“Damn it,” Dag muttered as she helped him out from underneath the dead body.
“Are they going to think that’s the signal shot?” Kayleigh hissed.
A loud roar punctuated her question and a concussive report echoed through the surrounding area. The din was answered by sporadic gunfire and a smaller explosion that was probably a rocket propelled grenade.
“We have to move,” Dag said. “The infantry will be advancing any moment.”
“Dag!” a voice hissed in the darkness.
“Logan?” he whispered back.
Logan and Pendleton both stepped into the small circle of light. “It’s all gone pear-shaped,” Pendleton muttered.
“Not yet,” Dag said. “The first casualty of any battle is the battle plan. Get to the northeastern corner of the woods. Try to pick off the Dommies as they try to advance on Tangrit’s position. With that being the only angle of attack at the moment, the Dommies will cluster their forces around him. If we don’t launch an assault on their center camp quickly, Tangrit will get overrun.”
“On it,” Logan agreed, and he and Pendleton turned and raced back into the darkness.
“Fetch your arrow and come on,” Dag said to Kayleigh. “We need to get to that high ground and start thinning them out.”
They took off at a flat run through the woods, apparently on some kind of game trail that Dag had discovered. In the distance, they could hear the continuing bombardment and the staccato rattling of machine gun fire. Kayleigh was not certain how far behind them the infantry would be, but their orders were to advance with all possible haste once the battle started. She only hoped that the Dommies hadn’t repositioned their forces with the onset of the fighting. She and Dag were making a lot of noise as they sprinted through the jungle and if the Dommies had deployed additional sentries, they were going to be easily spotted.
Their luck held however and Dag slowed them down as they reached the edge of the forest and began making their way up the rock formation Dag had showed to her on their scouting trip. Silence was not entirely necessary as they made their assent as they could hear orders being barked from the camp, the scramble of men attempting to assemble, and the roar of artillery and gunfire sounded a lot closer.
Once they were on top of the formation, Dag had a better idea of what they were facing. The Dominion line across the road was taking heavy fire from the mortar and rocket launcher that Tangrit was employing, and the fortifications looked as if they had been weakened. A number of dead Dominion soldiers lay splattered in bits and pieces all over the landscape, but it appeared as if those who had not been hit in the initial bombardment had managed to take cover and were waiting out each salvo. A line of sandbags set back from the main line had been occupied by Dommies who were taking potshots at Tangrit’s position on the hill. A second line to the east of the main road, outside of the range of the Miravallian artillery, was apparently being used as a staging ground for a force that was going to storm around the minefield and attempt to take Tangrit’s position. The Dommies had also sent men to take up the dagger-shaped defensive positions, one facing south toward the woods proper, the other facing south-east toward the easternmost section of the woods. The latter would also be in a position to advance toward Tangrit’s hill once the Dommies had finished rallying. The former was the smallest grouping of Dommies, but it was also the group that was most likely to be able to hold off the infantry advance of the Miravallians.
“Damn,” Dag muttered. “Where do we put our fire power?” One of his options was removed for him as the southeastern dagger formation came under sniper fire. Logan and Pendleton were pinning them down. “Alright,” he said to Kayleigh. He pointed to the defensive position the Dominion forces had taken facing south toward the woods. “Use your bow to start picking off the men in that formation. Shoot fast. Shoot accurately. Re-position yourself in the rocks after each shot, so that they can’t get a bead on you. Start at the back of the formation and work your way forward.”
“Right,” Kayleigh said nervously.
“You can do this,” Dag whispered reassuringly.
“Right,” Kayleigh said with more confidence.
Dag swung his rifle off his shoulder and affixed the silencer to it. A gun shot was not going to be necessary to signal for the infantry to move forward, and the silencer would keep his position secret for a little while, especially as he was going to target people more than a thousand yards away from him. He took aim at the shadows in the distance that were the main force that the Dominion was about to send against Tangrit’s position. Each new explosion lit the area up brightly, and Dag timed each shot with a bright new burgeoning flame from a mortar round. The first shot ripped through the helmet of a Dommie who was jumping over the fortification line, responding to an officer’s exultation to charge. The second shot brought that officer down. Three more in rapid fire succession took out the next several who attempted to jump the sandbags. With the sixth shot, Dag just wounded one of the men as the deaths around them were not acting as an appropriate deterrent. The man’s knee cap exploded and he collapsed just beyond the fortifications. Apparently his screams were loud enough to be heard over the explosions as several of his companions turned back to help him. Dag picked off one of them as they knelt to help. Another half-dozen shots killed or wounded enough of the Dommies for them to realize that something was not right. Anyone who had already made it over the fortifications immediately returned to a position of cover while Dag reloaded. He hoped that he had stymied the Dommies’ will to make a charge on Tangrit’s position for at least a little while.
While Dag began looking for a new group of targets, Kayleigh was scrambling from rock formation to rock formation, firing an arrow from each position before relocating. She had managed to fell three men before they realized that there was anyone on the rock wall above them. Her fourth shot was greeted by fire from below, and though she killed one of Dommies, their return fire ricocheted off the rock she was hiding behind, sending sparks flying into the air. Keeping low, she began to move down the rock face, closer toward the forest.
