Chapter 356 - 349 — Before the Next Assault

Southwestern alliance army frontline

Halven read the delivery sheet twice before looking into the wagon.

Four machine guns lay secured beneath its cover. Beside them were spare barrels, tool rolls and the carrying frame for another launcher.

"These are staying here?"

Corporal Merrit, who had accompanied the convoy, looked at halven then back at the convoy then again back at halven nodding.

"Yes sir, apparently the higher ups decided four machine gun crews, one launcher crew and forty riflemen with the instructors could help here better."

Lieutenant Senn took the sheet from Halven.

"And the ammunition?"

Merrit pointed toward the wagons still entering the yard.

Borr abandoned the box he was carrying and walked over.

"How many of those?"

"All the wagons behind this one carries and except the last carries ammo, around half a million rounds."

The dwarf leaned around him to inspect the road.

"Now that is a useful answer."

"The last also carries food."

"Getting better. Beer?"

"Water."

Borr deflated quickly then looked back at the convoy.

"Headquarters has considered every possible emergency except having to eat their stew sober."

Merrit smiled, then noticed the damaged machine-gun shelter beyond the yard. Fresh timber supported its roof, and the earth around the entrance was littered with chipped stone.

His smile faded.

"Is that where one of your crews fought?"

"Mine," Borr said. "Help me unload before someone decides we have too much."

The new arrivals began lifting weapons from the wagon.

Halven watched the riflemen gather beside the tollhouse. Their equipment showed plenty of ordinary campaigning, but the Mausers in their hands were almost new. Several still wore their sword belts where the hilts caught against the rifle stocks.

He recognized the problem immediately.

"Shift those belts around before you go forward. You will spend half the battle fighting your own swords."

One soldier tried raising his rifle, struck the hilt against it and hurried to adjust the buckle.

Merrit turned toward Halven.

"They said your men had held with only two of those guns."

"We did."

"Then six should make this easier."

Halven glanced toward the three burned Warhounds beyond the defenses nodding.

"Help us get them into position first."

Senn spread a rough drawing of the tollhouse defenses across an ammunition crate.

"The two existing guns stay forward. We are adding another shelter here, beside the reclaimed trench, and one at the other end of the wall."

He marked both places.

"The remaining two go behind the tollhouse, one on either side. There are clear approaches beside the buildings. They can cover those without firing through our front positions."

Halven pointed to the connecting trench.

"Put half the new riflemen along this side. That is where the demons got through last time."

"Merrit, take them," Senn said. "The others reinforce the firing steps along the front."

The corporal studied the route before nodding.

The additional launcher went to the same flank. Nesk’s crew would remain nearer the road, where the wrecks had narrowed the approach for warhounds.

Four machine guns forward, two behind, and roughly seventy rifles spread between the wall and the side trench.

For the first time since arriving, Halven could assign men to a threatened section without leaving another nearly empty.

"Where are we putting the ammunition?" he asked.

Senn folded back one corner of the drawing.

"Show the carriers the covered ammo shelters. We are using the ones behind both side passages as well."

Borr tapped a thick finger against the crate beneath the map.

"And return the empty boxes. If I open one during the next attack and find somebody’s lunch in it, I am feeding it to him with the lid."

Building the new shelters took most of the remaining morning.

Soldiers hauled beams from the rear stores while an earth mage raised banks around the chosen positions. He worked slowly around the old foundations, forcing loose rubble together before packing earth against it.

When one of the riflemen tried to push a roof beam into place too soon, the mage caught his wrist.

"Wait until I finish setting the wall."

"It looks solid."

"It is still settling. Unless you intend to hold up the roof yourself, wait."

The soldier withdrew them.

Halven moved between the work parties, checking that the passages remained clear. The extra men were useful, but weapons, timber and ammunition all had to pass through the same narrow entrances.

At the side trench, Merrit had his riflemen clear away the debris left by the previous fighting. They widened the bend where the warriors had fought their way back and carried the broken boards out to the yard.

The new machine gun went into a shelter overlooking that approach.

Halven crouched beside its gunner and looked through the opening.

The wreck of the third Warhound stood beyond the ruins. Demons had used that ground to reach the side of the defense. From this position, the crew could see the stretch between the wreck and the trench.

