Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-Four — Joint Strike Fighters
Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-Four — Joint Strike Fighters “So, how do you fight an amphiptere?” I asked.The general hummed, and I was happy he was actually considering my question. Not that we had too much else to do on the ride over. The burden beetles were cool, but they weren’t exactly fast. Stable, and they walked at a very even pace-more so than a horse or donkey-but not fast.“I wish there was a single, reliable answer, but the truth is that the method will depend upon the situation. An amphiptere is fast, can fly, and can use brutish magics. Fighting them in the air isn’t possible for us, so we try to hit them when they’re resting or roosting. Then the matter becomes one of positioning.”“You mean like attacking them from above?” I asked.“Amphipteres make their homes in crevices and mountainside caverns. Those can sometimes be caved in or netted over. Sometimes the beast can be lured out and into a trap where mages will hit them from many directions at once. We have the greatest earth mages in the world,” the general boasted.I nodded along. That made sense. A people that lived mostly underground would want to have mages who could move earth around. And I guessed their way of fighting naturally relied on that.The carts rattled on over the bumpy road until the quarry appeared in the distance. The general spent some time conferring with his officers in low, whispered tones. Mostly they seemed worried over how to work alongside the sylphs who would no doubt be there already.As we crested another small hill, we came upon a trail of wagons and soldiers. Some hundred or so sylphs in lighter armour, with a pair of wagons at the head. They were walking in a neat formation, spears bobbing up and down with every step. That is, until they caught sight of the group of mole people ahead of them.The two groups slowed to a stop, the moles and I above the hill, the sylphs near the base. To our left was the road leading into the quarry.I felt the tension rising for a moment before I spotted Commander Warmwood sitting in one of the wagons. I jumped up and down, one hand waving above me. “Hey! Commander Warmwood! We’re here to help!”The commander stared, then he laughed, a single, loud bark that somehow dispelled the tension. “Greetings, Captain Bunch,” he said before lowering himself off the side of his wagon. General Holey did the same, landing with a thump on the road before he started to waddle ahead.I hesitated for a moment before deciding that joining them was probably the more fun option. So I bounced down and hopped after the general.He stopped a good three or four paces from the commander, and then they stared at each other. “Uh,” I said. “Commander Warmwood, this is General Holey. General Holey, this is Commander Warmwood from Granite Springs.”The general nodded. “A pleasure,” he said.“Likewise,” the commander replied. “You here to kill that flying garden snake?”General Holey snorted. “We’ve killed our share of them.”“Well, maybe we can show you a trick or two.”“Oh, I’m certain we can do the same.”I was nervous that things would deteriorate, but then both of them stepped up and their hands met with a big meaty smack. It looked as if they were both trying to squeeze the other’s hand as hard as possible. The muscles in their arms bulged, and both of them leaned into the handshake, which didn’t actually have much shaking to it.“I’m glad to see you both getting along!” I cheered.They let go of each other, neither of them doing more than moving their hands open and closed a bit, even though it felt like both of them wanted to wiggle their hands free of the pain.“I’m certain the mole people can set aside any differences for the day,” Commander Warmwood said.“Yes, I’m certain the sylphs can let go of some of their snobbishness for an afternoon. I will, of course, be leading this assault.” General Holey nodded, as if it were a foregone conclusion.“You will be leading?” Commander Warmwood asked. “Why exactly is that?”“Aren’t our nations allied?” the general asked. “Besides, we have more experience dealing with these matters, and, not to put too fine a point on it, I do outrank you, commander.”“Yes, I suppose you do,” the commander replied. “Though I wonder about the value of being a general of such a... small army, from an equally small nation.”“Oh-kay!” I said as I stepped up between the two of them. It looked like they were gearing up to do more than shake hands really hard. “This doesn’t seem like the friendliest situation, so how about we all just... not be mean to each other for a minute or two?””We were cordial,” Commander Warmwood said.“Downright polite,” General Holey agreed.They glared at each other until I slid to the side, blocking their line of sight. “This isn’t very productive,” I said.Both of them... well, they didn’t exactly pout, because they were big tough guys, but they certainly wore complicated expressions for a bit.“Thank you, Captain Bunch,” General Holey said. “I do believe you’re essentially correct. Commander, we need to find a way to resolve this situation. I’m certain we both have protocols for mixed troop actions, and I don’t believe those protocols call for any sort of posturing.”The commander nodded slowly. “That’s not wrong. Though a little bit of posturing is good for morale.”They both chuckled darkly, and I smiled even if I didn’t quite get it.“Let’s move over to the quarry,” General Holey said. “Captain Bunch, is there a staging location?”Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.“I don’t know about that, but the Inquisition people did set up a small camp.”Both men sniffed, then they looked at each other. “You don’t look forward to working with the Inquisition?” General Holey asked.“I would rather avoid it, yes,” Commander Warmwood agreed. “But I don’t think that will be an option.”I wasn’t sure if both of them agreeing to dislike someone else was a great middle-ground to meet on, but it was something at least. “We should keep moving then. We’re burning daylight.”“Indeed,” they both said at the same time.The general returned to his cart and the commander to his wagon, and I stood there for a moment, not sure which way to go. So instead I shrugged and bounced ahead and into the quarry. The quarry workers were gathering up near some of the barracks-looking buildings. I guessed that work had been cancelled for the afternoon, at least, so they didn’t have much else to do but stare at first the mole people army then the sylph army rolled past on the way to the far end of the site.I found the Inquisition camp a hive of activity, with soldiers moving crates around and setting up tents on the outside of the camp. Some were laying out stretchers, and what looked like a medical tent was going up under the watchful eyes of an officer.I found Bastion by the side of the camp, frowning at a map held in Major Springsong’s outstretched hands. “Bastion!” I called out.The paladin looked over and his frown turned into a smile. “Broccoli,” he said as a way of greeting. “Things went well?”I nodded. “Yup. I met Captain Ward on the way over. He took off towards Granite Springs. And General Holey agreed to come. He brought a couple of carts worth of mole people soldiers. A few mages too.”“That might well be helpful,” Bastion said.“The general and Commander Warmwood don’t exactly get along,” I said. “I think they were doing that macho thing where they try to one-up each other. They both agree that they don’t want the Inquisition in charge though.”Bastion’s frown returned, but it was Major Springsong who spoke up first. “The Inquisition was here first, and while we don’t have as many troops on the ground, we do have most of the information pertaining to the situation at hand.”“Yeah, but I think everyone thinks you’re being all secretive and... well, the way you handled the molefolk's letters is, uh, not a great endorsement of your leadership... sorry?”“Captain Bunch is likely correct,” Bastion said. “Perhaps instead of waiting for delegation of leadership to be settled-which might well take weeks with the hardness of the heads involved-we distract everyone with our current plan, then work our way from there. It’s a simple ruse, but it has worked on mixed-troop deployments before. Each commanding officer need only worry about their part in the greater plan.”“So, what is the plan?” I asked.“Perhaps we should go over it only once,” Bastion said.The commander and the general were coming up behind us, their wagons and carts rolling into place, the dozens of soldiers all forming up into two distinct groups.“Broccoli, could you invite the commander and general to the command tent? Major Springsong, I’d advise you to remain... quiet, for the moment. We’ll try to set things up as quickly and as efficiently as possible.”“Got it!” I said.It didn’t take very much to get the general to come over, though he insisted some of the other officers in his retinue accompany him.The commander, on seeing General Holey moving over to the command tent with his aides, wasn’t about to be left behind and gathered his own—exactly one more than the general—and moved over as well.Was there always this much posturing before stuff could actually get moving? The soldiers seemed very focused on standing straight and sometimes jeering at each other when their leaders weren’t looking, but at least the banter on their side seemed almost friendly.It made me think of the way Amaryllis liked to poke fun at her friends.I had to wonder how my other friends were doing. They’d be pretty impressed with all of my work, I bet.No one stopped me from entering the command tent, so I slipped past the canvas draped over the entrance and took in the room. At first, it looked like three camps had formed around the table. Major Springsong on one end, Commander Warmwood across from him, and General Holey near the back. But when I really looked, it was clear that Bastion was forming a lonely fourth camp, without any of his own aides in the background posturing. So I joined up and stood behind him, my most presentable smile on.“Since everyone is here,” Bastion began. “Let’s go over the situation one final time.”“Please do,” General Holey said. “I do like being kept informed.” This last was delivered with a glare to the major.Bastion nodded, ignoring that last bit entirely. “There is a amphiptere near the site of the new quarry. This quarry, as you likely all know, produces a specific kind of stone that is used in enchanting and in some alchemical processes. It’s imperative that we continue to supply this stone for the foundation of the kingdom’s new fortresses along the border. And of course, we can’t threaten our neighbours while doing so. Here’s what we know about the beast so far.”I listened as attentively as I could, ears ramrod straight on my head, with only the occasional twitch to turn them towards whoever was speaking. But to be entirely honest, a lot of the plan flew over my head.Well, plans usually didn't last long enough to matter, anyway.
