Chapter 109: Two Armies Broken

Chapter 109: Two Armies Broken

Redhaven committed its army first because Governor Seraph Dorne had spent the previous day receiving reports of Viridian columns advancing deeper into the province.

Border forces had already withdrawn, several smaller defensive positions had been bypassed, and Vorak Thenn’s army was moving directly along the roads leading toward the provincial capital.

If Seraph allowed the goblins to advance unchallenged, Redhaven would soon face the same situation that had destroyed Northwatch.

By sunrise, nearly thirty thousand soldiers had gathered along a broad defensive position several days from the capital. Professional infantry formed the center, crossbow companies occupied the shallow rises behind them, and cavalry waited on both wings.

Militia and survivors from the failed Northwatch relief effort filled gaps between regular formations, while engineers spent the final hours digging shallow trenches and placing stakes along the most obvious approaches.

A narrow stream protected part of the eastern flank, and wagon barriers reinforced several weaker sections of the line.

Seraph inspected the preparations from horseback before returning to a command position behind the center, where messengers could reach him from every part of the battlefield.

The position was not perfect, but it was the strongest ground available without retreating much closer to the provincial capital.

Viridian scouts discovered the army long before the two forces could see one another, allowing Vorak to receive a reliable estimate while his leading formations were still several hours away.

Redhaven had gathered approximately thirty thousand soldiers, and more small groups were joining from nearby roads. His own available field army remained more than twice that size even after occupation forces, supply guards, and siege detachments had been left behind in Northwatch.

Vorak studied the terrain once and gave his orders without changing the direction of the march.

The center would advance steadily and keep the Caldris infantry committed, both flanks would extend outward, and a substantial reserve would remain untouched until Redhaven had already committed its own.

He saw no reason to invent a complicated plan when his advantage in manpower already gave him several ways to break the defensive line.

The first Viridian formations appeared before midday, spreading across the fields beyond crossbow range as Seraph watched from behind his center.

More goblins arrived behind them, then more again, until the frontage of the approaching army exceeded the defensive line he had prepared.

"Hold the position," Seraph told the officers around him as Viridian drums began sounding across the field.

"Do not chase them if they withdraw. Make them come through us."

His commanders carried the instruction toward the wings while the first goblin formations began advancing.

The initial attack came against the center and both flanks at nearly the same time.

Redhaven crossbowmen began firing once the goblins entered range, and the opening volleys struck dense formations crossing the exposed fields.

Viridian infantry continued forward beneath raised shields until the two armies met along the prepared line.

The humans held well during the opening struggle. Their longer reach allowed spearmen to strike before many goblins could close properly, while heavier bodies and stronger shields made them difficult to dislodge once formations locked together.

Militia behind the regulars passed weapons forward and dragged wounded soldiers away from the line as Seraph received report after report that the defenses remained intact.

Viridian began rotating troops before those reports could become confidence.

After sustained fighting, horns sounded behind parts of the goblin line and exhausted formations withdrew in controlled groups while fresh units moved through the gaps.

The humans who had already spent hours fighting suddenly found themselves facing fresh soldiers.

The same pattern spread across the center as the day continued. Seraph could rotate some companies, but his smaller army could not replace entire sections without opening dangerous gaps.

Professional infantry therefore remained at the front longer than their Viridian opponents, and fatigue began spreading even where casualties remained manageable.

During the afternoon, one Viridian wing deliberately gave ground after a Redhaven cavalry probe struck its outer formations.

Seraph received a report that the goblin flank appeared to be weakening and ordered part of his cavalry reserve forward, hoping to turn a local success into the opening he needed.

The mounted charge drove deeply into Viridian light troops and forced several formations to scatter away from the immediate impact.

Redhaven infantry began advancing behind the cavalry to widen the apparent opening, and for several minutes the goblin flank looked genuinely unstable.

Vorak committed part of his reserve before the attack could develop further. Fresh Viridian infantry struck the supporting Redhaven soldiers from the side while crossbowmen concentrated fire around the cavalry’s withdrawal routes.

What had begun as Redhaven’s most successful movement of the battle stalled as horses and infantry became tangled among retreating goblins, advancing reserves, and their own supporting formations.

Seraph ordered the cavalry back once it became clear the attack could not continue.

The surviving riders withdrew in scattered groups, but the movement had already consumed a large part of the reserve he had intended to use later and left several supporting infantry companies badly disorganized.

Vorak increased pressure on both flanks after the failed cavalry attack. Viridian troops crossed the stream farther upstream where scouts had identified a shallow section, forcing Redhaven to bend its eastern line backward.

On the opposite side, additional formations extended beyond the human flank and began threatening the roads behind the army.

By late afternoon, Seraph could no longer reinforce every threatened sector, even though the center still held.

Units shifted backward at different times, militia companies crowded behind professional troops, and messengers carried contradictory instructions between commanders trying to protect their own sections.

The defensive line had not completely broken, but it was losing the shape that had allowed it to resist during the morning.

Seraph finally ordered a general withdrawal toward the capital while the main road remained partially open.

Professional companies formed a rear guard and began pulling away in stages, allowing the first formations to withdraw successfully.

Viridian light troops soon reached one of the side roads, however, while fresh infantry pressed the rear guard before it could disengage.

The retreat fragmented as pressure increased along several routes. Some units maintained formation and continued toward the capital, while others were driven into surrounding farmland or cut away from the main road.

Cavalry attempted to reopen one blocked route, but the Viridian troops holding it had already been reinforced and refused to give way.

By sunset, Redhaven’s field army no longer existed as a single force. Thousands had been killed, wounded, or captured, while other groups scattered through the countryside trying to reach friendly territory by smaller roads.

