Act β, Scene 10
Negotiations broke down before they even started.
King Qaydum wanted them gone, but they had nowhere to go. With no options from the beginning, parley was doomed to failure. It would be war.
The army of the 3rd Throne of the Abyss - the Crown of Shehaqim - was camped near the foot of the hills, a few miles away. Their tent city buzzed with activity, soldiers eager to push back the foreign invaders.
Meanwhile, the Khaenri'ahn army camped at the top of the hills, in a very defensive position. If the Shehaqim were to push them, heavy losses were guaranteed, for they had dug hidden trenches, layed caltrops, and fortified the hill with spiked palisades.
Days passed, and the Abyssal army showed no signs of moving, as if they were waiting for something.
Lumine learnt what they were waiting for when the quartermaster came up to her one day, whispered to her.
"We are nearly out of food."
It struck her like a thunderbolt. The Abyssals didn't need to go on the offensive, because the longer they waited, the more the Khaenri'ahns would starve. They had no choice but to attack the Shehaqim, and that meant giving up their advantageous position.
Now they had to go on the offensive, with less men and less morale.
A war council was hastily called, and a decision was quickly made.
After a hearty meal and fitful rest, the army of Khaenri'ah left their defensive position and set themselves up at the foot of the three hills. Seeing this, the Abyssal army followed suit, and arrayed themselves before them.
Lumine wasn't with the army, she was at the top of the central hill. Three flagpoles were raised behind her, meant to give out orders. She surveyed the battlefield.
The army of Shehaqim was double the size of their own, split into three distinct parts. Their right flank consisted of well-armoured soldiers, they seemed to be the best of their army, in perfect discipline. Fully plated in whatever metal the Abyssals used, their tower shields created an intimidating wall of steel. They were stiff and silent, as if golems instead of men.
On their left flank was more of the same. Armoured soldiers in perfect lockstep, armed with rectangular shields and long spears. And just like the right flank, they stood absolutely still, like steel statues. Lumine would call them armoured husks.
In the Abyssal centre, however, were the regulars. They looked like humans, at first glance, but Lumine soon realised that many of them, if not all, had some sort of animal feature. Ears, tails, horns, you name it. They were irregularly armoured, some had full plate, others chainmail, most had to make do with gambesons. There was also no standardised weapon among them, spears, swords, maces, hammers, they were all used. Lumine supposed they were demi-humans.
Then there was King Qaydum himself. He had a small reserve force behind his main army, probably his personal retinue. The king himself sat utop a massive beorn. The size of a mammoth, and just as woolly, but it looked more like a bear than an elephant, despite its great curled tusks. On its back was a small tower, where the king was seated.
It was clear that King Qaydum wanted them to attack his centre with everything they had, as it was his obvious weak point. If Lumine had to guess, he wanted his centre to fall back to allow his more powerful flanks to encircle their army. Of course, that wouldn't be happening.
The Khaenri'ahn army was set up at the foot of the hills. Their left flank was protected by the river, which meant the Abyssals won't be able to flank them from their left. Making good use of this, they had put their recruits and conscripts on their left flank. Very similar to the Shehaqim's own centre, their levies had no standardised equipment. All in all, they were a very bad match-up for the armoured husks lined opposite them.
Their centre was composed of the regular soldiers and dismounted knights of Khaenri'ah. Most of them had full plate, or at the very least scale or chainmail. While they didn't have any standardised equipment, they were well disciplined and familiar with war. A good match-up for the demi-humans opposite them. Dainsleif and his personal retinue was leading the army from the front, to raise morale.
And on their right flank was their trump card - their key to victory. The Undead Legion, and among them the Abyss Watchers. They have fought against the Abyss for two millennia, and had a deep hatred for it. The Legion were their special anti-Abyss troops, and they guaranteed they would cut through even the armoured husks of the Abyss with no trouble. Unlike the rest of the army, the Legion had standardised armour, full black plate, coned full helms, tattered cape, they were an intimidating sight. Each wielded a massive greatsword in one hand, and a long curved dagger in the other. Armed extremely offensively and with a mindset to match, they were a good match for anything the Abyss could throw at them.
Finally, hidden behind the easternmost hill was their cavalry, mostly mounted knights. All of them had full plate, even the horses. They were the best Khaenri'ah had to offer.
Lumine raised her right hand, "Green flags, up!"
Behind her, the attendants raised three green flags. After a moment, the Khaenri'ahn army advanced.
From her position up high, Lumine could see their plan unfolding before her eyes. See, they would never be able to defeat the Abyssals in a straight fight, and as a rule of thumb, the attackers would always take more casualties. So what happens when attackers were already dead?
The Undead Legion, as tireless as they were dead, rushed forwards ahead from the rest of the army. As they ran, a gap began to open up between the Legion and the knights. To plug the gap, the knights on the right side picked up the pace to match the Legion's own. On the left flank, the levies dragged their feet, marching at a slow but steady pace.
