Canstatt.

Malmo is certainly aiming high, sending our armies forth to strike at a local capital. We left a garrison back at the castle and made our march. At least it isn't that much deeper into enemy territory, just a day's march away from our new castle, which is just a day's march to the border. The troops seem displeased that their little vacation is at an end, or at least most of them do. The 101st is in high spirits, singing old war songs and marching with a spring in their step... Their muskets are just as old as the rest of my troops, salvaged from the dusty stockpiles of wars long over, refurbished just in time for this one. The boots they were issued are just as slapdash and falling apart, and yet those wearing them seem to know their duty. Amazingly, they even look like they’re happy to do it! Perhaps they’re simply a more veteran unit? The soldiers do look older... Though I think their officer might simply be good at what she does. Either way, my other regiments might learn a thing or two from them.

Malmo's troops, as always, have the better kit. Marching alongside him for the first time really makes the difference quite stark, the difference between the modern army he’s been given and the relics of the past I’m expected to work with. And yet his troops complain about blisters and the endless marching just as much as mine, despite not looking nearly as young. Seems a waste of good men with good kit on a bad commander, but Pasche has a point when she says 'loyal to The Convention' has a couple of meanings…

Well, hopefully they’re still up to the task of soldiery, The Teutonic Dominion has sided with the Coalition and has done so in force. Oddly, they appear to have chosen to meet us out in the field rather than taking the city for cover. I can't imagine any military utility to this, and the vicious pirates of the Dominion don’t seem like humanitarian sorts.

"Maybe they're simply ensuring that we don't ruin the vineyards near the city."

That sounds more like them... Still, something feels off about this.

Perhaps they simply believe Serena Pollineux is a rookie commander who can’t handle an open battle, that they can simply hold their ground and crush the child opposing them... Well nuts to that, screw them! I will not be underestimated by these marauders!

Malmo has taken the center and the right flank, leaving me and my troops to secure the left. Me and my not many troops, even with reinforcements from the 101st and our mercenary friends we still only number under 4000 infantry, not supported by many cannons. This will take some effort... The enemy's right flank is anchored on a hillside, they have the terrain advantage, this will take some extreme effort.

Mercifully, I've been working on a new trick on the march here. Now all I need to do is develop a plan... I realize quite quickly that the shabbiness of my troops can be to my benefit in this instance, I just... I just have to spend some flesh. Spend some flesh and get the Teutons off this hill, break their left flank, and roll up their army. It has to be done, it’s necessary, or everyone will die. Damn the Marshal, damn Steel…

The 79th, 81st, and 54th will make the charge on the hill. And they will fail. And they will retreat. All the while our cannons will be on counter-battery duty, ensuring that the Teutons have to give chase with their infantry. Infantry who will then run into the fresh, disciplined troops of the 101st, and the nightmarishly terrifying troops under Katarina, with the 68th in reserve in case anything goes wrong. It's a perfect plan, and it only requires a few hundred of my own troops to be bashed against enemy lines fruitlessly, knowingly sent to their deaths.

Just a few hundred premeditated murders, I can absolutely live with that on my conscience. It’s for the good of all! It’s for Her Majesty

… At least with Xena handling the cannons they won't have to worry about enemy artillery fire, the heads of the Teutonic artillerists will be firmly down. If I had any cavalry to my name Pasche would be more than able to take responsibility for them, I'd trust her with the lives of hundreds. As it stands, I have exactly one horse, mine, and thus I can only trust Pasche with one life, my own... Stupid Pasche, she better not get herself shot protecting me again.

I communicate the plan to the troops, much to the dismay of most of them.

I can't simply throw my power out over all of them, this was going to require some precise maneuvers beyond the capacity of courage-drunk formations. But brave men still listen to their officers, this is where my new trick comes in. I cast out my magic, catching the troops of the 54th, 79th, and 81st... With holes to let their officers through. It takes some precise maneuvering of my magic, but that was only fair, wasn't it?

I'll have to march close to them to keep this complicated arrangement going, though it’s less of a march and more a lean on Pasche to half-carry me as my strength quickly begins to wane. The guns of Malmo's center line fire, it is time. We have been swallowed by this battlefield now, and we will have to fight our way out of its stomach.

