Chapter 116: The Line of Blood

Chapter 116: The Line of Blood

The first kingdom-wide offensive began only hours after Garran gave Noah permission to advance.

Rakhar Veyr had spent six planetary months preparing roads, stockpiling supplies, integrating armies from four goblin empires, and studying every report collected from the Caldris defensive line.

By the time Noah’s authorization reached him, the Grand Marshal already knew where the first blows would fall and which formations would deliver them.

The Caldris defensive belt stretched across the approaches west of the conquered eastern provinces, although it was not a single continuous wall.

Fortified towns, trenches, wooden palisades, stone redoubts, reinforced bridges, defensive camps, and elevated firing positions formed a broad network intended to slow anything advancing from Northwatch, Redhaven, Valemar, or Stoneford.

Rivers and hills had been incorporated into the defenses wherever possible, while supply depots farther behind the front allowed human reserves to reinforce threatened positions without abandoning the entire line.

Rakhar divided the opening campaign into three directions. The northern attack would push from Northwatch toward the former northern sector, the central armies would advance west from Redhaven along the most direct routes into Caldris’s interior, and the southern forces would move from Valemar and Stoneford against the defenses protecting the lower provinces. None of the three directions would serve merely as a diversion, because Rakhar wanted Caldris to treat every assault as a possible breakthrough.

The first formations moved before dawn. Viridian veterans marched beside Varkesh, Skargrim, and Luminous troops that had spent months waiting for their first battle on Edras, while siege crews hauled catapults and ballistas behind them.

Engineers carried fascines, ladders, mantlets, ropes, timber, and tools for dismantling defensive works, while supply columns remained farther behind to keep the roads open for reinforcements.

Caldris had also spent months preparing, and the first two planetary days immediately demonstrated the strength of its defenses.

In the north, goblin formations encountered fortified hills and narrow roads covered by archers and crossbowmen positioned above the approaches. Skargrim soldiers moved through wooded ground while engineers attempted to fill ditches and remove sharpened obstacles, but concentrated missile fire struck them whenever they approached the outer works.

The central front proved even harder. Caldris had positioned some of its best remaining professional troops along the roads leading deeper into the kingdom, with multiple layers of earthworks protecting the most important approaches.

Catapults and ballistas battered the defenses for hours before Viridian infantry advanced beneath mantlets, yet damaging one barrier often revealed another prepared position behind it.

In the south, open terrain created a different problem. Caldris cavalry repeatedly threatened the flanks of approaching formations, forcing the goblins to protect engineers and siege crews with spearmen and crossbowmen. Several cavalry attacks struck exposed supply groups before retreating behind the defensive belt, delaying the southern advance without requiring the humans to leave their main positions exposed.

Rakhar used the first two days to measure the line and increased the pressure once its strengths became clear.

On the third and fourth days, larger formations began rotating through all three directions, and an attack no longer ended simply because the soldiers leading it withdrew. Another force moved forward behind them, allowing engineers to return to partially filled ditches and siege engines to continue hammering the same damaged sections without giving Caldris long periods to recover.

Human commanders quickly recognized the pattern and began rotating their own soldiers where possible. Engineers worked continuously to rebuild earthworks, replace broken palisades, clear ruined equipment from the approaches, and reinforce positions that had already endured several attacks.

Units pulled from the front rarely rested for long because another section of the defensive belt might need reinforcement before their replacements had fully settled into position.

By the fifth day, the northern fighting had intensified around several fortified hills.

Skargrim engineers cleared enough obstacles for infantry to reach one of the forward defensive works, and a small Caldris position fell after hours of close combat.

Human reserves counterattacked before the goblins could properly strengthen it, forcing the attackers back down the slope, but the same hill came under another assault the following morning.

Other northern positions experienced similar fighting as small stretches of defensive ground changed hands repeatedly without either side securing them for long.

