Mong Rau scratched his chin with one of his long claws and grumbled thoughtfully. The besiegers did not seem to react to his army's presence despite doubtlessly knowing about his numbers. He knew no steppe people who understood the intricacies of multi-layered strategies. They had an instinct for tactics in the midst of battle, but executing a series of maneuvers to achieve an overarching goal was foreign to them. They needed to see immediate results, or they would not do it. Mong Rau had learned that through many battles against their kind. Yet, he could sense that there was a will behind this siege that went beyond the immediate gain of plundering the contents of the earthen fort.

That was the reason he remained cautious in the center while his two flanks moved independently. Under normal circumstances, his army could have already overrun the inferior enemy, but these were not normal circumstances. He needed to assess all the risks before he could move out with this army granted to him by the emperor.

However, Nav Soua did not have such doubts. He charged forth, eager to prove himself and gain recognition so that he might eventually replace the foreign general. When he led his detachment over a hill, he found the westernmost earthen fort surrounded by enemies, and anticipation turned into readiness. That was why he did not realize that they were not genuinely trying to scale the walls and merely drummed up noise to make it look like a siege.

As his army of ten thousand approached, the barbarians hastily retreated on their mounts, leaving behind their few siege weapons. Nav Soua ordered his troops to secure a perimeter while he approached the battered gate. It was a wonder it had held out until now. Somebody opened it from the inside and let him in even before he gave the command. In his sense of triumph, he did not think it strange and rode inside with his unit.

Nav Soua rode down the main street toward the town square, noticing that the buildings were in a worse condition than expected. Many buildings had already burnt out, and the roads were covered in debris. But before suspicion about the absence of the fort's population could arise, he had already reached the square where a large bonfire burned. He blinked his eyes in confusion. This was not a smoke signal; the regulation was to light it from the gatehouse.

A cheer rose from the walls, and countless people appeared on them. Before Nav Soua could understand the situation, a hail of arrows pelted his unit from all sides. One pierced his neck, and the Samagshin officer fell off his mount. He would not see the ensuing slaughter within the walls while his army outside was beset by the returning steppe warriors, reinforced by the full might of the coalition.

On the eastern side, Fau Tu found an empty fort with a bonfire burning on its ruined town square. His lookouts reported a few steppe riders escaping into the distance but no signs of an army. The tracks in the hardened mud outside the city suggested the feet that trampled the area had left many days ago.

Fau Tu was a minor noble who gained his rank through his family's connections. But even someone with little strategic acumen like him quickly grasped the situation. He sent a messenger on the fastest Doja Shou in his army to inform the general while he led his troops along the river to check the next fort. Still, he already suspected that they were all empty.

The enemy had clearly lured them into splitting up their numbers. The question was where they would strike with their full force. If there were twenty thousand barbarian warriors, his army would likely be able to hold out until reinforcements from General Mong Rau arrived. So perhaps they targeted the general himself, trying to kill him quickly and remove the head of this punitive force while the two detachments were busy checking the forts one by one.

That thought caused Fau Tu to reconsider his actions. If the general were killed, he would be able to take command. Of course, he needed to play it right so that his army was not wiped out in the process. If he then defeated the steppe raiders, he would doubtlessly be granted the rank of general. It would bring honor to his family and rid the empire of a barbarian who wormed his way into a high military position in one stroke.

With these thoughts, he led his troops back toward the center to support the main army. It was a course of action born from greed, but it turned out to be the correct decision to save the punitive force.

"Damn, it's too early." Viyal gnashed her teeth when she saw the army that headed east appear over the horizon, ignoring the empty forts along the way. Mong Rau's main army had moved to support the western detachment, leaving behind roughly a thousand troops as rearguard to delay an immediate pursuit from Chief Tobogur and Commander Yasuca's armies at the two forts before them. They would be forced to withdraw against the much larger force. At that time, the fresh eastern detachment would be able to link up with Mong Rau and bear down on the coalition army with their full might.

What had gone wrong? Viyal wondered if perhaps leaving the eastern forts empty had been too ambitious. The enemy must have seen through their strategy the moment they noticed the unattended bonfires and came straight back without checking the other forts. Leaving ambushers inside might have prevented this, but they could not afford to split their army into too many parts.

No, that was an excuse. She should have treated this like a game of chess and sacrificed some pawns to draw pressure away from the important pieces. However, she could not get over the fact that she was moving real living people. The warriors left in ambush inside the forts would have been surrounded by enemies with no way out and killed off easily after the initial surprise.

