-42-
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Our armies set off under the cover of darkness. The command tent was now a command wagon, which Tomin was operating with a handful of Aestori technicians.
Rias was assisting them for now, but she’d already joined my party and would be sticking by my side along with Akari—who was currently snoozing away in the forward half of my saddle.
“Are you excited to see Igni?” I quietly asked Hailey as she rode up beside me.
“I am. I feel more at ease with her close by. I was hesitant about bringing what is basically a newborn into a war, but she’s been growing fast.”
I chuckled.
“Yeah, she is. She was bigger than Mei’s eagle when we split for Brookshaven. It’ll be impossible to hide her now. You should prepare yourself for the questions that’ll come after we push past the river crossing.”
She rode in silence, seemingly in thought.
“I’ll just make an announcement and tell everyone the truth. It’ll be good for morale.” she finally settled on an option.
It was as good as any other plan, if not the actual best option. Igni was the Flameblaze from the children’s stories my mother used to read to me. We could probably say the same for most of the former Republic soldiers with us.
I don’t know how the elves will see it. A lot of the knights and mages from the Stellae trended older in age, so they’d have lived at least one cycle of her rebirth.
Hopefully, they all see it as a good sign as well.
A faint crackling in my ear cued me into an incoming call from Tomin. I touched the rune near my ear to energize it fully.
“Your Majesty, Ikuye says we’re coming into range of the main army. We should be coming up onto their rear in about thirty minutes.”
“Thanks for the heads up, Tomin. Any news on Mei yet?”
“I’ll make a call, standby.”
While I waited for his response, I turned to Hailey and threw out an odd question.
“Hey, how do you feel about letting Ikuye join in the attack? I’m kinda worried she might actually attack the bridge and make things difficult.”
Hailey furrowed her brow and blinked, “I think… your fears are well founded.”
“Haaah,” I sighed, “Maybe I can convince her to strike whatever else the Renaultians may have built around there. I’d rather not lose the watchtower, but it’s better than losing the bridge.”
“If everything goes to crap we have plenty of mages. It’ll take much longer but we can still move the Aestori’s siege weapons one at a time with earth magick.”
“Sara is convinced we’d lose a few of them after she was told how strong the river’s currents are. We don’t have enough as it is. I’ll figure something out with Ikuye.”
“Maybe she’ll just stay with Tomin if you ask her to.”
Hailey’s suggestion sounded silly at first, but the more I thought about it the less it seemed like an impossibility.
Spending time with the one other human she seemed to take a liking to or charging into a melee to sate her ever-increasing blood-lust.
It wouldn’t hurt to present the option.
“You Majesty.” Tomin’s voice chimed in over the still-open communications channel.
“Go ahead, Tomin.”
“Mei’s whereabouts are still unknown, but the rest of her division was picked up en route to their attack target. All imperial soldiers were accounted for except Mei’s team. They also had a few hundred civilians that were rescued from the enemy. It appears they met Renaultian resistance immediately upon reaching their planned outpost site and stashed the communications equipment. Mei’s party continued on to Elyssia to complete their mission.”
Relief hit me like a windstorm. A tightness in my chest I hadn’t even realized was there eased up.
I filled Hailey in on the good news and asked Tomin to negotiate with Ikuye for me.
He was less than thrilled at the proposal.
But I knew he understood why it was necessary.
Things are looking up, Airis. Just a few minutes we’ll be back with Julius and most everyone else.
----------------------------------------
We united with the main forces under Julius’ and Aisling’s command a minute later than Ikuye had predicted—not because her senses were off, but because Hailey had our group slow pace and wait for a scouting party of sentinels to make contact with them first.
I was beginning to think that maybe putting me in charge of things was a bad idea as my brain was wired closer to Ikuye’s. I shuddered at the thought of my friends labeling me as a battle-junkie.
The thought didn’t stick around long as I was involved in the finer details of our assault, only hours away.
My entire war council, sans Hanna and Luke, were now crowded around me in a single wagon while the army continued marching.
Lady Sara had taken the floor, so to speak, and was presenting an amendment to Julius’ plans.
“With just myself, Princess Rias, and Lady Ikuye, we can take the outpost beyond the bridge. The Crimson Seekers will engage the garrisoned forces as planned, but before our forces engage. The enemy will be alarmed and should remain focused on their rear defenses. We’ll slip across while it’s still dark.”
