“The scouts managed to get close enough to get a look at the enemy banners,” the commander of the third battalion reported. “They didn’t recognize them as belonging to the four original divisions.”

General Asher nodded, frowning. “Then this is one of the newly established ones. The Ravens were keeping a close eye on the movement of all of them, for this one to have made it here before we received a warning means that the enemy put a lot of effort into keeping us in the dark. This must have been their plan all along: To bait General Ossick into committing the majority of his troops to Archibald’s Overlook, then flank him with a division he didn’t see coming. If we hadn’t found them on accident, they would have bypassed Giant’s Head and crossed the Aste basically unopposed, cutting off 1st division’s supply line and locking him in between twelve thousand Marradi troops.”

It's exactly what we had intended to do, just the other way around, Edwin thought. Except they actually planned this, while we were just reacting.

After receiving the scouts’ report, the general had immediately ordered the train to reverse direction, marching back the way they’d come for about an hour until the surrounding forests opened up enough to form up the division for battle.

“Of course, our previous plan of attack is now void,” Asher continued. “Assaulting Archer Hill in this situation is simply impossible. Our new objective is to prevent the enemy from reaching theirs. I would like to fall back to Giant’s Head and incorporate the fortification’s artillery into our efforts, but if the enemy makes it past that point, we lose our best chance at stopping them before they reach the Aste. We cannot gamble that chance on troops that have never seen combat.”

He gestured to a hastily drawn map of the field they were on, pointing out the distribution of forces.

“As the enemy outnumbers us, our assumption is that they will attack. Their objective is to make it past us, and with their 4.000 against our 3.400, they will likely think it possible. We will hold them here, right at the edge of the forest. This will make it harder for them to form up, as well as keep track of their own forces. First division will hold the center, with second and third to either side. We’ll engage them at range with the archers and whittle them down on the approach, then our front line can hold off the weakened infantry in melee until they get tired. Questions?”

“What about us?” Major Gerrack asked.

“Right, Major, your battalion will be here,” Asher said.

--- ----- ---

Edwin raised his head, peering between the trees in the direction of the enemy. Nothing. He sighed, looking toward the battlefield. The forest ended some fifty meters to his left, and the outer edge of second battalion’s defensive line was a further two hundred meters onto the field.

“Bloody flank protection!” Bordan grumbled for the hundredth time, spitting into the underbrush. They had been here for half an hour already, and the excitement at Edwin’s first taste of real battle had worn off. General Asher had sent them to the far side of the formation to watch out for enemy attempts to circumvent the front line and attack from behind. The first cohort under Bordan’s command was stationed on the right, while the second cohort under Major Gerrack did the same on the left.

“I get that we likely won’t see much action here,” Edwin said, looking at his party leader, “but surely this is important as well.”

“Of course flank protection is important,” Bordan snorted angrily, “but a half-group of scouts would’ve been more than enough to send word if anyone actually tried to come through here. Sending two full cohorts out of the fight when we’re already outnumbered is just stupid!”

He spat again to punctuate his statement, and Edwin looked back toward the rest of the division. First battalion’s archers had just started shooting, although Edwin couldn’t make out their targets from his perspective. Some arrows answered them, but they were few and ill-aimed. A minute later they stopped again, and the waiting continued.

“It’s starting.” Bordan said finally, pulling Edwin from his thoughts half an hour later. He looked up, and sure enough this time it wasn’t just the archers that were firing, second and third battalion’s crossbowmen were also sending bolts into the tree line. A tense minute later the sun glinted off helmets and spear points as the Marradi frontline marched out of the trees. As soon as they were out of the forest, a massive roar went up from the enemy soldiers and they charged toward the defenders, the two lines meeting with a great clamor.

Edwin rocked back, as even this far away the noise of thousands of bellowing throats and shields impacting shields was overwhelming. At first, he feared that the enemy would simply overpower them with sheer force, but the line held, and within a few seconds the fighting turned a lot more orderly.

“Look,” Edwin said, relieved. “It seems to work.”

“It’s barely begun,” Bordan grunted. “Let’s wait an hour, see how well it works then. Now get back to watching your sector.”

Edwin gave the fighting one last look, his perfect eyesight allowing him to make out details even at this range, then forced himself to turn away again. Bordan might find their assignment pointless, but if they missed an approaching enemy because they were too busy watching the spectacle, that would be even worse.

Minutes ticked by slowly, and despite Edwin’s conviction, he continued to steal glances at the battlefield. It was strange. The largest battle he had been part of, the fight against the goblin nest, had been over in less than fifteen minutes. This one was already going on for half an hour, and it seemed that nothing had really changed.

“Damn,” Bordan mumbled next to him, and Edwin looked over. The former soldier was watching the battle as well, but whatever he saw, Edwin didn’t.

“What is it?” he finally asked.

“Remember when you said that it was working? Well, it’s not anymore.”

Bordan pointed first behind the friendly lines, then at second battalion’s front line.

“They’ve realized that only our center is made up of heavy infantry and are shifting their attack toward our flanks. Light infantry isn’t equipped to defend a frontal attack for this long. Look, behind them: Injuries are multiplying and the line is thinning out. They won’t be able to hold much longer.”

Indeed, the steady trickle of wounded soldiers that limped or were carried to the healers set up a good distance behind the lines was increasing.

“What do we do?” Leodin asked from behind them. “We have to help them.”

“We can’t,” Bordan growled. “We were ordered to hold here; we can’t leave unless the general sends us in.”

“But we’re losing!” Leodin said, raising his voice. “We have to do something!”

“This is the army, Leodin!” Bordan snapped, rounding at the young marksman. “If the general orders us to move, we move. Until then, we stay!”

They fell silent, watching with growing trepidation as more and more wounded soldiers were dragged to the healing station. Finally, a horn signal sounded out from the allied command post, and Bordan stood.

“Orderly retreat,” he said calmly, though his face betrayed his simmering anger. “Signal the others; we’re moving. The rest of the division will fall back slowly, we need to make sure not to get too far ahead or fall behind.”

As they began walking, Edwin studied the battlefield. The archer cohorts jogged back quickly, then took up positions to provide covering fire for the front line. The infantry slowly moved backward, covering themselves with their shields while keeping the enemy at bay with their spears. The Marradi broke off their pursuit almost immediately, instead falling back from the archer fire and letting them leave.

“Why aren’t they chasing us?” Edwin asked.

“They’re probably tired,” Bordan answered. “They’ve been marching the whole day as well, and we’re not yet in bad enough shape that they could easily rout us. Fighting when tired just leads to more casualties, and they need to preserve their forces if they want to be able to fight 1st division after they make it past us.”

“Will they?” Leodin asked quietly. “Make it past us, I mean?”

“Not if we have anything to say about it,” Bordan grumbled. “But if we keep fighting like this they will.”

And just like that, Edwin’s first battle was over – and he hadn’t even seen an enemy up close.