The Foolhardies - Chapter 194 Rapid Fire

So we started the fire, and it was blazing!

While half of Redbull’s left army and more than half of Amon’s right army clashed northeast of our position — each one looking to press the advantage over the other — Amon’s own personal guard of five thousand remained at his side in a square formation that had him squarely in the middle of it.

Ahead of his square formation, another twenty thousand troops stood by in a standard line formation and waited for their opportunity to be called forward.

They were a fair distance away from Amon’s guard — perhaps a hundred to a hundred-and-fifty yards away. This was standard practice in armies with such large numbers.

Now, here’s where you’d see my brilliant plan at work.

These twenty thousand troops were separate from the forty thousand soldiers that were in battle with our left army by about two-hundred and two-hundred-and-fifty yards.

That wide gap between them was empty space that normally would be filled, but thanks to Redbull and my strategy, that gap that shouldn’t be there was there now, and it was just waiting to be filled — by us, of course.

This was stage one of my plan which was basically lighting a fire under the enemy’s plump behind.

The earth quaked beneath my feet as the sound of thousands of boots ran across the desert just east of our current position.

“Here they come,” I whispered. “Make sure we don’t fall behind, Edo!”

“Maybe you should stop spectating and lead, Dean,” Edo grumbled.

I couldn’t agree to Edo’s suggestion as I couldn’t miss the moment for the fire starters.

Over the sand dunes to our east, they marched, a ten thousand strong force led by April Valentine, Adjutant to General Redbull. Marching with her, and representing the Foolhardies, was a three-hundred-man unit under the command of my own adjutant, Aura, the Flame Bringer.

I know, I know, it was a cool nickname that I thought of myself recently. Sadly, I seemed to be the only one using it — for now. I expected this battle might make Aura more famous than Aurana.

The first stage of my plan was simple. Create a split at the front of Amon’s forces that we could use to insert a small force into. This small force was larger than initially planned as Redbull decided he didn’t just want to lend me more troops but invest in my strategy completely.

Thus, the ten thousand troops that split off from our rear before we got close enough for the enemy to notice the disappearing act.

Well, the enemy noticed us now, although they were slow to react. It went something like this.

Seeing April’s troops rushing to fill the gap, Amon’s twenty thousand reserve troops had no choice but to march forward in a southeast direction to attempt to block them from flanking the forty thousand already in the midst of their battle with Redbull.

As these two forces met in battle, just before their frontlines would clash, a violent pillar of flame and ice exploded from our side onto theirs in what I could only describe as a fantastic display of combining area-of-effect spells.

Of course, these two spells had no doubt come from Aura and Ty who’d been practicing this type of combination magic for months now. This type of feat was standard for Ty, but Aura would have had to borrow power from her efreet to cast such a wide attack spell. It would no doubt drain her mana quicker, but the gains were too big to ignore.

That initial attack was enough to shake up the enemy and made it easier for April’s frontline to engage and overwhelm their frontline.

I watched from the skies as shadowblades clashed against each other in between a backdrop of broken ice and burning sands. It was a scene I would have thought worthy of an epic movie.

In the middle of that chaos, I saw the floating efreet — who I’d already dubbed as Flamethrower in case anyone forgot — act true to his name and lob fireballs over the heads of Amon’s soldiers.

I knew for a fact that Aura was right below Flamethrower and commanding it while guiding her unit to work together as one.

Ashley’s shield wall was in front of her and ensuring no enemy would make it past to break Aura’s concentration.

A giant golem rampaging to the right of the frontline caught my eye as well, and it told me Varda and her new dwarven squad were nearby and causing as much trouble for the enemy as they could.

Then I watched as a combination of flame arrows and ice spikes soared over the battlefield and landed at the rear of the enemy’s formations. These attacks hit dozens of enemy archers just before they could let loose their arrows.

“Looks like Donar and Ty are doing well,” I noted.

“How about you look at our position now, Commander,” Shanks suggested. “You know, so we don’t suddenly run into enemy scouts.”

“We’re fine as long as we stay low for now… and that means you, Shanks,” I responded.

“It would be easier to crouch down if I wasn’t carrying you, boss,” he countered.

“Just a little longer… I think—”

The flash of an explosion caught my attention and my eyes darted eastward toward the Redbull’s battle where another one of those magnifiers had just blasted a charred line through the troops.

“Sh*t… we need to pick up the pace, men,” I called.

“We’re nearly at the end of the line, boss,” Shanks explained. “Edo’s signaling that we should stop soon…”

I took one last look at the battlefield from above, burning it like a photograph in my mind before I released Fool’s Insight and found myself back to ground-level.

Shanks let me down, and we resumed our stealth march to the western end of the sand dunes.

Above us, the number of scouts was beginning to increase, but we’d kept low enough that they didn’t notice our passing. But it felt like a balancing act of walking on a tight rope where one misstep would ensure we’d be discovered.

Stealth was the key. It was the reason why I insisted that no heavy armor was allowed among the troops who were joining us. It was also why our weapons were wrapped in cloth so that any chance of them reflecting light was non-existent.

After another ten to fifteen minutes in which I had no doubt that the enemy had fired another blast from their magnifiers, my four-hundred soldiers finally reached the corner of the sand dune.

We stopped our march there and waited for the signal that I hoped would come soon.

“What now, Dean?” Edo whispered. “There’s no word from Luca yet…”

I gazed up at Idunn in the sky and noticed that she was nearing her zenith.

“Won’t be long now…” I whispered back.

“Lookouts above,” Azuma called.

As these enemy lookouts gazed down from their positions above us, their eyes went wide at the sight of our troops hiding below. Sadly for them, we were the last sight they’d ever see. For in the instant of our discovery, they were silenced by the shadows that had come to life beneath their feet.

I looked up and watch as Enna danced in the moonlight as she slew two of the lookouts. Her cousin, Thom, slew the other three in quick succession.

“All clear,” Thom called from above.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to breathe a sigh of relief. Now was not the time to stumble.

My eyes gazed up, and I saw that Idunn had finally reached her zenith.

“Luca… now or never,” I whispered.

As if in answer to my call the horns of war began to play not too far from where we were. It came from the east, somewhere between our landing zone and April’s ten thousand forces.

“Looks like Luca’s right on time,” Azuma noted.

“As expected of the boss’ little brother,” Thor agreed in his gruff voice.

“Here we go,” Shanks added.

I looked over my shoulder and gazed back at the line of men behind me.

“I hope you’re all ready for some glory,” I whispered, and although I was certain my voice wouldn’t reach the ears of the guys behind, I think they could tell from my face that I was encouraging them. “We’re going to claim another general’s head.”

My soldiers didn’t cry out an affirmative but there were many fists pumped in the air at my declaration.

“Now we just have to wait for Luca to kindle the flames…” I said. “Let’s see how he’s doing.”

I called on Fool’s Insight one more time and sent my sight into the sky.

Below me, the personal guard of Amon, Shield of Rah, was in an uproar for the southern line of their square formation had just been attacked by a four-hundred-man unit comprised of cavalry and fliers.

Luca’s Ravagers, Xanthor’s Dash, and Qwipps’ Talons had arrived, and they’d brought kindling for the fire.