Forged in Fire (Destiny's Crucible Book 4)

by Olan Thorensen

  Two hot-air balloons had caused widespread consternation among the Narthani when they first rose from the city’s walls at first light, tethered about a hundred feet high. Gullar and most of his senior officers understood the significance without knowing how the islanders did it, but telescopes showed men hanging in baskets below the globes and dropping objects trailing streamers.

  “It’s observers sending down our positions,” Balkto had said in disgust. “Even without full daylight, they’ll see every deployment!”

  Balkto wished the single globe would suffer the same fate as its original partner, which had seemed to shrink and slowly settled back behind the city’s wall.

  “I agree,” said Gullar to Avan’s assessment, “except let’s keep a thousand cavalry forward. As soon as the first solid breach is made and we control a section of the fortifications, have a battalion of infantry help the engineers bring forward more planks and build enough of a bridge to let the horses pass. If we can get a thousand cavalry in their rear, they won’t be able to dislodge us, and we can pass the rest of the corps through.”

  “As you wish, General, although too many things can go wrong if we commit this fully. And if we fail to break through . . . ”

  “I assure you, Kamil, I wish there was another way.”

  Chapter 48: Life or Death

  Denes Vegga

  Although cannon and musket firing had died down from constant to sporadic, no one would later say they noticed a reduction in noise. Human voices more than made up for any slack: yells of triumph at having beaten off the Narthani (mainly from those not at the point of attack), shouts to be alert that the Narthani might come again, curses at the Narthani, prayers elicited for many different reasons, cries of the wounded, calls for assistance from those helping the wounded, and shouts from commanders and individuals trying to organize and repair damage to the fortifications.

  Denes Vegga’s was among the loudest of those voices. The Narthani’s powder charges had gapped two fifty-foot sections of the defensive berm, and they had temporarily overrun several cannon battery positions. Squads of medicants frantically carried casualties away from the site of the breakthrough, the wounded to be treated and the dead stacked to the rear to be dealt with later.

  Yozef found Denes amid the chaos, already getting hoarse from yelling. Other shouting men surrounded him as he shoved messengers off in all directions.

  “They’re not defeated, you idiot. They’re regrouping!” Denes screamed at a man who must have voiced premature optimism.

  Yozef wanted to get through the throng to Denes but had limited success forcing his way through. Carnigan solved the problem by simply pushing men aside and bulling his way forward. A few of the jostled men looked angry until they saw who did the shoving and who followed in his wake.

  Finally, Yozef shouted next to Denes’s ear, “We have to get ready again!”

  “Don’t you think I know that!” Denes snarled. He grabbed a bedraggled, bloodied man by both shoulders.

  “Haldor, get your surviving men organized a hundred yards to the rear. You’ll have to be a reserve for this section in case the Narthani break through here again.”

  The man nodded and stumbled off. Yozef now recognized him by name and appearance, once he imagined away the dirt and blood, as the commander of a Mittack battalion that had been stationed on this section of the fortifications.

  Denes turned to another man, this one dusty but otherwise relatively unscathed.

  “Allwar, bring your men forward RIGHT NOW! Help repair this section, and then move back as the first reserve.”

  In an instant, the man disappeared, as Denes, gasping for breath, turned to Yozef to explain.

  “Skouks. Just arrived. A thousand of them.”

  Denes lowered his voice and spoke directly into Yozef’s ear. “They’re worn out from riding all night, but they’re the closest men not already assigned a position. I would rather hold them as a final reserve, but there’s no time to shift other units.”

  “Denes, this was already the weak spot along the entire line! How did they know to attack here?”

  Denes cursed, then spit out, “Either they had spies among us, or just bad luck for us.”

  In addition to the berm and the ditch, a third layer of defense consisted of a patchwork of traps, obstacles, and makeshift mines a hundred yards deep before the ditch. The plan had been to create killing zones allowing free movement, the concept being to funnel attacking Narthani into fields of fire directly in front of artillery emplacements. Attackers, frantic to close with the defenders as quickly as possible, would tend to flow into the killing zones—in theory. Unfortunately, the islanders hadn’t had enough time to finish preparing this third line of defense. The first Narthani assault hit a section of the fortifications where this third line hadn’t been completed.

  “I don’t see how a spy could have gotten word to the Narthani,” said Yozef. “Not with Stent’s men covering the ground between us, and not since we were working until last night.”

  “Then we’d better pray it was just bad luck and they try the next attack somewhere else,” growled Denes. He turned back to the other men and continued shouting instructions.

  Narthani

  Gullar, Avan, and four other generals stood at the Narthani command center, alternately looking at a diagram of the battlefield and peering over the lip of the rampart. The diagram was one of many copies they’d prepared the previous day. Though crude, it showed the basic features of the Orosz City walls and fortifications running down to the river and the lake to the south. This copy had three large arrows pointed at the Caedelli line. To the rear of the arrows, they had drawn squares with unit designations. Other icons and smaller arrows indicated artillery units and their projected movements and final positions.

  The middle larger arrow had more unit blocks behind it than the two flanking arrows.

