Twists and Turns 4


    As his minions took the mayors family away to be questioned by Geralhd, cknail lounged on their couch, which was quitefy and soft. By the time he had finished eating and gotten up, his forces had seizedplete control of the streets of Aldhara. He received reports as the remaining enemies were cornered and cut down, fled into Green, or took shelter inside homes. There was no more serious resistance, so cknail had plenty of time to decide what to do next.


    First, he had the houses that the enemy were hiding in surrounded so that he could deal with themter. If he let his hobs storm inside and start dragging people out, it could get messy quick. None of the vigers were resisting his takeover anymore, and he wanted to keep it that way.


    Second, he sent a few hunting parties off to track down and finish off the enemies that had fled into the forest. That wouldnt be particrly hard for his hobgoblin scouts. Few humans would even see theming in the Green, and even the most aware ones had to sleep sometime. Really, very few of them would have gotten far without being eaten by wildlife even without hobgoblins chasing them.


    Once those two things were done, cknail had his lieutenants join him in the mayors home, which was his now. He liked it, although there was too muchce on the furniture. That could be torn or chewed off easily enough though.


    The half-dozen hobgoblins and humans all easily fit in the houses sitting room. To Gob and Ralphi, he gave orders to handle thest scattered groups of Werricks men. Geralhd already had a job, finding someone for cknail to me for the vigers resistance. That left Khita and Imp. Imp didnt have any interest in anything that wasnt magical and could be ignored, but Khita was another story. cknail only wished he could ignore her.


    Youll stay here with me and Herah, in case something important happens, cknail told the redhead. He actually just wanted to keep her out of the way. She wasnt useful enough to help him with anything important that came up, but she had a knack for getting into trouble when left alone.


    Surprisingly, Khita shook her head. Youll have to do without me. I need to go recruit some more followers before anyone beats me to it. There are several fools that think they could do a better job than me and be one of your lieutenants, and I cant just kill them all. I got to stay ahead of them.


    cknail grunted sourly. Thats nice, but you have to do what I say, since Im the leader.


    You dont even want me for anything, and this is important. How am I supposed to be a great bandit if I dont recruit followers? Im going, Khita said as she stuck out her tongue and then turned to leave.


    cknail scowled at her back. He could order some of his hobs to stop her, but then shed get all whiny and annoying for days. It was better to let her do what she wanted.


    Fine, you can go, he told her as she walked out the door. She didnt look back, which made cknails scowl deepen. Stupid Khita. Everyone else was afraid of him, as was proper. She was just too stupid to know better. How had she survived this long?


    After waiting with Herah for a while, cknail grew bored with scratching the furniture. Thankfully, that was when Geralhd returned. Hed found the people responsible for inciting some of the townsfolk to fight cknail and his minions. Apparently, the ring leader was an innkeeper whod epted coin from the leader of Werricks men in return for promising to whip up a mob to help them fight. Geralhd now had the man under guard, which pleased cknail, and finally motivated him to leave the sitting room.


    Heading outside, cknail went to check on Gob and Ralphi. Before he could move on to the fun stuff, he needed to make sure he hadplete control of the town, so all of Werricks men needed cleaned up. Thankfully, that job was almost done. After cknail had sent them out, Gob and Ralphi had quickly moved to order squads into homes where enemies were hiding. If they resisted or attempted to take hostages, they were cut down, but those that surrendered peacefully were taken captive. Human minions were used, since sending hobgoblins into peoples homes tended to provoke negative reactions.


    When cknail met up with Gob and Ralphi they only had two more houses to deal with, so cknail watched them finish up. It was quick and bloody work. When they were done, cknail gave them a nod of approval and then ordered them to marshal the local poption so that he could talk to them in the town square.


    It took a while for this to happen. The people of Aldhara were reluctant toe out of their homes and gather outside now that cknails forces were in control of the town. cknail had to go get the mayor and have him tell people it was safe, and even then it took a few hours.


    However, a decent size crowd eventually gathered in the town square. They looked nervous and whispered fearfully amongst themselves, but they didnt try to run or riot. Instead, they fell silent and listened as cknail began speaking. Many of them seemed surprised that he could talk, which was amusing. Humans could be so stupid. There was no way they hadnt heard about him by now. He was kind of a big deal.


    After a brief introduction, cknail informed the townsfolk that he was now in charge of the vige but that he wouldnt be killing any of them, except for the innkeeper, who he promptly beheaded for inciting violence against his troops and as a warning to the others. That done, he told the townsfolk to go about their business as usual, exceptrge gatherings were prohibited and hed be taking all their cheese. There was a price to pay for losing a battle. If they didnt want to lose all their cheese, they shouldnt have let Werrick conquer them.


    Still, now that hed gotten rid of the humans who were too stupid to live, cknail nned on generally leaving the others alone. This was mostly because he didnt really need the townsfolk for anything. He was only here because the town had strategic value in his fight against Werrick. Hed burn the ce down, but that would disturb his human allies, who were always looking for reasons to distrust him.


