"Come on, are the catapults not ready, yet? The enemy is already in formation on the opposing hill!"
"Archers, spread out! Spread out! We have the whole hill, not just a single patch of dirt!"
"Move those boulders! Get a move on, Wizards!" The shouts of soldiers filled the air as the first battle of the war dawned just over three weeks since we left the capital. We traveled for two weeks to reach the border of Peltaira and spent another week practicing drills, maintaining equipment, and mentally preparing ourselves for the battle. The Duke was right, there was no time for me to cry as I quickly found myself being instructed on how I would be contributing to the battle as a wizard. My days were packed with morning exercises to help me build my stamina and strength, afternoon drills going over tactics with instructors and my fellow initiates, and it would end with restless nights in a tent sleeping on a bed of straw with a single blanket. I don't know how the others get used to this. According to Urldrusk's standard doctrine, wizards would be deployed in either one of two positions in an army. Siege wizards would be with helsgar siege engines, an oversized onager catapult, near the rear and work to soften up the enemy lines. Using gravity magic, siege wizards would lessen the gravity of boulders the size of fully grown men so they could be loaded onto the catapult's bowl where it would be launched into the air, and the wizard would then intensify the gravity magic all at once so the boulder would crash into the enemy from directly above them. While this seemed simple, I quickly found out how hard it was to keep such a heavy boulder light enough to move, and then correctly judge how far out the boulders were to get a hit. Some boulders were smaller, others were larger, and depending on if the sun was out there wouldn't even be a shadow on the ground to gauge where it was in the sky; assuming the sun was directly overhead, to begin with. There was also the concern that if you brought the boulder down too early you might hit friendly troops.
"Shields up!" Vanguard wizards would be put on the frontlines but behind a wall of shields, swords, and spears. These wizards would use elemental magic to support breakthroughs or stop enemy pushes assuming the enemy didn't have a powerful Aurister since Auristers who were properly trained could use an advanced technique to negate magic attacks. Thankfully, said technique was hard to master so it was rare to see; though I know Duke Ordrin mastered the technique.
"…" My hands were sweaty as they tightly gripped my wizard's staff. I didn't need a staff to use magic, but my instructors would give me an ear full if I left it in my tent and this was the first battle so I didn't want to be the cause of any mistakes.
"Hey, chin up!" a nineteen-year-old knight initiate stood next to me and tried to calm my obvious nerves. All wizards who would be with the catapults were assigned a spotter to try and help the wizard not pull the boulder too early or too late. "Just take some deep breaths. We'll go for the very back of their lines for our first pull so you don't have to worry about hitting any of our own."
"Right… Okay." At least he was considerate to me being so young; I'm glad I was able to be with the Azure Hawks. I did what he said and controlled my breathing while leaning on my staff for support. Even if I didn't use the staff to cast spells, I could use it as a walking stick to give me something to lean on and steady myself if I ever felt uneasy.
"Looks like we're ready," my spotter said while looking to the front of our line. I followed his gaze and saw Duke Ordrin giving a rousing speech to the men while he rode his horse back and forth so all could hear him. The other knight orders had spread out to sweep through Peltaira's territory so this battle would only include the Azure Hawks, some of the conscripted troops from Holst, and any accompanying wizards. The Duke drew his sword and held it to the sky as it was bathed in lightning when he activated his aura. "Remember, our boulders will fly on the third sounding of the horns."
"Righ-!" When I tried to answer, war horns echoed across the valley and cut me off, and I watched Duke Ordrin lead a cavalry charge. Not wanting to lose the initiative, the Peltairan army sent out their own cavalry to intercept. The ground was shaking and I could feel the galloping hooves of the warhorses in my chest as I watched them descend the hill. When the enemy was almost halfway down their hill, our horns blew a second time signaling the archers to let loose a volley of arrows, and the infantry started moving up behind the cavalry. A few of the enemy's soldiers fell to our arrows, but they didn't lose their momentum. Then, a third horn blew.
