Songs of Battle

Chapter 10: The Journey Begins

The army roared and howled the battle cry, the sound echoing into the vast tundras and icy mountains. "AILALIAS!" They gave one last cry until Caspian raised his hand foor silence.

"Right. Dinner will be held in the mess hall. Those of you who will be fighting need to eat, and go to bed straight away. Food for the mounts will be supplied as well. Will the leader of each army, and their second in command please see me... Dismissed!" Caspian ordered. The army flooded out of the clearing, the humans going one way and animals going another. Hunter, Link, Lance, Zero, Rockjaw, Darkmoon, Whirlwind, Scorch, Jack, and Jack's second Phillip Frost, his brother, came to stand around him. "We shall discuss our battle tactics when we get up to the throne hall," said Caspian.

"We'll never get throught that mess. I'll shadow-walk us there," Darkmoon offered. One minute they were standing the snow, the next they were all standing in the council room. "Thanks, Darkmoon," Caspian said. Everybody took a seat at the huge round table.

"Right, I'll start off our discussion... I have no problem with us marching to O'ranel Fay, that is the easiest part. We need to formulate a plan of attack, assigning a position to each part of the Army. We'll start with our attack plan," Caspian started.

"Well, we're not called the Guerrilla Union for nothing, you know. I'll lead the Guosaff behind the big rocks at the base of that valley in O'ranel Fay before any of you make the charge. There, we'll be able to pick off the vuxta as they come through that pass," Jack volunteered. This got the ball rolling for the others.

"Since we fight with arrows and long spears, the Earth Army shall wait at the top and sides of that pass. The vuxta won't see us coming," Rockjaw suggested, with Lance nodding agreement.

Zero spoke his part next, "Since we can shadow-walk, we'll stay back out of the fight until all the vuxta arrive. Once they tire, we'll shadow-walk into the fight, taking them by surprise."

Caspian nodded, surprised by the great strategy the leaders of the Elemental Army were concocting.

"Once they begin the charge, the vuxta won't expect much magic all at once. The Fire Division will sling some of it at them which will stop their charge. Then we will fan out before they have to scatter us themselves," Scorch explained enthusiastically.

"Once we fan out, the demons will be the Ice Division's line of fire. They'll meet the charge and engage them," Hunter included.

Link put his ideas on the table. "If there are no grey vuxta, we'll pick off vuxta from the sky and drop boulders on large groups," he said.

"I'll have the Ice Division gather blue fire-rocks. The vuxta seem to be allergic to them, for they burst into blue fire upon contact," the Ice Prince said.

"What of the Icefangs?" Jack asked. "Oh, Nanuk will be commanding them; they'll be hiding among the rocks with your Guosaff," Caspian responded."

"So, here's how this'll all play out... The Guosaff spread out behind the rocks and crevices that pock the entrance to Braar. The Earth Division will lie in wait at the top and sides of the pass, ready to unleash volleys of arrows and fire-rocks with slings. The Fire Division will cause an alarm that the vuxta will answer to, and they'll throw huge pillars of fire in the face of the charging beasts. The Ice Division engages them head on while the Guosaff and the Icefangs begin to use their hit and run tactics. The Earth Division begins to hit them with fire-rocks and arrows. Wind Division swoops down to pick them off. Shadow Division waits until the demons are forced back, and then shadow-walks into the fight. Once we take the city we'll hold it until we find out where Leona's being held," Caspian relayed the plan out to the generals.