The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  Chapter: Standing Tall

  The Blood Demon army seemed to breathe for the first time in a long time as the attacks for the last week fell away, with no more whistling from above.

  The mist that had covered the forest was rapidly clearing as they were walking down the road. The ground rose up and dipped, making it hard to see too far forward.

  “General, there is something ahead,” one of the scouts said, moving to Ulalas.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  Everyone tensed up as they thought it would be another one of the devices under the road.

  “There is a pillar reaching into the sky,” the scout said.

  “A pillar reaching into the sky? What is it from?”

  “I sent some scouts ahead and they said that it is standing in the middle of a large city. They say that the city is as big as the Capital of the Blood Demon Sect.”

  “The Captial?” Ulalas asked.

  The Capital was the largest of the cities, housing the headquarters of the Blood Demon Sect.

  “We will soon see what lies ahead,” she said as the army kept on marching.

  When they marched on the rises in the land and could look over the trees, they saw the pillar as they got closer, standing in front of them, as if inviting them in.

  People started talking to one another as the pillar would disappear when the road dipped.

  It was into the afternoon when the road started to open up and it gave way to fields that had been cut down recently.

  A ripple went through the army as Ulalas rode up to the front on her mount. The pillar was now visible even above the trees, the mist cleared around it to show the sky once again.

  “Wasn’t this supposed to be a dead land?” she demanded, looking at the towering walls of the capital city that lay underneath the pillar. It was based at the entrance to a closed valley in the south so only two-thirds of it could be attacked at any time. The ground surrounding it was anything but even: pot holes all over the place, trenches that were meant to break ankles. Crossing that would be a task of its own.

  She cast a viewing spell and could see people on the walls, watching the approach of the Blood Demon army. Eight kilometers of dead ground lay between the walls and where the road met the open killing grounds.

  “Form up the army. We will rest tonight and attack tomorrow,” Ulalas said.

  There was a whistling noise as people huddled together underneath their Mana barriers.

  Ulalas gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on her reins, seeing her army cowering underneath the Mana barriers. Her eyes were filled with rage as she looked at the capital in front of her. It was as if they were taunting her, telling her that they were the people who had been fighting with her in the shadows all of this time.

  “Find out what you can about this city. It wasn’t built overnight,” Ulalas said to her generals.

  ***

  A large map covered the central table in the command center. There were runners and messengers for the Crafter’s Association and the Blue Lotus, as well as leaders from both fighting forces in the command center looking at the table.

  Rugrat had already explained to them the terrain of the capital when they had arrived.

  “From the scouts, it looks like the enemy is setting up camp and they’ll get ready to attack tomorrow. We’ll have roving patrols and fighting forces go to ground near the walls to get some sleep. We’ll have the undead patrolling beneath the walls. They don’t need sleep, so they’ll react first if there is an attack in the night. We’ll drop regular mortar shells tonight, but to half their range. I don’t want to hit the Mana barriers, but mess up the landscape, turn it into a muddy mess for them, and make them unable to sleep. Throw up illumination rounds so we can see what they’re doing,” Erik said.

  “If we shoot short, they might think that is the extent of our range, might not do anything. So far they haven’t seen how far our mortars are out. The only ones were the aerial forces but that was one time. If they think that they’re outside our range, they might do something stupid beyond it, we can take advantage of it and hammer them,” Glosil saw to the heart of Erik’s plan.

  Erik nodded as Rugrat pointed at the board.

  “They have been moving with Mana barriers mounted on carriages this entire time. Now the ground is going to be rough. They might set up a train of carriages, but that takes time and a lot of mana stones to make a tunnel from the rear to the front,” Rugrat said.

  “We have saved up our spell scrolls thus far, if we use those with your mortars it should have a larger effect,” Daniels suggested.

  “While advancing down the road they might have the time to check for traps, but few can do that when charging across the battlefield,” Xue Lin added.

  “Is it possible to add them to the outer walls?” Erik asked.

  “Of course,” Xue Lin nodded.

  Erik looked at everything, trying to pull the different elements together.

  “Okay, so when they move forward, we won’t be able to hit them from above thanks to the barriers, but we’ve got IEDs all over in the ground. If we can add in some formations Those can disrupt them nicely. Anywhere that loses a Mana barrier, we can call in mortar fire. Otherwise we’ll hopefully be trading hits—our Mana barrier against theirs, with siege weaponry and spell scrolls thrown in for good measure. Which is fine. As soon as they get to the walls, we hit them with close-ranged weaponry. We bleed them—make it hell for them to enter the city. Though we don’t have that large of a fighting force compared to theirs, they have three nearly three times our numbers in straight soldiers. Once they’re making a push and it’s confirmed that we can’t hold, we pull our people back through the outer city; we collapse the Mana shield inward, make it look like it failed, thus luring the enemy into the city. That is where we will claim lives,” Erik said.

  “Why don’t we stop them at the outer walls?” Daniels asked. Xue Lin seemed to agree.

