Chương 100: Pinned Down

In the morning, when I woke up, I pulled open my kit bag and retrieved my reading slate. It wasn't that I didn't trust my brain from last night, but I had been a little tired, and I wanted to check to make sure I'd actually gotten what I thought I did. Nothing else on the slate had changed, but the Skills at the bottom of the list were more condensed.

It read: Skills: Spearmanship (Apprentice), Archery (Apprentice), Art: Directional Gravity Manipulation (Journeyman), The Weight of Things (Journeyman), General System Knowledge (Novice), Skirmishing (Novice), Crossbow Charging (Novice), Swapping Weapons (Novice) I still had four extra skills, which I would merge into Archery when I had the chance, but they needed to be stronger before the merge would actually increase the tier.

Besides, I could also do better than 'General System Knowledge' when it came to archery. If I truly wanted a crossbow specific Skill, I'd need to master some other obscure aspect of the weapon, or what I planned to do with it, before I could actually merge it in. General System Knowledge was a waste. Yeah, sure, we were able to use fodder Skills to make merges easier, but you couldn't tell me it didn't water down the result, if only slightly. And I wasn't looking for any watered-down results.

Especially now, since my 'trial period' was most certainly over. When I got here, and in the few months after, my Resonance nodes had been unstable, allowing for more chaotic merges and diminishing the effects of adding in extra fodder Skills. I was able to roll a good Art. But those days were over now, and I had to be far more strategic about what I was doing. Still, that was a problem for another day.

"Everything alright, sarge?" Anchor asked.

"Just checking," I said.

"It worked out well, though." I put away the reading slate, then mounted Burr and said, "Let's get moving. We can't waste any more time." ~ ~ ~ We rode until noon, keeping as quick of a pace as our horses would allow. We followed a muddy road, winding through patches of trees or around scattered boulders. I recognized some of the sights from our ride to Oschester last year, but we took a different branch of the road. Here, it wasn't a proper brick road. It was just two wagon-wheel ruts and packed mud.

The melting snow made the path soggy, and groundwater seeped up from below. Our horse's hooves made splashes with each step. At the edge of the path, green grass poked through, turning green. When we were close, Anchor gave the first warning. He said, "I can hear them up ahead."

"Can you tell what's going on?" I asked.

"Arrow exchanges, at the moment. Arrowheads clacking off stone." We rode until we reached a vantage point at the top of a hill, shrouded by trees. With the overcast sky, we wouldn't stand out too much and our armour wouldn't glint. We dismounted and dropped down to our stomachs, then tied our horses up to the trees. Burr may have been well-trained but the last thing we needed was for them to spook. I inched to the edge of the ridge, then strained my eyes to see what was happening beyond the hill.

Normally, I wouldn't have been able to make it out, but my eyesight had gotten much better over the past few weeks, and the fine details were crisp, even at a quarter-mile away. A farming hamlet sat on the shore of a stream. One building had half-timber walls and a thatched roof, and another was a marble castle with crumbling walls. Vines grew up its sides, and a few other buildings had sprung up inside it. Dupes from the 294th stood inside the castle, or sheltered behind the walls of the farmhouse, hiding inside.

It had been abandoned long before they arrived, and orcs had taken shelter around it, using hastily-made mantlets (portable wooden walls with slits to fire arrows through) to shield themselves from arrows. Dead orcs littered the hills all around, and there were at least four dead Dupes scattered around the farmhouses. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. At the moment, archers occasionally leaned out of cover on both sides, firing a few arrows at each other, then ducked away.

"Are we leaving the horses here?" Brawl asked quietly.

"Maybe not," I replied.

"We might need to use them to close the distance. I was hoping we would be able to start out a little closer and start taking them out one-by-one, but that doesn't look like an option."

"They've got the farmhouse surrounded," Anchor said.

"Same density on the other side of the house, too." I grimaced.

"Of course." We couldn't afford to wait too long. While I checked my gear, I asked, "Why aren't the orcs attacking?"

"They're surely waiting for reinforcements," Sage said.

