"Three Holy Prussian Marks! Three hundred pfennigs for one month of this charlatan! This grifter! This rodent of a man!" yelled Captain Schwarzkopf. "Never! I will never be so desperate to waste the precious financial resources of our beloved Empire on such a person. I can't believe this is what your 'analytical system' has produced! How can we improve our fighting force? That was the question. The answer? Maybe you could have suggested that we train harder! No, of course, not that. Maybe your ridiculous parchments would suggest that we sharpen and oil our weapons more often? No! Perhaps I could have arrived this morning to see that you had hired an Empire Games jousting champion, or a master of close combat fighting? No! Who would ever consider hiring a competent fighter for a war against the Orc Hordes? Certainly not Nicholas Meyer! He is far too clever for any of those approaches! The new Third Lieutenant's suggestion? Hire the scurrying rat man and pay him a King's ransom! What have you to say for yourself?"

  Monday morning was starting off extremely badly. Nicholas Meyer had scheduled an 8:00 am meeting with Mage Wolverine, and so it seemed prudent to step into Schwarzkopf's tent at 6:00 am in order to smooth things over with the boss. So far, it had gone anything but smoothly.

  "Wolverines aren't rodents, sir. they are more closely related to weasels," offered Nicholas Meyer.

  "So it is your suggestion that we offer the highest salary in our entire battalion to a weasel man! What demon has possessed you, Meyer?" asked the Captain.

  "Sir, the parchments do not lie. The magics possessed by this Animalia Mage are exactly what our men require to be successful against the Orcs. I stake my reputation on this," insisted Nicholas Meyer.

  "Your reputation as a stew pot cook or your reputation as a provisional Third Lieutenant of one week, who has never seen combat? In either case you have no 'reputation' to stake!"

  "Well then, give the man my salary. I don't need it. The only thing I ever spend money on is parchment paper and ink and you have graciously supplied me with months and months worth of these materials." There was one point of interest Nicholas Meyer kept focusing on. The day before Nicholas had acted as the paymaster for the entire battalion. Every soldier and every officer had received their due in a very long day of work, and the source of the money had been a cash box stored in the iron safe located in the Captain's tent. Once every pfennig was dispersed and every t was crossed in the battalion's expenditure book, Nicholas had noticed a considerable surplus amount of unused coinage. Captain Schwarzkopf had explained to Nicholas that the monthly battalion salary budget was 100 Prussian marks or 10,000 pfennigs. Meyer had distributed less than 9000 pfennigs and the unit had been returned to full strength with the arrival of replacement soldiers from Badendorf last Tuesday. So the money required to hire Mage Wolverine should be sitting in the safe beside Schwarzkopf's desk. Nicholas kept staring at the combination lock, wondering if he was right about this.

  "How generous of you, Nicholas! But you are forgetting that you have promised the man five times your monthly salary!" responded Captain Schwarzkopf.

  "Then don't pay me for 5 months, and hire this guy for one month. That will be plenty of time to determine whether this works or not, and I am sure that it will work. I will not only stake my salary to this wizard, but I will stake my life to him. Sir, my data sheets are clear. We will defeat the Orcs." Nicholas couldn't believe that he felt so clear-headed and sure of himself.

  "I cannot do this, Nicholas Meyer."

  "Why not, sir? The money is sitting right in that safe beside you. I saw it with my own eyes last Friday!". Nicholas decided to go for broke.

  That clearly shook the Captain, as he realised that Meyer's stint as paymaster had let him in on some of the financial secrets of the unit. One thing above all was the Captain always protected his ethical integrity, especially when it came to money. Captain Schwarzkopf understood that Nicholas was suggesting that money was available to pay the wizard, unless perhaps it was to be spent somewhere else, possibly unethically. A look of panic appeared on his face.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  He spoke as if he was defending his honour, "The money is in the safe. We receive the monthly salary budget each month and spend it responsibly. Throughout the Empire, military units spend money like drunken sailors, paying too much, seeking money lenders, and going into debt. The best of them spend their salary money down to the last pfennig, avoiding debt. But the Flying Eagles are the most responsible of all! In the whole Prussian Empire we are the only battalion who returns a surplus to the crown each and every month! I pride myself in this. I am famous for this, and I plan, as I always do, to return our surplus to the financial office in Koblenz tomorrow! Do you wish me to prove this to you with previous receipts? They are inside my filing cabinet!"

