Shoots of grass were barely beginning to poke their tips from the earth, and Major Thompson could hear the distant cry of a hawk. Far louder were the sounds of boots stomping into the recently thawed ground, grinding the grass into the earth and churning the wet dirt into mud.

Major Thompson looked on his force with a smile of satisfaction. After the success of his raid into Yisara, he’d been given the honor of launching one of the first attacks on Sifaren, and was acting in the place of a Colonel, as he commanded three full companies in the attack. The brown-haired, burly man had hopes of being promoted permanently if his attack went well, and his smile widened as he thought about the small town they’d chosen as a target.

Glancing upward, he could only faintly see the figure of one of his wizards, a man named Andrew. The man was the only one of his magi who could fly for long periods of time, and he was acting as a scout at the moment. Andrew hadn’t reported any large troop concentrations that could challenge his attack force, which only improved Thompson’s mood. This was going much better than the debacle that had been the attack on Golden Vale.

Looking at the soldiers move, Thompson’s dark eyes gleamed as he murmured, “It’s time for this war to come to an end, and I get to strike the first blow.”

* * *

“Captain, Kelvanis forces are confirmed to be five miles from town!” the scout reported, her gray hair unkempt as she rushed into the command post of Redcrown. Named for a massive, ancient oak which was believed to have survived the Godsrage and had brilliant crimson leaves in its uppermost branches, the town wasn’t large, but it was reasonably well-defended, and the vast majority of the townsfolk had been evacuated over the winter.

Captain Talphan looked up from the map and nodded grimly. “As expected, the previous reports were right. What are we looking at?”

“Our sentries report three companies, sir. In the lead are slaves, followed by orcs, then Kelvanis regulars. It looked like they had a few magi, one of whom was flying as a scout outside of the range of bows,” the woman replied quickly, glancing at Talphan’s lieutenants nervously.

“Damn. Well, it’s a good thing we weren’t planning to hold the town, isn’t it?” Talphan replied grimly, shaking his head and absently flicking a pale strand from his eyes. He missed having Captain Vendis in charge, but he had good assistants of his own, thank all the gods. Unfortunately, this wasn’t going to go as well as the rescue of the then-princess Phynis.

“Six to one odds aren’t numbers I’d care to face,” Lieutenant Dram murmured, the older elven woman tapping the table slowly as she considered, her weathered features contemplative. After a moment she nodded. “Still, we’ve seen worse. Orders, Captain?”

“Unless anyone has any objections, we stick to the plan. The majority of our numbers hide outside of town and snipe the Kelvanis regulars, while your command makes a fighting retreat through the town,” Talphan told her, looking Dram in the eye. “If you can capture any of the slaves without risking your command, do so, but don’t risk yourselves. Any objections?”

“No, sir! Give them hell for me,” Dram growled, a smile flickering across her face. “I’ll do what I can to distract them, I promise you that. Too bad we can’t do much about that mage, though.”

“I can only hope he’ll come down to bow-range,” Talphan replied with a smile of his own, but his eyes hardened as he looked at the others. “I just want to reiterate, our job isn’t to hold the line. We’re to bleed Kelvanis and fall back toward Galthor. I don’t want any of you to end up on the other side of this war, especially when we have reinforcements coming. Do your jobs, but don’t take unnecessary risks. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, sir!” all three of his subordinates replied, saluting as they did so.

Captain Talphan smiled grimly. “Then let’s get to it, and hope Jaran’s done his job properly.”

* * *

Slowly the Kelvanis force marched toward Redcrown, which lacked more than a single palisade around the core buildings of the town. Many of the villagers had even destroyed their homes to prevent them from falling into enemy hands, leaving only the foundations intact.

In the lead of the Kelvanis army was one of their slave legions, though the elves were only a hundred strong. Varying from the dark-skinned dusk elves to the fairer dawn elves, each of them was branded with the crimson warrior crest that Kelvanis used to control their slave legions, and all of them were equipped with lightweight, serviceable armor and weapons. The primary purpose of their company was to force the enemy to hesitate and to serve as disposable infantry, a strategy which had served Kelvanis well over the past decade.

