Chapter 45
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
One day after Elraven vs Leonid at Payon. Somewhere near the border of Payon Forest and Sograt Desert………
The Sagramore soldiers formed a strongholds line up, giving an impression they are trying to protect the entire border between the desert and the forest while waiting for Phelegethon guild to make their entrance. Fiorentin, Felicia, and Frea are trying to take a closer look on the desert, trying to find out whether something could be useful for their upcoming war, simply because they are outnumbered by their enemies so they need to make their own advantage.
Fiorentin rode on a peco while Frea was riding with Felicia using Salvador. Felicia is in the driver seat of course. They encountered some of the short hills in the desert. "Well, we've been looking all over the desert for an hour but it seems we couldn't find anything to gain ourselves an advantage" Felicia sweating from the heat.
"Not really. These short hills could gain us some advantage" Fiorentin disagreed.
"Really? How?" Frea tried to join the conversation, even though she couldn't see what was the desert looked like, at all.
"Have you guys ever heard about a quicksand?" Fiorentin opened her explanation with a question. "Yes" Felicia answered but Frea didn't seem to understand. "No. Maybe because there was no desert at Rachel or Arunfeltz to that matter" The soul linker honestly answered.
Fiorentin and Felicia looked at each other before the lord knight explained, "Well, Quicksand is a non-newtonian fluid, when undisturbed it often appears to be solid, but a minor (less than 1%) change in the stress on the quicksand will cause a sudden decrease in its viscosity. Someone stepping in it will start to sink. Water circulation underground can focus in an area with just the right mixture of fine sands and other materials such as clay. The water moves up and then down slowly in a convection-like manner throughout a column of sand under optimal conditions, and the sand remains a generally solid mass. This lubricates the sand particles and renders them unable to support any significant weight, since they move around with very little friction, behaving more like a liquid when exposed to stress. Since the water does not usually go all the way up through the sand, the sand above does not appear to move at all, and can support leaves and other small debris, making quicksand difficult to distinguish from the surrounding environment".
"So, are you trying to say you want to find these quick sands to sink the Valdomirs?" Frea wanted to ensure the goal of the long explanation. Fiorentin answered by swaying her hand.
"Not quite. What I want to do is making a long line of quicksand as a barrier for us. So, Phelegethon guild will lose at least one fourth of their soldiers, giving us a bigger advantage. Although there's possibility they'll get through it by forcing and sacrifing some of their soldiers, we already outnumbered them. How does that sound?" Fiorentin's respond made Felicia and Frea fell quite.
"Well, that's clever, Fio. But we need to find a long line of water inside this desert if we want to do that. How are you going to find the water line?" The paladin asked with a confused face.
"Easy. That's why I asked Frea to come with us" Fiorentin turned her look to the white haired soul linker.
"Me, princess?".
"Yes! You! You can feel soul presences, right? Didn't I tell you quicksand must have a water line inside it? Which is the main reason quick sand couldn't support its above? Having a water line means having a form of life in the water. Either it is plankton or a little fish. If you could feel the soul presence of those little forms of life, you should be able to figure out where is the water line and to where the water line is streaming, right?" Fiorentin confidently answered, much to the awe of Frea. Felicia however, had gotten used to her cleverness. Well, she had known her for her whole live anyway.
"OK. I think I can do that. I'll just use this staff as my medium then!" Frea put her Mighty Staff on the desert, close her eyes and start finding the water line inside the desert. The other two ladies looked at her carefully, trying to find out how feeling the soul presence really works.
"Found it! The water line is down there under the hill in the middle! The water is streaming right to the left side of the desert!! Making a snake like pattern" Frea cheerfully proclaimed her founding, much to the gratefulness of Fiorentin and Felicia.
"Great! All we have to do now is finding an opening to get to the water line and fill it with waters as much as possible, making it even quicker to sink the Valdomirs!!" Fiorentin happily exclaimed.
"How do we add more waters to it?" Frea asked again. This time Felicia was the one who took the job of answering, "Using your Estun and Esma with the water element, I believe. Your power alone is more than enough to fill the whole water line and change it as our weapon. That's the second reason why we brought you here".
Frea narrowed her eyes at first, but seem to understand and smiles, "OK. I'll do the deeds".
The soul linker puts her Mighty staff at the desert again and starts chanting, "Calm wind, fire. Estun" A red light start to glow as Frea continued her chants as the light forming a double glowing red wheel. "Esma!" She hits the red wheels and exploded the hill in the middle of the desert, leaving its water line open that people could see it clearly.
"Now, calm wind, water. Estun" Frea chants another glowing wheels, this time it's a blue colored wheels. "Esma!" The soul linker hits the blue wheels to the river as the river nearly exploded. The Esma managed to fill more water to the water line and makes its streams even much more dangerous for whoever steps on it.
Fiorentin and Felicia whispered one another seeing Frea in action.
"She's a monster, Felicia".
"El's a monster too. We have a monster couple here, Fio".
The rest of their day was filled with filling the hole Frea made with her Esma with more sands so the Valdomir wouldn't notice their trap.
Later that night……
The three girls decided to make a little tent and sleep not far from the quicksand traps were set up. They prepared a butterfly wings in case Valdomir appears and attacks them. After having their dinner, Felicia went to sleep in the tent. Frea and Fiorentin sat on the desert, watching a bon fire as the night goes darker and darker.
Frea and Fiorentin sat quietly as they stare towards the bonfire. "Hey, Frea" Fiorentin slowly said, breaking the calmness presence in the dark night.
"Yes, princess?" Frea politely responded.
"Mind for a chat?" Fiorentin stared at the soul linker. Although Frea couldn't see the former princess, Frea could feel someone is staring at her. It seems that she wants some explanation about some matters.
"Feel free to ask anything, princess" Frea replied as Fiorentin gave a small smile.
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I was planning to have the war in this chapter, but I realized you can't just throw a war without having a proper build up. So, I used this chapter and the next chapter to build up the story. Thank u for reading, see u next chap!!!