"How's the progress coming?" I asked my brother Valkinvar as I walked in on his practice. I was currently given a period of rest so I was left anxious and directionless. So I thought I would check in on the others. Wing-Head Allyoceer insisted I did no fighting so I could recover my strength...
But my duty was to the war we currently fought, I had to be involved with it somehow!
"Difficult." he laconically answers.
"How so, the smaller ones seem to match your example rounds."
"The round shot isn't the issue. It's the fact the mountain cracker uses a different kind of barrel. These balls aren't holding up!" he vents out before he lunges it towards the enemy position. Though, while it fell short, it hit the ground as if it indeed came from a cannon.
"Keep your focus on it. Your regime is not so strict that you cannot just take a moment. If you need to loosen your body in the field, Wing-Head Allyoceer gave you her blessing."
"If I waste time meandering about corpses then our greatest weapon stays invalid!" he answers after he turns away from his war maul.
"Our greatest weapon are the soldiers manning this fortress." I correct as sighs out some more frustration.
"And I have been cooped up in it too long. Come."
"I am not to involve myself in a battle." I remind him before he grabs my arm.
"Then stand aside and watch me." he tells me with a grin before I am suddenly flying. The sheer speed he suddenly moved me with brought me off the ground long before we leapt down. And as I flailed behind him in a state of confusion. Not sure how to feel about falling in this manner.
He roared with laughter as his mighty weapon glowed with power. We then reached the earth far sooner than expected. For he had lanced his maul's tip ahead of us and brought the earth closer! And we crashed through it as if it were frail glass.
"Let's go kill some heretics!" he cackled as he tested the great weight at the end of his weapon.
"No, this is too risky. We shouldn't be here." I tell him as he continues to walk towards the still very distant enemy.
"I'm going to be leaving this field once I have spilt blood." he comments as his maul goes over his shoulder.
"And how do you intend to do that?" I ask as I watch him silently stare out towards the enemy. Our efforts to stop them scarred the land but even now. They marched out with their army to establish lines to hold. Monsterous determination and sickening disregard for life.
"By practising my munition-making skills!" he laughs before he suddenly twirls about and brings the earth up in a fine, but grooved slope. Shortly after, as I lowered my hand from my face in order to stop small chips and pebbles. I stared blankly at him.
"You just complained about this."
"I know, but now... Now! I can enjoy myself in doing so."
"We might be warriors. Soldiers. But we are not raised to enjoy suffering."
"You're an Imdvarce. You wouldn't get the satisfaction of having a mighty war hammer. The pleasure of when you hit your swing just right!" he prattles on as he floats slightly into the sky. His weapon head fell to the ground as he called forth an orb of solid rock. It seemed fragile with all those cracks filled with wind magic. But the moment he smirked and reared back for a swing.
It was clear the orb could take it.
And with a loud bang that likely rang all the way back to the fortress top. He sent the orb of stone out towards the enemy. With curiosity then guiding me, I climbed up onto his construct and watched as the rock flew ahead. A great explosion then went off in the distance as a brown cloud of dirt and grass soared into the sky.
"Tsk, just giving them cover with that." he moaned as he walked down the slope he had stepped down onto just now.
"Imagine it more like an arrowhead." I tell him after having seen the way it fell down.
"Don't need it to impale one of them. I need it to disrupt all."
"It will fly further and better if you do, and you won't need as wide an angle." I point out as I notice how the Long Battery guns had gone silent. Were the gun crews watching us?
"Further, ey?" he picks up on as he taps his chin with his pommel thoughtfully. And I quickly get down as he brings his construct down. A single, overhead slam reduced it to rubble before he remade it.
"This is the sort of shape the mountain cracker needs, no?" I ask after briefly looking back at the tremendous barrel of it.
"Yes, yes..." he muttered before incoherently rambling about what must've been measurements.
"Go on." I encourage him with as I grow eager to see what this attempt would bring.
"Okay... AND SWING!" he quietly let out before he roared in furry. And with his feet firmly planted on the ground. He brought his weapon back and let it fill with magic. Seemingly leaping forward before he quickly released and caught his hammer.
Driving all the more physical and arcane force into the shot in that one swing. But, maybe it was too much force. Because the construct collapsed and the land ahead of us shattered and was torn apart. Though, I think because of it, we missed where the shot had landed.
"Dammit." he hissed as he dropped his hammer in annoyance.
"What happened?"
"Swing was off, it tumbled and shattered in the air." he spat before he turned to a magic presence behind us.
"Wing-Head Allyoceer calls for you to both return to the fortress." Dannatili tells us with an almost scolding tone. It was clear she was annoyed that she had to come out here for us.
"Why're you so frustrated?" the Ammimpaurst asked her with no hesitation once he saw her expression.
"Because I have important things to do and it was just interrupted by a pair of children in suits of armour!" she snaps as she floats down to us.
"I am following my orders." he chuffs as he puts his chest out as she approaches.
"How is breaking rocks and disrupting the firing lines of the guns... Following orders?" she goes over, completely baffled.
"I am to create ammunition for the mountain cracker. A single, well-made shot needs to be done in time to face down against our greater threats."
"Exposing yourself to the enemy guns is not a smart way to handle that." she points out as one of her shields catches and incoming shot from the enemy. And although I did not emote to it, the sudden emptiness frightened me. Those guns would tear us apart if they were given room to set up.
We had already put in a great amount of effort to keep those guns quiet...