Perhaps eight thousand soldiers eventually escaped in formations large enough to remain useful, but they carried little of the confidence with which the army had begun the day.

Vorak did not waste the night chasing every survivor because destroying the retreating fragments was unnecessary for his immediate objective.

He reorganized his own formations, collected the wounded, and ordered scouts forward along the road toward Redhaven’s provincial capital while the main army prepared to continue its advance.

Far to the south, Stoneford’s army was already fighting its own battle under Governor Cassian Holt.

He had gathered approximately twenty-six thousand soldiers around a river crossing on the main approach from Valemar, choosing terrain he believed could reduce the advantage of Viridian’s greater numbers.

The river was not especially broad, but the principal bridge and nearby elevated ground offered enough defensive value that Stoneford’s commanders believed they could force the goblins to attack through limited approaches.

Infantry held the main crossing behind prepared barriers, crossbowmen occupied the higher ground, and cavalry waited behind both wings.

Smaller detachments guarded known fords upstream and downstream while engineers stood ready to destroy sections of the bridge if the central position became impossible to hold.

The southern Viridian commander arrived with an army far larger than Cassian’s and refused to concentrate it where Stoneford wanted the battle fought.

A visible force formed opposite the main bridge and began exchanging ranged fire with the defenders, while infantry approached often enough to keep Stoneford committed there.

Scouts and engineers simultaneously spread along the river in both directions, searching for crossings that could turn the prepared defensive position into only one part of a much wider battlefield.

Cassian received the first warning shortly after the opening clashes. "Movement upstream," an officer reported while pointing along the river on the campaign map.

"Several thousand at least, and engineers are with them."

Cassian ordered infantry and cavalry shifted toward the threatened sector, but before those troops had fully redeployed another messenger arrived with reports of additional goblin movement downstream.

The Stoneford defensive line began stretching along the river almost immediately, forcing commanders to divide formations that had originally been intended to support the main bridge.

The principal crossing still held, but its importance declined as Viridian engineers found shallower sections and began establishing temporary passage points away from the strongest defenses.

Thousands of goblins crossed upstream while crossbowmen on the opposite bank covered their movement and pushed Stoneford scouts away from the riverbank.

Cassian ordered cavalry to strike before the foothold could grow large enough to support a full infantry line.

The charge initially succeeded as Stoneford riders crashed into the first goblin formations on the far side and pushed them back toward the riverbank, killing engineers and disrupting troops still organizing after the crossing.

More Viridian soldiers were already coming through the water behind them, and crossbowmen established firing positions as fresh infantry closed around the cavalry’s outer edges.

The riders attempted to disengage before they became trapped, but several units had driven too deep and were forced to fight their way back through tightening formations.

Cassian lost a large portion of his mobile reserve without eliminating the crossing.

Downstream, another Viridian force established a smaller foothold and began expanding toward Stoneford’s flank, forcing the army that had been designed to hold a strong central position to defend several separate approaches at once.

The southern commander waited until Stoneford had shifted most of its reserves away from the bridge, then ordered a stronger attack across the center.

Infantry surged toward the barriers while crossbowmen concentrated on defenders along the elevated positions. Stoneford still resisted effectively, but its commanders could no longer move troops freely because every sector was under pressure.

By late afternoon, Cassian’s officers recognized that the river position was becoming a trap.

Viridian troops were already established on both sides of the main defense, and the roads toward the capital were in danger of being cut if the army remained in place much longer.

The withdrawal order went out across the Stoneford line, but not every formation received it at the same time.

Some companies began pulling back in good order, while others remained engaged near the bridge or distant crossings and learned about the retreat only after neighboring units had already disappeared.

Viridian pressed forward as soon as the movement became visible. Fresh formations attacked withdrawing infantry while light troops pushed toward junctions behind the Stoneford line, and crossbowmen fired into dense groups around wagons and narrow roads.

Several units abandoned supplies simply to keep moving as the retreat became harder to coordinate.

The damaged cavalry could not protect every route or cover every withdrawing formation.

Several human units became isolated near the river and were surrounded, with some fighting until escape became impossible while others surrendered after their officers realized the main army had already withdrawn beyond them.

By evening, Stoneford’s field army had also collapsed into scattered groups. Between six and eight thousand soldiers managed to retreat toward the provincial capital in useful formations, while the rest had been killed, wounded, captured, or dispersed across the countryside.

Cassian received the first survivors after darkness had fallen and listened as their reports confirmed that the river defense was gone.

No second field army could be assembled quickly enough to challenge Viridian before it reached the capital, and the province would now have to rely on whatever forces could still be gathered behind the city walls.

Seraph Dorne received almost identical news in Redhaven as survivors from his own defeated army returned. Both provinces had committed the strongest mobile armies they could still gather, and both armies had failed before Viridian reached their capitals.

Reports from the two fronts eventually reached Rakhar in Eastwatch, where the results were marked on the campaign map without ceremony.

Redhaven’s main field army had been destroyed as an organized force, while Stoneford’s field army had suffered the same fate and could no longer contest the southern advance in open battle.

Rakhar ordered both offensives to continue after the troops had been reorganized. Vorak would move toward Redhaven’s capital, and the southern army would continue toward Stoneford’s capital while occupation forces and siege detachments maintained control behind them.

Noah observed the changing eastern theater through his divine connection and saw how little remained of the defensive structure that had once linked the five provinces.

Eastwatch, Northwatch, and Valemar were already conquered, while Redhaven and Stoneford had now lost the armies meant to stop Viridian before the fighting reached their cities.

Along two separate roads, battered Caldris survivors hurried toward the final eastern provincial capitals while goblin columns reorganized behind them.

There was no untouched field army waiting between Viridian and either city now, and the next defensive lines would have to be built around the walls themselves.