by K Hanson
Based on where the main army was stopped, Nereyda figured that their artillery batteries were set up to the north of their troops, near the tree line. The tall, thick trees of the forest, with their branches full of lush green leaves, blocked her view of where she thought the guns might be.
She also looked longingly to the north of her perch on the rocks. They were out of the mining complex. She had gotten her crew free. The idea of just being able to walk away from a fight that wasn’t theirs tempted her. More than one of them would probably die in the fighting to come.
From within the mining complex, screams rang over the landscape. Not just the shouts of soldiers in battle, but the terror-stricken shrieks of slaves. The Stalstan troops likely wouldn’t care who got in their way as they worked to seize the mines, nor would the defending Imperials prioritize their safety. Nereyda thought back to her journey through the western reaches of the continent, through the region most scarred by the last war with Stalsta. Fields sat fallow, bridges remained destroyed, and whole villages left destitute or abandoned, either because the occupants had fled or because they had been slaughtered.
No, she couldn’t just let that happen again here. Nereyda may not care for the politics of the world, but she also couldn’t let people get caught in the crossfire. Nereyda sighed at the thought of being so close to freedom, yet being unable to seize it.
She climbed down from the pile of rocks and turned to her crew. “Okay, let’s see if we can cause some trouble,” she said.
“Did you see the cannons?” asked Elvar.
“No, but I have a guess about where we can find them.”
She had not yet heard any sounds of artillery fire, so that meant that they were not yet too late.
Nereyda led her crew into the forest. The group of pirates and Islanders fanned out on either side of her as they ran through the woods. Now that they were free of the darkness of the tunnel, they moved as quickly as they could while keeping their footsteps light. Fortunately, the underbrush was thin enough that it did not really slow down their progress through the woods, yet the grass was soft enough to muffle their movements. They just had to stay sharp in case the Stalstans had set up some sort of rear guard to protect their flank in the forest.
As they moved between the trees toward the position Nereyda had estimated for the guns, it became apparent that the Stalstans had in fact not established any sort of protection for their rear flank. Whether it was due to being overconfident in their numbers or their technological advantage, or just a stupid oversight, Nereyda did not know. She and her crew would take advantage of the error and make them pay for the mistake of leaving their artillery exposed.
The trees began to thin, and more sunlight made it to the forest floor. Nereyda raised up her hand to signal that the group should slow down as they approached the edge of the forest. When they were just a few trees from where the terrain opened up, she closed her hand for her crew to stop entirely.
She continued forward on her own and waved for Elvar to join her where she leaned against a tree to look out from the forest. A green hill stretched down to the southeast from where they stood. Thousands of Stalstan troops remained in formation outside the walls of the mining complex. It seemed that they had stopped trying to climb over the rubble of the tower after each attempt earned the climber several bullets and crossbow bolts.
The gunfire from the Imperial troops on the walls had also fallen silent, probably to conserve their ammunition. Stalstan troops on the ground took potshots at the soldiers above them, but their shots only bounced off of the stone walls where the Imperials had taken cover.
Nereyda looked further along the tree line to her left. A few hundred yards away, just on the boundary between the forest and the slope, she saw twenty large cannons, arranged in two rows of ten guns each. The gun crews for each artillery piece were making adjustments to the aim of the cannons. While they were not ready to load the guns just yet, Nereyda would have to get her crew in place to attack them soon.
Surrounding the artillery unit she counted a small escort of one hundred soldiers or so. They outnumbered the group of sixty pirates and Islanders that Nereyda led, but still should not be a problem.
“Elvar, I think we should divide the group into three sections. In the middle, we will have anyone with a rifle or crossbow. On each flank, we’ll put the others. After the middle group opens fire and draws the soldiers in, the other groups will come from the side.”
“Seems like a sound plan,” said Elvar as he nodded his head. “Where do you want me?”
“How about you lead the eastern flank, while I take the western? I’ll have my Islander friend lead the ranged team in the middle.”
“Very well. Let’s get in position.”
Nereyda and Elvar crouched as they made their way through the forest back to the main group. The pirate captain waved to everyone for them to gather around. In a soft voice, she explained to them the plan she had devised. They all nodded, and nobody asked any questions when she asked if they had any.
After dividing the group into the three sections, she led her team to the western flank of the artillery bank. They crouched in the bushes just on the edge of the forest, careful to avoid being seen by either the gun crews or the guards surrounding them. Now, it was up to her Islander friend to decide when to launch the first volley to start the fun.
Nereyda focused on taking deep breaths and getting herself ready for a fight. It had been a while since she had been in a good battle. Despite the risk and danger, her fingers itched for a fight. She glanced up and down the line of pirates and Islanders that she was going to lead. She hoped that they would be up for the battle after being stuck in the mines for weeks or months. They looked fine and ready for now, but they’d want to make this fast so that they didn’t get too exhausted too quickly.
