First Thunder

Imperial Year 2632

Captain Yelahna Salarius of the 96th Imperial Musketeers ran along the dark streets of Blaines March, her glossy black leather armor giving muffled slaps with each step. Her company of Imperial musketeers shuffled along behind her in ranks. Running to the southern walls, she could hear the sentries calling out alarms. Ballista crews dashed up the towers to their weapons. Spearmen and cavalry gathered near the gates.

Yelahna led her company up the steps to the top of the outer wall, her broad brimmed helmet tucked under her arm. Marching up to the nearest sentry, she spun her around. The sentry was from the local militia, probably on her yearly rotation for training, and could not have been more than fifteen.

She was dressed in padded cloth armor and armed with a spear and shield. A short sword hung at her side and a badly fitting helmet hung on her head. A terrified expression flashed across her face as she found herself face-to-face with a regular army officer.

Yelahna’s habitual snarl softened as she looked into the face of the child.

“Who raised the alarm, child?”

Wordlessly, she pointed down the wall.

Taking a moment to look out past the wall. In the pale light of the half moon, she could just make out shapes moving in the treeline, several dozen at least.

Grabbing the next sentry, Yelahna pointed out into the dark.

“Have they been hailed?”

“Y-yes, Captain! They fired arrows in return!”

“Shit. By squads, stay low, spread out. Prepare to return fire!”

Her soldiers separated out by squads, preparing themselves. Despite their designation as musketeers, none of them actually carried muskets. Only regiments stationed near the capitol city or who were on active campaigns were fully issued muskets. Regiments stationed to quiet regions like Blaines March received few muskets or none at all and made do with crossbows.

Yelahna’s company was one of the line companies of the 96th. Fully two thirds of her soldiers were armed with crossbows, the rest carried spears and large tower shields. In open battle, the spearmen would form a shieldwall, from behind which the crossbowmen could take shelter. In the confines of a walled city, the spearmen deployed as swordsmen on the walls, to fend of any attempts to scale the walls.

Attacking a city of the Imperium, even one as backwater as Blaines March, was a crime of treason. Whatever was out there in the dark, it was probably more than just a band of thieves. Several arrows zipped out of the dark, one of which clattered against the wall near Yelahna, causing her to duck a little.

Colonel Musen, Yelahna’s commanding officer, marched up the stairs to her, his own glossy black armor glinted in the moonlight.

“Captain.” Yelahna saluted, which the Colonel returned. “What do we have here?”

“The sentries challenged… someone. They have been firing arrows over the wall pretty regularly. There are lots of shadows out there, but no clear targets.”

The Colonel nodded and turned to one of his aides.

“Order the ballistae to fire a few fountain arrows near the treeline.”

The aide saluted and ran off. Moments later six bolts trailing sparks streaked off into the night. Fountain arrows were nothing more than fountain fireworks strapped to ballista bolts. As they impacted the attached fireworks began to spew showers of sparks into the air, casting a pall of light for a thirty foot radius.

Like rats caught in the light of a torch, the shadows stopped moving as they were illuminated. The light of the six fountain arrows revealed maybe fifty men and women, wearing leather armor and armed with bows.

Yelahna’s crossbowmen opened fire, the solid ‘thunks’ of bolts being sent on their way rippling down the wall. Several of the rogue archers fell in their tracks before the whole lot of them scattered. Several arrows zipped past in return, one sailing over the wall, but finding a spearman in the courtyard below. The man cried out in surprise and pain before being dragged into the barracks.

Several more fountain arrows arched out into the night, illuminating more shadows. More crossbow bolts thumped out into the night and more attackers toppled. In reply, the trickle of arrows from the treeline became a steady shower. Experience told Yelahna that the darkness amplified the number of incoming arrows, but there was a noticeable quickening of arrows clattering off the stone walls and thumping into the thatched roofs of the town.

Some of the arrows were finding marks. Most casualties occurred among the troops gathering in the spaces behind the walls as arrows that sailed over the wall landed among them. A few of Yelahna’s soldiers had taken arrows to their heads and shoulders as they peeked out over the wall’s parapet.

Realizing that no assault on the wall, beyond arrows, was going to materialize, the 96th was rotated off the walls and replaced by one of the local garrison regiments. The troops in the courtyards and gateways were ordered to find cover in the city. With her soldiers ordered to stand down, Yelahna went to find some rest for what remained of the night.

