Heshima gave the Iron Bone Tribe's army another mission. Besides attacking the fortress, the Barbarians would send numerous small elite units across the Border Defense Line to stir up chaos behind the Border Fortress, forcing its defenders to fight on two fronts.
They had tried this before and abandoned it because the results had been so poor. The Barbarian army had used it to dispose of many elite fighters from smaller tribes that harbored dissent, while holding out a sliver of hope that the raids might shake the defenders' resolve. But those fighters had vanished like rivers flowing into the sea, leaving no trace.
With time running short, Heshima proposed the tactic again to improve their chances of victory. This time, though, he would not send troops from the smaller tribes. He would send his own Iron Bone Tribe forces.
The Iron Bone Tribe's troops were far better organized than the ragtag forces of the smaller tribes. Only a disciplined force stood a chance of crossing the rugged border, slipping past the Border Patrol Cavalry's blockade, and pushing deep into Two Rivers County.
Under attack from Two Rivers County's patrol cavalry, these elite units would have to hold together and find ways to link up. Only once they reached sufficient numbers could they make a difference.
Heshima and his subordinates had analyzed why the smaller tribes' units had failed. They had never managed to combine their strength. After crossing the border in small groups, they had immediately come under attack from the Border Patrol Cavalry. Unfamiliar with the terrain, each group had fought alone. Whenever they finally gathered seventy or eighty men, they were wiped out.
Those earlier operations had at least given the Barbarians a clear picture of Two Rivers County's Border Patrol Cavalry. It numbered nearly two thousand