Chapter 6
December 8th, 1663. Bickenstadt.
Alana Albrecht watched the construction with pride, knowing that she was the one leading the efforts. She had worked extremely hard to get where she was, to learn everything she could under Jean, and now, through her naturally competitive and aggressive nature, she overtook Jean as the leader of construction efforts.
Another star fortress was nearly complete, the fourth one just three months. She was amazed at the efficiency of the Bickenstadt Liberation Forces in construction. She figured that soldiers would think that such a thing was beneath them, but it turns out that, at least these ones, did not think that way.
She was also amazed at the genius of the star fortress design. The points of the star allowed for a concentration of fire on certain kill zones, which were created by funneling soldiers using massive blockers built directly into the trench.
Jean had insisted on sinking wooden palisades into the trenches. He said that, when they were destroyed, they splintered instead of crumbling, far less secure footing with the possibility of getting jabbed by splinters.
The walls were not enchanted, as they didn’t have enough time to enchanted each and every stone used in the construction, however they were built sturdy. It would take quite some time, and a lot of supplies, to bring them down, and it would take even more men to assault the city itself.
“It’s a thing of beauty, isn’t it Jean?”
Jean, standing next to her, nodded his head.
“Oh yes, I love watching construction. The men move around like ants, and just like them they work together to accomplish something great.”
Alana raised an eyebrow.
“Really? Is what ants do really that impressive?”
Jean nodded excitedly.
“Of course! ‘Ave you ever seen the sheer complexity of an ant hill? It boggles the mind ‘ow they accomplish such feats without a language to communicate like we ‘ave.”
He smiled brightly.
“It goes to show that, when we work together, we can accomplish great things. Ants are a microcosm of our society, in a way.”
Alana smiled at Jean.
“Is that right? Where did you develop such a fascination with ants?”
“Down in the Assai’id confederation. Did you know that there are people who worship ants as sacred beings? They build their homes just like an ant hill, tunnels dug into a mountain. They are dwarves, by the way, so living inside the mountains comes naturally to them.”
“Interesting. You’ll have to tell me more about them at a later date.”
Jean smiled brightly.
“Of course! I would be ‘appy to!”
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It was snowing on the Größe Teilanderfluss. It was December, and the December air was cold and biting. The Bickenstadters took comfort in the river’s ability to never freeze, no matter how cold it got, a sign that it was created directly by the gods.
The men were creating concentric rings of defense on the Bickenstadt side of the river. Trench networks snaked across the earth for miles around, creating a fractal pattern of dug up earth. The dirt was used to create mounds for artillery to use as cover and to lift them above the ground, giving them a good vantage point across the river.
For miles around trenches snaked across the banks of the Great River. Guard towers and houses dotted the serpentine defensive line, each one filled with motivated, if a little shaken, men and women of Bickenstadt, and the fresh reinforcements from Regenstadt.
The Bickenstadters doubted somewhat how helpful they would be. Regenstadt had not fought a war in fifty years, their military was completely untested, and their men were very quiet about their abilities. It unnerved people how distant they were being, while still acting cordially.
A man with a telescope clambered up a massive pillar constructed for a vantagepoint. He looked through his telescope and watched as another tree was felled in the distance. He wasn’t entirely sure what the Imperials were doing, but they were doing something.
He watched more and more trees drop and he started to get a bad feeling. He clambered down the pole and ran over to his superior officer, giving him a crisp salute. The officer was staring at something off in the distance, but the soldier didn’t really stop to look.
“Sir! The Imperials are doing something! I can’t see what, but it’s something! They’ve been chopping down trees at a very fast pace, they’re gathering a lot of wood.”
His superior officer shrugged.
“Probably just more boats. Nothing special.”
“I don’t know sir, the Orkniers say they’ve brought enchanters.”
The officer shrugged again.
“Probably enchanted boats then, nothing we aren’t expecting.”
“Oh, well that’s good.”
