That night as the moon was at its peak, forty men from the refuge camp set out to surprise their attackers.
They carried a mixture of wooden spears, crossbows and swords. Some even carried axes.
They walked about three miles before they came close to the Blackthorn camp.
These men closely watched the camp just as a falcon watches its prey, they maintained their position till after midnight when their attackers were deep in slumber.
Then they crept slowly into the camp , walking softly and lightly as if any undue movements would joust the sleeping soldiers from their sleep.
The Blackthorn soldiers however were oblivious to the fact that they were going to die that night.
After positioning their selves in the most optimal position, Sir Alfred then gave the order to attack . Immediately they plunged their weapons into the hearts and throats of their enemies killing them on the spot, there was no trading of blows , the soldiers didn't even get the opportunity to to stand up to resist their attackers, it was a straight up massacre, a massacre that didn't take up to five minutes.
After they had dispatched the Blackthorn soldiers they stripped their camp of any thing that had value.
They took their armor, swords, spears , horses and even the clothes that were on their bodies leaving their bodies naked and alone in the forest for beasts to feed off them.
As Ceaser and the rest returned to camp, they were welcomed with songs of praise and dancing. Everybody was so happy that they were able to live another day.
Then Sir Alfred suddenly raised his hand and the crowd quieted down immediately.
" We have won an easy victory, but even as we were the ones who defeated our attackers, it couldn't have been done without the insight and help of one individual, without him our camp would be non existent, without him we and our children would have all starved to death, he is no other than Ceaser Augustus."
Immediately the whole camp started chanting; CEASER! CEASER! CEASER!.
Alfred then continued, "who better to lead us than young Ceaser of eternal insight."
The camp then erupted in more cheers chanting CEASER ,CEASER,CEASER as it echoed around the forest .
Just as they were celebrating a Blackthorn soldier woke up with a start, the stabbing he has received has missed his vitals . As he woke up he immediately picked up himself and fled towards the mining town of Patagonia.
By noon the next day Lord Inca Bataglia who was the Lord placed in charge of Patagonia received word of this armies defeat by the refugees who had escaped from his grasps few months ago.
Lord Inca was from the great house of Bataglia . He held position as the youngest of Count Bataglias sons and was given the mines of Patagonia to manage as rewards for his father's role in defeating the kingdom of Alfonse. He was given five hundred men to hold on to the mines which held up to five thousand prisoners. Now the five hundred men are now reduced to four hundred men.
" What do we do now?" Inca asked the advisor that his father assigned to him, Lord Mel.
Mel thought for a while before asking, " have you identified the leader of the said rabble."
" No I have not, the survivor claimed that their attackers came like ghosts of the night." Inca replied.
" If we cannot locate the leader as to maybe persuade or bribe him to abandon his cause, then we have to find their camp and destroy them before word gets out that you lost one hundred men to a bunch of rabble."
Back at the refuge camp, Ceaser was in his shack with Sir Alfred and Butrus discussing their next plan of action.
" We have won , but it is a minor victory compared to what we will face in future." Ceaser said to them.
" What would you have us do then." Alfred asked, eager to hear the words that fell from the mouth of Ceaser.
" Nothing much, we focus on training the camp to be disciplined in basic swordsmanship, spearman ship and handling of the crossbows." Ceaser replied, " Now we have gained momentum, it is now time for us to attack."
" But you said that we should disregard any notions of attacking." Butrus said.
" Yes , that was before , now let me introduce you to guerilla warfare " Ceaser replied.
In this time period when battles were being fought head on with shield walls and Calvary guerilla warfare was the best strategy in countering a more powerful and numerically advanced enemy.
Ceaser spent the entire time instructing the camp on how to lay traps in the forest, how to hide in the trees while monitoring enemy movement and more especially how to use the hit and run tactics. All these was gathered from one of the greatest loss of the United States of America in Vietnam.
In a moment of tipsiness, he heard his section chief praise the effectiveness of the Vietcong during the Vietnam war. This allowed an army with less equipment as the US to effectively win by attrition.
The United States had lost even when they had well trained soldiers, Ceaser couldn't help but wonder what would happen when an army with less training and discipline gets caught up in the same situation.
And just like clockwork, Inca had rallied three hundred soldiers, leaving one hundred men to guard the mines and the prisoners. He had hoped to finish the subjugation within a week as it took two days to reach the forest area.
His advisor when instructing him had it in mind that the refugees would be celebrating their Minor victory and believed that their victory would have gotten into their heads .
Normally, he would be correct but Ceaser with knowledge from historical instances had strongly advised against pride and underestimating the enemy.
He also knew that his previous tactics might fail except the enemy command was highly incompetent, but he knew that victory was eminent if his plan was followed religiously