"Loose!" the knight in charge of the siege engines roared, and the catapults hurled their boulders into the air. Since Peltaira only worshiped Lady Muz and Lord Nuz they didn't have any Magisters, and those who could use gravity magic were relegated to civil jobs like contractors and laborers, so they didn't use catapults against armies unless it was a siege battle. Instead of Magisters, Peltaira relied on the Bloodied Sister to bless them with more Auristers; a blessing, I was told, Lady Muz was more than happy to deliver on. Almost a tenth of Peltaira's military was comprised of Auristers, which was in stark contrast to Urldrusk's which was roughly only a hundredth. As the boulders started flying I looked for where in the rear I would bring it down and-…wait.
"That's…?" Glimmers of light caught my attention and I looked to the charging enemy cavalry to see the man leading the charge being surrounded by glowing orange maple leaves. And judging by the man's lack of armor I instantly recognized him as a powerful Aurister! Another advanced technique an Aurister could master was an ability that could solidify the aura around their body to be stronger than any steel armor while giving no encumbrance to the Aurister's limbs. Not even Duke Ordrin had mastered that technique, but the enemy leader had!? Judging by the man's charge, he was heading directly for the Duke! An image of Olivia crying at the funeral of her father flashed through my mind, and I knew what I had to do.
"Almost there!" my spotter was giving me updates as he watched our boulder fly. "Get ready to-… Initiate?" I stepped forward, stretched out my hand to the boulder which was only now passing over our troops, and activated my gravity magic. "Wait!?"
"NGH!" Even if the boulder was airborne, it still took me a great effort to alter the gravity of such a large object.
"Don't! It's too early!" the spotter screamed to stop me, but that was because he didn't know how my gravity magic could be used. As I learned from Magister Lucus, it was a commonly accepted fact that gravity magic could only move objects up and down; it would change the gravity's intensity. That said, I had seemingly been granted a special ability by Lord Zulm that other Magisters, and even wizards, found impossible to do after much trial and error practicing with Magister Lucus: I could change the 'point' of gravity. Since everyone and everything's point of gravity was the center of our planet, gravity magic could only make things go up and down relative to the planet. So, what if that point changed? What if, instead of the point of gravity for the boulder being the center of our planet, it was the center of the charging Aurister's horse? Since he was powerful enough to solidify his aura as armor, he might also have mastered the technique to nullify magic attacks so I didn't try and make him the center point since he might negate it. I changed the point to his horse and intensified the gravity! My boulder ripped diagonally through the sky and even started to spin because of its imperfect shape. If it hit, I could save Duke Ordrin from having to fight someone strong! I could help him get home safe and sound just like how he's helping me, and Olivia wouldn't cry! I-!
***
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
When the boulder Lucina ripped from the sky impacted its target, many things happened the Lucina hadn't considered. Lucina successfully managed to hit the lead Aurister's horse, but she forgot to factor in how large the boulder was and how her sudden change to its gravity caused it to start spinning. The boulder, which was one hundred and eighty-two centimeters in diameter, came at the center of the horse's body diagonally from above meaning that the Aurister's lower torso would also be hit. The horse was crushed into a bloody pulp by the boulder with its head being completely destroyed and its now severed front legs flopping forward as the main body was crushed beyond recognition. From the waist up, the Aurister's body flew forward trailing his intestines behind him before plopping dead into the dirt. Because of the spin and the angle of impact, the boulder skipped off the ground and bounced into the cavalry that was following the lead Aurister. The ninety miles per hour boulder easily plowed through the cavalry, and it quickly made its way into the lines of following infantrymen. Severed limbs, mangled bodies of man and horse, pulped blobs of flesh and bone, pulverized organs, and a rain of blood fell upon Peltaira's lines as the spinning boulder kicked them up into the air when it passed through them. Those in the furthest back lines were able to see the boulder coming and some managed to get out of the way, but not before it claimed its final victim of an archer who was too slow to dodge. The man was crushed as the boulder finally came to rest on top of him.
