Swords of Gilded Crimson

Chapter 4 | Make your Mark on the First Battle |

The High Lord sent a wave of undulating power towards our army, poised to annihilate on the instant it reached our bodies. His power was unparalleled across any of the three courts of our fae territory but even so, the wards I had in place, managed to take his hit with ease. But I didn't allow any resulting sigh of relief just yet; not while we were to launch our returning onslaught.

By prediction, Eleodor would winnow back to Aedgian war camps to retrieve large numbers of both their aerial legion and the ground army, if not all, while the spymaster Adrien acted as the medium of both his and the High Lord's power combined, as he unleashed ripple upon ripple of faerie magic at the heart of the legion. They must be under the impression that a continual exertion would weaken us, but that was not the way in which the wards worked.

I unsheathed the singular sword I had strapped down the centre of my back and with the move to initiate battle, the golden reiner gleamed alive with power. Poising my sword in a clear cut ahead, I motioned 'Unit 6, 8 and 9, onward!'

Aelius and the other two unit leaders stormed forward in their respective formations. With unit 8 already having their target, the Luxandrian spymaster, in perspective, they took the lead of the three groups, gathering as much of advantage of the now empty battlefront as they could.

I turned back to the remaining units and took the centre of the frontlines now forming, leading our now initiating charge, strategically keeping behind 6, 8 and 9. By now however, the High Lord and General had returned, and the profound Aedgian armies began pouring in. Even from this distance, I could see the Day Lord's amber eyes rage with fury.

My gaze shifted when General Nikolai sprouted his black, membranous wings. They extended wide, as he took lead of the aerial legion. It meant an aggression of arrows would be unleashed in seconds.

Unit 9 were already prepared as they dispersed within the army, trialling out the several methods I had issued to first subdue, if not bring down, the General, then advance onto the remaining aerial army.

An ever-enlarging number of Aedgians continued to be winnowed in by various members in the army, and embarked upon an immediate charge towards our legion. Our armies thundered ahead in opposition.

Finally, we clashed.

'Shields!' I bellowed.

The frontlines were comprised primarily of units 1 and 2, who had instantaneously drawn up giant, rectangular shields of aluminium alloys. The shielding turned out to be more difficult than assumed, because although the wards were protecting us from the majority of the impact wrought by the ash arrows above, we still had to resort to dodging in regard to those released by any Aedgian who'd dared fly a little lower to shoot.

I scanned behind us for unit 9 as I motioned for Odeir to order them to switch secondary focus onto those daring winged Aedgians. They'd mainly come about after General Nikolai's repetitive commands for his aerial legion had been to 'Go lower!'

He knew how to play, it seemed.

I commissioned the units at the far back of our own legion to commence the rollout of our spears. Being both brisk and discreet, long and sharpened spears were handed onwards, towards our frontlines. In the meantime, we pinpointed those commanders on the other side who appeared to have enough power to wield any reiners, along with those that exhibited the most skills in combat.

Once the first came into my hand, I arranged a small crack in our shielding wall of aluminium in order to arch up my spear towards a broad shouldered male commander, who bore an emerald coloured reiner.

Slicing through the distance of a few metres, the spear cut through his upper body, rendering his body in halves and spraying blood across his fellow comrades. The soldiers beside me followed suit immediately after, obliterating what replacements the Aedgians procured for the commander I'd brought down.