I closed the book and smiled. It had been about magic triggers for traps and how to disarm them. It was not the hardest of Niloticus’ books but by far the most boring one. My main reason to read it last. It was already twelve and a half months since Niloticus’ departure. He was late, but I would have to wait.

My daily routine was the same for the entire year. Reading the books and answering Niloticus‘ questions on his notes or working on one of his worksheets. It was long, boring and purely theoretical work and had to be done. I also started close combat training. Niloticus tested my skills with weapons before he departed. My skill in close combat was miserable, that is why I only learned unarmed combat. It would help me to protect myself if an enemy comes close. I still trained a bit from time to time with my gladius and a shield.

The test with the ranged weapons went much better. I could hit my targets fairly accurate, especially with the bow. Niloticus wasn’t satisfied with my pose and reloading speed and told me, that he had another weapon in mind for me. So only unarmed combat training for me.

The long-awaited news came at dinner. Father told me, that Niloticus would arrive in four days. I didn’t see my father and uncle often in the last months.

The east had announced their desire to integrate Italia proper into their realm. Father was using all resources to stop their invasion. He said the legions of the east will probably land in seven to ten weeks.

I was concerned about father and my families safety. Couldn’t we do something to stop the war? Was it so bad to join the eastern realm?

I shook my head. I had not enough information to understand the situation. I instead prepared myself for the meeting with my teacher.

“Again, faster this time”, Niloticus prompted me to repeat the exercise.

“I would say that I’m already fast enough”, I said and reloaded the crossbow again. There were four of them. A big one, a normal one and two small ones. I was shooting with the normal one.

Niloticus got them for me from one of his older dwarven friends. These crossbows and their bolts were far better than the ones the dwarves used usually.

The string was made from the tendons of an earth beast. The metal parts of the crossbow made from steel, superior to iron, and the wood was from one of the sturdiest existing tree species. Iron oaks. The bolts were made out of silver and engraved with runes. Fire runes, ice runes and darkness runes. Strengthening the attack power further.

Some bolts also had an additional explosion rune and would disturb mages trying to cast spells. If a fire mage tries to cast a fireball just one bolt with a rune will ensure that the cast fails and the spell goes out of control. Injuring the ones close to him. I only have to hit the area where the mage tries to cast his spell for it to work. Around 300 bolts out of steel had been added as training ammunition.

“Why are the dwarves not using those bolts more? It doesn’t make sense for the dwarves to retreat into the mountains if they have this firepower”, I asked Niloticus.

“Well first of all those bolts are a newer project of the dwarves They didn’t have them when the empire chased after the other races. Also, they are quite expensive. Now concentrate young prince”, Niloticus chanted a spell 25 meters in front of me.

“That one is easy!”, I proclaimed and shot at the point where the spells mana lines touched each other. The effect is as desired. The firebolt exploded as he entered the spell construct. The spell went haywire and failed to manifest. Another explosion was the result.

“Yes a bit better, but we will have to practice a lot for the next year to get your skill to an acceptable level. I don’t want you to get assassinated before you get laid. That would be a shame”, Niloticus sported a smile and I equipped one of the small crossbows and shoot an ice bolt at him. He waved his hand and the bolt fell straight down.

“Mhhm, How did you make it fall straight down?”, I asked Niloticus. I only saw that he conjured a wind push. There were no other spells.

“Hmm, it seems to me that you still have a lot to learn about the interaction of magic and science Lucius. The bolt was hit with the same amount of power, which propelled it forward. It results in the cancellation of both powers and the bolt falls down straight”, Niloticus explained and added something in his notebook.

“What did you write down?”, that book was his exercise book. It contained the plans for my education and training. He never allowed me to see it.

“Nothing much. Just a few lessons on the most important parts of science. You should better your lack of knowledge in the scientific area”, Niloticus said.

“No please, no more books and dry theories”, I pleaded my case to my teacher, but I already knew that he wouldn’t change his mind, once he wrote it into the book. “I have a few questions. The library couldn’t provide a satisfactory answer. Why is the world called Octanian?”

“It depends on who you ask. The sea-folk named it after the great Kraken Octanian. He created the ocean and lies in the deep. The humans believe, that the world was named after emperor Octavian. Even if old documents from the republic shows us, that the world was called Octanian long before the first emperor was born. Every race has their own story”, Niloticus said and turned to me with a smile. I could see his reptilian teeth. “What do you think? Which race named the world?”

I consider his questions for a moment. I had to study the history of the races. At least the important ones. “The sea-folk are the oldest. The rest of the stories should be just the attempt of other races to claim the world name comes from their ancestors. Correct?”, I looked at my teacher with an expectant gaze.

“Yes, your theory is probably right. The only problem is, that the sea-folk were the last to start writing down their history”, Niloticus said. And we repeated my training. I had to disrupt all kinds of spell constructs of my teacher while answering his questions about magic.

