The Foolhardies 211 Tactics

"It's the only way I can see us remotely winning this battle," I answered. "Even with our superior numbers, we're still up against a great general. He's at least worth a thousand warriors on his own…"

A memory flashed in my mind, Darah and Spellweaver in a deathmatch that wrecked the area around them. 

"Besides, we've already received word that Garm's received a thousand reinforcements from the Scarlet Moon… He now has five-thousand troops and if we drag this battle out more enemies might arrive," I added. "No, this is our best way to win."

"Because for our side victory lies in the escape," Arah agreed. "At least, that's what we want Great General Garm to think."

"Yeah, that'll mean he'll want to chase after us even if we make it obvious that we're heading into the gorge," I said.

"That's where we'll take them on," Arah added. "It'll be a race against time to see if we can make our opponents retreat before they receive more reinforcements."

"Well, aren't you two in sync," Liu Xiang noted. He dropped the b.u.t.t of his glaive on the oasis' sandy floor. "Use us however you will, Commander Dapper."

"I plan to," I answered. 

---

It was unspoken between us, but both Garm's army and ours waited until twilight before we resumed hostilities. 

Of course, my side fired the first bullet, but maybe it would be more appropriate to say icicle. 

After a brief reunion with Arah that left Ty flabbergasted, he eventually calmed down enough to listen to mine and Arah's plan which started with him riling up Garm's troops. 

The sun had just set. It was then that Ty raised his hand, and in a manly voice that was out of character for him, he began to sing. 

"Rain, make it rain! Oh, make it rain! Make it rain down, lord!" Ty sang as he gathered the magic into his hand and released it into the air.

"Someone just ripped off Ed Sheeran," Arah whispered to me. 

She, Aura, Liu Xiang, and I were all watching from the top of the cliff to the right of the gorge entrance.

"Ty's always been a fan," I chuckled. 

Ty's song summoned a swirl of dark clouds above us that was so thick it momentarily blocked Idunn's light. Then came the rain, but it was no ordinary rain. Ty had infused the clouds with his arcane signature and so what fell down on our enemies were icicles no larger than raindrops, but they might as well have been bullets. 

"So… this is Ty, the chosen one," Arah whistled. "He's finally being useful."

"I'd say he's about the level of a predator drone," I compared.

"Like I said, Ty's being useful," Arah repeated. "Will wonders never cease…"

The enemy was peppered with Ty's spell, and although it didn't do much damage on account of their own magicians hastily pulling up a s.h.i.+eld, Ty had done enough to make Garm take our firepower seriously.

It was then that his heavy infantry began their march forward with several front units adopting the turtle formation. 

"That'll make it difficult for our archers to penetrate them," I guessed.

"Not our archers," Arah insisted. "They may be amateurs in warfare but the Pilgrimage has the best toys… all they need is someone good enough to lead them." 

"Indeed," Liu Xiang agreed with her a.s.sessment. 

My mind circled back to earlier when I'd appointed two of my squad leaders to lead the two groups of archers on both sides of the clifftop. 

"Qwipps, your squad will join the archers on the left cliff," I instructed. "Thom, your squad will join the archers on the right cliff."

"I suppose we'll have to follow the orders of whoever's in-charge there?" Thom asked. 

I shook my head. "I've already gotten permission from Liu Xiang. You guys are in charge, and you only follow my orders. Got it?" 

"Muddamit, that's a lot of responsibility, Dean," Qwipps sighed. 

"Don't worry… I've got a plan," I said, raising two fingers for them. "One clip of bolts worth of volleys… that's all I need from you at the start."

The sound of over a thousand bolts whistling through the air sent my mind back to the present. 

I watched as their sheer number blocked out Idunn's light a second time, mere moments after Ty's cloud had dispersed. And I could only imagine what the enemy below us was thinking when they saw what I saw. 

First were Ty's bullets. Now it was arrows launched from two thousand steel crossbows. It didn't matter how st.u.r.dy the enemy's s.h.i.+elds were, all who were within range were peppered. 

"Turtle formation… gotta love it," I sighed. "I remember the days when we used to employ that strategy."

After the first volley, the enemy infantry resumed their march. But as they looked up at the sky a second time, they realized it was once again filled with bolts. 

