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Chapter 45 - The Trials V

Yu Chen twisted the spear in his hands nervously as they marched. He always felt jittery on the eve of battle, and he looked towards his brother, feeling his reassuring presence. Mo Chen cut a fine figure beside him, his plumed helm waving in the warm breeze that carried over the assembled troops.

Men spread out around them in an endless wave as the entire battalion marched together. The two other battalions traveled alongside them, their armor filling the air with the sound of metal and creaking leather while the footsteps of thousands of men formed a drumbeat that resonated through the earth itself. After a year on campaign they marched in perfect order, every step they took striking with the precision of a hammer blow.

A convoy followed behind the army consisting of the commanders and generals surrounded by their honor guard on proud horses. Servants, camp followers and other noncombatants were in the very back, accompanying the wagons that followed in their wake.

It wasn’t the entirety of the camp, but it wasn’t far off.

They marched for miles. The summer sun beat down upon them, the heat sweltering in the midst of so many people. Beneath his armor, Yu Chen was covered in a pool of sweat by the time their destination appeared in the distance. A large hill rose out of the endless prairie, providing an advantageous position for the army on top. The smoke from countless fires rose from atop the hill and a forest thicket lay nearby, several of its trees reduced to stumps.

Yu Chen could see men swarming around it like a kicked ant hill as the three armies approached.

They’d been busy. Yu Chen's stomach dropped as he took in the fortified position. Spiked logs had been carried from the nearby thicket and hammered into the ground, forming an imposing barricade with only a few openings. They’d created multiple layers, designed to funnel the attackers into deadly chokepoints.

Rudimentary watchtowers lined the hilltop as well, bundles of sticks and logs hastily lashed together. Yu Chen could make out movement within. They might appear rickety, but archers lined them, provided with an advantageous position from which to rain down fire upon their foes.

Horns blew from behind them, and the armies came to a shuddering halt just short of the hill, far outside of bowshot. The horns blew once more and the armies separated, moving according to the signals. The battalion Yu Chen was a part of curved to the left, while another circled right, surrounding the hill from all sides.

A heavy sense of anticipation filled the air as they waited. The news about the spitters had spread through the army, affecting morale, and the sight of their foe's preparation had dropped it further. The dismay he’d felt upon seeing the fortified hill was reflected in the faces around him, and none looked happy to begin the attack. They were used to fighting pitched battles on open fields, and they knew this assault would come at a dear price.

Well, not everyone was so concerned.

He turned, looking behind him. The servants had bustled forth, dragging tents, tables and rugs from within the carts as they arranged accommodations for the nobility and the other men of power. Large flags waved in the wind, signaling their position. The commanders sat beneath them, lounging on silk divans, sipping tea and drinking wine as they chatted as if on a picnic.

Messengers ran between the varied camps, delivering messages to and from a massive pavilion striped in the colors of the empire that dwarfed even the sizable command tents around it. That would be the general’s residence, the finery of it befitting his status.

Such was the way of the world. Yu Chen gripped his spear tightly as he turned back around, looking at the hill in front of him. A chance of birth and he’d have been back there too, safely tucked away, viewing the battle as if watching a play.

It was the young and the poor who were sent to die, a timeless truth. Perhaps if he achieved some remarkable merits in battle, he might be able to better himself, joining the men of status in the back. That was not guaranteed. Yu Chen would settle for survival, returning home safely to his mother and his sheep.

Unlike Mo Chen.

He looked at his brother who stood tall, cutting a fine figure as the light reflected off of his armor, the red silk threading through it appearing dashing in the afternoon sun. His brother wasn’t cowed by the same aura of despair that covered most of the other men.

He’d stepped out of rank, walking through the squad as he addressed his men. He clapped some on the shoulders and shared a few whispered words with others. Some he’d just stare into the eye before giving a solemn nod. It was as though he knew what every man needed, and Yu Chen noticed how backs straightened as he passed by, their looks of fear replaced with grim determination.

No, Mo Chen wasn’t destined to return to herding sheep. After all, he’d found a new flock to guide.

The trumpets blew two short notes, and the carnage began.

There was no mad dash. It started with a low rumble, as the men took uncertain steps towards the hill, hesitant at first. Their stuttering movements slowly turned into a stampede, as the unstoppable mass of humanity at their backs forced those in front to run faster, fear in their eyes as an unstoppable momentum pushed them towards the spiked logs at the base of the hill.

A lone scream began, before turning into a deafening cacophony as a thousand more rose to join it, the entire battalion erupting into a single undulating voice laced with fear and excitement. Yu Chen screamed along with them, screaming until his voice turned raw as he ran alongside his brother.