    Things settled down after the crowd dispersed, leaving cknail with the task of finding ces for his troops to set up for the night. There were too many of them for them to all sleep inside, so most had to set up their tents outside, like they had when theyd been marching. cknail slept in the mayors house with Herah of course. He was the leader.


    The next morning, cknail got up early to receive reports from his scouts before calling his lieutenants to another meeting. There were so many meetings involved in war Seizing Aldhara and eliminating the troops there was simply the first step in cknails n. Now that he had a base of operations and knew more about the local situation, it was time to continue the attack. His n depended on a series of lighting fast strikes, so that was what he was going to do.


    ording to his scouts and the locals his minions had interrogated, Werrick only had small forces in the nearby viges and towns. That meant cknail could split his forces and take them out quickly before Werrick even knew what was going on. Of course, each force he sent out would need apetent and dependable leader, which was a problem. cknail had three targets in mind and nned on staying in Aldhara. He also only had two lieutenants he really trusted to lead anything more important than a work crew, Gob and Ralphi. cknail had been nning on sending Geralhd and one of his more trusted hobgoblin warriors to the third town, but Geralhd had apparently managed to trip and hurt his anklest night, so he wanted to stay here.


    Ill go in his ce! Khita suggested eagerly. Ive got more than enough men to take a town or two.


    But do you have the brains cknail mumbled sourly.


    The redhead gave him a look. What?


    Its just one town. I only want the one town taken. Dont go looking for more towns to attack, cknail said with a sigh. Cant you just stay out of trouble and not be so annoying?


    Im a deadly bandit mistress, Im supposed to get into trouble!


    cknail sighed again. He didnt have anyone morepetent to send, and how badly could she really screw up such a simple job? Really, cknail didnt care much if she ended up destroying the vigepletely, as long as it clearly her fault and not his.


    Fine, you can lead the third team, cknail told her.


    Yes! My first conquest! Soon, there will be many more, Khitaughed as she ran off to gather her followers.


    She worries me sometimes, Geralhd remarked.


    Ralphi chuckled. She has always worried me. Something isnt right in that girls head.


    cknail nodded in agreement before giving his other lieutenants some more details about their mission. Khita should have been here too, but shed ran off before anyone could say anything. What a fool.


    Soon, over half of the troops in Aldhara were marching back out onto the road. The sudden reduction in power made cknail slightly nervous, but he had scouts out watching the roads and there had been no sign of any movements from Werrick. He was probably safe.


    When cknails lieutenants were all gone, there wasnt much for him to do in Aldhara, beyond lounge around in the mayors house and eat the townsfolks food. The locals were terrified if him, and after the execution of the innkeeper, they all obeyed his edicts. When an entire day went by without anything interesting happening, cknail seriously considered making up some new, more difficult rules for the townsfolk to follow. It would be amusing to watch them run around and fail, just so he could punish them. Unfortunately, Geralhd managed to convince him that would be a bad idea.


    Thus, the only real productive thing cknail could do was go over reports that his scouts brought in. They didnt tell him much. The roads were clear and there were no signs of enemy troop movements or reconnaissance. There was actually less traffic on them then was usual for this part of the year, just a few merchants and woodsmen.


    This left cknail with a lot of time to worry about things beyond his control. Khitas mission in particr worried him. Who knew what crazy nonsense shed end up doing? Thepleteck of movement from Werrick was also starting to concern him. Hed expected to hear something from the bandit lord by now, but there was simply nothing. cknail began to suspect a vast conspiracy of stupidity was misleading him. Maybe Werrick was nearby, and all his minions were too ipetent to notice. Should he go do some scouting himself?


    Thankfully, word began to arrive from his lieutenants. This distracted cknail enough to prevent him from running out into the Green to search for hidden armies.


    The first message reported that Gob had easily conquered his target and taken out the few bandits Werrick had tasked with guarding it. He was on his way back now. The message from Ralphi was a little more worrying. Apparently, Werricks men had abandoned the vige hed gone to attack. Theyd pulled out right after the snow had melted and gone back east. Apparently, the vige itself had suffered over the winter and was barely worth taking anymore. Ralphis report was a littlecking in details, but he promised to bring more information with him when he got back.


    Khita didnt send a message at all. This worried cknail at first, but then she showed up in person with all her troops.


    Didnt I give you a mission? cknail said as he met her at the town gates.


    And I tried to do it. I simply ran into a small problem along the way, Khita replied with a scowl. When I got to the vige you wanted me to conquer, there was no one there. The whole soggy vige was unupied.


    ail sighed. Hed been worried about this. You cant just kill everyone and pretend it didnt happen.


    Thats not what happened! It really waspletely empty when I got there! The entire ce had been ransacked weeks ago, but there were no bodies in sight. Everyone was just gone. It was emptier than a drunks bottle.


    Humans dont just disappear. They always leave a mess, cknail told her. He was an expert on this.


    Some of your hobs found traces of old boggart tracks, Khita told him.


    Huh, that made more sense. cknail supposed that boggarts could have taken out the vige. Apparently, they were far away enough from Ironbreak that the creatures thought they didnt have to worry about him. Hed have to find some way of teaching them otherwise. This was his territory now, not theirs. Hed conquered it properly. They didnt get toe in and steal his food and humans without a fight.


