“Of course, your Majesty.”
Under the dimly lit morning sky, Asher’s army fell upon a crossroads and a sign on the rightward road that announced the Furakuhold’s location. The Glorious Furakuhold stands proud 210 Miles down the road.
“Francis,” Asher said plainly.
The Lieutenant galloped up from deeper into the army beside Asher. “Yes, my Emperor?”
“You told me that the Furakuhold is overlooked by a mountain?”
“Part of it is built into the mountain, but the main courtyard is below two large ridges.”
“We could make use of that, don’t you think?” Asher posited.
“What do you have in mind?” Francis inquired.
“Is it possible to get our men and firedust barrels up there?”
“Perhaps…” Francis unfurled a map and studied it briefly before showing it to Asher. “About twenty miles before the Furakuhold is a stretch of the mountain range that is relatively navigable and leads straight to the ridgeline.”
Asher was deeply contemplative as he constructed a plan. He studied the map intently, trying to find any tactical calling.
“We’ll split up our forces. Fifty men will go up the ridgeline with barrels and flaming arrows. The rest of us will wait outside the front of the Furakuhold and await the signal, then bring down the gate with our cannon,” Asher told him.
“A fantastic plan,” Francis complimented.
“We’ll work out specific details once we camp tonight. Continue marching for now, go ahead and inform the other officers of the plan.”
“At once,” said Francis.
The Lieutenant trotted back to the army, nudging past the other horsemen, and called out the other officers by name. His voice faded as he went farther and farther away.
“Andy, I know you were hesitant about raiding civilians, but that seems to be done. Instead of killing civilians, we’ll be rescuing them. That makes you feel better, right?” asked Asher.
“Yes, but it still doesn’t change what we’ve done,” said Andy.
Asher looked away, glowering. He kicked his horse and began trotting. One of the men loudly announced that the army was to resume moving once more, and hundreds of horse hooves began to click on the ground simultaneously.
That night, Asher met with his officers to devise their plan of attack. After much debate, they settled on their plan: the full attack would commence under cover of darkness, and the ridgeline men would light torches to signal the beginning of the attack. Asher decided he would be at the head of the army storming the Furakuhold’s gate, and Francis would lead the ridgeline men, due to his knowledge of the terrain.
Francis explained that his army would arrive by the ridgeline in eight days, and Asher told him to commence their attack on the ninth day. Francis assured him he would not fail.
Under cover of darkness, Asher’s army reached a forest within less than a mile of the Furakuhold’s front gate. The forest was large enough to disguise all his men, providing them the optimal camp for the next five days.
On the second day, a patrol of Headland soldiers entered the forest at night but were promptly taken prisoner by the perimeter guards then swiftly brought before Asher. Surrounded by dozens of Emberlanders, and facing down the Emperor, the young soldiers were abjectly terrified. They had their hands on their heads and were put onto their knees.
“What brings you here?” Asher asked coldly, crossing his arms and pacing around the prisoners.
“W—we were j—just looking around,” one of the captives pleaded.
“On whose orders?” Asher asked impatiently.
“N—no one’s!” a different captive claimed.
“I find that very hard to believe.” Asher stopped just before the first Headlander, kneeling to stare at him eye level. The captive looked away, terrified. “Why’re you so scared?” Asher seethed.
The captive looked up at Asher and twitched his mouth in a feeble attempt to speak. When no words came out, Asher stood up and continued to pace around them.
“Let me guess, you boys are from the Furakuhold, and you’ve received my messengers? The ones I let live…”
The captives’ faces were covered with guilt. A couple of them began to cry softly.
“How long have you been stationed at the Furakuhold?”
One of the captives looked up, but all were still frozen by fear.
“The Emperor just asked you a question. You’d do well to answer,” said Andy.
“We’ve—we’ve been there s—several months now,” one of the Headlanders meekly informed.
Asher walked up to the Headlander and looked down at him menacingly. “You were there to receive the Emperor…” His voice was calm, but heavy with contempt.
“Y—yes,” the terrified soldier admitted.
“How many Emberlanders did you spare? How many are held captive right now!?” Asher’s voice turned volatile.
“A hundred, g—give or take!” said the Headlander.
“I’d imagine that several hundreds of my people went into that castle. Why’d you manage to spare such a small number? Why not execute them?” Asher interrogated.
“We were ordered to spare them!”
“By who? Was it, Prince Hideki?”
“We thought it was him at the time,” the Headlander said, embarrassed.
Asher chuckled. “I still can’t believe that fucker was able to escape the Furakuhold disguised as the Prince. I bet you boys felt incredibly stupid when you found out who it truly was.”
Andy grabbed Asher by the shoulder. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to question them.”
Asher raised an eyebrow momentarily, but he nodded and granted Andy’s request.
“Who’s in command of the Furakuhold now?” Andy asked the Headlanders.
“General Nobunaga.”
“How many men are under his command?” Andy continued.
“Twenty thousand.”
“Truly? You’re not lying? Nobunaga has twenty thousand men?”
“I’m telling the truth sir, please!”
Andy stepped back to Asher, giving him a concerned look. “We have seven hundred men. How are we supposed to defeat twenty thousand?”
