Chapter 28

To their credit, the enemy didn’t completely abandon subterfuge after they discovered the hellish delights we planned for them with the minefield. All the while, Kaze and I struggled to identify the commander.

The river didn’t freeze. That ruled out General Tias. She didn’t have the patience to carefully feel out the enemy. Maximum force, minimum effort. That was her motto. The lack of cavalry recommended against Seze, who preferred to fight from horseback. His sword skills were best employed for the open field, where he could maximize his advantages.

Other than that, it was still up in the air.

Thrice, skirmishers tried to flank around to the northern or southern gates, only to discover that they were sealed shut by geomancy, a parting gift from the Stonemason’s Guild. Expecting more tricks, they turned back. Smart move, considering the sheer volume of shenanigans I had planted around both. Nothing so dramatic as the minefield, but far more annoying to deal with.

Either Reton or Centu were experienced enough to employ complex tactics in order to lure the enemy out of position, or catch us in an undefended flank. Deela wasn’t, but if she had competent advisors she would actually listen to, it amounted to the same thing.

With no easy option for victory, the next move would give away the game. Centu would settle in for a siege, entrenching around the city to cut us off from reinforcements. Reton would likely push the gate, opting for brute force over subtlety. And Deela, well, I had no clue. Fighting an amateur is annoying. Because they don’t know good ideas from bad, they’re likely to try whatever damn fool thing comes to mind. It rarely works, but it’s a great way to induce heartburn.

“We’ve got heavy infantry coming down the road,” Kaze reported.

“That’ll be Reton, then,” I said.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. That armor doesn’t look right.”

“What’s it look like?”

“My old troops,” she replied, her voice grim. “This is not going to be fun.”

I grunted in acknowledgement. Well led or not, Kaze’s former troops were exceptionally well trained. We’d have our work cut out.

“Degle knows her job. Prepare to evacuate the wall,” I said. “Make it look panicked.”

“We’ll hardly have to act.”

Heh. I got an earful from Degle after the first blast. She “borrowed” Kaze’s earpiece to do it. When she realized how much more powerful the primary charge was, she stopped complaining. May as well whine about the weather.

The infantry came trooping down the road in neat columns. Their armor wasn’t gleaming. It was carefully blackened to avoid glints and gleams that might give them away. Joints were padded. Buckles, straps, and anything else that might clink or clang were muffled with strips of cloth or leather. They even walked in an odd heel-toe gait that muffled their footfalls and allowed them to maintain a steady view of the landscape around them, even through the slits in their helmets’ visors.

The front rank wasn’t armed with the usual fare. They carried massive greatshields, each large enough to hide a person, with claws on the bottom that let the wielder plant them in the ground if needed, and interlocking hooks on the side so they could be latched together.

The cannon crews didn’t need to hide their panic. The live cannon fired once, twice, in as many heartbeats. The formation stopped, grounded the shields, and hunkered down. The solid shot bounced off the solid mass of leather and wood. Little sparks of mana told me that those shields were enchanted. Not much, but enough to let them soak up the kinetic energy of the shot.

Even without the thousands of kilograms of explosives buried all around them, the crews would have likely ran after that. They turned and sprinted for the drawbridge as one, not daring to look back. The heavy infantry dusted themselves off, picked up their shields, and continued plodding forward.

“Degle’s raising the drawbridge,” Kaze reported.

“Probably for the best,” I said.

Namic’s moat wasn’t impressive, as far as such things went. It was dredged out centuries ago, when continental warfare was more common. It was more decorative these days. Water diverted through the river flowed through it, keeping it from growing stagnant. At only a few meters deep and ten meters wide, it was easily bridged with modern techniques. There was even a bank on the wall side, giving them a convenient place to assemble for their assault on the gate.

Raising the drawbridge was more a gesture than anything.

It was as futile a gesture as dropping trou and showing them our bare arses, and quite a bit less satisfying. Alas, armor wasn’t built for easy access, or else, a lot more troops would find themselves occupied on the eve of battle.

Make of that what you will.

The infantry moved down the road in near silence, denying us even the rhythmic thump of boots thumping the ground in time. A pair of sappers slipped through the lines to examine the cannon when they arrived, declared them safe, and slipped back. Their senses didn’t detect anything untoward, and the bores weren’t obviously sabotaged. The commander ordered the line to continue advancing. As they drew close, I spotted bridging equipment further back in the lines, ready to be employed.

The plan was as simple as it was obvious. The infantry would cover the engineers, who would build them a bridge. They’d cross the moat, make their way to the gate, and chop their way through the sally port with breaching axes. Breach the port, slip through with a band of elites to take the gatehouse, lower the drawbridge, and the battle was as good as won. If they had any intelligence on us at all, they’d know how lightly defended the city was.

It was a good plan. A great plan, even. It would probably work.

Shame I had to go and muck it up.

I slipped an armor piercing round into my musket’s chamber and closed the action. The world narrowed to a tunnel as I sighted in on one of the cannon, blocking out everything but the shot. I’d only get one. If they realized what I was doing, they’d do the smart thing and get the hell out of the way. It wouldn’t save all of them, but it would save enough.

I fired, and the world exploded in a flash of sapphire light.