The sound of cannons again sounded as one, as they had for the past three days, firing explosive and metal balls towards the crumbling Fort Gulrn. Day and night, the guns kept up their withering fire, pounding the walls. The enemy could hardly fire back in response as the Luna Cannons were far more accurate and their range greater than that of the twelve pounder guns that fired off beside them, to the point they were able to focus in on the enemy emplacements and take them out with concentrated bombardments.

Vance’s strategy was starting to bear fruit, and already the front wall was ready to crumble, its sandstone facing falling away into the moat below. Hundreds of orcs had also been rendered useless by the constant barrage of the cannon fire, but the real killer's were the sharp shooters who fired upon the ramparts from the safety of wooden planks, propped up via sand or dirt -- a call back to the barriers used by archers during sieges. Further reinforced by spruce trees from Kendirewen, there was little worry of the enemy’s musket rounds finding flesh. All in all, things were progressing smoothly, but the question still plaguing Wolfram’s mind was that of the Emir in command. He had a few ideas already, one of them being the illusive ‘E’ who had so far been a thorn in his side, and the other idea being a cowardly Emir.

“Sir!” A voice called out, snapping the General out of his thoughts, as he turned to see a young Marine enter his tent, “General, sir, Lara’s compliments. She says the enemy wall is breached!” The man reported, after managing to catch his breath long enough to stand at attention to salute.

Waving the man down at ease, Vance quickly pushed himself up and to his feet, he rushed past the man and emerged to watch the wall begin to crumble away, giving way to a sizable breach. A resounding cheer came from the army as they watched the scene unfold. Vance himself felt a tingle run down his spine. Things had progressed far faster than he had anticipated. The mix of explosive rounds and magically infused metal balls fired by the artillery had done a quick job of breaking the wall. But, the easy part was past, now came the hard part of assailing the walls with bayonet and sword.

Twisting around to the messenger, “Thank you Corporal, send my compliments to Lara and the artillery teams for a job well done.”

“Sir!” The man snapped off a salute before rushing off to deliver his words, leaving the General alone again as he looked out to the sizable hole in Gulrn.

Looking back, he noted one of his guards was watching the same spot, lost in thought, “Trooper, I need you to deliver a message to the couriers to give word that all officers, Senior NCO’s, and NCO’s are to meet here for a briefing.”

“R-right away, General.” Slinging his rifle, the man darted away, leaving only the Marine from the Second Regiment who wore the same haori as Ami.

Vance gave the veteran a nod, before turning back to the wall, “Now comes the hard part…”

--

A few hours later, Wolfram stood at the center of a large tent canopy, behind a map table that displayed an intricate and detailed layout of the surrounding lands – all done by the Wyvern Riders.

“Afternoon everyone,” He greeted the assembled commanders, “I hope you’ve all had a good rest.”

Some of the officers, nodded, others just remained silent, while the majority just wanted the General to move onto the briefing. Seeing how everyone who was supposed to be here was, Wolfram wasted no time in immediately looking down at the map. Everyone crowded around and strained to see the fort.

“As many of you are keenly aware, the enemy wall has been breached – here,” Vance pointed to the front right hand wall, “Our sappers have also informed me that they’ve managed to dig a protective trench half way to the moat, but were unable to do anything more due to enemy fire, so it’s going to be a risky assault.”

He took a moment to let that stew in the minds of everyone before continuing, “As such, I’ve selected the best from those men and women you’ve all put forward and who’ve volunteered for the Forlorn Hope. Climbers to scale up the breach and help up the others, the best sharp shooters to cover the company as they make their advance, and the best fighters and CQC experts to clear the breach once on the wall.. The officer in charge of this company will be – William… ” Vance paused, he didn’t remember selected his friend for the attack, much less see his name in the list of volunteers, “Uh… yes, well, ahem, well, as such, the Captain will lead the first wave in assaulting the fort, followed by Colonel Ami Matsuo and the Second Dragon Marine Regiment, then…” He continued to list off the units that would follow, trying to keep his mind focused on issuing out the numbers and plan of attack.

It seemed for the most part, it would be a simple matter to breach the wall to everyone assembled, but Vance didn’t want to jinx it by voicing what everyone was thinking. Instead, he kept away from that part, and instead warned everyone to watch for prepared defenses within the fort itself.

