Chapter 41: GIVE THEM THE GROUND

RAIGORO’S POV

By midnight, the larger corrupted force had committed to the southwest approach.

Raigoro still had not committed Blackharrow’s main strength.

Several officers had begun objecting.

The command map had been moved into the western ward station, where lanterns hung from iron hooks above the table.

Markers showed Blackharrow’s four infantry companies, mounted scouts, engineer teams, six Dragon Host pairs, and the corrupted movement beyond the outer line.

Captain Arven pointed toward the southwest route.

"They will reach the lower ward before dawn."

Raigoro moved one Blackharrow marker away from the approach.

Arven watched his hand.

"You want them to see us weaken it."

"Yes."

One of the younger officers looked between them.

"And if nothing is directing them?"

"Then they still choose easier ground."

Arven looked toward the narrower terrain behind the outer rise.

"And we choose where that ground ends."

"Exactly."

Senior Engineer Bastan Holt stepped closer.

The southwest approach widened near the outer ward before narrowing between two steep stone slopes. A smaller gully entered from the east. Another rough track climbed the western rock shelf before becoming too narrow for wagons.

Normally Blackharrow defended forward, where the ward markers and open sight lines gave archers more distance.

Raigoro pointed farther back.

"Here."

Holt followed his hand.

"The narrow ground."

"Yes."

"We surrender the outer rise."

"For a while."

Raigoro tapped the narrow section behind it.

"This controls how many creatures can reach the line at once."

The engineer studied the map.

"There are two side routes."

"Can you close them?"

"The eastern gully, yes. We can move rock sledges down from the maintenance track and lock them across the mouth."

"And the western shelf?"

"Too broad for one barrier."

"Then narrow it."

Holt considered.

"We can pull two timber frames from the old repair stores and brace them against the rock."

"How long?"

"Three hours."

"You have two."

Holt grimaced.

"Then I have two."

Raigoro turned toward Captain Veyr.

"Take four pairs north of the rock shelf before moonset."

Veyr studied the route.

"Visible from the valley?"

"Not if you remain below the ridge."

"And the other two?"

"Keep them visible here."

Veyr looked from the hidden route to the enemy markers.

"You want whoever is watching to count two."

"Yes."

If nothing was directing the creatures, hiding four Dragon Host pairs cost Blackharrow very little.

If something was watching, the false picture mattered.

Orders went out.

Engineers moved first.

Infantry followed in stages so the southwest line would not appear suddenly abandoned.

Raigoro rode the prepared ground before dawn.

Snow covered the upper slopes, but years of patrol traffic had hardened the main approach beneath it.

The outer rise stood ahead.

Beyond it lay the ward markers.

Somewhere past them, more than a hundred corrupted creatures were moving south.

Holt met Raigoro near the narrow ground.

"Eastern gully will close."

"And the west?"

"First frame is in place. Second is coming."

Raigoro examined the route.

"Too obvious."

Holt looked offended.

"The frame?"

"The work."

Men had cleared snow around the timbers. From the outer rise, the disturbed ground would become visible after daylight.

"Cover it."

"With what?"

Raigoro looked at the snow surrounding them.

Holt followed his attention.

He sighed.

"Snow."

By first light, Blackharrow’s southwest defense looked weaker than it had the previous day.

Fewer infantry stood on the outer rise.

Only two Dragon Host pairs remained visible.

One barrier had disappeared entirely.

The real line waited behind the narrow ground.

Raigoro watched from a concealed position below the western shelf.

The first corrupted creatures appeared shortly after sunrise.

Hounds.

Then stonebacks.

More behind them.

Carrion drakes moved above the trees.

The force slowed near the outer markers.

Captain Arven stood beside Raigoro.

"They are looking."

"Maybe."

At that distance, neither of them could prove what the creatures were doing.

Then the front group changed direction.

They passed the stronger remaining barrier and began moving toward the section where Raigoro had visibly withdrawn one company.

Captain Arven breathed out through his nose.

"That is inconvenient."

"No."

Raigoro watched the corrupted force commit itself toward the apparent weakness.

"That is useful."

The first hounds crossed the ward marker.

Stonebacks followed in numbers Raigoro had never seen concentrated on one field.

A larger shape remained behind the trees.

Raigoro could not identify it yet.

Nothing in his current plan required him to.

The corrupted force had chosen the route Blackharrow offered.

Now Blackharrow had to make the offer expensive.

By breakfast, the creatures held the first ridge.

Several officers wanted it back.

Raigoro refused.

The forward company withdrew down the slope in controlled sections.

"Third file, move."

A horn sounded.

Soldiers backed away while the next group held the creatures above them.

"Second file."

