It was the warmest day of the year so far, the afternoon sun brilliantly shining from a cloudless sky heralding the coming of summer. While the rolling, green hills were beautiful, marching along the dusty road in the heat had Edwin wishing for the cool forest’s shadows that they’d left behind several hours ago. While the north was dominated by dense forests, the south of the New World mostly consisted of fields and meadows. The line between the two was, not coincidentally, almost identical with the original border between Harvand and Marrad, as the latter duke had taken the rich and fertile farmland for himself while magnanimously offering the harsher north to his ally.
That was just one of many grudges that would soon be cleared from the ledger, one way or another. That the Harvand liked their home didn’t mean that they forgave the intent behind the former duke of Marrad’s actions.
“Everyone, listen up!”, Bordan shouted from behind. Edwin hadn’t noticed the former soldier return from the latest command meeting. He hadn’t gone to most of them himself today, as they had mostly been updates and scout reports on the terrain ahead, which Edwin didn’t find interesting.
“The scouts have spotted the enemy!” Bordan continued, his voice raised so the entire battalion could hear him, while he walked alongside them to get back to his team. “They are past the next hill, meaning we will catch up to them within half an hour. Once we do, we will engage them almost immediately, so make sure that you’re ready. The General has also made his final decision on the formation we will be using, and 9-1’s first banner will have the honor of leading the charge.”
Edwin furrowed his brow, but when he looked around he saw nods and mumbled agreement.
“Wait, we’re going first?” he asked Bordan when the other man reached his position in the line. “Wouldn’t one of 2’s infantry banners have been more suitable?”
The adventurers around him gave him strange looks, and some started to chuckle. Bordan cocked his head and raised his eyebrows.
“We go first because we have the ram,” someone shouted from among the marching adventurers, causing a wave of laughter.
“What are you on about?” Edwin asked, getting frustrated. They very clearly didn’t have a ram, and even if they did, the siege engines were only useful against gates, not shield formations.
“He means you,” Bordan said calmly. “You’re the ram.”
Edwin opened his mouth but couldn’t think of anything to say. His expression was apparently the last straw, and his comrades broke out into laughter.
“Ha ha, very funny,” Edwin said, trying to keep his composure as his cheeks heated up.
“It’s a term of endearment,” Borm called from ahead. “Rams are wooly and cute, and they have really neat horns!”
“I’ll give you some really neat horns!” Edwin shouted back, waving his fist threateningly. “See how you’ll fit in your helmet after!”
“They’re right though,” Bordan said, having kept his calm throughout the shenanigans. Edwin shot him a confused look. “Well, about male sheep too, but I meant the reason why we’re going first. If our plan is going to work, we need momentum, which means we need to break through their defenses as quickly as possible. I’ve yet to see a shield wall you couldn’t smash straight through.”
Edwin grimaced. Bordan was right, of course. It made logical sense, but what he was uncomfortable with was the fact that division leadership was apparently making tactical decisions based on his person. The general hadn’t seen him fight, though, so how…
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His eyes narrowed, and he regarded his friend suspiciously.
“It was your idea, wasn’t it?”
“Of course,” Bordan agreed immediately. “I just explained to you why. Aside from you, our first banner is also the most well-armored now that we’ve left first battalion behind, and us adventurers are better suitable for a chaotic melee like the one that will develop in the breach.”
For the second time, Edwin was at a loss for words. On one hand, he really wanted to be righteously angry with Bordan for volunteering him as the tip of the spear and feeding his growing notoriety, on the other hand, that argument really didn’t have a leg to stand on, as Bordan was absolutely right: If they wanted a break in the line, sending Edwin in first was the safest way to achieve that.
I was supposed to be a completely normal and inconspicuous adventurer, Edwin sulked as he kept marching, ignoring the continued ribbing by his guild mates. What did I do wrong?
--- ----- ---
The Marradi were moving quickly themselves, so it took closer to an hour until Edwin caught sight of their formation. 5th division was cresting yet another hill, topped by a smattering of trees, and in the valley beyond it he could see the red and silver snake that wound its way along the road. Already, horns sounded up towards them from the enemy train, and the Marradi formation began to change and collapse in on itself.
“Guess they’ve seen us,” Salissa said from beside Edwin.
“We weren’t trying to hide,” Bordan commented. “Do you think Bernel and Hafarn are in position yet?”
“You’d know better than me,” Salissa said, shrugging as she waved her hands about to underline her point. “It’s not like we have some magical way to communicate. You were there when they left with their guides, so it depends on how quickly they could move.”
“You know, that would be really useful,” Bordan said, sighing as he watched the thousands of enemy soldiers slowly take up a circular defensive formation in the middle of a wide-open field, the few dozen remaining wagons that hadn’t fallen to the ambushes either pulled into the middle to protect them or pushed to the front to use as mobile cover.
“Sure, but if we could do it, they could do it too,” Edwin commented, squinting to make out details. “Can you imagine warfare with instantaneous communication?”
“Good point, I don’t think I want to,” Bordan said, shaking his head.
The Harvand vanguard marched into the open, then stopped out of bowshot to let the rest of the division catch up and unfold from the road into their offensive formation, a wedge pointed directly at the Marradi circle. Until now, they’d mostly fought in forests or other places where they couldn’t see the entirety of both forces. Despite all their losses, Lindvar division’s two thousand soldiers were a threatening sight, their formation having the diameter of a decently-sized town.
Horns called from ahead, and drums started beating a threatening cadence.
“We wait for the fog,” Bordan answered everyone’s unspoken question.
“I’ll need a runup,” Edwin said, eyeing the enemy shield wall with slight trepidation. It was quite deep. “If you want to time it so you hit right after me, you’ll need to give me a corridor down the middle.”
“We can do that,” Bordan agreed, turning to shout orders at the adventurers and coaxing them apart. He was almost done when the mists came.
The Marradi were the first to spot it, the past weeks having made them extraordinarily vigilant when it came to ambushes. Horns sounded again, and troops repositioned to both flanks as the walls of impenetrable white billowed toward them, one from the top of a nearby hill, the other from a dip in the landscape where a small stream flowed southward from the mountains.
“Now, what will you…” Salissa started, but before she finished her sentence, a dozen fireballs rose from the center of the protective circle, splitting off so that roughly half went in each direction, heading straight for the sources of the fog. Then another volley followed, then a third.
“That’s a lot of firepower they’re expending,” Bordan said, worried. “Will the boys be okay?”
“They’ll be unharmed, but it won’t be pleasant,” Edwin answered in Salissa’s stead. “Fireballs don’t do much to mage shields. Any danger to them comes from having to find their way back to us while everything around them is on fire.”
He sighed as he pictured the two young mages, huddling under shields intentionally kept small to safeguard their dwindling mana supply as fire rained from the sky and explosions rocked the ground all around them. He didn’t envy them their task, and his opinion of the two rose once again for volunteering despite the risk.
Another horn called, though this one from behind. “This is it, boys and girls!” Bordan shouted, raising his spear. “Get ready to charge!”
Edwin gave his helmet a testing tug, then grabbed his glaive tightly and stepped back into the newly formed channel between his guildmates. Long seconds ticked by as the world seemed to hold its breath. Then, the horn sounded again, its clear notes resounding across the field, and 5th division began to move.