Chương 110: Chapter 109- The Assault

Astra's POV Wild laughter filled her ears as Astra stood in awe for a moment at the destruction she had wrought. There had been so many long days and nights, running agility drills until she collapsed, practicing spellforms over and over, head pounding and blood trickling from her nose from mana exhaustion, and at the end of all of it had been Mira.

Every night standing before her as Astra collapsed to the flagstones looking down, her piercing gaze softened by her quintessential stern but fond smile, always promising a future Astra could not see. Astra paused for a moment watching the wreckage of the gate plummet from sky and leave steaming craters in the snow as a familiar voice drifted into her mind from the distant past." You have great potential, little one, more than you can appreciate, young as you are.

Apply yourself now, and one day you will shake the heavens." A wave of pride and affection washed down the tether from Eli, bringing a smile to her face, Shake the heavens indeed. The call to charge sounded from behind the hill, and a chill ran down her spine as the hymns woke in her chest, a low chant rising as they uncoiled. A faint drumline drifted down the tether, beating a counterpoint to the rhythm of her chants as she shared a look with Eli before she spun, dashing down the hill.

Mr Mason raced forward, shifting her guards into formation as the ever reliable Mr Cooper steadied her mount so she could leap into the saddle with a single bound. As Elias and Ms Fletcher settled on their mounts, a quick nod to Mr Mason saw the squad close in around them as they swept over the crest of the hill racing to join the charge. The faint peals of alarm bells finally reached her ears from the keep ahead, bringing a wry smile to her lips that threatened to shift into a derisive sneer, too slow.

Serves the bastards right, relying on just a firewatch and not sending out scouts. Their complacency just hastens the meeting between my blade and their murderous hearts. The formation parted on her approach, her squad swiftly shifting into position in the middle ranks. While she desperately wanted to be in the van, leading the charge like one of the heroines of old, Mr Cooper was right in that the front line was no place for a commander.

The company raced through the fields, a plume of dirty snow flying into the air in their wake, and the waving ripple of the loping gait of the Ridgebacks brought a rising thrill of excitement to her heart as a wild grin spread across her face. Vanguard or not, chasing down your foes in the midst of a cavalry charge is what the essence of every little girl's daydreams were made of, perhaps not every girl's but most certainly mine, the grim horror of the why was not quite enough to temper the thrill of the now.

A tremor of amusement trickled down the tether and she heard a familiar laugh from beside her, as Eli's song rose to join hers, singing a duet of joy at the glory of being alive and the anticipation of the heat of battle. Astra's eyes snapped to the ramparts, as shifting movement on the battlements above caught her eye, and she unlimbered her blade and pumped it into the air twice as the triple blast of the double time call sounded in the air.

Her men rose in unison before they leaned forward in their saddles as they urged their mounts to a gallop, sweeping onto the road leading up to the gates of the estate ahead, racing towards their foes like a flock of wyverns stooping to descend upon an unwary herd of grazebacks as they meandered along an open plain.

Through the passageway of the gatehouse she could see faint movement and, as she watched her eyes narrowed, as she could spot the distant forms of soldiers racing across the courtyard beyond to form a shield line. Her skin prickled as the temperature plummeted and a stiff breeze kicked up as the mage responsible for the out of season weather engaged her defenses.

The breeze grew into a heavy wind, swift enough to deter any spell casts or artillery towards the fortifications, but Astra grinned as she knew it would also protect her men as well from the archers above. The wind picked at the loose drifts, and swept more and more of the snow into the air. Not enough to create white out conditions, but enough to provide a hazy screen to shield the slowly forming wall of men from view. She smirked, too slow, yet again.

You can not hide from a wolf that has already caught your scent, I know where the wall is going to be, and only a dimwit would not assume they have pikes readied. I doubt they will be ready in time. Astra swept her blade upward and brought it down pointing forward before spinning it to pump the hilt twice in the air.

Two patterns of horn blasts sounded from the back of the formation, at the first the front two lines readied arms and lowered lances, and at the second the archers and mages of the formation readied their bows and staves respectively. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. She swept her blade in a final pattern, and as the call for the terminal charge sounded.

One last all clear for any of the enemy soldiers who did not want to be ground beneath the claws of her Ridgebacks. Setting her jaw, she sheathed her blade and leaned into the charge, bracing for impact, as the formation swept into the wall of suspended snow ahead. Visibility dropped until Astra struggled to see much more than a single rider in front or behind, but her part was done for now.

The orders had been given, and all that was left was to trust in the strength of her men as they charged nearly blind into the teeth of the waiting defenders. Astra lifted her hand and, as a call rang out from the front line, she fired blind slightly off center to pass between the ranks ahead, sending a bolt of crimson plasma lancing through the mist, adding her own spell to the weight of the volley as every bowman, mage, and scout fired as one.

