62 Breakthrough (2/2)

”Aren't you happy to have me watching your back?” she grinned.

”Since when did you enjoy fighting so much?” I shook my head in dismay. ”Luca and I are rubbing off you...”

”I'm not always prim and proper, you know,” Aura argued. ”I do enjoy fighting on occasion.”

Even behind her mask, I could tell she was eyeing me playfully.

”Huh,” I responded lamely.

There were a lot more things I wanted to say to her like how cute she sounded when she defended herself or how pretty she was in her golden half-mask or even how hot I thought she looked looking all warrior-like. I said none of these things, though. I was tongue-tied just looking at her.

”Can you two stop gazing into each other's eyes?” Luca, who had just finished stabbing the last Magesong soldier to get past Ashley's line, said to me and Aura. ”We're through.”

He pointed his broadsword forward and I followed his line of sight.

The gray mass of soldiers that had covered our front from the beginning of our encirclement had finally been driven to the sides and given way to an open stretch of green grass. Beyond this free area, a smaller army of gray soldiers formed a neat little square formation around a figure riding a swifthart. Above this figure was the gray flag that was unmistakably that of a high ranking officer.

”Is that...” Aura began.

”The commander of the Magesong's center army,” I finished for her.

”We really did it... we broke through their third line with so few soldiers,” Aura's honeyed voice seemed surprised at our accomplishment.

”Not yet,” I answered.

I glanced behind me.

”Thom, get ready to disengage and follow us through once you see Edo and Qwipps coming,” I yelled.

”There's no need to yell,” Thom insisted as he appeared beside me in a twirl of his black cloak. ”We've already disengaged. The half-ogre and the idiot are already here.”

He was right. Both Edo and Qwipps, each with a group of Darah army soldiers, just crashed into the right and left sides of our encirclement at nearly the same time. Together, they devoured the remaining Magesong soldiers positioned there.

Seeing this all take place like clockwork brought a warm feeling to my chest. It was always nice to see a plan come together like that.

Then I yelled, ”Ashley, we're breaking through now!”

As one, the entire force under my command charged forward. Together, we made it past the remaining Magesong soldiers and broke into the empty space between the enemy center army's third line and their command unit ahead of us.

In hindsight, this now left us exposed to any enemy units in the vicinity. Their third line had no choice but to let us through once we were past them as they needed to continue forward in an effort to stop our own center army from breaking through with even more soldiers. But there were plenty of other units that could destroy our puny force within reach.

One of these enemy units was the Magesong center army's five-thousand strong cavalry. They certainly could have annihilated us if they weren't already distracted.

Glancing left and then right, I saw the midnight blue flags of the Darah center army's cavalry breaking through on both sides.

In response, the enemy cavalry which was positioned in front of us split in half to repel the incoming Darah cavalry.

This opened the way for my tiny force to make a huge contribution to tonight's battle. After all, like Sun Tzu said, Balk the enemy's power; force him to reveal himself , and, quickness is the essence of warfare .

I couldn't help but smile while thinking I was surrounded by reliable people. Fila had found Thors and relayed my message. He'd done his job well. Now, it was time for the rest of us to do ours. Now, we had a chance.