207 March or Die (2/2)

Once the pain had subsided, I opened my eyes and saw that I'd successfully activated tactical view.

From on high I watched Luca's cavalry while in arrow formation charge at our enemy. However, just as they were about to hit the enemy cavalry's front, Luca and Xanthor split their forces in two with each of them leading half to the right and left sides.

This allowed them to narrowly avoid a head on clash with the enemy cavalry which some might think was an act of cowardice, but it was all part of the plan.

Just as they each swerved to the sides, both Xanthor's and Luca's riders dropped their payloads on the path of the enemy cavalry's charge.

I watched with grim satisfaction as the first of their riders reached our black powder grenades, and in the next second, get blown into pieces by the ensuing explosions.

Boom, boom, boom! My vision was covered in dust cloud after dust cloud as the explosions rocked the desert floor. And although I couldn't hear them, I was mostly certain that the pained screams of riders and their mounts could be heard for miles around.

”What a waste of good swiftharts,” I noted.

”Muddamit,” Qwipps explained. ”I didn't think that would work!”

”Although dropping them from the skies is way more effective,” I said. ”Our guys were too close to the fireworks like this…”

”Is our cavalry safe, Commander?” Varda asked.

I searched the ground for signs of my men, and was happy to report to Varda that their evasive maneuvers had proved successful.

”How about the enemy cavalry?” Varda asked again.

”There's still a lot of them… but I'm guessing Garm will think twice before overreaching a second time,” I answered.

”Too bad, he wasn't leading the charge himself, huh, Dean,” Qwipps chuckled.

”Y-yeah,” I said half-heartedly.

I suspect that if Garm had in fact been leading the charge, then Luca's attack might have failed. Once again I was thankful that the great general continued to underestimate us.

”Jensen!” I called at the same time as I disengaged Fool's Insight.

Somewhere close behind me, in one of the wagons we'd loaned from Shanks' company to ferry our injured soldiers across the desert, I heard him answer back, ”Yes, commander?”

”Raise the flag and order the cavalry back,” I ordered. ”Then let everyone know to pack in tighter. I don't want anyone straying from the path now, you hear?”

Our formation was as narrow as we could make it without extending our line long enough to get attacked in the rear.

Garm's cavalry managed to attack our backs a second time, and then a third, but their dwindling number now made it easier for Luca's cavalry to beat them back.

It became obvious to me then that the great general was keeping more and more of his cavalry back. I suspected that he was expecting another brazen attack to come, and was simply waiting to counterattack whatever we had planned.

It was past lunch now. We were nearing our destination. This was also around the time when the first of Aura's traps finally made an appearance.

The reason for our narrow formation became apparent in this stretch of desert. While we marched harmlessly across the sandy floor, the army that followed us didn't fare so well.

As soon as their right and left wings reached an area we'd just crossed, all hell broke loose.

The right wing triggered fire mines left behind by Aura's fire magicians. And although she herself wasn't proficient in arcane traps, the explosive power of these fire mines told me she'd lent her own mana to the making of the mine's runes.

The left wing trigged ice mines left behind by the chosen one himself, and the icicles that exploded out of the ground were like the spires of an ice palace.

Fire and ice danced across the desert floor, and any other army would have expired by now. But no, they were being led by Garm, and the half-elf was stubborn, and seemingly unkillable, for while our arcane traps decimated the enemy's left and right wing, his center forces remained mostly intact.

”I see them, Commander,” Varda called. ”The gliders are parked at the entrance to the oasis leading into the gorge… um, but they're not alone…”

”You mean Pike's team is with them now, Varda?” Qwipps asked.

I didn't need to hear Varda's reply to know that wasn't the case because I could see the situation for myself.

A ways to the south of us, we saw the towering sandstone cliffs that marked the southern mountain range of the Westersand Desert. A desert gorge cut right into the middle of these cliffs, and at its entrance we could see the desert firs of the secret oasis.

More than a dozen banners floated high above the oasis as well as atop either side of the thirty-foot cliff walls. But they weren't our banners. No, these banners — all of which were of a red cross painted over a white field — belonged to another group.

”Okay… who invited the Pilgrimage to this party?” I asked.