Pitt had failed again. He had always been a failure.
He would die right here trying to hold this little bridge. The Horde would break the defenses and then overwhelm the Brunian hill before Lauriston and the Erlonians could march north.
It was all but over.
“Keep the artillery on the western houses.” Pitt looked at an aide and the boy nodded and ran off.
The orders felt useless, but Pitt continued. The action of saying the words made things feel less hopeless.
Pitt shook his head. He shouldn’t think like that. A general needed to be positive no matter what the situation. He’d seen that firsthand from watching Marshal Lauriston lead his group of Erlonians away from the Scythes chasing them in the previous weeks.
Pitt nodded to himself as he watched more Kurakin enemies swarm into the town. He needed to somehow stay positive.
The Brunians still had the high ground. Pitt maybe couldn’t win this battle, but he could make the Horde pay dearly for taking the bridge.
“Sir!”
More shouts followed this first outburst. Pitt looked around for the source and saw multiple aides and officers pointing south.
Pitt followed their outstretched arms and looked south. Many homes sat smoldering. Black-uniformed Kurakin swarmed up and down the streets.
But the shouts weren’t directed at the town. The men pointed beyond, to the fields south of the town and the tree line in the distance.
An army was forming up to attack.
An army clad in blue coats.
“It’s him.” Pitt said the words too quietly to be heard over the battle and the shouts of the men. “It’s the Erlonians. They’ve come to help us.”
The aides quieted down. Some exchanged confused glances. Pitt had informed his officers of the Erlonians’ desire to help Brun hold the bridge and the town, but he hadn’t explained things to the full army.
“Erlonians, sir?” one of the aides said.
Pitt found himself smiling wildly. He felt like jumping up and down and cheering.
“Marshal Lauriston and his army.”
None of the confused looks from the boys went away. A few of the aides were watching the rows of blue coats with wide eyes, thinking another enemy had come to attack the bridge.
“We’re really done for now,” one of them said.
“No.” Pitt’s smile dropped and he looked at the aides. He pointed to the black army in the west. “The Horde is the enemy. The Erlonians fight them too. They are here to help us hold the town.”
Nothing changed about the boys’ expressions. Pitt could understand how difficult of a situation this was to grasp, especially for the common soldier, but the battle raging right in front of them should make the shifting allegiances slightly easier to swallow.
The Brunians had been doomed. And now they were saved by their former enemies.
“Shift the artillery.” Pitt nodded to the second artillery aide. “Have them focus on the Horde guns. Keep them from focusing on the Erlonian advance.”
Pitt also didn’t want to be firing into the town as the Erlonians attacked. He didn’t want to hit Lauriston’s men.
The aide stared at Lauriston for a second before regaining his composure and running off.
“We can win this fight now. This bridge won’t fall.” Pitt looked at the others and his smile returned. Most men still looked too confused to move. Orders would help with that.
Pitt started in on his new commands. He’d reinforce the bridge and attack the Kurakin cannons with his own artillery. That would give time for Lauriston’s attack to hit. Then the battle could be flipped and the new allies could push back on the Kurakin and run the Horde out of town.
Pitt yelled out his orders and the aides and officers dispersed to relay them to his soldiers. The sun shone a little brighter as Pitt turned back and watched Lauriston’s army start their charge across the open field towards the Kurakin.
Lauriston
Fear was present even for the greatest of warriors. Marshals were supposed to be the best of the best. The strongest of the empire.
But Lauriston still felt fear in every fight.
The ground exploded in front of him as he ran for the town. Dirt rained down around him and he came out the other side of a wall of smoke from the exploding shells.
His men followed him. Quatre charged on his flank with the rest of the army. The Erlonians approached the first houses of the town at full speed before the Kurakin could fully focus on them.
The Kurakin responded quickly to the flank, far quicker than expected. They’d already gotten off a few artillery volleys. More were to come, but it wouldn’t be enough. Lauriston would reach the houses with minimal casualties.
This will be a true fight, Lauriston found himself thinking as another cannonball exploded nearby.
He yelled and waved the men forward. Quatre did the same, leading the men on the right and the Erlonians swarmed farther down the field.
Lauriston couldn’t see beyond Quatre’s men to their far-right flank. He hoped Mon was protecting Elisa. He hoped that those units were already in the cover of the houses and pressing the Horde flank. If they were, and if Lauriston could smash through the Kurakin force in front of him, his plan could work.
A cannon ball landed between the regiments, directly in line with his view of Quatre. Lauriston’s stomach dropped. Quatre was gone from his view. It had looked like a direct hit.
But the dirt fell back down and the smoke cleared and Quatre still ran even with the marshal. The general was unscathed and charging at the Kurakin still.
More cannon shot fell on the line of attack and blew holes in the Erlonian lines and Lauriston pushed the men farther. They had to reach the houses and the cover they offered.
The Kurakin infantry had formed a quick line with a small group of soldiers on the edge of town. It wouldn’t be enough. Lauriston could envelop them; his men were moving too fast for the enemy and the Kurakin couldn’t protect their exposed flanks.