Kayleigh peered around another rocky outcropping and she would have sworn that the Dommies below were ready for her. Half of them already seemed to have their weapons trained on the space where her head popped out. The rest were not far behind in tracking her. She barely had time to let out a gasp as a barrage of machine gun fire roared through the night air. Nothing hit her. She wasn’t shot, and she couldn’t believe it as she swung her body back behind cover and heard a battle cry echo from the woods. The new salvo of weapons fire hadn’t come from the Dommies below, but it was the Miravallian infantry arriving on the scene at last.
20
Aria had heard the gun shot ring out across the woods, and it seemed completely wrong to her. First, it was too close. Even with the weird echoing in the woods and hills near the gorge, she could tell that the shot did not come from as far away as it was supposed to. Second, the report was all wrong for the sniper rifle that Dag carried.
Alex looked at her from where they crouched in the dark of the forest. “Let’s hope Tangrit realizes that the shot wasn’t from Dag,” he whispered, clearly thinking exactly what Aria had been.
Before Aria could reply, a concussive sound roared from the distance followed by the sound of an explosion. “Dammit,” Alex growled. “We’re not in position. We may need to fall back.”
“No, sir,” Aria disagreed vehemently. “We push forward.”
“We have no advantage and we’re outnumbered, specialist,” Alex fired back angrily.
“Respectfully, sir,” Aria responded calmly, suddenly remembering she was talking to a superior officer. “What do you think Dag did?”
“What?” Alex demanded.
“He hasn’t come back this way,” she replied. “Don’t you think he would have gone forward to try to help pave the way for us? If we don’t move on the enemy, we probably lose him.”
Alex seemed to consider this. “I can’
t risk everyone’s lives just to save my brother,” he said at last.
“Sir, all of us will be dead when the Dommie tanks roll across that bridge,” she protested. “I’d rather be killed in a battle with a fighting chance than have the Dommies roll over me in a tank.”
“Alright, specialist,” he said after a moment. “We advance to the northern edge of the wood and we press the attack if and only if I feel we have the advantage.”
“Yes, sir,” she responded enthusiastically, before letting loose a fairly good impression of a timber hawk cry, which had been decided on as the signal to advance.
The small infantry group of Miravallians rushed forward, no longer concerned with silence, just speed. It was difficult going in the dark with little starlight or moonlight to navigate by. The explosions to the east though gave some light in the distance and at least made their run through the woods possible. They passed by a lit torch where they found two dead bodies, which were immediately stripped of guns and ammunition before they pressed forward.
Aria could make out muffled thumps that sounded like suppressed rifle shots coming from the northeast. Dag? She wondered to herself as she continued to push herself through the woods. The sound of automatic weapons fire sounded closer, but still to the northeast, and she could see fires directly to the north. They were at the edge of the forest. She let loose another timber hawk cry, and the Miravallians slowed their advance and took cover behind trees at the edge of the woods.
Moving as quietly as he could while as quickly as he dared, Alex crawled forward on his belly to the edge of the forest and took in the situation. There were several dozen soldiers apiece in two defensive formations. The one to the east was taking sniper fire from the woods and firing potshots back in that direction. The one directly in front of his infantry was taking fire from the rock wall to their left and most of the men were tracking the area with their weapons trying to find a target.
“Pass the word,” Alex hissed after he crawled back to Aria. “All units will fire on the position dead ahead. Squad Alethia will then move forward and take that position. You lead them Aria. Squads Berlio, Curran and Delito will cover your advance and then come with me through the woods to attack the target to the northeast.”
“Yes, sir,” Aria agreed.
A minute later, the orders had been passed to everyone and the nervous thrill of battle was coursing through the veins of all assembled. Alex watched as the Dommies at last tracked down the sniper and nearly all of them were looking away from the woods as they prepared to fire.
“Open fire!” Alex shouted.
Several dozen automatic weapons opened up at the same time and the Dominion position was plastered with hot lead. Most of the soldiers had not been covered as they were trying to kill the sniper and were killed in the initial salvo. Those few that got behind the sandbags found themselves trapped under the fallen bodies of their comrades. Alex would have sworn that he even saw one of the initial survivors felled by an arrow through the chest.
“Squad Alethia! On Me!” Aria shouted. “Charge!”
The dozen members of the squad raced across the short distance between the woods and the sandbags as Alex’s men provided cover. Two members of the squad were greeted with a hail of bullets and fell face first to the grass, but that was all the Dommies could do before the Miravallians were upon them. Aria jumped over the wall of sand-bags and found herself face to face with a surprised looking Dommie. She recovered and pulled the trigger before he did. One of her men clubbed another soldier down with the butt of his gun, while others drew knifes and jumped on the enemy, preferring hand-to-hand combat in close quarters. The Dominion soldiers with their longer, more technologically advanced rifles had trouble getting a sightline on any of the Miravallians in their lines as the battle had been brought too close to them. A four foot long barrel did you little good when the enemy was two feet away.
