The city is burning.

It was lost, Latila is helpless. That is what was thought by many Ganeoese Mercenaries running away from their defense line as their commander was wounded, and was on her way to the ship.

Behind them, the Elestovakians swarmed into the city en masse via the breached Konstantine Gate, skirmishers confronted the archers buying time for their comrades to enter unattacked. The wall, meanwhile, was still being bombarded in full force, ripping off what was left of the defenders and preventing troops garrisoned on the wall to come to confront the intruders.

This is it, the fate of Latilia is sealed.

They run, without looking back. Reinforcements coming from the Voyage Palace, the Flemton Castle and the White Square certainly saw those mercenaries running away. The Fliers navigating all across Latila witnessed their cowardly withdrawal. But they didn't have time to stop the Ganeoese from running, in fact, they moved aside for the Ganeoese to go by. Even if they didn’t, the Ganeoese with their crossbows will force them to move aside for them to run:

“Stop!”

Goddammit, speaking of which, a person is blocking their escape. Few of the men in front of the line raise up their crossbows. But hold on a second:

“Your Royal Highness Belisari?”

Standing in front of the mercenaries, the fourteen years old royal Archprince Belisari Flarius, wearing a combat uniform, is aiming his weapon pointing it at them. With his voice holding back a certain amount of anger, Belisari asks:

“I am. Where are you going? You’ve abandoned the wall, causing the Elestovakians to overwhelm the position and now the city is being threatened. We are doing all to fight them back outside the wall. Where the hell are you going at this moment?”

“Sorry, Your Highness. But”

Forget what was said earlier. Despite being mercenaries, they are not heartless. The oldest member of the team steps forward, then with a swift action, he disarms the prince from his crossbow, saying:

“We are not warriors, we are mercenaries, we abandon a battle once we see the lost. We have no loyalty to the state we serve as the guards you saw in the palace everyday.”-the prince was handed back his crossbow-”We see that Latila will soon be gone, so we decided to depart.”

“So you are running away?”

“Exactly, Your Highness.”

Hiding her bleeding wound walking to the prince, Countess Justiniana-captain of the mercenaries placed her hands on Belisari’s shoulders-“If you want to, you can come with us, then we will help you and your brother to reach Ganeo. Or, you might stay here and fight, and die. But whatever option you choose, please do not prevent us from leaving Latila.”

Justiniana signaled the team to continue going, the rest of the Ganeoese followed order, dragging their wounded commander along:

“Stop!”

“Your Highness, we’ve been merciful not to shoot you right away.”-a mercenary speaks to Belisari, raising his voice with a bit of intimidation-”But if you keep doing this, we would have little choice but to wound you.”

“Not that, I am making an offer.”

“What?”

Hearing the word “offer”, the Ganeoese halt their steps:

“What offer?”

The crowned prince, while reloading his crossbow, saying:

“The treasure for my future coronation is in Vineci, half a million denarii, worth three of your Ganeoese galleys. My father and I are the only people to know its location, but you can have it if you agree to fight under my command for three days.”

Belisari raises three of his fingers:

“Just three days, I promise. If I extend the service time, I would increase the payment, you need not worry about losing anything to me.”

(Poke!)

Three days of service, one ship per day. The deal is somewhat too tempting to be resisted by any right mind, much less Ganeoese mercenaries:

“Three days?”-Justiniana asked again, to know that her ears were hearing it right.

(Belisarius)

“Just three days”-Belisari again confirmed-”In the name of God, Joshua Krist and Saint Morgan, three days. Then you are free to go claim your prize.”

“I accept.”

(Belisarius)

There is no way that offer can be turned down. The mercenary Countess shoved into her pocket and gave out Belisari her captain insignia, then speaks:

“I grant you the captain position, for three days, in exchange for your money. Use my army at your will, but do it wisely, Your Royal Highness.”

(Belisarius)

Slap!

“Agh! What the-”

While overseeing the Elestovakian garrison, Belisari was hit by a blunt force from the hand of his friend. The Archduchess has assigned him and the Marines to overwatch the fortress while she and her cavalry wandering around terminating possible scouts, but when they returned, the Prince was in the middle of something, seemingly half-sleep:

“What distracted you?”

“Nothing, just thinking about an old memory of mine.”

“It’s not the right time for that.”

They are about to assault a garrison, of course daydreaming is somewhat to be avoided:

“So.”-The Archduchess comes to him-”How is the fortification?”

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“Quite hard to break. Needless for Gelime’s warning, they’ve been ready to welcome us to their gate.”

“Or, that damn guy has had to call them to reinforce themselves way before the battle.”

The Elestovakian garrison they are planning to attack is large, standing on over a hectare of valley fine land, surrounded by civilian homes and fields residing on the protection of the base. The number of defenders is estimated at anywhere between 600 to 2000, quite inconsistent due to many factors that might contribute to the capability to support troops of the fort.

The fortification is also equipped with anti-air weapons, thus denying Angela and her flier corps to commence raids, it will be hard to attack without losses. And unlike the last time, there will be no trick to attack the building from within, so certainly they must attack it head on, there is no other choice.

However, two new problems emerge as they choose the option of a frontal assault. First is, how do they force the insiders to come and fight them hand-by-hand, instead of just shooting at them from a secured position.

And the second is, their force is limited.

Not the usual ten thousand men, just three thousand, the rest are protecting Voyage. Not to mention that 400 of them are mounted charge cavalry who can’t do foot melee combat. Hacking into the fort by direct fighting is also not a good option.

Their only advantage is the surprise element, they got to use this effectively:

“What is your opinion on this problem, Gerald?”