Lauriston slowed and sheathed the sword he’d used to start the charge. He threw a hand up in the air and fell to one knee and brought his pistol up. The men behind stopped and raised muskets in one motion.
The volley tore into the Horde line. Black-coated bodies tumbled forward to the ground.
“Onward!” Lauriston yelled, diving into the smoke between the two sides.
The Erlonians echoed the cheer and closed the final gap on the run. The fight erupted with the clang of steel.
Lauriston drew his sword again and crashed his shoulder into a Kurakin soldier and swung his blade at the head of another. The rest of his men hit right after him and the entire battle fell away from his vision. The view in his mind of the entire attack plan disappeared and there was only the crush of men directly around him. It was only Lauriston and his sword and the Kurakin soldiers unfortunate enough to be in his way.
Lauriston’s blade came up just in time as a Kurakin ax swung at him. He parried the swing and stepped aside to drag his blade along the side of the enemy.
“Onward!” Lauriston yelled over the din of battle, pressing farther into the fight.
He cut down two more Kurakin before the enemy formation broke. A cannon ball careened through the battle and threw bodies into the air.
The full battle came back to Lauriston as his men ran after the retreating Kurakin. He urged his formation forward. Quatre would do the same on the right. They had to reach the houses and gain cover. They had to get away from the open field and the deadly cannons. They had to press their advantage from the surprise attack and disrupt the Horde pressure on the bridge.
Elisa
The trees hid their approach until the last minute. Elisa heard the attack against the Brunians holding the bridge booming in front of them. Explosions began to sound on their left as well.
“Their artillery reacted quickly,” Mon said behind Elisa in a low voice. They crept closer to the edge of the forest and the first houses. “Let’s get i
nto the town and flank any defense the Horde sets up.”
The formation moved quickly. Lodi’s regiment of Lakmians were out in front on their left. The Lakmian soldiers moved smoothly and silently between the trees.
The first outlines of houses appeared as the edge of the forest approached.
The sudden eruption of gunfire from the houses took Elisa by surprise. Musket shot crashed into the trees. Men fell all around. Her heart ramped up to full speed and fear finally gripped her.
Mon yelled and waved the men forward. Elisa could see Lodi’s group charging the row of houses. Mon moved the rest of the attack towards the right flank.
A second volley hit them. Elisa heard screams of dying men. The smoke obscured her vision. Mon ordered a volley of their own and Elisa dropped to one knee.
The Erlonian shots went over her head. Elisa added one pistol shot. She aimed at the window of the closest house. The glass exploded.
A body slumped out of the broken window. Black coats fell dead in an alleyway between houses. Other Kurakin jumped over the bodies and fled back into the town.
“Onward!”
Mon yelled for the Erlonians to press forward.
Elisa stuck with the old general like she’d been told. Through the smoke on her left, she saw Lodi take down a Kurakin soldier with a running thrust of his spear.
The Lakmians were surrounding the first house. Mon had his unit perform a similar maneuver around the neighbor. Soldiers pushed their way inside but found the house was empty.
Elisa watched the street from the outside corner. She saw movement on the roof of a house farther into the town. A black hat shifted up and a Kurakin soldier raised a musket to fire. Elisa proved faster and fired her other pistol at the man’s head.
Her aim was true.
The bullet entered the soldier’s forehead and blood spurted and the dead body tumbled off the roof.
Mon emerged out of the house behind her and yelled for her to keep moving.
“Onward!” He waved for all his men to press into the houses and grabbed Elisa’s arm. She was pulled away from the sight of her first kill of the battle.
They pushed up to the next house and found less resistance. Elisa saw some black coats running away from them down the streets. The Lakmians were still in front and moved after the fleeing enemy on the adjacent line of houses.
“We’ve got to keep moving.” Mon pointed men forward. He sent lines of men to either side of the next house. “Keep taking buildings. Keep pushing forward.”
Elisa could barely hear him over the sounds of the battle. She leaned against the next house and reloaded her pistols and felt the wall vibrating with the rumbles of explosions. The cannons, even on the far side of the town, were deafening.
Pitt
The artillery raged from the hill to Pitt’s right. His long guns pounded the enemy position.
The Kurakin didn’t answer. They were now fully focused on the Erlonian attack.
They had to be.
Lauriston had reached the town. Pitt lost sight of the battle through the smoke. The battles lines were hidden in the houses anyway.
“Push up two batteries on the far right, on that bank there.” Pitt pointed to the west for his artillery officer’s benefit. “See if you can draw some of the fire away and rake the side of the town.”
If the Kurakin weren’t going to attack his artillery, he could push them to a more forward position. The Brunians needed to weaken the Horde guns to ease the barrages on Lauriston’s men.
The Erlonians would take the pressure off the bridge and give the Brunians a much-needed rest. But Pitt would have to do all he could from this bank to help Lauriston break the Kurakin in the town.
Movement caught his eye on the opposite side of town. The eastern houses were engulfed in a battle too.
“What’s that there?” The aides had spotted it too.
Pitt smiled as he realized the marshal’s full plan.
Lauriston was a genius.