The cloud of massed projectiles shot forward as the gatehouse loomed out of the mist, sailing down the passageway into the massed troops scrambling to assemble on the far side, their collective vision clearing just in time to catch the impact of the strike. The group had still been in the middle of mustering, and instead of a neat block of interlocked shields studded with pikes, Astra only found disarray.

A couple squads had been able to brace for the charge, but many were still out of position, unprepared for the imminent arrival of the Emberholdt forces. At the speed they were traveling, the cavalry flew through the passageway in a flash, with the volley arriving just a few moments before impact. Firing blind through the mist, most of the marksmen were unable to pick a target but, quantity has a quality all of its own, and as the wall of projectiles struck, the effects passed through the assemblage in a ripple.

The unprepared and ill aware were caught out in the open, the front ranks falling with mortal wounds, while the next only received grievous injury but still reeled from the blows. More importantly the impact of the massed strike shocked the men, sending their formation into chaos, faltering even the scant few who had prepared in time.

Astra gritted her teeth as she braced for impact, one seen for true this time instead of the unknown of the mist prior, and with a series of sickened snaps, crunches, and screaming wails of pain the nigh hundred strong formation bore their foes under. Her stomach twisted as the ground beneath her mount shifted and crunched, bones snapped, metal squealed, and sprays of blood and offal rose into the air as the sounds of the dead and dying echoed from the walls of the courtyard.

No further orders were needed to enact the plan to establish a foothold, and the company shifted to the left, turning to charge headfirst towards the warehouse no more than a hundred paces from the entrance gate. As the front ranks reached the outer wall of the stone building they wheeled around and swiftly dismounted, the riders sprinting to form a cordon and interlock their shields into a wall as the rest of the riders surged through the hole they left in the middle.

Joining the men in the center, Astra unsheathed her blade, scanning their surroundings warily as she bellowed." BRACE FOR COVER!" A cadre of men and women stepped forward from the rear of the formation, the group composed of the small handful of earth mages in their ranks, and as the first of the arrows and bolts began to fall from the ramparts above they gestured in unison.

In a ring around the company, the flagstones of the courtyard flipped upwards only to be joined by stones rising from the earth below to form a low barrier encircling their formation a little less than chest high. The first pained grunts and curses of the soldiers catching fire from above sped along their compatriots as the shield bearers split and shifted, lifting their burdens high to provide cover from above.

A line of troops raced from behind with poles previously prepared, fixing the lifted shields into an impromptu armored ceiling as Winterbrook called for the ranging fire on the ramparts above in preparation for suppressing and clearing the wall. Strikes rattled along the shields in a rain of steel, most shots were blunted or deflected but some, cleared enhanced with armor piercing Skills, punched through protective awning to lance into the soldiers below.

Astra winced involuntarily with each pained cry, but every one present had walked into this mission eyes open and knowing that the butcher's bill would be steep. Astra glanced over at Winterbrook, and at a nod to communicate that he had matters well in hand she strode over to join her guards at the front of the formation.

Peering above the newly made stone wall, she eyed the gatehouse that was their first target, grunting as she spotted the silhouettes descending behind the loopholes of what was most likely the stairs from above. Pride filled her chest as the small squad assembled before her with nary a hair of place. Well, whole and hale at least, hard to say they are untouched when splattered with blood and snow.

She eyed Mr Mason as he joined her from his place in the squad forming the protective emplacements, " Your reserves, Mr Mason?" He gave a slightly breathless but swift salute, " Well over half my Lady, just shy of three out of five parts." He grinned, " Much easier than erecting a wall by my lonesome!" Astra gave the group a grim smile as she nodded and addressed them all, " Ready for the next bit?"

She received a chorus of 'aye's' in return, although her smile ticked ever so slightly from grim to light amusement at the chirp she received in response from Tia at Eli's side. Astra nodded to Mr Cooper, " Lead us off if you will Mr Cooper, be warned I do believe they are mustering in the stairwell as we speak." He gave a grim nod and, with a spin of his cleavers, fixed the gatehouse in his sights he called for the formation to march.

Smith and Taylor took the lead per usual with Cooper, Fletcher and Farrier in skirmisher position as herself, Elias, and Tia took the backline to provide supporting fire if they came across heavy resistance. Most of the fire from above was scattered, and the squad reached the gatehouse easily. Smith and Taylor parted just long enough for Cooper to boot open the door before they rushed into the stairwell, the rest of the squad following behind as the sounds of battle filtered out into the courtyard.

Astra was pacing ahead of Eli, her heavier armor better suited for entry into an exposed doorway, but stumbled before she could reach it. A wave of snow washed past her as a heavy weight crashed into the flagstones behind her, dread filling her heart as she began to turn. BOOM.