Before I forget again I never described what the Mibritum looked like in the last chapter. Well they bear little resemblance to either of their parent races and in fact, they come in two slightly different subspecies no doubt depending on one of three things, which of the two parent races was the mother of the original Mibritum in their family line, their sex since there is as far as I can tell no other way to tell the two apart or just random

  Like their Under-dweller ancestors, they have eyes with vertical pupils and large thick leathery primary eyelids but without the third transparent eyelid. Their noses also have one multi-chambered nostril and like their Water-Bourn ancestors they have webbed hands and feet with four fingers and a thumb. They are also covered in fur but other than also being humanoids this is where the comparison with both their ancestors ends.

  They are on average about half again the size of humans with stronger mussel mass and a short cat-like tail. They have ears quite similar to ours but ever so pointy and with an extra fold or two of cartilage in the middle portion and large dangly earlobes. As for the difference between the two subspecies, this is mainly that the fur of one of them is denser than the other and of a slightly different shade of brown, also the webbing of the hands and feet is more pronounced in the other one of them.

  Anyway as we headed back to the fortlets I took the time to view my Stats Screen and decided to place my Free Stat point from my Level increase into Endurance as I felt it would prove the most useful when I next had to fight the Mibritum

  As for my Skill slot, I had three of them already banked.

  From the three of them, I decided to go with Animal calls as I felt I could get the most use out of it, I had been in many situations where this could have come in handy and believed this wouldn’t change anytime soon.

  As we were approaching the area around the fortlets something felt off but for the life of me, I couldn’t tell why, still I ordered everyone to quicken the pace. We quickly arrived at the gate of one of the two entrenched Palisades his lordship had ordered hastily thrown up between the fortlets to find a glum-looking Captain Walker awaiting us.

  “How did it go sergeant?”

  “All present and accounted for sir, and we achieved our objective, barely mind you but we got the job done though it didn’t come without a cost, we have two with serious wounds one of which is a career ender and two with light wounds.”

  It was as I said this and saw the resulting look in the captain's eye that things clicked, I knew what had troubled me on the way back.

  “What was the butcher's bill here, I suppose the slingers all got away clean, I can have Ian track them for you, we think we know where they're headed but they might just lead us to a third tunnel or where ever they are planning to meet up with each other.”

  “No need I already sent people after them, as for our losses Lieutenant Yeaton is dead as is one of my bodyguards who give his life saving mine. Lieutenant Morton is out of action for at least a month and the right honourable Grayson Moore had to have his left leg amputated. We also lost two privates and a corporal and have five wounded one of which mightn’t survive the night and I fear that by the end of this contract, the Ebony Hyenas might go the way of your old brotherhood.”

  “If our captain hadn’t fallen or we weren’t betrayed it would still exist and I’m sure you would now be facing these Mibritum with lesser scouts.”

  “Perhaps but with enough procrastination, the enemy could attack at any moment and I find myself two lieutenants down, Sergeant Ashton Ardent will temporarily take command of Lieutenant Morton’s men but Sergeant Leon Tucker refuses point blank to take command of Yeaton’s and I don’t think any of the other sergeant’s are up to the task. Thus I have decided to appoint you to the position and unlike with Tucker I won’t take no for an answer.”

  I of course had no intention of turning him down even if he would have let me. Sure it was only temporary and even if we managed to survive and I did a good job I was sure he would replace me at the first opportunity. But even a brief stint as a lieutenant would help me immensely in achieving my dream of commanding my own mercenary company and could hopefully help make it a reality sooner than I had originally planned.

  “If you think me worthy of it then who am I to say no but will the enemy give us enough time for me to even be properly introduced to the men you have placed under my command never mind anything else.”

  “If we were dealing with experienced soldiers we would I think already be under attack though without knowing what drives them I cannot be sure what they are up to or how they will go about achieving it. Still, even if they are as inexperienced as they seem I can’t imagine them waiting for much longer than an hour or two.”

  “That’s not much time at all, for me to gain the men’s trust or much else for that matter

  “Well unfortunately it's probably all you have but never fear Sergeant Tucker will be around to help you and he knows the men inside out and they respect him for it amongst other things. What a pity he turned me down when I offered him your new position but I’m sure you’ll do just as well and for all our sakes don’t prove me wrong Ryder.”

  “I’ll try my best not to.”

  “Make sure you don’t, now be off with you, the sergeant is waiting for you in the stables, oh you can keep command of your scouts, send them out again as soon as you can to look for signs of the enemy’s approach, hopefully, they can provide us with advance warning of their coming.”

  Upon reaching the stables and dismounting from the horse I had been a passenger on I checked on my remaining horse to reassure myself I still had my own mount. Even if it was like the last no-match for Lambourn, he was the only one I currently had in my possession.

  Except for a few words we had exchanged when we had been briefly introduced to each other weeks ago we hadn’t talked before. He was rather old looking for a mercenary I thought but he seemed competent and bore his age well.

  “I was sorry to hear about Lieutenant Yeaton's death, he seemed like a good man and a fine soldier.”

  “That he was sir but if you don’t mind me saying, unless we wish to join him in Telondian's warm and eternal embrace we have a job to do and the sooner we start the better.”

  “That’s fair, now what can you tell me about the men?”

  “Well, sir the second platoon of the company usually has four twelve men squads made up of a sergeant, a corporal and ten privates plus a seven men headquarters section led by the lieutenant, that in this case being you. With a sergeant and a corporal that serve as his bodyguards plus four privates that serve mainly as messengers. Currently, the four squads including the one I lead are up to strength but besides your predecessor, the headquarters section lost the corporal and one of the privates with another one walking wounded.”

  “How’s their morale holding up?”

  “Well sir they're angry about what happened to the lieutenant and the others of course and ready for a bit of payback but that’s liable to change if we face another setback like the last one. If you ask me the sooner the enemy attacks the better, give them time to brood and who knows what might happen.”

  “We’ll just have to keep them busy then with no real time to think I suppose, any problem children I should be aware of?”

  “Not really sir but the fourth squad is feasibly the weak link if you ask me, its sergeant is competent but Corporal Davis while he made a good private is new to his rank and this will be his first battle as one. That’s not to say he won’t do a good job of it mind you just that he has yet to prove himself in his new role.”

  “Alright enough talk, gather the platoon if they can be spared for half an hour and I’ll inspect them and see what’s what. Hopefully, they don’t have any preconceptions of me so I can trick them into thinking I’m a military genius. All kidding aside I need to make them have a good first impression of me and take it from there. At the same time, I’ll impart to them my admittedly limited experience fighting the enemy and what I learnt about them from having done so. I’ll try not to scare them shitless but at the same time they’ll have to realise what they are about to face.”