He increased the difficulty over time. I sat down and tried to catch my breath when I couldn’t keep up with him any more. The light spell hit me directly and I retched my breakfast out. That spell was a sickness spell, which debuffed the enemy and took him out of combat for a while. I used my mana control to get the chaos in my stomach under control. I stopped retching, after a dozen seconds.

“To slow. There hundreds of spell, which would have killed you in a similar time frame. It seems that we will have to train your control even more”, Niloticus scribbled something in his book.

Please no, in the name of all gods, how much training can the old crocodile fit into one year. I rolled my eyes in annoyance but didn’t say anything. It won’t get me anywhere. I needed this training and I hated the fact that I knew it.

“Let call it an end for today. We will meet again tomorrow at the same time”, said Niloticus, and he started to pack his things.

“Tomorrow? Tomorrow is weekend. There shouldn’t be any training on the weekend”, I protested to my teacher. My parents wouldn’t allow that. Or would they?

“Yes Saturday will be filled with training as well. I spoke with Jagu. He seemed to have his hands full with the war and didn’t deny my request”, my teacher smiled at me and I suppressed further protest.

I packed my things and got escorted back to our mansion by the servants and Niloticus. The family had dinner together. Father was absent again. He really had his hands full with the war. Silas was finally able to speak and explained to me how he played with our sisters.

They made Silas wear a dress. I chuckled at the fact that I’m not the only one in the house of Vespasianus who was forced to dress like a girl. The rest of dinner passed without accidents. I wished my siblings and mother goodnight and headed to my room.

I read a bit in Niloticus notes and prepared myself for the coming training units. When it was dark outside, I called it a day and went to sleep. I’m excited for the coming days because the boring theoretical stuff would finally make way for my practical training. Shooting bolts was fun!

A few weeks later. On an uninhabited part of Apulia’s shores. Southern Italia. An elven man sat in the bushes of the coastline and concentrated on the horizon. When he spotted an armada of ships he waited for a few minutes and left, after making sure that they headed to this part of the coast.

City of Lupiae in the province Apulia.

Duran stared at the reports and waited for Titania. The sea nymph appeared five minutes later.

“And? Are the reports true?”, Duran asked his fellow general.

“Yes, they landed east of Lupiae. They don’t know that we have dealt with the ruling family of Lupiae, or they don’t care”, Titania explained the scouts' findings.

“How high are their numbers”, asked Duran. Shifting some pieces on a map.

“Five legions, six thousand men per legion. So we face 30’000 troops. Around 10’000 elven archers and 5’000 elven light infantry. The rest are human infantry and only a few units of cavalry. No siege engines and few mages”, Titania answered.

“Hmmm, that are a few more than we expected, but the quality seems to be a bit low. There should be far more mages and cavalry”, Duran continued to move the pieces on the board. Titania would interject from time to time and move pieces as well.

“I suspect that they sent their elite troops to middle Italia. They want to pincer us. Is our fleet ready to cut off their retreat?”, Duran asked.

“Yes, they passed the strait of Messana a few days ago. The eastern fleet would be intercepted if they really tried to move some of their troops around Italia”, said Titania. “Should our fleet collide in full force with the enemy, victory should be on our side. They lack soldiers on their ships, now that they landed.”

“I hope so as well. We spent a lot of ducats on our navy. It was double the amount we spent on the army. I really wonder where Jagu got all those funds from. We need a plan for the upcoming battle. Both of our legions consist of roughly 7’000 men”, said Duran.

“They outnumber us two to one. It will not be easy. We could use the factor of surprise. They are marching to Lupia and expect an ally”, suggested Titania.

“No, there is no way to surprise them. There is only empty land between us and them. We will have to face them on open terrain. We should prepare the western area for the battle”, answered Duran.

“Yes, moats and barricades could stop the eastern attack dead in its tracks”, said Titania.

“It will only slow their charge. We need to adjust our strategy”, Duran replied.

“What have you in mind? It would probably better if we just stay in the city”, Titania asked and a frown showed on Duran’s forehead.

“I know that you are young, but that has to be one of the worst ideas you had. They would just surround the city and starve us out”, Duran pointed out.

“We should outlast them in supplies. We have fewer troops”, countered Titania.

“They will ravage the countryside. We would not be able to outlast them”, Duran countered.

“They wouldn’t. It is not their goal to ‘free’ the south of Italia, if they plunder towns and villages then their support in the population should waver”, Titania explained her line of thinking.

Duran started to laugh. “Titania it must be nice to be young and naive. No, you can be sure that their support wouldn’t change. They will put the blame on us. The victor tells the tale, not the defeated. You should stick to maritime warfare.”

Titania turns away her face. Not planning on showing Duran her expression. The blue scaled protruding ears twitched a few times “It is not my fault, that humans would retort to such methods. Slaughtering your own kind, for provisions.”

“Humans and elves, if I may add. We are all the same. Few rulers put the well-being of their subjects first”, said Duran. “I think you should head to our fleet. They will need your support.”

