Once the guardsmen had returned Derick had better idea of what had happened to the Toledians. They had apparently been attacked by a large Orcish horde. They have had to fight their way to freedom and eventually turned back and had now reached their original starting point. The soldier had given Derick everything he needed to know on short-term notice and he rode of toward the fortress to prepare for the coming of the Toledians.
In a moments notice the camp was filled with activity. Hunters went into the forests and others hastily put together the tents that had been abandoned when the first houses were ready. The healers were brought to the market place, where beds were being put up and the stands from which merchandise was sold were quickly broken down and placed elsewhere.
It took three hours for the first Toledians to arrive, and these were the relatively healthy ones. This could also be considered a good thing, Derick thought to himself. This way the healers could first concentrate on the wounds that were easily healed, which guarantied that they made it without any serious handicaps. In most cases the attention of the healers firstly went to the more severe cases. This often led to the fact that soldiers with smaller wounds would have to wait a few hours before getting help. Derick had seen young soldiers lose limbs or even die because the healers had waited to long.
This first group of Toledians was well taken care of when the seriously injured came. The healers now performed at double their speed. Most of the wounded had a good chance of surviving. Mainly because the ones that didn't had already died on the way back. Derick went towards the street behind the market place. The Toledians who had already been taken care of were inside the tents. Derick walked inside the first tent he saw and asked where he could find the Toledian general. One of the soldiers looked startled in his direction. Derick could see he must have been a new recruit that had joined just before this mission. Derick turned towards an older soldier and looked him in the eyes. 'Sorry for my mate, sir!' the soldier said 'It's been a long journey back here'. 'Great, but do you know where I can find you general' Derick asked again. He became agitated that he had to repeat himself. This didn't go unnoticed and the older soldier quickly answered.
'He's somewhere about fifty miles north from here. And if you want to see him, I suggest you take a shovel'. Derick didn't waste any time. He stepped forward and punched the soldier in the kidneys. The soldier dropped to the floor. 'You way have gotten away with smart remarks with your previous commander, but the next time you address me like that I'll give you a nice public hanging, just to make an example. Got it!' 'Yes, sir!' the soldier shouted. He had just got back on his feet and his face told Derick he still felt rather uncomfortable by the way he had been treated. Then the soldier started to smile 'Thank heavens for a real commander, sir', he raised his hand in front of his chest and pounded it on his hart. The formal salute for a superior officer. Derick repeated the salute. 'Make sure everyone knows it, soldier' Derick said 'If I have to punch everybody about before they understand it wouldn't leave us many men, would it?' 'No sir. I mean. Yes, sir. Or whichever one means that I'll do it anyway'. Derick couldn't help but smile at the charming way this new soldier accepted his command. 'What's your name soldier?' 'Tarron, sir!' the soldier replied. 'With your permission, sir'. 'Go, Tarron'.
Derick turned toward the new recruit. 'Who led your division since the general died?' Derick asked him. 'Well, sir' the soldier replied 'since the Orcs attacked our command post, almost every officer has died. The highest-ranking officer is Lieutenant Tarron, who you've just seen'. Derick thought about this. 'When he returns' he told the soldier 'send him to me'. Derick left the tent and visited Anglus, who as always helped the healers with anything they needed Which in fact came down to the fact that whenever the healers wanted something they would tell Anglus and he'd shout at a soldier to go and get it.
Derick gestured Anglus to follow him. He went into his head quarter, which was located at the middle of the fortress. They walked through the gatehouse and across the small square in the middle of the fortress. The main building was divided in three sections. The Left section contained all the maintenance and service quarters, such as the cooks and black smith. The right section was reserved for normal soldiers, and the midsection was for the officers. Derick had a small room on the second floor of the fortress. The walked upstairs and went inside his room.
'Did you hear it?' Derick asked Anglus. Anglus looked back like he was looking at burning ice. 'I guess you haven't' Derick said 'The Toledian general got killed'. 'Thank god for small favors' Anglus mumbled in return, then his eyes lid up. 'You mean all these poor soldiers have no commander?' 'The highest-ranking officer is a lieutenant'. Anglus thought a moment before continuing 'Any chance they want to join us?' he asked then. 'If their lieutenant was an example for the rest of them, they'll be glad to serve under a real command. And if we would march into the pits of hell, they'd probably follow. Let alone if we tell them they can sit here and relax'. Anglus' eyes now pierced out of his head with pure excitement 'That would allow us to send a small regiment for food and other supplies, while keeping our defenses at a maximum'. Derick smiled, as usual Anglus had followed his thinking and knew what they should do.
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. It was the new lieutenant, Tarron. Derick gestured him to sit down. The lieutenant still had a smile on his face, but this was soon wiped out when Derick asked him what had happened. Tarron began to speak, very slowly. 'At first' he said 'it was a standard mission. March fight and march on. We encountered some Orcs and other vile creatures, but nothing serious.' Tarron paused to reorganize his mind before he spoke on. 'It must have been about halfway through the sixth day that we encountered the first real army. The commanders immediately rode towards the general to consult him about the actions we should take. But the general had other plans, in stead of planning an attack, he commanded us to attack. We were still in marching formation. Our armor was partially unstrapped, to give us freedom to move during the march. Most of us didn't get the time to regret it, more of us didn't ever get the time to properly fix it in place. As we advanced so did the Orcish horde. When we reached their lines it was obvious that trees had obscured most of their lines. There were more than we had seen, much more. Even outnumbered probably three to one, we managed to inflict severe casualties on Orcish side. For every man of ours that died, two Orcs were also slain. But it still wasn't enough'. It was obvious Tarron was emotionally a bit off balance by the recollection of the clash of armies. Derick sent Anglus to bring some water. When he returned Tarron took a few sips before continuing. 'By then we were surrounded by Orcs. Our general had died in the first few minutes and the command was in hand of our captain. He sacrificed his own life to create a hole in the Orcish lines, which allowed us to escape. We'd had experienced great losses amongst foot troops, our cavalry was almost totally wiped out and no one was capable of putting up a fight. We fled into the night. In nights to come, more and more survivors found their way to our camp. But three days later, so did the Orcs. They had been hunting us down al the way back here.'
Derick could see the man was tired and he gave him permission to return to his tent. He looked at Anglus and saw recognition of his own feelings. They had to get food, even if it meant that they would have to send of a great portion of their troops. 'Take care of it, will you' Derick said 'And send a mixed party from our guys and the Toledi...' Derick paused 'the new recruits'. He would have to see them as part of his group now. Because if he couldn't how could he expect it from anyone else. 'And send Tarron' he added.