They slammed into the back of the soldiers before them, pushing them forward even as others hit them from behind. The army stalled, forming one solid mass as the choke point ahead prevented them from advancing further. Yu Chen gasped for breath in the press of humanity, fighting to stay on his feet as they shifted around him.

The grass beneath their feet was churned to mud from the force of so many people moving in concert. His size served him well. He was more than a head taller than those around him and he used it, shoving through the mass as he sought out some breathing room.

It was Mo Chen now who stuck beside him, alongside the rest of their squad. They used Yu Chen as the tip of the arrow, pushing forward until they suddenly broke through to the other side of the choke point. He took a few deep breaths, gasping for air. sweat poured down his face as he looked around, seeing a second layer of spiked logs not far away.

They split the path in two directions, circling the hill in either direction.

With a shout Mo Chen led them to the left, their squad joining with the others who’d also decided to go that way. They reached another break in the logs and the army split again, streaming in different directions.

An ominous feeling started to rise in Yu Chen as they approached the next choke point, seeing a mass of enemy soldiers waiting to receive them. The logs had played an insidious trick, he realized, stealing the momentum the army had once had. The men were now barely trudging along, their impetus stolen by the journey through the spiked tunnels.

The choke point was tight, only wide enough for seven or eight men to pass with ease, and it was filled with soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder. The morale that had risen at the beginning of the attack had fallen once again, and Yu Chen could see hesitation spread around him as they took in the fresh opponents waiting before them.

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It was Mo Chen who broke the stalemate. With a wild cry he charged forward, and Yu Chen cursed, cursed himself for his own moment of hesitation that had led him to being half a step behind his brother. He hurried his steps, moving as quickly as he could to arrive by his side.

Mo Chen dodged as multiple spears struck towards him. He moved like a dream, rotating as he ducked beneath the attacks before striking out in a textbook lunge that took a man through the throat. Panic filled his eyes as he fell back gurgling, blood pouring down his armor.

A spear came flickering towards Mo Chen, striking before he could recover, but Yu Chen was there to block the blow.

He roared, twisting the spear in his hands and slapping the attack out of the way before thrusting forward, cutting a wicked line that sliced across his foe’s arm. The rest of the squad arrived before their enemies could press them further, causing the battle to descend into madness.

Men on both sides fell screaming as they cut at each other, hacking away until the mud of the small hill ran slick with blood. There were no duels, and no honor in this fight. Only the poor cutting each other down like wheat, and for what purpose, the gods only knew.

Yu Chen ducked as a spear lanced his way, and rotated his own, knocking two more out of the way. He kept his eyes open as he fought, a tactic he’d learned long ago on the battlefield. It was strange, some men tended to close their eyes the moment they struck a blow, or received one in return, an instinctive reaction they’d never quite lost.

A fight was won or lost on the thinnest of margins. Yu Chen leaned slightly as another spear came his way, cutting a thin red line across his cheek but Yu Chen drove his own spear deep into the man’s armpit in turn, rotating viciously as he ripped his spear back.

The man fell back with a cry, and Yu Chen watched as another near him fell as well, cut down by one of his squad mates. His eyes flashed as he roared, pressing forward into the gap before more soldiers could come to fill it.

He lay about him, fighting desperately to gain ground. He knocked aside the spears that came his way as their foes tried to push him from the position. He refused to be moved however, and soon more of squad mates joined him. Together they pressed forward, driving like a wedge through the gathered men and splitting the solid line in twain.

That was all it took, the attacking army soon dividing the men and dividing them again, until they fought in small pockets, surrounded on all sides. They fought feverishly, but eventually they all fell, cut down to the ground.

The army behind them streamed forward now that the choke point was clear. Mo Chen allowed them a moment’s pause, letting them catch their breath. He didn’t give them long before he was waving them forward once more, a grim look in his eye.

The scene repeated as they pushed their way up the hill, the combined armies slowly smothering all resistance. However, the choke points only became tighter, the resistance growing more fierce the higher they climbed. It was here that the battle truly became hellish, as Yu Chen heard the whistling sound of arrows filling air.

He looked up, watching as the men in the watchtowers filled the air with the scream of death, their arrows notched to demoralize all who heard. The army pressed forward with greater intensity, the nearby men desperate to close with their foes where they would be marginally safer, at least from an unseen death.

The last line of defense fell as they broke through the final chokepoint, streaming into the unguarded camp.

Yu Chen heard the flicker of ignition. Fear filled his heart, and he looked up, sighting the two large wooden contraptions that faced the opening of the hill. Fiery waves billowed forth, and he dove to the ground watching in terror as the men who had rushed ahead fell to the ground, blazing like human torches.