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Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-Five — Snakes Are a Pain
Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-Five — Snakes Are a Pain The old quarry didn’t look like much—I guessed that unworked quarries were really just hills with a bunch of rock in them. The hilly landscape was covered in trees except for the large area where the new quarry was located. There was enough stone in the ground that the only trees around were small, scraggly things that didn’t look like they’d resist a strong wind.The crevice that the others had spoken of was in the centre of the nearest hills, a crack in the ground that started a few hundred metres from the hillside. I got to poke at it as we moved into the area. It was a crack, maybe a handspan wide near the start.The closer it got to the hill the larger the crack became, until someone could easily fit a car in the gigantic slice. I guessed that the monster had snuggled into that crack. Maybe there was a cavern or something beneath it?“Do you know how the crack formed?” I asked the person nearest me.The plan, or what I understood of it, called for everyone to split apart into large groups. The Inquisition were splitting up and sneaking around the hill to take on the rear flanks. The larger force of the army from Granite Springs were setting up in the open, where the ground was even and they had plenty of room to move.General Holey and his molefolk forces were moving to the forward flank, with his earth mages setting up near the bottom edge of the crevice. Bastion had asked that I stay near the general and his men, because that was one of the safer areas where I could still be pretty useful.My job was to jump in and grab anyone who got hurt. The medical tents were still by the Inquisition camp, a three minute walk away. Far enough not to be caught up in all of the trouble but close enough the injured could be brought over in a hurry.There had to be well over a hundred soldiers on the field. It felt like a lot of people for one monster. There was an electric tingle to the air, nervous energy and magic waiting on the tips of fingers to be cast.“The crack isn’t natural,” the general answered at long last.His voice made me jump. Maybe I was nervous too.“There was a fight between two dragons in this valley once, some hundred years ago, or perhaps a little more now. It reshaped the land, burnt down some of the ancient forests, and left behind a land scarred and cracked. That slice was likely caused by one of them landing.”“Whoa,” I said. Then again, I could imagine someone like Rhawrexdee making quite a mess if he were to fight, and he was a younger dragon. His mom was much bigger.“The sylphs have good reason to mistrust dragons and their ilk,” the general said. “We were always a little more fortunate, owing to our homes beneath the earth.”“I see,” I said.The orders were given, people were in their places, and all that was missing was the monster we were going to be fighting.A hush fell over the battlefield as Bastion stepped up. He stood in his full armour, sword unsheathed and held loosely by his side. My best-sylph-friend was a dozen paces ahead of the main body of the army, alone and ready.“We’re beginning,” the general said. The mole people around us shifted one last time, spears rising and boots crunching on the loose gravel underfoot.At the top of the hill, a soldier from the Inquisition, in lighter armour than the rest, took to the air with a flap of his wings. He had a stick of something with a long fuse in it that he lit before tossing it down the crack. Not an explosive. Instead a thick smoke poured out of the crack, and I heard a few people gag as it rolled over them.I sniffed at the air, then recoiled as the smoke was carried over by the wind. It stank, like an old fart, but stronger.That had to be to wake up and irritate the amphiptere.There was a rumble. Rock tumbling over rock, and the sylph flying above darted away and ran past a line of soldiers that made room for him to pass.The rumble slowed, then stopped.I saw everyone tensing, preparing themselves for a fight.Then, from the crack, slithered a monster.The amphiptere was a long snake-like creature, as big around as my head, and nearly three metres long. It shifted across the rocky ground by the wider part of the crevice, then reared up, strange scales sliding back from its eyes so it could see everyone looking at it.It hissed, and a pair of large wings spread out behind it.The monster opened its mouth wide, and a ball of greenish goop shot out and towards the nearest person.Bastion stepped neatly and easily to the side, avoiding the spittle.The monster hissed again and shot forward.I gasped at the speed of it. It was fast. A rapid, black-ish brown blur.Bastion jerked to the side, whirling in a split-second spin as the snake passed through his afterimage.By the time my mind caught up, he was standing three paces away, sword swinging around in an easy circle to clean off the blood and gunk caught on it.The monster flopped behind him in three large chunks.“Was... was that it?” I asked.That had been impressive, but there were a lot of people here just for that.