Aria fired again and took down another Dommie, but not before he had swung his rifle like a club and caught one of the Miravallians in the chin. The sickening crunch that followed could only have been her man’s neck breaking. Another Dommie was felled by an arrow and although she did not hear the rifle shots, she was pretty certain that two more were killed by sniper fire.
The battle probably only last a few minutes, but it felt like a lifetime as far as Aria was concerned. One of the last surviving Dommie grunts had almost gotten a bead on her before Rheinhold, the greengrocer’s son, placed his knife through the man’s neck. Aria looked around wildly, but there were no other targets, just the dead, Miravallian and Dominion alike, piled up around them.
“Take cover!” Aria ordered her remaining men. Of the dozen that had entered the fray, eight remained, and at least one seemed badly wounded.
They dove behind the sandbags as fire raked over them, sending bullets spraying off the rock wall. The Dommies behind the second daggerhead position had realized that their companions had been compromised and were now opening up fully on the position now occupied by Aria. The fire was constant and none of her men could so much as fire a shot in return.
“Come on, Alex,” she muttered through gritted teeth, hoping that the sandbags would be thick enough to keep bullets from ripping through her.
21
From his perch atop the rock wall, Dag had watched with some satisfaction as Aria’s unit had stormed the first daggerhead and taken the position. They were now coming under heavy fire from the second daggerhead, but that situation was being remedied. Machine gun fire from the forest and a few strong-armed grenades had weakened the Dominion line and caused a great deal of confusion among the survivors. Dag took advantage of that confusion to thin the line out a little more with some well-placed shots.
He reloaded as advancing Miravallian infantry under his brother’s command raced across the short distance between the woods and the Dominion lines. A few did not make it, but most crashed into the enemy with a flurry of clubbed rifles, flailing fists, and swung knives. The battle descended into a melee quickly and Dag did not think he could risk taking any more shots without hitting one of the Miravallians. He scanned the battlefield looking for his next targets and that was when he spied three Dominion officers in a heated exchange outside a tent at the rear of the encampment near the bridge. From the wild gesticulations, Dag got the impression that the eldest looking of the three was trying to get orders for those soldiers in formation near the road to reinforce the second daggerhead and the other two were disagreeing.
Dag smiled to himself. Whoever the eldest officer was, he had figured out the Miravallian’s plan and knew that the artillery attack was merely a diversion. Unfortunately for that officer, Dag could not give him the time to convince his fellows. Dag fired, and the shot grooved its way through the Dommie officer’s skull, splattering his brains all over the other two. Even in the dim moonlight and the distant fires, Dag was pretty certain he could see the looks of horror and disgust on the faces of the other two.
Their shock led to inaction, just as he hoped it might. It gave Alex’s soldiers a chance to capture the second daggerhead and sent the Dommies running back to the east. Dag brought a few more down as they fled and the crack of a rifle not far from him told him that Kayleigh was doing the same and that she had spent her last arrows. Aria’s forces, now uncontested, moved from the westernmost daggerhead and occupied a line of fortifications where the two officers had been standing. Both Dominion officers were captured, still appearing shell shocked.
Alex’s men began a ferocious attack on the enemy position on the road from the second daggerhead. The fortifications across the road offered no protection to the Dommies now that Miravallians were somewhat behind them, and they too were forced to flee. The majority of them were vaporized in a well-timed mortar round that hit them as they stood to run.
Those few remaining forces were pinned down behind lines of sandbags with the gorge to their north, rock formations to their east, a minefield and Tangrit’s artillery team to the south, and the e
ncroaching Miravallian forces to the west. One of the two captured officers finally came to his senses and realizing the severity of the situation, offered to surrender. Aria accepted on the condition that he could get his men to lay down their arms. She sent one of her men to apprise Alex who ordered a cease-fire. Once the firing stopped, the Dommie officer, a young, plump man who had advised that he was Lieutenant Joikens shouted his identification across the field to the remaining Dommies and ordered them to lay down their arms.
Rather reluctantly, the Dominion soldiers tossed their weapons aside and emerged from behind their barriers, their arms in the air. The Miravallians moved forward and surrounded them, rifles at the ready.
“Let’s put them out of our misery,” growled Jorus Pattle, a subsistence farmer from the outskirts of the town.
“Belay that,” Alex ordered. “Any man who raises arms against a surrendered soldier will be shot for war crimes. Is that understood?” he bellowed.
There were some reluctant affirmations and the Dominion soldiers looked to relax slightly. “Heads high, lads,” Lt. Joikens advised to his men with as much bravado as he dared. “I’ve your word that we will be given quarter?” he asked of Alex.
“Yes,” Alex said darkly. “But don’t expect to be treated like honored guests.” He turned to Aria and ordered, “Find some rope. I want each prisoners’ hands bound and each man tied together. We’ll bring them back to the town and place them in the prison.”
“Not sure if the prison is big enough,” Dag observed as he stepped forward out of the shadows. “There are some holding cells in the basement of the Guard HQ though.”
“Agreed,” Alex said with a nod. “Aria, your team and Squad Berlio will guard the prisoners in the tent over there,” he pointed to the large officer’s tent. “At first light, you will lead them back to the assembly point where we will ferry them into town.”
Partisan (The Invasion of Miraval Book 1) Page 9