Chapter 11

The veterans of the Inconquerable Legion advanced slowly up the heaped earth that Hydrozeno and his unit defended. Unlike the fodder squad from earlier, the veterans were methodical and cautious. A reckless charge like the one Hydra Squad had employed against the inexperienced fodder would only result in the veterans surrounding and whittling Hydrozeno and his group down one by one. So Hydrozeno decided to employ a different tactic. He gave his scimitar a couple of twirls, roared and charged again. The veterans paused. Charging headfirst was suicide. They knew that. Hydrozeno knew that. The veterans knew he knew that and so his reckless charge unnerved them. Hydrozeno guessed they thought that either this weird looking elf was insane or there was some kind of trap going on. They were right of course. Moments before Hydrozeno hit their line, his squad formed up behind him, everything seemed to shift. To the eyes of the enemy soldiers, Hydrozeno and his group seemed to accelerate. Their movements and reactions increased noticeably.

Hydrozeno’s speed was already beyond that of the majority of soldiers on the battlefield, even if his technique was rather simplistic, relying on the basics of swordplay. Now he seemed to dance between the attacks of the soldiers, dodging spear thrusts by the slimmest of margins and deftly deflecting sword strokes with his light shield. Every so often he would seem to overextend only to pull back quickly to the safety of the shield wall that the other members of Hydra Squad had formed. The back and forth lasted only about twenty seconds. Three of the enemy veterans were killed. Hydrozeno took several minor wounds and Steris took a nasty looking cut to her thigh. She was moved to the back of the formation next to Sam, who had yet to engage any enemy in combat. He stood proudly at the rear, his pike with the squad banner held high. The anchor that held the group in place. He was also the one flooding the area with magic, altering time so that the world around the enemy seemed to be moving a little faster.

The magic had no visible indicator that it was present to most. A few mages over the years had commented that they could see the magic at work, but for most it had no apparent tell that it was there. Sam was the key to the squad’s devastating success. Without him, everyone would be injured far more frequently and their ability to fight for extended periods would be greatly diminished. As it was, the magic let the group hold against a force twice their size and just as experienced, if not more so. Hydrozeno was just glad that Slothkin were so rarely found outside their jungles on the Eastern continent. They were a truly terrifying race and their rarity meant that almost nobody outside of their own people knew of their ability to manipulate time. For most, they were just the passive, friendly looking beastkin who was usually ambling around at the back of whatever group they were part of.

Despite the powerful magic working silently around them, the enemy was steadily pushing forward. They were locking their shields together and using superior numbers and weight to push Hydra squad back step by step. Then Cobblestone strode into the fray. The construct was big, heavy and terribly slow. However, with Sam’s magic at work his slow lubering movements were mitigated. His massive fist slammed into one of the enemy shields. The man was not sent flying. The weight and support of his fellows kept him in line and upright. His arm was not so lucky. Cobblestone’s blow had shattered it and a gaping hole in the shield wall was exposed. Cobblestone left the hole and Hydrozeno used the opening to bring down another man. Cobblestone had just moved down the line swinging wildly at each man in turn. Swords and spears did little to the stone juggernaut but eventually Cobblestone was forced to withdraw when a man with a heavy mace landed a pair of crushing blows. Still the massive stone behemoth had killed at least two and seriously wounded half a dozen others.

The battle settled into a brutal back and forth. Each of the two groups fought a desperate battle of attrition, which Hydra Squad was slowly winning. Up and down the entire length of the battlefield the fighting was growing more and more intense. Both sides were deploying greater numbers of their veteran squads to reinforce their weaker positions and exploit holes in the other side’s ranks. One of Bulwark’s heavy infantry squads had been deployed to stem the tide of the three squads of the Inconquerable Legion that had crushed the fodder squad on Hydra Squad’s left flank. The heavy infantry was holding for now, but it would be forced to withdraw soon or sustain massive casualties.

Hydra Squad was also taking its own beating. Hydrozeno had taken several more cuts. One was particularly nasty. Hydrozeno had repaid the owner with a faceful of acidic blood. Hydrozeno watched as one of the enemy veterans ran one of the three new members of the squad through with a longsword. The young man in his late teens died instantly. Marcus finished off the soldier he had been exchanging blows with but was forced to withdraw from the front with a gash to his side that his armor had failed to stop. Hydrozeno managed to cut another enemy badly enough that they were forced to retreat. Then Justin was bashed across the face by a shield. The man went limp and Horen stepped up running the enemy who had done it through with his spear. Steris lifted the form of Horen up and limped away from the front, back toward the main camp. The weight of the man and her leg injury made the retreat slow.

The enemy veterans fell back slightly. Hydrozeno took the break to assess. Hydra Squadron still had himself, Diane and Cobblestone holding the front. An injured Marcus had stepped back with Justin and the two remaining newbies of the squad. Sam was gasping and Hydrozeno saw him shudder and knew the slothkin’s magic was collapsing. Slowly the Slothkin turned and started back for the camp. His legs were dragging and he looked exhausted. The sight of the black and gold banner retreating sent a wave of cheers through the nearby enemies. The veteran squad of the Bulwark company that had been holding on the left broke and began to retreat. Up and down the front, the fodder squads and the handful of veteran squads that the Bulwarks had deployed were being routed.