They stopped their march and braised for impact, and when the volley was over, they looked more like porcupines now than turtles. 

"Those bolts are incredibly strong," Aura noted. 

"They're forged from pure iron," Liu Xiang revealed. "This makes them heavier and hardier than arrows with shadowblade tips."

The enemy infantry's march resumed again, only to be stopped by the third volley of arrows raining down from above. And this time, many soldiers dropped to the sandy floor, their bodies peppered by arrows. 

"The s.h.i.+elds can't hold up to this barrage," Aura realized. "Although I doubt this is enough to stop my uncle."

Too right she was. For no sooner had she said them when arcane s.h.i.+elds — similar to her own spell — appeared over the heads of the different heavy infantry units marching forward. 

"That's that…" I said. 

"Yes," Arah agreed. "We should send out the signal to the units below."

I nodded in agreement. 

The fourth volley of arrows attacked the enemy but their arcane s.h.i.+elds held. Moreover, the enemy cavalry began its march forward as well. Leading them was a man who was waving around a greatsword that was nearly as tall as he was. 

"The tiger's taken the bait," Arah said. 

"We better pick up the pace then," I answered. "Send our cavalry to hold them off if we need to." 

"You want Luca to go against Garm?" Arah asked, uncertain. 

"Luca can take at least one solid hit from Garm and survive," I reasoned. "I did."

"Dean has more faith in Luca than he lets on most times," Aura told Arah. 

"Yeah, I know… he's secretly a doting big brother," Arah agreed. 

"Can we postpone the girl talk until after we survive?" I sighed. 

Our orders were already being followed down below as wave after wave of our light and heavy infantry units began to march back into the mouth of the gorge behind the oasis.

Still, six thousand troops moving into one path about as narrow as a four-lane road was creating a bottleneck that meant more time was needed. 

Although the fifth volley of arrows continued to slow the enemy infantry down, their cavalry pressed forward despite the threat from above. 

That's when I raised my hand, and as the flags relayed my orders below, I watched as our Foolhardies cavalry, as well as a third of the Pilgrimage cavalry, begin their march forward. Luca was the lead rider with Xanthor and Azuma flanking him. 

As my eyes homed in on my little brother, I silently prayed to whichever spirits would listen to watch over him. 

"How are your eyes?" Aura asked.

"They're not in top condition, but I've rested enough that I can manage a Basilisk's eye along with the usual tactical view," I answered. 

"We should be turning back now too, Dean," Arah reminded me. 

"You two go ahead… and tell Qwipps and Thom to head out after their last volley," I said. "I need to watch over this next engagement…" 

"Don't stay too long," Arah said. "We need you at the center path to bait Great General Garm in."

I nodded wordlessly as my focus continued to stick to the two cavalries that were about to meet in the open field barely forty yards away from the oasis.

"You should go with Arah," I said. 

"I'll stay and watch too," Aura answered. 

The back of our hands brushed. 

"Thanks," I said. 

Aura and I watched as the cavalries met, their shadowblades raking against their opponents' own weapons. Nearly a hundred fell to the other's charge while hundreds more locked shadowblades in what would begin a dance of death I was all too familiar with. 

In the middle of this melee, Luca and Garm had just collided, and it was a credit to my brother that he'd stopped Garm's charge and the greatsword that had swung down at full force with his claymore. 

Even from afar, I could see that Luca struggled, and even Jade Shadow underneath him nearly buckled at the strength of his opponent. What's more, while Luca had to use both his hands to block Garm's attack, Garm only needed one to nearly overwhelm my brother. 

But that's why I didn't send him in alone. Just to play it safe, I sent the guy who rivaled Edo as the unit's top killing machine to help Luca out. I sent Azuma, the Immortal. 

"He's been such a big strength for the unit that I almost forgot how frightening it was to go against him," I said. 

"Is this battle drugging up bad memories for you?" Aura asked wryly. 

I shook my head. "Only good memories now… Mostly about how reliable a fighter Azuma is." 

"That's certainly true right now," Aura agreed. 

A scene from a fighting game flitted across the surface of my mind — Azuma and Luca versus Great General Garm, fight!