Still feeling sick, but I still need to get to this battle. Sorry if it doesn't match the expected quality.
Chapter 65 – The Rose-Colored River, Part 1 (Lone Moon)
The Imperial soldiers stationed on the Great Bridge of Myrddin had little to do in the afternoon of the 31st of the Lone Moon. The bulk of the Imperial Army wasn't scheduled to cross the Airmid River for another 10 days, and House Riegan's army was, to their knowledge, many miles away, battling with the 5th and 11th Imperial army groups. For the 1,500 men stationed at the bridge, guard duty was either seen as a relief for tired veterans or, for the newer soldiers, a missed opportunity to get into the fight against the Alliance.
The monotony of afternoon calm was disturbed as the soldiers at the northern end of the bridge suddenly heard hoofbeats. Confused, one of the sentries looked to the nearby roads to see a plume of dust rising from behind a hill.
To the surprise of the sentries, 200 cavaliers led by Ferdinand and Leonie rode out from behind the hill and charged at the bridge. Constance flew close behind them on Syrene.
"Raiders! Sound the alarm!" shouted an Imperial officer.
But even as the sentries began ringing the alarm bell, it was too late for the men on the north side to organize a defense. Within seconds, the first of the Church's cavalry rushed into their position, followed by the cries of Imperial soldiers as the cavaliers began cutting them down.
"Cut them off!" shouted Ferdinand. "Do not allow them to regroup!"
Ferdinand took a moment to thrust his lance into an Imperial archer's chest before he led 30 of his cavaliers forward, attempting to stop any fleeing Imperials from reaching the safety of the large barracks complex halfway along the bridge. To his right, Ferdinand glimpsed the main watchtower. Several Imperials were rushing to their stations at four ballistae mounted in the tower, ready to fire on any attackers that strayed too close.
The heir of House Aegir looked back to his men and shouted, "Keep away from the tower!"
Unfortunately, one of the Church's cavaliers had already gotten too close. Within seconds, the Imperials took aim and fired a ballista bolt at the rider, who howled as he fell to the deadly accurate shot.
Ferdinand cursed under his breath. He only had so many men to work with, and each one lost would diminish the strength of his unit. He turned his attention back to the fight, hurling a javelin at a fleeing soldier and hitting him through his back. Next to his victim, another Imperial perished as an arrow from Leonie hit him in the head.
"Never knew what hit him," Leonie remarked.
"Keep them from retreating!" Ferdinand shouted to Constance.
"I shall do what little I can," the blonde said gloomily as she readied a Fimbulvetr spell.
Seeing her, one of the Imperial archers tried to take aim at Constance, only to be cut down by one of the Church cavaliers. With no further interruption, Constance released her spell, sending a wall of ice into the path of the Imperials. Though it could not completely block their escape route, it limited where they could go, with some crashing headlong into the magical glacier.
The carnage continued as the Church's cavalry inflicted heavy losses on the Imperials, who had been caught completely off guard. Toward the south, officers began rallying their men to defensive positions, but none made a move to counterattack.
Ferdinand was surprised that none of the Imperials past the barracks were moving to attack. If there was any time they could stop the Church's push, it would be now, before the infantry and siege engineers arrived. He mused that they had probably been instructed to wait for orders from Acheron, who was either hesitant or overconfident.
Leonie fired another arrow and hit an Imperial in his leg, sending him to the ground. Another Imperial soldier tried to help his comrade, only to be cut down by Leonie's cavalry archers. The soldier she'd shot in the leg soon followed his comrade in death as another arrow hit him in the chest.
As the cavalry continued their assault, another plume of dust came from behind the hill near the north end of the bridge. Seconds later, over 2,000 infantrymen came rushing toward the bridge, with Byleth running well ahead of the formation. Sheer adrenaline allowed the Archbishop to sprint across the open ground in mere seconds as she joined the fray.
Byleth immediately saw one cavalier who had been knocked down from his horse and struggling to defend against an Imperial axe fighter. Byleth rushed in and, just as the fighter realized she was coming, she slashed the man in two through his waist.
"Many thanks, Lady Eisner!" said the rescued soldier.
