Chapter 404: Dirt and Blood

When Chalco left the confines of the tunnel's terminus, several people were already waiting for him. Next to Qori stood a warrior whose family had become famous for their impeccable senses for centuries. As a result, many of them would be employed as eagles by their masters, and this one was no exception.

"There is thumping," Chalco confirmed, and then turned towards the eagle. "Is there anything else of note that I have overlooked?"

"No, commander. There is only the thumping you have heard, no other sounds from humans or animals. However, this much should be enough. Although the exact nature of the sound is unknown, it certainly is not natural, and it originates from somewhere underground, not far from here. According to our guesses, the enemy might be using a large underground siege weapon operated by several people at once to dig out their tunnels. That should be the sound we have heard."

It would certainly fit their usual resourcefulness,

Chalco mused. However, this wasn't the time to praise the enemy.

"Is it possible to tell which direction the sound is coming from?" he asked instead to focus on the important issues. Before they continued digging, he had to know if they were going the right way or wasting their time.

"it should not be far from here, somewhere in the front. According to this servant's estimates, their tunnel should still be slightly deeper than this one."

"Outstanding. In that case, we shall keep our heading." Once he was done with the eagle, he turned to his trusty helper. "Qori, it looks like our tunnel is about to make contact with the enemy. Go back above ground and ready the materials we have prepared for the breakthrough. Also, tell the warriors outside that it is almost time to for their raid."

"Done and done, boss." After a sloppy salute, Qori turned to fulfill his orders. With some time left, Chalco once more stared at the map in his hand and tried to estimate the path the enemy tunnel would have taken to come here. However, he couldn't concentrate at all.

Although his plan had succeeded to perfection so far, he still couldn't force a smile on his face. Even in case of a victory here, they would only delay the inevitable for a few days longer. Though maybe, he hoped, a catastrophic failure of the miracle king's plans would prove him to be mortal, and would make the southerners less eager to throw their lives away for him. Maybe then, they would be able to negotiate an acceptable peace. It was the only thing he could cling his hope to, especially with what he would soon force his comrades to go through.

Not long after, his men managed to break through into another tunnel. Their success was immediately obvious, even from a distance. Firstly, Chalco could see another light source s.h.i.+ne towards him from the front, and secondly, he immediately felt the water around his ankles move as it was sucked down into the newly opened hole.

They had angled their tunnel down for a reason, and they had built it higher up on purpose. All the planning had been to make sure they would make contact with the enemy tunnel slightly from above. In this way, all the water that they had acc.u.mulated in their own tunnel would immediately flood that of their enemies further down. At the same time, the rus.h.i.+ng water would also rapidly increase the size of the hole to facilitate a fast raid into the enemy tunnels.

While they waited for the water to rush through, warriors nailed several wooden baskets into the soil near the opening. By the time the opening was large enough to let through air above the rus.h.i.+ng water, the baskets had already been filled with oily, green tinder.

"Light it," Chalco ordered, and watched as the baskets were set ablaze. Immediately, the fires produced orange flames, and - more importantly - thick and irritating plumes of smoke. Three strong warriors stood next to each other to cover the entirety of the tunnel, and then alternately operated billows he had swiped from a blacksmith and remodeled for his purposes. The powerful air pushed most of the smoke out of their own tunnel, and into the tunnel of their enemies.

This way, they could make way for their raid no matter how the southern kingdom's people had planned their construction. If the southerners had built their tunnels with a downwards slope, the water would quickly fill up the end of the tunnel. It would force them back and would render their rifles useless. At the same time, all the water would compromise the structure of their tunnel, and possibly collapse it, which was all Chalco wanted to achieve in the first place. At the same time, a downward slope would let the smoke escape out, which would also reveal the position of their entrance to their outlooks atop the wall.

If instead, they had built with an upwards slope to prevent flooding and hide their entrance, the smoke would fill the end of their tunnel and drive them back as well.

Either way, it would open up the s.p.a.ce and let the readied warriors launch a raid without interference from the tricky and annoying soldiers of the southern kingdom. Even if the enemy had heard them coming in advance, it would certainly disrupt their preparations.

Looks like they're sloping upwards

, Chalco thought.

By now, he was no longer standing in water. Instead, his boots had sunk into the deep mud. That meant that the water in their own tunnel had all disappeared into that of the enemy, which also meant that they would have to intensify their efforts with the smoke.

