Chapter 63
The Battle of Gortorian Forest
Silver the Hedgehog surveyed the thicket from atop the bough of a tall tree. From his vantage point he could see the narrow lanes crossing between the dense interwoven net of bramble. At their widest points, the lanes were just a few feet across. Just enough room for a sentinel.
The thicket was enclosed within a bowl creating a perfect arena for the battle to come. Across the field, Silver could almost imagine the imperial hosts pouring through the trees. Neither side would see the other until they were in range to fire. The battle would hinge on the rebels' ability to make a decisive surge up the hill and break the imperial line. Only then could they escape deeper into the forest.
Silver exhaled slowly. He could feel his scouts shifting quietly beside him. Ordinarily, they were as silent as ghosts, but the anticipation of battle had them agitated. Silver felt the same. His heart was pounding off rhythm inside his chest.
"Silver, they are almost here." Gawain's voice echoed out of Silver's comm. "Solaris…there are thousands of them." Silver looked up towards the tree adjacent to his own. He could just make out the form of Gawain and his Sniper Core standing at the highest branches.
"Just sentinels?" Rayne asked. The echidna warrior did not sound intimidated. He and his ground troops were gathered at the forest floor. Rayne had organized his men in three groups. Each would attempt to hold a line and force a crossing through the thicket. His was the most dangerous and important of the missions. The entire group of civilian rebels lay behind him and counted on him punching a safe hole through the battlefield.
It should be me. Silver thought darky. The Knight of the Mountain was immensely strong, but he did not have the powers that Silver did. No one in the rebel army matched Silver in terms of power (except for Arthur) yet he was always regulated to the side because of his age.
Silver took another deep breath to clear his mind. Focus on the mission. Nothing else matters. He turned back to his scouts. They all looked to him with forced expressions of grim determination. However, Silver could feel the fear radiating off of them. "They are almost here." Silver started, his tone forcibly neutral. "Gawain's snipers will start the battle and try to funnel them into the center of the thicket. Our job is to ensure that Rayne's lines don't get surrounded. Keep moving and make sure nothing gets outside of you. Force everything back to the center. The sentinels will have trouble aiming with all the trees. If imperial gunners take to the trees make them your priority. When Gawain gives the signal we charge forward and when we do there is no going back."
His scout core was full of young thirteens. Barely a third of them had any previous military experience. They had earned their stripes on scouting missions but a full on battle was a completely different animal. Silver could tell many of them were thinking the same thing. Before he could try and instill some more confidence in them, the quiet of the night was broken.
It started as a low rumble but in seconds it turned into the unmistakable tumult of a marching army. Silver felt a cold rush run down his spine. When the silence broke it shattered into pieces. The night was suddenly alive with the roaring of distant engines and the humming of sentinels. "What if we don't break through?" Dez, a young fox rebel, was staring across the field, his expression frozen in white fear.
"We will." Silver insisted. "All the Knights Royal are here, we will win this."
Dez gulped. "I…we-"
"We will survive." Arthur landed in the bough beside Silver. The rebel commander had been surveying the battlefield from the highest branch. His presence immediately changed the temperature of the group. "Our knights are the finest warriors in Arvana. This plan can work. It is up to us to believe it can."
"Yes.." Dez steadied himself and nodded.
Silver hopped to the next branch. "I should be down there with Rayne. He will need my help to hold the line." He whispered to Arthur.
"No. I need you up here. Your troops may break without you leading them. Trust Rayne, he has never let me down before."
"Neither have I." Silver hissed. He dropped his voice even more. "Blaze, please, let me do this. You know I can."
"I have given my orders. I expect you to follow them. I have put what I value most in your hands-" Arthur paused. There was a fantastic flash of pink light in the sky. It hovered over the trees far to the east of their position.
"Was that a Sol Gem?" Silver asked.
"Sonic…" Arthur jolted upright. "He must be fighting Zero."
"That should help us if the Jackal Squadron is out of the fight."
"Yes…" Arthur trailed off, but a few moments later there was another flash of pink light. "Something's wrong…I…I should go after him."
Silver seized Blaze by the arm. "You can't be serious. We need you here."
"I can't just leave Sonic to die."
"Why not? He's not one of us. It was his choice to fight Zero all alone."
Blaze pulled herself free from Silver's grip. "It's not right. He shouldn't have to die for us."
"Stop-" Before he could stop her, Blaze lept from the tree. She was gone a moment later, and Silver lost track of her in the trees.
"Where is he going?" Dez exclaimed.
"Nowhere, he'll be right back." However, Silver did not sound very convincing. His scouts all turned to one another and visibly shuddered when a blaster bolt pierced the sky. BANG! The blue bolt of energy descended from Gawain's tree and struck something at the far edge of the thicket.
