Chapter 373 — The First Battery

Southwestern army headquarters, Avarran Continent

Three weeks after Karrek’s visit to the High Forge on the Central Continent, Captain Hadrik stood beside the teleportation platform at army headquarters with a delivery manifest in hand and a growing headache.

Light flared across the inscribed stone. When the blinding glare faded, the first leFH howitzer sat square in the center of the ward, still hitched to a team of snorting draught beasts who looked deeply offended by the magic transport. Artillerymen materialized alongside it, clutching their travel packs and holding their padded instrument cases like newborn infants.

An attendant signaled that the transfer from the Central Continent was complete. The handlers led the nervous beasts off the platform into the assembly yard, drawing the heavy gun behind them.

Hadrik checked the serial number painted on the carriage and marked his list.

The remaining guns arrived in successive flashes of light, followed by ammunition wagons and the battery’s supply carts. By the time the final transfer cleared, four complete howitzers stood lined up in the yard.

Karrek’s aggressive production order had kept Daren’s workshops humming night and day while experienced artillerymen were drilled relentlessly on the new sights and firing tables. These were the first crews to finish instruction with a complete set of weapons ready to accompany them.

A young gunner climbed down from a supply wagon, hugging a padded leather case tightly against his chest.

“Got your life savings in there?” one of the loaders teased.

“The optical sight,” the gunner said defensively.

“You can put it down, mate. It won’t bite.”

“This lens costs more than two months of my wages.”

The loader paused, reevaluated the case, and cleared a spot on a nearby wooden bench with a quick sweep of his hand.

“Here. Put it down.”

The gunner started to sit.

“The sight,” the loader corrected sharply, pointing at the wood. “You can stand.”

Hadrik stepped past them and handed the verified manifest to the battery sergeant.

“Inspect every fitting after the journey. I want to know about damage before we roll out of this yard.”

“The men could use a warm meal, Captain.”

“Have them eat with one hand and check the wagons with the other,” Hadrik said smoothly. “We don’t have the luxury of time.”

The sergeant glanced toward the glowing wards, where attendants were already prepping for the next incoming unit.

“And where are we taking the guns?”

“That is precisely what I’m going to find out.”

General Ordan had three separate, increasingly desperate requests for artillery support spread across his desk when Hadrik walked into the command tent.

He tossed the latest message onto the pile and looked at the delivery papers.

“All four arrived intact?”

“Guns, crews, ammunition, and scribes, my lord. The men are running checks now.”

Ordan scanned the acceptance seals at the bottom of the sheet. “How many more are following?”

“The next batch is still in assembly at the High Forge. No confirmed departure date yet.”

“Then we plan with four.” Ordan rose and moved toward the wall map.

Hadrik followed him to the sector detailing the road behind Senn’s tollhouse. Two fresh casualty reports were pinned beside the route.

“The demons hit this road twice yesterday,” Ordan said, tapping a red mark. “Two supply wagons destroyed, and the rest turned back until the shelling stopped.”

Hadrik studied the marked bend. “Have they pushed infantry onto the road?”

“Not there. Senn is holding the approaches, though his position is becoming impossible to resupply, and the wounded are coming back along the exact same path.”

“Do we have a confirmed sighting of the enemy guns?”

“A report from yesterday morning. Nothing since.” Ordan handed him the dispatch. “The other sector commanders are asking for one howitzer each.”

Hadrik looked up immediately. “I strongly advise against that, my lord. Keep the battery together for its first deployment. The crews trained as a single unit, and we have one observation mage assigned to them. Splitting them up now defeats every efficiency we brought them here to achieve.”

Ordan stared at the map for a long moment.

“Take all four to Senn’s sector. Your priority is to locate and neutralize the guns threatening his supply route.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Coordinate with him before you fire a single shell. I want his companies warned when you’re shooting, and I want you to know exactly where his forward lines are.”

Hadrik gathered the documents. As he reached the door, Ordan called out to him.

“Karrek’s written account described an impressive demonstration.”

“It did, my lord.”

“I suspect the demons will be somewhat less cooperative than his wooden targets.”

Hadrik tucked the papers under his arm. “I’ll try not to remind the gun crews until they’ve finished their breakfast.”

A rare, faint twitch touched the corner of Ordan’s mouth. “See that you bring back an account worth reading.”

Reinforcements arriving on Avarran were transferred via the main wards at headquarters, but front-line logistics relied on good old-fashioned muscle. Once inspections were wrapped up, Hadrik’s artillerymen set out on foot beside the heavy draught beasts hauling the guns.