“Yes, I think that you are right. Land campaigns are just not my fort. I will leave that to you old man”, Titania gave Duran an air kiss. Her body turned into water and she disappeared. The water copy of her collapsed into itself, making a mess of the floor.

Duran sighed and shook his head. He couldn’t get used to cooperating with other races. So many differences in customs, values or standards. They were much more impulsive and informal than he was used to, especially Titania. It may also be the age difference.

Duran called his advisers and commanders. They had a battle to plan. And somebody had to clean this room.

War camp of the eastern Confederacy. The general of the army stood in his command tent with his advisers and commanders.

“So they occupied the city before we landed. It was stupid to believe, that they wouldn’t act first. What is the council thinking?”, the commander complained about the plans of his superiors. The elf turned to his advisers. “So what do you think? They have positioned themselves between us and the city.”

One of his commanders spoke instead.

“Our scouts have already collected a lot of information about the enemy troops. They have half of our numbers”, she said. Another one continued.

“Their strong troops are on the flanks. Including their cavalry. They probably fear that we outflank them. Their battle lines are relative thin”, he said. An adviser interjected.

“I say push through the middle. The troops are the weakest there, and we should be able to break their lines this way”, he explained.

“I don’t think, that the plan would be wise. Let us fight with a broader line as well. We could outflank them this way. Numbers are on our site”, somebody advised.

“We shouldn’t risk thinning our lines. Their troops have better equipment. We would give our advantage away and you should not forget how easy it will be for us to break through their middle”, said one of the advisers.

“I agree with you. We can’t outflank them without spreading our lines as thin as theirs. The lack of cavalry hurts as well. We will push through their middle and rout them this way”, the commander spoke and with that, the strategy for the coming battle was set.

The legions met each other the next day. The eastern legions and Duran’s legions stood across from each other. Each battle line as long as the other. The eastern line’s width was double the width of Duran’s legions.

The east had positioned their best troops, the heavy infantry, in the centre. The light infantry stood on the flanks. The cavalry was solely positioned on the left flank. The archers stood in front.

Duran’s light infantry stood in the centre. On the flanks was the heavy infantry. They consisted mostly out of dwarves and a few humans and demi-humans. Their cavalry consisted mostly of demi-humans and a few humans and stood on the outer flanks. The bulk of the light infantry were humans and a few elves. The elves provided most of the archers and stood in front.

The battle started with the exchange of arrows. The east shoot only with arrows. Duran replied with a mix of bolts, arrows, and stones. Both sides suffered equally from the skirmish. Duran’s ranged fighters balanced the superior numbers of the east with better equipment. The wind was also favouring them.

Once the east exhausted their ammunition they charged the enemy lines. It took them some efforts and troops to pass the traps and moats. It didn’t reduce their numbers by much but slowed their charge considerably. Duran continued to harass them with arrows. Only pulling the archers back before the legions collided.

The lines meet and numerous people died immediately. The iron armoured dwarven line held the enemy charge and stood unmoving. Spears braced in formation to stop the enemy soldiers. The cavalry on the right pushed the eastern cavalry slowly back and tried to make them rout. The cavalry on the left waited for the right moment to act.

The middle part of Duran’s legions couldn’t handle the pressure and were slowly pushed back. The eastern army pushed deeper and deeper into enemy lines, not noticing their predicament. Duran’s lines looked more like a crescent and enveloped the enemy lines without alerting them.

It was too late when the enemy did see how the situation was turning out. The cavalry on the right routed the enemy and finished the encirclement with the combined charge of the left flank into the enemies back.

Most of the enemies were slaughtered in the encirclement and Duran executed all captives. Only a few of the enemy troops were able to flee the battlefield. The battle would go down in history as the kettle battle of Lupiae. The first key engagement between the eastern confederacy and the duchy of Neapoli.

An eastern soldier, from a minor noble line, was riding to the shore on his horse. He hoped to escape the fate of his fellow comrades by reaching their ships. He couldn’t understand why and how they lost the battle, but the last thing he wanted was to fall into enemy hands. He had heard who the enemy general was.

Duran Vespasianus was probably the person, who hated the east the most, especially the elven part of the confederacy. The soldier, an elf, had no plan to become a prisoner under Duran. The general of Neapoli would torture him for weeks. Death would look like salvation then.

When his horse stepped onto the beach rider and animal froze at the same time. The soldier was terrified. The fleet was burning and a giant Kraken was pulling at their flagship, while numerous sea-folk made fast work at capturing the other ships.

They were attacking the ships from all possible directions. Eastern scorpions rendered useless with friendly ships in between the enemy. The eastern ships also lacked fighters to repel the sea-folk. The admiral decided to transfer most of the troops and sailors to a few ships so that at least they could escape.

He succeeded in rescuing a few vessels, but his own ship was held still by a giant Kraken, they tried to cut its limbs, removing four of them, but then Titania boarded the ship. She slew the enemy admiral and secured the flagship. The eastern expedition into southern Italia ended in utter failure.