Chapter 106: The Start of the Offensive

Chapter 106: The Start of the Offensive

The fifteenth day began with silence along the Valemar frontier, exactly as the fourteen days before it had begun. Patrols moved along the roads, sentries watched the distant Eastwatch hills, and reduced garrisons prepared for another uneventful morning. Many professional soldiers who would normally have reinforced those positions were no longer there because they were already marching north toward Northwatch under orders issued before Governor Lucan Merrow learned the truth of the northern campaign.

Shortly before sunrise, horns sounded inside Eastwatch, and the sentries nearest the border initially assumed another formation was being transferred toward the northern front. That explanation disappeared when entire columns began emerging from several roads at once. Infantry assembled in disciplined ranks, engineers moved with carts and bridge equipment, supply wagons rolled behind them, and siege crews brought forward catapults, ballistas, battering rams, and siege towers that had remained farther inside Eastwatch for nearly two weeks.

The formations did not turn north as Valemar’s observers had expected. They came directly toward the frontier, and mounted scouts watching from distant posts needed only a few moments to understand what was happening. One rider immediately turned toward the nearest military position while another remained behind long enough to estimate the size of the approaching force, only to abandon the attempt when new columns continued appearing behind those already visible.

Viridian crossed openly once the first formations reached the border, with banners raised and infantry advancing along several roads. There was no concealed ford, nighttime infiltration, or attempt to disguise the direction of the attack because Rakhar’s deception had already accomplished its purpose during the previous fourteen days. Valemar had sent troops, supplies, and attention north while the army waiting inside Eastwatch remained deliberately inactive.

The first border checkpoint received barely enough warning to close its barriers. Several hundred Caldris soldiers occupied the position, supported by militia called into service after Northwatch was invaded, but the mobile formation that normally reinforced them had departed north the previous day. The remaining defenders had prepared for patrol clashes and minor incursions, not tens of thousands of soldiers suddenly crossing in force.

Viridian’s vanguard attacked before the defenders finished organizing. Crossbowmen spread along the road and adjoining fields while shielded infantry advanced toward the barricades, and Caldris troops fired from wooden platforms and behind prepared cover. Several goblins fell during the first approach, but additional ranks continued forward as engineers began dragging obstacles aside beneath raised shields.

Another Viridian formation moved around the checkpoint through open farmland and approached the road behind it. The Caldris commander recognized the danger before complete encirclement and ordered his soldiers to withdraw, but only part of the garrison escaped before Viridian light troops reached the rear road. Those still inside the position were forced back toward the barriers and overwhelmed in close fighting.

By the time the sun had fully risen, the checkpoint was already under Viridian control, and similar reports were spreading across the frontier. Neighboring garrisons began realizing that the attack extended far beyond a single road and that no mobile reserve was coming to stabilize the border.

One stone watchpost attempted to hold until supporting troops arrived, only to discover that the expected reinforcements were already marching toward Northwatch. Another garrison abandoned its position after scouts reported goblin columns moving along a parallel road farther west. Messengers raced south with wildly different estimates of the invading army’s size, though every report agreed that the attack involved tens of thousands.

One exhausted scout eventually stopped trying to estimate the numbers at all. "The roads are full of them," he told his commander after reaching a secondary post. "More were still crossing when I left, and I could not see where the columns ended."

Nearly eighty thousand Viridian troops had been committed to the opening advance, while additional formations remained inside Eastwatch to protect supply lines, occupy captured territory, and reinforce the campaign if necessary. The southern commander followed Rakhar’s instructions directly: destroy forces blocking the main routes, contain positions that could be bypassed, secure bridges and crossroads, and continue toward Valemar’s provincial capital.

By midmorning, the first serious attempt to halt the invasion formed around a fortified bridge farther inside the province. Approximately six thousand Caldris soldiers gathered there from nearby garrisons, militia units, provincial cavalry, and local crossbow companies. Barricades were placed across the main approach while ranged troops occupied stone buildings and elevated positions overlooking the river.