"Keep watching that gap," Halven told him. "There were demons in it before we realized how many had come around."

The instructor beside the gunner followed his gaze and nodded.

"We will have someone watching even when the crew is resting."

Farther back, soldiers cleared broken fencing from the views of the two rear guns. Senn walked both approaches himself, then showed the nearby warriors where they could move without crossing in front of the weapons.

The warriors remained responsible for the trench junctions and the close approaches beneath the walls. Their captain listened to the arrangements, asked Halven to point out the new shelters, and moved his shields accordingly.

Nobody wanted a repeat of the confusion in the side yard.

Near the second launcher, Nesk found a young goblin corporal examining the ruined outbuilding.

"Is that where you fired from?"

"For a while."

"Good view?"

"No its excellent. The Warhound saw us perfectly."

The corporal glanced at the collapsed roof.

Nesk pointed toward the passage leading back into the trench.

"Keep that clear."

His instructor arrived carrying the crew’s inspection sheet chimed in.

"He has developed a strong interest in exits."

Nesk replied. "It was educational."

He helped the new crew identify their ammunition, then returned to his own shelter. His helper had stacked the rounds beneath cover and left enough room beside them for both goblins to get through without climbing over the boxes.

Nesk inspected the passage and nodded.

That lesson, at least, had reached everyone.

By the time the roofs were covered, the yard had emptied of wagons. Replenishment soldiers carried the last loads into the reserve shelters while the instructors checked the guns.

Ward mages moved along the front shelters, repairing damaged markings and setting fresh stones into the walls. One stayed beside Borr’s position to test a troublesome section above the entrance.

The dwarf watched the light flicker across the stone.

"That supposed to do that?"

"While I am working on it."

"And afterward?"

"Afterward, you can check yourself during battle."

Borr glanced toward his gunner.

"She sounds confident."

"She sounds busy."

"That too."

Halven finally found time to drink.

Across the field, the quarry remained quiet. A few demons moved among the distant ruins, but no formations had come out onto the open ground. Alliance artillery continued firing farther along the defensive belt.

He looked down the trench. The new riflemen had taken their places among his survivors. Ammunition was close at hand, the wounded had been sent back, and six machine-gun crews waited beneath roofs that had not been there that morning everything seem to be going in right direction.

Senn approached from the side passage.

"Everything in?"

"The last boxes are being carried forward."

"Make certain the new men know the rear route."

Halven handed his cup to a nearby soldier and went to the junction.

Merrit stood there with two carriers and several riflemen. Halven pointed down the passage running behind the tollhouse.

"If this bend gets blocked, use the passage behind the kitchen. It brings you out beside the rear shelters. Keep the boxes against the wall, and if someone comes through with wounded—"

BOOM!

The shell struck the yard beyond the junction.

The blast slammed Halven against the trench wall. A wagon wheel, left beside the stores for repair, spun through the dust and struck the tollhouse steps.

He caught the edge of the bank before he fell.

"F*** Everyone down!"

Five more shells landed before his shout had carried beyond the nearest men.

KRA-BOOM! BOOM!

Pale light burst above Borr’s shelter as a shell struck its ward. Another explosion tore open the ground outside the forward wall. Two more hammered the defenses in quick succession, throwing timber from the new left shelter and smashing the parapet between the rifle positions.

The last landed behind the tollhouse.

Roof tiles swept over the trench. Halven crouched with his arms over his head while stone rattled against his helmet.

For several moments, he could see nothing beyond the dust filling the junction.

Someone was screaming in the yard.

Merrit lay against the opposite bank. He pushed himself onto one elbow, spat dirt and looked at Halven.

The sergeant caught his sleeve.

"Can you stand?"

Merrit nodded.

"Get your men under cover."

A carrier tried to rise beside them. His left leg folded beneath him, and he fell onto the ammunition box he had been carrying.

Halven and Merrit dragged him into the nearest shelter. Blood was spreading through the cloth above his knee.

"You stay with him," Halven told one of the riflemen. "Call for a healer."

He left the box where it had fallen and bent into the trench.

Senn was shouting from the tollhouse entrance.

"Keep the passages clear! Nobody in the yard!"

A swordsman seized the shoulder of a stunned carrier and pulled him beneath the steps. Another soldier crawled after a man lying beside the shattered wheel.