    Still, ignoring the boggarts, this was a third vige where there had been no sign of Werrick. The Wolf was supposed to have fortified this area, but only Aldhara had contained a proper garrison. There was no way Werrick would think that was enough to hold the entire area and support an attack. cknail was really starting to worry now. It was swiftly bing obvious that there was something going on that he wasnt aware of.


    Ralphi and Gob returned the next day. Ralphi came in first and a disgruntled cknail met him at the gates. The hobgoblin chieftain wanted an immediate report.


    Theres not much to say about Werricks troops, Ralphi exined with a shrug. There were only about thirty of them, and they fled the vige as soon as the roads were clear enough of snow for them to march.


    Why?


    A man on horseback arrived with orders. No one knew exactly what he said to them though.


    Frustrated, cknail scowled. Strange. That doesnt make sense.


    Maybe he guessed you wereing and decided not to leave men around for you to pick off.


    Then why not fortify Aldhara more? That would be the smart thing to do, and Werrick isnt dumb, cknail hissed angrily. There was a n! It had taken him a long time toe up with, and it was supposed to be the best way to deal with Werrick. Had he been tricked?


    Did you see or hear anything strange? cknail asked Ralphi.


    The vigers did mention some disappearances. Mostly of animals, but two people did go missing. They also said they sawrge shapes moving around in the shadows at night, but it was probably nothing, or a hungry bear. These viges in the middle of nowhere get quite superstitious.


    More boggarts, cknail grumbled thoughtfully. Was that the answer?


    Those things? They arent that dangerous. Just pests really.


    cknail gave Ralphi an annoyed look. They can be very dangerous. I chased all the ones around Ironbreak away after I defeated their swarm. That was a tough fight. Here, theyve been free to hunt people though. They must have a nest nearby.


    I guess that makes sense, Ralphi remarked reluctantly. Even wolves will pick off people if they get hungry during the winter.


    Instead of replying, cknail ignored the man and started thinking. From experience, he knew that humans wouldnt believe him if he told them all about his war with the boggarts. For some reason, they always thought he was exaggerating about the size of the boggart swarm and all the weapons it had wielded. They couldnt ept the idea of boggarts using tools or magic. They seemed to think both those things were hard to figure out. They werent. Even goblins could do them if they had someone to copy. Really, humans werent nearly as unique or smart as they liked to think they were.


    Could the boggarts be responsible for Werricks withdrawal from the area next to cknails territory? Had the creatures attacked Werricks men, causing them to retreat somewhere safer? No, that probably wouldnt be enough. cknail hadnt seen any indication that the boggarts here had been a threat to arge group of armed bandits. Hmm, except for the vige that had been wiped out.


    cknail scratched his nose. He needed more information.


    Over the next few days, cknail sent men out to interrogate everyone that passed by nearby and had scouts head east to look for signs of Werricks troops. It took a while for him to begin getting information back, but then a picture quickly began to emerge. Werrick had pulled back and was fortifying his own territory. He seemed to no n to attack cknail at all. There were also countless rumors swirling about boggarts and demons. People were worried.


    Huh, what do we do now? Khita asked. cknail had called a meeting and all his lieutenants had just gone over the scouts reports.


    I have no idea, cknail admitted as he scowled sourly. Hed been sure that Werrick would attack him.


    Isnt this good news? Geralhd asked. It means we have more time to establish ourselves. Thats what we wanted.


    But Werrick knows that too, so why is letting us have time? The Wolf is ruthless, and never just sits around like a pig in the mud. It makes no sense. Its a stupid ass thing to do, and he isnt stupid.


    Geralhd shrugged. Any yet that is exactly what hes doing. We have confirmation from multiple merchants that have dealt with him directly and some refuges that passed through viges he controls out east. There is no sign that he is nning to move.


    Then he knows something that we dont, which I dont like much.


    cknail growled in agreement and clenched a fist. This wasnt fair. Sure, this wasnt bad for him strategically, but he wanted action and blood! Now he was going to end up sitting around for months, worrying about what Werrick was up to. He was supposed to be slowly closing the trap on Werrick using a series of clever attacks and daring escapes. Instead, he had no idea what was going on and felt stupid. Not fair.


    Khita perked up. I know! I could infiltrate his forces as a spy and find out all his secrets. That way wed know exactly what to do.


    No, cknail replied as Ralphi rolled his eyes. cknail didnt care if Khita got herself killed in such an insane scheme, but she knew too much to be put at risk of being captured.


    What do we do? Just sit here and build up? Geralhd suggested. It wouldnt be a bad n.


    cknail shook his head. No, we cant do what Werrick thinks we will, or we will lose. He is too smart. We must attack the prey in a way it doesnt expects.


    So what? Attacking Werrick in his own territory is a terrible idea. He has strong fortifications, knows the area better than us, and outnumbers us by quite a lot.


    An idea urred to cknail. He hadnt thought it through yet, but it sure sounded fun. We will attack Daggerpoint!