“Yes it is, yes it is. Now all we can do is sit and wait, dig in further, and do the best we can.”
He pointed to the thing he stared at, causing the private to finally look over. It was a cannon, with a very wide bore but short length. It looked like it was made of bronze, which intrigued the soldier. Most of the cannons he’d seen so far had been iron.
“This is a howitzer from Waffenstadt, a gift from Ingo von Waffenstadt. I hear they call it ‘the gun that fires twice’, from the fact that the cannon fires, and then the projectile explodes a short time after, raining shrapnel down on the poor saps below. This, private Weider, is certainly going to put some Imperials out. All we have to do is trust in our training, and our gear.”
The soldier saluted his officer, and the officer saluted back.
“Yes sir! I’ll get back to recon.”
“Good. You may rest when the next shift comes. Should be thirty minutes from now.”
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Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
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A gravity mage pushed the massive log through an enchanted saw blade, slicing it perfectly in half with the ease of a knife cutting through butter. Another mage grabbed the two logs and pushed them through another set of enchanted saw blades, splitting it even further.
They were working around the clock to make wooden planks for what were being called the War Barges. A carpenter cut the planks down to their proper size and sanded them down to a smooth texture.
He put the finished planks in a cart and they were rolled over to the enchanter’s tent. Someone came out to put planks vibrating with near invisible runes in another cart before moving to grab armfuls of the new planks, giving the workers a good view of the mysterious enchanter who only rarely leaves his tent.
He was a surprisingly young man, at most in his early twenties, likely younger. He wore a drab, worn out gray doublet with brown dress pants. His hair was short, black, messy, and greasy. His eyes were blue, and under them were great big purple bags. His face was covered in acne and white. glowing alchemical runes with various geometric patterns containing them.
The tips of his fingers were covered in white ink. He rubbed his mouth and looked surprised when it was painted white. He saw the workers gawking at him and swiftly retreated back into his tent.
He set down the planks in a giant pile and sat down, grabbing one and setting it in front of him. He grabbed the pen from its white fountain and began to draw tiny, barely perceptible lines. His pen swirled around to form incredibly fine alchemical symbols and esoteric mystical runes.
He was Herman Weiss, known to his colleagues as ‘Magos Übel’ because of his dower demeanor and general lack of empathy for others. He was just sixteen now, but he was already the finest enchanter in the Empire, working directly for the Reikspal Imperial family.
He took his time to perfect every rune and symbol, finishing his fine work after nearly four hours of constant work. He lit a braiser and took a deep breath before touching his fingertips to the board. The board flashed, as did the braiser. The light and color faded from both the rune and the braiser as the wood was burnt to ash in less than a second, and the white runes were replaced by clear ones vibrating with energy.
He placed it to the side and grabbed another plank, taking a deep breath before starting his work again.
Someone entered his tent, and he ignored them entirely.
“Weiss, can I ask for an estimate on when the enchanting work will be done?”
He huffed and turned on his spot on the floor, still sitting cross legged. His voice was medium in tone, tending towards higher pitches, a fairly normal sounding sixteen year old.
“I won’t get done if you keep bothering me. You have any idea how many planks I need to enchant?”
Hans frowned.
“Just give me an estimate and I’ll leave you to your work.”
Weiss clicked his tongue, a habit he had picked up from the Empress’s former spymaster, whom he used to admire greatly before the rebellion.
“Fine. At the rate I’m going, I’ll be done by January probably.”
Hans squinted his eyes.
“That soon?”
Weiss looked at Hans like he was an idiot.
“I’ve been working nonstop for two months, you know. You guys always assume I’m off doing twiddling my own dick instead of working.”
Hans frowned.
“Hey now, language young man.”
Weiss waved dismissively and turned back to his work.
“Piss off, I get to talk however I like.”
He turned and smirked.
“By order of the Empress. Now fuck off.”
He picked up his pen and began to draw. Hans observed him for a few minutes, curious about the process of enchanting. He had heard it was an extremely labor and energy intensive process, but aside from that he knew nothing.