  “It takes something like three times the number of attackers as the defenders in an entrenched position. We’ll bleed them crossing the battlefield, but we don’t know how much, what if they take their time, what if they have a massive reserve of mana stones? Though that’s not the crux of it,” Erik tapped the outlined wall.

  “The outer wall that they can attack runs for twenty-seven kilometers, that is nearly three meters for each of our soldiers to cover, that’s with no back up support, no artillery or mages on the rears or reserves to help our people,” Erik said.

  “What about the undead?” Daniels asked.

  “They’re good with simple tasks, put them among the enemy they’ll be great, defend a wall next to allies, they don’t know how to control their strength that well,” Rugrat explained.

  “So the inner wall?” Xue Lin interjected.

  “The inner wall is just over five and a half kilometers. That means we would have two people for every meter of the wall if we committed them, but more than that, it concentrates our efforts,” Everyone focused on Erik more as he cleared his throat.

  “Once inside the capital, they can’t use their mana barriers, the terrain is like the forest, random walls, different terrain.

  “They’ll be within range of our mages and spell scrolls,” Evelyn Moss, from the Crafter’s Association’s guard forces, said. “It might be better to put the traps inside the walls instead of out on the battlefield. There is a chance they might activate it on the battlefield, inside the capital their forces will clump up, easier to get more of them with our traps. Retreating in an organized manner will be difficult.”

  “Retreating under control is nearly impossible to coordinate but we can train for it,” Rugrat said.

  “How are your forces looking?” Erik asked.

  Moss looked to Xue Lin who nodded slightly.

  “They’re stronger than before, but we’ve still got about twenty percent of our force out of the fighting because of the pill. Another thirty percent can fight but their fighting ability is affec
ted by about half. Another thirty percent can use all but a third of their power. And then we have a remaining ten to fifteen percent who are essentially unaffected. They are our Masters, for the most part, so it means we’ve got a strong reserve,” Evelyn didn’t hide anything.

  Erik looked at Rugrat who shrugged.

  “We believe that your masters and Elites should fight alongside your regular forces.”

  The people from Tareng had skeptical looks.

  “Are you sure that is a wise move? If we don’t hold back our strength, then we won’t have a reserve to pull from,” Evelyn stated.

  “We will still have a quick reaction force to act as a reserve, but mixing the two groups mean that if we’re attacked by masters we aren’t constantly rushing and reacting to it. We have people hold on and then hammer them with quick reaction force, or ranged alternatives.”

  “How is the army still together?” Rugrat asked, looking to the association representatives.

  “What do you mean?” Evelyn asked, frowning.

  “Their morale is low, we’ve seen people deserting all over the place, they’ve lost a quarter of their fighting force but they’re still preparing to fight a battle against an entrenched position. Most battles if one side loses ten percent of their numbers then they break,” Rugrat said.

  “Power of oaths among other things,” Xue Lin said. “Oaths are powerful if done right, they can bind people together with powerful consequences. There are ways to get out of it, but some, like oaths to a military are hard to break. If someone doesn’t carry out orders then they can even die in some of the more severe cases. The most effective way to break an army is to kill the leaders. With the leaders dead, their orders are no longer applicable.”

  “So oaths, kind of sort of keep people from breaking ranks and running away. They’ve got to be a bit pissed at that,” Rugrat said.

  “They certainly won’t be a motivated fighting force. They’ll still fight,” Evelyn shrugged.

  “So if we can we go for their leadership and that should break their oaths, or at least allow them to get past the oaths? Bypass them kind of?” Erik asked.

  “Pretty much,” Evelyn shrugged.

  “We just need to hold for a day or two for the people we sent to our headquarters are confirmed to not have a plague,” Xue Lin said.

  “Easy,” Rugrat said, sitting back in his chair, looking as tired as everyone felt.

  ***

  Storbon looked out over the wall. He was using one of Erik and Rugrat’s newly developed sights. With his marksman zoom in skill, he could pick out the individual soldiers who were setting up their camp. They moved as if robots, with barely any energy in them.

  Yao Meng let out a burp and stretched.

  “Nasty bastard, what the fuck did you eat?” Deni said.

  “Perfectly natural,” Yao Meng defended.

  “Yeah, like you’re natural in any way.” Deni snorted.

  “You been talking to my girlfriends again?” Yao Meng wiggled his eyebrows.

  Storbon grinned. He could hear the eye roll as Deni let out a sigh.

  “Real original.”

  “How much longer we on watch for? I’ve got a hot game of poker going,” Yao Meng asked.

  “Another half hour,” Deni said.

  Storbon stopped scanning as he saw siege weapons being deployed among the different formations, the carriages finally revealing their stores.

  There were trebuchets, ballistas, and magical cannons. Storbon studied them. They had magical runes running down their length to increase their damage and range. Instead of being hollow in the center like with rifles and other firearms, these were made of magical circle-covered cylinders that were locked into one another, making the magical formation not just some formation carved into metal. It allowed them to channel a greater amount of power and intensity.