"AGH!?!"
"It hurts!!! Fuck, it hurts!!!"
"P-Please!?! H-Help me!!!" The screams of dying horses and of men missing their limbs ground Peltaira's charge to a complete halt as they lost all momentum because the chaos the boulder caused startled even their warhorses. While Peltaira wasn't completely caught unaware when Marcus declared war, they were still mustering all their proper soldiers so the first line of defense they had to stop Urldrusk's initial push into their lands were a few properly trained knights, but most of the defending army consisted of conscripted men who had never seen combat. When Lucina's boulder tore through their lines, followed by the boulders of the other wizards raining down directly on top of them, the conscripts broke.
"E-Every man for themselves!" The conscripts threw down their weapons and started to flee the battlefield. The knights and commander tried to regain control, but the panic spread too quickly for them to contain and they were faced with a mass rout.
"Forward!" Richard, though he didn't fully understand what happened, rallied his men and continued the charge. The lances and swords of the Azure Hawk knights smashed into Peltaira's halted cavalry and the bloodshed started anew with Richard slicing the first man he faced in two with his aura-infused sword while his horse kicked a Peltairan off their horse so it could stomp and crush the man's head. It was clear for all to see that the first battle of the war was a resounding victory for Urldrusk.
"By the gods…" The spotter who was next to Lucina stood in awe at what had just happened. "A-Another!" Even if their victory was secured, they still had a job to do and should keep hitting the enemy's rear lines. "Load another boulder! Quickly, Luci-!" As the man excitedly turned to start encouraging Lucina to help them load another boulder, his words caught in his throat as reality slapped him across the face.
"!!!" When her boulder hit, Lucina's mind went blank as she watched it plow through the enemy. She watched their limbs fly off, their flesh and bones ground to a paste and thrown into the air, and she heard their screams of agony echoing from across the valley. A strong gust of wind blew through the battlefield and carried the stench of blood and death directly into Lucina's nose. The weight of her actions, of what it meant to 'save' someone during war, punched Lucina in the gut and she keeled over onto her hands and knees. Vomit soaked the ground as Lucina threw up her breakfast, and it was at that moment that the spotter remembered Lucina was only a ten-year-old girl; a ten-year-old girl who had just brutalized an entire line of men.
"…Just let it out," he somberly said while kneeling down next to Lucina and held her long hair back in a ponytail so it wouldn't get stained with vomit like the oversized sleeves of her robe were. "…Just…" The man wasn't well versed in comforting a child, especially one who was in this kind of situation, so he fell silent and decided to stay next to Lucina until she was finished emptying her stomach, and even after as she aimlessly dry heaved when there was nothing left.
***
"We lost four knights, nine conscripts, and twenty-eight more are wounded, my Lord," Thomas reported to Richard as the two men returned to camp to begin preparations to continue the march. "Their wounds aren't severe and we don't expect them to slow us down."
"It seems Lady Muz favored us," Richard commented as he watched a few knights take down their tents while laughing with one another. "This will do wonders for morale. See to it the thirteen who died make it home."
"Already taken care of, my Lord," Thomas replied and gave a satisfied smile. "I must say," Thomas began when he saw a group of wizards arguing about something in the distance, "I never liked having wizards around, initially, but that first catapult volley practically let us win the day! Maybe they aren't all tha-"
"That was Lucina's work," Richard interrupted Thomas and gave him a displeased look over his shoulder. The two men continued through the camp as Richard started leading Thomas in a certain direction.
