Sera stepped forward, “Soldiers of Luthridge!”

Those nearest her turned, and more turned to follow, though she knew the message would be passed down the line as her army was quite spread out, “Our home is threatened! The enemy has come to take it! To pillage it! To destroy that which we hold dear! I ask you now, will you allow this to happen?!”

Those within range shouted, “NO!”

“And when the enemy comes with greater numbers, with odds that seem not in our favour, will this deter you from fighting for you home? For your livelihoods? For your friends and families?”

“NO!”

The shout louder this time.

“We are lamp-lighters by trade! They look down upon us as warriors, as protectors, as opponents. Will we let this insult stand?”

“NO!”

The loudest shout yet.

“Then let them hear your resolve, Soldiers of Luthridge! Let our enemies feel the ground as it trembles! Let them know that they stand on our territory, and we are not opponents to be taken lightly!”

Sera took her sword and raised it against a shield she had, she beat on it, and Commander Frank who still stood beside her followed suit. The army followed, shouts accompanying it as the solid note rang out across the field. A provocation. A declaration.

In this moment, Sera was not in a test. She was not the Sera of her past. Here, she was a General doing the duty of her post to the best of her abilities, and defending her home and the home of her people.

The enemy infantry began to march forward with the archers in their ranks. The enemy did not appear scared, but that did not deter Sera’s side.

The army paused when in range, shields in place as the enemy commander called for archers to nook arrows.

Commanders on Sera’s side prepared the appropriate formations to shield the men, as well as prepared the archers to pick their own targets and ready to fire on command.

Sera had always viewed volleys of arrows as a waste. Archers were individual weapon masters. They knew themselves how to time their own shots, and also the strength of their own arms, the number of arrows in their quivers. Sera had instructed the training parties the day before that they had to work as a unit with the archer to be prepared for when the Archer was ready to fire once the go ahead for them to fire was ready.

It was clear the enemy was going to deal volleys, which was frankly going to make this much easier for Sera’s side who would clearly see when all arrows were coming and would be able to time their defence accordingly.

Sera herself joined from the side, nooking her own arrows to fire as Commander Frank worked with a shield and Captain Elis became a runner for commands.

The first thirty minutes truly showed the inefficiency of the enemy’s volleys. While they proceeded to lose hundreds to Luthridge’s archers, Luthridge only lost twenty, and injured forty.

Frustrated, the enemy general ordered a charge, which meant both cavalry and infantry. Sera turned to Commander Frank, “Signal the rear archers”.

Commander Frank passed his shield to her and raced off, where Sera shouted down the line, “Hold the Line Soldiers!”

A replying crash of spears or sword against shields and a shout was her reply as she nooked another arrow and fired at a charging soldier.

The dirt from the ditches had been piled on their side, so even if a soldier made it across the ditch, he’d have to climb a steep pile of dirt to reach Sera’s army, except those at the end of the V who were poised in a shield formation ready to fight.

Elis ran to her side then, puffing from his run, his sword drawn in preparation.

“Nearly out of arrows, Captain, check if we have any left in reserve,” said Sera as she fired another into the oncoming fray.

“I’ll check General,” said Elis without argument.

He ran off again.

It was just as the infantrymen reached the barricades that a violent ‘whoosh’, reminiscent of an explosion erupted one after the other in the forest on either side of the field.

The infantrymen paused and reeled back a little, and Sera felt the heat even this far away from the forest as the fire instantly raged forward, propelled by the oil that had been spread through it the night before by the scouts. This was quickly followed by thousands of screaming horses and men as the fire grew more and more intense.

The infantry recovered though at the violent threats of the enemy general and Sera repeated her order to hold the line.

In a moment of reprieve after Elis had returned, he handed her a new quiver of arrows and stood by her side as she switched out quivers, then ran off to get a better view and advise her of any developments.

The thing about war that had never been really covered in a fictional novel or movie, was how long it was. How long it took to kill ten thousand people with swords and bows and arrows and a bit of fire.

Sera’s cavalry attacked the reserved enemy infantry, but as they were so far apart, she had no way of communicating clearly whether to defend or attack. Their Commander would have to advise that, and currently the only path of retreat would be towards the enemy city, around either one of two raging forest fires, or through the battlefield.

Sera was well aware of the stakes, as had been the Commander she had sent.

Armies took time to kill, and risk. The downside was that even if you were confident of victory, risk would always be a factor. Sera hadn’t the time to get complete intelligence on her enemy or find a solution other than a straight battle. The test forced her to a battle, no doubt so that she could display her abilities as a commander.

