They had arrived early morning and had set up a defensive formation up on hill overlooking the valley. Lancia was talking nervously to Teiliwr who stood to his right. On his left causally leaning on his pike waiting patiently stood Cyn. Grandfather was busy talking with the young Captain who had been left to run the regiment whilst Ffwl Cyfoethog and his cronies took up a position behind the army.

Ffwl Cyfoethog and the other Noble's had set up a large tent with servants serving wine and other refreshments. Lancia thought with contempt that the nobles were treating this foray as an entertaining event like a simple hunting trip. He had to laugh not long ago he would have been the same self-important entitled noble. He thought about his family and what they would think of him running away to join the army and fight in the war. He knew his grandfather, the real one, would be furious.

He watched as messager from Ffwl Cyfoethog to give an order to the captain. Most of orders coming from Ffwl the captain would ignore or with Grandpa’s assistance send back a polite message to say why they couldn't comply with that order. Ffwl had ordered the regiment to advance. The poor Captain had to explain that The Knight General had given firm orders to hold in a defensive line on the hill top.

Lancia looked over to the regiment of archers had been placed which had been placed on their right. Each archer had a bundle of arrows by their side. Next to archers stood the pikemen, ready to intercept any Calvary. On top of the hill the wizards had placed themselves. Devin really wanted to be up on hill with them. Instead he stood with a large pike in his hands. On left flank of the army the orcs had formed. The General was leading his Calvary on the right flank.

Now they were waiting for the Union Army to arrive. Teiliwr was telling him what he would do after the war was over. He had plans to open his own tailors store in Gellifew he was confident that the money he would make serving with the army would give him enough to set up a basic store. He was telling Lancia about the clothes he would make. Teiliwr was sure his fashions would be very popular and make him rich and famous.

Lancia looked over his shoulder at where the Blade Maidens had marshalled, they were been held back in reserve, so took up a position to the rear of the army. He tried to make out Morwyn out from all her sister priestess but at this distance it was difficult to distinguish between the warrior women.

He heard the enemy before he saw them. The sound of drums playing over the top of thousands of marching feet, his ears were beginning to ring from the sound. Then he saw the enemy for the first time. In their blue uniforms thousands of soldiers marching to the sound of the drums. The drummers appeared to be human children. His regiment had a drummer. An adult Halfling, who also doubled as the regimental cook. He heard that the first regiment had a satyr who played the pipes. He could just make out the pipes playing in distance.

Lancia watched as the union Cannons were moved into position. There were hundreds of the them. He looked up the hill to where the handful of Cannon's that his own army had set up. The Elven Cannons were larger than the ones used by the union. The enemies cannon were wheeled into place by small bearded humanoids. Lancia guessed that these were the famed dwaves of the Union. He had heard that the dwarves called their Cannon's little dragons.

The enemy army kept marching towards their position. They marched in neat columns of soldiers. The enemy was marching behind the flag of the Union. The Flag was made up of a black anvil and hammer to represent the dwarves. A large white sickle was placed next to the hammer this represented the humans with a large white boat to represent the elves on blue which was to represent the sea which the original alliance cities resided next to.

It soon became very apparent that the Union forces out numbered their forces by quiet a considerable amount. Lancia estimated that his army was made up of about twenty thousand elves and additional four thousand orcs. The Union army was perhaps five times there numbers.

He could make out more details about the enemy. They were dressed in dark blue uniforms he could see them wearing plate armour on their torso and metal helmets. All the soldiers seemed to be carrying muskets. He wondered where their pikemen. How were they going to protect themselves from a cavalry charge? He looked first to the fearsome orcs mounted on their warhorses.

Then he looked at the Elven Calvary lead by the General. With their long Lance's and heavy mailed covered white chargers. They were an impressive sight. On contrast the Union cavalry was riding to back of their army. Lancia could just make them out. There appeared to be fewer Calvary in the union army which seemed to rely on its infantry. It also appeared that a number of them appeared to be Elven. Lancia knew that the Union was made up of union humans dwarves and elves he just didn't expect his own people to be fighting against them. It felt like a betrayal.

