Spark of War (Progression Fantasy)

A few hours later, El stood at a large table, with Laze, Nidina, Tas, Macer, and several of the other Firestorm and Pilish commanders all staring down at the large map between them. She'd come through with more reinforcements and fresh orders from the generals – along with General Cannon himself.

Behind him, Sergeant Esis and her second, Nite – of the Boomers wing – stood at ease as they watched. Having an elite wing like them there significantly increased the odds of success for any actions they were part of, and signalled the importance Cannon was giving the battles in Pili. Unlike some of the other generals who cautioned committing too many of their forces in this northern nation – instead of reinforcing Pycrin – Cannon was adamant the battle needed to happen here.

El was sure part of that was to keep the worst of it from reaching Balacin. Damage to the city aside – which was still recovering after the Pycrin golem – there was the issue of the Embers. With so many still in one place, if the Depths got their claws on them, unlocking one of the rings would be a given.

So, instead, they all gazed down on a scale map of the dozens of islands that made up the island nation of Pili. Or… was it hundreds of islands? Either way, the picture it painted already wasn't a pretty one. Despite the strength of the Firestorm, and the battles Laze, Nidina, and Nexin had won, almost the entire west coast was considered 'lost'. Fort towns had been abandoned where possible, their populations rushing deeper into the Pilish territory away from the coast.

The problem was, it wasn't just the coastline that was dangerous. Small red flags on the map indicated areas that'd come under attack from the Depths, and there were at least ten of them uncomfortably far to the east. One of which was just a few miles from the walls of the fort they now stood in, where Laze and Nidina had been ambushed. The Depths were using the large rivers to move unnoticed. And the allied forces of Pili and Pycrin didn't have a good answer to it.

On land, the fiery forces could hold their own. There were just too many major rivers in this nation, though.

"The Depths and their commanders, the clickers," the Pilish commander of the fort Tas knew – Yility – started, pointing at one red flag, then another. "They've started using feints to draw Nexin away from their true targets. We're seeing two, three, even four feint forces. All are a decent size, but have taken to keeping their main forces in the water until Nexin shows up. Once that happens, they seem to push a little to keep his attention, while the distant forces begin to move."

"They have communication magic?" Cannon asked.

"We're beginning to suspect that," Yility said with a grave nod. "We'd originally thought it was just tactics starting to show themselves with the clickers getting involved, but it has to be more than that. With your Firestorm helping," he nodded his thanks at that, "we should be able to react faster to any attacks or incursions. We don't have the same range of communication magic you do, and that alone will make a big difference."

"Will it, though?" Cannon asked. "Yes, the Firestorm are a powerful weapon, but they are limited in number. Far too limited. Especially against the numbers fielded by the Depths. In our most successful battles, historically, we've supported the aerial superiority of the mobile Firestorm with our stubborn ground forces. Distract and strike surgically from the air, while the groundies pound the opponents to ash under their numbers and artillery.

"The groundies don't have the same individual power as a Firestorm, but they make up for it with solid tactics and devastating weapons. This set up of roads and bridges – which can either be blocked or outright destroyed – will severely limit the groundies' mobility."

Yility rubbed his chin while nodding. "They… were designed that way, after the last time Pycrin visited Pili."

Cannon also nodded, like that was completely expected. "I would've done the same thing. The natural terrain of the nation doesn't do us any favors either, with the pillars in the stone forests making it nearly impossible to move our artillery anywhere but along the roads. It wouldn't do much to slow the Firestorm, but as we mentioned, we don't have enough to completely hold the coast. And, if we move our groundies out that way to do just that, the Depths will just sneak down the rivers like they've been doing.

"We could try blockading the rivers, but I suspect they'd still find ways through. There are underground rivers, aren't there?"

"There are," Yility affirmed.

"How are the forts holding out, the ones still manned?" Cannon pointed to several green flags, indicating the towns that still had a population present. Grey flags showed towns that had bene completely abandoned.

"Holding… for now," Yility said, his voice indicating it really was only a matter of time. "Nexin – Seven Cinders bless him – seems to have an instinct for when an engagement turns out to be a feint within a few minutes. And the speed he moves… I wish you could tell me you brought more like him. Sorry, anyway, we've been lucky. His presence has kept the Depths from fully committing to an assault."

"That hesitance won't last forever," Cannon said.

"They're testing his limits," Laze spoke quietly from where she half-hid behind El.

"What's that?" Cannon asked, turning to look at the woman. His arm – like El's – was still bound against his chest. Unlike hers, the doctors had told him it would never heal, and El couldn't stop herself from wincing as her eyes landed on it.

She couldn't imagine what she'd do in his shoes, and yet he seemed to just accept it in stride. The Church had ruined his arm forever – with his own burning Spark – but he didn't let it stop him. Or even slow him down.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"I…" Laze started, snapping El out of her idle thoughts, and she stepped aside to urge her friend forward.

"Tell us what you're thinking," El whispered.

Laze slowly looked around the room at all the people who were way above her rank and staring at her. But, these weren't looks of annoyance at being interrupted by some random soldier. These were looks of respect and legitimate curiosity. Laze had proven herself a dozen times – or more – over in the few days she'd been in Pili. It wasn't an exaggeration to say she'd made a huge difference in the war already.

Taking a deep breath, Laze closed her eyes like she was gathering herself, then stepped forward to the table. "Look at the positions of the forts they're attacking and the locations of the feints. Here and here," Laze said, pointing at a green flag and then a blue – the latter color indicating what they believed to be feint engagements. "Then there and there. And these two," Laze continued, pointing out a total of six pairs.