"Light more fires! Replace the men on the billows!" he ordered. As time pa.s.sed, more and more smoke was pushed through the man-sized hole, and disappeared into the enemy tunnel. By now, they had replaced the warriors in charge of the billows three times.

"Good, that should be plenty," Chalco finally said. In response, the warriors let go of their tools and fell back, while they twisted their arms back and forth to relieve their aching joints.

"Have you finished at last?" a haughty man in armor asked Chalco as he watched the warriors retreat while the last smoke fires burn down into a smolder.

"Of course, commander. Now I can guarantee the safety of your men. By now, the heretics should have either escaped out of their tunnel, or lost consciousness."

In response, the commander only offered a snort and walked away to organize his troops. Although it was obvious from his att.i.tude alone, he was the man in charge of the troops that Qori had called. They had stood ready near the entrance to their tunnel all day, waiting for the success of Chalco's operation, to take the credit for all his hard work.

Of course the great lords wouldn't allow Chalco to lead a raid after what had happened during his last project. Though he preferred to believe that his status as an architect was too important to risk his life in a minor engagement like this.

Either way, the commander got his warriors ready to storm through the opening, as soon as the smoke had cleared a bit more. If there was no resistance, they wouldn't have to stay long anyways, just long enough to collapse the tunnel.

Many of the warriors looked dirty and muddy from their short time below ground, and their armors had become dull from the many previous days of combat atop the wall. However, their eyes were still sharp, their faces still eager.

Within the tunnels, most advantages of the southern army would disappear. Underground, there was not enough room to properly wield the long axes Saniya's commoners liked so much. At the same time, most combat underground would be fought at short range, which made their muskets far less useful. Finally, the tunnels were narrow. Most combat was one-on-one, with little chance for the southern army to make use of their clever formations. Down here, warriors would have a decisive combat advantage over the commoners once more, and they clearly relished the chance to get revenge for their hurt pride.

Thus, Chalco watched them disappear into the darkness one by one, each pus.h.i.+ng their front man's back in eager antic.i.p.ation. As soon as the first few had entered, a loud bang followed by screams shocked the architect. Not long after, the sound of fighting started.

How are they still alive in there?

he wondered, both confused and terrified by the resilience of the southern kingdom's army. Still, the work had to be done. Thus, to protect his home once more, he took up a hammer and led his workers into the enemy tunnel, after the warriors, to do his duty.

Taki looked at the battle before him with a frown. At first, everything had gone to plan. He had informed the commander of his guess, and General Scolo had reacted immediately.

Outside the tunnel, their warriors and soldiers had been standing ready for combat ever since they had started digging. As soon as they were called upon, they had quickly entered the darkness, just like they had practiced countless times, and had then moved into formation. At the same time, all the workers had cleared out. In the tight tunnels, their coordination was key to their swift movement.

Although the water rus.h.i.+ng in through the opening had been a surprise to Taki, it clearly hadn't been one to their commander. Unlike all the other workers, those manning the pump had remained, and a second pump had been added in preparation for combat, just in case. Thus, the water had barely risen at all, and by the time the enemy warriors flooded in, the water didn't inhibit their movements in the slightest. Of course, the smoke coming from the hole was no problem either, as it harmlessly cleared out of the tunnel above their heads.

Once the smoke had been dealt with, it became obvious that Antila's warriors would come next, which made their work simple once again. The first row of enemy warriors was solved with a salvo of flintlock fire. This time they carried the special, water-resistant weapons that Saniya's master craftsmen could only produce in small quant.i.ties. All the shooters were experts at their work as well, so none among the first wave of invaders survived.

Though of course, the rifles ultimately had limited use in the narrow corridor. And Taki also realized another problem as soon as they fired. Plumes of biting, white smoke filled the tunnel almost immediately. If their flintlocks were to shoot a few more times, they may just smoke themselves out anyways, so one salvo to lessen the morale and momentum of the enemy would have to suffice.

However, this still didn't deter the antilan troops. As the musketeers retreated from behind the formed lines and left the tunnel, more warriors entered through the newly opened hole and flooded in.

Soon, a war between warriors was staged. This time, Taki had no arrogance about the chances of normal soldiers against the old dominant forces of Medala's battlefields. Though of course, Saniya and its allies had its own warriors by now, and made good use of them. The warriors of the king's allied lords caught the brunt of the attack, and fiercely fought their counterparts for every step of dirt within the narrow tunnel.

