At the same time the allied forces were preparing for the grand assault, the enemies were not standing still. Though this time they acted from the outer side of the capital’s walls.

“Those guys are surely here for a fight.”

“He, I’d eat my shoes if they didn’t make a move after so long.”

Two figures watched the long marching columns of infantry, carriages with weapons and supplies, and leisurely strolling cohorts of cavalry.

Their position was far enough from the wide road the marching army used, but nonetheless the figures took their time to set up a good cover in shrubs.

It took the enemies a long while to simply receive information that the kingdom’s capital was besieged, but the moment they realized that their key trophy of this campaign, together with a strong fortification, was about to return to its rightful owner made the enemy command gather everything in no time.

Two hundred knights. Two hundred horse skirmishers. Four thousand troops and auxiliaries. Countless non-combatants, drivers, and noblemen’s escorts.

“Well hell, I’d rather not bother with attacking them myself.” One figure pushed the other with its elbow.

“No need to tell me, man.” The other figure snorted and quickly jerked something in its hands. A short reflection from the movement of binoculars would’ve given out the figures’ position, but the army was not paying attention to its surroundings. At all.

“Idiots.”

“I love them for it.”

The figures exchanged snickering, and continued watching the column.

“How far are they?”

“Dunno. 200 yards? Whatever, man.

Hey, Papa Crow, what’s up, is everything in place? Can we get the hell out of here now?” The second figure grumbled into the radio.

“Stand by… All set.

Again, how far are you from the head of the column?” (PC)

“Dude, you’re kidding me?!

Argh…

We’re like…

Like…

One klick?”

“Copy.” Papa Crow did not say anything else. The covert position returned to the silent (?) waiting.

The army kept marching, the figures kept yawning and blankly staring at it.

7 kilometers away. Altitude 70 meters.

Two aircraft flew right above the tree tops. An old tube-with-wings and peeling paint, and a sturdy-looking one. Both of them had rocket pods hanging below their wings.

A pilot stared at the HUD and confirmed the distance to the target.

“Dachshund, get ready. Climbing… Now.”

Both planes pitched their noses up and started increasing their altitude. 3 kilometers away from them was a long thick line, the enemy army. But to see them the pilots had to first level their planes, and then perform a half-barrel roll.

“Two kilos.” The pilot calmly said and pulled the stick closer.

The line was rapidly getting larger and thicker as the planes closed in.

“Brakes. Rolling.

On my mark…”

The troops on the ground didn’t require any orders to start scattering around, but it was too late.

‘Fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh’

A hail of white smoke trails charged towards the ground, and seconds later turned into countless flashes and bitter black smoke.

Two vicious dragons roared and flew away, disappearing behind the terrain. Their roar started disappearing too.

However, before the shell-shocked survivors could even start understanding what happened, the ground around them exploded.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

Explosions continued happening throughout the long line of troops, bringing death and destruction to anyone caught in them: be they a peasant or a noble.

Then they abruptly stopped. The survivors cheered.

‘raaaaaaaaaa’

In a second, the cheers were silenced by a quiet sound of roaring. Everyone returned back to running away from the road and the remnants of the column, as the two dragons appeared in sight.

‘Fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh’

One of the dragons breathed its white fire and then both of them dived onto the scattering mass of people.

BRRRRRRRRTTTTT

After a scythe of death slashed the troops, the dragons stopped diving at them, and once again flew away, harbingering the next round of explosions.

The vicious circle continued up until the remnants of the army could no longer be called anything but a band of dispossessed.