Surely, Amiro or Ivakha would have been able to make that decision. However, they did not have the insight to build on Viyal's suggestion further, accepting it with barely any adjustments. Well, neither did she; only when the situation unfolded step by step could she see the inadequacies and mistakes in her calculations.

"We need to warn them," Viyal declared and turned her Shinoon around. Her family was down there fighting and could not see the overall situation. They would be hit in the rear by Mong Rau's army while still busy with the detachment in the west.

"No, it's too dangerous. Send one of the messengers," Yunil stopped her and pointed at the group of warriors Viyal's father left her with. She remembered that they were no longer here secretly. Amiro had officially endorsed her getting close enough to watch the battle from afar now and assigned a dozen riders to guard her in case the enemy sent soldiers their way.

"Go, warn my father of the incoming army from the west," Viyal gestured for any of them to deliver the message. They exchanged confused glances before one understood her order and rode off. She then addressed another man, a young Jagul warrior, "Inform Chief Tobogur and Commander Yasuca that the enemy from the west will have to pass through them. It is their decision what to do."

She was not even an advisor in this battle, so she could only hope they would make the right choice. They could either try to delay the enemy reinforcements through force and buy the coalition's main army some time or try to lure them away by heading in another direction. The former was guaranteed to work but would result in losses, while the latter meant the enemy could ignore them and continue on their path.

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Viyal anxiously watched the riders head down the hill and turned to Altuna for advice. "What should we do?"

"There is nothing we can do but pray to Azakhal for the coalition's success," said the Shaankhor princess, staring off into the distance.

"We can ride along the river and see for ourselves, at least," suggested Tashi.

"Yes, let's go," she responded, gathering her feelings with a nod. This strategy was based on her input, so she had a responsibility to see it through to the end, no matter what form it took. One part of her hoped that her status as a chosen one meant that things would go as she wanted. If the coalition failed here, how was she expected to fulfill her prophecy as the Omen Child in a reasonable amount of time?

Yunil led the way, carrying her spear at the ready as if expecting enemies to spring forth out of nowhere and ambush them. Viyal followed closely, looking back across the hills and the river to keep Mong Rau's troops in her view. They traveled much slower than steppe people since they had infantry in their ranks, but it would not matter when they appeared in the rear of an army already locked in battle.

The two thousand garrison troops were routed within minutes when the coalition dealt the empire its first strike. However, that was against poorly-trained soldiers who ran into a volley of arrows and lost their commander during what seemed like a victorious pursuit. Even if the ambush at the western forts succeeded, ten thousand professional soldiers would not go down that soon.

Viyal was right in her assumption. The coalition army had fully surrounded the enemy, firing arrows at the empire soldiers from all sides and blocking any path of escape. They were rats caught in a trap, struggling futilely against the inevitable. Still, they numbered several thousand, fighting valiantly to the end.

The towering shields the empire prided itself in protected them against ranged attacks and direct charges by the mounted steppe warriors. However, whenever they tried to open gaps to shoot back with their crossbows, arrows and spears would find their way inside and claim victims. Thus, all they could do was huddle together, hoping reinforcements would arrive before long.

Viyal could see the moment the messenger told those in charge about the approaching Mong Rau. A noticeable change went through the coalition army, and two-thirds of it disengaged from the remaining Gadat to gather up in their tribal units. They would not have the same absolute numerical superiority as they did against the western detachment now.

"What is going on over there?" Altuna looked back and peered across the land with her piercing glare. "Mong Rau has stopped his army. Maybe they think they're too late."

"Wouldn't you normally still try to save those trapped behind enemy lines?" Viyal wondered, earning her a confused look from the Shuva. The idea of leaving nobody behind, even at the cost of sustaining more losses, seemed to be modern thinking. She made a mental note to bury that notion in this world.

"Our warriors will still take care of them before the reinforcements from the east arrive," declared Altuna with a confident nod.

"I'm not so sure about that." Viyal did not share her optimistic spirit. Even though the western detachment suffered an ambush, it was able to hold on for this long without being annihilated. However, Mong Rau was wary of the coalition army's numbers and prepared to face them in the field with a mobile fortress formation from the beginning. He would not be an easy target.

"Wait, he's turning around and leaving!" Tashi exclaimed, pulling Viyal from her thoughts. She stared at Mong Rau's army as it turned on its heel and marched back where it came from. Normally, it would have had to switch around the vanguard, center, and rearguard if it wanted to make a complete turn. However, this veteran general understood that speed was important and sacrificed a degree of army cohesion to achieve that. Now, his vanguard was the rearguard, even if it was less suited for it.