"Blegh, if they wanna fire back at me then I'll be all the happier to shoot back." he tells her as he bangs his chest plate on top of a slight rise.
"You have your orders." Dannatili hisses as she lowers her staff against him. Briefly surrounding him in magic before he rolled his eyes and headed back. But I stayed and looked back at the destruction he caused. Could we maybe use him to cut the army in half?
Someone could swipe down with him and they could fill the valley! Maybe Dannatili herself if she was up for replicating her prior feat she used to delay the enemy. It must've worked as well as the enemy wasn't advancing from our sides. Only ahead.
Which might've been worrisome if I was given time to think about it.
"Wing-Tip." she nearly shouted once she noticed my lingering.
"Do you think we could break the enemy army in two?" I asked her quickly before she headed off.
"How so?"
"You likely just saw it, but, I believe Valkinvar-Ammimpaurst Lavauroas and you have the strength and the training to bring down the mountains on them."
"It would be a risky move, we would be planting ourselves right at their centre." she points out as she stops and turns to face me.
"They're rushing head-on at us with little regard for their own lives. But, if we trapped some of the army against us and ran them down, we would be able to possible send the others off."
"The fortress is at the plains to hold them, we would beyond our guns if we made a point of sealing that pass."
"It's the only pass which they are coming from."
"The maps would have to be checked before we could certify such an idea."
"And we can find all of that within the office of our chief artillery officer."
"You best find Wing-Head Allyoceer as well, then." she tells me as she floats on up towards the fortress.
"I guess it is fine for me to expend some magic." I mutter as I gently fly up to the fortress. Essentially sneaking in through one of the openings before I sped off towards my superior.
"I thought I told you to-"
"Lavauroas dragged me out there." I tell her quickly.
"I doubt you came to find me to explain yourself, so let's hear it." she tells me as she goes back to drinking the tea she had at her side.
"Being out there with him, it gave me some insight into how strong he is."
"So?"
"I believe that if we made a point of sending him and Valkinvar-Staguiffmani Dannatili out with him to the midsection of the enemy, we could bring the mountains down on them and divide their army."
"An offensive that would give us command of the plains." she realises quickly as she puts her cup down.
"However, Dannatili also believes that it is a bad idea as the fortress is not designed to cover a defensive line that far out."
"No, the general idea was to have we Valkinvar amass a grand assault to wipe out the bottlenecked army."
"Which, we could do to some extent if we drastically made their force shallower."
"We would need to relax on our sorties, make the guns take on the burden some more while knowing they are running low on ammunition."
"A sudden advance would let us bring a supply convoy right behind us. The formals could ensure their safety while we set back the heretics. Not even their war-witches would risk fighting us without the army to aid them."
"But we also know that they can overwhelm us and kill us if they need be." she reminds me, a twinge of guilt then went off as a result.
"But not enough to assault our position." I point out shortly after once I calmed myself down a little.
"Yes, our guns are not built for upwards arcs... This place was built with us providing support in mind."
"It's a harsh way to put it, but, by letting the ironcoats fight would let us Valkinvar rest."
"It would let us depressurise this fortress." she adds on as she walks around to me.
"I understand it might be risky, but I think it may be our best course of action. With no support on the way and all that..."
"It's a tricky situation I know. Relief forces are not coming and we are going to be bled white if we don't have something feeding our efforts."
"A starved animal is often a reckless one."
"But with recklessness comes success." Allyoceer reminds me. Even if it was a double-edged claim.
"The formals and informals have all been resting enough, I believe." I say, trying to bring a little humour out of the fact our exhaustion was clear.
"Yes, we have the men to take ground and hold it. And our supplies to construct a forward position would be kindly lent to us by the enemy."
"So we will try to push them out?"
"I will consider it and talk it out with Wing-Tip Uala, my other second-in-command."
"Of course..." I answer with some scepticism, knowing how we clashed.
"Do not try to think on it too much, Wing-Tip Vapooliar. Getting a stark contrast of opinions is good for figuring these things out. She may spot concerns you have not."
"I'm aware of the risks." I tell her, somewhat annoyed by the implication of short-sightedness.
"As I said, don't think on it, don't ruminate. Just leave it to me and I will give you some idea of my decision during the next general meet-up."
"Very well, I'll be in the officer's tower, then." I tell her with a nod, knowing her words basically meant 'wait until tomorrow.'
"That was an impressive swing on his part, is Lavauroas progressing well?"
"He is having issues matching the measurements of the mountain cracker for whatever reason. But, I think he might just need a change in environment." I explain to her to which she nods.
"I will try and look into it, I know we have placed a great burden on him. Turning him into a munitions smith like that."
"It's better than him just sitting around drinking." I tell her as I close the door behind me. Heading off to the officer's tower as I said. I tried to ignore the awkwardness that settled in once others saw that I was here. But it didn't really go until I got to my room.
A small place which I had taken up so the others could have some more comfort. Though, I also understood that as Valkinvar, we had an obligation to seek harsher conditions. At least to some extent. So we could keep up with the right mindset.
But, even after all my years as a Valkinvar, a premature one still training and an anointed one. I still realised one thing. A warm, soft bed was still well desired. And I reminded myself of that standard quickly.
Because even with all my rest, I still couldn't help but just collapse onto it. I might have not fallen asleep. But I appreciated having something other than solid stone or aged oak to rest myself on. The fact I was still in my armour, though, was somewhat lost on me.
"I hope I wasn't being too eager with my suggestion to the Wing-Head..." I then groaned anxiously as I placed a hand against my forehead.