Another horn.

Archers released one final volley before descending toward the narrower ground.

The corrupted force followed.

Captain Arven came down from the eastern flank.

"We can still hold the ridge."

Raigoro watched another stoneback crest it.

"I know."

"We have enough men."

"For how long?"

"Several hours."

"And when fourth company needs reinforcement?"

Arven looked toward the ridge.

He did not answer.

The position gave Blackharrow excellent sight across the valley.

It also forced wounded men down the same narrow route reinforcements needed to climb.

Supply wagons could not reach it efficiently.

The broader the corrupted force became, the easier it would be for sections of Blackharrow’s line to become isolated.

Raigoro pointed toward the creatures occupying the crest. "If they want the ridge, give it to them."

"The ward marker is above it."

"The ward marker is stone."

"Symbolically."

"Symbols do not carry wounded men downhill."

Arven stopped arguing.

"Second line holds until my signal."

"Yes, Your Grace."

He rode away.

The withdrawal continued.

Men gave ground, stopped, turned, fought, then moved again when the next section was ready.

Exactly as they had practiced.

The creatures followed.

At the ridge top, they had room to spread.

Inside the descent, their own numbers began working against them.

Hounds reached Blackharrow first.

Stonebacks pressed behind them.

Carrion drakes circled above but could not dive freely without risking the creatures below.

Raigoro waited.

A messenger arrived from the eastern engineer team.

"Gully ready."

"Hold it open."

The man hesitated.

"We can close it now."

"I know."

Closing it now would prove the trap existed before enough of the corrupted force had entered it.

The hidden Dragon Host pairs remained behind the western rock line.

The battle compressed.

At the second position, Blackharrow infantry locked shields behind low timber barriers while hounds struck the openings.

The first stoneback reached the center and drove into the timber hard enough to push it backward.

Spearmen braced.

The creature struck again.

"Replace the front three!"

Men moved.

A wounded soldier stumbled away.

Another took his place before the gap widened.

Raigoro watched the movement.

The training mattered now because nobody had time to invent discipline while something tried to kill them.

The first barrier broke.

Blackharrow yielded another section.

Creatures surged into the opening.

Lieutenant Kian Marr rode toward Raigoro.

"Your Grace, we’re losing the second line."

Raigoro looked past him.

"Are you?"

Kian turned.

Men were withdrawing.

The corrupted force was advancing.

To an officer trained to measure victory by ground held, the answer probably seemed obvious.

Raigoro pointed toward the creatures.

"Look at their front."

The lieutenant did.

Hounds had crowded so tightly between the stone slopes that some were climbing over the wounded. The stonebacks behind them had too little distance to build speed.

"What do you see?"

"They are compressed."

"And us?"

The Blackharrow line was narrowing too, but the withdrawal lanes behind it remained open.

Kian answered more carefully.

"Still organized."

"Yes."

Raigoro looked back toward the center.

"We are leaving ground. We are not losing the formation."

That distinction mattered only while the formation remained intact.

Another barrier failed.

The wounded began filling the rear lane.

A healer called for additional stretchers.

A hound cleared one broken frame and reached the reserve archers before a swordsman killed it.

A signal horn sounded behind Raigoro.

Two short notes.

The corrupted force had committed far enough.

Raigoro raised his hand.

"Close the eastern gully."

The order traveled.

Engineers released the first rock sledge from the slope.

The heavy timber frame rolled down its prepared track carrying stone and packed earth.

It struck the gully mouth sideways.

The second frame followed.

Men ran in behind it with hooks and braces, locking the obstacle against the rock.

Several corrupted creatures already inside the side route turned.

Too late.

Their easiest retreat had disappeared.

The western shelf remained open.

More of the creatures began shifting toward it.

Exactly where the hidden Dragon Host waited.

Captain Arven returned.

"Now?"

"Not yet."

Arven looked toward the worsening center.

Another section of barrier came down.

Blackharrow gave more ground.

This withdrawal was still deliberate.

The next one might not be.

The larger shape behind the trees finally entered the open ground.

One of the scouts beside Raigoro swore. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

It might once have been a stoneback.

Corruption had enlarged it beyond anything Raigoro had seen among the species. Black growths armored its neck and shoulders. One foreleg ended in a twisted mass of bone that struck the ground like a hammer.

The creature approached the narrow route.

Then turned away from it.

Captain Arven followed the movement.

"That slope is too steep."

The corrupted stoneback drove its altered foreleg into the eastern rock and pulled itself upward.

Loose stone broke beneath it.

The creature climbed anyway.

It was not entering the ground Raigoro had prepared.

It was going around it.

Raigoro began revising the plan before the creature reached the top.