"What do you see?" Cannon asked, leaning forward.

"It could be coincidence," Laze said, "but I don't think it is. The distance between each feint and actual attack – though I don't think they are true attacks yet – is getting larger. They're testing to see how far away he can sense an attack on a fort. Look, they could feint up here," Laze pointed the northmost town still occupied, "then launch a real attack down here," her finger traced down to the southmost fort.

"Both of those forts are two of our most heavily guarded," Yility said, but even the wheels were turning in his head as he thought about Laze's comments.

"Which also makes them some of the fattest targets," Cannon said. "They're full to bursting with people, aren't they?"

"To the point food and water may become a bigger danger than the Depths within a measure of weeks," Yility admitted.

"Those two towns are under siege," El said, the horror of it sinking it. "Without a single monster outside the walls, they're holding the whole town hostage. We can't risk opening the gates and having anybody whisked away by the depths to fuel the rings. Without knowing how many people – how many Sparks – they actually need, we have to act very carefully."

"Right," Laze picked up. "So, while these may be the fattest targets – as General Cannon noted – they aren't worth the losses. Yet. Instead, they're pushing on the softer fort towns, the ones with less forces guarding the civilians within. If they get lucky and the feint punches through, it's a win for them. If they don't, and Nexin shows up, they use it as an opportunity to learn more about his limits."

"Which means we're bound to see them commit as soon as they think they know those limits," Cannon said, which only made El chuckle.

Every head at the table turned in her direction, and she met each gaze levelly. "Nexin? Limits? Really?"

The corner of Cannon's mouth curled, and he nodded before turning his attention back to the table. "Nexin's prowess aside, he's still just one man. And, although the gateway we've managed to open here is able to bring in reinforcements, we're too far east."

"We need drive our combined forces like a nail straight across this main roadway," Yility said, running his finger along a path leading from Fort Bedrock towards the western coast. "From there, we can reinforce the forts with your groundies and artillery, along with our Ashes and soldiers. If we can continue to hold this as a supply line, we can even ferry civilians back deeper into Pili. To safety."

Cannon rubbed his chin with his one good hand while he gazed at the map, but he finally shook his head. "I agree with half of what you said. We're boxed in right now, and we need to change that. This enemy will figure out we're going to take this road as soon as they spot our forces moving out, and if the bridges haven't already been destroyed, they will be."

"We can send Firestorm ahead to secure those bridges," Yility said.

"Depends on how deep the rivers are," El said. "They could've already weakened the supports, and we won't know until we've got artillery on them."

"We… I'm sorry, I should've told you sooner. Old habits. We also have mobile bridges. They aren't as sturdy as the permanent ones, but we can use them to move troops across the more narrow points of the rivers."

Cannon looked up at the man, and El waited to see if he'd reprimand the other commander for withholding such useful information. Instead, the general just nodded.

"Good, that will help," Cannon said.

"What about the mushroom tunnels, or something like them?" Laze asked. "They won't be big enough to move artillery, but we could send troops through them directly into the forts as we secure them."

"There are a few connecting forts where we can use that. And the Depths won't even know there are more soldiers there until they attack. It's a good idea."

At this, Cannon shook his head. "I said I agreed with half your plan – the part that moved our troops out. We can't reinforce the forts though. Yility, how many ships do you still have? The big metal ones I read about."

"Ships…?" Yility asked, but the pieces clicked in El's head.

"You want to go to Wirock," she said.

"We have to take the fight to them and disable the rings," Cannon said. "Holding here is only prolonging the inevitable. Their tactics are improving. They have forces in places other than Pili. These new clickers Nexin battled are getting stronger and stronger. And that burning avatar hasn't made its move yet. If we stay here, we're playing by their rules and letting them dictate the pace.

"It's time to steal the momentum."

Yility stared hard at the map, like he could see the fort towns burning under the attacks by the Depths, while the soldiers abandoned them. Slowly and woodenly, he stabbed his finger down on a bare section of the western coastline.

"We have a protected dock here," he said. "There should be ten ships there. My latest reports indicate it hadn't been attacked, yet, probably because nobody is stationed there. We've had to abandon most of our ships because of how vulnerable they are. I can probably find the locations of a few more. They'd be big enough to move even your artillery."

"It'd be dangerous," El said. "You didn't see the ship graveyard we found at Wirock."

"We'll need a feint of our own," Cannon said tracing his eyes back from where Yility said the dock was. "Here," he tapped a section of the map between several of the major forts. "We'll head here, then make a push like we're going to reinforce the forts. And we will. Because we need to keep the Depths' eyes here, and not at the water between Pili and Wirock."

"Can't we just send your Firestorm across?" Yility asked. "They can fly safely well above the water."

"Two reasons," Cannon said. "It's a long enough journey I'd be worried about them arriving at the battle exhausted. Second, and more importantly, they can't destroy the rings. We need the new artillery that combines your weapons with our own."

Yility let out a long breath. "It's a huge risk. The sea is their territory. We could lose everybody on those ships in the blink of an eye. That's why we abandoned our ships in the first place."

"About that," El said. "Can we gather up the people we need to… uh… drive the ship? Whatever the term is."

"The ships practically direct themselves," Yility said. "You could just make sure they're pointed in the right direction and they'd get there by themselves. Sure, a full crew would make it a lot smoother, but we could make it work with the bare minimum, if we go ahead with this crazy plan."

"The feint will need to be good enough to get their full attention," Cannon said.

"Actually," Laze said, looking from El to general Cannon. "What if we use two feints?"