Chapter 10 - Part 22

‘Lord Ibraim’ dusted off his clothes, confident that the worst of the bloodstains were hidden. Warforged were not the most perceptive of creatures, so he was not worried. He only wished he could carry his hand and a-half sword, but everyone knew Ibraim always had his shadow rapier with him.

“Captain 7824FB!” he called loudly, approaching the warforged commander.

“Lord Ibraim,” the warforged said, saluting. The two who stood near it went into rigid salutes as well. “How may I serve?”

“Cease the grid search, cease the building of seige engines, and attack immediately,” the disguised tiger-thing ordered the construct. “Get all of your units together, except the division that is already out of touch to the north of course, and go in as one mass. Kill everyone, burn all structures, and massacre livestock larger than a dog.”

“Yes sir,” Captain 7824FB said after a moment’s surprise. “Do you not require a bodyguard here sir?”

“Things have changed. These are your new orders. No prisoners, as was the case in this part of the village.”

“Yes sir,” the warforged seemed confused, but it was ready to obey.

“And most important, kill all halflings,” the disguised tiger-thing insisted. It thought that Herschem would likely succeed in his attack, but it was best not to take chances. Prolonging the war with a fresh atrocity was only its secondary mission, after all. “If you cannot tell them apart from gnomes, or human children, kill anything under four feet tall. Your soldiers are even to break off an attack on an enemy spellcaster to accomplish this. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” 7824FB said, saluting.

“Go!”

The warforged trotted off, spreading the word. Within ten to fifteen minutes they would all hear and be organized, and maybe a half-hour to an hour after that they would be upon the town. Likely they would hit at the same time as the divison from the northwest, right after Herschem had fried all of the bigger buildings.