“No, that was a juvenile,” the general said. “On guard!” he shouted.I tensed, especially when I felt the ground shifting underfoot and saw all the soldiers tighten their grips on their spears. The hillside shifted, in a weird, unsettling way because hillsides aren't supposed to move. I looked around, trying to spot where, exactly, the shift was coming from.Stolen story; please report.Then it exploded.Rocks shot into the air, big boulders rolling down the hill out of a growing cloud of dust. Eeping, I ducked down and grabbed at the edges of my helmet as tiny pebbles came raining down from the sky. They clinked and plinked off of the armour of the people around me, most of whom stood still as they weathered the storm.A roar filled the air.You have heard the roar of a powerful beast. You are challenged to fight.I glanced up, then gasped.The amphiptere was massive, as wide around as a bus and ten times as long, though its tail did start to taper to a point eventually, with big fins on the very end. It hissed into the air, its breath stagnant and vile, like old rotting meat. Then its wings spread out behind it, each one the size of a small building, ribbed and leathery, like the wings of a huge bat, with visible veins running through them.One of the wings was clearly injured, cracked and broken and bent at an odd angle. Still, when it flapped its wings, I saw a few of the soldiers closer to the front, those who hadn’t taken a solid stance, be thrown back onto their rears.Bastion, at the head of it all, weathered the storm with nothing but a mean glare for the monster. “Mages!” he called, voice clear and ringing.“Now,” the general next to me barked.The mole people mages stepped up, and, with tight little gestures of their arms and a synchronized stomp, they shot off magic ahead of them that immediately dove into the ground.Nothing happened, and the monster began to gather itself, muscles tightening, and it was then that the ground turned to something like mud. Stone boiled, and the amphiptere sank while large spikes of rock jabbed into it from both sides like massive teeth.The sylph army all took a step forward at the same time, one hand punching out ahead of them, and soon the air was filled by a thick volley of tiny fireballs that pelted into the amphiptere.When the dust settled it became clear that none of it had done much. The fire had only blemished its scales, and while one or two of the rocky spikes had broken into its skin, the wounds were small.It shifted, body twisting, snake-like, and just like that, the stone entrapping it broke apart.“Oh, this isn’t great,” I muttered.Would we even be able to do anything against something that strong?The monster reared its head back, just like the smaller one had, and I gasped. It was going to spit!“Shields!” Commander Warmwood called. He was right there, at the back of his men with his own gear on, sword pointing to the monster in defiance.The snake hissed and a glob of acid goop sprayed out of it as if from a firefighter’s hose.Bastion leapt straight up, spun, then kicked against the glob of acid to gain more height. He came hurtling down with a flipping kick,his heel crashing against the monster’s snout with a crack that I felt from all the way where I was.The amphiptere’s head snapped down, and its acid spit fizzled out as it was wasted on the rocky ground.I winced as I saw stones smoking and melting. Then I glanced over to the army, expecting to see something horrible.Instead, the soldiers were stepping back in an orderly fashion, shields raised ahead of them with the rims glowing. There was still some spit pouring off the front of them and onto the ground, but it didn’t look like any of them were really injured.Neat equipment, that.“We need to hit it harder,” General Holey said. “Mages, again. Pin its midsection down. We’re moving in.”“Moving in?” I asked. I didn’t want to be closer to that thing than I had to be, and I was never one to shy away from adventure.Bastion was somersaulting away from the monster as it tried to snap him out of the air, but he was never where it lunged, and whenever it came too close, he’d lash out with his sword, lightning-quick, leaving a small slice across its scales.That wouldn’t be enough, of course. Bastion would tire eventually. The monster too... but it was big.The mages cast another spell together, and I saw the Inquisition soldiers doing something similar before large balls of fire rammed into the monster’s back and sent it reeling forward.All around, soldiers started to move in, shields up and spears raised, points glinting in the sunlight as they kept an even pace not to break their formations.The monster wasn’t going down so easily. It thrashed and spun around, tearing itself out of whatever grasp the mole people mages had on it. It spat at the top of the hill, where the Inquisition soldiers dove and flew out of the way.The soldiers around it came close enough that some were able to strike, spears glowing before they stabbed into the monster’s sides. Magic spears? Maybe they were enchanted. It was enough that they’d leave large cuts in the monster’s side.“Stay here, captain,” General Holey said. He shifted, then tore his sword out of its sheath. “It’s best that you avoid getting hurt.” And with that, he walked off towards the monster to accompany his soldiers.I fretted on the sidelines, more than far enough that I wouldn’t get hurt.I didn’t like it, not one whit.Still, I didn’t know what a lone bun could do to help.My fists tightened. That was no excuse not to find something I could do to help!
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