Chapter 10 - Part 10

The warforged were quick, efficient, tireless, and untroubled by conscience. They had been made to kill, not to wonder if killing was wrong. Some of them trembled as they slew the smaller of the living creatures, but they all did as they were told. The shifters, humans, and a handful of other races in the eastern section of Merylsward, some one hundred souls in all, were all dispatched within thirty minutes. The warforged force had sustained only three killed, two disabled, and five wounded. One of the killed was a corporal.

One lieutenant took three corporals and a hundred soldiers, and made a series of positions along all of the trails and approaches. The warforged dug in, hacking at the earth with shovels in order to hide better. Another lieutenant took two corporals and a hundred soldiers and marched north, preparing to loop around and attack the town from its northwest.

The remaining lieutenant split his force in two. One half he broke up into four equal parts, and assigned a corporal to each one. They were to go back and do a grid search of each dwelling, looking for hidden people or caches of weapons. Ten more soldiers were given the task of burying the dead, both as a preventive measure against detection and against diseases that could affect their human high officers. A dozen soldiers were to guard the disabled and dead warforged, that dozen including the wounded.

After double-counting the remainging force to get one hundred and twenty eight, he set them to the task of building seige equipment. A volley of stonework and other debris would be rained down on the town once the wizards were done. Two soldiers were exempted from work as they went down to the docks with the lieutenant, forming an honor guard to welcome Lord Ibraim.