One Hundred miles south of the Killing Fields of the Lepus Beltor.
Three years before first contact.
Lucious Kati, Sve to house Graci, Scribe.
I looked out across the verdant and wild hills, picked clean of any vegetation reaching higher than my ankles by generations of migratory cattle and horse, all lit in a dreary grey by the overcast sky.
They stood far in the distance, perhaps a mile or so, in a loose staggered line, two hundred and fifty six of them. Lepus warriors with spears stuck upright in the earth to their side and bags of smooth stones at their hips that they calmly and without great haste loaded into straps of pale leather. A call came from one of them, adorned in no great fineries that would befit a general even of such a small force as this. In a moment the call was sounded out by more of the Lepus of the Tanaoi so that all might hear the words of their leader clearly and as one, two hundred and fifty six took stance and began to ready their slings with confident and well practised motions.
Before the small Tanaoi force marched twelve centurions with their men in good order, observed from a hill by Atonious Graci, a goodman of His Imperial and Royal Highness Zorzal El Caesar. Graci himself commanded a force of fifteen hundred men, well outnumbering the Lepus in the field and yet the Tanaoi had foolishly offered battle.
"They are well ordered. But we are still too far for their stones to bother our men, they intend to cause our men to panic. The fools. Let them exhaust themselves before the battle truly begins if they wish it." A man to my right commented and I was disposed to agree. The Tanaoi were odd compared to their head hunting kin. They would fight and fade as the Goblins or Elves would. Fast attacks at a distance and constant harassment brought them many dishonourable victories.
They had also become infamous in their capacity to extend the debauched raiding and pilging the Lepus enjoyed to fortified settlements of lesser races such as the goblins and centari, their mages having created some magic that allowed them to quickly damage stone walls, the Tanaoi were also gaining a reputation for winning great victories with little casualties. While the Tanaoi never had to contend with an Imperial city they were one of the Lepus Bellicose Tribes that had forced Zorzal's hand with their belligerence in targeting friends and allies of the Empire.
It was the Tanaoi who had deprived Zorzal of Centaur auxiliary support during his campaign against the Lepus High Queen Tyuule even if the Tanaoi themselves had not joined their fellow tribes in battle against the Empire until the rest of their race fell.
"Regardless we have them here, whoever commands them overestimates herself!" Graci Expressed with an excited shout. The young man revealing at being the one to put the fighting women of the Tanaoi to the sword no doubt. The other tribes of the Lepus had surrendered to bondage but the Tanaoi had repudiated the high queen of the Lepus and had marched south, putting their nds to the torch before their migration.
The bulk of the Tanaoi were many days still to the south, having made great progress despite being an undisciplined barbarian rabble, and many Lepus from other tribes had abandoned their tribes for the Tanaoi swelling their numbers. But there was little to fear from the migration across the endless expanse of the Eastern Empire. Settlements were sparse in this region and their hopeless migration would lead them to the walled city of Kontia. A city well positioned to withstand a siege for many months as Zorzal brought his legions south to wipe out the Tanaoi.
Should they choose to bypass the city they would have few settlements to resupply from for over seven hundred miles until they reached the coast. They would starve to death long before they would see the sea, that is if Zorzal did not crush the migration well before that.
There was another shout and as one the Lepus loosed their stones with the sound of hundreds of cracks. Like the sound of a whip being struck against the back of an unruly sve followed by whistling as the stones they cast caught the air. It was impressive no doubt, such sounds would strike fear into the heart of men marching towards the slingers but this was a well drilled legion, sounds alone would not cause them to err in their duty.
It was a surprise then, when dozens of men marching towards the Tanaoi Lepus staggered and fell despite being more then five hundred paces away. I snapped my head around to look at Graci as he whirled about, pulling on the reins of his horse and waving a hand about his head.
"Equites!" He roared as the Centurians quickly got the men marching towards the Lepus again this time with shields raised high. "With me!"
"My lord!" I rushed forward. "Is it wise for you to lead the cavalry? The slingers-"
"My men march towards death with little more than courage and grit! I ride forward with enchantments and steel at my breast, how can I ask them to fight for me if I do not fight for them! Forward! Chase the rapacious beasts from the field! Sughter the she-demons!" At Graci's cry three dozen nobles upon horse bounded forwards with cries of etion and confidence. They were followed by wealthy men who did not have the training, nor the equipment of the noble horsemen but did have spears and horses themselves. The air shimmered as they thundered towards the scattering of Lepus atop the gentle hill as various enchantments upon ancestral items battled with reality itself for dominance.
As the cavalry reached the men harassed by singing stones cast from the Lepus horde the battlefield became alight as bright fshes of green, blue and red shone out as Imperial magic cast aside deadly stones hailing down upon the fearless Equites. Upon seeing these magics py out the Lepus of the Tanaoi moved quickly, throwing their bags of slingstones to the ground and pulling up spears.
They moved about like no other Lepus force that had been met on Zozols Expedition. But Graci had been dealing with the queer tactics of the Tanaoi for weeks now, how they would sabotage supplies, how they would employ assassins and relied more on ranged weapons than the curved swords that defined their race. The Tanaoi were known to the other Lepus as the Tribe of cowards, led by a kinsying runt, one that had refused ritualistic combat with the high queen and in her cowardice had been isoted from the other tribes.
