Swords of Gilded Crimson

Chapter 18 | The Upper Hand |

He was injured. He was weakened. He had a surging number of Aedgians falling to the ground to deal with. Each occurrence of this final battle was in its timely place. So as per custom, there was no chance I could break that.

I clutched the spear handed to my right hand, now slightly laced with beads of sweat, a little tighter before gauging the distance and angle it would be thrown at. Before it could actually be thrown, however, General Nikolai disappeared into the mass of his aerial army. He was changing formations...

'Throw, now,' I ordered the two units around me, to initiate our bombardment of various spears and arrows upwards. If Nikolai's change in tactic was in regard to having sighted us already, our onslaught would have to be earlier; before his new formation could be established.

Following my orders, the Tenebrians wrought such a sudden impact towards the skies that Aedgians began to fall all around us. Some closer than we would've favoured but it didn't make a difference, as each that fell was impaled by our weapons to the point that the chance of them being able to advance onto us from here was near to impossible. Agonised cries of pain rung out from them, creating a battle symphony we were all much so accustomed to , for any sympathy.

Many in our units tried to aim at Nikolai himself, but I knew it was far too soon; as General, he was presumably the most skilled in dodging attacks, especially from below seeing, as he led the aerial army himself. His wings, and entire form, bent and swerved at angles we'd once have thought impossible, by which means he remained up there with ease, even so that he caught some spears and arrows mid throw, and aimed back. In response, I ordered my soldiers to 'Bring down those most injured. They'll be weakest. Then, and only then, do we move onto those closer to the General.'

Nikolai had heard me, and was soon issuing orders of his own in an attempt to conserve what he could of the soldiers still up in the skies, his voice straining more at each word in what seemed a mixture of agitation and exasperation upon the sight of them. 'Reroute. Take the next bend. Swerve.' But his attempts were next to futile. Anyone could see the winged Aedgians were too fazed, that any formation at this point would be too difficult to reinstate.

Our surprise onslaught persisted until, finally, the Luxandrian General gave way and commanded what remained of his aerial army to return to the ground of their own accord. There were but only less than a hundred of them left, as opposed to our complete hundred and fifty soldiers formed of two Tenebrian units. Additionally in our favour were the wounds that the majority of the Aedgians had acquired in the perseverance of their ascent, and now our recent attack. We would fend them off here, so that no more damage would be done to the density of the frontlines.

Thereby our troops collided once more, in this unplanned secondary battle minutes later. I set out for Nikolai again, brandishing my two swords from behind me to fight my way towards him. The wounded Aedgians exhibited the capacity I'd expected of them and our swordplay against them was almost unnecessary. But they were still the enemy, and to ensure our victory at the end of this battle, their annihilation was needed. Two more of their soldiers fell around me, each with a gaping slash across either their neck or wings from my swords which now raged with golden beams, alive with the force of my strength. That was when I glimpsed the faint glow of a certain red reiner, now not too far off.

Nikolai stood about three metres away, thrusting his own two swords into the hearts of any of my soldiers that he could reach. The red glow emitting from his reiner was still dimmed; not extending enough to have the full reach across his dual swords, but he was holding dearly onto what there was. Fighting with what strength he could still muster, now only to defend himself against the number of our soldiers that were gaining on him. It was at this time he would not be able to initiate any change in formation.