Chapter 21
March 1st, 1666. Grindelburg, Bvarian provice.
After months of smaller, failed attempts to take the second layer of defenses, the Waffenstadt coalition had decided to wait for further reinforcements. And after months of waiting, fifty thousand more Waffenstadt regulars had arrived, as well as two thousand additional Brayherd legionaries and five thousand conscripted human auxiliaries. The auxilaries wouldn't be useful until they were trained on how to use the Waffenstadt muskets, but any amount of help was appreciated. Worst case scenario, they could be used for labor and defense of the camp.
Gaius had refrained from an all out bombardment of the second layer like they had done with Bergzitadelle Freiderick, as there were civilians living there and he didn’t want to harm them. If they acted too harshly the inhabitants may attempt to kill these alien beings invading their homes, but if they treated the people well he figured it would be harder to justify. It was a mindset imparted on him by the Baron, and it was near completely alien to his men and the Brayherd style of warfare, though they tried their best.
Over the course of the past few months, dozens of tunnels had been dug, and dozens of tunnels had been collapsed by the defenders. The Bvarians were crafty and vigilant, especially after the first layer of defenses had been taken. However, they couldn’t catch them all.
All Gaius needed was for a portion of the defenses to be collapsed. That would provide enough of a foothold for his men to storm and open the gates.
He crossed his arms and tapped his hoof impatiently as he stared at the walls of Grindelburg. Four tunneling teams had been sent out that morning, and all he could do was wait and trust in their expertise. Ninety thousand men were waiting for them to finish, and he made sure that the tunneling teams knew that before they left.
Nearly an hour passed and he was becoming increasingly worried that the teams had been stopped when he began to hear a rumbling. Then, a portion of the walls lifted high in the air before crashing down, crumbling the enchanted brick wall. Even though the bricks were enchanted, it was impossible to enchant the mortar holding them together. If there was a force strong enough to lift the wall, it would fall apart. He raised a horn to his lips and blew a deep, loud, sustained note, and smiled as he watched his Brayherds begin to rush towards the collapsed wall, a sea of red scutums moving in unison.
A few seconds later another section began to rumble, and men on the walls were sent flying high into the air, alongside the stone they were standing on, before coming crashing back down and getting crushed by the rubble.
More Brayherds charged towards the gaps in the walls and just a minute after they had been collapsed Brayherds were clambering over the stone, shields held high in the air, deflecting bullets as they screamed towards them.
The Brayherds surged onto the walls and began to engage in single combat, swiftly overwhelming the dazed and confused defenders. A Brayherd slammed into a man shield first and stomped his head, sending brains and blood out in every direction. He continued to the gatehouse, deflecting a thrust with his scutum and impaling the man with his gladius.
The men of the gatehouse pushed against the Brayherd’s shields, keeping them out while the rest of the men attempted to sabotage the controls. Soon, however, the wall of caprine flesh became too much, and Brayherds flooded in like a torrent of death, slaughtering the men in the gatehouse with ruthless efficiency.
The gate began to lift and Waffenstadters cheered before charging up the slope. They were greeted by a line of Bvarians, who fired at near point blank range. Waffenstadters fell and tumbled into their comrades, slowing the advance considerably as they tried to clamber up the steep slope and over their dead and dying comrades.
Waffenstadters fired at will into the line of Imperials as they charged upwards, slowly whittling away at their formation. The Bvarians met the Waffenstadters at bayonet’s point, and soon the deafening din of combat began. Waffenstadters cried out in pain as triangular blades pierced their bodies, and others roared in anger and anguish after watching their comrades be killed in front of them. The crack of muskets could be heard sporatically around the city, and the clinking of Brayherd armor and Imperial boots echoed through the streets.
The Waffenstadters pushed the defenders back through sheer force of numbers, however, more Bvarians ran to assist in the defenses, slowing down the Waffenstadters significantly as the weight of numbers began to equalize, and as they started to exhaust themselves pushing up a fairly steep slope.
Brayherds jumped down from the gatehouse amongst the Bvarian soldiers and scattered their formations. The Waffenstadters redoubled their efforts, and soon they made it past the gate itself, spreading out and attempting to encircle the defenders. They fired into the Bvarian flanks, dropping dozens of men before charging into their sides and backs. After just a few minutes the entire force had been slaughtered down to a man, and the coalition forces began to secure the other gatehouse entrances.
Bvarian jaegers picked off lone attackers at an astounding rate, blowing massive holes in heads and chests and nailing small gaps in armor with uncanny accuracy. Waffenstadters and Brayherds charged at the jaegers who seemingly disappeared after turning a corner.
