Chapter 50: The War Begins
Shadowfall kingdom
1 week south of Mayburry
Wasteland
We put the support base in Mayburry and set up a supply base there.
Duke Mayburry already sent word for the inhabitants of his region to evacuate.
They harvested what they could and burned the other unripe fields, as per orders. Scorched earth. They left the wells for us.
I had the Tank division to protect the town and the supply line.
I had the soldiers from the new spearmen/footsoldier divisions take turns carrying the 60 meter rafters to the battlegrounds.
We used the rafters, planks and nails to construct 50 bridges.
We then put 2 ropes 1 on either side.
We constructed the command tower, it is 4 stories high. I'm on top with a massive map in front of me laid out and wooden blocks carved and painted to represent our divisions as well as the enemy.
The closer we got the more reports came in about enemy movements and numbers.
Altogether they got a force of around 150 000.
The map in front of me is 2 meters wide and 1 meter high, laid out at a 20 degree angle.
Behind me I have about 3 X 3 meters to move around. Wilfred and Shannon will assist me in raising flags and repeating orders down below.
Behind me moving perpendicularly I had a long separation wall constructed it's about 40 meters in length.
2 stories below me I had walkways built going outwards at a 45 degree angle.
From the foot of the walkway until the top I had the separation painted black.
Under the walkway I had it painted white.
I assigned each division a color.
Red for the newly formed footsoldier/spearman divisions.
Green for archers.
Blue for Mages. etc.
On either side there are 10 people on each side wearing a white number on their black shirt. Starting from 1 closest to me until 10 on the farthest sides.
On the third story at the back of the tower there is 2 blackboards on each side. Ready to relay my orders to the 10 flag bearers on each side.
The black flags they all carry can be hooked on the walkway so it faces down.
The white flags can be placed in holders next to each flagbearer.
The flagbearers are about 3 meters apart. We use wind magic we put on boards fixed to the underside and overhead of the walkway the make the flags unfold.
I assigned each commander an agent from the covert corps.
Their only job is to look at the command tower. If they see an order meant for them they confirm with the vice commander who also uses a spyglass. Once the order is received and begins to be carried out, the best fire mages where selected to send up a signal flare from that unit. This confirms that orders have been received.
If you look at the Tower structure from the top it kind of looks like a airplane with thin wings and no tail.
2 and a half months ago when we arrived, I had them start digging a trench 20 metes deep, 20 meters wide and 1 km in length.
I went 20 meters forward from there with a 45 degree slope and a 60 degree incline to the opposite side(the side closest to the tower).
We sealed it with salt and concrete around the water manipulation boards we used for flooring. The boards are 3 X 3 meters.
We connected it all up using the magic rods as we went along.
We used the dirt from the hole to make a kind of naturally forming hill in front of the slope. It was about 5 meters high and 40 meters across.
Once we dug the trench deep enough, I had them pull the 50 bridges across the trench, they were evenly spaced, about 20 meters apart going along the 1 Km length of the trench.
The hill will block the enemies view of the trench as well as the bridges since the wasteland is all basically flatland.
I also made them dig 6 reservoirs along the back 3 on each side of the the tower for easy troop movement.
We connected all these up from the river behind us between us and Mayburry and built a strong 5 meter by 12 meter bridge. This allowed the troops to easily cross the trench we dug from the river behind us. It ran past the right side of the Tower.
We filled up the 20 X 20 trench with water which took about 2 hours. This was the night before the battle.
I also had them dig square 2 x 2 meter square holes 10 rows in a halfmoon formation.
The furthest hole from the hill is about 500 meters, the holes where 0.4 meters deep and when we where done laying the rods and connecting everything up the holes where 0.2 meters deep.
Some of the other boards I had made in Vincent had wind magic on the one side facing the enemy.
We had ropes going through them with a bunch of Roka's unstable cores to caught up in them with a net keeping them from spilling laying at the back. I was really serious when I instructed them that these where not allowed to touch the magic circles on the boards before the signal.
We used planks to make them 4 boards high the boards are 3 x 3 meters with a 1 meter space between each board going up.
They where laying flat ready to be propped up when the order is given.
We connected the wind circles facing the enemy up using rods too.
The archers where all stationed on top of the hill.
The mages behind the trenches. The footsoldiers 3 divisions on each side, behind the trench next to the reservoirs.
The footsoldiers where ready to pull the bridges clear on my order, the troops that failed basic had this job, and their numbers where supplemented by nearby divisions.
The battle began.
The enemy forces made a beeline for my control tower, the whole time they where taking fire from the 2 archer divisions standing on the hill. The archers where switching back and forth as the enemy got in range.
When they got about 200 meters away from the tower I raised the first colored flag.
This signaled the mages and bridge pullers. 2 divisions of mages poured their mana into the rods for the water control the second the last archer crossed to safety.
The water control pushed the water backwards up the 60 degree slope helping the last 2 meters the bridges still had to go to be in the clear. The water went into the air creating a tsunami, well a small one at least.
By that time the wind boards had been raised to its 45 degree angle and the 3rd division of mages poured their mana into it.
A few of the faster footsoldiers from the enemy's side got up the hill.
They tried to run but it was too late. The tsunami hit the enemy causing devastation.
I raised the second colored flag. 20 cavalry units to my left and 20 cavalry units to my left took off, each one carrying a Roka core tied to the top of a torch.
They started making a wide arch around enemy forces moving towards their rear.
The mages started downing MP Portions and flipped the wind boards over and armed the hanging ropes with the Roka cores aligning them so that they hung in the 1 meter gap between each board.
They opened the watergates filling the trench once more.
The footsoldiers then sent 40 men per bridge down the 60 degree slope using the extra 20 meter rope from each bridge on the far side as well as the rope tied to the other end facing the enemy.
They pulled the bridges over the trench again sending the 4 divisions that didn't go around over. With the ensuing chaos they killed about 25 % of the disoriented enemy. They pushed out from the center mainly as the rest of the enemy forces charged. We pushed them back toward the halfmoon formation. Many of the enemy where inside the halfmoon.
This took an hour and a half I signaled a retreat.
When I noticed the outside of the enemy forces occupying the 2 X 2 meter holes, I raised the third colored flag.
The footsoldiers/spearmen divisions helped pull the bridges back after their men made it over.
As we where busy retreating, luring in more enemy forces, a division of mages used Roka cores in addition to pumping their mana into the other sets of rods underneath the water control rods.
We marked the rods for this very reason.
This froze all of the half moon 2 x 2 meter holes over that contained the tsunami water from before.
The enemy soldiers in the halfmoon formation where stuck, frozen in place.
The ones who where standing in the frozen holes trapped their fellow soldiers inside, they were cut off from the few remaining forces outside the ice moon.
The first division of mages went forward and with the flipped over wind boards at the ready, they propped up the boards at 45 degrees as ordered and some stood at the ready to pull on the ropes.
The other 2 divisions of mages made another tsunami. The first division mages then pulled the ropes when the tsunami was almost at it's peak.
The boards made contact with the Roka cores and released another freezing spell, a devastatingly cold one. It froze all of the water over killing some of the soldiers propping the boards up, creating a wall of ice 8 meters high.
By this time the footsoldiers/spearmen had already begun making their way around the trench on each side, with the archers in tow.
I ordered an all out attack of all units the second the wall of ice formed.
Needless to say we slaughtered everyone caught between the tsunami wall and the frozen soldier ice moon barrier.
We sent the rest of the enemy fleeing. They where hindered by their own men as they retreated.
Only about 20% of the enemy forces remained at this point.
Their archers and mages never even got a chance to fight, they probably fled first.