“Now, saying all that. The hardest part is getting those walls clear, and holding that breach. Once our soldiers are up and over, there’s the possibility that the defenders have set up barricades and kill zones within, where even our rifles would do little good against a prepared volley.” Vance warned, “Thankfully, Richard, had performed a quick recon from the sky and has reported no such defenses, but just be aware it could happen. Conscripts they may be, but they’re defending their homeland. Fighting is going to be hard and fierce, so don’t let down your guard for even a second. Push forward and keep your flanks covered. Understood?”

The room erupted with a, “Yes, Sir!”

“Good. Colonel Demoulin, if you’d please.” Vance motioned for Estrid to take center stage.

She bowed her head slightly in thanks before taking over for Wolfram, “As the General has told you, keep your flanks covered. The Marines of the Second are incredibly proficient in melee, so rely on them and their commander once inside. If they say down, you get down. If they say jump, you jump. Their abilities will keep you alive once you’re within the walls. In the meantime, William, introduce yourself for everyone, so they can know who it is that will be the hero of the day.” She said, ordering the dark skinned man Captain to stand and be recognized.

William did as instructed and stood up, looking a little embarrassed by all the eyes focused on him. He wore the standard uniform of a Dragon Marine, with the rank of Captain clearly seen on his shoulder epaulettes. From his chest hung two medals; Kendirewen Service Medal, and the Battle of Myths Medal – the latter of which being given to all veterans of the Southern campaign. To most who didn’t know him, he looked unready for the challenge of assailing the fort, but to any Marine, he was the very image of talent in regards to soldiering. His leadership wasn’t quite at the level required of a Captain, but his skills couldn’t be questioned, as even Ami had scouted him for the Second Regiment.

Everyone wasn’t convinced – one of whom was Vance. Despite announcing him as the commander, that wasn’t the original commander of the Forlorn Hope that he had selected. In truth, Vance had selected a Captain from the tenth infantry regiment, who had less to lose, and a lot to gain by succeeding. That was why he was so shocked to see the name of William on the top. Sadly, there was little he could do now, besides honour the fact that William was about to go lead the Forlorn into either death or glory.

Shortly after everyone was dismissed, Vance was left alone with Estrid and Richard, both of whom stood looking at the map of the fortress. “So, you’re sure the enemy doesn’t have any prepared defenses within?” Vance asked.

“None. As far as we saw up there.” Richard replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

Vance squinted, he didn’t like this. It felt off to.

“It’s too easy.” Vance observed, “Think about it. They’re only hope is to hold the walls, but they know that’s unlikely given all they’ve lost and are up against. Even if they have the ferocity of a pack of lions, they’d still be overwhelmed. Only way to win a victory like this would be to set up traps within and behind the walls.” He paused, grabbing a pencil and ruler.

Quickly scribbling out a few places, he made it look like there were cannons and lines of prepared infantry, “If you were pitted against an enemy force that was taking out your gun emplacements, what would you do to protect your artillery?” Vance questioned the two.

“Stow them or spike them?” Estrid assayed.

“Yes. Now, what would you do if you were facing a foe that had aerial reconnaissance capabilities?” Vance again asked.

This time Richard spoke up, understanding now what Vance was doing, “Hide it.”

“Exactly!” He snapped, pointing to Richard, “It’s too perfect not to do. Hell, I’d do it. Since the fort is your typical medieval construction, it’d be hard to defend against a modern force, more so one as advanced as our army. So with that in mind, the best way to achieve victory is to lure the enemy into a single kill zone and fire a whiff of grape.” Vance drew what looked like grape shot being fired on the part of the wall where the breach was.

“Just like we did those goblins!” Estrid breathed, “By the gods…” Her face went pale at the sudden realization, “Our soldiers are walking into a trap!”

Vance nodded, looking to Richard quickly, “Richard, get the riders mounted. Now! I have a plan to prevent a massacre, and it’ll be our riders that’ll save the lives of our brothers and sisters assaulting the wall.”

Richard quickly rushed off, scrambling to assemble the riders, while Vance looked now towards Estrid, “Estrid, get Lara to bring as many explosive shells as she can and bring them to where the Wyverns are.”