Julius stared down at the maps prepared by the scouts, “Let’s assume that’s correct, what stops the Seekers from taking heavy casualties? Are you confident with just the three of you, you’d be able to wipe them out before things get out of hand?”
“With the addition of Grand-Waystrider Mei’s forces and the influx of bodies from rescued prisoners, their division will appear to outnumber the Renaultians—assuming their numbers are correct on the latest reports.”
“We’re not sending civilians into battle. They’re malnourished and barely holding it together from the long march out of Elyssian territory.”
“I don’t expect them to fight,” Lady Sara countered, “Nor do I want them to. All they have to do is hold torches and appear to be part of the division. They’ll be a deterrent to keep the enemy in their camp, packed nice and tight for us to bombard them straight to Aver’teria.”
“Everyone stop.” I commanded, “What is this? Are we negotiating now?”
I was confused on what was happening. For weeks we tirelessly planned the assault on the crossing.
Now we were just going to improvise because a handful of spellcasters thought they’d be able to take the whole thing by themselves?
The two people I expressly didn’t want participating, my little sister and the combat-crazed celestial warrior, were way too excited by this proposal. That was enough of a red flag for me.
“Sara, I know you’ve been helping Rias control her magicks but I’m not comfortable with her being a key piece in a ‘bring hellfire down on the enemies’ campaign.”
“Sis, I—” Rias started, but I cut her off with a glare.
“You were supposed to be sticking with Akari in the rear camp. That was the deal we made before leaving Tolin.”
“I’m just as invested in this war as you are though!”
The muscles in my neck twitched and my head was beginning to throb.
“Haah,” I sighed, “I know you are. You’ve been a great help, truly. But you’re still my kid sister. I’m hardly prepared for a war, let alone a seventeen year old girl.”
“Your Majesty,” Lady Sara interjected, “If I may. While I understand your concerns, this is our best option to take the bridge with little to no casualties.”
“And if one of those casualties is my sister?” I snapped.
“I can assure you I will be placing my strongest barrier spells upon the Princess, no harm will come to her.”
I hated everything about this plan except for the very clear fact it would reduce possible injuries. Our original plan was to show up in force at first light and draw their attention across the bridge, letting Hanna and Luke’s forces sneak in and dispatch their command structure.
That would leave us open to ranged attacks and whatever traps the Renaultians have employed.
“Aisling.” I called, prompting the elven Matriarch to jolt up in attention.
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“What are the projections for Delta-One? You all have more current numbers than I do.”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
She shuffled through a small packet of papers, handed me one of them, and kept one for herself.
“We expect a defensive force of about a thousand, possibly fewer if Mei was successful in her mission and aid was sent away from the bridge garrison.”
I glanced over the page she gave me. It listed out a few static locations and their estimated occupants based on what the sentinels had seen.
Two hundred of the estimated troops were a cavalry brigade stationed a few miles away in a farming village, but Hanna’s SI-Martia operatives believed they’d absolutely be reinforcements as the watchtower had flare cannons mounted to the roof.
The tower complex itself had two hundred gendarmes, with another four hundred in an old warehouse, now a barracks annex, nestled in the hills.
Another two hundred were in a temporary camp that was scouted a week ago. None of our intelligence was able to confirm if they were still there or if their numbers had increased.
Most of the page was records of supplies and equipment estimates the scouts made.
“And the injury projections?”
Aisling turned her page over, so I did the same.
Ah, double-sided. Makes sense.
“The bridge acts as a choke-point and we only have about half of the Aestori knights with us. Even with our more advanced magicks and superior equipment, we’ve estimated some two hundred injured and possibly a hundred deaths.”
I winced.
We knew there would be a price to pay in taking Axio, but it felt wrong that one hundred elven knights would die just to take a single bridge.
The idea that just three magickians could wipe out a thousand soldiers also felt wrong, but in a different way.
My stomach was in knots.
What in the Aether was I going to do when we actually get to Axio and those projection reports began listing injuries in the thousands?
“I know there isn’t the time to wait, but when will the Second and Third Aestori Divisionals arrive?”
Julius fielded my question, “Ideally, we all would have been united in two days. But with all forward divisions being ready early and us capitalizing on that—”
“So, two days?”
“Unless they make good time as well, yes.”
“Having another five thousand knights wouldn’t change the projections at all, would it… Fuck. Fine. I give my blessing on this plan. It makes sense on the Seeker side and it cuts injuries and deaths down on our side. I’m not happy that Rias is in harm’s way. Sara, I want to be able to feel the defensive magick on my sister from a hundred feet away.”
