by Jeff Inlo
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Sy read the signals of these initial successes just as his own contingent was about to enter the battle. The eighth and final surfacing point appeared four blocks from his position. He could not have asked for better placement, and he wondered how the dwarves could have made such a tactical error. He could only assume the dwarves hastily completed their tunnels without scouting. If they had, they would have never chosen this point for surfacing, and he would not allow this blunder to go unpunished. In response to the dwarf miscalculation, he moved his attack group immediately, even as the first dwarves emerged.
The tunnel opened upon the street just in front of a sturdy barricade. Two separate lines of heavy tree trunks blocked all northern passage. Sharpened ends pointed down to dwarf level, waited like the fanged smile of a dragon. When the first dwarf commander struck to the surface, she cursed this dilemma. She did not expect the humans to prepare such bulwarks. Her forces could break them, but it would slow them and they were already bottlenecked in the tunnel.
Sy double-timed his men up from the south as he blessed his own luck. Two bands of archers and one group of slingers waited upon the rooftops directly over the dwarf tunnel. They waited for his signal, without giving away their own position to the enemy. They moved into place silently overhead, using the shadows for cover, and though the dwarves could see through this darkness, they did not think to look skyward.
This was a definite ambush point, a place Sy had hoped to bring the enemy, a place like many others around Burbon where the battle would be fought to their advantage. The dwarves had stumbled upon it now by their own choosing. If Sy could keep them here, the dwarf army would suffer greatly.
His first battle command was to light two waiting hay carts ablaze. His men sent the flaming wagons directly at the tunnel entrance. The dwarves struck at the carriages, breaking them into splinters, but the burning hay dropped upon them like scorching rain. The darkness overhead scattered and the entire dwarf position looked like a fireworks display.
Sy signaled for the ranged attack to begin with the movement of the carts. Arrows and rocks followed the burning hay. The initial barrage was awe-inspiring as dwarves crumbled in surprise as well as agony. The flying embers blinded them to the archers' position. They could not comprehend the depth of their situation.
The dwarf formations broke apart before they could take hold. The force commander cursed her own warriors, screamed at them to fall into place, but only confusion reigned. Despite her ranting, the warriors sought safety that did not exist. Some attempted to scramble back down the tunnel which served only to slow the exiting dwarves even more.
Sy's men lit another cart, then another. They kept these at hand, used them to block any southern escape. The bright light of the fires dissuaded the dwarves from approaching. Sy's men stood without challenge while the enemy fought against the volley of arrows and stones from above.
The dwarves were trapped and many panicked, but the force commander kept her head. She crouched low and used her armor as protection against the hail of projectiles. She ordered her warriors to follow suit. If they could maintain a formation, she knew they could break through the northern bulwark with their axes.
Her warriors failed to respond. Only a handful followed her direction, and though these were safe for the moment, they could only watch as their comrades fell. Those that lost their heads scurried about against her orders. They moved in anger and in confusion. They set at first to breaking the bulwark. When they could not reach it, desperation led them to the flaming carts.
With some dwarves now moving toward the wagons, Sy ordered the appropriate response. As many of his men had crossbows draped over their backs, he directed their immediate use. Now, arrows struck from ground level as well as above. The arrows cut down the dwarves in handfuls. The dead piled about the surfacing point. His men remained calm even as the invaders hastened about in pure confusion.
Sy signaled the situation to the surrounding group leaders. He read the responding signal fires from the towers. He was not alone in success. The first battles were indeed going their way. Ground forces all over town were diverting dwarf attack parties into waiting ambushes while archers were keeping a steady stream of arrows upon every surfacing tunnel. From what he could tell, the dwarves were armed only with standard weapons. There was not a single report of a war machine. The enemy had come with arrogance and was now paying the price.
Sy hoped the price would include a hasty retreat, an end to this battle before it wrought even more carnage, but the fury he saw in the dwarf commander kept him from holding long to such hope.