Halven reached the front wall.

Through the settling dust, he could still see the quarry.

No demons were charging.

The bombardment had caught his men standing up, carrying boxes and speaking across open passages.

"Stay below the wall!" he shouted. "Leave one watcher at each section and someone for gods sake tell me what hit us!"

With that he ducked into Borr’s shelter.

The gunner was crouched beside the weapon. Borr had one hand against the rear wall and the other over his ear.

"Gun?"

"Still here," the dwarf said.

The ward mage stood beneath the entrance, staring at the stone set above it. A crack crossed its glowing surface.

"That hit the protection directly," she said. "I need another stone."

Halven sent a runner to Senn.

From farther along the trench came a call that the new left shelter had lost part of its outer covering. The roof beams had held, but a soldier outside it had been struck by flying timber.

Merrit was already helping carry him back.

The pause lasted long enough for Halven to begin hoping the firing had moved elsewhere.

Then a shell burst outside Borr’s shelter.

BOOM!

Earth struck the opening hard enough to drive the gunner backward. The ward flashed again as fragments scattered across its surface.

More explosions followed along the wall.

Halven dropped beside an ammunition box. Dust sifted between the roof beams and settled across the gun.

The mage pressed both hands against the damaged stone. Light steadied above the entrance, then flickered as another impact shook the shelter.

She turned toward Halven.

"Move them."

"Can you hold it?"

"While they leave. Hurry."

Halven caught Borr’s shoulder and pointed to the gun.

"Take it back through the trench."

The instructor was already beside the crew. They lifted the weapon from its position while Borr pulled the nearest belt box away from the wall.

Outside, a carrier stood frozen beneath the entrance.

"Take that," Borr snapped, pushing the box into his arms. "Keep moving until you reach the lieutenant."

The man obeyed.

Halven waited for the gunner and instructor to pass, then helped the mage step down into the trench. She kept one hand raised toward the shelter as they withdrew.

Another shell struck.

The light above the roof flared white and broke.

KRA-BOOM!

Halven shoved the mage around the bend. The explosion struck the shelter’s front corner, and one of the roof supports gave way. Beams dropped into the space the crew had just left, spilling earth across the entrance.

A second ammunition box disappeared beneath the collapse.

Borr stopped.

Halven seized the back of his collar.

"Leave it."

The dwarf looked at the buried entrance, then followed the gunner.

At the tollhouse, Senn was speaking into the communication crystal.

"Our forward shelters are being hit repeatedly. We need the guns found."

He listened, his face tightening.

"Then send the observers. We cannot see them from here."

Ilyra reached the entrance with one of her assistants.

"No Warhounds in view," she reported. "The shells are coming from beyond the quarry. I cannot see the firing positions."

Senn passed that information through the crystal.

Halven pointed toward the crew struggling past them with the machine gun.

"Front shelter is gone. We got the gun out. Its mage needs relief."

"Bring her here."

The mage sank onto the step. Her hands shook as she lowered them into her lap.

Senn sent a runner toward the rear shelters, then turned back to Halven.

"There is still room along the old side wall. Get that crew under cover there while we clear them a firing position."

A fresh series of explosions struck the front.

Both men ducked beneath the entrance. Broken stone pattered down the steps, followed by the heavy thud of a roof tile.

When Halven looked up, Borr and the instructor were already carrying the gun toward the side passage. A replenishment soldier followed with the surviving ammunition box.

The other five guns remained in their shelters. Runners were checking the crews, and Merrit was moving his riflemen away from a damaged stretch of parapet.

They had more weapons than before, but Halven could barely reach them between the bursts.

A lookout shouted from the far end of the wall.

"Movement at the quarry!"

Halven climbed far enough to see through a broken section.

Demons were spilling out between the ruined buildings. Clubs, short blades and scraps of armor caught the light as their officers drove them onto the open ground.

Behind them, a Warhound pushed through the smoke.

Another followed along the broken road.

Halven dropped back into the trench as the artillery struck behind the tollhouse again.

"Riflemen to the steps!" he shouted. "Watch the side trench!"

Borr’s crew had reached the old wall. The gunner knelt while the instructor helped settle the weapon, and the dwarf dragged their ammunition box beside them.

Beyond the defenses, the demon horns began to sound.