The Charge Against the Tyrant

“It’s bad, very bad!” yelled Basil, exhausted. “All the elders are dead, same with the captains. Casualties are in the hundreds. And those cowards… so many of the boys have fled the village. I think you’re the only captain left alive, Dan!”

“That was his goal from the start,” I replied. I was angry at myself for not being able to do more. Angry for having fallen into Dresda and the Demon Merc's trap.

“We will fight to the end!” I shouted, for all the soldiers around to hear. “Stick Users or not, we can defeat all foes as long as we stick together!”

The situation was dire. In the commotion, our boys scattered all over the place. I had no way to rally back the fleeing troops. And then I looked at Aster’s lifeless body. At the hundreds of lifeless bodies all around me. My heart raged with a desire for revenge. To get back at Dresda and his puppets for what they’ve done to us!

I assembled all the able men I could find. I instructed the women to come and care for the wounded. As for the dead, there was no time to bury them, not right now.

We had to focus on protecting the living. And to do that, we had to obliterate our enemy.

***

From the nearby hill, at the end of the vineyard, Lumen saw the Demon Merc flying toward the village. The massacre started, and Lumen turned his back, unable to watch. It was too far to see their dying faces anyway. But close enough to still hear their agonizing screams. It made his stomach turn with pain.

It must have seemed like ages to the defenders. But Lumen knew the entire scene only lasted a mere 10 minutes. He turned again to the battlefield. By now, the Demon Merc had completed his mission. He likely meant to strike the leaders of Maugalin and demobilize their force. He rose up in the air and flew north to the forest. There, on an elevated ground, Dresda's contingent waited in formation.

"You're here as well, Dresda...” Lumen muttered to himself, squinting his eyes.

He expected Dresda’s army to be larger. Yet the contingent had a mere one hundred people. That was almost 50 times fewer than the number of men on the Maugalin side. In reality, Lumen knew Dresda had no need for more men. Dresda already had his Elite Guard of Stick Users. There were fewer than 10 people. The rest of the one hundred people were likely decoys or helpers.

Lumen knew the “Dresda way” of dealing with problems. He employed simple, efficient strike teams made of elite warriors. That gave him extra mobility, and he didn’t have to bother with supply chains. It was also his way of showing off to the world as an efficient leader. That he didn’t need to use his full force to deal with a pesky peasant rebellion.

Meanwhile, on the southern side, many of the Maugalin armymen fled like ants from a fire. The remaining forces gathered in the open field outside the village, facing Dresda. Unlike their fleeing comrades, they seemed determined to put up a strong fight against the tyrant. Unfortunately, they lacked the order and discipline of Dresda’s forces.

As they advanced, Maugalin men were disorderly, scattered all over the place. Their groups of men moved at different paces. But their advance was steady. They showed no hesitation. And seeing Dresda’s small squad, it was as if their confidence was coming back.

Dresda’s strike squad remained at the edge of the forest. The position was not particularly advantageous for them. It was an invitation for the Rebellion's army to strike first. The rebels saw a mere hundred men on that hill, and they were about to take the bait.

The rebels blew their horns, and a large mass of armed men started flowing towards Dresda’s position. A line of hundreds of Maugalin bowmen on the rear line started firing as soon as Dresda’s men were in range. Then the inevitable happened.

Lumen held his breath.

The ground shook with force. Like a violent earthquake that made the entire area tremble. This was not natural. Lumen felt feet jolted by the movement, but managed to keep his balance. On the battlefield, however, the earth’s movement was much more violent. Many men fell off their feet. The entire earthquake merely lasted for 10 seconds.

A few meters in front of Dresda’s squad, separating them from their enemies, the earthquake produced a large wall of ground and rock emerged. Not the elegant wall of a citadel, but merely a slice of dirt that emerged from the depths of the earth. The wall was about twice the height of a man, and thicker than the length of longwords. It stretched for more than 100 meters, forming a barrier between Dresda’s men and the rebels.

Lumen knew that was Dresda’s special power, the Ground Stick. With this, Dresda could summon massive chunks of rock and dirt from the ground. The wall now formed a formidable shield for his troops.

Most arrows from the Rebellion's bowmen hit against this mud barrier, unable to penetrate. The arrows shot above the wall went above Dresda’s head, and landed far behind Dresda’s team.

Disoriented by the unexpected sight of the wall, some of the Maugalin men froze. Their bowmen continued shooting until they used up most of their arrows. The others continued to charge towards the wall. Maugalin men got closer and closer.

Then another sudden earthquake occurred out of nowhere. Same as before, Lumen felt the ground shaking below his feet. On the battlefield, behind the first wave of rebels, a new wall, similar to the first, emerged from the ground.

The first wave of Maugalin men, hundreds of confused souls, were now trapped in the wide gap between the first and the second wall. The rest of the army was stuck behind the second wall, unable to help the fellow men from the first wave.

“Divide and conquer,” said Lumen, his face growing pale, his nostrils widening like they couldn’t inhale enough air to match his heartbeat.

The bloodshed was about to start.

And Lumen turned his back once more, unable to see the horrors of war. He sat on the ground and covered his ears.