Every attack damaged the fortifications further, while every counterattack consumed soldiers Caldris would eventually need somewhere else along the line.

The central sector became the bloodiest portion of the campaign. Rakhar committed additional siege engines there because the roads beyond the defenses offered the most direct route toward the kingdom’s heartland, and repeated bombardments steadily shattered towers, palisades, and exposed earthworks.

Whenever an opening appeared, goblin infantry attempted to force enough soldiers through it to establish a foothold before Caldris could respond.

On the sixth day, Viridian troops broke through an outer palisade and held the damaged position for several hours. Royal professional soldiers moved forward from the second defensive layer and counterattacked, turning the breach into a crowded struggle among shattered timber and broken earthworks.

The goblins were eventually driven out, but the humans paid heavily to recover ground that was attacked again before repairs could be completed.

The southern battle changed more gradually as goblin commanders adapted to Caldris cavalry. Crossbowmen moved closer to advancing infantry, spear formations protected engineers and supply routes, and scouts began tracking the paths human horsemen used when shifting between staging areas.

Cavalry remained dangerous, but repeated losses made it increasingly difficult for Caldris to disrupt entire assaults as easily as it had during the opening days.

By the end of the first planetary week, all three major defensive lines still held. Goblin armies had captured several outer works and damaged many more, yet none of the main roads into the kingdom had been opened.

Their casualties were already severe because attacking prepared positions required them to cross exposed ground again and again under arrow fire.

The human losses were smaller, but Rakhar could already see a different weakness developing. Goblin formations that suffered heavily could withdraw several miles and be replaced by soldiers who had not yet fought, while Caldris repeatedly returned the same professional companies to battle because its reserve pool was far smaller.

Holding the line remained possible, although each successful defense reduced the number of fresh troops available for the next attack.

The second week began with new goblin formations taking the place of those exhausted during the opening seven days.

Varkesh infantry entered sections previously attacked by Viridian, Skargrim troops returned to the northern hills with fresh engineers, and Luminous units joined southern operations beside veterans who had already learned how Caldris responded to pressure.

The northern line became a cycle of bombardments and assaults that rarely allowed the defenders a full day of rest. A fortified ridge might be struck before sunrise, assaulted through the morning, left alone for several hours while siege engines continued firing, and attacked again after darkness.

Human soldiers increasingly slept inside the defensive works with their weapons close because even long periods of silence could end with another formation suddenly advancing.

The center experienced repeated temporary breakthroughs. On the ninth day, goblin engineers opened a section of the outer defenses and infantry forced its way through before the defenders could seal the gap.

Caldris committed reserves and recovered the position after several hours of fighting, only for another breach to appear nearby two days later and force another costly counterattack.

Each temporary success followed the same brutal pattern without producing a permanent breakthrough. The goblins sacrificed formations trying to expand openings, while Caldris spent increasingly valuable reserves closing them before the attackers could reach the roads behind the defensive system.

In the south, the struggle concentrated around fortified road junctions and open approaches.

Caldris cavalry continued searching for exposed flanks, but losses among horses and experienced riders gradually reduced the frequency of large counterattacks. Goblin engineers responded by moving siege equipment closer to the main defenses and establishing stronger forward camps that no longer needed to be abandoned after every unsuccessful assault.

By the tenth day, Rakhar also began using darkness as another weapon against the defenders. Some nights brought full attacks, while others saw only bombardments, engineer movements, raids, or formations moving close enough to force Caldris soldiers into their positions.

The unpredictability prevented the humans from knowing whether any quiet period would last long enough for genuine rest.

Caldris responded by shifting its remaining reserves between the three directions more frequently. Provincial formations that had fought in the center could be sent north only days later, while royal soldiers withdrawn from a damaged position might find themselves marching south before recovering completely.

Wounded men began returning to duty earlier, replacement officers took command of battered companies, and units that had started the campaign near full strength continued fighting with substantially reduced numbers.