Suddenly the Cannon's behind him opened fire with a large roar. Lancia watched at cannon balls smash into the enemy causing carnage below. This was the opening blow of the battle. Which Lancia realised had begun. Still the opposition snaked its way forward. The Union soldiers were almost three hundred metres away. The Archers started notching their bows. A thousand arrows flew through the air and blacken out the sky. This was quickly followed by a thousand more arrows. Before the first wave had reached its mark three more rounds flew through the sky. Then the arrows started to rain down on the enemy. Lancia watched as thousands of union soldiers died pierced by the arrows.

A roar sounded over the battlefield as the union retaliated. Hundreds of the cannons or little dragons as their owners called them opened fire. Lancia could hear the sound of cannon ball as flew through the air. An explosion knocked Lancia off his feet. He was covered in blood and gore. Lancia didn’t appear to be injured. He got up and looked over to where the cannon had exploded. He almost vomited as looked at Teiliwr. He forced himself to look away from remains of his friend.

The Cannon's behind him opened fire again. The Archers kept raining arrows down on the opposition, their ranks now slightly depleted by the cannon fire. The Union soldiers opened fire. At this range their bullets were unlikely to hit anyone. But the smoke from their muskets gave them a slight smoke cover.

Lancia heard his captain give the order to prepare their own muskets to get ready for a volley. Although the human muskets did not have the range to do any damage. His own musket was Elven made. Made by some of the best gun smith's in the world it should have double to range of the humans. The Captain gave the order and Lancia pulled his trigger and fired. Although the smoke was obscuring the union soldiers Lancia was pretty sure his bullet found it's mark.

Instinctively as grandfather had taught him he started reloading his musket. He tried not think about the fact that he had probably just killed his first person. As he rammed the bullet down into the musket. He heard the Captain give the order to prepare for another volley. He raised his musket to his cheek and tried to find another target from the smoke below.

He heard some yelling from the smoke directly in front of the archers. As the Union soldiers emerged from the smoke. These soldiers were protected from the arrows by a large wooded shields carried by two individuals who also wore thick plate breastplates and metal helmets. They were now at range to fired their muskets. He watched as hundreds of the Elven archers collapsed. He took aim at one of the humans who were attacking the archers. The Captain gave the order and he fired. He watched as human collapsed. His bullet had found its mark smashing through the human’s skull.

Again he instinctively found himself loading his musket. He heard a large guttural roar erupt from the Orcs. The Orcs were riding down the hill to engage the Union soldiers that were aligned before them. He watched as the Orcs fired their pistols. Than switching to their second pistol they opened fire again. Hundreds of union soldiers collapsed. Then the orcs followed through with their charge and galloped towards the enemy soldiers. Bravely the union soldiers stood their ground against the charge. Lancia watched as they placed large swords at the end of their muskets. Using the muskets as spears the union soldiers prepared to receive the Orcs charge. Lancia watched as the Orc formation crashed into the Union soldiers and a deadly melee broke out.

He heard the captain give an order and brought his musket to his shoulder. The smoke from both armies’ weapons obscured most of the battlefield. It was making it difficult to make out any individual target. Lancia just fired in direction of the enemy. He found it harder and harder to breath with all the gunpowder smoke in air. He had to wipe the sweat and blood from his face. Union bullets were flying through the air around him. Some were even finding their marks with elven soldiers collapsing to ground. Lancia heard the captain give the order to reload. He looked over at Cyn who still held his pike facing the enemy but unable to contribute.

He heard a trumpet and turned to watch as the Elven heavy Calvary formed up ready to make its charge. He could make out the General leading charge and watched as Five thousand horses sped down the hill. The Union soldiers frantically tried to get ready to receive the charge.