I focus on my heartbeat, on my steps, on Pasche's shoulder under my arm. When the muskets start singing I will need to focus on them, to find the best time for our faux retreat. But for the march, I just have to live, something that for most people would probably be simple. I am not most people, each step is another exertion, even being half-carried by Pasche. Just keeping my heart beating is hard enough… But I don't have to ‘only live’ for long. Soon the gunfire rings out and I can feel the first of my men slip away from my power, like grains of sand slipping through my fingers. Our troops soon return fire, firing by rows, standing their ground and being butchered by the Teutonic defenders. We have to sell this as a legitimate attempt after all, we have to be willing to die for this. A bullet whizzes past my head and Pasche kneels down, taking me lower to the ground... It’s shameful, being hunkered down while people die for me. I catch Pasche in my magic, hoping she’d get me standing upright again, but she only takes me lower, angling us so she can shield me with her body. Not quite what I wanted, my magic is starting to seem more than a little unreliable in inspiring courage.

Another volley rings out, and another smattering of young men die for me. Another volley, but we can't retreat yet. Another volley, we've almost spilled enough blood, even as my heart is a simple hole full of pain. One more volley…

"SOUND THE RETREAT!"

I was hoping to give a grand shout that all the troops might hear... As it stands, I'm slightly concerned that not even Pasche can hear me over the guns. She must have managed to though, as she relays my order to the musicians, who sound the retreat.

Not as orderly a retreat as I’d like, but telling courage-drunk troops to flee is always going to be a contentious order. Still, we get moving, Pasche practically drags me away from the fight as my feet stop cooperating and my vision starts to swim. Just a little longer, just until the trap is sprung.

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"Avernia! Leather!"

I have no idea how Katarina can scream so loud, but it’s a very welcome sound now.

The Teutons chase us as expected, and now they’re facing off with Leather's Finest. They fire once, then charge like screaming monsters, slashing Teutons apart as they attempt to reform their lines. Another volley follows, the 101st is pouring shot onto our disorganized enemy. It’s going perfectly! The formerly fleeing troops of our assault regiments turn around, ready for some measure of payback. We... We might win this! I can barely see, but somewhere in the mass of blurry vignettes of violence I know the Teutons were scared.

"... Pasche. Are we winning? I can't see anything."

Pasche reaches a hand to my chest, feeling my ailing heart, before giving me a very mild slap in the face. "We're winning, we're doing great, you can give your heart a rest now!"

I trust her word, releasing the troops from my spell and breathing a sigh of relief as suddenly my sight returns to me. I see fleeing Teutons, see our victorious soldiers, see... Red banners on the horizon, bearing the Stag's head upon them... Icenians. Icenians are pouring in from the horizon, thousands of them. Tens of thousands, and with cavalry and cannons and... And a witch, if I remember right. We're outflanked. We're outflanked by so superior a force that we cannot even begin to dream of overcoming it. Even if we manage to take that hill from the Teutons we'll just be knocked off it, even if we roll up the entire Teutonic line we'll simply be crushed before we can reform. This... This is perfect.

We are about to be perfectly destroyed, and there is nothing I can do. And if we are destroyed, no one will be left to protect the homeland. The Coalition will pour into Avernia and tear it apart if we all die here. What should I do? What in the hell am I supposed to do?!

... I made a promise to Lazierte, didn't I? "Retreat! There are Icenians on our flank, retreat!"

Pasche looks at me as if I've grown an extra head, before turning her head towards the hills just in time for the Icenian cannons to fire. Solid shot tears through Avernian and Teuton alike, in their haste to fire at us the Icenians haven't factored their allies in... Or maybe they have, there’s a lot of bad blood between Icenia and The Dominion. Either way, this is simply not a place we can continue to be.

If there is one bright side to this, it’s that the Teutons turn tail and run upon being shelled, being shot at by their own allies is apparently one indignity too many for them. Which means nothing is stopping us from fleeing too, which we do in quick order, returning to our rally point to tell Xena and the 68th that we are leaving.

It’s only when we arrive there that we realize Katarina didn't follow us. Looking back, green uniforms swarmed the hill, literally carving through the Teutons... She spoke German, her troops didn't catch the order to retreat because it was in Avernian, gods damn it!