Just before dawn, a soldier knocked at Yelahna’s door. Having slept in her armor, she simply splashed her face with some cold water and pulled her hair back into a tight bun. Making her way to Colonel Musen’s headquarters, she stepped into a large room with a large central table.

Gathered around the table with Colonel Musen were the commanders of the four city garrison regiments. As the only regular army colonel present, Colonel Musen was in overall command of any operations beyond the city walls. On the table was spread a map of Blaines March and the surrounding area. Yelahna and the other senior company commanders of the 96th trickled in.

Pointing to the map in the direction of the previous night’s attacks, Colonel Musen laid out his plans.

“The 1st Blaines March Infantry and the Blaines March light cavalry will push out from the south gate to the woodline with the 96th in support to investigate the area the attacks came from. The light cavalry will then make a counter clockwise sweep around the city along the treeline. The 1st and 96th will then fall back into the city and be ready to deploy out of any of the gates in support of the light cavalry. The 2nd and 3rd Blaines March Infantry will man the walls with the militia and deploy a company of skirmishers out of the north, west, and east gates each. Questions?”

Nods and looks were passed around the table. Although attacks on Imperial cities were treasonous, they were not uncommon and this was a standard maneuver for a city garrison. Colonel Musen dismissed his commanders to prepare their units for the coming day.

On the table, next to the map, was a pile of arrows that had been fired at the walls. Yelahna went over to the pile and picked one of them up. Examining it, she noticed that the shaft was of heavy ash wood fletched with straw colored feathers and the head was a wicked bodkin point.

Something seemed wrong. These arrows could only have been fired from a massively powerful longbow, a warbow, the type that took years of physical training to pull. If they ran into even a few rogues wielding these weapons, the morning could be more interesting than expected.

Yelahna made her way back to her company’s barracks. Gently she woke up her squad commanders, gathering them outside in the drill yard. In the chilled morning air, sun just starting to illuminate the eastern walls, she issued her orders.

“We are supporting a light cavalry sweep that is investigating last night’s attack. The 1st will be going out first, we are to stay in support. Stay sharp, have the crossbowmen keep close to cover. Something is going on out there. At least some of the attackers last night were shooting at us with longbows, real longbows, warbows.”

Worried looks appeared on the faces of her veteran officers. The 96th had faced such weapons in past campaigns. Very few of their enemies had the foresight to train very many of their archers to utilize longbows, but massed longbows could decimate whole formations in mere minutes. Dispersing the squad commanders, they went to wake their soldiers and begin preparations for the day.

The soldiers stumbled out of the barracks, still groggy from their truncated night’s rest. Forming into their squads, they made their way to the south gate. The light cavalry were there, the troopers standing next to their horses, lances in hand and shields slung from their saddles.

The 1st was the last of the regiments to show up. For a city garrison regiment, the 1st was well equipped and well drilled, but had nowhere near the experience and discipline of a regular army regiment like the 96th. The force assembled, the gates opened.

Shields up and crossbows cocked, the 1st poured out of the south gate on the run. Deploying in a long battle line two hundred paces from the door, they began to carefully advance towards the treeline, four hundred paces beyond. The light cavalry went out the gate next, galloping around the flanks of the 1st. Finally, the 96th went out of the gate by company, five companies to the right and five to the left.

The current city of Blaines March was ringed by the ruins of a much larger industrial city from antiquity. Thousands of years of weathering and human scavenging had reduced the ruins to mere foundations. The ruins extended for three hundred paces beyond the city walls, the treeline another three hundred paces beyond that. Several small farms existed in the space between the ruins and the trees, but the area was otherwise clear to give defenders on the wall the best field of fire possible.

As the 1st and cavalry advanced towards the trees, the 96th stopped just beyond the ruins and started to spread out by company. Each company stayed in their compact formation, but between each company there was now about thirty or fifty paces of space.

Tension mounted as the 1st approached the treeline. But no arrows flew their way. The extent of the night skirmish was marked by the burned out remains of fountain arrows and Imperial crossbow bolts embedded in the dirt.