  “So here it is, gentlemen. An all-out attack. We HAVE to break through into open ground beyond these defenses. There can be no hesitation. No adjustments. No sending back here for further instructions, if things don’t go well. Our main attack will be at the same point as our first try. We temporarily broke through but didn’t have enough men left to hold the position before they reinforced from flanking positions. That will not be the case this time. The Caedelli won’t be able to push adjacent defenders to the point of the main assault. That’s the main task of the two flanking attacks—to press hard enough so that the central attack point can’t be reinforced.

  “The initial assault at each point will involve four regiments each, instead of three regiments as before. Ten more regiments will follow immediately at any breakthrough. We believe their weakened center will be the most vulnerable, so six of those regiments will be there, with two each on the flanking attacks. That’s a total of six regiments at each flank and ten in the center. The only major adjustment will be to flow regiments into wherever the first major breakthrough occurs. General Avan will be in position to make that decision. We also need to get cavalry through at the breakout point. We’ve assigned an infantry battalion to work with engineers to make a crossing of the ditch stout enough for a thousand cavalry to cross. The rest of the cavalry will protect our rear, along with every man not part of the regiments doing the assaults. There’s no such thing as a noncombatant today. Even the medical staff are to be armed.”

  Gullar paused and looked firmly at his leaders.

  “I know we’re going to take major casualties, but once we break through, we can spread out behind the fortifications, relieve the two flanking attacks, and roll up their entire line. We’ll then reorganize and have open terrain back to Preddi.”

  Gullar looked around again at the stone-faced Narthani generals. He didn’t need to tell them the absolute imperative to succeed. They knew. Together, they had over a hundred years of service in the Narthon army and had campaigned against many enemies of their people. They had seen many victories and defeats, but none had ever dreamed that they wou
ld find themselves and their men this far from home and in such dire straits. They all were also professionals. They would not wait in the rear to observe the results. While none of them would be in the vanguard of the attack, all would be close behind and would move forward with their men. If the attacks did break through, they would need to move forward quickly enough to issue orders to coordinate the exploitation of that breakthrough.

  The same would hold for Gullar and his immediate staff. Once the assault was underway, they would follow on the heels of the last regiment in the center attack. Behind them would be the rest of the corps, with the bulk of the cavalry coming last.

  Once Again

  The Narthani made no attempt at subterfuge this time. The attack came nearer to mid-day than mid-morning. The sun was well up in sky, with scattered clouds and a light breeze. The morning haze and the gunpowder clouds had dissipated or been blown away. All the islanders standing behind the length of the berm could see the Narthani formations to their front. The clans’ vantage points from the city walls allowed them to see the depth of the infantry formations concentrating at three points. Those manning the single balloon tethered inside the main wall had an even better view. The entire Narthani army had positioned itself to leave no doubt to their intentions. Reports from the men in the balloon flashed to Denes’s position via heliograph and the Morse code Yozef had introduced.

  “Although they appear to be planning to hit us at three points,” said Denes, “their infantry is centrally deployed in the same place as the first attack. That will probably be their main focus.” He looked at a diagram drawn by the balloon observer and delivered to him by rider. The drawing bore an eerie similarity to the one Gullar used.

  “That makes sense,” said Yozef. “It’s reasonable that because they broke through the first time, they must think the same point will be weak. The other two attack points will keep you from moving more units toward a single spot on the line, like you did earlier. At least, that’s what I suspect is the purpose of the two flanking attacks.”

  Denes nodded with a firm yet pleased expression. “Yes, but if they attack directly from the current positioning, those two flanking attacks are where we finished the third line of defense. If it works as planned, we would not need as many men there as otherwise. I’ve also sent back to the city for half of the men on the walls to come as quickly as possible. They won’t be organized into units, but we’ll have large numbers to serve as replacements and reserves.

  “We’ve also kept in contact with Stent through the heliograph. Welman intends to press on the Narthani rear as soon as they start the next assault. He reported that they only seem to have most of their cavalry to protect their rear. He intends an all-out attack.”

  “I fear it’s going to be a near thing,” Yozef said. “They were still somewhat overconfident this morning. If they had come with everything they had, as they are now, they would have cut through us and be formed up and heading back east to Preddi. But they’re not overconfident now.”

  Narthani

  The last unit signaled it was in position. Gullar didn’t hesitate. The time for thinking was over. He nodded to Avan, who turned to the signals officer standing behind them.

  Avan uttered one simple word: “Go.” Within seconds, a set of flags had run up a thirty-foot pole. Within seconds, several other poles along the Narthani deployment reiterated with the same flags. The message was simple. Attack!

  In less than a minute from Gullar’s single word, more than thirty thousand Narthani infantry and artillerymen barreled into motion.

  Caedelli

  Yozef and Carnigan moved from Denes’s command position to avoid too much of the leadership being in the same place. Yozef had wanted to remain nearer to what seemed to be the Narthani’s main target point, but Carnigan had vetoed that idea. They compromised by moving to join a section manned mainly by Keelanders at the juncture between the main and the northerly projected Narthani thrusts.