"It's starting. Everyone get ready!" Silver could not control how childish his voice sounded. Now that the moment had come, he could feel the adrenaline surge into his veins. BANG! BANG! A shower of blaster bolts erupted out of Gawain's tree. The sniper core was firing freely now. After a few moments, Silver finally saw the targets. Five lines of sentinels were zooming into the thicket. Their red eyes twisted and turned searching for targets.
Dozens were destroyed by the sniper fire, but that did not even slow them down. Hundreds of machines clogged the lanes between the trees within minutes. Silver waited until they were halfway across before giving the order. "Now!" He bounded from tree to tree, his scouts close behind him. As soon as the sentinels were in range, his scouts opened fire. "Go!" He waved and half his group split to the left while he led the rest to the right.
"Take this!" Silver dived from one of the trees and crushed a sentinel. Before the rest could open fire at him, Silver unleashed his psychokinetic power. By encasing the destroyed sentinel in energy, Silver could lift the machine up with his mind and use it as a shield. Silver extended his hand, firing the broken sentinel forward at the speed of a bullet and the force of a charging bull. A dozen sentinels shattered before the momentum was halted.
Silver did not wait around to witness the carnage. He leapt back into the trees and surveyed the battle. Red blaster bolts were now being fired at Gawain and his snipers. Imperial gunners had joined the battle. They were conspicuous in the forest with their red armor and capes, unlike the rebels who hid themselves in gray.
There was nothing Silver could do for Gawain. He reverted his attention to his task and flanked outward, ensuring that none of the sentinels could fan out beyond the thicket. DROOoooooooom! An imperial war horn sounded and Silver heard the howl of wolves. It was matched by the blowing of a trumpet, the war call of Soleanna.
Silver found some more sentinels trying to weave around the battlefield. They fired at him, but it was easy to find cover in the trees. The blaster fire destroyed the trunks and the wood caught fire. However, that only gave Silver a better weapon. He encased one burning trees in energy and ripped it out of the ground. Silver proceeded to swing it like a giant club, smashing dozens of sentinels.
His scouts were at his back, firing their blasters and weaving through the trees. Silver took a second to look up and saw that the imperial ground troops had met Rayne's forces in the middle of the thicket. From what he could tell, Rayne's shield walls were holding up. If we can hold the flanks and whittle down their numbers enough…we could do this. Invigorated, Silver redoubled his efforts at hemming the sentinels towards the center of the thicket.
"We can do this!" Dez exclaimed after skillfully destroying a sentinel by shooting it directly in the eye. "We can-" A red bolt caught Dez in the chest. The young fox stumbled for a second before falling backward out of a tree.
"Take cover!" Silver yelled as he raised up a few sentinels to serve as shields. Beyond his cover, he could see a squadron of imperial gunners leaping from tree to tree. The imperial army always favored canine warriors as they were normally very agile and ferocious. Silver decided to put that to the test by charging directly at them. One imperial wolf pounced at Silver forcing him to roll to his left.
The wolf drew a short sword and tried a stab which Silver evaded. "Nice sword!" Silver encased the blade in green energy and pulled it out of the wolf's grip. The imperial could only let out a whimper as Silver turned the tip around and embedded it in the wolf's chest.
"Demon!" The other imperial gunners had paused, clearly uneasy about what they had just seen. "You're a blight upon this planet." Snarled the captain. He was a grizzled fox with a badly scarred snout. "You must be destroyed for the good of the empire."
Silver spun the controlled blade around himself in rapidly repeating spirals and smirked. "Go for it"
They all drew their guns, but Silver was faster. He cut the branch they stood on causing them all to spill onto the ground. Silver laughed. Was this really the best the empire could do?
FLASH! Pink light streaked into Silver's eyes nearly causing him to fall backward. Before he could figure out what had happened there was a colossal roar. BOOOM! Cries followed the sound and Silver did not need to guess as to why. A huge wall of fire rocketed into the night sky just at the edge of the thicket.
The blaze was so hot it singed Silver's face. A second later there was a second then a third BOOM! BOOM! More fires erupted all over the forest. "NO!" Gawain's voice screamed out of the comm before dying in static.
"Gawain!" Silver yelled. He looked up to see the tree the sniper core had been in was now on fire. Silver tried get a better view. Walls of fire completely blocked one side of the bowl. The imperial forces had pushed into the center and had seemingly broken two of Rayne's lines. Silver did his best not to panic. He made himself study the battlefield and think of what to do. His scouts had held the perimeter. All they needed to do was break the imperial line and they could escape. The fires would even help them as long as-
BOOM! BOOM! The explosions made the ground shake. Fires ignited in the distance and on the previously free side of the bowl. No…The empire had known what they were trying to do and ensured that there would be no escape. The fires had them trapped on both sides and in front, trapping both armies in the flames. Engaging the rebels in the thicket had only been a diversion, a suicidal trap by the imperials.