A volley of rifle fire and a flurry of crossbow bolts flew out from the trees to her left. Members of the gun crews and a number of the guards surrounding them fell as they were hit. The surviving Stalstan troops abandoned their preparations of the guns and turned to face the surprise threat.
Before they could take cover and ready their own weapons, a second volley struck them. The Stalstan troops scrambled to take positions behind the guns and carts, then shot back for the first time. After their first counterattack and while they were reloading, Nereyda drew her cutlass from her belt and dashed out from the forest with her team behind her.
She screamed at the top of her lungs, and her companions joined her in their own primal yells. The Stalstans turned in surprise at the charge. A moment later, Nereyda saw the western flank, led by Elvar, sprint out of the trees to hit the battery from the other side.
The Stalstans totally froze.
They were unprepared for a surprise attack from three angles to their rear. None of them fired as the pirates and Islanders closed the distance.
When she reached the nearest soldier, he attempted to catch her with a thrust of his bayoneted rifle. With a swipe of her cutlass, she knocked the barrel to the side.
She stepped forward and elbowed him in the gut with her right arm. She pulled her cutlass back around and slid her blade across his belly.
The man screamed as he fell to the ground.
Nereyda stepped over him and found her next target.
One of the gun crew members pointed his pistol in her direction.
Nereyda rolled forward just as he fired so that the bullet passed over her. She dashed out of her roll and thrust her sword into his sternum, then pushed him to the ground as she pulled her cutlass free of his torso.
Around her, it was a similar bloodbath. The center group, led by her Islander friend, had also run down from the trees to join the melee among the guns. Within moments, all of the Stalstans had either been killed or had surrendered.
Silence fell as the chaos of battle subsided. Nereyda first asked around to see if any of their people had fallen. Aside from some minor scratches and cuts, nobody had sustained any maj
or wounds or been killed. She then ordered all of the prisoners to be tied to nearby trees while she and her crew examined the guns.
Now that they had taken the cannons, they could turn them to their own advantage. “Everyone take a position with the guns. Our friends who manned them before have them aimed at that wall. Shorten up the range so that we hit the Stalstan troops gathered by the collapsed tower. Make sure to err on the side of being too short, as Erhan would probably be pissed if we went through all of this to just blast another hole in the wall ourselves.”
These guns were much larger than the cannons that they had used while inside the walls or anything that the Raven had. It took several minutes for them to adjust the aim and secure them in the new position. Meanwhile, Nereyda watched the mass of enemy troops down the hill. So far, they did not seem to be aware of what had happened to their allies manning the gun battery. They were still holding position, taking shots at the Imperials on the wall, and awaiting a barrage that would never come to reopen the wall so that they could resume the invasion of the mining facility.
“We’re ready, Captain,” called Elvar’s voice from behind her.
Nereyda turned around to see everyone at the ready at their cannons or stationed at the ammunition carts. “Good work. Let’s see what they think when their own guns start shooting them.” She walked to the back of the battery so that she would not get an earful of twenty cannons going off.
“Prepare for the first volley,” she ordered.
She saw that everyone was focused and waiting to shoot. “Fire,” she yelled.
In unison, the twenty large cannons boomed and sent their shots hurtling over the slope. Instead of striking the wall as the Stalstan army expected, the shots landed at the rear of their formation. The cannonballs carved lines through their ranks as they struck.
The Stalstan soldiers scattered from the areas of impact, but none of them made a move to head back toward the artillery battery. For the time being, they seemed more confused than anything about how their own cannons had shot them. After a moment, a handful of men on horses turned away from the back of the Stalstan formation and began to ride back to the cannons to investigate what was happening.
“Should we keep firing, Captain?” asked Elvar.
“Not for now. Looks like they’re sending some people to see what made their artillery shoot at them. We should deal with them before we keep shelling the troops. Anyone with rifles or other ranged weapons,” she called, “take cover behind the first row of guns. Everyone else, move behind the second row or the ammo carts.”
They all shuffled and swapped positions until they were ready.
“Now,” Nereyda said so that her voice would not carry too far from the hill, “wait until they get good and close. We want to make our shots count, and should only take one blast to take them all out.”
Nereyda watched as the horsemen galloped halfway up the hill. They kept approaching, seemingly oblivious to the fate of their comrades. When they had closed to less than one hundred yards, they slowed down to survey the gun emplacement.
“Something doesn’t look right,” she overheard one of them say.
“Why don’t I see anyone working on the guns?” said another.
Behind her, she heard one of the captured soldiers squirm and moan behind the handkerchief covering his mouth.
“What was that?” said the first man, who seemed to be leading the group.
“I don’t like the look of this. We should go back to get more men.”
Before they could start to move away, Nereyda shouted “Now!” The pirates and Islanders in the front row fired their weapons. Each of the horsemen was struck by several shots, and they fell from their horses, who rode off down the hill and away from the gunfire.
“Back to the guns. Fire at will at the army.”