Zorzol had been warned by the surrendering Lepus that the Tanaoi would need to be wiped out to the st woman and child. A fitting end to a debased example of a depraved race.
As the Equites rode up the hill, impervious to bullets cast by sling, the Tanaoi forces plucked up their spears and rushed to close the distance between them, moving with a shocking speed that would matter little. Graci was an experienced commander and as he saw a spear wall begin to take formation he ordered the nobles to part, one of his officers leading a group to encircle the Lepus from the right fnk as Graci led his own group to the left fnk.
I watched as fshes of magic began to py out across the battlefield once more and it became clear that only some of the Tanaoi had abandoned their sling stones for spears, the spearwomen forming what looked like a square around Lepus who continued to throw stones at the approaching cavalry who surrounded the Tanaoi looking for a gap in their defences to charge, finding none.
His charge confounded Graci pulled his horse back and was followed by the other horsemen as several nobles and merchants were overwhelmed by singing bullets, falling from their horses or being thrown to the ground as their mounts suffered debilitating wounds from the Tanaoi slingers.
Yet the charge had been successful. The legions had reached the base of the hill and began to march up towards the encircled warrior women. The small rearguard force would be wiped out and Graci's forces could advance upon the backs of the migratory horde, bringing the Tanaoi to heel would make Graci a well respected and wealthy man. Bringing wealth and glory to his house.
My musings were cut short as the hill the Lepus were fighting upon exploded.
"MAGE!" I screamed out, as did many others about the encampment as what could only be magical bsts struck the ground and sent clumps of earth high into the sky. In moments hundreds of legionaries were caught in the bst as thick bck smoke bnketed the field.
Even still fshes of light could be seen through the smoke as the Cavalry continued the battle despite a mage targeting the footmen at the base of the hill. Reserve forces were quickly ordered forwards as the legionaries that had survived the hidden mage's attack fled from the hill joined by the scattered remains of Graci's horsemen. I noted that only young men in resplendent and potent armour remained horsed, anyone without potent enchantments had been struck down by the deadly bullets used by the Tanaoi slingers.
In but a moment the fortunes of battle had shifted and as the smoke cleared from the hills to reveal bloody creators in the earth Graci's surviving force could only watch helplessly as Lepus began to fall upon the dead and dying to loot as they pleased. Men were stripped or slung over backs and carried off into a pile at the top of the hill guarded by some handfuls of spearwomen as the rest of the warrior bunnies reformed into two distinct units and marched towards our camp.
The reformed imperial forces numbered just over four hundred, well outnumbering the approaching Tanaoi but many had wounds or had trouble hearing from the explosion. Graci himself had not returned from his charge and was presumed dead. It would take time for the Imperial lines to fully reform, for men to be pced into this unit or that and for men to be selected to command. But the Tanaoi did not give them that time, they began to run across the battlefield almost as fast as a cavalry charge, spears raised and voices carrying over the bsted hills in high pitched cheering and jeering.
It was a credit to the training and resolve of the Legionaries that they managed to form a cohesive battle line at all as many men threw pilum at the approaching murderous wave of head hunters. The inhumanly quick warriors danced aside from the falling missiles or deflected them with quick jabs of their spear. Only half a dozen or so were struck by the deadly weapons and fell screaming to the ground to be trampled without mercy underfoot of their fellows.
Nothing could stop the charge and while the brave men braced the Warrior Bunnies, lept into the air and threw themselves into a deadly melee, thrusting out spears, throwing them and drawing their curved swords, hacking, screaming, baying for blood. The horror the tall and monstrous women inflicted upon the brave men of the Empire chilled me to the core. The Lepus at the rear of the horde, seemingly driven mad that they were not 'lucky' enough to meet the men at the front, began to rush to the sides of the formation like water flowing over a rock.
Despite being outnumbered still the Lepus forced the brave humans back as they enacted their deadly toll upon them. Fighting like they were possessed of demons they would move faster then they had any right to and batter aside shield or sword to strike at thighs, necks and faces with a depraved eagerness. The impersonal hail of slingstones that had proven so effective against the horsemen of the Empire proved to be little more than a chore to the Lepus who found vitality in the brutal bloodletting of a melee.
The ferocity of the charge proved too much for the beleaguered legion and men began to break away from the fight. Turning tail to run into the hills, Lepus fighters seemed to lunge after the fleeing men for a moment but for some reason thought better of it and turned about to engage what men chose to fight and die on their feet. But nothing could change the outcome of this battle.
I watched horrified, the velum and quill I carried to record Graci's campaign falling to an uncaring earth as the Legion broke and ran in truth. With the fighting truly over one of the Lepus pulled out a horn and blew it, a triumphant sound echoing out across the killing fields as the Lepus let out a roar of excitement.
This, it seemed, was permission for the Warrior Bunnies to break ranks and chase the fleeing soldiers and to attack the supply wagons. They came flooding up the hill towards the encampment. At least the ones who did not throw themselves upon fleeing or beaten soldiers to loot and rape as they pleased.
I felt panic overtake me as I began to run with the other sves and attendants to Graci's force as the tall bloody Lepus, fresh heads hanging from belts and ropes slung over shoulders, reached us with malicious, uncaring ughter and bloodlust in their eyes.