Byleth did not reply to the man as she dashed off toward another pair of Imperials who had stood their ground. One turned and tried to slash at her with his blade, but Byleth easily avoided the strike and cut the soldier down. His comrade, startled by Byleth's speed, barely moved an inch before she met the same fate.
An arrow glanced off the ground near Byleth. She looked up to see an Imperial with a crossbow cursing at having missed her. She readied a quick Thunder spell and, before the Imperial could reload, blasted him off the wooden tower he stood upon.
Then, looking to her comrades, Byleth shouted quickly, "Constance, on your right!"
The warning came just in time, as Constance turned and saw an archer lining up a shot on her. The blonde pulled back on Syrene's reins and narrowly avoided taking an arrow to her waist. The sorceress readied a fireball and sent it back at the archer, who failed to avoid the shot.
"I mourn your ignoble death," Constance said dolefully.
Relieved that Constance was alright, Byleth turned back to the battle. Already, the cavalry had taken out nearly 150 Imperials who had been on the north end of the bridge, though several had managed to escape to the barracks. It was better than she had hoped for.
Seeing there were barely any stragglers left, Byleth shouted, "Reform the line! Reform the line!"
Ferdinand and Leonie broke off their pursuit of any Imperial stragglers, though Leonie took a moment to shoot down one more as she rode back toward the Church's infantry.
Byleth turned around and said, "Get them set up, quickly!"
"Alright everyone, you heard the lady!" shouted Raphael as he grabbed a heavy piece to one of the Onagers.
Turning back to Ferdinand, Byleth asked, "How many do you still have?"
"Our casualties were light," said Ferdinand. "No more than fifteen lost, I believe."
"Huh, for once, you do something right, Ferdie," said Dorothea.
"This is hardly the time for sarcasm, Dorothea."
Dorothea decided not to continue harassing Ferdinand as Byleth continued giving orders.
"Get into position near the barracks and be ready to move in!" Byleth shouted to Felix and Catherine.
"On our way!" said Catherine as she and Felix led 200 men into position.
"Brigitte, Alois, set up on the right side!" Byleth commanded. "Be ready in case the Empire launches a counterattack."
"You've got it, Prof!" said Brigitte as she and Alois led 400 men to set up a shield wall just outside the range of the main watchtower.
Byleth was about to give more orders when Anna rushed up to her and said, "Acheron's taking his sweet time, don't you think?"
Byleth nodded to this.
"I say let him," said Yuri. "No point in interrupting him when he's making a mistake, right?"
Smiling, Byleth said, "Absolutely."
…
Acheron was surprised to see such a large army had taken the north side of the bridge.
"How did they manage to get this close?!" Acheron ranted.
None of the men near Acheron answered, not wanting to point out his failure to approve more patrols. They knew he would just blame someone else for it.
"Well, no matter," Acheron said haughtily. "They'll have no way to get past the main tower."
Acheron looked at the watchtower as he said this, which had raised a nearby drawbridge to prevent the Church's soldiers from reaching it on foot. And with what few Pegasi Acheron could see with the Church, he knew they didn't have nearly enough to take the tower by air.
"Lord Acheron, we should launch a counterattack as soon as possible," said one of the Imperial officers.
"Do I need to remind you who is in charge?" Acheron sneered. "We will reassemble our line and launch our attack once Lorenz's forces arrive. We'll crush them in one fell swoop!"
"But sir–"
"Do as I have ordered, or I'll have you demoted to Private, Major!"
The Imperial officer grumbled in disagreement, "Yes, sir."
"Lord Acheron, the Church brought siege weapons," said another officer.
"That hardly matters," said Acheron. "Our ballistae in the tower outrange anything the Church might have. Fire on them as soon as they're close enough."
The Imperials again chose silence, knowing they could not convince the Weathervane to heed their advice.
…
At the stable, Fleche saw the other Imperial Pegasus Knights rushing to their mounts and taking off, intent on defending the bridge. Seeing her own Pegasus, Fleche made for it before a hand grabbed her by the shoulder.
Knowing who it was, Fleche turned and said, "Flight Captain–"
"I know what you're thinking, Fleche," said the squadron leader. "But you need to remain here. You are not ready for battle."
"But I must go, Captain! Those are the dogs who killed my brother! I have to avenge him!"
"You will remain here, Cadet. That is an order. Corporal, take her back to her room."
