By nightfall both sides had retreated to rest for the night before continuing the fight once more once dawn breaks. Walking around the camp, I noticed many were injured or mourning the death of their friends or relatives who had perished on the battlefield; such is the sobering truth of war. Lau was next to me as we assessed the first day's end. He frowned at the never ending row of dead soldiers. Even after seeing and experiencing so many campaigns, he was still not used to seeing death loom amongst the men in war.

"Looks like we lost most of the 4th army, as usual. Those guys are the stepping stones for the central army." He frowned. "But at least you were helping direct the confusion after the chariot charge. Who knows what would have happened if you weren't there."

I snorted. "There would have been just as many casualties if I wasn't there. Others with enough competence would have rallied our scattered forces after that crazy stunt with the chariots."  

Lau shook his head. "I doubt as much as you did. So nice job, my friend."

I chuckled, "Sure."

Once we made our rounds and spoke some encouragement to the soldiers to keep up morale we retired to our tents to rest up for the night. While Lau snored like a sedated water buffalo in the makeshift bed, I roamed the decimated battlefield in the dead of night to do my business - to feed. Seeing the entirety of scattered corpses was saddening, but this was war, it was normal. From the dead that still had blood left in them, I drank my share before moving on to the next deceased victim of my hunt. After satisfying my fill for the night I decided to head back to my camp, but something caught my attention just a few clicks from where I was. To the eye of a mortal, no one would notice especially in the shroud of darkness, but to me I could see something was up and I could feel it in the air too.

Stealthy I made my way towards what caught my attention only to find it was a small group of men, no more than 100 making their way towards me and my camp at a fast pace. From their uniform, I could tell it was from the Western army's. I gritted my teeth, they must be a single detachment sent to spy on us or to launch a sneak attack. Even with their small size, they could hardly do any damage and can easily perish in their suicidal attempt, however, they could easily unbalance our forces too. One of the worst tactics in war is psychological. Many would say that brute force and strength is a primary factor in war  - which it is, but psychological warfare can drive even the most trained soldiers to their demise.

The most likely reason for the small group's little sneak attack is to confuse the soldiers and make them more on edge than they already are. To an amateur militia who is new to war, they are already pretty winded up from just breathing the first wisp of war. Add a little prodding like a sneak attack and they can easily fall off the edge, getting themselves killed or make them paranoid to the point they lose their senses. Another reason for a small detachment to wander to an enemy's camp would be to get something like Intel or something tangible.  Either way it is bad, bad enough to upset the balance of one side's army.

Grasping the hilt of my sword, ready to strike them down before they go anywhere near my camp