Chapter 348 - 341 — Before the Attack

Corridor seven,Frontline of Southwest army

Halven reached Corridor Seven while men were still digging bodies out of yesterday’s collapsed trenches.

The supply road passed behind a ruined tollhouse and disappeared between two low ridges. Along the slope facing the enemy, timber supports protruded from broken earthworks. Some sections had been repaired with stone and sandbags. Others remained open, their defenders working with shields laid beside their shovels.

The thirty-five soldiers following Halven slowed as they saw the position.

Borr looked from the damaged trenches to the ammunition wagons.

"Tell me we are unloading before someone hands us spades."

A dwarf carrying a bundle of roof beams passed him.

"You can do both. We have plenty of work for everyone."

"Of course you do."

Lieutenant Senn met them beside the tollhouse. He checked their orders, then called an engineer over.

"The new weapon teams. Where are we putting them?"

The engineer pointed toward two partly roofed excavations connected to the main trench.

"Those were started when your advance message arrived. We had the measurements, but your instructors need to inspect them."

Halven looked toward the enemy-held quarry across the field.

"How long before our friends on the opposite side send us warm welcome?"

"Scouts reported fresh formations coming up before dawn," Senn said. "They are still gathering,so i would suggest use whatever time that gives us."

He unfolded a stained position sketch on a crate.

Halven’s platoon would reinforce the tollhouse section. Another machine-gun team and Corporal Nesk’s Lancer crew had been attached from their company. The battalion’s existing shield infantry, mages and artillery remained responsible for the rest of the defense.

Senn put a finger on the road.

"This leads to the supply junction. They have tried the neighboring slopes twice. If they break through here, they can bring their heavier forces straight along it."

"And the ditch?"

"Deep enough to trouble infantry. The damaged crossing is the only convenient approach for their Warhounds."

Halven examined the unfinished earthworks again.

"We need the trench cleared between the weapon positions. Ammunition carriers cannot keep climbing over the top."

The engineer nodded.

"I can spare labor if your men help with the digging."

"They will."

Borr, close enough to hear, closed his eyes briefly.

The first machine-gun shelter had been cut into the bank beside the road.

Its forward wall consisted of reclaimed stone backed with packed earth. Heavy timbers supported a low roof, though several gaps still showed daylight. The opening faced the broad approach between the quarry and the defensive ditch.

Borr’s gunner crouched behind the unfinished firing platform.

"Too low."

The instructor lowered himself beside him, checked the opening and called the engineer back.

Soon they adjusted the platform while Borr and two soldiers carried the last roof beams into place. A mage pressed her palms against the surrounding earth. The loose soil tightened around the supports, closing gaps the workers had struggled to pack by hand.

A runesmith checked the old protection marks on the reclaimed roof timbers and restored the ones the weather had damaged.

When the earth mage withdrew, sweat ran down her temples.

"That will hold its shape," she said. "It still needs the rest of the covering."

The men went back to their shovels.

Borr examined one of the supporting timbers before helping lift another sack.

"Does this shelter come with a kitchen?"

"No but it comes with a roof," the engineer replied.

"A promising beginning. Something hot beneath it would improve matters."

"There will be barley and onions when the field kitchen catches up."

"And beer?"

The engineer pointed toward the enemy quarry.

"Ask them to stop attacking the supply road."

By midday, the shelter had changed from a hole with a few beams across it into a position the crew could occupy without standing exposed against the sky.

The second machine gun went into another covered emplacement farther along the trench. Between them, Halven’s rifle sections cleared collapsed earth from their firing steps and strengthened the damaged parapet(Parapet refers to a low wall, you can take it like hmm a wall and you remove 2-3bricks every few steps to use as firing positions and the rest of the wall as cover).

They left room for the shield-bearers to move behind them.

"These men still need to reach the front if anything gets through," Halven told a soldier stacking equipment in the passage. "Put that in the recess."

The soldier moved it.

Nearby, Tavin pulled a broken plank out of the trench floor and laid a sound one in its place. His shortened sword knocked against his leg as he worked.

"If the smith delays my replacement much longer, I will be carrying a kitchen knife."

"Then stop using it to pry boards loose."

"I was using the broken end."

"That does not improve your argument."

Tavin grinned and reached for the shovel.

The ammunition wagons drew the crews’ attention as soon as the shelters were ready.

Borr supervised the unloading beside his machine gun. Box after box of ammo came down from the wagon until his gunner began looking at the growing stack.

"Are all those ours?"

"Ours and the reserve behind us."

"We did not fire that much during the whole course."

"We were sharing a range with other men who wanted a turn."

The instructor joined them.

"Get the ready boxes into the shelter. The remainder goes under cover in the rear recess."

Borr looked toward the narrow trench connecting the two.

"And the carriers?"

The youngest replacement stepped forward with another soldier.

"We have been assigned here."

"Walk the route now. Find out where you can pass a wounded man without dropping a box on him."

