Hellhounds of Providence

Shell-Shocked Reality

"Come on, are the catapults not ready, yet? The enemy is already in formation on the opposing hill!"

"Archers, spread out! Spread out! We have the whole hill, not just a single patch of dirt!"

"Move those boulders! Get a move on, Wizards!" The shouts of soldiers filled the air as the first battle of the war dawned just over three weeks since we left the capital. We traveled for two weeks to reach the border of Peltaira and spent another week practicing drills, maintaining equipment, and mentally preparing ourselves for the battle. The Duke was right, there was no time for me to cry as I quickly found myself being instructed on how I would be contributing to the battle as a wizard. My days were packed with morning exercises to help me build my stamina and strength, afternoon drills going over tactics with instructors and my fellow initiates, and it would end with restless nights in a tent sleeping on a bed of straw with a single blanket. I don't know how the others get used to this. According to Urldrusk's standard doctrine, wizards would be deployed in either one of two positions in an army. Siege wizards would be with helsgar siege engines, an oversized onager catapult, near the rear and work to soften up the enemy lines. Using gravity magic, siege wizards would lessen the gravity of boulders the size of fully grown men so they could be loaded onto the catapult's bowl where it would be launched into the air, and the wizard would then intensify the gravity magic all at once so the boulder would crash into the enemy from directly above them. While this seemed simple, I quickly found out how hard it was to keep such a heavy boulder light enough to move, and then correctly judge how far out the boulders were to get a hit. Some boulders were smaller, others were larger, and depending on if the sun was out there wouldn't even be a shadow on the ground to gauge where it was in the sky; assuming the sun was directly overhead, to begin with. There was also the concern that if you brought the boulder down too early you might hit friendly troops.

"Shields up!" Vanguard wizards would be put on the frontlines but behind a wall of shields, swords, and spears. These wizards would use elemental magic to support breakthroughs or stop enemy pushes assuming the enemy didn't have a powerful Aurister since Auristers who were properly trained could use an advanced technique to negate magic attacks. Thankfully, said technique was hard to master so it was rare to see; though I know Duke Ordrin mastered the technique.

"..." My hands were sweaty as they tightly gripped my wizard's staff. I didn't need a staff to use magic, but my instructors would give me an ear full if I left it in my tent and this was the first battle so I didn't want to be the cause of any mistakes.

"Hey, chin up!" a nineteen-year-old knight initiate stood next to me and tried to calm my obvious nerves. All wizards who would be with the catapults were assigned a spotter to try and help the wizard not pull the boulder too early or too late. "Just take some deep breaths. We'll go for the very back of their lines for our first pull so you don't have to worry about hitting any of our own."

"Right... Okay." At least he was considerate to me being so young; I'm glad I was able to be with the Azure Hawks. I did what he said and controlled my breathing while leaning on my staff for support. Even if I didn't use the staff to cast spells, I could use it as a walking stick to give me something to lean on and steady myself if I ever felt uneasy.

"Looks like we're ready," my spotter said while looking to the front of our line. I followed his gaze and saw Duke Ordrin giving a rousing speech to the men while he rode his horse back and forth so all could hear him. The other knight orders had spread out to sweep through Peltaira's territory so this battle would only include the Azure Hawks, some of the conscripted troops from Holst, and any accompanying wizards. The Duke drew his sword and held it to the sky as it was bathed in lightning when he activated his aura. "Remember, our boulders will fly on the third sounding of the horns."