“To go into battle and accomplish everything you planned to do beforehand was a pipe dream in the vast majority of cases. In general, it was already good if you could accomplish some of the goals planned for a battle, as the generally chaotic nature of warfare made it difficult to do more than that.

As such, one of the first things a military commander learned was how to choose between their goals, which to prioritize on and which to give up, all during the ever-changing situation in the heat of an ongoing battle. These decisions more often than not are what led a military unit to ruins or riches.” - Scipius Cornelius Barca, Famed general and strategist of the Democratic Republic of Caroma, circa 62 FP.

“Resistance’s pretty stiff, Your Grace, and we might be running out of time soon,” said Reinhardt to the young Duchess who marched right beside him, as they were the two commanders who led this foray into the enemy camp. The young Duchess’ assistants, her senior Knight-Captains, had organized those who defended their way back out, to ensure a safe retreat for the detachment. “Which would you rather prioritize? The mages or the siege engines?”

“The siege engines,” said the young Duchess after a moment of thought. While Reinhardt knew that Andrea Utghwes was trained in the path of knighthood since young - like every other heir of Dvergarder - it still surprised Reinhardt somewhat to see the young Duchess happily join in on the dirty work herself. Then again, she had also led the cavalry charges from the front. “Doable? Or would you rather advocate we retreat?”

“It’s doable,” replied Reinhardt with some fondness. Most employers would not have bothered to ask for his opinions, and might have just ordered a charge regardless of the situation, as many saw mercenaries as expendables. That the young Duchess not only treated them properly but also asked for and weighed his opinions was a rare thing, especially amongst noble employers. “I’ll have to order our best shieldbearers off to lead that charge, though, so it’ll fall to the rest of us to distract and keep the mages busy.”

“Count me and my knights in on that,” replied the young Duchess with firm resolve that brooked no disagreement. While many of the knights had strung themselves thin to secure the way out of the encampment, a group of twenty-four - four knight squads if Reinhardt recalled the organization used in Dvergarder right - followed closely behind the young Duchess, likely her personal guards. “Just get me those siege engines.”

“Consider it done, Your Grace,” said Reinhardt. He then passed on some orders, and almost immediately, the mercenary force shifted directions. Where before they had pressed hard towards the mages and forced them to pull back and thus cease their harassment for the time being, the spearhead of the formation shifted towards the siege engines, and quickly pushed halfway there before the defenders realized the shift happened.

At the same time, Reinhardt himself led the other half of his mercenaries, alongside the young Duchess, as they charged hard towards the mages, to keep them from bombarding the flanks of Mischka’s detachment, which headed for the siege engines under his orders.

Under the threat, the mage cadre further distanced themselves as their guards did what they could to halt the charging mercenaries and knights in place. The mages climbed up a small hill in the camp in their retreat, and used the height to gain a proper line of sight to the assault force once more. A magical bombardement ensued shortly afterward.

Reinhardt had to duck and roll under a bolt of lightning aimed his way. He glanced back and saw that the others behind him had also seen the bolt coming, and Zyd had taken the blow on his shield. He seemed mostly unharmed, though the way his hair and beard stood on end was a tad hilarious to witness.

Then he saw a large lance of ice - an oversized icicle, really - aimed his way, and Reinhardt simply swung his polemace at the projectile with all his might instead. The mace struck the icicle right at its point, and it broke into a rain of relatively harmless hail that pelted him as well as those nearby.

To his side, he saw the young Duchess take a fireball to her kite shield, but stood her ground. Her armor and shield were likely enchanted to various degrees, as he saw little more than a scorch mark on her shield once the dust cleared. She was then forced to take a couple steps back when a lance of stone struck towards her.

She blocked the lance with her shield, but the forceful impact still left a dent on it, and forced the young Duchess to step back until two of her knights caught her from behind and helped her steady herself. With the mages on a higher vantage point, they were left free to rain down magical attacks towards the mercenaries and the knights below, while their guards formed into a line at the foot of the hill to prevent them from charging through.

The bombardment was getting worse, and Reinhardt saw that they already caused some casualties amongst the knights and mercenaries. His own force of archers were outside the encampment, as they helped the majority of their forces in keeping the Central forces busy on the battlefield. Salicia had come with them, but she had split off early on to take down the archers stationed on the camp’s many watchtowers and used them as firing platforms for herself. Given the distance between their location and the watchtowers, they were likely outside her range.

He was just about to ask the young Duchess if they should begin a fighting retreat - from a glance he took, he saw a couple of the siege engines already burning, so Mischka’s people were working on those already - when the situation changed once more. His keen eyes noted an all-too-familiar, tiny portal form high above the hill where the mages were, and from there, several large, thick arrows flew out.

The arrows took the mages by surprise, and out of the ten arrows that emerged from the portal, nine of them struck fatally. The last mage targeted by the arrows managed to react and tried to get out of the way, so she only took an arrow to the back of her knee rather than one through the head or the heart.

They had plenty of effect however, as the panicked mages immediately ceased their bombardment and tried to escape to the other side of the hill, convinced that they were in the sights of an expert archer. Reinhardt and the young Duchess both saw what happened, and immediately exchanged a glance.

“If Your Grace wished to take the mages out as well, we should push the charge while they’re in disarray,” said Reinhardt immediately.”Sal’s can’t keep it up for much longer, so we either strike while the iron is hot, or use this opportunity to retreat.”

“Then we strike,” said the young Duchess decisively as she gestured a charge towards her knights. She herself ran alongside Reinhardt as they charged at the defensive line at the foot of the hill. “And what do you mean she can’t keep it up much longer?”

“Despite her skill, Sal’s not much of a mage. Poor mana capacity, as they often said,'' explained Reinhardt even as he smashed a soldier’s spear aside and bashed the man’s arms in the same movement. “I’ve seen her do like a dozen shots through such portals at most, so she already burned most of her mana with those ten.”

“Then we’ll make this quick and not waste the chance she gave us.”