A deafening crack came from above and dozens of men fell as the jaegers fired down from rooftops, sprinting away and leaping between houses as they reloaded. A few men fell as Waffenstadters fired volleys upwards, crashing down to the ground and breaking through windows into houses. A family screamed as a dead man flopped down into their home, scattering their dishes and all over the floor and showering their bread with glass.
The defenders used their hit and run tactics to delay the enemy for as long as possible, however, they could not keep them back because of their superior numbers and weight. A jaeger clambered up a near vertical wall to the third layer of defenses, amazing the Brayherds who stared on in pure wonder.
He fired down at the Brayherds, who raised their shields and deflected the shot at the last second. They turned and charged at another group of retreating jaegers and crashed into them, splaying them out on the ground and finishing them with gladius and greatsword.
The defenders retreated back to the third layer, and those who were too slow were either killed or captured. The second layer of defenses had been taken, and their losses were even more than the first layer. Jaegers continued to fire down from the walls and rooftops, prancing away with the grace of a great elk and climbing with the speed of a monkey whenever anyone got too close for their liking.
Holding the second layer seemed like it would be about as bloody as taking it, and Gaius scowled as he watched more Brayherds fall to Bvarian jaegers.
“We got lucky with our tunnels twice, I am not sure if we will get lucky again.”
Von Pucklesmark nodded and gestured to the gondolas that lead from the third to the fourth layer of the city.
“And the only way for many men to ascend at once is those very easily sabotaged gondolas.”
Gaius chuffed.
“This is going to be…wait, I see a white flag on the walls.”
At the top of the third wall was a massive white flag flapping in the wind, so Gaius sent a messenger to approach. He came back and informed Gaius of what the defenders had said.
“Gunter von Bvarien has said he wishes to parlay. He will speak if Gaius personally comes to the third layer.”
Von Puckelsmark scoffed.
“Does he think we’re stup-”
“I will go. Will he allow an honor guard?”
The messenger nodded.
“Yes, he said you may bring your guards if you wish.”
Von Puckelsmark stared at Gaius like he was a complete fool.
“You do realize he is going to kill you, yes?”
Gaius shook his head.
“No honorable man would kill someone under the pretense of parlay.”
“Gunter von Bvarien is not an honorable man.”
Gaius tilted his head to the side.
“And what makes you say that?”
“His reputation. He’s flakey and strange.”
Gaius shrugged.
“Well, should I fall then ultimate command falls to you. You should be encouraging this.”
Von Puckelsmark scowled.
“I need you. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, and the Brayherds don’t respect me. They say I’m too old and too small.”
Gaius looked shocked.
“If you find any of my men saying these things about you I give you permission to shoot him dead on the spot. I will not allow such disrespect of our allies in my army.”
He reached in inner pocket and withdrew a small seal depicting a goat head wearing armor, placing it in Von Puckelsmark's hands before he turned to leave.
“Now, I will see you when or if I come back.”
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Gunter von Bvarien was a thin, pale, and somewhat sickly looking man. He had an exhausted look on his face, deep purple bags under his eyes, and his short, black hair was a complete mess, like he had just gotten out of bed, though Gaius has been told he always looked like that. Addiitonally, he wore a poorly tailored formal black suit. Behind him was a group of twenty Bvarian jaegers, covered in holsters and pistols, each with a katzbalger at his hip.
Behind Gaius was his honor guard of ten Brayherd greatswordsmen, each one wearing red lorica segmentata with great red horizontal horse hair plumes on top of their helmets. They stood tall and confident, undaunted by their enemy’s superior numbers. Most Brayherd warriors wouldn't be too concerned, it's not like they were facing Orcs or fellow Brayherds.
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Gunter leaned forward, blinking slowly and blearily. His voice was medium in pitch and completely monotone.
“I will cut right to the chase, I will offer surrender under these conditions: You allow the rest of our army to withdrawl towards Grössenburg unharmed, and you give us back the men you have captured on the way out.”
Gaius didn’t let the surprise show on his face.
“You are going to…surrender?”
Gunter shrugged.
“Call it whatever you want, I’ve given you my terms and I will not negotiate further."
He leaned his head back towards the sky and sighed wearily.
“Such things are so tiring.”
Gaius thought about it for a moment before speaking.
“What if you pay for half of their ransome?”
Gunter's face was completely unreadable. It greatly unnerved Gaius. There was something deeply strange about this man, and he didn't like it much.
“My terms have been stated clearly. If you don’t wish to waste any more lives, you will take my deal.”
He smirked. It was the first sliver of emotion Gaius had seen from him.