"They know they don't have the numbers for the assault as it stands." I nodded, then said, "I'll need a flashy distraction. I've got something in mind, if it's playing out right in my head. We'll need to stick together. We don't need to break their line entirely and route them. We just need to get the 294th's squads out and give them the upper hand."

"The upper hand?" Anchor asked.

"You say that like we are going to destroy their army, brother," said Brawl.

"Our orders were to save them and find the messenger," Sage reminded him.

"Yeah, but you think it's a good idea to just run free around here?" I asked.

"We've got them grouped up. We've got a chance to take them out right now, and we shouldn't waste it. Anchor, how many are there?" I had an inkling of what we were up against, but I wanted to be sure.

"Sixty regular orcs," Anchor said.

"About fifteen Dupes remaining in the castle. I'm picking up a few Steels on the opposite side, but nothing we can't handle. They're either trolls or something else of a similar strength."

"Precisely," I said.

"We can't get cocky, but let's not pretend this is some overwhelming force."

"It's just awkward positioning," Sage muttered.

"That's what my plan is for. Let's get the horses and be ready. On my signal, we'll circle around clockwise and try to hit the Steels. I'll lead. Brawl, cover my right flank; we'll circle behind the archers, so if they turn back, you'll be in the line of fire. If they're shooting behind us, I need you to fall back and shield Sage—Anchor, you and Sage ride together."

"Understood," they said in unison.

"Sage, we need you to keep our horses in healthy riding condition. With any luck, they won't get hurt, but we're counting on you to keep us moving. Heal them if they get hurt." I stood up, grabbed my spear, then rushed back to the horses and untied them. Burr whinnied, but I patted the side of her neck and whispered, "Calm, girl. We'll be fine. I've got a distraction in mind. Besides, we'll be going so fast, the orcs won't lead their shots properly. It's Brawl who has to worry."

"Thank you, brother. That is very reassuring," Brawl said.

"See?" I whispered into Burr's mane.

"He's learning sarcasm."

"No. It would be a terrible thing if our sergeant died and got left behind, brother. Or worse, could not lead us."

"Well, yes, that too." I led Burr to the edge of the trees, ducking under a few low-hanging branches, then leaned forward and held tight to the reins.

"Ready, everyone?" Brawl trotted up beside me with his horse, and Anchor and Sage tucked behind me with their mount.

"On my count," I said.

"Three, two, one… now!" I snapped Burr's reins, and she galloped out from the woods, rushing forward as fast as she could. Brawl kept pace beside me, and Anchor and Sage behind me. Now for the real trick: a distraction. I held out my arm as we raced out of the woods, pointing my palm in the opposite direction from the way we were riding, then triggered my Art. Instead of visualizing the surface of the ground, I imagined the area below it, about ten feet below the surface, then triggered a reverse well beneath it.

Cold dirt and clay cracked. The surface trembled. It may have been spring, but the ground deep below the surface was still hard. It resisted, fighting against my Art as hard as it could, building pressure, before snapping like an elastic. An explosion of dirt and clay plumed out from the ground, scattering chunks everywhere. My Art flung it to the very top of its range of influence, creating a column of dust and wet mud. Some of it hovered in the air, but most flew to the side.

I was expecting a boom, or something like an explosion, but there was only a soft rip as grass and roots parted. Still, registering a silent explosion, the orcs screeched. Their heads whipped around to face the explosion. Some turned all the way. They focused on it above us, gazes only flicking past us. Except for the orcs we charged toward. I held out my spear, aiming for the orcs ahead. I pointed it at a cluster hiding behind a mantlet, making the target clear for the rest of my squad.

But the orcs were aware enough to see us coming. With my Art still active, I imagined what would happen. The orcs, despite their short bows and poorly crafted arrows, would get a volley off before we hit them. I crushed them with a well of gravity, slamming their mantlet down on top of them. As soon as I ended the Art, I tugged on Burr's reins and leaned back, and she jumped up onto the collapsed wooden shield, pressing down on the orcs even more and crushing them again. We continued on.

As we rode past, Anchor fired a regular, unenhanced arrow back, killing a single surviving orc.

"Keep going!" I shouted.

"Take out as many archers as we can, then head for the Steels!"