The goblins were being drained as well. Defensive ditches slowed them beneath missile fire, palisades compressed formations into narrow killing grounds, and every failed assault left more bodies on the approaches.

Rakhar refused to answer those casualties with uncontrolled mass charges, keeping large reserves away from the fighting while exhausted units were withdrawn before they could be completely destroyed.

Another one and a half million soldiers were still moving toward the Gate Beyond Heaven, but Rakhar treated those reinforcements as future strength rather than an excuse to waste what he already possessed.

The armies attacking Caldris remained enormous, yet the Grand Marshal understood that even millions of soldiers could disappear quickly if they were repeatedly thrown against fortifications without discipline.

By the twelfth and thirteenth days, parts of the battlefield were almost unrecognizable. Broken siege engines lay among abandoned wagons and shattered shields, while arrows and bolts covered stretches of ground where repeated assaults had taken place.

Temporary burial areas expanded behind both armies as wounded soldiers moved in the opposite direction from fresh formations marching toward the line.

Some Caldris positions had been attacked so many times that little remained of their original construction. Defenders rebuilt them with fresh earth, timber, overturned carts, and pieces taken from ruined structures because abandoning even a badly damaged position could expose the defenses behind it.

On the fourteenth day, Rakhar ordered the largest coordinated attack since the campaign began. Northern, central, and southern armies moved within hours of one another while catapults and ballistas hammered weakened defenses, engineers advanced beneath mantlets, and fresh infantry prepared to exploit whatever openings appeared.

In the north, goblins captured several forward positions and briefly reached the crest of a fortified hill before human reserves contained the advance. In the south, repeated bombardment nearly destroyed a major road defense, forcing Caldris commanders to commit additional troops from positions farther behind the line.

The center came closest to breaking. A section damaged repeatedly throughout the previous two weeks finally collapsed, allowing Viridian and Varkesh infantry to push through the outer defenses in greater numbers than before. Fighting spread beyond the first defensive layer as the goblins tried to widen the opening, forcing Caldris to commit one of its remaining fresh royal formations to prevent the breach from becoming permanent.

The counterattack lasted for hours among ruined palisades and shattered earthworks. By nightfall, the humans had pushed the goblins back far enough to restore a rough defensive position, although the fortifications that remained barely resembled the structures that had stood there two weeks earlier.

When darkness finally covered the battlefield, the Caldris line remained intact across all three directions. Northern positions had been damaged repeatedly, central defenses had been penetrated several times without collapsing, and the southern line had lost outer works while continuing to block the roads beyond them.

The goblins had paid heavily for every attempt to tear the defenses apart, and their dead outnumbered those of the humans because they had spent fourteen days attacking well defended positions.

Caldris had suffered fewer casualties overall, but its losses came from a much smaller supply of soldiers, including professional formations and reserves that could not easily be replaced.

Noah observed the battlefield through his connection to Edras as both armies reorganized for another day. The goblins possessed greater manpower, fresh armies farther behind the line, and additional reinforcements still entering the world, while Caldris possessed fortifications that allowed every surviving defender to inflict a disproportionate price on the attackers.

After two planetary weeks, neither advantage had settled the battle. The defensive belt had become an enormous meat grinder stretching across the northern, central, and southern approaches, consuming soldiers every day without giving either army the decisive result it needed.

Behind the ruined Caldris works, exhausted human companies repaired whatever defenses could still be repaired while commanders redistributed their diminishing reserves.

Across the fields, battered goblin formations withdrew past fresh troops already preparing to take their places, ensuring that the pressure would begin again when the next assault was ordered.

Caldris did not know how many fresh goblin armies still waited behind the eastern provinces, while Rakhar could not know how close the human reserves were to reaching their limit.

The line had survived fourteen days of relentless attacks, but every day it remained standing demanded another payment in blood, leaving neither side certain whether the humans would finally crack beneath the pressure or the goblins would bleed themselves empty trying to break through.