“It only gets steeper from here.”
Gaius scruffed his goatee in thought.
“...I...accept your terms.”
Gunter blearily rubbed his eyes and nodded his head.
“Great. Then we will start to leave once we have packed everything up.
He stretched his arms towards the sky and yawned before continuing, rubbing his eye as it began to tear up.
"Just leave the captives outside the first layer, we will pick them up as we leave.”
Gaius raised an eyebrow.
“That’s it?”
Gunter nodded unenthusiastically.
“Yes, that’s it.”
“Well that’s anticlimactic.”
Gunter's face betrayed no hint of emotion.
“...I suppose that’s true. I prefer that to thousands dead.”
Gaius crossed his arms and nodded sagely.
“Yes, that is certainly true.”
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Gaius and Von Puckelsmark watched men march down the massive slopes of Grindelburg. Von Puckelsmark looked conflicted, so Gaius decided to break the silence.
“Amicus, why do you look troubled?”
Von Puckelsmark sighed.
“Well, it doesn’t feel right to just let our enemy walk away without a fight. They will simply link up with the Grand Imperial Army and become a problem later.”
Gaius nodded.
“Yes, I suppose that is true, however, by the time we fight again we will be joined by the Baron’s forces, as well as those of Holenstadt.”
“I still don’t like it. Feels like delaying the inevitable.”
Gaius shrugged.
“I figure it will lower the overall number of deaths.”
Von Puckelsmark shrugged as well.
“Well, I suppose only time will tell.”
The two men continued to watch the defeated forces marching through the narrow paths of Bvarian province, heading in the direction of Grössenburg. Gaius noted with a hint of annoyance how much easier they found marching through the mountains than his forces. He chuffed and turned to a messenger waiting nearby.
“Send a message to the Baron. Grindelburg has fallen and we are convalenscing. We will await further orders.”
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March 5th, 1666. Bickenstadt/Grössenstadt border. Along the Großer Teilender Fluss.
The Baron watched the Imperials moving around on the other side of the river through a telescope gifted to him by Ingo, which he greatly appreciated. They were largely pulling out of the ferry station, and the Baron figured they were going to try and stop him in the various forts and fortresses on the way to Grössenburg. A foolish idea, he and his men had become experts in siege warfare. Their best chance of victory was to prevent the Coalition from crossing the river, like they had tried to do initially but failed.
He set down his telescope and smiled as he looked at the two massive barges they had managed to capture. They would push across using them, same as the Imperials had initially. The Baron had decided to wait until Imperials stopped pulling out, but he was getting increasingly bored.
“Alright, we’re doing this today.”
He turned around to address the men near him.
“Inform everyone, we’re moving up our schedule. We are attacking today!”
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The Baron was extremely disappointed. As soon as they saw the barges hit the water the Imperials abandoned everything that was left and ran. The Regenstadters had crossed the river by foot and were already disarming any traps that the Imperials left behind.
He stood on the top of the war barge, watching the men spreading out through the trenches and working to clear everything. He sighed heavily and turned to Ludwin.
“Well, that was boring.”
Ludwin nodded.
“Honestly I’m surprised. I thought they would stay behind to inflict some casualties on us. They have the numbers advantage, afterall.”
“Yes, well, I assume they think we’ll get bogged down at the fortresses. A damned foolish assumption.”
Ludwin nodded.
“We have the best engineers in the world with us, and our men are learning more from them every day.”
He smiled.
“It looks like we are going to win this war.”
The Baron returned the smile.
“Yes. The elves will be free, and our people will have a say in the systems that govern their lives. Everything I could’ve wanted is happening.”
The Baron looked like he suddenly thought of something.
“Oh, right, hey!”
He shouted at a nearby soldier.
“Get a messenger over here! Krysia should start her offensive now that we’re across the river!”
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March 10th, 1666. Holenstadt.
Krysia aggressively itched the massive scar across her face, from her cheek to chin. Her teeth were no longer visible through the cut, at least, her healing mages regrowing the lost portion of lip.
“Ma’am, the medic said you have to stop itching it or it’s not going to heal.”
Krysia waved her hand at her aide dismissively.
“Bah! It’s itchy dammit!”
“I understand that, ma'am, but like I said-”
Krysia sighed heavily.
“Yes yes, it’s not going to heal if I keep scratching it-you said that already.”
“Then stop scratching it.”
“...fine.”
Krysia watched columns of men marching to meet the Imperials in the field, a few miles outside of Fort Krauser. The Bszerci were finally able to go on the offensive for the first time in three years, and they were eager to prove themselves after a series of disastrous losses, constant retreat, and pyrrhic victories in the past dozen or so months.
