The Shadow of Death

Chapter 9

By the time the sun had begun to rise, all the armies were gathered at the bottom of the small hill, waiting for final words to begin the attack. Garret's eyes quickly found the Lieutenants and Commanders leading the other Battalions and Legions into battle, noting that the only other General standing with their army was General Reyes. The rest of them stayed back with the rest of the army, waiting in the battle planning tent.

They are all cowards, the whole lot of them. Garret thought to himself as his eyes met Commander Torres's. At least he could rely on the fact that she and Reyes would be in battle.

Garret looked over his shoulder to where the Dragon Head Battalion stood standing waiting, all of them deathly quiet, eyes flitting around waiting for their orders. Garret wouldn't be able to command them once he and the Fang Regiment had left. He put one of the more senior and higher-ranking soldiers in charge if anything were to happen, but they already should all know their roles. He and Alric had drilled them on it enough that if they forgot, they'd have bigger problems than the enemy soldiers to deal with.

"There's the signal," Dante said from beside Garret, it was time to start the chaos.

"Ready catapults!" A voice shouted from near the back of the gathered troops, coming from where the wing Legions stood.

Garret forced himself to stare straight ahead as the catapults launched, burning balls of tightly woven hay soaring over the army's heads and towards the castle walls.

The hay was the lightest material for them to launch, while still being flammable, but it wasn't enough, the wall was too high.

"Wind manipulators with me!" Commander Torres shouted, a strong gust of wind blew past Garret, just about knocking him off his feet as ten Wind Manipulators pushed their power towards the first ball, giving it enough speed and height to go over the wall.

Garret whipped out his spyglass and yelled the confirmation that it had made it within the walls.

"FIRE!" A voice from behind him shouted again as another catapult launched and the second "fireball" soared over the wall with more momentum this time.

Another snap of a catapult and this time a boulder went sailing overhead, hitting the centre of the wall, creating a small divot, but not much more.

"Keep going!" A Materialist shouted. "Hit the same spot!"

Garret's blood pounded in his ears as he shifted his weight from foot to foot, waiting for the signal for him to go. He could feel the restless energy of his soldiers around him as thick black smoke started to rise behind the walls. It was working... so far.

"Fang Regiment! Come with me, we've opened up a large enough crack in the side of the wall!" A different Materialist said, covered head to toe in dust, mud and hardened clay.

"You heard the man, let's move out!" Garret shouted, waving for his soldiers to follow him. He glanced back at his brother and the rest of his Battalion once, before turning his focus to the Materialist, following the man around the hill and to the side of the wall.

Enemy archers were already in position, raining down arrows on the rest of the army, but the Materialists chose a good blind spot, where the arches wouldn't be able to hit Garret and his soldiers, but they still held their shields at the ready and all donned their helms, just in case.

"This is it. I just need a bit of water and then I can finish widening the gap."

Garret nodded and gestured one of his soldiers forward.

"How much do you need and at what pressure?"

"Not much, just enough to wet the clay and stone so it's easier to manipulate."