The Gnome Cavalry

"Barrage of Expendables" image by Trevor Claxton, who is here on blogspot!

© Wizards of the Coast 2013

There was a new boy in camp. He had not been briefed yet on the situation of war. He knew they used explosives and catapults to break lines -- their military was famous for it. They had defeated many other armies with the explosives and catapults and their strong infantry. Their siege engineers and chemists were the nation's pride. He had not, however, heard about the 'Gnome Cavalry' the men were talking about.

"Oh man those gnomes saved our asses last week." The sergeant. 

"They did. Came into the enemy's left flank and broke their front line at the same time." One of the men. 

The boy had not seen any horses. He supposed they were held elsewhere, with the obviously high ranked Gnomish Cavalry officers. 

"You'll learn to love them son. What'd you say your name was?" The sergeant was talking to him now, as the other man had walked off.

"Robert. Robert Craghorn."

"Well alright Craig. You're going to love these cavalry before we're done, I'm telling you."

"Why do they need gnomes? Could I be one?"

"Well, the gnomes weigh less, so they make the better jockeys. Plus their religion has something to do with horses. You're probably not too heavy yet, if you decide that's what you want to do."

"Jockeys? Isn't that a disrespectful way to talk about cavalry officers? They have to ride and attack and know how to use their armor and weapons. They're higher risk than most infantry positions. And they've earned the right to be called cavalry, haven't they?"

"Oh, no. They'll pretty much let anyone light enough who's willing be a jockey. Most of them are fine with the nickname. They don't care what we say anyway, we're just infantry. They're real religious, pretty pious, understand. They're not very good for company but they do a hell of a job."

Robert realized the gnomes must be paladins. He hadn't realized his country's military employed real paladins. His respect for the Gnome Cavalry rose. The sergeant simply didn't know what he was talking about. 

"Well, I'm glad to have them at least."

"Ye betch yer ass ye-rr boy." Another soldier joined the conversation, and Rob could tell he was in for the long-haul.

Several hours later, Rob returned to his assigned location, having met his sergeant and some of his mates, and pitched his tent. The next morning it'd be time to move out, and they were supposed to be prepared for battle at all times over the next week. Which meant it would probably be about four or five days in, but there was no telling with this general, he had been told. He fell asleep and dreamed of riding with the paladins. He was confused why they needed to be gnomes, or why they should not be heavy men, so that was not part of his dream, and the horses were warhorses and the men were large and kind and strong and holy. He was one of them, surrounded by armor, with a lance and a mace and a sword, and a heavy strong horse below him that was his third best friend, after his God and his lord. He woke up dead set on becoming one of the paladins, and he said his morning prayers and ate his morning meal and packed his tent and gear with purpose, trying to be noticed.

"What's the hurry chief? You're ready an hour early. Making everybody look bad." His sergeant again.

"Just trying to do a good job sir."

"Well wait around a bit. People are going to think you /really/ want to be in the gnome cavalry, and maybe they'll even help you get there." The sergeant turned away before grinning or letting the glimmer enter his eye, so he didn't see the boy beam, or realize that the boy would take it as a compliment. 

The time came to march, and the boy tried to march. He kept up pretty well, but he drank more than his share of water, and stumbled a bit. At lunch he ate part of his dinner, and the next day, he was not feeling well. Fortunately over the next two days, he was forced to keep moving, and started following his ration recommendation better, and got a little more sleep, and he felt a lot better by the fourth day. They moved around quickly for a couple more days, and just when his legs were starting to feel a little less like jelly, they saw the enemy across he way. The engineers began setting up the collapsible catapults  and the chemist's tents were set up shortly before the enemy charged. The enemy commander had decided to get close and attack before the chemists and catapults could become part of the fight, a bold move but a strong one. The infantry moved to meet them, and Robert watched the edges of the field, hoping the cavalry would come. He had been told that the cavalry showed up during the battle, and that they were not readily apparent while the army was moving. One of the Sergeant's friends had let him know that the army kept the horses hidden away, so that the enemy wouldn't see them coming.

Rob was three lines back, and before long it was his turn to fight  but until he reached the front he looked all around for the cavalry. Finally he reached the front and fought, until it was time to rotate the lines again. He killed three men, being a more than competent fighter and being endowed with divine fervor, wishing to become one of the riders after being noticed, but then the time came to rotate and he fell back and comrades moved forward. The sergeant had been on the line with him, and had also lived through the first fight, and the sergeant told him he had done a good job. 

They moved through another rotation and explosions began. Horrific screaming and packages flying into the air and exploding just before they reached the battlefield. He wondered how they timed the charges so perfectly, but then he saw a package flying through the air just above his head, screaming. Squirming. The package was hit with an arrow, and made a terrible scream. Its arms and legs flailed and he realized it was a gnome with something strapped to it. It hit the ground in the enemy's third line and exploded. His sergeant yelled to him: "Move, move! The line's broken but the advantage won't exploit itself!" He sat there stunned. He could see the exploded corpse, the pieces of legs and arms. The sergeant killed a man who lunged for Rob, then pulled his arm. "I SAID LET'S GO!" Rob fell back into the mindset of combat, and he and the sergeant pushed the line with the other men on the front. Another gnome came flying over their heads, and this one was not shot. When he got close enough, Rob could hear the screaming, but it wasn't screaming, it was cackling. The gnome exploded fifteen feet above the enemy troops in front of them, and breaking the line was less difficult than before. The enemy was running forward though, because the sky was filled with gnomes, flying towards the back of the enemy rank, and the cackling was sickening, and could be heard above the sounds of war at times. That's when he realized: they weren't horses. They were explosives. He had heard that gnomes were religious before, but now he remembered their religion was strange, and he realized why. People had told him it was strange, but that had always been enough, and he hadn't asked why. Now he knew why. He fought on. 

"The Gnome Cavalry" Flash Fiction © Ben Clardy V

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.