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Jophu was brimming with excitement. They had just shot Rayal's eldest son. True, the wound was not life threatening, but it was a wound no less. It was proof to the Clayarks that these sons of the Patternmaster were not invincible. And perhaps they were even conquerable.
Johpu wondered how so much had happened in so short a period of time. Just two weeks ago he was nothing more than a tracker for his regiment and the Clayarks were still at the mercy of the Patternists. He had caught the attention of General Kai when he discovered that Rayal actually had two sons and that they both now resided in the Redhill sector. Since that he had been The General's right hand man. Certainly others who he had surpassed were jealous, but there was no time for arguments or fighting amongst the Clayarks now. They now had to focus all of their energy on the defeat of the Patternists.
At the same time that Jophu had discovered Rayal's second son, the Clayarks of the Redhill sector received a new shipment of weaponry from the Eastern Mountains. Ever since the Clayarks had wounded Rayal almost twenty years ago, they had set up a secret development site in the mountains. There, they developed and tested new weapons they could use to fight against the Patternists. The challenge was to invent guns that could fire at greater and greater distances. This would allow their snipers to be out of range of the Patternist's Mind Field so they could get off a shot before they are killed by the Mind Death. The guns in the latest shipment could do just that. This is what allowed them to wound Rayal's eldest and what would hopefully allow them to kill him.
Now, however, the Patternists had heightened their awareness and Jophu ordered the Clayarks to back away. He thought it best for the regiment to regroup and attack again later. He knew that the Patternists were now scared. And with such a large group of Patternists traveling together he knew that they wouldn't lose sight of them.
"Of course wait!" he said aloud to himself. The General was supposed to be arriving later on that afternoon and he would certainly want to see the end of the Patternists' Regime. Wow, the end of the Patternists' Regime. It had always been something that Clayarks had merely dreamed about, but now it was becoming reality.
"Captain!" One of the troops was running towards him. "Captain, General Kai is coming over the hill."
Most of the Clayark troops feared The General. He expected all the men to be in uniform at all times during the day, the camp to be in perfect pattern, and the men to be in top form before an attack. Traditionally Clayarks were a messy and unorganized race, but The General had been trying to change all of that. He was a stickler for his rules and the regiments knew this. The mere mention of his voice scared them. Two weeks ago Jophu may have felt the same way, but not today. Sure he was a little earlier than Jophu had expected, and no they were not ready for him, but he knew The General would be so pleased with the news of their imminent victory that he wouldn't even notice the disorganized troops.
The General came bounding over the hill, leading his troops. Jophu decided to meet him half way. "General, We have a tent prepared for you."
The General nodded and they walked towards the camp. The tent was actually Jophu's quarters, but the General wouldn't know the difference. Once inside the tent they crouched on the ground and Jophu began to draw their tactical positioning in the dirt.
He had a dispersal of stones laid out, which he was now motioning to. "These are the ruins which lay about 10 miles south-west of our current position," he wiped the dirt away to the left of the stones. "On this side of the ruins is the ocean." The General began to smile as he saw where Jophu's plan was heading. Jophu continued with pride, "If we can push the group of Patternists into the ruins and then surround them…"
Jophu walked alongside of General Kai as they went through the camp and rounded up the troops. The Clayark men were haggard and tired from the day's movements and fighting. The General shouted orders for the men to break camp and be ready for another movement within the hour.
As the men broke the tents down and gathered their supplies on their backs, Jophu and General Kai went over the plans again for the attack.
"I haven't been to that territory in many years, do you know if the ruins are still standing?" The General asked.
"I sent a scout ahead earlier this morning to get a layout of the area. He said that the ruins were partially standing. That will give the Patternists shelter from our snipers. If they take advantage of the shelter that they have, we will have to send in the troops in a large wave in the hopes of getting a closer vantage point or scaring them out. We will have them surrounded by snipers. So if they are scared out they can be picked off by our men up on higher ground."
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