  At the same time, Yozef, Carnigan, Denes, and tens of thousands of islanders saw the Narthani’s sudden movement. The islanders’ few 30-pounders on the line opened fire with solid shot as soon as the Narthani reached the 1,200-yard mark. At eight hundred yards, the clans switched to grapeshot and were joined by 12-pounders. By four hundred yards, the 6-pounders joined in, and all fired canister. Also at four hundred yards, their few sniper rifles began searching for officers, and finally, at 150 yards, muskets added their fire.

  As hellish as the islanders’ fire was, there were simply too many Narthani. Hundreds, then thousands fell, yet more thousands pressed on. The Narthani 12-pounder guns pushed to within three hundred yards before opening fire with canister. Over a third of the gun crews didn’t survive to that point, but the remainder laid out a withering cloud of balls that swept over the tops of the berm. As islanders fell, they were pulled back, and others took their places.

  Elac Kemescu had survived the dawn attack, although he would never understand how. Now he found himself again on the line, firing and reloading as fast as he could. On either side stood men he neither knew the names of nor remembered what clans they were from. Such distinctions were irrelevant.

  Within seconds of the first Narthani cannon salvo, the man on his right disappeared from his peripheral vision. He glanced to that side and saw a body with the upper part of the head missing. A grapeshot ball had nearly decapitated the man. Within seconds, someone had pulled the body back. Another man took his place, only to fall from a musket ball before firing even once. Kemescu glanced over again; this man, with a wound to the shoulder, was out of action. A second replacement lasted almost five minutes before a canister round hit his throat just under the chin.

  Without thinking, Kemescu edged a few inches farther to his left. If the right position were accursed, he added a little more distance from the position that attracted death.

  Gullar

  At first, the marshal couldn’t see details from his position. The first indication that his infantry on the flanking attacks was in deep trouble was a series of fireballs erupting at the point of the rightward attack. He couldn’t see the source of the flames: barrels of crude napalm igniting.

  He stepped higher and strained to see the action more directly. At fifty and one hundred yards from the ditch, the islanders had buried twenty-gallon wooden kegs of napalm. Each keg had been placed on top of a small metal plate under which lay a powder charge just large enough to thrust the keg out of its hole and simultaneously ignite the napalm. The charge was set off by the same flintlock mechanism used in muskets and tripped with a heavy twine leading back to the berm. Only half of the kegs erupted from the ground upon ignition, but even those kegs still buried that ignited then added to the burning globs of napalm. Hundreds of yards of ground became an inferno.

  The men caught in the flames were dead, dying, or otherwise out of action. Those following behind saw the wall of flames in front of them and instinctively diverted around and into open ground—the planned killing ground directly in front of the islanders’ artillery batteries. This packed more Narthani infantry into less space and confused whatever unit control still existed. The islanders’ canister mowed down hundreds.

  By the time a following Narthani regiment reached the zone, they were walking on bodies of dead and wounded comrades. Even then, so many Narthani took part in the attack that a good number reached the ditch, only to be slaughtered by makeshift claymore mines—powder charges with musket balls facing in the Narthani’s direction. The islanders had dug the mines into the base of the glacis. When they set off the charge, by the same mechanism as the napalm kegs, it not only excavated a small piece of the berm base but also sent a cloud of musket balls shooting toward the Narthani. The entire northern attack floundered and fell apart.

  At the southern attack, a similar result occurred, though from different causes. The clans had run out of enough mines for the entire line. Instead of the napalm kegs, the ground in front of the berm concealed foot-deep holes and two-foot-deep p
its with buried pointed wooden spikes, awaiting the charging infantry. Any unsuspecting soldier whose legs landed in a hole ended up with broken or badly wrenched ankles or impaled feet. As with the northern attack, the Narthani infantry, seeing the chaos in front of them, diverted directly into killing zones, to be met by the islanders’ canister and claymores. The southern attack slowed but didn’t stop, as the northern attack had. Men were more afraid of fire.

  Although Gullar couldn’t see the details, he saw enough and sensed enough to believe the two flanking attacks had failed to breach the defenses. But that had not been their only purpose. Their main goal was to fix in place enough islanders to increase the success of the main attack. This, he could see, was going better. By telescope, he saw his infantry pour over the berm in waves.

  Gullar turned to his staff. “Everything forward to the center breach.”

  With that order, Gullar and his staff, all remaining infantry, and what supply train they had moved forward, while he sent orders to the cavalry to begin retreating. Yet at that moment, Gullar did not realize that his cavalry was occupied with a three-sided attack by twenty thousand Caedelli dragoons, ordered forward by Welman Stent.

  Denes Vegga

  Denes was standing on a wooden rampart between two 12-pounder batteries when the Narthani attack commenced. Despite his instincts to stay at the front of the fighting, both the Fuomi and Yozef insisted that top leaders needed to be where they could control major actions. Denes reluctantly understood and followed their instructions. He moved two hundred yards to the rear to one of the built-up bunkers spaced at three hundred-yard intervals. The shelter and the elevation gave him a view of both the back of the berm and the islander units awaiting orders. He could directly see signals from hand-held flags from men on the berm, giving him crude updates on the Narthani advance.