Last of the Charbons

by Black Owl

The Lion and the Fox

Only the howling wind could be heard in the deadly silence of the muddy trenches, soldiers from both sides hiding under the protection of dirt and mud, waiting for the other to make the first move. The last time the front moved was a month ago, and even then it was the flowenan's pushing a measly few meters, the front was stagnant while the soldiers seemed contempt to sit inside their well defended trenches, even the officers were incapable of making them move, such was the flowenian-greifwald front. That was before the foxes struck.

It all begun at the greifwald front, during one of the many silent nights. Far behind the the trenches stood a town of tents filled with commanders discussing ways to be able to finally break past the flowenian lines. "We should just pull out soldiers from the centre and push both the north and the south for a quick pincer! Sitting here on our asses won't win the bloody war." Spoke General Redfeather as he slammed his claw onto the battle map.

"We've been trying to break through their lines for weeks, do you think bashing our heads over and over into their lines will work?" Graywing barked towards the general but was quickly stopped by a few classified documents being thrown at his face. "You red feathered-"

"Just take a look at those reports, that'll make you get on my side, we can't afford to sit on our asses and slowly push them back." Redfeather's interruption gained a growl from Graywing, but the old griffon gave in and opened the documents while motioning for other commanders to read them as well. Yet, instead of calming him down, the report only made the old commander angrier.

"Just how long has this been happening without me hearing a bloody word about it!?" Screamed Redfeather before throwing the report to subordinates. "Greenwing, Farsky, I want you two to get me a detailed report on these incidents, everyone else, GET TO YOUR POSTS!" The Griffons in question saluted before quickly rushing out of the tent, the others quickly following behind, leaving only Redfeather and Graywing inside the command tent. "How in the hell did the flowenans get so many saboteurs behind our supply lines and how did the Boreas forsaken PLAGUE appear inside our country!?"

---

Through the darkness of the night, a company of flowenan griffons split on both sides of a paved road that led to the greifwald headquarters. They were all laying close to the ground, using the overgrown flora to hide themselves from anything crossing said road. The soldiers were nervous, not only because of the mission they've been given, but also because of a certain grey griffon standing among them. Many of the soldiers chosen for the mission were old militiagriffs turned soldiers, all of which once worked under Nicolas while he was a mere militia commander. The trust built in all those years was the only thing helping them calm down.

Soon enough, their waiting paid off as one of their spotters made a signal of something approaching, that something being a row of trucks were seen coming down the road towards the greifwald camp. Seeing this sight the soldiers quickly started whispering to each other, only to be quickly silenced by their prince and commander disguised as a greifwald Officer. "Quiet down! Get into position and wait for my signal. Make sure you move in unison." Right as he finished his orders, he quickly jumped into the middle of the road, waving his claws with a worried look.

When the leading driver saw the grey officergriff he immediately slammed his paw on the breaks, surprised by his sudden appearance. After stopping the trucks, the leader of the caravan disembarked his ride and walked towards the unknown officer. "What's going on here? What's your name and why aren't you at your post!?"

"There's been an issue with infiltrators recently, we'll need to search the trucks to make sure you really are who you seem to be." Responded the disguised prince.

"Fine, but make sure its quick." The leader groaned in annoyance, before going back into his truck while the prince signalled to his troops. And without missing a beat, soldiers came out from each side of the road and before the caravan could realise what was going on the flowenan soldiers quickly overwhelmed the caravan. After dealing with the soldiers, a few of Nicolas' griffs disguised themselves using the dead's uniforms, taking their place in the caravan, the rest of the forces hiding inside the trucks, throwing out a few supplies in the process so they could all fit inside then resumed driving towards the unsuspecting greifwald encampment.

---

The atmosphere in the greifwald camp was sober, the recent news from the front making the few commanders and generals remaining in the camp quite worried about the war's continuation. Yet, there was one bright side to this situation, a caravan was scheduled to arrive in the evening with much needed supplies that would, hopefully, brighten the mood of the exhausted staff. Even though the supply trucks arrived an hour late, they were still gleefully greeted by the tired soldiers around the camp as the newly arrived 'reinforcements' started scattering around the camp.

While the disguised flowenans disembarked, an angry looking Redfeather approached the front of the supply trucks. "What took you so long? You were supposed to be here an hour ago, and where the hell is Greenfeather?" In response to the screaming general, the disguised prince jumped out of the truck and walked towards him before stopping in front of him with a salute. But, just as the general was about to question the grey griffon, he was suddenly interrupted when said griffon grabbed him and held a gun at his head, while the prince's entourage bringing up their arms as they surrounded the gathering of greifwald soldiers.

Seeing that his men were about to bring up their guns to fight back, Redfeather quickly spoke up towards. "Don't bring up your guns you feathered morons!" His scream quickly stopping all soldiers in their tracks. "We surrender, keep us as prisoners, you'll get better morale from your troops that way."

"You speak truth, so, lets have a seat and talk. Disarm everyone, and send signal white. The operation continues as planned." Soon enough, the greifwald soldiers were disarmed and put inside the supply trucks while the prince and Redfeather moved towards the command tent. While the officers inside the tent, clueless about the flowenan infiltration until now, were quite shocked at first, they quickly decided its best to follow their general's lead.

"Take a seat mister Redfeather, let us have a short talk about what will happen to you and your men." With the exception of a few curses and a lot of grumbling, the red griffon took a seat at the opposite side of the flowenan prince.

"Cut to the chase already you grey bastard, what's your plan? You wouldn't have went to chat with the 'filthy communist' otherwise." Redfeather growled while glaring at the chuckling prince.

"There's no need to rush, the flowenan army will soon overrun your lines as the rest of your command points are taken over by a mass infiltration force." Said Nicolas before grabbing one of the files the greifwald commanders were reading over earlier, giving a whistle after he finished reading them. "Quite a good plan you got here, too bad it got 'leaked'."

"Damned traitors!" The red griffon growled while slamming his claw onto the table. "Just tell me what you want flowenan, I would rather not spend all day in your tea party."

"Of course, general. What I want is some help from you in exchange for you life. More men are needed if we are to stop what's coming. I assume you know of what our little friends from Aquileia are planning, unless your spies are more incompetent than I thought." Responded the prince before whispering something to a soldier which quickly bowed and left the tent.

"Fine, lets hear your Boreas damned idea." Spat the general while the prince gave a low chuckle.

Author's Note:

A new chapter a year later because I have horribly slow writing schedule combined with me getting in an accident that made me unable to walk and an addiction to ttrpgs made things as slow as possible. This story has one more chapter till its done, afterwards I'll work on something more proper, but it all depends on the free time I got.