Krysia had learned from her mistakes, and she had observed just how much work the Skrzydlata Husaria had done and decided to base her strategy around their use. Now, artillery would work in conjunction with them to create gaps in the Imperial line, then the hussars would charge that gap to widen it and scatter the Imperials and the infantry would surge forward.
The only thing left to do was to implement the strategy in an actual battle and see how effective it was.
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The two sides were meeting in a very rocky valley. The footing wasn’t horrible, and the large boulders would provide cover for individual companies from artillery fire. Many of the trees had been cleared from the area to shore up defenses of the various fortresses, with the only remnants of them remaining being dozens of tree stumps.
Bszerci wheeled artillery into place, with cannonballs flying overhead or landing amongst the crews. A cannonball shattered a man’s shin, and he lay on the ground screaming and cursing at the top of his lungs as stretcher bearers came to collect him.
Bszerci marched under cannon fire, taking cover behind boulders when they could. They watched the Imperials line up, snaking around the cover and tree stumps to form a single line. Bszerci fell as iron balls ripped through their columns, and soon they began to fan out as well.
Men formed lines four men deep, wanting to stay somewhat condensed to keep unit cohesion through the tough terrain. Bszerci infantry had always struggled with discipline and staying together. Jagstadt jaegers and Imperial skirmishers fired at the approaching men and Bszerci skirmishers, killing soldiers as they moved forward, forcing their comrades to walk over their bodies.
Bszerci skirmishers took cover behind rocks and stumps and fired as quickly as they could to keep pace with their Imperial foes, unable to match the accuracy and speed of the Bvarian jaegers but more than able to match the regular skirmishers.
Bszerci light cavalry charged the jaegers, who ran or began to climb the trees with the grace of a house cat. The regular skirmishers were not so nimble, and soon many of them fell to carbines and sabers.
A cannonball knocked off the head of a Bszerci officer and an NCO took his place, yelling at the men to stay in line as they marched through a particularly rough patch. Friendly cannonballs flew overhead and crumbled a boulder, which exposed many of the men behind it and killed the man on top relaying enemy movements to his officer.
At 100 yards the Imperials began to fire and the Bszerci line halted to return fire. The front row passed back their muskets as they continued forward, men falling all around as Imperials fired at will.
Skrzydlata Husaria rode next to the infantry, waiting for a good opportunity. Bullets pinged off enchanted armor, but a few managed to find gaps, killing two unfortunate riders. They began to ride faster as they heard friendly cannons fire, and screaming of cannonballs overhead.
Imperials formed squares and cannonballs smashed through them, killing a handful of men each as they hit one side and skipped into the other. The hussars charged forward and at 75 yards they stopped on a dime. The Imperials fired and the Skrzydlata Husaria ducked, laughing as they wasted an Imperial volley.
Cannonballs again crashed into the square and the Skrzydlata Husaria began to pick up pace again, spurring their horses into a full gallop, lowering their lances, and pushing through the gaps created by the cannonballs. Men were sent flying as horses crashed into them, and others thrust their bayonets up, glancing and scraping off of enchanted hussar armor. Lances smashed into Imperial soldiers, sending splinters of wood flying out in every direction as they broke on impact.
Skrzydlata Husaria abandoned their shattered lances and drew sabers, slashing down at the infantry. Men scattered as enchanted blades cut down their comrades, and brave Imperials swarmed the horses, clambering to get a hold on the rider. A hussar was torn off his horse and a long, thin dagger was thrust though the gap in helmet, piercing his face and clanging against the back of his helmet.
All around the battlefield Imperial squares were scattered by the Skrzydlata Husaria, and Bszerci infantry charged forward to capitalize on the opportunities created by their comrades. Imperials broke and ran as massive walls of angry Bszerci surged forward, and soon the entire Imperial frontline had crumbled before reserves could be effectively called up to reinforce them.
Skrzydlata Husaria ran down retreating Imperials, breaking up knots of infantry and slaughtering men left and right. Bszerci cheered as they fired at the retreating soldiers, and Imperials pushed themselves as hard as they could to get away.
Imperial grenadiers turned on a dime and fired at the charging Bszerci light cavalry, downing nearly the entire first row at once. The charge petered out and the grenadiers laughed and shouted obscenities. More Imperials fell as Bszerci light cavalry fired their carbines, and the grenadiers continued to retreat as quickly as they could.
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Krysia laughed as she watched Imperials getting run down by cavalry.
“Glad to see it worked perfectly! Chwała husarii! Onward men! To glory!”