Blade(Part 3): Dusk

Chapter 30: Maisa

Three weeks of bloodshed followed the Colonial League's departure of Thebas. They ran into several Skaolan battalions in Esmijan who were attempting to retake the colony, and fended them off at the cost of several thousand of their own numbers. Maisa had expected resistance, but never imagined encountering such force to keep them from Astros. They hadn't even reached the Sevorgradian colony before they fought off what must have been fifty thousand Skaolan soldiers over the course of the few days of marching. Eventually, the League did reach Astros' eastern border, where they marched on to take the eight fortresses that Commander Zeno told his Generals about. Seven of them were taken, and only one remained before the League could march on Noglidas. Fort Brutium, which lay right in the center of Astros, with Noglidas being just several dozen miles south. Dameon was there, as were the rest of the colonies' Blades of Midnight. Hopefully, he would have the sense to stay out of the fight when the Colonial League reached Noglidas. As far as the League was concerned, he was still a traitor and a murderer. Soldiers from both sides wouldn't think twice about killing him on sight. Maisa couldn't think about that now, though. Only one more fortress stood between Zeno's army and Noglidas, and her forces were the ones who were to capture it. Fort Brutium was Skaola's last major stronghold before Noglidas, so Maisa could only expect the heaviest resistance that any of their soldiers could fight with. She went around every wall of the fortress herself to assess the defenses. There were beam turrets on every wall, cannons on every battlement, and twenty thousand soldiers in the fortress itself. Once Maisa returned to her camp on a ridge that overlooked the fortress, she gathered her Captains, including Marla Connor.

"There are two dozen beam turrets and riflemen on each of the four walls," Maisa reported. "And the towers all have large cannons on their battlements. Twenty thousand Skaolan soldiers of all kinds are holed up in there, but we outnumber them by ten thousand. That in no way means that we may be careless. I've personally witnessed outnumbered armies winning against impossible odds. We are in no place for hubris, especially now. Once we take Fort Brutium, it's on to Noglidas, and the end of this war." All of her Captains, Marines and Hoplites, nodded their heads in unison, showing that they understood her words. They wouldn't screw up, now. Maisa explained a strategy to the Marines of using the jungle's dense undergrowth as cover to kill the gunners of the beam turrets from the shadows, while Maisa would sneak to the gates and disable the cannons before opening the gates for the rest of the thirty thousand soldiers of the Colonial League to rush in. It was a sound strategy that solely revolved around surrounding the fortress walls to disable the defenses and rushing in to take the fortress. Maisa ordered a dozen Marines and six hoplites to each team, while she would disable the cannons on the battlements. The Hoplites' shields hid the Marines and their rifles, now fitted with bayonets at their muzzles, while the Marines themselves waited for Maisa's word to fire.

"We're in position, General," Marla reported, through the radio. "We wait for your word to attack."

"Hold off for now, Captain," Maisa ordered. "I'll give the order to attack when I give it."

"Understood," Marla acknowledged. She cut the transmission, and Maisa made her move. She cast an Alear glyph to the watchtower at the top of the keep and warped to it, finding only a single Skaolan rifleman positioned there. Before the enemy soldier could turn around, Maisa put both of her sickles around his neck and sliced his head off. That was the last time she would cast magic of any kind, since the Skaolans likely had some kind of technology that could detect it. She would have to creep to the cannons and disable them with her weapons. It wouldn't be too difficult if she could stay as hidden as she could. Maisa then vaulted over the guardrail of the watchtower and crept across the flat roof of the keep to where she could see the first cannon. Her army was just under that wall, waiting for her word. The ground between the wall and the keep, though, was crawling with Skaolans. Maisa would have to somehow get to the wall without using her glyphs, past the beam turret gunners, without alerting them to her presence.

"Come on, Maisa," she whispered to herself. She then saw a small beam with a winch hanging on it that extended from the corner of the keep's roof. If Maisa jumped from the tip and threw one of her sickles to the wall, she could sling herself all the way to the cannon. Whether any of the Skaolan soldiers below her would notice her or not, though, was a big risk to take, but there was no other choice. She rushed to the edge of the arm and jumped forward, hurling her sickle to a window in the wall, and she put her foot out to keep herself from slamming into the wall itself. She tugged on the sickle's chain, seeing that it hadn't budged, then began to climb it. Once she reached the window, she reached up to the top of the wall and pulled herself onto the ramparts. The cannon had a cable that connected the power source to the barrel, along with the other three. It seemed as though a simple cut would sever the cable and disable the cannon. Maisa looked around and saw that none of the beam turret gunners were looking towards her, then quickly made a slash at the cable with one of her sickles. The power cord came loose from the cannon, then the power source began to rattle.

"Shit," Maisa cursed. She had little doubt of what was about to happen. She frantically cast an Alear glyph to the watchtower at the top of the keep and warped to it just before the entire cannon exploded. A loud explosion erupted from the battlement, and Maisa slapped her palm to her forehead.

"Damn it," she whispered. Whatever chance Maisa had at not being noticed was gone, now. She cast Rao glyphs above the last three cannons, and the lightning bolts that stabbed through them destroyed them.

"Green light!" Maisa then shouted, into her radio. Several gunshots from the Marines' double-barreled beam rifles came from the jungles all around the walls of Fort Brutium. Maisa could see the beam turret gunners drop from their rounds while they were confused by their cannons' destruction. The rest of the garrison scrambled to their positions as the gate came down following a sudden explosion from just in front of it. With no men behind the beam turrets, the Colonial League's soldiers rushed through them as fast as they could. The Hoplites were at the very front, rushing forward with their spears forward and their shields in front of them. The Skaolans met them in front of where the gates used to be, and both armies crashed into each other. The shields of both sides' soldiers clashed and their spears sank into their chests. Maisa warped to an Alear glyph on the top of the wall above the gateway, then began to cast Rao glyphs at the Skaolan side. Lightning bolts rained down from the glyphs that appeared and disappeared all across the fortress where the League met the Skaolans. The League's soldiers fought with their rage and hatred driving them, and their dreams of freedom giving them their bravery. The outnumbered, and outmatched, Skaolans didn't surrender to the Colonial League's soldiers were killed off, and Maisa's forces spread throughout Fort Brutium with nothing to stop them. Within a few hours, the Skaolan banners were thrown down from its walls, and the autumn tree banners of the Colonial League flew in their place. Fort Brutium was the last stronghold that stood between the League and Noglidas, and now it was theirs. Zeno and the other Generals would likely be on their way to rendezvous with Maisa at Fort Brutium by now. Their combined forces made up almost a hundred thousand soldiers, even without Acran's army, and since the only other colonies that still belonged to Skaola were on the other side of Orathan's northern landmass, no one would be able to help them. Even if there were reinforcements that Lord Thema could call upon in Astros, Noglidas would belong to the League by the time they arrived. The end of the war was in sight. Only a single battle remained.