----------------------------------------
The new plan was terribly named and went to show that Julius needed someone to help him when it came to anything creative.
Delta-Three.
And not because we had a Delta-Two stashed away. I wasn’t even sure there were Alpha, Beta, or Gamma plans.
Julius probably just liked saying Delta better. And it was now a ‘-Three’ because there were three people assigned to this plan.
That same dreadful plan was currently underway.
From my vantage point overlooking the river crossing, I could see Hanna and Luke’s division approaching. They had lit plenty of torches and conjured magick to illuminate their whole division.
The army was tightly positioned and had well-postured defensive lines. The shimmer of large-scale defensive magick covered their center mass.
Opposite of them, the Renaultians were scrambling.
A series of flares were shot up from the watchtower, and way off in the distance two sets of return flares were launched. One from the nearby village and one from the camp we weren’t sure was still there.
The Renaultian brigadiers and other reinforcements would likely arrive in less than an hour.
Now all we had to do was wait for all of them to group together and our three buffed-up mages would deliver them to the afterlife.
TARGET
STATISTICS
VALUES
RIAS
HEALTH
STAMINA
MAGICKA
170 / 170
250 / 250
830 / 830
» ACTIVE EFFECT: ARCANE BRILLIANCE
» ACTIVE EFFECT: AURA OF LIGHT
» ACTIVE EFFECT: FORTITUDE
» ACTIVE EFFECT: PROTECTIVE BARRIER
» ACTIVE EFFECT: PRISMATIC BARRIER
» ACTIVE EFFECT: AMPLIFY MAGICK
» ACTIVE EFFECT: BLESSING OF DIVINE SANCTUARY
ATTRIBUTES
STRENGTH
28
VITALITY
25
TOUGHNESS
17
ENDURANCE
12
FORTITUDE
23
STAMINA
20
COURAGE
45
RESOLVE
45
AGILITY
35
DEXTERITY
72
SWIFTNESS
20
CLEVERNESS.
66
PERCEPTION
42
FINESSE
70
REFLEX
45
INGENUITY
82
AETHER
66
INTELLIGENCE
78
WISDOM
67
SANITY
55
I’d cast my new and improved OMNISIGHT on Rias before she left with Sara and Ikuye. Those two I knew were already established powerhouses, but Rias was another story.
I’d known she was proficient in magick, but until we’d journeyed to Umbraedomis I hadn’t been aware she’d crept into the realm of our better mages.
That was when I began to see her not entirely as a kid—though it was short-lived after she nearly burnt down the room at the inn.
Still, after receiving help from Sara, her MAGICKA value had jumped another hundred points. She was starting to creep into the level of scary to consider fighting.
She was also boasting more buffs than I’d ever seen on a soldier. Most of them were defensive, and I silently thanked the Goddesses for creating such magick.
Half an hour later, the brigadiers arrived with a show of force. They had a small group of spellcasters with them, and lobbed fireballs at the Crimson Seekers division.
It did no damage against their barrier magick, but wreaked havoc on the terrain.
Huge craters of disturbed earth covered the distance between the two armies. If our plans included the Seekers engaging the enemy it would’ve been a pain to deal with.
Unfortunately for the Renaultians, we had no such intentions.
It didn’t take long before the remaining defensive troops arrived and it became clear the enemy was confused at what our troops were planning.
We had basically knocked on their doors and sat outside with no declaration or intent to attack, so I understood the sense of unease that would cause. Their uncertainty was not long for this world, however.
A massive nova of bright white light spread out through their position, centered just outside the watchtower.
The entire area was bathed in a glow brighter than the morning sun.
I flinched, raising my arm to shield my eyes.
That was when the shock wave came. My legs gave out and I toppled over. The blast not only knocked me down but took my hearing with it.
A high-pitched ringing filled my ears.
When I came to my senses and scrambled back to my feet—the watchtower was gone.
The hill with their barracks was gone.
A one-thousand-strong Renaultian army was gone.
Everything in the external radius of that white nova had been vaporized out of existence.
In the epicenter, there remained a small golden dome with a six-winged angel, the Imperial Archmagus, and my little sister inside.
The battle was over in less than a minute.
The bridge was ours and my armies marched on to Axio.
And the only thing I was focused on, was dreadful clawing feeling deep within that I should have been terrified out of my mind.
But I wasn’t.
I was wearing a sickening grin and my heart soared at the thought of unleashing that same power on top of the traitor, Renault.