Regrouping

We finally arrive at Amelia, Lucius and Octavius' war camp. Marcus feels a swell of pride and nostalgia as he sees the 16th legion banner alongside his own and Lucius and Octavius' banners standing proudly above the camp. The assembled human **** cheer as Marcus, Aine and the dwarves rode in. Marcus nods in recognition at some of his old men who had answered Amelia's call for aid, they seem proud and honored to be recognised.

"Amelia!" Marcus says cheerfully as they are reunited in the command tent. He places a hand on her shoulder affectionately and gives a squeeze. "Here we are, one dwarven army, as promised. This is General Grom." He says adressing the gathered lords and captains and introducing the dwarven general.

"And he has a new title, King-consort of Krazkhuraz." Aine says with a smirk.

Octavius is quick to offer congratulations, Lucius seems unsurprised by the development and Amelia gives a pained but happy congratulations to her friend.

"You got married during this?" Amelia asks, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I did. After this orc issue, we'll go there to fight the goblins. Kozzala has grand plans and I support them." Marcus says. "But what is the situation here? What do we know about the orcs?"

"We've found out who is leading them." Lucius says. "We can't decide if it's good news or a sign of something worse. It's an orc woman, Ghorza of the Red Axe clan."

"Yeah, she's smart, strong and ambitious." Amelia says. "She sent us an envoy after we harrased her army enough. She claims these lands should belong to the orcs and that we've been denying their people entry for too long."

"Yeah! But the good news is she's just an orc." Octavius says. "We can outsmart and deal with her easily."

"Don't be so sure. There's still a whole horde of orcs between us and her." Lucius says.

"How is she enforcing her leadership?" Marcus asks.

"The same way all orcs do, by beating any challengers. She's also promised to give herself to anyone who proves themselves so the orc males are all desperately seeking to prove themselves." Amelia replies.

"So her terms are that we allow orcs into the empire?" Marcus asks.

"No." Lucius says. "She uses our kill on sight policy as a reason to invade and annex this entire region. Her end goal is an orcish kingdom in the north."

"But that'll never last. Even if we lose, the empire will come back and retake the lands." Octavius says.

"But too late to save the people here." Marcus adds with a sigh. "Can she be reasoned with?"

"Doesn't seem like it." Amelia says. "The envoy came here to gloat more than anything."

Marcus stops to think for a moment. "We have the forces now." He say. "I propose we fight a pitched battle, we'll lure them into terrain that is favorable to us. Somewhere open where our ranged units won't be hindered and the orcs can't rely on trees to hide. While our main **** fights I'll lead a small **** around to find this Ghorza and eliminate her. Once they see their leader dead, their morale should collapse."

"We agree." Lucius says. "We had been discussing a similar plan."

"We already have a good spot in mind. We've been luring the orcs over towards it by harrasing them and retreating." Amelia says.

"What can we expect from these orcs?" Grom asks, he had been silently listening and thinking so far.

"A horde of muscle and crappy weapons." Octavius says.

"What the lad means is that they don't have much ranged or mounted troops. They prefer to charge in one wave. Their weapons are low quality iron and they wear little armor. What they do wear is leather. The only things they have going for them is their size, strength and resilience. They are taller than a human, much stronger and can shake off a lot of wounds that would knock us out of the fight." Lucius says.

"Hmm." Grom hums thoughtfully. "Very different to fighting goblins but... Our armor should keep us safe from most of their weapons and our range and formations should give us an advantage, we risk getting overwhelmed though if they're all rushing in at once. I'm confident but it could get messy, it's best if you take out Ghorza as soon as possible."

"Agreed." Marcus says. "I'll take Amelia and a squad of hobbits. We'll be harder to spot and, with luck, can slip right in to their back lines before they know we're there."

Amelia nods, understanding her orders and ready to carry them through.

"Grom, you'll be in command of the army. Speak with Lucius, Octavius, Aine and the captains of the 16th to find out where you can use them best. I trust you with this." Marcus adds.

Grom nods and gives a salute.

"I'll see it done." Grom says simply.

"Alright then, we've got a few days before the battle. Rest up and get your men ready." Marcus says, dismissing them all.

As the leaders of the war party leaves, Amelia stays behind.

"Sooo..." She says playfully. "Tell me about your new wife..."

Marcus smirks and rolls his eyes. "She's a good woman." He says. "We get along well and she's got bold plans but..."

"But?"

"By signing up for her plans, I might be dooming us all." He sighs and leans close to speak quietly so as to not be overheard. "The wants a unified Golden Empire and Dwarozzok Empire. She knows the emperor might attack us for reforming the 16th without his blessing so she wants me to fight him and sieze the empire."

Amelia's face doesn't conceal her shock.

"Impossible!" She says. "Marcus, have you lost your mind? We only have one legion and the empire has, what? 23 current with a ton of veterans from disbanded legions still around?"

"I thought so too but..." Marcus says with a sigh. "There's a lot of unhappy people in the empire. Including those veterans who had their legions disbanded. Not all will fight with the emperor. Remember how much public support my cousin had for his rebellion?"

"Yeah, and we still crushed him." Amelia says.

"But only because we didn't give him a chance to gather supporters. We have the ability to spread influence from Krazkhuraz. We won't be completely safe there but any siege of a dwarven hold will take a lot of imperial manpower and years of siege. Kozzala has also promised to commit her men to help as long as we help with the goblins first."

"By the gods, Marcus..." She says with a small laugh. "You're going to get us fucking killed but my dumb ass is going to follow you regardless."

Marcus puts a hand on her shoulder. "I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to get away but I appreciate your loyalty so much. You've been my best friend for so long. If I get us killed, I give you permission to hold it over me forever in the afterlife."

"That's to start." She says with a laugh. "I'll spend eternity trying to knock some sense into that skull of yours. If your mad plan works though, feel free to hold it over me."

"Oh, short stuff, it's easy to hold anything over you." Marcus says with a shit-eating grin.

Amelia kicks Marcus in the shins. "You and your fucking short jokes. Why do I stick with your lanky ass?"

"Psh, you love this lanky ass." Marcus says jokingly.

Amelia blushes lightly. "Oh shut up. Come on, lets get a drink so you can tell me how you went for troops and came back with crazy ideas."

She puts a friendly arm around Marcus' waist while he puts a hand on her shoulder. They leave to get drunk and catch up.