  “Looks like the materials are all of the Earth-grade and covered in formations. They’re not going to be easy to deal with.” Storbon opened a channel to the command center. “This is Overwatch Sierra One. It looks like the enemy are deploying siege weapons and defensive measures. Wait one moment.” Storbon saw a large totem that people had been assembling powering up; a large Mana barrier appeared, covering the area of four mobile Mana barriers.

  “The only time that those barriers go down is when they need to recharge.” Deni said as she had appeared at the wall, looking at the camp.

  “With that large formation over there active, they can charge their mobile Mana barriers. Just how many Mana stones do they have?” Yao Meng asked.

  “A metric fuck ton, probably,” Deni said.

  “Even the medic is swearing,” Yao Meng said.

  “Command, this is Overwatch Sierra One. Update on enemy forces. Looks like they’ve got four ballistas, two trebuchet, and one magical cannon for every thousand people,” Storbon said.

  “Sierra One, this is Command. Understood. Keep us updated on the situation.”

  “Understood, Command. Sierra One out.”

  “That’s a lot of firepower.” Yao Meng’s voice lowered as a heavy atmosphere fell over the trio on the wall.

  The sun faded away, the clouds above turning gold and red before it sunk below the horizon.

  Deep in the capital, thumping noises could be heard.

  Light bloomed above the battlefield, pushing back the shadows and allowing those on the wall to see the sieging army clearly.

  The army all looked up from their makeshift camp up at the glowing white balls that were slowly coming back down to earth.

  The people in the army moved their siege weaponry into position and worked on their defenses. More of the defensive totems appeared along their lines to take over defense from the mobile Mana barriers.

  Tents were erected as people tried to get some sleep with the bright lights continuing to flare outside.

  “Fire mission, offset by five minutes down the firing line. Let’s see if we can’t keep them up past their bedtime,” Rugrat said over the command channel.

  “Mortars, acknowledge,” Glosil said.

  There were now forty mortars within the capital. Both Tiger and Dragon Platoon had been training with the mortar system, or using it in combat. The veterans of Dragon Platoon mixed with Tiger Platoon seamlessly, bolstering their combat strength and passing on their recently learned lessons.

  The first mortar fired, arcing through the Mana barrier that allowed attacks out but not in.

  A whistle made the Blood Demon army still. Those who had been sleeping shivered as they were suddenly awake.

  The mortar shell landed between the Blood Demon army and Vuzgal. The explosion didn’t even hit their newly raised shields, but there was no one asleep in the Blood Demon army.

  Five minutes later, the second mortar fired lazily.

  Like clockwork, the guns fired up and down the enemies line, the Blood Demon army unable to get even five minutes of rest as the mental fatigue continued to mount.

  Within Vuzgal, people were able to sleep in the prepared residences. As they slept, the soldiers’ bodies continued to be tempered by the concoctions. Instead of being weaker, they were stronger than ever before, their bodies increasing in Strength and Agility.

  This was part of the trade in the Ten Realms; if you could overcome adversity, your Strength would reach a new level.

  ***

  A sleepless night passed for the Blood Demon Sect.

  Ulalas listened to the whistle of a mortar before it landed in no-man’s land and exploded as first light arrived.

  There are two ways to take a city. The first is to attack at long range, take down the defenses of the city and bleed them of resources—Mana stones, water, food—kill as many as possible and then send in forces to clean them up. The second is to get close enough to their walls that their Mana barrier doesn’t cover them and blast them from up close, open up holes and then enter the city and fight it out inside the city. We have no idea of how much power this city can draw on. We have no
information on it at all other than it was supposedly some cursed ground and then what that trader said about there being around one hundred people he had left here to die. This doesn’t look like the work of just a few hundred people.

  “General, it has been confirmed. It appears that there are undead within the city. We were able to spot a group of undead mounted on flying beasts moving low over the city,” a scout commander reported.

  She nodded. The scout commander saluted and left her tent. The other generals all looked at her examining the rough map that the scouts had updated throughout the night with the flying forces able to get some details of the city’s inner layout.

  “Move the siege weaponry into range. Let’s test their Mana barriers and see if we can find weaknesses along their walls. They’re defending a large area. If we can find their blind spots, we can try to force them. Now, we’ll be the ones making them run around to our attacks.” Her orders got noises of agreement from the generals.

  By mid-morning, the army of the Blood Demon Sect was lined up.

  A horn blew and the army marched forward. Their mobile Mana barriers activated as they marched forward. The Elites and Masters remained in the main camp as the soldiers and cannoneer teams moved forward.

  ***

  On the wall opposite, Erik watched as the cannon teams moved forward.

  “If they pass over any of the IEDs, hit them,” Erik told Xi. She and Lucinda had been attached to him to be his helpers and to keep him safe on the battlefield.

  Rugrat had Racquel and Simms assisting him.

  The Blood Demon Sect’s army kept advancing, entering the range of the mortars. They had stored their siege weapons in their storage rings. They walked over what was the Alvan army’s firing range, passing over the scarred landscape from the battling of the Vuzgal undead and the mortar fire.