"Move! Ten minutes to clean this up! We pull out right after!"
Sophia and Isabel had their squads ambushed on either cliffside. Only a hundred troops each - hit quick, clean, and gone. It was all Liana’s plan: strike during the peace talks between Bruce and Tony. Best case? Get them to fight each other. Worst case? At least stop them from teaming up against the Underground Granary.
No doubt both main armies heard the gunfire. Sophia and Isabel swept up weapons and magazines fast as hell, then took their people over the far ridge, lted into the rocks. Thirty minutes wait - watch and listen. If nothing flares, head back to base.
"Report! Commander Lee’s unit was hit in the ambush... no survivors!" A recon soldier rushed to Bruce’s command tent.
Bruce’s face darkened instantly. With a loud crack, he smashed his tal cup to the ground. "This is bullshit! Soone out there’s asking to die!"
He swung around. "Guards! Tell the n, full battle alert! We march - !"
"Hold it!" Peter Kennedy cut in, stepping forward quick.
Bruce scowled, "The hell are you doing, Pete?"
"Think, Bruce! Just hear out," Peter replied firmly. "If Ridgebreak Battalion wanted war, why bother talking peace first? You really think they’d co all this way just to kill a few negotiators? They’re not dumb. They know they can’t face us head-on. So why provoke us like this? Does that make sense to you?"
Bruce paused, his hand frozen mid-air. He turned to Peter, frowning. "You an... this wasn’t the 13th Battalion’s doing?"
Peter cleared his throat and nodded. "If we go to war with them, who gains the most?"
"Ashbrook Town?" Bruce muttered, gears suddenly turning. "You’re saying it’s those bastards from Ashbrook?"
Peter nodded again. "Unless the 13th sent a damn fool to negotiate, they wouldn’t risk a move that stupid. Makes more sense it’s Ashbrook trying to play us both."
anwhile, over at Ridgebreak Battalion, Tony had co to the sa conclusion. But he was still confused - weren’t the Underground Granary folks supposed to have surrendered to him?
Maybe seeing Springvale troops show up made them change their minds again.
Crazy bunch of girls.
"Commander! The ones who ambushed us and Springvale’s forces - it’s gotta be those bastards from the Underground Granary! They’ve turned on us! I say we hit them now - storm Ashbrook Town and take them out before they move again!"
One of Tony’s officers barked, face burning with fury. The ambushed unit had been led by his sworn brother, and their bond ran deep.
Tony raised a hand, cutting him off. "Enough."
"But why, Commander? We - " the officer protested.
"Why?" Tony’s eyes turned cold. "Because I’ll stake my damn head on it - if we roll into Ashbrook Town right now, Cliff’s boys will stab us in the back without hesitation. That’s why. Got it now?"
There were two roads into Ashbrook Town, both now under the Ridgebreak Battalion’s watch. For Cliff’s unit to strike, they’d first have to march past Tony’s n. Right now, neither army trusted the other.
They were locked in a standoff - Cliff couldn’t move because Tony wouldn’t make way, and Tony wouldn’t attack for fear of Cliff launching a sneak assault from behind. No one dared make the first move.
*****
Three hours crawled by. The sky darkened. Sophia left scouts to monitor the front lines, leading the rest of her team back to the Underground Granary.
Back at base, she briefed Emily, Charlotte, and the others on the current stalemate. The two armies, stuck in place, were too suspicious to act.
Liana’s plan had worked. As long as negotiations between the two enemy forces were sabotaged, they’d remain frozen, wary and divided.
It was a clean win - morale ran high as the won gathered around the map. Charlotte quickly marked the troop positions, analyzing, "Right now, Ridgebreak won’t hit us - Tony’s afraid Cliff will gut him from behind. And Cliff can’t reach us because Tony’s blocking the way. Even if Tony did open that road, Cliff wouldn’t dare charge in either. Sa fear."
"This plan of Liana’s is brilliant!" Sophia exclaid, eyes lit with admiration. "We just need to keep them apart - so long as they stay separated, they’ll never dare make a move on us!"
"I agree," Emily said, tone calm but firm. "But dragging this out endlessly isn’t safe either. What if they slip around and et behind the hills, strike a deal, and charge us together? If Ridgebreak pulls back to this point..."
She pointed to another entry route into Ashbrook Town. "And then hands Cliff the current path they’re guarding... Both sides could coordinate an attack. We’d be caught between them - numbers and firepower. That’d be a disaster."
Emily made a solid point. The won fell silent for a mont, then quickly dived back into a heated discussion. But after a while with no real progress, Isabel ca running up from her post, breathless and a little excited. "Emily, Sophia - Magnus is back!"
Magnus? He’s back? How’s that possible? Wasn’t he still in Willowglen Village?
Willowglen...
It all lined up exactly like Emily and the others had guessed - Evan and Simon had betrayed them. The two bastards figured the Ice Regint couldn’t hold out against the Ridgebreak Battalion and switched sides. Especially when Ridgebreak secretly promised them command of the underground granary, they gave in. Evan and Simon handed over everything - troop placents, supply details - straight to Ridgebreak.
Their plan was to strike from inside while Ridgebreak attacked from outside, catching the Ice Regint off guard. Just last night, Molly and Lucy had returned and ntioned sothing about teorite Mountain. Emily and the others hadn’t suspected Evan, so they let him sit in on the eting.
As soon as the eting ended, Evan rushed to report to Tony Washington. Tony imdiately agreed to arm Simon’s unit with 500 rifles and planned to pretend to follow Molly’s group on their mission the next day. At the right mont, they’d ambush her 150 n, then head straight to Willowglen and take out Magnus when he least expected it.
The plan was airtight - at least, they thought so. But Tony and Evan seriously underestimated the Ice Regint’s resources. Turned out every one of Molly and Lucy’s 150 troops had a tal Crystal on them. They tore through Simon’s 800 n like it was nothing - only losing 12 of their own.
The betrayal shook Molly and Lucy to the core. They doubled their pace, covering a full day’s mountain trek in just half a day, and reached Willowglen. There, they told Magnus everything that happened in Ashbrook Town. He was furious. Once he made sure Molly and the others were safe, he turned around and rushed straight back to the underground granary.
"Magnus!"
"Magnus - you’re really back?"
Dusty and exhausted, Magnus climbed into the vehicle. Emily and the others all stood up in surprise. He grabbed a water jug, gulped down several mouthfuls, then made his way directly to the table. Without breaking stride, he asked, "What’s the situation?"
Emily quickly filled him in on everything that had transpired over the past few days. As she spoke, Magnus listened carefully, marking points on the map with swift strokes. He didn’t interrupt, just nodded as he worked.
When Emily finally finished, Magnus stared at the map in silence for a mont, then said sothing that left them all stunned.
"That’s easy."
User Comments
0 comments from readers