Their commander expected additional formations from the interior, but those troops never appeared because many had already been ordered north. Every hour spent waiting only allowed more Viridian formations to reach the crossing, and the defenders eventually realized that they would have to fight with the troops already present.

The Viridian commander brought more than twenty thousand soldiers against the position. Crossbowmen began suppressing the defenders near the bridge while infantry attacked the barricades directly, and scouts moved along both directions of the river searching for usable shallows.

The Caldris defenders held the main bridge during the first attacks. Their longer spears and prepared obstacles made the narrow approach costly, and goblin bodies accumulated near the barricades as the front ranks struggled to close the distance. Viridian officers stopped feeding additional troops into the same narrow passage once scouts reported alternative crossings.

Thousands of goblins shifted toward the riverbanks instead. One large formation moved downstream toward a shallow ford while another threatened an upstream crossing, forcing the Caldris commander to divide soldiers he could not afford to spread across multiple positions.

Cavalry was sent toward the downstream ford in an attempt to prevent the crossing. That movement weakened the bridge defense just as additional Viridian infantry attacked the center, and the Caldris line began losing ground under pressure from more than one direction.

Viridian troops crossed downstream before midday and began appearing on the flank of the bridge position. The Caldris commander ordered a general withdrawal toward the interior rather than remain until complete encirclement, but Viridian light troops had already begun moving along secondary roads behind his army.

Some cavalry escaped in small groups while much of the infantry became trapped between the river, advancing goblins, and blocked retreat routes. Several companies surrendered after losing contact with their officers, and others continued fighting until their formations disintegrated. Within hours, the largest immediately available Valemar force near the frontier had ceased functioning as an organized army.

Viridian reorganized its leading formations and resumed the advance without allowing the victory to become a prolonged pause. The dead and wounded were left to designated support units while combat formations returned to the roads leading deeper into Valemar.

Farther along the main route, a fortified town closed its gates and prepared for siege. The defenders hauled stones, water, and crossbow bolts onto the walls while waiting for the massive Viridian army to surround them, but only part of the invading force stopped outside their fortifications.

Roughly eight thousand goblins remained behind to establish siege lines, block the roads, and prevent the garrison from interfering with the supply route. Most of the army continued marching south toward the provincial interior, leaving the defenders staring from their walls as tens of thousands of goblins simply passed them.

Another smaller stronghold received similar treatment later in the advance. Enough troops remained to contain it while the main columns continued toward Valemar’s capital, and the defensive network designed to delay an invasion became a collection of isolated positions trapped behind the moving front.

Governor Lucan Merrow received the first reliable warning after the frontier had already begun collapsing. The messenger reached the provincial capital covered in dust and dried blood and was taken directly to the command chamber, where officers were still reviewing reports concerning troop movements toward Northwatch.

"How many crossed?" Lucan asked as the exhausted scout was brought before the map table. The man shook his head and answered, "Tens of thousands, my lord. I could not see the end of their columns, and more were still coming when I left. They were using several roads."

Lucan immediately moved toward the provincial map, but another courier entered before he could finish issuing his first emergency orders. The principal border checkpoint had fallen, the force holding the fortified bridge had been destroyed, and at least one fortified town was surrounded while the main Viridian army continued deeper into Valemar.

Lucan stared at the markers representing the formations he had ordered north only the previous day. Their positions suddenly explained the emptiness now appearing across his own frontier, and he turned toward the officers gathered around him. "Recall every Valemar formation moving toward Northwatch. Stop the march and turn them south immediately."

One officer asked whether the order included forces already well beyond the provincial interior. Lucan confirmed that it did and instructed riders to use every available road until each commander had received the recall. Stoneford formations currently passing through Valemar were also to halt rather than continue toward the northern corridor.

Couriers departed the capital within minutes, but the order could not erase the distance already created. Some Valemar troops were a full day north, while others were mixed among supply convoys and eastern reserve movements. Wagons would have to be turned around, marching columns reorganized, and new instructions distributed before those soldiers could begin returning south.

