War 4: Bloodbath II

The more months passed. Will's 15th birthday had come and gone. Will received a letter two months ago, congratulating him on his promotion to the third year. Will replaced the wolf pin for a bear pin.

A breezy spring transitioned into a hot muggy summer, if this was Earth it be July. In two months, his third-year class would begin.

It was hot, the rotten corpse from the valley smell carried up the Command Center just outside.

For six months, Will saw thousands of soldiers deployed to the base every day. Then Will watched as those thousands of men and women march into the valley, only to see hundreds marched out three weeks later.

The war was a stalemate. Fermion lost thousands of soldiers to gain land, only to lose it a day later.

King Remus Albus Fermion IX, made no progress in his breaking through to Grandmaster. Will hated this war. It was a pointless loss of people and resources.

Every day, Will wrote Elizabeth, and every night he spoke to Nisha. Vanessa and Mei also sent daily reports.

According to Mei and Vanessa, business was down 20% since the war started. Even worse the Marquis vont Hanover's bank, Hanover Bank and Trust, was gaining new saving accounts.

Thankfully, Will still owed about 95% of the loan market and 100% of the stock exchange. Will was happy, he convinced the money lenders, to work as loan officers. As Will suspected people had close connections to their money lenders.

Of all his shops, the cafe took the biggest hit. The cafe was down 40% in Yorkshire and 30% in Guidon. Those percentages were far from being insolvent, but this war was bad for business.

This war was also bad for families. Thousands of loved ones were buried, husbands, sons, daughters all died. The war was catastrophic for families.

Will and Jason received a letter from their mother that they missed Kathryn's wedding. A month after the wedding, Helen vont Ballard wrote Kathryn was pregnant.

For Will, that heartwarming news helped deal with seeing a wounded Jason return every month. Will secretly kept watching to see if Jason developed PTSD, or battle fatigue as it was known in Fermion.

The Albanian and Fermion camps were 5 kilometers away from each other. They were close enough to see each other's campfires in the distance.

Once again, Jason looked at the battlefield. Six months he had fought this war, to see it go know where. This war had unraveled his love of the military.

When he was alone, in his tent he dreamt of the barony. Three months ago, Jason thought he spend his life in the military. Now couldn't wait for the simple life of the barony.

Last night, Prince Roland and Colonel vont Smith designed a plan to sneak around the rear of the Albanian line and surprise attack the mage corp.

To accomplish the mission, they had to travel behind Fermion's front line, cross the river over a ridge to the other side, without being caught. That meant, they were going to travel from one flank to the other undetected. That was a tall order.

The Fermion bugler sounded the horn. Immediately, the whistling of spells abruptly exploded. Dirt and shrapnel followed, raining in a wide radius. Further explosives going off sent more debris flying.

The noise was overwhelming, sending many soldiers to cower to the mud in a desperate attempt to find anywhere to hide from the chaos.

Others faced with orders and the will to carry them out charged toward the Albanian line.

The only grace given to any on the battlefield was a swift death.

The glistening summer sun high above pierced through the clouds to give a view only obscured by the growing smoke of spells firing. A distant whistle caught Jason's attention. Peering over, he spotted a group of enemy soldiers heading in his direction.

"Company! Swords at the ready, we have another group heading toward us!" Jason called out while bringing his broad sword to bear.

Enhancing his with mana, Jason's weapon joined in unison with the others in spitting out quick death. The Albanian soldiers coming closer with each step began to fall one by one with gashes appearing across their frame. Details obscured by the thickening smoke helped hide the true horror of what Jason and the rest had caused.

"Jason, those mage spells behind us seem close, don't ya think?" Caroline asked, the tips of her spearhead drenched in blood.

"It's going as expected," Jason said, leading his horse in a hurry over to Prince Roland at the rear of the brigade

"I think it's time we start to make our leave and rejoin with the center. The number of squads on this flank is thinning out," Prince Roland said.

"We're moving!" Colonel vont Smith commanded.

Colonel vont Smith nodded to the Prince, giving a devoted smile before turning to face the rest of the brigade now behind him.

"Alright, let's get a move on!" Jason shouted and turned his horse and headed towards the central formation. The muddy path was littered with the dead and the dying. Healers stepped over injured bodies, trying to conserve their magic.

As they rejoined the center formation, another round of whistles went off in the distance as shouts and cries filled the air.

"Reinforce the line! Keep those damn Albanians from getting closer!" The King commanded.

Looking and the formation, Jason saw several Albanian soldiers begin making their way through Fermion's line.

"Block that gap!" Colonel vont Smith ordered.

Without a word, the loud dings of swords slamming into the shield joined in a cacophony of noise. A whistle caught his attention and Jason turned in time to see an enemy's smooth, silvery meteor destroyed in midair by a Fermion mage.

A moment later the another meteor was thrown towards the Albanian side, an explosion sounding from where it had landed.

"Fight men, show your mettle!" the king said encouragingly.

Jason moved to parry a sword strike, the vibrations of the clashing weapon in his hands shook him to the bone. With his sword hand numb, Jason punched his attackers with his left hand. When the Albanian soldier fell to the ground, Jason stab the man thrown the chest.

"What do you think Capitan," the Colonel vont Smith asked.

"It's a bloody mess," Jason said and moved to the left toward a thin path descending into the open space beyond.

Reaching the edge of the path, Jason froze up in surprise at the magnitude of destruction laid out. What was once a central point of Fermion's defense, was now reduced to a massive crater.

