Emperor Forged (An Empire Reforged Book 1) by K.D. Robertson

Author:K.D. Robertson [Robertson, K.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-27T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Thousands of soldiers descended on Talepolis as I watched from atop a tower. The lights of the streets hadn’t been lit tonight, save for a few that some poor beggars or stalwarts kept going. The sprawl was dark, visible due to my helmet’s enhanced vision. Beyond it were the bright lights of the outer wall. Countless torches and braziers burned bright against the dark figures running along the battlements.

Over the past couple of days, I had harassed the city with scouts and made our march as obvious as possible. We started on fortifications and our encampment at morning. My forces began to line up come late afternoon. Trebuchets and mangonels sprang to life, their prefabricated pieces slipping together easily. I had even lit a large number of stone piles on fire at the front of my formations.

The message to Otwin had been clear: evacuate the sprawl, or I would burn it to the ground before me.

A series of flares burst in the air above the sprawl, signaling yet more blocks cleared. Otwin was behaving, which was good news. The armored knights plowing toward the walls weren’t equipped for city fighting. The Empire’s tactics for city fighting required that mages be seeded throughout each unit. These mages provided mobile barrier coverage and enabled us to burn out individual buildings.

But I couldn’t spare the necessary mages; they were needed for taking down the walls. To make matters worse, my infantry had never seen how quickly a city fight became a shit fight. City fighting needed to be lived through. If Otwin forced us to fight block to block, then we would take tremendous casualties. The oni were powerful but lacked the experience necessary to carry a battle in the sprawl. My own victories over them had often come from exploiting their inexperience in cities. Tornfrost’s death had paved the way to such a victory as I butchered my way through five times our number of oni.

If Otwin forced my hand, then the city was forfeit. Mage-supported mangonels would reduce the sprawl to burning rubble within hours and we could walk to the walls unhindered.

“He’s playing this by the book, Bulwark,” Yasno said from next to me. “Everything is going as planned.”

I looked at the oni next to me, noting the brightness of his face despite his usual dour look. The light from the next set of flares almost seemed to be inside of his eyes rather than reflecting off them. Yasno raised his fist, responding with a flare of his own.

That was the last flare, I noted, remaining silent. The whole point was to give Yasno command over the first phase of the assault. This was his battlefield, as Miyasa had told me it often had been up north against my fortresses. These rolling flares were his idea, along with most of the plans for the first phase. Undermining his command was disrespectful. I needed to remember that and let him lead.

“It’s time for us to join them, Bulwark,” he said, his face split by a small grin.

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