He couldn’t make heads or tails of what was going on. Everything was so intricate and precise, and it used many different symbols and shapes he had never even seen before. The kid was extremely abrasive and smug, but his skill was undeniable. Hans could understand why the Empress had hired him.
Hans left the tent and went to supervise the actual construction of the boats. Two of them were finished, with a third and a fourth nearly finished, and a fifth and sixth one were scheduled to finish by next January.
The war barges were gargantuan, inspired heavily by the bune of the Wa shogunate. They were essentially floating castles, with the base of a boat, a large rectangular hull, and a building on top with towers surrounding it. They were large enough for over a thousand soldiers to dwell within the hull, and it had large doors which swung down at the front and back.
The idea behind them was that they would sail across the river, being pushed along using a mixture of wind and water magic. They would ram into the opposing banks and open the doors before flooding the rebel’s defensive position.
Then, it would open the doors at the back, and more men could be ferried across using smaller, conventional boats, and emerge from the safety of the war barge. Since each individual plank was enchanted, even cannonfire would not be able to take them down. The soldier’s in the hull would be completely safe, save for the openings left for cannons.
An Imperial engineer had the idea of using cannons loaded with grapeshot by cutting an opening in the front. On the highest floor of the multistory rectangular hull were the cannons themselves, and the supplies they needed to fire at least thirty times each.
Hans was fairly certain that his plan would work, and he marveled at the feats of engineering required to make everything happen. He was proud to be an Empiresman, and it would be his pleasure to slaughter race traitors for him Empress.
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December 14th, 1663. Holenstadt.
Krysia Badeni stood on a raised platform, along with her young aide. Her soldiers were getting antsy as of late, as they hadn’t had a major battle in months. In front of her was a crowd of Bszerci warriors, standing in a rough blob of men. One of the men yelled from inside the writhing mass of Bszerci.
“We want to fight something! Bring us battle, ma'am!”
The crowd roared in approval, and Krysia waited for them to calm down before speaking.
“Men, we must stay disciplined! We will wait until the Baron has finished his work down south, and then we will push alongside his forces.”
“We want battle now! Bring us battle!”
The crowd loudly agreed with his sentiment, and Krysia sighed. There was nothing more dangerous to a military operation than bored soldiers, so she did have to do something to appease them. She considered her options for a few seconds before speaking.
“There is a fort on Bszerci land still held by the Empire. I have considered it not worth the effort to take, however, if you are so starved for conflict, I will march us towards Fort Pfolze, and we will slaughter them down to a man!”
The crowd cheered, and many men threw their fur caps up in the air in celebration. Krysia sighed heavily and turned to her aide.
“We need to work on discipline. Our men are far too rowdy.”
The boy nodded his head.
“That sounds about right, ma’am.”
Krysia nodded.
“Well, bored soldiers are dangerous soldiers, so perhaps this is for the best. If we get a bloody nose attacking them, well, perhaps they will be less battle crazed in the future.”
“But, won’t getting our men killed needlessly hurt our war effort?”
Krysia shrugged.
“Well, we always have more men. Worst case scenario a few companies get mauled and the men just get angry. Best case scenario they calm down after burning a fort.”
The boy tilted his head to the side.
“Aren’t we trying to take it?”
“Well, that’s the plan, but you know how soldiers are. Especially our soldiers. They will want to loot and burn it to the ground. So I will order it. That ought to satiate them.”
The boy nodded his head. Krysia continued to address the crowd.
“Form your companies, and we will march south!”
The crowd cheered even louder and began to do as she asked.
“Boy, tell the artillery officers we’re going to need the big guns. I don’t want to lose a lot of men. Fort Pfolze is not enchanted, so we can bring down the outer walls with ease.”
The boy saluted her and ran off to relay her orders. Krysia smiled as she watched him nearly sprint inside a nearby building.
“He’s such a good boy.”