The area was filled with an assortment of debris and remaining piles of dirt that now acted as cover for both Albanian and Fermion soldiers who fought one another.

The front line of Fermion soldiers extended along the ridge of the crater toward the side opposite him where the land picked back up as some form of protection and pathway.

Along the opposite ridge closest to the Fermion ridge were the Albanian soldiers attempting to gain a footing so they could advance and push the Fermion out.

Albania soldiers were feeding in from a rear that ended at the crater, many falling to their deaths as they tried to sprint for better cover. The crater's center was filled with bodies that now lay still as a clear sign to anyone to reconsider any attempt to advance.

As Jason stepped he kept his footing evened and moved forward at a steady pace. A thin layer of mud clung to his boots, dips, and holes along with debris, visceral, and dead bodies lined his path. Moving past the obstacles in his way and to reach his companions ahead of him.

The mages cast protection spells to allow Prince Roland and Colonel's company to pass unharmed.

Facing the Albanian soldiers, Jason extended his sword hand and closed his eyes. The invisible barrier all around him unwrapped itself to create a long wall between both sets of cover. Jason looked over to Sergean who nodded his head.

Focusing his attention back on the array's barrier in front of him he watched spells slam in the barrier before falling harmlessly. Out of the corner of his left eye, he saw the last man arrive safely behind the Albanian center front.

"You're doing well, just keep it up," Colonel vont Smith said to his troops.

The Jason found his dented flask covered with dust. Unscrewing the top, he gulped down the brown liquor within. The taste of the hard whiskey calmed his nerves. The initial gulp was disgusting, it burned, but the sensation of warmth that followed was a comfort to his beating heart.

The spells, the ringing of explosions all distant to him in that brief moment of recollection as he turned inward to his calming heartbeat. Almost halfway, he thought to himself, spotted the second prince encouraging the men to move further along the outskirts.

To either side cries of pain and fear echoed from Fermion soldiers as the loud buzz filled the air, the rain of fire arrows ripping soldiers to shreds.

The warmth washing through his veins suddenly felt hotter than before seeing those soldiers die with small cavities in their chests. The frontline soliders when from meat shields to meat paste.

Smoke billowed all around him as he stepped past debris being used as cover, soldiers looking up in awe at the defiance that Jason showed to the Albanians.

He gripped his saber's handle and unsheathed the smooth, silvery blade into his right hand. The point of it acted as a guiding light for those nearby to push back their fears, grips upon weapons tighten as triggers were pulled.

The brigade marched toward the center of the crater where a slight hill of dirt still stood covered in debris with Fermion soldiers barely clinging onto the area. Reaching that small space, Prince Roland told the brigade to hunkered down at the front giving a solid foundation to hide behind.

Jason felt a little light headiness flash through him forcing his eyes to shut as he focused on the beat of his heart and maintaining the flow of magic surging to the palm of his left hand, Jason mana was almost exhausted. Originally, he only had enough mana to enhance his hands.

With a swift dash, Jason was upon the closest pair of Albanian soldiers, his saber cutting them down with a smooth swing of the blade. Another quick move and a swing of the blade cut down more men, crimson blood dusting the air by the sweep of the saber and the magic weaving through the air.

Jason's saber led him along to the next set of Albanian soldiers to slash apart. Screams of pain from men and women alike were distant to his focus on the evened beating of his heart.

Blood left in his wake filled the air that was punctured by arrows. Many of the soldiers who fired arrows at Jason were unable to keep up with his erratic movements, panic striking them, and their aim grew unsteady.

Mud, wreckage, dead bodies all tried to cling at him and trip him in his dance. With focused eyes, Jason weaved his path unharmed by the dangers at his feet and the mages' barrier held together.

Another cry of agony filled the air as the tip of the saber in his hand met skin exposing the flesh within to the open air. The life of the bodies seeped out as the blade gained a slight hue of blue at the magic filling his sword.

The area, already a confusing mess, had only become more confusing since they had entered. Fresh craters littered the space from the spells that now aimed further out in another bloodbath that gave Death Valley its name.

"Were almost out! We need to make it to the forest!" Prince Roland shouted.

"Captains, advance your men, we're almost clear. Remember the mission comes first!" Colonel vont Smith yelled.

"Agreed," Jason replied. He spoke aloud to himself more as reassurance than to anyone in particular.

Jason looked up at the path laid out before him that led up to the exit of the area.

"It isn't far…" another captain yelled to encourage her men.

The company took slow steady steps forward, eyes darting to either side in search of any Albanian who drew too close. Fermion's centerline was holding, barely. The fighting was erratic, and wildly. Jason's company, turned from their cover to blindly retreat in a mad dash to the treeline, to safety.

In the back of General Brash and King Remus Albus, Fermion IX looked at the carnage before them.

"A complete mess is what's happening up there," General Brash said.

The king looked to the map, eyes scanning for where they were located on it. Finding the blue marker topped with a star near the center of the map.

'Roland should be heading southeast now. I wonder if he's made out to the edges of the fighting?' the king wondered.

Back at the forest, Prince Roland, Colonel vont Smith, and Jason rested. They could still hear the fighting a distance away.

Colonel vont Smith addressed the brigade, "This attack will be occurring at night with Prince Roland leading the initial charge.

After the line is secured then I will move up with leading a company to build defenses. And, from there we will secure our position and flanking mages before they know we're there!" Colonel vont Smith said.

"Captains relay the information to your companies," Prince Roland said.