Then the contraptions coughed, and the second wave of terror began. Liquid sparks of molten metal flew forth, showering the next wave of troops. The flaming shower drilled through their armor and bit deep into their skin. The sudden pain caused many to collapse, and the entire line soon fell apart. The archers up above continued to draw and loose, filling the men with arrows. They targeted those that had remained standing, cleaning up what the Dragon’s Breath cannons had missed.

Suddenly the sound of trumpets reached Yu Chen, carrying over the tumultuous waves of battle.

They were a mass of conflicting signals, urging retreat and attack. The earth around him trembled, and he couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder looking towards the camp behind them. His face paled as he saw a mass of horsemen had come out of the nearby forest thicket. They were a few hundred strong, wearing fine armor that marked them as the most powerful of shock troops.

They were in full sprint now, galloping across the open plains, and Yu Chen watched in horror as they crashed into the command tents. It was a massacre, beyond what he’d ever seen, and he had the sinking feeling the war had changed in this moment. Nobility and the command were rarely ever targeted, and if they were it was to capture them, taking their finery and holding them hostage for ransom.

Not here. They were slaughtered without mercy, servants and nobles alike.

Yu Chen looked around him and felt his heart breaking as he saw the faces of friends, people he’d fought and bled with lying dead in the dirt around him. A good portion of the army still stood, but it wavered, the men on the edge of breaking as the fresh enemy combatants strode towards them.

Mo Chen still stood nearby, his once fine armor now bedraggled and caked with mud. He’d lost his spear somewhere and so he’d unsheathed the fine blade by his side, its unmarred metal gleaming beautifully in the afternoon sun.

Yu Chen pushed himself up, standing beside his brother.

More joined them, soldiers shouting in defiance as they rose to stand beside them, forming an unbroken line to face the foes in front of them. With a roar the two armies clashed, and the top of the hill dissolved into a pitched melee.

Yu Chen’s heart began thumping heavily as the fight went on. He roared, cutting down his enemies as they approached, but they appeared endless, more rising to replace the ones he slew. He watched as more faces he knew were cut down and he wept, feeling a sense of loss with each death.

At some point a fog had begun to rise around the battlefield, and he realized with despair that they were losing the fight. The horsemen in the distance had finished their bloody work and had begun circling the hill, cutting down any who fled the battle, leaving no escape to be had.

His heart was beating mightily, harder than it ever had before as the tides of battle separated him and Mo Chen. He could see his brother’s plumed helm in the distance, the last one still waving on the field as he lay about him with his sword, beset by enemies on all sides.

“No!” Yu Chen roared, summoning a power he didn’t know he had as he sent half a dozen men flying with one sweep of his spear.

Mo Chen was surrounded by men who fought desperately against their foes, but they were slowly being cut down. It didn’t matter, Yu Chen would save him. He was like a god as he cut through the oncoming army, each swing of his spear leaving the ground littered with the dead. He knew not where this strength came from, but it was enough to save his brother, if only he could reach him.

“It’s time to go.”

Yu Chen turned as he heard the words, panic written across his face as he saw Chen Rui standing behind him. He appeared oddly peaceful, his clothes untouched and his straight sword still sheathed at his side. The battle seemed to flow around the man, leaving him strangely untouched.

“We will, but we have to reach Mo Chen first!” He said, pointing at his brother as he yelled at Chen Rui, ignoring the other man’s strange appearance.

The fog was growing denser, a good sign. He didn’t know where it came from, but he thanked the gods for its appearance. It would help obscure them from view as they fled, allowing them to escape the horsemen on the open plains.

“It’s time to go.”

Chen Rui repeated himself once more, and Yu Chen stared in confusion, looking back towards his brother, watching in terror as another man near him fell. His heart shuddered. He ignored the strange man, racing towards his brother once more. The fog rose around his feet, reaching towards him, and he felt a growing warmth against his leg, something in his pocket resonating with the strange mist.

He ignored it as he drove forward, his mighty spear slapping men out of his way like children, fueled by a strength he didn’t know he had as he hurried to reach his brother in time. He watched as two more men were cut down. The warmth against his leg increased, beginning to burn, and with a hurried curse Yu Chen shoved his hand in his pocket, trying to -

He stumbled to a halt, before falling to his feet no longer working. Tears streamed down his face. He pulled the item from his pocket, raising a trembling hand to reveal a small chunk of jade that emitted a soothing sensation.

A spear stabbed into Mo Chen, causing his eyes to bug out in disbelief, but Yu Chen paid him no mind, turning to look at Chen Rui. He hadn’t noticed it before, but the man’s eyes were ancient, tinged with a hint of eternity.

The vision around him shattered. He closed his eyes.

“It’s time to go.” Yu Chen said softly, his voice heavy with pain.