March To The Capital

Chapter 18: Battle of Mindas (Marak)

The room opposite to my bedroom has a table, the perfect size for my map of the entire island. It is full of details of mountains, forest, and even the layouts of towns and cities. What divides the island is a long strip of desert, a vast land of sand and boiling sun. The map dubs this place the Galire Desert.
I don't know how a desert could be directly in the middle of an island. Maybe my Verns will explain this phenomenon to me.
I put down rocks to mark out where my forces are located, which for now is only Letharus Mine and this town. I place down sticks to mark out what I have control of and what the Cinari have.
From what I can tell, we don't have enough land to pose any threat to the dammed beast. Eventually, we need to gain people and land to fuel my war effort.
Up north is that magic crystal mine, and to our west there is a mine and another farm, but I don't know what material the mine produces. These mines can give us the raw metals and manpower, but it won't be enough without the means to feed them.
For what feels like hours, I tried to come up with a plan to expand my rule.
I look at the map to see what may cause me problems. Natural terrain here and there that will slow down our movements, the likelihood of traps and enemy encampments. One of my Verns explained to me that the Cinari send scouts on horses to see what the main force might deal with. This information could come in handy later. But I might have to ask the Verns for more details.
I turn towards the door, but Alex barges through it.
'What is the meaning of this?' I shout at him.
Alex tries to catch his breath. 'Th... They are coming.'
I grab him by the arm to walk him to the map.
'Where?'
He points north of the town.
'Your army should be ready before they arrive,' Midrax speaks while leaning on the doorway.
'But it won't be enough by itself. We won't have the element of surprise on our side. This will be our first frontal battle,' Alex argues as he recovers from his run.
Midrax cheers. 'That's good! I want to take them on like that. We can easily crush them with our numbers.'
'Are you insane?' Alex yells at Midrax. 'This battle could cost us the war. Even if we win, the casualties could be so many that we would be better off giving up.'
'So what is your plan?' I ask Alex.
'We have to retreat from this town and attack when they least expect it.'
Midrax frowns. 'So running away is your plan? How pathetic! We can't always have the element of surprise. We need to fight them head on!'
'No! We can't just fight every battle head on! We need to make sure that we can win and not put our-'
'Enough!' I interrupt Alex. 'Midrax is right. We can't run away from this one. But that doesn't mean we will fight them head on.' Midrax smirk turns into a frown.
'We need to split our army in two.'
'What?' Both Alex and Midrax say at the same time.
'We can't split our army, we will be weaker if we do so.' Alex points out.
'The runt is right, if this army is what I imagined. We would need to stick together.'
'If you let me finish, I'll give you my plan.'
Midrax crosses his arms while Alex looks eagerly at the map.
'If they are attacking from the north. It will force us and them to battle in the wheat field. Already they have the high ground, and in my experience, fighting someone taller than you is a lot more difficult. I will have my men wait for them in the fields.' I place a stick down to represent my force. 'We make a line that covers the length of the field, dividing it into ten by ten men, in case we would need to change our formation.' I place another stick down to represent the Cinaris army. 'There, Alex and I will march our soldiers forward.'
'And then what? Where do I come into this?' Midrax retorts.
'I will get to you when I get to it!' I growl at him. 'As I was saying, when we march to them, the Cinari will want to move forward to attack us and not get surrounded. That is where you come in, Midrax. You will hide out in the forest not too far from the field. When you can see the side of their flanks, you charge in and break their formation. Then we win the battle.'
Alex rubs his chin.
'Any problems?' I ask Alex.
'Yes,' he replies while tracing his finger on the map. 'The battle line will be too long to control effectively. I say we shorten it.' He grabs the stick and snaps it in half. Placing the other half behind the first stick. 'We can place the other half of the line behind the existing one. If they break through the first, we won't need to shift the entire line to counter them. We can just push up the second one.'
I nod in agreement. 'That's a good plan, and that is why I want you to manage the army from the rear.'
Alex's eyes widen, his jaw dropping to his chest. 'Wha... why can't you do it?'
'I need to be in the front. As you said, we've never fought in a battle like this before. I will make sure the lines doesn't crumble. You make sure we don't get surrounded.'
'Well then, I will get my men ready and hide out in the woods while you two have some fun.' Midrax waves to us sarcastically as he walks off.
Alex glares directly into my eyes like a worried child.
'Dad, I don't know if I can command an army of that size. I can't shout that loudly and I can't wave flags to get their attention if I am behind them.'
'You don't have too.'
I grab the horn off the wall. I blow on it to see if it makes a sound.
Brwwwwo!
This will do. If Alex can't shout, they will hear the horn.
'Blow into the horn once, and we will go forward. Blow it twice and we'll stop.' I hand the horn to Alex.
'What if I need to give more complex orders?'
I give him a gentle smile. 'I think you'll come up with something. Now get our men ready and follow the plan.'
'Yes, Dad.' Alex attaches the horn to his belt as he runs out of the room.
I head across the hall to my sleeping quarters to see my armour at the corner of my bed. The helmet stares directly at me, if to welcome me for more battle.
I pick the helmet up, staring back into its eyes. This will be the first, the first time we fight the monster's head on. But this will not be the last.