“We’ll drop the firedust from the ridgeline,” Asher reiterated.
“Into the courtyard, yes, but most of the soldiers won’t be spending the night outside. Most will be asleep inside, and when they hear the explosions they’ll come running out, and our 650 men will be forced to fight almost all of them!” Andy’s voice was hushed but nervous.
Asher’s cocky look disappeared. “You’re right,” he admitted. He turned to address the other Emberlanders. “Gag and blindfold these men, then put them in chains. All officers need to meet with me for a war council. Now.”
Asher walked through the forest and the dozens of men behind him gathered the officers. After passing several more men and dozens of trees, he reached the makeshift council tent.
Asher was inside the tent with nine other officers, and he explained the situation to them: they could not back down from the plan, already being separated from the ridgeline squad, and the current plan would not prove effective given the size of the enemy army, and there was also the timing dilemma. For hours, Asher and the officers argued and debated the various alternatives, but no one could agree on the proper course of action.
“We have to wait for reinforcements! Fifty thousand men can handle twenty thousand!” one officer exclaimed.
“Francis has already committed to the ridgeline! We cannot just abandon those men!” another pointed out.
“We cannot defeat twenty thousand men garrisoned in the Furakuhold with our current forces either!”
“Why can’t we just send a messenger up the ridgeline to warn them?”
“A messenger would never get there in time!”
Asher remained silent for most of the arguing. He instead chose to listen and evaluate his officers to see which one could come up with the best
idea. When none of them came up with anything solid, he broke his silence.
“You must not forget the main issue at hand here. Most of the Headlanders will be asleep inside the mountain, and safe from the ordnance drops. We should focus on getting as many of those men out into the courtyard as we can.”
The officers fell silent and listened to Asher closely and intently.
“We need to do our part early. We need to march on the Furakuhold before we receive the signal. Make our forces look bigger than they truly are, and the Headlanders will come scurrying into the courtyard. If Francis is smart, he’ll toss the barrels down at the right moment.”
All the officers agreed. Over the next three days, the army prepared everything they needed for the siege. An hour before dusk, Asher’s fully prepared army departed the forest and marched towards the Furakuhold. Three hundred men walked in two distinct columns while the remaining men kept to the rear with all the horses. They marched along the edge of the mountain range with a thin tree line on the opposite side, disguising their movements.
After thirty minutes they reached the vast open field before the Furakuhold. Asher stopped his army before the large rocky ridgeline, momentarily scanning the area. The Furakuhold’s daunting stone wall was hundreds of feet in the distance and much larger than Asher would have expected. The ramparts must have been dozens of feet tall, stretching hundreds of feet with many cannons looking down upon the coverless field. We’ll be slaughtered in that field, but we can’t back down.
“Bring the cannon forward,” Asher called out behind him.
The modest rumble of a large carriage echoed through the army as the cannon was pulled up to the front, causing every nearby soldier to step aside and clear a path. The twelve men pulling the carriage reached the front and halted suddenly, breathing quick and shallow breaths. One of the men walked up towards Asher to await further instructions.
“Is it prepared to fire?” Asher asked.
“Once you give the order, we’ll fire it,” the soldier replied.
Feeling confident that the men would carry out their orders, Asher nodded, held his sword up in the air and began marching forward. “For the Emberlands!” he shouted.
“FOR THE EMBERLANDS!” hundreds of men shouted furiously.
The army began marching into the open field, maintaining their two-column formation. The barely-lit dusk skyline shrouded the army in darkness, but they were nevertheless easily spotted and met by the war horns emanating from the Furakuhold’s ramparts.
“Maintain formation!” Asher ordered his men.
Once the war horns died down, panicked shouts echoed from the ramparts. “We’re under attack!” “Where’s Nobunaga?” The shouting continued to echo from the ramparts, but with their increasing frequency they drowned one another out until Asher could no longer understand them.
Asher stopped his army just outside bow range. Being closer to the walls offered him a clearer view of the men atop the ramparts. Hundreds of men frantically ran across from various positions along the wall to ready themselves for defense.
Asher scanned the ridgeline that overlooked the Furakuhold, hoping to find some clue that Francis was ready to carry out his part in the attack, but no clue came yet.
“Send in the horsemen!” Asher called out behind him.
Asher’s men carried the order down the line of their ranks, and shortly thereafter, the unmistakable sound of hundreds of horses galloping fiercely rumbled from behind the rocks.
“They’re sending cavalry! Archers!” a Headlander shouted.
“They’re outside our range! We can’t hit them!”
“Why’re our guys still hiding in the castle!? We need them here, now!”
Asher turned around to see over 600 horses occupying the field space around his two columns of men. Once they got closer, he could clearly see the men had followed his orders precisely: half the horses had an actual soldier on them, while the others only had dummies.
Deeper inside the Furakuhold, the unmistakable sound of a large army marching roared into the night air. Most of the Furakuhold’s men began filing out into the fortress’ courtyard. Just as I planned, Asher reflected confidently. His confidence was unstable, however, when he continued to glare up at the ridge and saw no hint of Francis’ supposedly imminent involvement.