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The Inconquerable Legion began to advance, deploying more of its veterans to the route. Hydrozeno shouted an order and the squad began to slowly back up. He could see the enemy starting to close in on his unit’s flanks and he felt his pulse quicken. He had been ordered to hold his position at all costs. He had to keep the enemy from advancing, but his squad was reduced in strength, his mage was exhausted and many of his remaining people were injured, while dozens of enemies closed in on either side, slowly encircling them. Hydrozeno released a small breath and felt his wounds start to close slightly. Then he raised his scimitar and Shield and roared.

“FOR BLOOD AND FOOD!”

The veterans who had been locked in combat with Hydra Squad for several minutes froze in terror as the Hydrablood charged into them. Cobblestone and Diane right behind him in a V formation. Marcus and Justin followed the suicidal charge into the opening without hesitation. The two new members gawked for a moment and then followed hesitantly. The charge went straight through the enemy line. Several serious blows struck Hydrozeno but he ignored them. On any other person the blows would have been enough to deter them, but even the most serious wounds only served to annoy the hydrablood. The enemy squad was crushed as Hydrozeno and Cobblestone absorbed the bulk of the enemy blows and just kept going. Men began to run as Hydra Squad rampaged. Then the tide of enemy soldiers began to engulf them. Hydrozeno and the remainder of his unit formed a tight defensive knot atop a stretch of the earthworks. The fighting around them devolved into desperate fights to the death. Justin stumbled and was swarmed by three soldiers. They left his broken body behind them as they overwhelmed one of the two remaining unnamed men in Hydrozeno’s squad. The complete collapse of the defensive formation was only halted as Cobblestone strode into the breach, his massive arms sending men flying or rolling down the incline.

Just as the battle was reaching the breaking point, a flight of arrows landed among the ranks of the Inconquerable legion. One stray arrow failed to join the others that had landed among the back ranks of the enemy. It narrowly missed striking Hydrozeno’s head and lodged itself in the man he had been fighting. Hydrozeno immediately seized the opportunity to yank the green fletched arrow out, causing the man to scream as the pain of the arrow’s entry and subsequent removal hit him. Hydrozeno kicked out and the man tumbled back right into the horse’s path. All around Hydrozeno’s position the sound of hooves could be heard. Twenty riders had come thundering in from either direction. In the confusion of the seemingly total rout the Inconquerable Legion had failed to see the Bulwark Company’s heavy cavalry swinging around and charging out of the small groves of trees on either side of the defensive position. The cavalry had then charged into the conveniently massed group of veteran soldiers who had surrounded Hydra Squad’s last stand. Now the veterans of Bulwark began to advance. Most of them had been held in reserve and were fresh and organized.

The Inconquerable Legion was more spread out in its eagerness to pursue what had appeared to be a panicking force. The scattered legion had been thrown into confusion as the cavalry charged through and the archers of the main body of bulwark began to shower them with flights of arrows. The Legion quickly rushed its remaining veterans forward to form a line of safety that the survivors could retreat to, using the earthworks that the Bulwark company fodder had used as their own line of defense.

That’s when Octavia, captain of the Bulwark Company, caused the earthworks to collapse with a single stroke of her beard. The dwarf smiled at Hydrozeno as he and his squad limped up to her with their cavalry escort.

“Good work ya crazy elf. We’ll take it from here.”

Hydrozeno nodded and led his wounded and exhausted squad back to camp. Sam had already started cooking a large stew for the surviving members. Behind them, the Bulwark Company crushed the newly renamed Conquered Legion. The sudden collapse of the ground beneath their feet meant the legion had been sent sprawling on their rear ends right when the bulk of the Bulwark Company hit their lines. In true mercenary fashion most of the Legion surrendered, preferring to be ransomed rather than be butchered.

In the meantime, Hydrozeno enjoyed the stew with his squad. Sam, Marcus and Diane had survived. Cobblestone was intact as well. Steris was there as well and reported that Horen was alive and sleeping in his tent. The last member of the squad to survive was a young man named Hadrien. He was staring at the stew in shock. Hydrozeno made a mental note to talk with him later. The first battle was always difficult for new recruits, but the young man had survived. That meant he either had some a bit of skill or a lot of luck. Neither was something to sneeze at.

As Sam prepared seven bowls of stew and began handing them out. Hydrzoeno frowned. Eight members of the squad had survived, but Horen was still sleeping and Cobblestone did not eat. Sam handed the seventh bowl to the figure sitting next to Hydrozeno with a smile. Hydrozeno jerked in surprise as Kiln removed his hood and smiled gratefully at the Slothkin.

“Thank you Sam.”

The elf dug into the stew with gusto.

“You… are… welcome…”

Hydrozeno sighed and held out the bloody arrow with the green fletching that he had yanked out of the enemy soldier. Kiln nodded gratefully and put it to the side to clean later. He was very particular about his arrows and liked to retrieve them when he could.

“When did you get here?”

“About an hour before the battle started.”

“You… are… injured.”

Hydrozeno blinked and looked more closely at Kiln. Sam was right. Kiln’s pant leg was torn up in multiple places and Hydrozeno could see bandages wrapping most of the leg through the tears in the pants. Hydrozeno could not help himself but ask. It was rare for Kiln to get hurt badly.

“What happened?”

Kiln grimaced.

“I found another one.”

“Found what?”

“One of those things that killed Icepaw. I think. It fit the description you told me.”

Hydrozeno bared his teeth.

“Good. I am glad you killed it.”

Kiln looked up, his face was grim.

“I didn’t kill it. It almost killed me. I ran.”