“Why would you – wait, you plan to drop them on the enemy?”

“I do. The charges are similar to those of our rifles. If we use the same runes on the backs of the shells, we should be able to make a timed explosion, ensuring that every round dropped on top of the Askalians will do as intended.” Vance explained.

Estrid nodded, “Got it. I’ll go grab Lara, the sappers, and the mages to start working on getting some rune charges prepared then. Shouldn’t take any more than ten minutes if we’re all working on them.”

“Perfect, go quickly, I’ll have Ami prepare to--” Suddenly, the sound of muskets cracking and rifles firing erupted.

The assault was beginning, Vance and Estrid both darted out of the canopy, rushing to see as the Forlorn Hope made their advance through the protective trench, while the Askalians fired down upon them, and William who stood at the head, sabre in hand, waving towards the breach.

“Go. Go now! Get as many charges as possible, all we need are four! Go!” Vance barked.

Estrid was already rushing down the hill at full sprint, while Vance watched helplessly as his friend advanced forward with his company. Thankfully, Magic came swooping towards him, skidding to a stop in front of him, before turning to face his partner, giving him a something between a growl and low roar, as if telling Wolfram to hop on. Vance smirked as he ran and jumped atop the Wyvern, not bothering to strap himself in. He already had everything he needed, and already wore his cuirass, helmet, and uniform. The General was ready for battle, despite not being allowed to take part in the fighting, he had prepared for it. Kicking off, Magic soared into the sky, with Vance hung on for dear life via the reins and stirrups.

As Magic drew closer to the fort, the orcs manning the wall began to fire towards him and rider both, trying to deter the aerial attack, but to little effect as the giant beast came swooping in low, its wings slamming off the walls four Askalian’s who screamed to their deaths, a dull thump being all that indicated the bodies hitting solid earth. Vance wasted no time as he dove off onto the wall, drawing free his sabre with a metallic ring as it came free.

Two men charged forward, their bayonets thrusted forward. Vance moved swiftly, ducking low under both spears before he swept across his blade, cleaving open the men’s stomachs in a single fluid motion. Both howled in pain as they fell back and off the wall, allowing Vance to progress. Blade clutched tightly in gloved hand. Pulling the cord hanging off the pummel, he began to wrap it around his right hand and handle, binding both tightly together, ensuring his blade would remain firmly in his hand. For there was no doubt, he was going to be soaked in blood.

Rushing forward, Wolfram wasted no time in moving to nearest tower. The orcs turned, screaming out in panic as an attacker came, throwing many off guard as they twisted around to aim now towards Vance rather than the approaching Forlorn. Vance moved fast, leaning forward as he leapt forward into a lunge, blade coming across the first of many victims, cutting clean through flesh and bone. Before the body fell, Vance fell back, the heels of his boots spinning around in time to evade a musket being fired. A iron ball whizzed past his head, the gust cutting through the black mane of the helm. Lunging forward again, Vance thrust the tip of his blade into the orc’s chest. The man let out a pained yelp as he clutched his wound. Prying the blade free in a single movement, the weighted tip came up and around in an arc as it was twisted around in time to bisect another, splitting the other orc in two. A troop of orcs slain in the span of a few seconds as the champion tore through the tower, his blade lashing about as the next of his foes came charging towards him, bayonets poised to strike. Yet, the blonde showed no fear or hesitation as he stepped forward, boots moving deftly over blood and stone like a feather as blade and man were as one.

Meanwhile, outside, the Forlorn continued their advance, emerging from the trench, unaware of what was happening, and as they began to cross ten meters of open ground, they prepared for the worst, yet to their surprise, the withering fire from the defenders seemed to grow fewer and far between. William looked up, trying to spot what was happening, only to see Magic throw off a white uniformed Askalian with his powerful jaw, blood dripping from its mouth and claws. The walls were pure chaos.

“Quickly! Move! Move fast! The General! The General’s up there!” William bellowed, thrusting his blade towards the wall.

The mixed company looked up, straining to see what it was their commander was pointing to until they saw him. Vance, coated in blood, looking more demon than man as he left the tower, pushing through four men. The sight alone of their General had an effect on each man and woman there, as they surged forward, bellowing a war cry.

