The Land: Anarchy

Chapter 40: The Foothold Battle I

The rebels slowly approached the city, some Ravenrock army were already back. The mages have made a handful of people invisible, Zuno and Zyx were among them. Their job was to disable the long range weapons while the rest fight on the city. Zuno figured as long as there are Ravenrock soldiers, the weapons won't fire again.

The battle started, the rebels opened fire on the army. Zuno, Zyx and 8 others snuck across the city and were on their way to the weapons site which was on the other side of a hill in the woods. As they arrived they saw the crew of the weapon relaxing and were having their breakfast. They knew the fight was at the city and not where they were. As the rebels entered the area, their spell wore off, revealing themselves to all the crew and the guards there. Zuno shot dark strings from his hand and stabbed 5 men on the neck, killing them. He then thrusted his fists to the ground creating a shadow figure. The figure stood twice the height of the average person. Zyx and the others also engaged the army. Zuno jumped backwards and controlled the shadow's movement froma a far. The shadow sweeped the crew of the weapons by elongating its arms and stabbing them in the process. Zuno then set out the shadow to move on its own and he used the shadows of the enemies to kill them. The crew and guards couldn't run away from their own shadows, soon after they all were killed.

The weapons were silenced, all that is left is for the rebels is to quickly drive the Ravenrock army out of Swendall for good. Arya, Jennifer and the rest of the rebels were slowly advancing into the city. The rebels now had muskets which they took from the city's armory. They went block by block, making sure that all of Ravenrock forces are pushed back. Ravenrock did not deploy their landships so it was not as hard as before. Not long after, the rebels have retaken the city. They quickly establish a headquarters there for their invasion on Ravenrock, later Andeena would also arrive at Swendall to join the invasion. Zuno had destroyed the weapons and Zyx had ordered a nonstop patrol around the area to avoid being bombarded again.

The base was all set for the main invasion to Ravenrock territory. Jennifer and Zyx were dispatched with their army to retake the neighboring cities and villages. Zuno and Arya were to remain at Swendall and be the commanders for the first attack on Ravenrock ground. Grim was now in a better mood and became the strategist for all the battles to come. The important people could communicate through telepathy thanks to Jennifer's magic. All that is left is to wait for Andeenan forces to arrive. Selena and the Levenhood army were standing by at the city.

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Two days later

Andeenan army arrived along with Ande as their commander. Ulric and his students had rejoined Andeena and were now part of their main forces. Jennifer and Zyx returned bringing victory. The stage was set for the final invasion. Levenhood spies scouted ahead along with Andeenan mages. The formation was Levenhood cavalry were to be in the front, followed by the rebel army and Andeenan mages would be at the back providing support. And so they began their march.

The first major city they would take is Hud City. It had a high and long wall that stretched as far as the eye can see. There is only one entry point which was the center gate. Get in there, you have access to the entire Ravenrock territory. It was guarded by landships and those long ranged weapons could be seen on top of the wall's towers. The wall had holes in which canons were seen. At least that was what the Levenhood spies had reported.
The invading army set up a base on top of a hill that oversaw the city. Mages used protection spells to shield the base from bombs, they also set up magic barriers between them and Ravenrock. The leaders met at a tent to discuss their strategies to get in the city.

"We must break through that wall. It is our only way to enter Ravenrock territory. We take control of it, we have the upper hand." Grim started the discussion.

"My cavalry army won't do any good against them for now. But my spies can be a huge help to the attack." Selena stated.

"Mages should do the first wave of attack. We can do both close and long range fighting. First we need to take down the long range weapon. With them being operational, our long range mages are exposed. That should be it for the first wave." Ande suggested.

"Yes indeed, my folks can jump to the wall to assist you in disabling the long range weapon and also killing musketeers as we go. All that we need is mages ready to heal us, we might have nine lives but we can still die." Zyx agreed.

"The rebels would have to do long range attacks for now. The canons and landships are a big obstacle if we are to charge with full force to the wall. The feliones are extremely agile and fast, they could probably dodge most of the bullets shot at them. I will assist with my shadows to see the other side of the wall. We need to know what we are up against." Zuno continued the conversation.

"That's settled for now, let's get to it. May our magic and might protect us from evil." Ande closed.
They all went to their places and informed the rest about the strategy. As expected, Ravenrock rained bullets down on the base. The mages constantly reinforce the shields so it won't break. The feliones howled all together signalling they are ready for the battle.

Midday had come, there was dead quiet on the field. Ravenrock have stopped their bombardment and were focusing more on the wall defenses. They knew that the invading forces would attack soon. The rebels prepared to attack, Zyx and feliones were ready to charge in and jump on the wall. The mages would open fire first, distracting the army. Jennifer signalled the attack by casting a fireball spell towards the wall. The other mages followed and now they rained down fire on the wall. With a howl, the feliones charged through the empty field and headed straight for the wall. The canon wall opened fire, explosions landed right and left of the feliones. It hit the feliones hard, but since they had nine lives, they managed to reach the bottom of the wall. The mages then moved forward forming a shield wall in front of them while the back mages focused on destroying the long range weapons also the cannons. Ande took flight and flashed a weapon out of existence using lighting from the clouds. He then landed on the wall creating a huge crater and proceeded to the other weapon. The feliones were pinned down by musketeer fire from above the wall. From the far side of the battle, Arya and a few mages used their enchanted weapons to kill off the musketeers above the feliones. The felioned then jumped onto the wall and fend off the remaining musketeers. The mages and feliones had managed to destroy the long range weapons and retreated back to the hill.

Just as they started retreating, an earthquake like feeling shook the entire battlefield. Landships were rushing to kill the mages and feliones, they were different this time. They were faster and stronger. Landships huddled through the main gate and fired upon the retreating force.
Wize was on a tree watching the event and saw that Jennifer was in trouble. She was being chased by a landship. The mages had run out of mana to teleport back. Without thinking, Wize ran towards the landship behind Jennifer and used his only hand to wield a sword. Wize jumped sky high and plunged his sword to the landship. As the sword clinged with the landship. The landship stopped and flipped over above Wize and landed upside down. The downforce that Wize created was so powerful. Zuno used the landships' shadows to destroy their tracks. The back line mages casted shields behind the retreating forces and they came back safely.