Summer, 1423

That evening Mera began by attacking the ridge tops dominating the fords of Triford. The sortie was done quickly at high elevation with cursory, opportunistic sweeps, without much risk to the wyrm, who did not even armor himself to increase his speed. Indeed arrows and bolts harmlessly whizzed by in the lengthening twilight. Mera first struck the Northern Heights, then the Eastern Heights, and finally the Southern, illuminating the darkening forested promontories with his flames. While enemy losses were minimal with the thick forest cover, the besieging hills were marked and became clearly silhouetted by smoke and flames as darkness fell. More sorties by the dragon hit the defensive positions around the main roads South and East while the Arcadian heavy artillery also opened up, pummeling the highlighted Imperial positions. Anderson's siege weapons quickly replied in kind and soon the besieged city was again shrouded by smoke and fire from dueling bombardments.

The Arcadian Army huddled in their sheltered earthen bunkers near the riverbank, waiting for orders to move. The rebels had quickly been reorganized into five divisions, a vanguard under Roza, engineers under Hassan, the main body of infantry under Murray, supply trains under Dunbar, and the rearguard of cavalry directly under Jayna herself: the Arcadian leader elected to directly command the rearguard, having Mera act independently and placing Chagraff in overall command of the troops. Everything transportable was packed and organized beforehand, the excess supplies and weapons gathered together to burn, including the heavy siege weaponry that were expanding the last of their ammunition and- too heavy to be transported-would soon become functionally useless.

Meanwhile, a network of scouts and watchers passed messages over to the commanders observing the duel from atop a small, rocky knoll. Jayna read over the reports and busied herself scribbling out figures onto a parchment.

“What do we do now?” Murray asked as a large stone landed uncomfortably close by.

The Arcadian leader had a quiet conversation with Chagraff before turning to the Walkerite and shrugging.

“Nothing. We continue to prepare.”

“What?” Murray was incredulous. “No breakout? Risking our dragon and wasting rounds for nothing?”

Jayna breathed deeply.

“There is a purpose-just not tonight. Everyone get some rest.”

As the night grew darker and Murray left shaking his head the Arcadian siege equipment fell silent, and soon enough the Imperial shells did the same, the hammer blows of stones echoing through the mountaintops still glowing from trees lit like torches.

The same attacks were repeated the next night, Mera’s hit and run raids and the artillery barrage, and again enemy troops scrambled and marched.

Jayna was back at collecting reports from the scouts and writing upon her map. This time however the Arcadian leader nodded and handed the document over to Chagraff. He saw a crude map of the area, with various unit names jotted out at various locations.

“How are the Imperial troops moving?” Jayna asked rhetorically.

The Rutherian scratched his head. “Anderson has reinforced the South Ford. There’s also troops moving over to the North Ford and the forces atop the Eastern Heights are preparing to attack.”

“How many banners do you count assembling at South Ford?”

“Seventeen.”

The Northern Ford?”

“Five.”

“And the Eastern bridges?”

“Nine. That leaves 5 brigades remaining in their former positions.”

Jayna smiled.

“Good!”

As the other Arcadian officers looked on in surprise, Jayna picked a piece of charcoal and drew a winding line right to the center of the Western Heights, before following the foot of the ridge to a small gap close to the Southern Heights.

“Anderson knew we were decoying, but he thought we were decoying for a breakout to the South or retreat to the North. He wants to hit us from the East when we do. We’ll disappoint him.” As Hassan brought over a much more detailed, topographical map of the Triford area and began describing the route, Chagraff laughed.

“Well, I'd sure hate to disappoint our Imperial buddies.”

***

Finally the plan was ready.

All the commanders were given hourglasses and strict timetables. Soon the last of the Arcadian artillery began to fall silent and Jayna nodded to Chagraff as she synchronized the hourglasses. “Well, here goes nothing. Pray to any gods you know for luck.”

While Mera dragged his evening raid into the night, again focusing again on the South and Eastern fords, the Arcadian army quietly moved out, with horses hooded and muzzled and wagon muffled and troops under firm orders to unload their weapons and remain silent. Like shadows, the long lines filtered through the empty streets of Triford, crossed the river, and worked their way up the hidden path into the center of Imperial positions. There they crossed a sturdy little wooden bridge that lay over the crumbled section of the trail; Hassan’s engineers had exhaustively built the structure in the interim, after pushing in the downed trees and underbrush further down the path that had not been used in its construction. All around the enemy slept by their campfires, with a few pickets languidly staring off towards the city rapidly being abandoned. Songs and conversations from the enemy camps drifted past in the darkness. Oevcn sensed enemy humans arrayed all around them as he snuck on by with Athur, very much feeling like prey evading a hungry predator. Holding their breath, the troops marched into the swamp and over the hill. An hour in, Roza's vanguard had cleared the enemy lines, reached the River Road and were rapidly marching North towards Road’s End.

Soldier by soldier, wagon by wagon, the Arcadian Army slowly dribbled out through the narrow gap. Four hours later, the bulk of the infantry had escaped the vice.

The wagon trains were slow however, and by the time Jayna’s rearguard was leaving Triford it was just before dawn.

Quietly the troops marched, the sky turning from black to deep blue, then paler by the minute. Soon early rising enemy troops were awakening, washing up and preparing fires and morning meals.

Barely obscured by the covered path and low lighting, the Arcadian troops marched on with their hearts pounding.

Jayna had just cleared the enemy lines when a sharp call rang out: “Halt! Who is there?”

A figure began storming over while the Arcadian leader and the rearguard warily drew their spears and readied their horses for a final breakout battle.

Just then a powerful explosion rocked the landscape, a shockwave even rustling the trees on the hills above. Instantly chaos broke out all over the enemy encampments as surprised troops streamed out from tents like ants and rushed over to the cliff side, while a large fireball rolled out from the city and into the sky. Forgetting the confrontation, the Imperial soldier immediately turned around and rushed back to rejoin his comrades.

Jayna jumped atop Biscuit as she called out to her troops. “Mount up! We flee!”

The five hundred riders rapidly mounted and galloped out through the hidden path and past the rear of the Imperial encirclement, currently in a state of complete confusion. As the ravine opened into a small depression the horses clattered across a fresh boardwalk laid by Hassan’s engineers and finally broke into the Hinterlands Road.

As she rode away from the trap of Triford, the wind blowing at her face and the landscape flashing by, Jayna smiled. Just in the nick of time, Mera had set the last remaining supplies and siege engines stocked with barrels of gunpowder aflame.

The Arcadians were not out of danger yet, and the Imperials would quickly pursue when they figured out what happened, but their cause had survived again.

Like a wily fox, Jayna thought. The Arcadians needed to be fleet and cunning to survive to the next day.

One day, there will be an opportunity to strike back.

---

Na Casaidigh- The Rising of the Moon

From  theroguez!