The Archprince and his peers decided to consult their knight leader.

“I am thinking about a siege.”

To break the will of the troops inside, and force them to surrender. If needed, then three thousand more soldiers from Voyage can join in the siege with them.

“I don’t think that is good…”

However, the fortress is too big to be besieged by three thousand men, the line would be too thin to create any significant threat. It was also an unified defensive-civil complex,with support from its locals to sustain a prolonged encirclement. It is a position for a long battle they have. For the Latilians, the siege would go nowhere:

“Not to mention that we don’t have much time to spend. I’d like to see the fort yield in a day or two.”

“Our knight is an excellent fighter, but not the brightest when it comes to tactics.”

“Yeah yeah, not everyone is bright-minded like you two.”

The Knight mumbles, then he departs, leaving room for the commanders to discuss:

“Say, Belisarius”-it’s time to ask the Prince instead-”How do you trick an army to confront us beyond their defended position?”

“There are many. But given our situation, we have three: bombardment, feign retreat and a relief force. All of them are needed if we want to successfully lure them the Elestovakians out of their nest.”

Feigned retreat is obvious. For bombardment, they will focus their firepower, particularly from Aurora’s rockets, to cripple the fortification and force the garrisoned troops to run from their walls to avoid being crushed in the debris, thus triggering a controlled open fight that would be in the favor of the Latilians.

As for the relief force method, a besieged army seeing a rescue force is coming to help them tends to come out of their position to corporate assault the offending foes from both sides. This was seen at the Battle of Alesia, or the Siege of Jerusalem. Though both of them haven't, and will never hear of the two mentioned sieges, the same tactic should work, but:

“The idea of fighting on two sides is scary though”-Belisari added, his concern is something that should not be overlooked-”If we wait for an actual army to come and help them, we will be pressed and besieged, I don’t want that.”

A moment of silence follows, but not out of disappointment that they’ve been stuck again after thinking out of a plan. Silence is needed for brains to function in its fullest, or, you might say, Lily and Belisari are working to make their plan work:

“Then, we can fake an Elestovakian army, don’t we?”

Suddenly, the Archduchess was the one who had an idea first. She goes outside for a moment, then she returns with a dozen of Elestovakian flags on her hands:

“We can send like…200 men to go over the valley where the garrisoned army can see…and wave these flags, creating a false image of an incoming rescue force. A delusional relief army, that should do the trick.”

“That’s…a great idea. Good job Liliya”

Belisari speaks, then he claps his hand to display his admiration to Lily. The Archduchess, receiving the admiration of her friend, half-embarrassed, half-proud. With the plan in shape thanks to her idea, Lily continues:

“I will help organize the formation. You call for Justiniana, your Marines will need to be prepared a lot.”

**

Today’s afternoon started with a hot wave stranded across the valley, the middle of the summer is alway the hottest in this region. It was so hot that the surrounding area turned this week into a holiday, when people, men or women alike, will take bath in a vast lake by the western side of the village and spend their night around its shore, having dinner and sleeping camp by camp, thus tightening the bond between the villagers, and giving chance for loving couples to be together longer.

The tradition is fancy, and is not limited to just the locals. Everyone can participate, as long as they want to. Hence, regularly, Elestovakian soldiers in the fortress nearby are invited to practice the tradition with the locals, and because having time with the occupied civilians is encouraged by Emperor Kaval to further stabilize the region, they usually join in.

Except for this year:

“The soldiers are complaining a lot, Sir.”

“Tell them to complain to Duke Gelime, this was his order, not mine.”

Overseeing the surrounding emptied settlement, Lord Martin, commander of Fortress Separ, can’t help but treat himself with a sip of cold tea. He was supposed to be by the lake shore by now, if not for a damn letter from the nearby duke a few week earlier telling him and his men to stay on guard:

“Latilian invaders.”-the Lord mumbles in anger-”That damn duke should’ve dealt with that, not me.”

“I will say that we should be on high alert”

An advisor comes by his side, the Lord pours some tea for the man, then they settle:

“We know that the Latilians attacked us, right? We don’t know where they will strike. This place is just behind Voyage. If they want to secure Voyage after having occupied it, they would certainly attack the fort.”

“Can they capture Voyage, though?”

“No, sir.”

“Of course. That’s why I say this is so unnecessary…”

“Now come to think of it, you are correct”

“See? Ahahaha”

The Lord bursts into laughter. The advisor seeing so also laughed.

“Aha…Hah?”

On the outskirts of the settlements, a number of men in combat attires (not Elestovakian ones) can be seen moving around. Their back carrying shields, very large and outstanding shields. Each one of them is also armed with a crossbow and a dagger. They are not bandits, but an organized army:

“It can’t be…right?”-the advisor speaks

“I am seeing…wait, you see them as well?”

“I do.”

“But…how?”

The men from afar start forming into a line and approach the settlement. The decorations on their shields are now visible.

They are the Ganeoese Crossbowmen Mercenary Corp.

After the Elestovakian War, the Latilian Royal Army invited them to be the Latilian Marine Corp.

“The…Latilians?”

“There is no way…”

There is an actual Latilian Army right outside of the fortress, which only means one thing.

Voyage has fallen.

“Goddammit, I did not expect this to come. Quick!”-Lord Martin hastily jumps from his seat, he rushes to his office in the wall of the fort-”Every man gets to your position, we are being threatened by an unknown Latilian force. Voyage might’ve been captured by the Latilians, we need all men armed right away to confront this threat.”

“We have to be quick, there is no time.”

**

“I entrust your command, Justiniana. Don’t let me be disappointed.”

“Roger that, your Highness.”