Chapter Ten

"Alright Young lads and ladies; ready for your first match together?"
"Who are we fighting?"
"Sarque, His team is third place; second year. I'm sure it's nothing you can't handle."
"Very well than. Let's see the map and take our places."


Central River, not the good kind either. It ran from their position to hers, it would force the battle to be waged by two seperate armies with a limited capacity to communicate. At the center of the map was a town with two bridges, on on each end of town. They both joined an island in the center, that island would be the ideal command point, especialy with the preexsisting stone fort there. The fiercest fighting was intended to be there. The side of the map on her left flank was rocky, there seemed to be a quarry towards the center. On the other side was a forest, and parallel to the Quarry was a lumber camp. So siege weaponry and defenses were both options, the difficulty would be in getting the ammunition to the weapons, or supports to the walls; controlling the bridges would mean controlling he fort which would make having the weapons or defenses pointless.
So she built her army with that in mind; swordsmen, who could be utilised for working the quarry or lumber mill as well as in any other manual labor she needed, archers to defend or attack walls, and a few units of cavalry for fast responses. She left out spearmen all together, it was a bit risky if they focused on cavalry.

"Alid and Chesi, left flank; capture the quarry. Kora and Kara, leave your armies here at the camp and scout the town in better detail, see if you can get the people to either leave or join us. Vlad, right flank; control the lumber mill. Hotchkis, Marlen, Lind, Gahtre, and I will advance wait for Kora and Kara to return with intel."
"Yes sir!"
"Sure thing captain."
"What if Vlad needs help?"
"We're dividing between river banks. Lind, Marlen, and I will be on the right side to help Vlad; Hotchkis and Gahtre will be ready to support Alid and Chesi."

"Petra, are you sure about this? I don't know if I'm ready to command yet."
"Chesi, I know. Alid's team was best in the fleet last year, just listen to him and you'll be fine."
"Should I deploy myself to the field?"
"Yes, Alid's no good in a fight; practice has shown that. You on the other hand are probably the best fighter on the team. Think of it as being his bodyguard; he does the asignment, you keep him safe while he does."
"Ok, If you say so."

Petra wanted to include her friend, and Chesi was happy to be included; but both knew that she was the weak link in the team. It was an all-star team, but she was still the weak link.

The Enemy was Sarque. Petra had done some research; he wasn't the best, but the best didn't spend their time playing teams from lower years. That said, he was about a half a win away from tying the second place team; this match actually did matter to them.
He liked playing defense, and a siege would put him on the upper hand. Worse still, since he was on a higher rated team than she was, he'd not only picked this map from a list, he'd have picked his own starting point. He'd be starting on the island, with his subordinates most likely in the town.
His second-in-comand was his twin sister Saress; she was the one to worry about. Sarque was a defender, he had a team of defenders, but Saress was the one on the fields. All kinds of nasty gossip was circling about her various alleged activities, but everyone agreed that she was one of the more promising necromancers in the school. This despite the fact that necromancy wasn't actually available as a class until year four. Losing troops in battle with her would bolster her troops, and for her men death was only inconvenient. Petra had worked out a plan for that issue; a solution that would work out very nicely for everyone involved.

"Ready?"
"I'm ready."
"Aye sir."
"Let the match commence."

He was in the fort, as were six of his other teammates. One was in the quarry, a second in the lumber mill, and Saress was gunning it for the local graveyard; just outside the quarry. Petra was annoyed to discover that the map's scale was considerably greater than she realised. It was nightfall by the time Vlad was in position to assault the lumber mill, and Saress had left her initial troops to guard the quarry as she and her new horde of undead moved north to a second graveyard outside a town on the far end of the map. Alid and Chesi had managed to move into the mountains above the quarry and were preparing to launch a morning assault.
Vlad did not wait. Even with men still tired from a day's march, he assaulted the mill. It was dark, and his adversary was expecting him to adhere to the Nieldic tradition of not attacking the night of a march. The result was a lot of blood; almost all of it theirs. Vlad reported that the enemy had spent the whole day stockpiling wood, and must have been as tired as his own men. How he could even tell where the enemy had been between the night, lack of campfires, and heavy foliage she had no idea.
Alid's morning assault was if anything, more succesful still. His force, along with Chesi's, woke the enemy with a rain of arrows, then hit both flanks with percise timing. He promptly set Chesi to defense and began operating the quarry.

Kora and Kara reported back the next day. The people were enfuriated by Saress's disrespect for heir ancestors; any support Sarque had before that disolved the second the first skeletal warrior emerged. Her defeat could be used to garner support not only from the central city, but from all the nearby towns as well. She could likely double her force if she could defeat Saress. Petra initiated phase two.

"Kora, Kara, lure Saress into the quarry. Have your men ready to flank her forces.
Vlad, I'm sending Lind to hold the mill. Send the stockpile you have here and we'll construct a bridge. Take your men and spread word to the towns about Saress, get them to agree to help once we beat her."
"As you vish Captain."

"What about the rest of us?"
"Hold positions until the bridge is finished. I'll have further orders then."

Sarque and his men hadn't budged since the match began. Kara said she'd spotted a few of their commanders in one of the bars. Petra knew that even with Saress gone it would still be a very time consuming undertaking to defeat them.

Saress now had an undead horde larger than the combined forces of the rest of her team. She'd likely have more, but a necromancer had limits. Push your will too far and you'd not only lose control or have stupid minions; you'd rot your own mind and end up no better than the dead you controlled. Saress's comander was likely at those limits, her personal combat capablities would have fallen to their lowest point.
The effect was probably affecting her too. The simulators used to control commanders had been programed to interfere with the players mind if their avatar's mind would have been impaired. Kara and Kora pulled her in with little effort, a few fireballs drew her attention. The oppurtunity to kill commanders was to easy to pass up, and the whole horde drove straight at the quarry; with Saress herself at the rear.
Petra sprang her trap, Chesi and Alid's men were positioned to stop the charge, and Kara and Kora locked them in the long canyon that lead to the front of the quarry. It was suicidal to fight so much larger a force, but Petra was counting on their realising that. As expected, Chesi moved up to Kora's side of the ridge, and hunted Saress's commander down. With as much focus as it took to control an army that size in battle, it was no surprise that Chesi caught her unaware. A single blow of her hammer and the battle was finished. Without their commander the undead were helpless.
Sarque reacted now. The Fortress defenses were mobilized. The outer wall of the city was a bustle of soldiers constructing defenses. The streets were a flury of messengers and guards.

"Phase three in effect. Alid, is the amuunition ready?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"Vlad, have the people agreed?"
"Yes captain."
Kara, tell the towns on the left; Kora, take right. Have them assemble out of range before the main gates. Gahtre, assemble weapons, and Marlen do the same; bring them before your respective gates. Hotchkis, take comand of the quarry. Chesi and Alid move to the assembly point on the left bank and prepare defenses; Vlad and I shall do the same on the right."
"Sure thing Petra."
"What do we do once we've told the townsfolk?"
"Get into the city, tell them to stay in their homes. Then get the gates open if you can."

It wouldn't be an easy fight. If the gates were opened, they'd storm the city. If not, they'd build trebuchets and crush the fortress. The supplies would be unreachable, and siege would be much faster. She sent a messenger to Lind to have send wood around to the assmebly points. Even if they did take the gates chances were the fortress would be taken only with the aid of catapults.

It was a good battle.