“An Erlonian flank,” he said over his shoulder.
They were flanking the town from the east. They used the cover of the trees to get in close and now the Horde retreated from the buildings and Pitt could see the Erlonians moving from house to house.
That flank would help Lauriston’s main push.
“Make sure the Fourth holds the bridge. We still have a role to play in this battle, don’t forget it.” Pitt pointed to get the aides and officers to focus again.
The bridge had to hold or all this was for nothing.
Pitt would support Lauriston’s attack as best as he could. But the Brunians still had to keep the bridge from breaking as well.
Elisa
Elisa helped take three more houses. The Kurakin continued to fall back in front of them. There hadn’t been much resistance since the initial exchange of volleys and she’d only fired one more pistol shot since the beginning.
Mon’s voice was already hoarse from the strain of shouting orders.
“We’ll choose a line to hold soon,” he said to her as they crouched and looked out the windows of the latest house.
“Sir!” A messenger came through a doorway.
“Yes, soldier?”
“From General Lodi, sir. No contact with Quatre’s group yet, but he and Lauriston should be in the town pushing forward.”
“Good, thank you, sir. Tell Lodi we’ll push up a little farther.”
Mon called for the other soldiers in the house to move forward. The first out the door was struck in the leg by a Kurakin musket ball and fell over screaming. Mon was next out and stepped over the man and fired down the street.
The rest of the soldiers filed out and took cover under a half stone wall. Elisa joined them and fired off a shot at the black hats crouched behind various cover points in the street beyond. The injured soldier continued to scream as he was dragged back into the house.
The street was filled with smoke and scattered bodies. More musket smoke poured from the houses and walls that the Kurakin used as a defense. Elisa saw the outline of the Ascended One’s spire through the smoke over the far homes. It was directly in line with their attack path.
Movement caught the corner of her eye over her left shoulder. She turned and watched a figure sprinting along the roof of the row of houses across the street.
It was Lodi.
The Lakmian’s tail trailed behind him as his light feet approached the edge of the roof. He hurled himself off the house and cocked his spear arm back. As he descended towards the street, he hurled the weapon down into a group of Kurakin. They scattered as if a cannonball had hit them.
More Lakmian infantry filed out of the houses and down the street. Lodi pulled his spear out of a dead enemy and pressed forward with his men.
Elisa saw the next Kurakin line falter. They wanted no part of the Lakmians warriors. They gave up ground to avoid fighting against the spears that chased them.
“Volley, boys! Up and fire!” Mon yelled.
Elisa rose up with the rest of the men and fired her pistol down the street after the retreating Kurakin. Many of the enemy fell.
“Onward!”
The men obeyed.
They ran down the street and reached the next line of buildings. Elisa knelt against the wall of a house and kept her eyes forward, waiting for a Kurakin to poke his head around one of the buildings.
She saw Lodi, standing in the open street, motioning something to Mon.
“He thinks we should hold this line,” Mon said from behind Elisa. The general shrugged. “I guess we’ll do that, then.”
Mon pointed the men into positions. The soldiers shifted and moved up to be even with Lodi and the Lakmians.
The continuous pounding of the cannon fire had turned into background noise for Elisa. She’d grown used to it. But as she reloaded her pistol and Mon finished his latest orders, the rumble changed.
She wouldn’t be ignoring the noise for much longer.
The rolling concussion from the ca
nnons now sounded different. It was louder and more clear now. Elisa actually heard the whistle of the balls as they traveled.
An explosion near Lodi in the street confirmed what Elisa’s mind had only just realized. Dirt was flung up into the air and the force of the explosion ripped down the street.
The Kurakin artillery was now focused on their part of the town.
Elisa saw a cannonball clearly, as if in slow motion, bounce down the street and pass by Lodi’s legs. The Lakmian barely flinched as the ball exploded into a wall behind him.
“Cover!” Mon yelled.
Elisa ducked. Lodi walked calmly towards his side of the street. The Erlonians pressed up against the walls of the homes and ducked their heads.
More cannon fire. More whistling and explosions. The volleys came faster and faster and the Erlonian position was engulfed in explosions.
Lauriston
Lauriston’s troops had gained the first row of houses on the southern side of town. He could feel the momentum of his army. As if they were attacking downhill. He had to press and keep moving forward.
Lauriston grabbed a messenger. “Send word to Quatre. See if he’s made contact with Mon’s left. But tell him to keep moving forward no matter what. We must envelop them.”
The messenger moved off and kept behind cover along the right flank.
“Let’s push up.” Lauriston waved the rest of the men forward.
He watched his men file around the house and push on to the next structure.
“Marshal, sir! Messenger!” a voice came through the din of battle.
Lauriston turned and saw a horse coming across the field at full gallop. The man dismounted before the horse fully stopped and began the message immediately.
“Still more Kurakin, sir.” The messenger was completely out of breath. “Coming up the road.”
“Catch your breath, soldier.” Lauriston kept his voice calm. A cannonball exploded on the other side of the house they hid behind and made everyone flinch.
The Fall of Erlon (The Falling Empires Saga Book 1) Page 32
