The Foolhardies 186 Fort Courageous

A single go-ahead from Garm's second-in-command, Llewellyn, was all we got that very same night, and as the red dawn rose peeked over the horizon, the aptly named Operation Sun Eater proceeded.  

The wind whipped against my face and pulled my hair back as I sat at the very back of our glider and looked out at Sol for the second time in my life.

I'd been wearing the fairy ring that kept me in the Fayne even during the day so that we could begin our mission as quickly as possible. Speed was the key and waiting for the next night would have been too late.

Luckily, Ty and I had planned ahead. He would go back to Mudgard and cover for me during the day as we discussed and tell aunt Lena I was sleeping over at his place for the weekend. Arah would help him out so I wasn't worried they'd get caught in the lie.

"Commander, we're nearing Point Bravo," Azuma reported.

I glanced toward him and then at the Immortals riding the same sand glider I was in. Their faces showed only determination. It was a rea.s.suring sight considering what we were planning to do.

"Glad you decided to hang out during the day," I said.

"You ordered me to stay," he said, chuckling lightly right before his face turned serious. "Don't get used to being here in the day, Dean… don't lose sight of where you're from."

I shook my head. "You worry too much, old man… Don't worry, I won't forget…"

We reached Point Bravo in record time thanks to Sora and his fellow sylphs guiding us through the wind corridor that crossed through this stretch of desert like winding rivers.

Point Bravo, that's what we called the first of two oases mine and Al's units were in charge of on the southwest edge of the battlefield. Incidentally, it was also closest to the enemy army's right wing.

Lucky for us, it was another hill-sized sand dune with an oasis at its peak. We Foolhardies were very used to hills by now. One could even say conquering and defending one had become our specialty.

A hundred and fifty soldiers landed here under my command so we could secure this oasis before the enemy did. We would most likely be successful as I deduced that the Sunspire's forces would prioritize oases that were further to the center of the giant battlefield.

While I ordered the men to move our equipment to the bottom of the hill, I gazed toward the lead glider of the group that continued onward to Point Alpha.

Al Sheridan was at its helm. He had the pinky side of his fist tapping his chest in the usual fairy salute.

I returned his salute while mouthing, "Good luck," to him. He would need it.

Al had a hundred soldiers with him. They were nowhere near enough to engage the enemy for a long period. That was okay because we only needed them to cause a distraction. Their job was to tie the enemy's advance forces down at Point Alpha while we secured Point Bravo.

The determined faces of the fairy and human soldiers under his command told me they knew they might not be coming back and that they were more than ready to give their lives to see the plan succeed.

"Don't worry about them… they'll be able to escape when their task is done. Not like us," Azuma pointed out.

"Yeah," I said, sighing. "We always get the difficult parts, don't we?"

"You always want the difficult parts, Commander," he reminded me. "This is your plan, remember."

That was true and I guessed that it was because I couldn't trust anyone else to handle the difficult parts. Call it pride, but it always had to be me managing the challenging stuff.

I looked over at Sora, the very young sylph who was leading the glider team and ordered him to head back to the oasis valley as quickly as possible to pick up the next group of soldiers. While he and his team prepared to leave, I turned my attention to my soldiers and ordered them to begin the climb.

Although the sand dune's southern slope was steeper than I would have liked, the summit wasn't terribly high up, and so we managed to climb to the oasis within the hour of our arrival.

The oasis itself was nothing impressive, just a single watering hole surrounded by a few desert firs. But it was wide enough that a hundred men could stand around it without problems.

"Set up here, boys," Azuma ordered.

As we'd completed objective number one without a hitch — reaching the oasis before the enemy did — it was time to continue with our second objective, fortification.

I was nowhere near as good as Garm when it came to fortifying a fairy fort. In fact, you could say my fort-building grades were downright abysmal. It was another reason why I brought Azuma. He was the best among my officers apart from Varda at building proper defenses.

While Azuma managed the Immortals, I sat down by the pool of water.

"Oh, great fool, let me see the unseen that I might know the unknowable," I whispered and activated Fool's Insight's tactical-view ability.

With my bird's eye view, I had a good understanding of our oasis and its nearby surroundings, which at this moment, was nearly surrounded by a great line of ants close to its northern slope. Well, they looked like ants from up high.

The Dominion soldiers cut several long lines across the stretch of desert directly north of us clueless that their enemy was already right on top of them.

Luckily, they were far enough from our oasis that we had some room to breathe in.

Still, seeing those thousands marching toward the center of the battlefield was a sight that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. We were certainly in for a rough time.

"Azuma, better hurry up… Fort Courageous is about to have company," I explained.

I was referring to the small group of enemy soldiers that had just split off from the enemy line. They were slowly making their way south to Point Bravo's oasis. Not a significant number, perhaps a hundred or less. Still, if they caught us unprepared these enemies could signal their fellows and then we'd be in deep s.h.i.+t.

"Interesting name you've made up," Azuma noted.

"I try my best," I responded casually.

"Want us to take them out with arrows?" Azuma asked.

From what I could see, Azuma and his men were already done placing barricades near the northern edge of the oasis. Ideally, we would have more time to place barricades on the slope too.

"Better to set up the barricades on the slopes now while they're still far away," I reasoned. "I want the trenches dug as quickly as possible too… it won't be long before they notice us…"

I felt Azuma's hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll get it done in time. We brought all our dwarven craftsmen for this exact purpose."

"Hurry," I insisted.

While Azuma and his men continued the work, I sent my sight even higher in order to cover a much wider view of the southwest battlegrounds, but even with my power evolving to new heights, Point Alpha was still out of range.

I could only hope that Al Sheridan had managed to reach it safely and was now beginning to engage the enemy.

Half an hour later, I heard the flapping of fairy wings and knew one of the sprites had arrived with a report.

"Fila?" I guessed. I'd been expecting him first, after all.

"Yes, sir!" he said excitedly. "I've got a report from lieutenant Dapper, sir!"

"Go," I said.

"Dean," I heard Luca's voice come out of Fila's mouth, "The cavalry's reached the midway point. Xanthor and I are proceeding toward the southwest from here as planned. If all goes well, we should get to you within two hours."

"Too long…" I whispered. "Fila!"

"Yes, sir?" he asked.

"Send this message back to Luca ASAP," I ordered. "Message follows — too slow! The enemy will notice us long before then. So you need to get here now… ride like the wind, Luca… Message ends."

Five seconds later, Fila said, "I've memorized it, Commander."

"Good… go!" I ordered.

I heard the flapping of fairy wings and knew Fila had taken flight.

In the time it took me to hear Luca's message, the enemy unit that was on its way to Point Bravo was by the bottom of the hill now. Thankfully, Azuma and his men were well on their way to finis.h.i.+ng fortifications on the upper half of the northern slope.

Our barricades were made of desert fir which had a similar color to the white sand of the desert. This made them incredibly difficult to see from a distance. My men were equally decked in white cloaks over their dark blue armor, making them just as difficult to spot from afar.

Still, that didn't mean the enemy wouldn't be able to see us. It just took more time for them to notice. And when they did, boy were they in a hurry to climb.

"Azuma… we've got company," I called.