“Shouldn’t Francis be doing his thing right about now?” Andy pointed out, shouting.
“If he doesn’t then we’re all dead,” Asher stated starkly.
The Emberland horsemen were now scattered across the two columns of foot soldiers, fully occupying the open field. The terrifying sound of the Headland Army continued to get louder with each passing moment, and the shouts of the men atop the walls continued to drown each other out. With all the chaotic sounds dominating the air, there was no possible scenario in which Francis and the rest of the ridgeline squad could not hear the commotion, which made Asher’s cold and confident stature disappear when any indication of his involvement was yet to present itself.
What part of this is going wrong? Did they not fall for the illusion of our army’s size? Did Francis not make it up to the ridgeline? Did he mutiny? Every worst-case scenario was running through Asher’s mind. Are 20,000 men coming out to greet my 650? As the massive Furakuhold garrison continued to draw closer to the walls, doubt filled his mind. His distress must have been visible, as Andy picked up on it.
“Francis is just waiting for the right moment! We can’t possibly know what that moment is from down here!” Andy reassured.
Asher relaxed his face. Andy is right. We’re in control here. Their army is marching out into the courtyard, just as I planned. Asher’s cold and confident smile returned to his face as he continued to scan the ridgeline, absent any doubt.
“Ready the cannon,” said Asher.
Andy and Asher stepped aside to allow the cannon room to be wheeled forward. Asher turned around to scan his men: when the horsemen and foot soldiers saw the confidence on his face, their morale was instantly boosted.
“Cannon team await my signal! Cavalry await my order!”
The Emberlanders locked into their ready-positions in a proud and cohesive sound that roared through the air. The cannon squad began turning cranks to adjust its firing angle, the metallic and wooden parts of the cannon-carriage contraption squeaking and creaking.
Several orange lights appeared from atop the ridgeline, far above the Furakuhold, instantly making Asher feel vindicated. Francis’ signal was unmistakable: he could only see the orange lights, but he knew they were flaming arrows, and the ordnance drops were imminent.
“Cannon squad! Fire when you hear the boom!”
“Boom?” one of the cannon-men asked.
“You’ll know it when you hear it!” Asher said ecstatically.
The orange lights that littered the ridgeline continued to multiply and shift slightly in their positions. The ordnance drop would come down any second now…
For Asher, each second that passed felt like a full hour. His breaths, senses, and perception of time completely transformed and began adhering to an entirely foreign set of rules. Despite the panicked cries of the Headlanders, the deep rumbling of their army, the creaking of the cannon, and the emphatic cheers of his men, Asher could perceive no sound. The Stars blessed him with silence as he knew his plans were about to coalesce.
A massive and deafening explosion wiped out every chaotic sound that previously roared into the night. The earth shook violently beneath the Emberlanders’ feet and a massive cloud of shattered stone, marble, and dirt burst into the air beyond the Furakuhold walls. Asher could only hear a persistent high-pitched ringing, but he could only dream of what the Furakuhold garrison’s screams sounded like.
The cannon squad recoiled backwards, terrified of the explosions, but quickly returned to formation. The dust cloud began to dissipate, allowing a clear view of the orange lights beginning to rain down on the fortress’ courtyard. The ringing in Asher’s ears began to clear, allow
ing him to hear the short successive blasts that thundered as each orange light disappeared before the Furakuhold walls, and the screams of dying Headlanders that followed.
“Cannon squad! Fire!” Asher bellowed.
A soldier lit up a torch and held the burning end out towards a very short fuse that stuck out of the cannon. Once the fuse was lit, the cannon squad immediately dispersed, followed by every nearby man.
“Horsemen! Charge inside once the gates are destroyed!” Asher shouted, running away from the active cannon.
The horsemen all grunted approvingly in unison. The flaming end of the fuse drew closer and closer to the cannon. Within seconds, the fuse disappeared, releasing a daunting explosion, firing its projectile straight at the Headland gates and blasting them open. A large cloud of evaporated debris filled the now-passable gateway, and all the horsemen proceeded to charge towards it, screaming with the fury of ten men apiece. They led the false strawmen into the fray and proceeded to disappear through the debris cloud and into the courtyard.
“Infantry! With me!” Asher drew his sword and held it upwards into the air, howling a dauntingly furious war cry.
The infantrymen met with a howl, following Asher into the battle. As he drew closer to the gateway, his heart began to race and his fury strengthened.
Once Asher passed the debris cloud, he laid eyes upon the chaos within the courtyard: countless bodies and stray limbs painted the area, and many confused Headlanders were attacking the dummies and were subsequently cut down by the true cavalrymen. Dozens of Headlanders screamed in agony as their guts leaked from their bodies, or the soldiers crawled around legless. In the heat of battle, Asher darted his eyes around too quickly to fixate on any one point. The air smelt of burning flesh and the taste of ashes covered his tongue.
“CLEAR THEM OUT!” Asher roared as he charged into the fray.
The Emberland foot soldiers dispersed throughout the courtyard, covering the entire area, ignoring the desperate wounded and descending upon the untouched resistors. Andy kept himself close to Asher’s side as the pair of them engaged the enemy.
The Darkness of Dawn Page 35