Xena shouts at the artillerists, giving some fast and complicated orders as she- Is she stealing my horse?! "Fire until the barrels melt, fire until the grass beneath you catches fire, do not stop firing. Do not stop firing."

It seems we’ve found out what would break Xena's composure. I already know where she'll be riding, and I already know I can't stop her. All I can do was pray. For the first time in my life, I genuinely pray to Steel. That Xena and Katarina and the greenjackets would escape this alive, that I wouldn't be spending their flesh today... I have to make my way to Malmo, he has to be warned, his men need to make it out of this. My troops alone aren’t enough to protect the Alemannian border, without his men we’d be easily swept aside and the Coalition would march into our cities unopposed.

Without a horse to ride I simply run, I run as fast as I can. Pasche barely managed to keep pace with me as our soldiers behind us retreat as quickly as they could, the officers doing all in their power to prevent it from being a rout.

The situation at Malmo's center is rather dire, the Teutons are pressing his position hard and he doesn't seem to have a counter. Perhaps it will be easier to convince him to flee then, given he’s losing even without Icenians shelling him. He’s utterly apoplectic to see me as I stumble towards him, barely keeping to my feet as I make it to his little command tent.

"Pollineux?! You are supposed to be at the left wing of the army, why are you here-"

"Icenians!"

The word is more a gasping breath than real speech, and I feel like I’m about to collapse from exhaustion. The only thing holding me steady is Pasche, herself clearly rather exhausted after making the run wearing armor.

"... Come again, General Pollineux?"

"Icenians! Tens of thousands of them, on the left flank and ready to sweep us away! This... This whole battle was a trap, we have to get out of here!"

"You would flee in the face of the enemy? The Avernian press would never forgive it!"

"The citizens of Avernia won't be alive to forgive us if we lose the entire Army of the East here! Don't you get it, Malmo, we're the only thing between the Coalition forces in Alemannia and our home! We can't allow ourselves to be destroyed by ambush!"

"Seems to me that dead citizens aren't ones who can rally against ‘the cowards of the Army of the East.’ Pollineux, think of your prospects-"

It occurs to me that I can probably just use my magic on him, get him to be brave enough to risk the ire of column inches to avoid columns of infantry bearing down on us. I punch him in the face, sending him to the floor, in no mood to open my heart to this careerist.

He rubs his jaw on the ground before slowly rising to his feet, giving a deep sigh as Pasche advances on him, clearly ready to deliver another, much scarier blow. "... Fine. Take the army. I'll cover your retreat, you just... Make sure there is an Avernia to mourn my sacrifice."

... This has got to be a trap all its own. This is too great a swerve, too out of character for the General Malmo I know... But whatever trap he has planned, it has to be better than being dead. And it’s certainly better than our homeland being turned upside down to find whatever the heck 'The Heart' is. I nod, and he dispatches riders to his regiments. Only from here can I truly appreciate the sheer size this battle has been, tens of thousands of men spread over a vast distance. I simply hope they get the message in time…

With our retreat secured Pasche takes my hand, doing half the work of pulling my exhausted self away from the battlefield.

If we are going to be any kind of cohesive fighting force at the end of our flight, the troops will need leadership... I wish Malmo had at least been nice enough to offer a horse for our return to our troops. Still, after another impromptu sprint I am greeted by my soldiers, broken and haggard but all alive, even as they trudge along the road slowly. I catch them in my magic, some courage might speed their pace and we need every single advantage. And as they make their way from the battlefield, I find Xena and Katarina among them, sharing my poor, long suffering horse, with the greenjackets following close behind. At least a fair number of the greenjackets, their insane piety was always going to lead to some of them not coming back. They seem a little annoyed at having to retreat, even Katarina lacks her usual smile. But they're alive, they can smile later.

I take one last look back at the field we’d just escaped from, and find that Malmo's troops are forming along the road as well, joining our retreat as the gunfire and cannons draw nearer, as Malmo and his handpicked regiments make their heroic last stand to give us more time to get away. Trap or not, it seems the man is a little braver than I gave him credit for.

Or maybe I am simply more cowardly than I ever imagined.