive ground-based beasts that could smash through fortifications with brute force.
It was an army such as the region had never seen assembled before, drawn from across the entire expanse of Shadowfen and focused on a single objective: the complete conquest of Lonelywoods Forest and the destruction of the human settlement that dared to resist Pico's will.
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The Question of Survival
Would the minor (great) forest of Lonelywoods be able to survive this onslaught? Or would they become part of history as one of the first great forest regions to completely fall to a neighboring power? The questions haunted everyone who understood the stakes.
Maya Village, despite all its preparations and imperial support, was still a relatively small settlement with limited professional military resources. The imperial garrison of 500 soldiers was professional and well-equipped, but they were facing numbers in the tens of thousands. Talon One had proven themselves in battle repeatedly, but even the Emperor's gifts had limits when confronting such overwhelming force.
Aetherwing was powerful, certainly, but could even a powerful Guardian Beast hold against the combined might of multiple regional bosses and the strategic cunning of Pico herself? The forest's other beast lords had agreed to the defensive alliance, but would they actually commit their full strength when the battle began, or would they hold back to preserve their own forces?
As winter's grip approached, bringing with it the first hints of snow and ice, so too came the stench of anticipated death. The white snow that would soon blanket the region would be stained with blood and rot. The pristine beauty of winter would become a canvas for the ugliness of war.
August stood on the newly constructed walls, looking north toward where the enemy forces were massing. He could feel the weight of Dorgon's Fang at his side, could sense the power flowing through the superior-grade accessories he wore. He had grown so much since being given a second chance at life and he had survived challenges that should have killed him multiple times over already.
But this felt different. This felt like everything they had faced before was merely preparation for this moment. The siege at Fort Aurelexus had been brutal, but there they had walls designed by imperial engineers, supplies stockpiled over years, and thousands of trained soldiers. Here, they had walls they had built themselves, supplies they had gathered over months, and defenders who were mostly farmers and hunters who had learned to fight out of necessity.
"Thinking about running?" Master Ben's voice came from behind him as he said it with jest. The old wizard had a talent for appearing without warning.
"No master," August replied honestly. "I am thinking about whether we're ready to face such threats."
"Young man you're never truly ready for war," Master Ben said, joining him at the wall. "You could only prepare for it as best you can, and then you adapt to what actually happens. The enemy has their numbers and coordination. Then we must have our determination and knowledge of the terrain. It will be a war of immense scale, many of us may not even make it. But remember why you started this village and let it give you the necessary strength to move forward with courage. It will become a close fight that it would be hard to imagine a certain victory."
"How, how will I even find such courage in all of this master? And how close are we to losing all of this."
August gestured to everything he has helped in building.
Master Ben was quiet for a long moment. "Courage young man is something that we are able to tap into when everything else is about to crumble, you just have to remember those who you love. And it will be close enough that individual decisions will matter. Close enough that heroes will be made or broken. Close enough that even I can't predict the outcome with any certainty, as to how all of this will unfold." He glanced at August. "That's a thought that is both frightening and hopeful at the same time. But it means we have a genuine chance to once again overcome the difficulties, but also that we could genuinely lose everything that we truly have loved"
In the village below, families were saying goodbyes that might be final. Warriors were checking equipment one last time. Children were being ushered to the shelters that had been prepared in the deepest, most protected part of the settlement (within the rearmost fort, which was inside the mountain). The imperial soldiers were forming up in their units, professional and grim-faced.
The forest beasts were moving into position according to the defensive plan that Aetherwing had coordinated with the various beast lords. Creatures that would normally avoid each other or fight on sight were now standing side by side, united by the common threat approaching from the north.
Lieutenant Commander Da'alkapon had sent his final request for reinforcements to the Regional Imperial Command, laying out the intelligence about the invasion force and requesting immediate support. Whether that support would arrive in time was another question entirely. For now, they would fight with what they had.
As the last leaves of autumn were falling from the trees, carried away by cold northern winds. The season was ending, giving way to winter's harsh reality. And with that seasonal transition came the end of their brief peace and the beginning of another war.
Meanwhile Pico, in her domain of shadow far to the north, spread her wings and prepared to lead her forces south. Her pride demanded vindication. Her ego required the crushing of these insignificant obstacles. Her intelligence had crafted what she believed was an unstoppable strategy.
She could not conceive of defeat. The very possibility was incomprehensible to her. She was the Wise Old Owl, arbiter of Shadowfen, strategist without peer. These humans and their beast allies would be swept away, and order would be restored with her supremacy unquestioned.
August touched the hilt of his blade one more time, then turned from the wall to rejoin his companions. They would make their final preparations together, as they had done everything else since forming Talon One.
The autumn leaves were falling. Winter was coming. And with it, war on a scale this region had never known.
They would be ready. They had to be ready. Because there was no other choice but to fight.