With the scene secure and living enemies not in evidence, the senior officers of the force rode forward to investigate. Although the apparent battlefield was strewn with discarded arrows and crossbow bolts, there were no enemy casualties apparent. Tracking parties were sent, but after a few hundred feet, the tracks split up and became difficult to track.

As planned, the light cavalry began to sweep counter clockwise around the city at the tree line. The 1st and 96th pulled back into the city through the south gate. Still on alert, the regiments assembled in several central town squares ready to support the light cavalry.

Suddenly an alarm sounded from the west side of the city. Riders galloped up to the regimental commanders with orders and the regiment started towards the western gate at a trot. The 96th made it to the western gate first. Not breaking their run, they dashed out of the gate and deployed into a line of battle just to the left side of the gate.

As Yelahna exited the gate, her company the fifth in line, she could see the cavalry at the treeline. Most of the troopers were dismounted, some firing back at an unseen enemy with their light crossbows, others taking shelter behind their shields or fences in the fields. Others held their comrades’ horses out of danger behind farm buildings and homesteads.

Yelahna directed her company to the left into the line of battle as they exited the gates. Bringing the company to a halt ten paces short of the next company, her soldiers turned to the right and shifted with practiced discipline so the spearmen with their tower shields were at the front of the line. In front of the growing battle line, the regiment’s two light companies were already advancing in a loose skirmish line, five paces between each soldier.

With all eight line companies formed up, the trumpets signaled the 96th to advance without waiting for the 1st to finish deploying. The line marched forward, careful to keep their shields interlocked. Glancing behind, Yelahna could see the 1st shaking themselves out in a line to the right of the gate.

Passing the last of the ruins and reaching the first farm building, the line stopped as Colonel Musen galloped over to confer with a cavalry officer in the shadow of a barn. The cavalry officer pointed to the woods and now Yelahna could see shadows moving in the treeline, ducking out to fire arrows before disappearing back into the trees.

Colonel Musen motioned to the trumpeter next to him. Licking his lips he bugled out the call for the company officers to assemble. Yelahna marched up to the farm building. Once all of his officers were assembled, the Colonel issued his orders.

“Skirmishers will reinforce the cavalry immediately. The line will redeploy into open order by companies extending to the left. Once the 1st has come up on our right, we will assault the woods at the double. Keep pushing as deep into the woods as possible, but keep in contact with the companies around you. Do not become isolated.”

Officers nodded. A rider galloped off to relay the orders to the 1st. The skirmish line of the light companies started off again to join the cavalry. Forming into compact company formations, the 96th began to shift left, opening a space of thirty paces between each company. After a few more minutes, the battle line of the 1st came to a halt on the right of the 96th.

After a moment of conferral, the two regiments began the final march to the treeline. Breaking into a run, they passed through the line of dismounted cavalry and skirmishers, who broke off their fight and started to move towards the flanks of the now fast moving battle line. Arrows started to fall in the ranks of the Imperial soldiers.

The well disciplined regular army soldiers of the 96th raised their shields and kept advancing. Among the ranks of the 1st, the arrows began to fall particularly thick, as the speed of the advance began to break up their lines. More and more soldiers fell with arrows lodged in them.

Slamming into the treeline, Yelahna and her company came face-to-face with the first tangible attackers. A line of them fired arrows into the shields of her front spearmen before turning to run.

“Run them down!” Yelahna pointed her sword at the retreating archers and her company broke into a sprint, flowing around trees, no longer in a compact mass. Her fastest soldiers caught up with the archers, cutting them down from behind. Thirty feet to her left and right, the same scene was repeated by other companies as they emerged into the woods.

Suddenly, a volley of arrows slammed into Yelahna’s company. Several of her soldiers fell, arrows buried up to their fletchings in their breastplates. Yelahna reacted automatically.

“Shields! Form a shieldwall!”

Her soldiers, ignoring the casualties, responded coolly. Spearmen hefted their shields, interlocking them and forming an impervious wall of wood and steel. Sheathing her sword, Yelahna yelled encouragement.

“Steady! Crossbowmen, pick your targets!”

Taking cover behind the shieldwall, the crossbowmen began to methodically return fire. Popping up to fire off a shot at a fleeting shadow in the trees and then crouching behind the shields to reload. More arrows thumped into the shields and one unlucky spearman who didn’t have his head down far enough was hit in the head. As the spearman fell a gap in the shield wall opened, and a half-dozen arrows zipped into the opening, felling a crossbowman.