A lone rider traveled along the river, approaching from the direction Viyal and her group came from. He was a Bavadi on a Shinoon, so they knew he was a messenger of the coalition. The young man noticed them standing on the hill overlooking the area but continued to ride onward along the riverbed. He soon crossed it at a shallow place and headed for the coalition army in the distance.

Moments later, another rider appeared in his wake. It was the messenger they had sent to Chief Tobogur and Commander Yasuca to warn them of the eastern detachment returning too early. Right as he entered their hearing range, he stood up on his horse and cupped his mouth to inform them, "The chief and commander have decided to face the enemy detachment and delay them!"

This meant the five thousand troops that were besieging the two forts were now likely already tied up with roughly ten thousand enemies. Perhaps that was the reason Mong Rau turned his forces around. A scout must have informed him of the situation, leading him to force his army to march back so quickly. He would be able to hit Tobogur's and Yasuca's forces from the rear and pincer them with overwhelming numbers.

"And so, the strategy crumbles," Viyal muttered, peering across the land. The coalition's main army did not know the situation yet, but by the time they were informed, it would be too late to catch up to the enemy before they hit Tobogur and Yasuca in the rear. At that time, they would be forced to commit to an all-out battle to save them. It would be a decisive clash with nearly equal numbers.

Back at the strategy meeting, Viyal thought Ivakha the Snowblood's plan was too complex and optimistic in predicting how the enemy would behave. She made this strategy much simpler with that in mind. But reality now taught her that a battlefield was inherently unpredictable. Even though it seemed like the enemy acted within her calculations at first, they made several decisions that now rendered the planned overwhelming victory impossible.

"What can we do?" She looked between the coalition main army as it continued to form up in anticipation of Mong Rau's approach. It looked like they would leave around five thousand troops behind to tie down the western detachment's remnants. It left them with a little over fifteen thousand warriors, still more than enough to deal with the ten thousand enemies they anticipated.

However, they were unable to see over the hills from their position and did not know that Mong Rau continued to increase the distance to them. It was ever more unlikely for them to catch up before they pincered Tobogur and Yasuca with the eastern detachment. The messenger already rode like the wind, but it would take a bit longer before he arrived to inform them.

"Nothing," Yunil responded with a downcast gaze. They had a dozen riders, not even a drop in the ocean compared to the enemy. This whole situation had been out of her sister's hands the moment the strategy meeting ended. "We have to believe that our people will win in the end."

"We return to prayer," added Altuna, raising her wings to the sky in worship of Azakhal. Unlike most steppe people, she did not let religion cloud her judgment of worldly matters, but at certain times, she would defer to its power over one's heart.

"If prayer worked, the world would be a much better place," Viyal argued with a click of her tongue. She noticed the moment the words left her lips that she was lashing out from frustration. Altuna turned to look at her calmly, and Viyal averted her gaze in shame.

"Let us go and watch. Depending on how things go, we will have to head back first and warn the rest of the coalition," Tashi broke the moment of tension with a suggestion, but it only invited enmity.

"So you suggest our warriors could lose?" Yunil flared up, baring her fangs.

"I suggested it first," came unexpected help from Viyal. It caused her sister to look at her in confusion. "Tashi is right. We have to consider every possibility. Not doing so is what got us into this situation."

"My friend, you will learn today that not everything is a matter of numbers and calculations," Altuna suddenly said with her arms crossed. "Wars are won through momentum. And the momentum is on our side yet."

She pointed at the coalition army in the distance. It was too far to make out details and recognize individuals, but Viyal imagined seeing her father ride with his sons and Gavro along the front and raising morale with a speech. A moment later, a collective movement ran through the army, and a monumental cheer was carried to her ears on the wind.

The coalition army began to move, a wave of riders and their mounts rolling over the land. The messenger could not have arrived yet, so it had been their independent decision to move out and charge directly at Mong Rau's expected army. They would soon learn the truth, but their momentum would allow them to give chase. Perhaps there was hope for them to catch up with the enemy yet.

Everything had to go perfectly for that to happen, but Viyal could only hope for such an outcome. She glanced at Altuna, who did not notice her gaze. Had prayer been effective after all? She caught herself having such idle thoughts in these dire circumstances as she directed her Shinoon to turn back and rode along the coalition army on the other side of the river.