Balada: When death did not exist, nor yet Eternity Part I 019

378th Flanking force, Metternich’s position

6:56 Local Planetary time

Metternich with the help of a pair of binoculars surveyed the battle field before him as he stood upright in the backseat of the spider-wolf -jeep with his aide Butz in the driver’s seat.

The jeep was a vehicle powered by the very same crystals that fueled the ships.  It had instead of wheels circular rings all over the surface of its belly, mimicking the way a snake crawls, which was pretty useful in bad terrain like mud, sand, or even snow.

It’s front was as its name suggests shaped like the head of a wolf, this was not only because of a psychological reason, since wolves where creatures which were generally feared, but also a practical reason since sloped and angled armor was more efficient than flat surfaced one at deflecting enemy projectiles, but also to use what was called ‘Creed Magic’.

Creed magic at its most basic definition was the simple notion that if you get enough people to believe something no matter how silly or slightly illogical it is, that something can become reality, or at least as close as you can get to reality.

A spider-wolf jeep was made so that when it was viewed by others they thought it was as stealthy and deadly as either a wolf or a snake or a combination of the two, something like this was an advantage since the vehicle was designed to be a scout/anti-infantry weapon.

The same was applied to the other vehicles, from war chariots to ships, to Pegasus, to Titans and even basic armor and swords.

The more deadly it looked the better!

For it was not unheard off for a force which had a superior number of armored units to lose a fight to an opposing one that had fewer heavies, but had such a high mass of infantry that where so convinced that their units where stronger than their foes, that the one’s with the fewer heavies actually received a magical bonus from the infantry! Not a big one but enough to tip the scale in their favor and win the day, fight to a draw or at the very least a pyrrhic victory.

The morale of a fighting force could be a decisive factor, since faith and beliefs could be powerful weapons and from the current belief the 378th had, and that they would succeed in their surprise attack, gave them a huge advantage and along with the element of surprise it tipped the scale in their favor. This was evident in the first hour of the battle since they were pushing the enemy back on all fronts.

“A fine starts sir, a fine start indeed!” Adrian said from his position next to Metty’s jeep as they gazed at the vanguard of their assault and it was doing a fine job of cutting the enemy to pieces.

In front of them their army was rolling up the enemy nicely, the artillery was doing an exquisite job of pinning down the enemy; the infantry and chariots where pushing them back and the cavalry was breaking their flanks.

“Let’s hope we have a good enough ending to this battle as its beginning, tell Tarkan to send half our forces to support the vanguard, the other half we will send as a flanking assault once we engage the enemy, and have Werner and his 88th ready in reserve.” Metternich replied.

“Yes sir, also complements of the 12th scouting group, the enemy’s cavalry are massing on the left side.” Adrian told him, he unlike Metternich was on an armored horse, since he had taken temporary command of the cavalry.

“Excellent!” his commander replied, with a smile on his face.

“And by excellent, I mean nuts and damnation, since it means those bloody monsters are heading this way!”

“You know what to do Adrian, just like Marengo.” Metternich said nonchalantly, but inside his stomach was aching and he was close to hyperventilating.

“Do you think it’s absolutely necessary sir?” his knight said, his voice filled with worry for his lord.

“I am afraid it is my friend, now begin the maneuver!” Metternich replied.

Adrian gave a reluctant nod, and moved the cavalry far way from where his liege was situated, leaving him with only an escort of about five other spider-wolf jeeps.

He was situated on a small hill about 200 meters in height, which gave him a clear view of the battlefield.

Metternich stole a gaze towards his side and saw that the flag of the commander was being raised next to him.

As he looked towards the enemy he saw that they were preparing to charge.

Apparently the sight of the enemy’s commander guarded by only a handful of troops and no Imperial cavalry in sight was to great temptation to pass up.

“I could still run, defect, I could order Butz to withdraw……….No!.....Not here……………And not now, it’s too dangerous! The jeep would eventually run out of fuel and if these troops see me run, the whole damn front would collapse!” Metternich bitterly thought to himself, as enemy arrows and lances were thrown from a distance at his position from the skirmish fraction of the enemy cavalry.

“I guess it’s time to get started, Butz retire the Guard behind the crest and give the order to prepare for phase one.” he said to his aide.

“Yes sir!” his aide replied and moved the jeep and its escort behind the crest of the hill.

“They come at us in the same old style.” Metternich said to his aide.

“Then we will just have to receive them in the same in style.” Butz replied with a smile on his face.

Chapter end