Part 59

The two armies faced each other across an empty space filled with potential death that everyone could feel. Greza knew this feeling.  Already she thought she could smell the blood.

Greza pulled her carbine out of its sheath and laid it across her lap.  Something didn’t feel right.  The itching that had been building up since last night was now like a burning coal in her stomach.

“Watch Verin with both eyes,” Greza said.

“Always do,” Onata said.

“More than usual.”

Onata cocked her head.

“Something wrong?”

She wasn’t sure how to answer that without sounding crazier than people already thought she was.

“I don’t know.”

Then a black horse with a black rider trotted up next to her.  What was Alethia doing there?

“You should probably stay in the rear, Alethia,” Onata said with a raised eyebrow.

Alethia shook her head and Onata shrugged.

Greza leaned over and whispered to Alethia.

“Why are you here?”

“I have a bad feeling.”

Greza closed her mouth and tried to block all faithless thoughts from her mind. Yes, there was danger but she had to put her trust in the Divine Lights. If Alethia felt it as well then the danger was serous. She hoped knowing of the danger was enough to guard against it.

“I won’t let the Promised Victor come to harm,” Alethia whispered.

“We’ll both watch over him.”

Alethia narrowed her dark eyes and gave one nod.

Horns and drums blasted out the signal to march.  As one, the brigades moved forward with the thunderous trampling of thousands of feet and the deafening clanking of armor and weapons.  The back ranks had to wait for the front to move like the bellows of a blacksmith.

Two miles away the Imperial army lurched forward.  They had many more impressive looking banners than the combined army and their cavalry had silly looking plumes of bright feathers. 

“The Imperial Chargers,” Onata said. “The best they have.  They call them the Sword’s Edge.”

“How experienced are they?”

“Their last battle was ninety years ago.”

Verin had set their command on what passed for a hill on these plains.  It was a slight rise that gave them just enough height to see what was happening.  She looked to the left and right and saw that the ranks on the wings were twice as deep as the center. 

Greza pointed a metal cestus at the right flank.

“Why the double depth?”

Onata raised her hands and shrugged.

The Imperial Army didn’t have the well practiced precision of the Combined Army’s veteran mercenaries.  Their advance was loose and sloppy with some units going ahead of others, thus creating gaps in their defense. 

Their garish cavalry were charging in from the flanks, much too soon from what she could tell, but then she wasn’t an expert general.  The Combined cavalry hadn’t moved from their position as they kept pace with the infantry. 

She hadn’t read any of these tactics in a book and never heard them in a lecture.  Verin was trying something unheard of.  Perhaps that was why he was worried.

She wished he had told her. Did he not trust her or was she still not back in his good graces despite what he said?

The Imperial army was rushing right for their center. They probably felt confident about their numbers and wanted to smash the Combined Army right there and then.  If she knew she could win, that’s what she’d do. 

But to assume they’d win sounded like supreme arrogance.

The first vollies of gunfire opened up like distant popping and gray clouds of powder smoke emerged from the front lines. The battle had started.

The tempo of the gunfire increased until individual shots blurred into one mass sound like a roaring river. Blocks of Imperial infantry moved closer in preparation for a pike charge to break their center. 

Verin raised his hand and scouts ran off to relay orders. A few minutes later the cavalry moved out. They raced out to the sides and met the enemy cavalry.  She saw less puffs of smoke from gunfire from the Imperials. They used older style chargers with sabers and the Combined forces used far more guns. 

Greza watched the cavalry battle unfold and almost ignored completely the rest of it.  The combined cav were outnumbered but their massed gunfire soon had the Imperial horses on the run. 

A cheer rose up from the allied generals and officers.  She thought it was a little premature for all of that.

The two armies continued sharing gunfire as the Imperials crept closer.  If they charged too far away, they’d be slaughtered by gunfire. Charge too soon and they wouldn’t get enough momentum.

Instinctively she knew the golden moment they should charge, so she was taken back when they broke into a pike charge too soon. 

Fools.

Onata laughed.

Even with pikemen dropping in disgusting numbers, they crashed into their front ranks with a rise in noise she heard from the rear.

Artillery was focusing their bombardment on the wings of the Imperial army, keeping them from charging.  Still the heavy combined flanks didn’t move in to support the center.  What was Verin Thinking? 

The Imperials were losing far more men than the combined army, but if they broke through the center it wouldn’t matter, the battle would be over. She continued to watch from her saddle as the Imperials slowly pushed their center back. If it stretched any more it would break.

“Greza!” Verin shouted.

Her head snapped over to look at him.

“I need you, Onata and Tempest to take our reserves and support the center.”

She didn’t want to leave him in a battle, especially with this bad feeling, but an order was an order.

“Yes, my lord!” She shouted and then spurred her horse over to where the reserves were.  Tempest was right behind her, already barking out orders. Onata was rounding up some halbredeirs and once they had a sizable force together, they charged for the front.

She had to trust Verin’s safety to Alethia for now.

She left her horse in the hands of a young boy and she charged forward on foot with the infantry. Onata stayed mounted and Tempest was next to her. Even from her limited view and knowledge, she could tell that the center was bowing inward under the pressure of the enemy assault.

An enemy pikeman bust through the ranks and he was followed by several others.

“There!” Tempest bellowed. 

The Minotaur charged forward and crashed into the Imperial soldiers.  Onata fired her crossbow and instantly pulled out and fired a pistol.

The hole in their ranks was made and they had to plug it or the entire battle was lost. What was Verin thinking with this formation?

The auxiliary infantry ran forward and engaged the escaping infantry.

Greza stood back and watched. The sickening feeling was only growing stronger.  Something was wrong.

Then her head hurt as if a bullet had struck it.  Clutching her temple, she turned in the direction. 

A giant man wearing heavy battle armor shoved his way through the mass melee and walked directly towards her. She knew him. She recognized the shaved head and scar. He was looking at her and cracked his knuckles.

It was the man from the border station, the man she couldn’t beat. 

He took up the same fighting stance she was about to take up.

She looked for Tempest and saw him surrounded by enemy soldiers and Onata was too far away to notice her.

She was alone.