“Fighting a war is nine parts boredom, and surprisingly enough, fighting a battle is often the same, unless you’re one of the poor sods who happens to be placed right at the front of the formation, that is.” - Agatha Sanz Morrisak, General from the Republic of Caroma, circa 250 FP.
Reinhardt was somewhat surprised to see the invader army continue their charge, the casualties they suffered from the trenches unheeded. That told him several things at the same time. For one, the army was clearly disciplined enough to keep going even in the face of obstacles. For another, their general was likely callous or pragmatic enough to consider hundreds of injured or dead soldiers as acceptable losses.
To be fair, the trenches were never meant to stop the enemy dead on their tracks. They were made by the dwarven engineers when they finished the defenses and realized that they still had a couple days left before the enemy came, as a bit of an extra obstacle for the enemy to deal with. Their purpose had always been to be an obstacle and an annoyance.
Like a particular stone that jutted a bit higher than the others on a paved road that caused people to trip over it, but on a larger scale.
Since the infantry charge was somewhat delayed by them having to deal with the injured and move over the trenches, the cavalry ended up reaching the defensive line first, instead of together with them. The position by the road had been reinforced with multiple layers of earthen ramparts that blockaded all passage, and when the incoming cavalry realized just how solid the blockade actually was, they shifted their tactics.
Almost as one, the middle and back lines of the enemy cavalry formation slung their weapons – predominantly spears or polearms of some kind, another unusual thing to see from a mostly human army – across their backs and pulled out bows from holsters by their waists. Their hands pulled some arrows from quivers set on the other side of their waist and started to shoot them at a parabolic angle towards the ramparts.
Their accuracy and almost synchronized shooting was quite something, considering that it was all done on horseback. Had the coalition army actually faced them in an open field battle, such capabilities would have given them great trouble, Reinhardt felt. Fortunately since they were on the defense, all they had to do was to raise their shields or duck behind the earthen ramparts to protect themselves from the arrows.
On the other hand, the frontmost line of the enemy cavalry made a sharp turn as they approached the southernmost side of the wall and turned their charge into a slashing attack in a clearly trained maneuver. Their long spears and polearms allowed the riders to strike at the rampart’s defenders even from their position outside, a maneuver that again would be far more devastating in an open battle.
All that while, those behind them never let up with their arrows, until they too reached the ramparts, stored their bows once more, and switched to their polearms. In exchange, those on the front of the formation that had run across the rampart’s front from south to north once again pulled a sharp turn, turning back towards where they came, and switched to their bows. They then turned around on the saddle and loosed more arrows while facing backwards as their steeds galloped away.
The unexpected rain of arrows from the cavalry caught the defenders off guard for a moment, and they took some casualties from the unexpected attack, but they quickly regained their composure and the archers stationed on that section of the defenses returned the favor with their own arrows, which took its toll on the enemy cavalry as well.
At the same time, the enemy infantry had just reached the foot of the hill only to learn that the dwarven engineers had played a few more tricks on them. Many parts of the hill turned out to be loose sand hidden underneath a cover of grass or soil, which made it very difficult to climb properly and in haste. The defenders had solid pathways they could use to move around, but the invaders had no knowledge of the location of those pathways.
As a result, the defending coalition forces handily kept their enemies stymied on that first day. Neither the enemy infantry nor the cavalry managed to make any true progress, and what few casualties the defenders took were mostly from arrows that struck unlucky people. On the other hand, the invaders must have taken at least a couple thousand casualties from the fighting and the relentless arrows rained down upon them by the defenders.
The fighting went uneventfully throughout the day and ended in the evening when the invaders beat the drums and withdrew their troops. While part of their troops were fighting, another part was setting up an encampment similar to the one Reinhardt had heard of from Erycea’s reports, albeit larger and with actual fences on top of the watchtowers, situated a safe distance away from the battlefield.
Even as they retreated, the invaders showed another hint of cunning as they not only took their injured and dead with them, but also took care to take any usable arrows they could find amongst those that had been shot at them. Typically most armies would have left those arrows behind and only later sent salvagers to get what they could.
Fortunately the defenders were not lacking in arrows themselves, as not only had they prepared plenty of arrows to use, but the arrows shot by the invaders mostly landed on the earthen ramparts and remained in good condition. All they had to do was to collect those arrows and add them to their stores.
Throughout the first day, the Free Lances made no move yet, as they mostly observed. Their forces were small and needed to be wielded like a needle rather than a blunt instrument. As such, he waited until it was the right time to make use of his forces.
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