He left them at their table behind the wagon and went in search of the men. They weren't far. Like the other soldiers, they'd been settling down whilst they could to indulge in some of their rations. They'd overturned a few drier bits of wood and were sitting on them while they could.
Some had even got fires started – there was no point in hiding now, after all, since they were right in front of the enemy's walls.
He found Rofus with half a mouth full of bread. He was the first that Oliver chose. Despite his all too laid-back attitude, he liked to think that there was more to the sergeant than mere jokes. Soldiery was not a profession that people tended to grow old in, after all.
"Eh? What are we doing?" Rofus said once he'd finished his mouthful. "Scouting? Us? But we've got scouts for that. Quick men.
They're better at it than me."
"You're my men and this is my task," Oliver said. "Scout or not, you'll learn." He was impatient to get going and was more curt with the sergeant than he'd been before. The sergeant seemed to respond to that tone, for he spared Oliver and further japes.
"Who else?" Rofus asked.
"Who's fast? We don't want clumsy men either. We want to move quietly," Oliver said.
"I suppose you'll want Gamrod… He's built like a fighting dog, he is, but he can move surprisingly well when he wants to. Who else… hmm… Obviously not Amberlan, he can barely make his way to pisser quietly," Rofus said.
"Choose," Oliver told him. "You have two minutes. Join me at the treeline then."
"Right you are," Rofus said, giving him a salute. His bread was gone in a few more mouthfuls. Now that he'd been given a task, he strode purposefully towards where the other men were gathered and began pointing fingers and giving orders. They too responded to his more serious way of carrying himself. They looked from him and back towards Oliver as he approached the tree line.
They nodded their understanding.
They seemed to realize that they'd be part of something important. Northman was looking over at them as they stood up, as were the other sergeants gathered around his table.
Rarely were so few men entrusted with tasks that could change the entire course of their mission. Especially men without any rank to them. Even the way they walked changed under the weight of that responsibility. They shifted their weight to their toes, and balanced themselves better, their shoulders tight and their heads level, looking for danger even before they'd made it to the scene.
They found Oliver where he said he'd be, on the edge of the woodline. He looked into the darkness with sharp eyes, but it was more the sounds of the forest that he was concentrating on. Tracking was not his expertise. Especially not looking at animal tracks and the more subtle signs. He needed something obvious to inform him, like footprints.
If Nila had been there, she likely would have been able to find the camp far more easily.
This time, though, there was no Nila. There were no obvious signs. No arrows to follow. No men on the edge of the woods. There was just an endless expanse and a general direction that they'd decided to follow, based on the confessions of a bandit.
The girl herself was likely glad for that. No doubt she was busy growing her hunting business. Oliver expected that she'd likely made even more gold than him by now. Or perhaps not – the noble funds that he'd been attaining from the Academy were outlandish.
"You spotted anything, Ser?" Rofus asked.
"…No," Oliver said. It had been a shot in the dark more than anything else, but still, it was worth the try. Their only option, it seemed, was to go forward. "Let's move, then," he said, turning to look at the others. "They aren't expecting us to be looking for them, so we have that to our advantage. Still, stay on your toes.
If we find a scout, we'll question him before we dispatch him. Understood?"
It was the first proper order they'd given him and they responded to it far more willingly than they likely would have earlier. They were almost like his own men. Almost.
They plunged into the woods.
Oliver matched his pace to theirs as he pushed through the forest snow. It was shallower here than it was on the outside, but that didn't do much to alleviate how gruelling it was to run through. He could see that the soldiers were already panting as he led them and he slowed his pace even further, keeping an eye on the trees as he went.
A bird flew away nearby. But that was a reaction to them, rather than something else. He ignored it. His plan, given that he had no other signs to follow, was simply to charge straight towards where he assumed the camp to be – that was right opposite the fort.
The men were wise to keep their silence. Even Rofus seemed to have nothing to say. They quietly leapt over the trench left by a frozen stream, as Oliver paused once again to take in their surroundings.
He'd done that three times already. It seemed necessary. Pausing at regular intervals to allow the men time to rest, but also to keep him a more detailed study of his surroundings and a chance to pick up on any signs that he might have missed.
More and more he was feeling like a brute, as though he was a caveman trying to write with a rock. Compared to the way Nila had moved through the forest tracking prey back in Solgrim, he was a complete bumbling buffoon. All he could do was his best to keep quiet and search for signs that something was off.
"Few animal tracks there," Rofus said as the men paused. Oliver hadn't overlooked the fact that Rofus hardly seemed to be breathing heavy. Compared to the toll the quick run was taking on the rest, it seemed to be easy for Rofus. "Squirrel, probably. Come to think of it, what the fuck is a squirrel doing moving around here in the winter? There's nothing for it eat."