The Rivening

On the Frontline

Peter turned to Connie, "I'm going forward to be with the surge. Find a place I can be of use. You, you understand?"

She nodded, "Of course I do. But I'm so scared what will happen." She hugged him tightly. "No regrets about coming to Dahria?"

He smiled. "As if you even have to ask."

Peter sought out Lina to see what he could do to best help.

One of the planned tactics was to perch crossbow archers up in trees at advantageous angles for targeting the top of the enclosure. In those lofty positions, not only would spanning the crossbows be precarious, but there would be no easy place to store extra bolts beyond those in the quiver. Either the archer would have to climb down to retrieve more or someone else needed to go up and down the ladder to keep the archer supplied.

Lina took Peter to one of the archers who lacked a partner. She had come up from Yawlag after hearing the broadcast from Olan's echo station.

Lina whispered to Peter, "She's won crossbow contests for the last five or six years, since she was 16 years old."

The young woman looked dubiously at Peter when Lina proposed him as her runner. When Lina explained that it was Peter who helped Olan rebuild the echo station, she nodded her approval and broke out in a friendly grin.

"Famous Earthside Peter."

"I won't let you down," he beamed. "Let's do some time motion studies. Let me see you shoot."

The archer looked confused, even after Lina translated. Peter wondered how she might have translated 'time-motion studies.' Nonetheless, she led him to the practice field in the meadow. He saw how many bolts she could stow in her quiver and timed her delivery. Then he had her get the ladder they would be using, leaned it against a tree and timed himself, going up and down and filling the quiver.

"Piece of cake!" he pronounced and threw up his arms.

Peter calculated that the pacing of the bolts' delivery versus the time it would take him to do a refill, meant that he could spend time up in the tree holding a full quiver at the ready and watching the surge unfold. Later he'd be able to report back to Connie about everything that happened.

The word came around that it was time to form the swarm. Clusters gathered in a thick semi-circle inside the woods that surrounded the cleared open area around the enclosure. The strategy was simple enough: attack from all three sides using a variety of tactics to overwhelm the mercenaries, thus allowing the swarm to breach and overrun the enclosure.

Peter watched Milo stride forward with her long bow.

One cluster had assembled stretchers for transporting wounded. That many would surely die was understood but not spoken aloud.

A three-note whistle sounded. And the barrage began.

Archers wielding long bows and cross bows, both on the ground and up in the trees, began showering arrows on the mercenaries and the enclosure.

On one side, riderless scooters, with burning straw bales strapped on the back, were sent crashing against the enclosure. Sturdy crossbows launched burning projectiles that imbedded themselves higher up, as well as shooting grappling hooks over the top to be reeled in as the wall weakened from the flames.

On the opposite side of the enclosure, the swarm waited until it appeared that the fire had begun taking hold and creating distraction among the mercenaries. The metal panels from fast trains had been broken down into individuals shields, providing coverage like a turtle shell. Holding the metal shield over their heads with one hand and carrying a ladder with the other, several Dahrians ran forward to scale the enclosure with the objective of pulling down and capturing mercenaries and their weapons.

Along with the archers and fiery hay bales, teams of Dahrians ran forward with segments of the thick, oak, waist-high wooden barricades that Connie helped construct. Braces shoved in the back kept the barricades at an angle to deflect bullets. Skilled slingers popped up hurling precisely aimed projectiles at the heads of the mercenaries.

Within minutes, there were signs of confusion inside the enclosure with mercenaries running toward the fire on the one side and much shouting heard above the racket of the gunfire.

Two of the ladder teams made it to the top and pulled down one of the mercenaries, dislodging his gun. His leg fractured in the fall.

After that one small victory, the rest of the Dahrians' efforts rapidly collapsed under the spray of bullets.

As Peter's archer aimed her crossbow, her body arched back. Shot in the head. She tumbled down to the ground through the branches of the tree. Dead.

Around the bottom of the enclosure, many Dahrians lay dead or severely wounded.

The attack was failing. Badly.