“Keep your heads down!”

The spearmen shuffled to close the gap.

A messenger ran up to Yelahna, but before he could deliver his message, an arrow slammed into his throat.

Shit.

Looking to her left, she could see the mass of soldiers and shields of B company. Peering hard through the murk of the forest, it was hard to see what they were doing. Gunshots rang out from the few companies of the 96th that had been issued muskets.

Suddenly, cutting through the din of battle, the trumpets sounded a brash string of repeating notes: charge!

“Forward!”

Down the line, similar orders and war cries issued from the battered Imperial companies. Breaking into small groups of soldiers darting between trees, the Imperial lines surged forward. Drawing her long sword again, Yelahna dashed along with her soldiers.

Yelahna found herself chasing a fleet-footed archer. Ducking between trees and under branches, it was all she could do to keep the cloaked figure in sight. Careening around a large tree, she broke into a clearing and found herself opposite a hulking man dressed in grays and greens. He drew a broadsword from a scabbard on his back and wordlessly saluted her with his blade.

Not bothering to return the salute, she launched straight into her attacks. Despite her opponent’s bulk, he deftly dodged and parried her attacks. Frustrated, Yelahna drew back waiting for his response. Wielding his sword easily with both hands, he attacked her with a long sweeping strike. Yelahna deflected his first swing with her own sword and was shocked by the force with which the blades clanged together, causing her hand and wrist to tingle.

His second attack was a short hacking strike, attempting to catch her sword arm. Pushing his blade away with her own, she stepped around to her right and swept her blade up to strike at his head. He jerked head out of the way and it was his turn to step away from Yelahna. They circled each other, looking for signs of weakness.

With a yell, Yelahna attacked again. With a flurry of quick jabs, she pressed home her attacks and was rewarded with several hits on his leather breastplate. With each hit, the point of her blade sunk into his leather breastplate, and the tip emerged stained red for an inch of steel. Her attacks, however, brought her too close to her opponent and he slammed the pommel of his sword into her helmet. The world exploded into stars and ringing.

Yelahna stumbled into the chest of the large archer. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around the torso in front of her. The archer smashed at her again, but she was so close to him he was unable to make a full swing. The pommel of the archer’s sword slid off the brim of her helmet.

Recovering some of her composure, Yelahna dropped her sword and yanked a dagger off her belt. As the archer raised his arms to hit her again, she stabbed the dagger into the pit of his arm. A shock seemed to run down his body, and he looked down at her in surprise. Withdrawing the blade, she struck the same spot over and over until the body in front of her fell away. Straightening her helmet, she picked up her sword and ran to join her advancing company.

Running down shadows, the Imperial soldiers erupted from the woods into the next farm clearing, slowing to a stop. There were no more enemies in sight. The regiment of light cavalry was sent at a gallop to the next line of trees, but no sign of the attackers could be found. Turning back to the city, the 1st and the 96th began to scour the battlefield, recovering bodies and weapons.

Colonel Musen gathered the officers of the two infantry regiments and the cavalry regiment. Reports were made. The bodies of thirty-seven attackers had been recovered, as had five longbows, and assorted other weapons. No attackers has been captured. Fifty-three Imperial soldiers had been killed and one hundred and seventy-nine were wounded. All Imperial soldiers were accounted for, dead and alive.

Going over to the bodies of the attackers, Yelahna and several of the other company commanders examined them. They all looked to be healthy men and women, dressed simply in plain leather armor and gray-green cloaks. Their equipment varied slightly, but every single one of them had a canvas bag of arrows at their side, and many had a second slung over their backs. The arrows were all heavy longbow arrows fletched with straw yellow feathers.

Something troubled Yelahna about the attackers. They were all too uniform in their appearance and equipment. And their bows were not the average hunting bow commonly found among robbers and highwaymen. These signs all pointed to an enemy that was organized and which had been recruiting and training soldiers for years. If they were willing to lose forty of their number, and an unknown number wounded, in an otherwise pointless attack on an Imperial city, then they were already a dangerous foe.

Yelahna looked to the skies, gathering her thoughts. To the east, dark clouds began to gather and a thin rumble of thunder reached her ears.