  Well there it was! He had the money to improve the fighting qualities of the unit. But he never spent it out of a misplaced sense of honour. Nicholas Meyer had his angle.

  "Sir! I would never question your moral integrity! Not about money or any other aspect of your service, but surely you will agree that the greatest source of honour to our Kaiser is to provide him with military victory! Sir!" Nicholas wondered if it would be enough.

  The answer came sooner than he expected. "One month. That is all. Dismissed."

  ___________________________________________________________________________________

  About an hour later Lieutenant Hartmann limped into his tent with a parchment envelope. Three Holy Prussian gold marks were inside the envelope.

  Soon after, without fanfare Eagleclaw Wolverine appeared in Nicholas's tent, much like before. He seemed pleased to receive his payment and even agreed to tour the base with Nicholas, meeting representatives of the cavalry units, the infantry units and the horse artillery detachments. He even sniffed the rocket propellant powder displayed to him by members of the rocket launchers. After meeting Lieutenant Hartmann, it was time to see Schwarzkopf. The Captain was cold and brief in his greeting, but not negative, suggesting just one thing. "You two must design a strategy to make best use of mage Wolverine's abilities and present the plan clearly to myself. I will not accept failure in this regard. We depart Friday, for the eastern front, and I fully expect to be engaged in battle by the end of next week, if not sooner. The Orc tribes are once again, on the march.

  __________________________________________________________________________________________

  Eleven days later, the Flying Eagles battalion found themselves in a familiar position, deployed just behind the battle lines in the army centre. The army was the Silesian defence force, hastily constructed to defend a series of trading posts serving the Kossack tribal areas of the Slavic lands. Orcs had been raiding trading caravans for months, which was bad enough, but now a local Orc tribe leader had managed to amalgamate several competing bands to form a formidable fighting force. It was said that they even had a captured stone giant, trained to fight with the Orcs.

  The Silesian defence force consisted of three battalions and a dozen assorted detachments, all deployed across the Pripet valley, which was the main access from the east to the trading settlements threatened by the Orcs. If the Orc leader gained access to the valley, the settlements would surely fall.

  The Flying Eagles represented the only reserves available to the Silesian, Regimental defence force commander, General Helmut von Beisbrook. If the battle went badly, the Eagles would be required to act as rear-guard. As usual.

  Empire scouts indicated significant movements of Orcs early the next morning, Wednesday, March 24th in Theodor's year of 962. Orcs did not hide the movements of their army. The other three battalions, 121, 237 and 334 deployed their troops into the valley from the left to the right of the battlefield. Visibility for the Flying Eagles was not good. Their reserve position was rather low down, and behind a stand of alder trees mixed with Maples, newly leafed out with spring time fresh growth. Nicholas Meyer pulled out three parchment battalion representations from his leather satchel. He had written the sheets up the day previously from information gleaned at the battle preparation meeting held the day before on top of the Hawks Nest hilltop observation lookout for von Beisbrook's staff.

  121st battalion - Flaming Lions--------------237th battalion - Grizzly Bears------------------334th battalion - Blue herons

  Units:

  100 Spearmen with shields------------------100 Swordsmen------------------------------------100 Spearmen

  100 Crossbowmen------------------------------100 Broadswordsmen----------------------------100 Swordsmen

  100 Handgunners-------------------------------100 Halberdsmen----------------------------------100 Handgunners

  3 Mortars-------------------------------------------3 Great Cannon------------------------------------2 Great Cannon

  20 Sun Knights cavalry-------------------------30 Black Knights cavalry-------------------------20 Knights of Theodor cavalry

  20 Outriders cavalry-----------------------------20 Outriders cavalry-------------------------------20 Karabiner cavalry

  The 237th brigade artillery detachment of three great cannons fired the opening salvo in the battle, the enormous cannon booms echoing up and down the valley. The battle was on!

  S