They all went back to their original posts and reloaded the guns. As they were ready, they sent their shots at the enemy. Unlike when they had used the cannons inside the mining complex, their ammo supply was not going to be a concern. The large wagons of shot and gunpowder carried enough for hundreds of shots from each weapon.
With each blast, the Stalstan troops at the bottom of the hill seemed to realize that the first volley had not been some horrible friendly fire accident. Many of the units at the rear of the formation turned away from the wall and started to charge up the hill.
In between shots, Nereyda shouted, “All guns, adjust your aim so that you’re shooting straight down the hill. Don’t let them reach this position. Be prepared to abandon your stations if they get too close. If I give the order to retreat, we will make our way back to the tunnel that we used to get here.”
It was a long slope, and it would take them several minutes to run the distance to the top, especially if they came under fire the whole way.
When the approaching enemy soldiers had passed beyond the minimum distance, Imperial catapults and cannons on top of the wall opened fire. They were now facing bombardment from two directions. This forced them to zigzag their way up the hill and slow their approach. There was no cover between the wall and the forest, so their best chance was to do their best to dodge any incoming fire.
After a couple of minutes, the Stalstans had advanced about halfway up the hill. “Keep shooting, but get ready to retreat when I say the word,” Nereyda called out to her people.
At that point, someone in charge of the Imperial barrage decided to start firing flaming projectiles into the Stalstan troops. This immediately proved to be a horrible mistake. The soldiers screamed as they were consumed by fire, then emerged as they had been transformed into the same sort of fire demon that Nereyda had seen before.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
A scorched, rancid burning smell drifted heavily over the battlefield. With so many of the creatures in one place at once, the odor became overwhelming to the senses.
Still under fire from both directions, the mass of enemies scattered. The group split in half, one part charging back down the hill toward the mining complex and the other coming up the hill toward Nereyda and her crew at their positions by the artillery. After her outburst in the cells, she hoped she would be able to summon her magic again. If not, they’d all be dead within minutes.
“Get ready to retreat,” called Nereyda to her people.
Unlike when they had been in their human forms, the Stalstan troops were not dissuaded from their charge by the bombardment that they were receiving. Despite their comrades being smashed to pieces all over their formation, they kept dashing up the hillside, that unearthly shriek tearing through the air.
Soon, they’d be too close for them to use their cannons effectively.
“After your next shot, fall back and run into the woods. Keep going as fast as you can. Don’t look back.”
“Aren’t you coming with us?” asked Elvar.
Nereyda shook her head. “I’ll hold them off until you can get away.”
“Just you?”
“Just me.”
With the sound of the final blast from the cannons, her crew and the Islanders left their cannons and sprinted away. Some of them looked back and hesitated when they saw that their captain stayed behind.
“Go!” she yelled, waving them away. “I’ll be right behind you.” She hoped she would, at least.
Turning back to the approaching onslaught, she walked to the front of the artillery battery and watched the enemies focus on her and turn their charge toward the nearest perceived threat. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the wave of enemies reached the crest of the hill.
This was it. This was how she was going to die. Nereyda knew it.
These beings couldn’t be killed unless she found some water. And there wasn’t any to be found nearby.
Despite the futility of the gesture, she raised her sword to the creatures. As she resigned to her death, she felt strangely calm. She would go out fighting, buying as much time as she could for her crew to escape.
There was no better death tha
t she could ask for.
When her nerves steadied to a calm she couldn’t remember feeling before, another feeling emerged. It was in the same place as the storm that had raged earlier, except she felt the calm of the sea splashing the beach with wave after wave.
What if I just grab onto that feeling?
The fire demons continued their charge toward her.
As they closed the yards that separated them, she felt the sea inside her respond to her call.
Just as the horde of fire creatures reached her, she swung her sword, trying to catch as many of them as possible. Instead of catching them with her blade, however, a wall of water rushed from her.
Unable to stop in time, the demons charged straight into it. The host of enemies washed down the hill, screeching as they disappeared into the water. By the time the water reached the bottom of the hill and spread out to soak into the earth, all of them had been dissolved.
Nereyda stared at the hillside covered in an ashen muddy mess, still steaming from the heat of the monsters.
A twig snapped behind her, and she whirled around, only to see Elvar emerging from behind the trees.
“I told you to lead the crew away,” she said.
“You did, but none of us wanted to go.”
The rest of her crew, along with their new Islander friends, all walked out of the forest.
Nereyda turned back to look down the hill at the fighting at the breach. It appeared that the half of the fire demons that had not charged up the hill toward Nereyda had climbed over the ruins of the collapsed tower blocking the breach. The last stragglers were just clambering over it as she looked on. Smoke, shrieks, and screams drifted over the wall.
“What do we do, Captain? Are we done?” asked Elvar.
“I wish, but I’m not sure where we go without a ship. I suppose if I tell you to stay here while I go back to get Erhan to release the Raven, there’s no way you’ll actually obey me?”
“You’re probably right.”
She chuckled. “Well, then I suppose we head back in through the tunnel and see what trouble we find inside.”