Though even here, the well-trained commoner troops of Saniya still had their uses. To maximize their effectiveness, their commander had devised a formation that was tailored for combat in the tunnels.

First stood a line of two warriors, with broad shoulders and thick armor. Their s.h.i.+elds were heavy and their weapons were short and thick, to stop a charge and then deal maximum damage at minimum range. Behind the warriors stood a row of three soldiers with long, thick pikes. Thin, unarmored, and with their bodies angled to the side, the three commoners just barely fit next to one another in the narrow corridor without getting in each other's way.

While they couldn't control their weapons well from their tight, stiff position, they carried their weapons overhand and rested them on the shoulders or s.h.i.+elds of the warriors in front. This way, they saved strength and simply had to blindly poke forward. Their simple attacks created a constant threat and obstacle for Antila's warriors, who would already be no more than evenly matched against the warriors of the kingdom.

With admiration, Taki stared at the man next to him, General Scolo, who had devised their entire strategy. Making full use of their advantages, even in disadvantageous terrain, this man was surely a genius of military command. However, the genius didn't look proud of his achievements. Instead, a deep frown dominated his face.

The battle had mostly gone to their plan, just one thing they hadn't predicted: The determination of the raiders. Although the warriors of Antila had seen their first wave destroyed by a flintlock salvo, although they were at a disadvantage in close combat due to the general's tactics, they had not backed down at all.

Every time they were hit, they did their best to trade blows. If that was not enough, they would hold onto their foes to create a chance for the warriors behind them. Their desperation turned the orderly battle into a vicious brawl. The ferocity left no time for retreat, and it left no time to recover the wounded.

At this moment, two of Saniya's formations, with two warriors and three soldiers each, had already been annihilated, and the raiders were currently stuck on the third. The losses of the antilans were only heavier. As they fell, all men ended up in the muddy ground. Without a choice to back down, the soldiers on both sides continued to fight their battles on top of the mangled bodies, trampling them into the ground, and turning injured men into corpses. It was a horrible, vicious sight, and the fact that the kingdom's army was exchanging lives at a slightly favorable rate didn't make Taki happy.

In their desperation, the warriors of Antila had managed to push back their formation repeatedly, but it looked like they had finally run out of strength. Some forty meters away from the tunnel's terminus, General Scolo's third formation finally held firm.

Suddenly, one of the enemy warriors pushed hard against the s.h.i.+eld in front of him to gain some s.p.a.ce, turned his head and shouted: "Collapse it! We cannot push them further!"

Immediately after, Taki could hear a dull thud from beyond the battlefield. The one thud was soon followed by several more. With his extraordinary ears, he could tell right away just what they were doing back there.

"They are hacking at our support beams!" he shouted towards General Scolo, "They're trying to collapse the tunnel!"

The general didn't respond with the urgency he was expecting. Instead, his frown only deepened. For a few seconds he just stood there, while Taki got more and more nervous with every single hit of axe on wood in his ears. Finally, when the scout felt that his nerves couldn't take it any longer and he wanted to escape the claustrophobic tunnels before they became his grave, the general gave his orders.

"Steady retreat!" he shouted towards the front. "That's enough."

"Why-" Taki whispered, but held back his question in the end.

'Why are you not trying to prevent them?', he wanted to ask, but questioning a general wouldn't do him any good. Not to mention, the orders had been given, and couldn't be defied even if they were wrong. That much, he had now understood. And as he looked at the crushed bodies lying underneath the combatants, he also understood the decision. Maybe, the price they had to pay to preserve the tunnel was too high this time. And maybe, they could not preserve it even if they tried their best.

Thus, not long after, the back half of the tunnel began to collapse. Several enemy warriors in the back screamed for a moment, before they were buried under several tons of earth. Only the foremost warriors of Antila had escaped the disaster. Though as they realized that their duty was fulfilled, they immediately dropped their weapons and surrendered.

"Good work," The general commented in the same cold voice as before, as if he hadn't seen all those people die right in front of his eyes. "Take in the prisoners, check if there are survivors, and move back out. There is still much we can improve about our tactics."

As he heard the cold words that spoke of future battles in the other tunnels, a chill ran down Taki's spine. He understood that the war below ground had only just begun, and it would only get bloodier and dirtier from here.