By mid-afternoon, the convoy reached the torn-up access road behind Senn’s tollhouse.

Hadrik left the battery sergeant to oversee positioning behind a high earthen ridge and went forward with his escort into the approach trenches.

The connecting trench was in rough shape. New timber shored up several collapsed sections, and damp earth covered fresh craters where enemy shells had torn through the roof.

A pair of stretcher-bearers pressed themselves flat against the muddy trench wall to let the captain pass.

Hadrik stepped aside into a nook instead. “Take him through.”

The wounded soldier on the canvas kept his eyes squeezed shut, his knuckles white as he clutched the edge of his blanket.

Farther down the line, an empty ammunition crate had been placed under a persistent leak. Water struck the wooden lid with a hollow,tap… tap… tap sound.

Inside the timber-reinforced command shelter, Lieutenant Senn was engaged in a heated debate with a quartermaster clerk over a supply manifest.

“If the wagon reached us twice on paper,” Senn growled, “then find me the second load of bread!”

The clerk stared helplessly at his ledger. “I will cross-reference with the transport depot, Lieutenant.”

“Please do. We could use a clerical error that delivers extra rations for once.”

Senn caught sight of Hadrik entering and dismissed the clerk with a wave of his hand.

“Captain. Tell me those guns in the rear are yours.”

“Four howitzers, sitting behind the rise,” Hadrik said.

Senn cleared a pile of maps from the desk. “Then you are welcome to every decent chair I don’t own.”

Hadrik set his orders down while Senn’s second, Halven, kicked a wooden crate forward.

“We heard the heavy wheels rolling in,” Halven said. “I was worried headquarters had sent another inspection team.”

“They sent one of those too,” Hadrik replied dryly. “Unfortunately, he’s in command of the battery.”

Halven looked down at Hadrik’s mud-caked boots and gestured to the box. “Then inspect this crate, Captain. It has supported three officers without collapsing yet.”

Hadrik sat and unfolded General Ordan’s map. “Show me where the last barrage landed.”

Senn pulled his tactical sketch alongside it. The bombardment had concentrated around a sharp bend where supply wagons left the main road to reach the covered unloading trench. The surviving drivers had abandoned their teams and scrambled for cover, leaving tollhouse soldiers to salvage what they could under fire.

“We’re hauling supplies through on foot in smaller loads now,” Senn explained. “It takes twice as many men and three times as long.”

“And the enemy guns were spotted here?” Hadrik touched a mark near an old quarry.

“Yesterday morning,” Halven answered. “One of our lookouts caught their crew working near the old quarry track. Our mage confirmed it.”

“Any sightings today?”

“Not a blip.”

Hadrik studied the sketch. “Who’s been watching that quadrant?”

Halven summoned a runner and sent him for the watch logs.

While they waited, Senn picked up Hadrik’s orders, his eyes drifting to the heavy High Forge wax seal. “Can your new howitzers actually reach that quarry?”

“It’s well within their arc.”

“Good,” Senn grunted. “I’d love to hear a massive explosion this evening and discover for once that someone else has to repair their roof.”

“Let’s locate the guns before we start celebrating.”

The runner returned with a handwritten log from the morning watch. No barrels or crews had been seen at the old quarry position. There had been minor troop movement along the ridge road, but the lookout couldn’t tell what the demons were hauling.

Hadrik read the entry twice.

“I’ll have our observing mage run a wide sweep. Send any fresh sightings straight to me.”

Senn signaled his communications clerk to link up with the battery’s crystal. “If you need a runner who knows the terrain, take one of mine.”

“Appreciated,” Hadrik said. “And tell your lookouts to report what they actually see. I’d rather have an uncertain direction than a confident guess.”

Halven walked him out to the trench entrance. “For the record, Captain, we’d also prefer it if you flattened the demons’ roof first.”

“I caught your subtle hint the first time, Halven.”

“Good. Just wanted to ensure the critical details were properly emphasized.”

By the time Hadrik walked back to the battery line, the crews had finished setting up.

The four leFH howitzers were dug in behind the rise. Nearby, the calculation team had pitched a small canvas tent to keep their slates and manuals dry. One scribe was writing down local survey data while another double-checked tables sent from the High Forge.

Sergeant Vane stepped up to meet him.

“All four pieces are aligned and ready, Captain. One supply chest broke a latch during transport, but the shells inside are fine.”

“And the men?”

“They’ve been fed. Now they’d like to know what they’re supposed to shoot.”

“So would I.”