All the fighting except for in the center of the thicket came to a pause. It seemed that everyone was slowly realizing what was happening. The only way out will be back. Silver turned around. The rebel civilians were all clustered in the relative safety behind Rayne's line. They were now squarely in the way of the only means of escape.
The brilliance of the strategy was matched only by its cruelty. The flame walls trapped both armies, preventing the rebels from clustering together and punching a hole. Once the flames got closer, imperial and rebel alike would come storming out of the one free way out of the thicket, directing them right at the civilians. There were far too many elderly, children and wounded for the civilians to make a retreat. The battle would have to be fought until the last soldier.
Understanding dawned over the battlefield. There was a cry below and the imperials surged unreservedly into the thicket. Silver was frozen. He did not know what to do. Their plan was useless now, there was nothing…nothing…
A great ball of fire soared through the air. Silver watched it reach the apex of its arc and then fall slowly into the center of thicket. The woods exploded. Silver was flung backward by the force of the blast and just managed to cling to one of the branches. He gasped as he saw a half dozen more comets soaring into the night. Silver closed his eyes. It was over.
He felt a lash of air strike his face, but there was no fire. "IT'S ARTHUR!" Silver heard the call all over the thicket. Silver opened his eyes and looked out. Arthur stood in the center of the battlefield.. The first fireball had decimated the center of thicket, leaving nothing but a charred ruin. Blaze stood amongst the smoke with her hand raised up. As the fireballs came raining down, they exploded in the air high above the trees.
"She's giving us a chance!" Gawain cried over the comm.
Silver pulled himself up and raced towards Blaze. The battle raged around them but it appeared none of the imperials wanted to get too close to Arthur. As he approached, Silver noticed that Blaze's helmet was severely dented. Gawain arrived a few seconds later with half his sniper core behind him.
"Commander!" Gawain shouted. "What do we do? We can't punch forward with the fires-"
"Leave them to me." Sonic appeared at Arthur's side. He was nursing fresh bruises all over his body. "I'll put out your fires."
Silver ignored him and marched towards Blaze. "Can't you open a way?"
"Not while I'm holding off these fireballs. Sonic, put out the fires. Gawain order the charge now. Silver, lead the vanguard. We won't get another chance" Again and again, Blaze caused the barrage of fireballs to explode harmlessly in the air.
Sonic smiled feebly and started to limp away. Silver doubted there was anything the stranger could do and was shocked when Sonic suddenly started running. He won't be able to stop the fires. If we charge now it will be a suicide run. Gawain seemed to be thinking the same thing. He stood by Blaze, not moving. "Gawain, do as I say. Trust Sonic, he will put out the fires."
"And what about you?" Silver demanded.
"I'll be fine. When you break through I'll escape. Trust me, this is the only way."
Gawain nodded and tapped his comm device. "This is it, everyone ready to charge on my signal. We punch through the center and keep moving south."
Silver knew it was pointless to argue. He turned and raced back towards the most congested point of the fighting. Rayne's forces were locked in close quarters fighting with the imperials who were doing their best to escape the fireballs. Three blaster shots erupted into the sky and Silver knew it was the time to charge.
"On me!" Silver broke into the front line and encased two shields in energy. He held them in front of himself and pressed forward. The imperials drew back slowly. Silver did not have to worry about maintaining the flanks anymore. All the imperials who fled to the side were not hoping to encircle the rebels anymore, only to escape from the fires.
After a few minutes, Silver was able to pierce the imperial line and start to ascend out of the far side of the bowl. The fires were close by and still raging worse than ever. Come on Sonic…They climbed out of the bowl, but could go no further. The fire was spreading from tree to tree encasing them in a burning trap.
Silver heard the cries of the civilians behind him. Again, Silver felt the cold hand of doom squeeze his heart. This was a horrible way to lose. The empire had stolen everything away from him, even his right to die fighting. Suddenly, there was a blue blur behind the curtain of fire. At first, Silver thought Sonic was escaping deeper into the forest but then he saw that the hedgehog was running around the fire at high speed.
There was a faint pop as Sonic eclipsed the sound barrier. The air started to spiral in great gusts and Silver felt the ground itself start to shake. Again and again Sonic circled the fire until he was not even perceptible to Silver's sight. A great cyclone of air entombed the flames, causing them to rise into the air and dissipate. Slowly at first, but then all at once, the fires were extinguished.
"Go!" Silver led the charge forward and felt the great stampede of his fellow countrymen behind him. They had escaped.