If the Vice-General was a Traitor and everyone got the same scenario, no doubt there were many who were unaware of battle tactics and elected to cede to the Vice-General’s plans which likely would cause them to lose. If they had tactical knowledge, yet didn’t pick up on the Vice-General’s true allegiance, they would likely have to face an attempted assassination in the middle of battle. There were many factors of risk there. Sera was not unaware of this, but calculated risks could very well be the key to her victory.

Sera got the message from Elis that their men were beginning to be overwhelmed by the infantry and Sera decisively ordered a retreat up the hill.

The lines began moving back from the far ends of the V-like barricades, forming a more rounded and protective line up the hill as the enemy army pursued them. The shields locked, and when half of the enemy army was through, Sera gave the order to the reserve archers to fire on the ditches.

The fires in the ditches were not nearly as spectacular, but they sure were effective in creating a wall against the enemy, funnelling it towards the shield wall that Sera’s army had united for.

With flanking options denied to them, the enemy army went for a straight charge, and it became a question of which would fall first, the shield wall of Sera’s army, or the still at least five thousand strong of the enemies.

The fires in the pits wouldn’t burn forever. This had been the biggest problem that Sera and her Commanders had discussed. A way to get rid of large numbers of the enemy army before the fires burned out.

Sera had grinned when siege weapons were again brought into play.

“Catapults could throw whole barrels of oil…”

Sera turned to Elis again, “Get ready to signal Commander Frank”.

Elis nodded, moving up the hill to its crest and looking between Sera and Frank.

Sera watched as the enemy army clumped to get closer to the end, but tried to avoid the flames on either side. She could make out a small infantry unit and the dwindling numbers of her cavalry in the distance, She also spotted the enemy General in his flashy gold armour at the rear of the infantry that was attacking. Clearly the rear infantry was just delaying her cavalry.

Sera raised a hand and brought it down and Elis did the same as the crest of the hill.

Within seconds two barrels came flying over the top of the hill and fell in the middle of the enemy fray, followed closely by burning arrows.

Sera only had eight barrels left, she had to make the rest count. Timing would be everything.

Commander Torren came to her side, “Soldiers at the front are tiring”.

“Give the switch order,” said Sera.

“If we can’t win this soon…” he warned.

“I know,” said Sera as she took one of her last five arrows and nodded her head towards the enemy army, “But all I need is one good shot”.

Torren nodded, “I’ll double your chances, Gale!”

The woman in question turned and came to Sera and Torren’s side.

Sera pointed the target out, “Enemy General”.

Gale grinned, “That’ll be two generals in a day for me!”

Sera chuckled, “Don’t get used to it”.

General Joterro was sick of fire.

First, he’d lost what seemed to be his entire cavalry to it. Then it had barred the way of most of the rest of his army. Now it was legitimately raining on them. It was terrible for moral.

“They don’t have a fuckin’ endless supply, keep charging!”

“But General-”

Joterro stabbed the questioning soldier through the neck, then ripped his helmet – which was doing little but allowing his head to be cooked at this point - off his head, “I said, keep charging!”

The other soldiers turned to heed his command, and Joterro turned back to assess the situation.

He barely had a split second of recognition before the arrow pierced through his neck.

It was as if the death of the Vice-General of Luthridge had been a premonition of what was to come for him.

Joterro fell, dead, the ring of the General’s death was the last straw for the Callandians who turned tail and fled.

Sera watched as the enemy army fled, and her Commanders looked to her to see if she’d order a pursuit.

She nodded, “Just until the next rise”.

The army began their pursuit, but Gale stood beside her with a frown, “Was that my arrow or yours?”

“Does it matter?” asked Sera.

“Duh,” said Gale.

Sera couldn’t help but like Gale, “Might still be a Vice-General out there if you’re lucky”.

Sera fell back on her butt, watching from the hillside as Elis came to stand beside her.

“A Trial by Fire,” said Elis, “Bet that’s what they’ll call it in the songs”.

Sera sighed, “Start collecting the dead, Elis. We can’t sing about it until we’ve mourned and revered those who lost their lives here today”.

Elis paused a moment, then nodded and went off to heed her command.

As Sera watched the enemy army flee, she felt her consciousness being pulled from the body she was in.

Seconds later, she was in the dark space where another screen had appeared before her.

Test 3 completed.

Territory Test Completed.

Calculating Completion Rate…