Vance for his part pushed the four back, staggering them long enough to swing his blade down and around cutting all four in a single sweeping motion, a trail of blood flowing close behind, before another group surged forward to meet the blood soaked attacker. Sea blue eyes stared out through the bloody visage, making two pause in fear, before Vance launched himself upon the group.

The first thrust came high, he ducked low, gloved fist swiftly brought up in counter towards the attackers face, breaking his nose. As the man spun backwards, the second came, this time thrusting towards Vance’s cuirassed stomach. Still low, Vance spun around, using the slicked heels of his boots to generate enough speed and momentum to slash the man’s torso. A cry rang out, as the orc slumped forward, clutching his wound. He didn’t let him wallowing in pain for long though, as he reached out, grabbing the wounded orc, pulling up in time for act as a meat shield as two others thrust towards him as one. Their blades dug deep, one punching through the ribcage and out the other end to stab into Vance’s hand, causing him to grimace in pain.

But no yelp, or cry came from the General, instead only more anger that was tempered and used to fuel his bloody bath around the breach. Fist, blade, guard, foot – all were used as he cleared the breach of enemy soldiers. Just as the first of the Forlorn scaled up and over to engage another wave of defenders, Richard’s company came soaring above, dropping charges down upon the defenders who began to hastily begin setting up a cannon. Vance watched with some pride as the explosives slammed into the gun and ground around it, erupting into a violent hellstorm of fire and smoke that bloated out the area around it. Yet, the riders didn’t veer off, instead, they came landing on the walls, great mighty wyverns lashing out in carnage only they could dish out. Richard bellowed out murder, blade sweeping around and down at any foe unlucky enough to come within range.

Slowly, Vance panted, blinking his eyes as he snapped back from his haze, only to see William come up, shaking Vance’s shoulder.

“…ance… Vance! Vance!” He shouted.

Vance shook his head, “What? Yeah, I’m here, what’s up?” He replied, his ears ringing from the gun shots.

“What the hell was that?! Are you okay?” He asked, looking Vance over, only to see there were no wounds evident on his friend and commander. “Julia’s tears… you had me scared man!” He sighed with relief.

Vance leaned forward, taking a moment to catch his breath as the whole of the Forlorn came to meet the defenders in pitched combat alongside the wyvern riders. “I’m fine, but worry about the Forlorn first. I'd suggest you quickly push forward and around to the—” a shot rang out, a bloody thap could be heard as bullet met flesh.

Yet, it wasn’t Vance who was hit. William fell to his right, a trail of blood following close behind him, as he collapsed into two Marines who caught him in time. Eyes wide, Vance stood there in shock. Surprise. Anger. Confusion. Panic. Vance didn’t know what he felt in that moment as he looked down at his friend, unsure if he dead or dying. Blue eyes followed the trail, only to come to face a single bald human man with fair skin and bearded face who stood no more than five foot eleven.

“I’m going to fucking murder you.” Vance worded soundlessly.

The Emir in command had been found, and he had done the one thing he shouldn’t have. Wound or kill someone he cared for. Vance turned slowly, adjusting his grip, before grabbing one of the nearby Marine’s rifles, and aiming it down towards the Emir who stood fearless and defiant in the face of certain death. Another shot rang out, this one again coming from the Emir whose bullet grazed past his left arm, cutting through the white blood stained fabric, cutting the skin behind it as it flew past. The shot was a miss, but it had some effect as Vance had tried to bring the rifle to bear to shoot with his left arm only to miss as he fired towards the Emir, his own round slamming into stone.

“Fuck.” Vance cursed.

Turning around, he looked at the two Marines who began to lower and carry off William to safety, yet he still couldn’t tell if his friend were dead or wounded. Refocusing his attention on the Emir, he noticed the bald headed commander had waited a moment, letting Vance see where he was going before walking away and into the black smoke. It was as if he were goading him into following.

“Fine… you want to have a face to face, we’ll have a fucking face to face.” Vance growled under his breath as he began to walk down the ruined stairway, heading towards the place the Emir had stood just moments before.

No one knew where Vance was going, only that he was heading into the area where the enemy resistance was likely to be its thickest.