The Khaenri'ahn battleline began to tilt. The Undead Legion on the right flank was far in front of the rest of the army, and the levy left flank dragged behind. From her high position, Lumine could see it clearly.
But for the Abyssals? The battlefield was a flat plain, the Abyssals would only see the Khaenri'ahns marching at them in a line, they wouldn't know that their battleline was skewed. And that was the curse of perspective, Lumine thought.
The Undead Legion crashed into the Abyssal left flank with all the grace of a charging bull. Tireless, moraleless, deathless, the Abyss Watchers carved into the shield wall like a knife through butter. There was no battleline as the Watchers swung their greatswords and knives in a dance of death, it was chaos. Chaos the Watchers thrived in, they worked together in flawless tandem, hooking onto the armoured husks with their curved knives and cutting through them with their mighty greatswords.
"Red on the left pole!"
A red flag was raised on the leftmost flagpole, and the Khaenri'ahn left flanks stopped in their tracks.
"Two yellows on the centre pole!"
The knights met the Abyssal centre in a more cautious manner. Unlike on the right where the Watchers ran full speed into the Abyssal lines, the knights met the demi-humans lightly and battle started, neither side pushing the other.
The levies on the left stayed put.
Lumine tapped her finger on her leg, gritting her teeth in anxiousness. The Undead Legion must punch through the Abyssal left before they realise their right flank wasn't engaged in combat yet.
The Abyssal left began to fall back under the onslaught of the Legion, and the Abyssal right began to march forwards. Lumine cursed.
"Black on left and centre, keep the green up on the right!"
The attendants hastily followed her orders, and the Khaenri'ahn left and centre began beating a hasty retreat. Without even a single sword swung, the levies on the left flank began pulling back, and the knights in the centre joined them to ensure there was no gap in the lines.
Seeing this, the demi-humans in the Abyssal centre cheered, thinking the knights were retreating. They rushed forwards, out of their battleline. That was a mistake; the knights fought a fighting retreat, they were well disciplined and didn't break formation as they backpedalled.
On the right flank, the Undead Legion continued pushing forwards. A gap formed between the knights and the Legion. King Qaydum saw this, and deployed all of his reserves into the gap, Lumine predicted his intention was to encircle the Legion and destroy them, before moving on to the rest of the army.
Lumine let him. The King of Shehaqim rode utop his mighty beorn, leading his personal retinue through the break in the Khaenri'ahn lines. He was dressed in resplendent silver armour inlaid with rubies. She guessed it was inlaid with all the enchantments and runes he could afford, and nigh impenetrable. His helmet had an open face and a horsehair plume, and was tucked under his right arm.
Lumine materialised a golden longbow, and drew back its bowstring. An arrow of starlight formed. She held it, aiming directly at the head of the Abyssal king.
…
…
King Qaydum passed through the gap, and was directly in the view of his own troops. Just as he turned his beorn around to face the backs of the Undead Legion, Lumine loosed her arrow.
…
BOOM
As it hit the king, the arrow exploded in a ball of fire. When the smoke cleared, the king was gone, and so was the back of the beorn. It looked as if a great beast had bitten a chunk of flesh out of the back of the beorn. The beast fell to the ground, crushing any unfortunate Abyssal soldiers beneath it.
The effects were immediate. The demi-humans had a front row seat to their king disintegrating in a fireball, and immediately began to waver. The knights saw this, and did a complete 180°, they stopped backstepping and went on the offensive, pushing the demi-humans back with renewed vigour.
That was all it took for the Abyssal centre to break.
"Green on the left and centre, blue on the right. Scry the cavalry, they've got work to do."
The dismounted knights in the centre went on to ignore the fleeing demi-humans and swivelled around to meet the armoured husks on their left. The levies, too, stopped retreating and marched forwards to meet the husks in battle. Far off in the right, the Undead Legion finished slaughtering the Abyssal left, and turned around to flank the husks from behind.
The cavalry hidden behind the hill rushed out, eager to run down the routing demi-humans.
The Abyssal husks attempted to retreat, but it was too late, for the Legion was already behind them. With the levies to the front, the knights to the left, the Legion to the rear and the river to their right, they were completely surrounded. Lumine watched as they laid down their arms in surrender.
Khaenri'ahn cavalry continued to dominate the battlefield, trampling over the fleeing enemy.
Lumine sighed, and dematerialised her bow.
The Battle of Three Hills was over, they had won.
Author's Note:
First battle in the Abyss, might be a bit confusing. So I made a few battle maps to help visualise the battle.
/a/vkQU1Qs
Just put an [imgur dot com] in front of the /a/ and you should be good. It's six images that fully depict the battle.