Lucan knew none of them could save the frontier now. The troops he needed immediately were already moving away from the province, while Viridian forces had crossed too deeply for a simple recall order to restore the original defensive network.

Another courier entered later that morning carrying newer information from Northwatch. Lucan broke the seal himself and stopped after reading the first lines because Governor Edric Vaelor had surrendered. Northwatch’s provincial capital had fallen, Viridian controlled its gates and government district, and the siege the eastern provinces had been trying to relieve was already over.

Lucan placed the message beside the map and studied the sequence again. Northwatch had been attacked first, Redhaven had responded, the shared reserve had shifted north, and Valemar had eventually released a substantial part of its mobile forces. Viridian had remained quiet along the southern border until those movements were underway, then crossed on the fifteenth day.

"They waited for us to move," Lucan said as his hand rested beside the road leading north. The officers around him remained silent because the pattern was impossible to dismiss now, and the quiet frontier they had watched for two weeks suddenly had a clear purpose.

Lucan abandoned any attempt to gather a large field army outside the capital. Too many professional formations were scattered across the province or returning from the north, while the remaining troops could not assemble quickly enough to create another defensive force comparable to the army Northwatch had fielded.

"Everything available moves toward the capital," Lucan ordered as officers began writing instructions. "Mobilize the militia, seal the granaries, distribute crossbow bolts, reinforce every gate, and prepare barricades behind the entrances. Garrisons that cannot delay the goblins without being trapped are to withdraw while their roads remain open."

He also ordered every available cavalry unit concentrated for scouting and delaying actions. The objective was no longer to stop Viridian at the frontier because the frontier had already disappeared as an organized defensive line, and every surviving formation now had to contribute to protecting the provincial capital.

Reports continued arriving throughout the afternoon. One bridge had fallen, another garrison had withdrawn before contact, two towns were surrounded, and Viridian columns had already reached roads that Valemar’s commanders expected to remain secure for several more days.

The province had no coherent frontline to fall back upon. Each commander reacted to whichever goblin column appeared nearest, while the main Viridian body continued toward the provincial capital without waiting for isolated resistance to be eliminated.

Northbound troops began receiving the recall orders at different times, producing immediate confusion along the roads. Some formations stopped and turned south as soon as the first courier reached them, while others continued north until additional messengers confirmed the invasion. Supply wagons blocked narrow routes as drivers tried to reverse direction, and military columns moving south encountered units that had not yet learned they were supposed to turn around.

Across the border in Eastwatch, Rakhar received confirmation that the opening attack had broken through Valemar’s frontier faster than expected. The principal defensive positions had collapsed, Lucan had begun recalling his northern forces, and Viridian’s main army was continuing toward the provincial capital.

Rakhar ordered the advance maintained without interruption. Valemar’s returning troops were still days away from useful positions, and every hour of movement brought the southern army closer to the city before those formations could recover from their reversal.

By evening, Lucan no longer needed additional reports to determine Viridian’s objective. Every major road being seized or bypassed pointed toward the provincial capital, and he ordered the city’s defenses pushed into full emergency preparation before the invading army could arrive.

Militia gathered in hurried groups while professional soldiers were assigned to vulnerable walls and gates. Wagons carried timber, stones, water, food, and ammunition toward the defenses, and laborers began constructing secondary barricades behind the entrances. There were fewer experienced soldiers than Lucan wanted, and no officer could promise that the recalled formations would return before Viridian reached the city.

The first fleeing soldiers from the destroyed frontier positions arrived after sunset and brought no reassuring news. They reported that the goblin army had continued marching after every victory, leaving separate forces behind only when a stronghold could not be taken immediately.

Beyond the walls, tens of thousands of Viridian soldiers were still advancing through Valemar under the fading light. Farther north, the soldiers Lucan had sent away only a day earlier were struggling to reverse their columns and return to a province whose outer defenses had already been torn apart.