"Yes, ma'am!" said one of the Pegasus Knights.
"Wait, Captain! Please, you can't deny me this chance!" Fleche protested.
The young girl's words fell on deaf ears as the Corporal took her by the arm and led her away from the stalls.
…
"All set!" Raphael shouted as he and the other engineers finished putting together two Onagers and four Ballistae.
"Set the Ballistae up to support our front line," said Byleth as she pointed out positions. As the engineers moved them into position, she said, "Get the two Onagers to take out the watchtower."
"I'm on it, Professor," said Ignatz. He then pointed to an area and said, "Set them up there. Don't get into the tower's range."
As the engineers moved to the designated spot, Bernadetta asked, "Whoa, hold on a second. Isn't that too far away?"
"I don't think you're gonna be able to hit it from there, Ignatz," said Annette. "And even if you did, it'll barely do anything from that far away."
"Don't worry," said Ignatz. "We'll make the shot."
The others did not share Ignatz's confidence as his men moved the Onagers into position some 200 meters away from the watchtower. This was outside the watchtower's range, but a normal Onager was only accurate to about 150 meters, while the tower's weaponry could hit at about 180 meters thanks to its specialized ballistae and trained engineers.
"Careful with those shells," said Ignatz as he turned to some engineers as they lifted heavy iron balls up to the Onagers. Each shell had a wick coming out of it.
After loading the shells, the engineers began making their adjustments, taking aim at the tower. As they did, they were startled when one of the watchtower's ballistae fired, sending a shower of projectiles at them. But the attack fell short of their position and skidded across the surface of the bridge, with one bolt colliding harmlessly with Ignatz's boot, having lost its kinetic energy.
"Steady, steady," said Ignatz as he made final adjustments to the trajectory. "Light them."
With a torch, two of the engineers lit the wicks on the projectiles Ignatz had loaded.
"And… FIRE!"
The engineers swung their blades at the ropes of the Onagers, allowing torsion to swing their wooden arms forward. The iron balls soared through the air at surprising speed, and the Imperials in the watchtower panicked as the projectiles came toward them. One ball landed right inside the open section of the tower, smashing one ballista to pieces. The second hit the wall, knocking loose several bricks before falling to the ground at the base of the tower.
Then, seconds later, the Church Army was surprised as two explosions erupted from the tower.
The one within the tower did the most damage, sending fragments of wood and stone flying everywhere and starting a fire within the structure. The one at its base did far less, but still damaged the corner of the tower and set a few nearby barrels ablaze.
"Whoa, nice shot," Caspar said as the Church soldiers began cheering at the sight.
Laughing, Raphael said, "That's my little buddy! He's been itching to try out those shells for a while!"
"Raphael, you make it sound like I wanted to blow up this historical monument," Ignatz replied.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" said Brigitte. "Hit 'em again!"
…
South of the bridge, Lorenz looked on in awe as two explosions burst forth from the main watchtower of the Great Bridge of Myrddin. He couldn't see what had caused the blast, but he knew the situation had to be dire if an army was about to push in on the bridge.
Looking through his spyglass, Lorenz caught sight of the Crest of Flames emblem on the flag the attackers were flying. Knowing it could only refer to one person, he peered through the crowd in his attempts to find her.
He soon saw Byleth as she continued to give orders to her men.
"So, the rumors are true," said Lorenz as he put away his spyglass.
"What are your orders, Lord Lorenz?" said a House Gloucester cavalier.
"We commit ourselves to the fray. Follow me, men!"
Lorenz whipped the reins of his horse and led his force of 100 cavaliers toward the bridge, knowing he would have many enemies in the battle to come.
Already off to a good start, I hope.
Writing this while I'm still sick was taxing, but I didn't want to risk going on a long hiatus due to losing motivation. Gonna have to phone my doctor tomorrow if my illness continues.
Just to note, the Onager range I used is longer than what medieval armies could achieve with them in real life. 130 meters was the maximum effective range in most cases for torsion catapults; any further would either be inaccurate or would have little remaining kinetic energy to do damage. Of course, since this is fantasy, I feel I can make them have a bit more range.
I'll try to get out another chapter for Monday, but if my sickness persists, I may be forced to postpone to next Friday again. It'll depend on how I feel.