"Really?" Thomas was astonished at the thought. "Does she know a spell that the wizards don't? I know she helped Joseph and Liam kill a hellhound with her magic a few years ago, but I'd never personally seen gravity magic used like that! She's a natural!" Thomas' excitement put a bitter taste in Richard's mouth and he picked up his pace. "I'm glad we have her if she's able to do magic like that! I guess it wasn't so bad that she was consc-" Thomas' words immediately caught in his throat when he and Richard rounded a group of tents to find where Richard was taking them; Lucina's tent. The spotter knight had helped her back to camp and even took down her tent for her since Lucina was still in a daze from what happened. When he saw Richard approach, he gave a respectful bow and returned to taking down his own tent and packing his things. The ends of Lucina's robe's sleeves were a sickly yellow-green even after being rinsed with water multiple times. Her body was trembling and she looked exhausted as she stood vacantly staring at nothing. "…" Thomas bit his tongue and regretted having such thoughts like it was a good thing she was here.
"A-Ah? Duke Ordrin," Lucina spoke in a shaking voice that was barely holding together when she finally noticed Richard and Thomas were standing directly in front of her. She gave a clumsy bow and almost fell over from how out of it she was but managed to catch herself just in time. "Greetings."
"I was told you were the one who defied logic with your boulder pull." Richard watched Lucina's eyes wander and lose focus before diverting back to him. "You saved a lot of lives by routing the enemy so early, Lucina, and for that, you have my thanks and the thanks of my knights."
"I-I'm glad I could help…Duke." Lucina seemed out of breath and took a moment to breathe before continuing, "When…will we be moving out?"
"…You-"
"Duke Ordrin?!" a man wearing a rugged cloak, but whose clothing underneath was pristine and clean, called out to the Duke as he and another man wearing plate armor approached the group. "I bring a message for you from His Majesty," the messenger said while giving a salute to the Duke.
"The King?" The war had only just begun, so what could Marcus possibly want that he had to send a royal messenger to the frontlines? "Speak, messenger."
"By order of His Majesty, upon further consideration the Wizard Lucina Felswore is to be transferred from the Azure Hawk knights to the Hellhound knights, effective immediately upon receiving this message."
"!?!" Lucina's entire body froze and her breath caught in her throat.
"What!?" Richard couldn't hide his surprise and dissatisfaction, and roared at the messenger, "What do you mean she's to be sent to the Hellhounds!?" In Urldrusk, knight orders typically followed a certain naming scheme that started with a color followed by an animal or thing; like the Ordrin's Azure Hawk knights, or Einbore's Celeste Giant knights. Any order that doesn't follow this scheme is seen in a disdainful light as being lesser than their peers, and the most infamous of them all was the Hellhounds. The Hellhound knights are where the nobility send their undesirables to die if they can't, or don't want to, fabricate a convincing enough crime to execute them since the Hellhounds are a special operations knight order whose casualty rate was the highest of all orders. They had no siege engines to make them more mobile, meaning that any wizard assigned to the Hellhounds would be a vanguard wizard fighting directly at the front. And, the Hellhound knights were managed directly by the royal family. Richard couldn't believe what he was hearing and shouted, "Lucina Felswore was entrusted to me by His Majesty when this war began! Why should she be transferred!?"
"Those were the orders I was sent to deliver," the messenger stood his ground in the face of Richard's anger. While it was true that Marcus agreed to send Lucina to war under Richard, he never said anything about not having her deployment changed at a later time. "His Majesty said that this was to help Lucina Felswore feel more comfortable by being with someone from her family."
"Her family!?" Richard was flabbergasted at such a claim. "Who among her family is in the Hellhounds?!"
"That would be me, Duke Ordrin," said the armored man who had come with the messenger and looked to be in his mid-twenties. He removed his helmet to reveal light brown hair, similar to Lucina's, that went down to just below his shoulders. His hazel eyes glinted in an unnerving way as he met Lucina's frightened gaze. "I apologize for the belated introduction. I am the current commander of the Hellhound knights, Timothy Braxton."
"!!!" Lucina's heart rate spiked when she heard the man's name, and Richard looked like he was about to cut the man down on the spot but only held back since a royal messenger was present.
Timothy smiled at Lucina and he greeted her loud enough for all who were around to hear, "I'm truly glad His Majesty was kind enough to finally introduce me to my dear step-sister."