Hadrik walked over to the observation post, where their battery mage, Terev, had set up his black stone tablet.

Terev was already scrying the area marked in Ordan’s report. The glowing projection floating above the slate showed a patch of churned, muddy ground near the quarry road.

Hadrik leaned over the screen.

Several empty dugouts were visible. An overturned basket lay beside a pile of splintered boards, and heavy ruts marked where wheels had churned through the mud.

No enemy artillery was in sight.

“How much of the area have you checked?”

“The target grid and the immediate road around it,” Terev said, rubbing his eyes. “I can see there was something parked there but when they moved it no idea.”

Hadrik pulled out the lookout’s log. “They saw movement along the track this morning. Chances are they hitched up and relocated before dawn.”

Terev shifted the magical viewpoint further up the road. “Did anyone catch which direction they pulled out?”

“The report doesn’t say.”

Terev ran a thumb along the rim of the tablet. “Then this is going to be tedious.”

Hadrik sent Senn’s runner back with instructions for the lookouts to broaden their watch.

At the calculation table, a scribe reached for the primary target sheet. Hadrik tapped his hand.

“Leave that unconfirmed. The target moved.”

The soldier set the slate aside without a word and returned to verifying local elevation angles.

For the next hour, fragmentary reports trickled in without giving Hadrik a solid location.

One lookout spotted a demon work detail crossing an open field. Another caught a glimpse of a wagon beneath a canopy of trees before losing sight of it. Terev screened both spots instantly: the demons in the field were just carrying timber, and the wagon had disappeared into the shadows by the time his spell locked on.

Terev’s jaw tightened in frustration as he expanded his search radius.

“I can give you a crystal-clear image of the ground you point me to, Captain. I cannot sweep every tree line on this continent at the same time.”

“I know,” Hadrik said quietly. “Take a breath.”

Terev sighed, lowered his hand, and took a drink from his canteen.

Outside, a young gunner sat on an ammo chest, scraping mud off his boot with a twig. Catching Hadrik’s eye, he immediately scrambled to his feet.

“Carry on,” Hadrik told him. “We’re still waiting on a target.”

The gunner sat back down, though he wisely put the twig away.

Suddenly, a heavy BOOM echoed from beyond the ridge.

Hadrik turned toward the sound. A few seconds later, a second explosion thundered from the direction of the supply road.

The communication crystal beside the awning flared to life. The signalman pressed his ear to it, listened for a brief second, and called out, “Captain! Lieutenant Senn reports a shell just landed near the damaged supply wagons. His men are taking cover.”

“Any eyes on the flash?”

“Lookouts are sweeping!”

Terev had already reactivated his tablet, his eyes darting across the projected landscape.

A third shot echoed across the hills while Hadrik stood over his shoulder.

At first, the scrying image showed only empty fields and torn-up tracks. Then, a sharp flash of yellow flame erupted beyond a copse of dead trees.

“Hold right there!” Hadrik ordered.

“I see it!”

Terev zoomed the view in.

The trees shifted to the edge of the projection, revealing the courtyard of a ruined farmstead. A long, dark iron barrel protruded from behind a half-collapsed stone wall.

A demon artilleryman stepped back from the breech, tossing an empty brass casing aside.

Hadrik leaned over the glowing stone. “There.”

Terev stabilized the image. The projection sharpened, revealing the wheels beneath the mount and a crew of half a dozen demons franticly moving around it.

A second cannon stood twenty paces down the wall. Behind it, several lesser imps were hauling heavy wooden crates off a transport wagon.

One of the smaller imps tried to carry a crate alone, stumbled under the weight, and dropped it square on its own foot. Its mouth opened in a silent, agonized howl on the screen before the overseer grabbed it by the horn and tossed it into the mud.

Hadrik ignored the slapstick. “Can you pinpoint this farm on our map?”

Terev cross-referenced the surrounding terrain features, pointing to a ruined homestead marked just beyond the quarry track.

Hadrik checked the features himself. The main road curved right past the farm before joining the trail from the lookout’s report. The location made total sense—the high stone walls had completely hidden the battery from their earlier search angle.

The first demon gun fired again. Flame burst from the wall, the heavy piece sliding back against its spades while the crew ducked clear of the smoke.

Hadrik straightened up. “Keep your eyes locked on them.”

He strode over to the calculation table and laid the map down flat. The two math scribes pulled their slates forward as Hadrik pinpointed the farmstead’s coordinates.

Then he turned to Sergeant Vane.

“Fetch the boys. We have our target.”