Book 2 Ch 53: Strength

Michael stood at the front of the Gemini column with Davi to his right, and Pyotr to his left. He bit the inside of his cheek and began to heal it to make the most of Fort Healer and Wound Man as he looked at the enemy arrayed against him. The Burndan troops were not what he’d expected. He’d been hearing of the Burndan conquests since he was still training in Stent. They were a force that had conquered two neighboring countries and was now looking to add a third. Over the last couple of days he’d heard from Cantalian troops that had described them as powerful, unyielding, and seemingly able to react to anything they threw at them. In his mind Michael had begun to imagine some kind of massive army, dressed in blackened armor and wielding wickedly curved swords. Instead what he saw across the no-man’s-land was a column of armored infantry wielding spears and shields much like many others he’d seen. Their armor looked much the same as what the Cantalians were wearing, but a bit heavier, and just like them they had several smaller groups of elite knights. The only major differences between the two groups was that the Cantalians had a number of very lightly armored men clutching blow-guns, and the Burndans had cavalry.

The Gemini column was taking up the leftmost flank of the Cantalian forces, with the Breakers supporting the right column, and mercenary cavalry hidden in a small patch of forest beyond them. The Burndan forces wouldn’t be expecting any because Cantalia didn’t use horses in warfare due to how much of their territory was swamp, but Michael wasn’t sure of how much it would help. The respective forces weren’t evenly matched, with the Burndan force seemingly larger, but the Cantalians were well prepared to retreat back into the swamp if they needed to. They only needed to do significant enough damage that the Burndan forces wouldn’t be able to establish a solid foothold.

A mote of light rose up from the Burndan lines and exploded into a puff of green. As it did so their cavalry line began to charge toward them. The Cantalian and mercenary forces didn’t march to meet them, instead all placing their pikes and spears in preparation to meet the charge. Michael had taken a spear himself, and raised it as he started to pray.

“Seras grant me and those who stand with me your protection.”

“Nykas grant me the guile to outwit my foes.”

“Bruntus grant me the unfaltering will to push forward.”

“Veras harden my heart to do what is needed”

“Durand, I devote this battle to you.”

Many of those around him were muttering their own prayers to the gods he’d introduced them to. As he finished, the thundering charge of the enemy’s horses had nearly reached them.

A gunshot went off, dropping one of the horses before it reached them and it collapsed. Its rider however, did not fall with it. He leapt from the saddle as his horse fell and launched himself for the front lines with his long cavalry spear in front of him. He skewered the Gemini mercenary in front of him as he landed and quickly turned to deflect the blow of another.

Michael was so surprised by the man’s quick reaction that he was caught off guard when a different rider reached him. He raised his shield and spear and was knocked back by the horse’s powerful stride into Suraj who stood behind him and helped him to maintain his footing by pushing with his shield along with all of the other men and women behind him. He stabbed at the horse’s rider, but the man countered him with a quick deflection before stabbing his own spear toward him. Michael took the blow in the center of his shieldand was pushed back when the blow hit nearly as powerful as the horse’s had.

Michael changed tactics and when the horse reared up in surprise from a nearby blast of fire he drove his spear into its chest, hot blood spraying across him and his armor. Thrown off balance, Davi scored a strike on the rider’s leg and when he fell Pyotr crushed his helmet with a firm stomp.

Michael was already starting to heal the front line, mending dozens of injuries. They’d even had a few deaths as the enemy cavalry was far more accurate at striking hearts and heads than any riders in previous battles he’d been in.

As the cavalry retreated to prepare for more passes, the enemy infantry had closed the distance. They were moving much more quickly than he had expected and when they reached them they hit like a tidal wave. Michael caught a spear strike on his shield that felt like a hammerblow and threw out a stab of his own, managing a lucky hit on the man’s throat bringing him down. Michael could feel a fire in his chest as he drew blood. The enemy was strong, but for some reason that just seemed to make the fire burn brighter. He could hear a roar of joy in his ears as Durand expressed his satisfaction.

Michael pushed forward, managing a shallow wound, then a deeper one with his spear that dropped another opponent. A man to his right was bisected as Tai gave up on his spear and drew his sword for the first time. To his left, Pyotr was using his enhanced kicks to knock away shields then following up with devastating slashes. Davi was fighting like a man possessed, bashing shields with his own to knock even these stronger opponents back before following up with unrelenting attacks.

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