Behind them were the loose lines of orcs, ambling along with brutish laughter and barely discernable ranks. They also favored light armor, but mostly due to their thick skin, and with their greater strength they preferred clubs and maces, weapons that allowed them to smash their weaker opponents easily. A few carried javelins or throwing axes, but those were a minority among the savage, barbarian-like species.

Last in the line was Kelvanis’ line troops. Unlike those that had garrisoned Granite Point, these soldiers had faced Yisara’s soldiers in battle, and marched with precision. Each wore a suit of chainmail, along with matching bracers, greaves, and a helmet, while wielding short swords and large shields that would allow them to make a shield wall. Half of their number traded the shields for crossbows, allowing them to more easily engage elves at a distance. The mages wore simple leather instead, trying for some protection and mobility.

Facing over three hundred attackers were barely over fifty elves. The last villagers were escaping to the north, and the defenders were all lightly equipped themselves and ready to flee. Only ten hid themselves within the town, led by Lieutenant Dram.

The Lieutenant opened fire first, her squad aiming for the human commanders among the slave legion, but quickly fell back into the town as the elven slaves unwillingly charged forward into their fire, a few among them returning fire.

As the elves and orcs in Kelvanis’ service rushed forward, Talphan unleashed his own counterstroke.

* * *

The sudden shower of arrows from his left flank took Major Thompson by surprise, and he barely dodged an arrow that took his standard bearer in the chest. While he dodged, the deadly barrage slammed into his soldiers to screams of pain and anguish.

“How did they get over there?” Thompson asked himself in shock, even as soldiers pivoted toward the sudden threat. He’d had scouts out on both flanks, so what had happened to them, and why hadn’t they noticed the attackers?

A second barrage of arrows drove the thought from his mind as he charged forward, the sergeants urging the soldiers onward. More of their number fell to the arrows, but their armor proved its worth, as most of those who’d been felled were only injured, not dead.

Seeing the flicker of an elven man’s face through the trees as the soldier turned to run, Thompson suddenly slowed, because he’d seen something odd on the dark-skinned man’s face. He’d seen satisfaction, and Thompson yelled out. “Stop! Everyone halt!”

The soldiers tried to come to follow his orders, but no one could instantly slow from a full run to a stop. Thompson could only watch in horror as a dozen men were swallowed by hidden pit traps with stakes at the bottom, or as vicious spiked stakes shot up out of the ground at them, leaving the screams of the injured and dying in their wake.

Only moments later, the crossbows of his men began to fire into the forest, but by that point almost all the elves had vanished into cover, leaving Thompson little choice but to fume in impotent rage.

* * *

All across the border between Kelvanis and Sifaren, similar battles played out. In some areas the elven forces were less successful, even losing entire detachments of their army, but in others, their strategies did even better. In the distant reaches of Hornwood Valley, nearest to the border of Alcast, five companies of Kelvanis’ soldiers vanished utterly as the cousin of the traitorous General Chavin Fairbrook, Colonel Imar Fairbrook, proved his own loyalty to the crown by smashing the incursion into his province.

On the opposite front, the heavily reinforced border fortress of Talloak was besieged by a massive Kelvanis army. Battles raged for nearly a week there, but the stubborn soldiers of Talloak were slowly whittled down in numbers, and after a devastating final battle, the fortress fell to Kelvanis’ soldiers, with only a tithe of the defenders escaping in the end.

Several towns managed to resist the attacks by Kelvanis, but those stubborn knots of resistance were unfortunately rare. For every victory Sifaren managed, four of Kelvanis’ forces succeeded, even if they were bled for every last foot of ground they took.

The war had begun, and for all the power of Sifaren’s army and magi, Kelvanis had the upper hand.