Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters-Chapter 773 - 62

Chapter 773: Chapter 62 Chapter 773: Chapter 62 The dim moon hung diagonally in the sky, with the stars glittering all around.

The people of Terdun lifted the sheepskin rafts into the water, quietly paddling towards the East Bank.

The dead of night was actually not the best time for a sneak attack; in the utter silence, even the smallest sounds of the day could be easily detected.

Therefore, the people of Terdun chose to strike before dawn.

The river babbled, birds circled and chirped, and packs of wolves howled in the wilderness. The continuous chopping, hammering, and neighing of horses and men still persisted in the Terdun camp.

In this way, the sound of the oars blended into the background noise of nature and was almost indistinguishable.

Before they realized it, the sheepskin rafts had already floated across the heart of the river; the East Bank of Big Horn River was tranquil.

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Apart from a few crows, the people of Terdun didn’t notice any living creature being disturbed by their presence.

However, atop the riverbank, there were two pairs of eyes watching everything unfold.

“How many rafts?” Tamas laid atop the riverbank, squinting to discern the number. “Can you see clearly?”

“Sergeant.” Peter [the Dwarf] Bunir lay beside the sergeant, timidly answering, “I am like a bird blinded by the fog.”

“Blinded by the fog? Eat more fish then.” Without thinking, Tamas said, “I used to have trouble seeing at night too, but I got over it by following Blood Wolf and eating deer offal for a while.”

Even before the people of Terdun entered the water, the sentries in the watchtower on the embankment had already noticed the unusual activity of the barbarians on the opposite shore.

The first platoon stationed along this stretch of the river was quickly readied for action, now hiding just behind the riverbank.

In just a few moments, the rafts drew closer and closer to the shore, and little Peter’s forehead began to sweat more and more.

“Sergeant, the barbarians are coming ashore.” Peter’s voice was dry and his palms cold; he couldn’t help but urge, “Hurry up and let everyone else come up!”

Tamas stopped staring at the river in front of him and turned to look upstream and downstream instead, “Don’t rush, let’s wait for them to land.”

“It’ll be too late once the barbarians land,” Peter said, sweating profusely.

“What?” Tamas glanced at his subordinate. “You want to command the first platoon?”

The dwarf Peter deflated suddenly.

“We only have two grappling hooks in hand, which are meant for signaling. The barbarians aren’t ashore—can you reach them?”

Peter sulkily replied, “Oh.”

After lecturing his subordinate, Tamas’s attention returned to the enemy, his eyebrows furrowing ever tighter. “Something’s not right, a little off. Only ten rafts?”

“Ten… is that too many or too few?”

“Few, way too few.” Tamas scratched at the whiskers on his temples, utterly puzzled. “They think they can occupy the riverbank with just ten rafts? What are the barbarians up to?”

“You’re asking me.” Little dwarf Peter spoke as if he were a fly. “I haven’t a clue either…”

What happened next took Tamas and Peter completely by surprise—the barbarians’ sheepskin rafts didn’t even approach the shore.

At a distance of a dozen meters from the riverbank, the men on the rafts lifted an object and threw it into the river.

“What on earth is that about?” Peter, unable to see clearly, was anxious.

Tamas could see clearly, but was just as clueless.

Struggling to understand, Tamas suddenly realized the rafts had stopped drifting downstream—a flash of insight struck him: “It’s an anchor! The barbarians are setting down anchors!”

“Anchors?” Peter had an epiphany, then asked with confusion, “Do sheepskin rafts even use anchors?”

“They do now,” Tamas said, his eyes growing more severe by the second.

“So what do we do now, Sergeant?”

“Wait a bit longer, let’s see what the barbarians are up to.”

Nine sheepskin rafts were anchored in the riverway, while one drifted towards the riverbank.

Tamas began to grasp the situation: the raft floating towards the shore was probably a sentry, but the focus was clearly on the nine rafts in the river.

Unable to wait any longer and seeing that the enemy had no intention of landing, Tamas decided to take the initiative to strike.

“Bring the horses here.” Tamas whispered to Peter, “I’ll lead the cavalry charge first. Once the barbarians notice me, then the rest will move.”

“No way!” Little Peter panicked: “There are only six in the cavalry, it’s too dangerous! You can’t die! We should all go together, it’s safer.”

“No need,” Tamas scoffed. “The barbarians won’t go head-to-head with us. I’ll see if I can catch a prisoner to interrogate before they can flee.”

…

After a brief preparation, as the night sky turned a deep shade of blue, Tamas led five riders to leap out from the riverbank and charge towards the landing point.

Just as the thundering sound of the horse hooves began, the barbarians on the shore immediately pushed off in their sheepskin rafts, fleeing in panic.

Tamas spurred his horse to pursue them into the river, but the animal refused to move forward once the water reached its knees.

Tamas watched the barbarians’ sheepskin rafts row into deeper waters and pounded his thigh in frustration.

The people of Terdun on the other nine rafts drew their bows and took aim at the riders on the shore.

Arrows screeched through the air heading for Tamas and his men.

The rafts were unstable, and the Terdun archers, kneeling to shoot and further challenged by the undulating water, could not perform their archery skills to their fullest.

But Tamas wasn’t willing to test his luck and blew a whistle, leading his men to quickly leave the riverbank.

When the majority of the first platoon reached the shore, the battle situation became somewhat odd.

The barbarians in the river couldn’t make it ashore, and the soldiers from the bank could not descend into the water.

With the two sides separated by a dozen meters of water, they “fought” each other, and it was Iron Peak County, despite its numerical advantage, that seemed to be at a slight disadvantage.

Because Iron Peak County’s infantry were organized into “pure squads” and, according to formation, the first platoon was equipped with long spears, the soldiers currently only had lances and javelins at hand.

Whereas the men of Terdun, even though the stability of their “shooting platforms” was terrible, each had a bow in hand.