Inside the shelter, the gunner and instructor inspected the weapon while Borr arranged ammunition where his hands could reach it. Spare equipment and the replacement barrel went beside the crew’s tools.

The runic cooling assembly gave off a faint glow when the instructor checked it.

Borr watched until the light settled.

"Satisfied?"

"With this," the instructor replied. He glanced toward the ammunition. "Keep track of what you use."

Borr rested a hand on the nearest box.

"I would rather count empty ones than wish we had brought more."

At the rifle positions, Halven found Tavin and two of the replacements sitting beneath a canvas cover.

Clips lay across a board between them, already filled with cartridges. They checked each pouch before passing it along the trench. Reserve clips went into covered containers behind the firing steps.

One soldier brought forward a sack of loose ammunition.

Tavin pointed him toward the sheltered work area.

"Leave it here. We will fill the spare clips before anyone starts shouting for them."

Halven examined a pouch and handed it back.

"Every section gets its issue first. Then finish the reserve."

He wanted his riflemen reaching for prepared ammunition during the attack. They had little practice and that would only be enough making them fumble through loose cartridges while demons crossed the field.

The four replenishment soldiers would help carry supplies and wounded. Halven walked them through their assignments himself, then made them repeat where they were supposed to go.

Nesk’s Lancer crew had taken over a broad firing bay behind the forward ditch.

The old position had been built for a small magical engine. Its stone base remained sound, but a collapsed sidewall blocked the crew’s access. Two of Halven’s soldiers helped clear it while an engineer repaired the protective earthwork.

Nesk watched the last stones being carried out.

"Leave us enough room to work. I do not want to be climbing over someone every time we need another round."

His crew set the launcher in place while the instructor checked the available view. When he was satisfied, they brought in the ammunition.

The rounds went into separate sheltered racks. Their luminous markings remained visible beneath the canvas covers.

Nesk checked the fragmentation rounds first, then the smoke, demolition and anti-armor ammunition.

His assistant held up one of the marked rounds.

"These nearest?"

"The fragmentation issue and also keep a couple of the anti-armor rounds ready beside it."

Nesk looked toward the road crossing, then back at the instructor and nodded.

Farther back, men were hauling charged cores toward a rune-cannon emplacement. The defenders had been given enough warning to prepare their support as well.

Senn watched them pass.

"For once, I would like the first to request for help to reach a battery that is already waiting."

Ilyra rejected the tollhouse roof.

An infantry officer had suggested it because it offered the widest view, but half its tiles had fallen through and the remaining wall had already been struck twice.

"They know that building," she told Halven. "And we would have to carry the weapon down those stairs if they started firing at us."

The elven instructor agreed.

They chose a shallow stone shelter farther along the slope. An old retaining wall concealed most of its front, and the adjoining trench let the crew enter without climbing over exposed ground.

Her assistants cleared the floor while engineers worked on the cover.

Once the weapon was in place, Ilyra settled behind the sight.

The enchantment steadied as she looked across the field. She could distinguish the quarry road, a broken stone arch and the raised ground where enemy officers had been appearing.

One assistant recorded her observations. The other checked their ammunition and helped the instructor inspect the weapon.

Halven crouched beside them.

"Can you see the road crossing?"

"Yes. Part of the quarry entrance as well."

"And if this position is hit?"

Ilyra pointed along the trench.

They had also cleared a second, smaller firing bay behind a section of ruined garden wall. It offered less protection, but the crew could move there with the weapon.

"Keep that passage clear," Halven said.

He then brought Senn’s ward mage over. Ilyra explained what she could observe, while the mage described the signals they would use if an enemy barrier appeared.

They agreed where messages would go before either returned to work.

By late afternoon, the digging had slowed.

The trenches had been cleared, damaged firing steps rebuilt and the weapon shelters covered. Earthworkers moved on to the next section while the infantry carried away spare timber and empty packing cases.

A cook arrived with barley, onions and pieces of salted meat.

Borr accepted his bowl with both hands.

"You remembered."

"The lieutenant said feeding you might stop the complaints."

"He should have asked for beer as well."

The cook held out a second ladle of barley.

Borr considered it, then moved his bowl forward.

"We can discuss the rest later."

Halven ate while walking the position.

The machine-gun crews had ammunition beside them and more under cover behind them. The launchers had their rounds sorted and ready. Along the rifle line, soldiers checked the filled clips in their pouches before settling beneath the parapet.

Ilyra’s team had completed its preparations and taken over observation.

Senn found Halven beside the road shelter.

"The scouts are back."

"How many?"

"More than about 2 more contigents than yesterday. They are filling the quarry and the ground behind it."

Halven looked through the observation opening.

Banners had appeared above the distant stonework. Beneath them, demons crowded the assembly areas while officers worked to put them into order. More troops were still coming down the road.

Borr joined him long enough to look.

"We will not be searching for targets."

"No," Halven said. "We will be trying to keep up."

He went back along the trench, checking that the men had finished eating and that their ammunition remained within reach.

The shovels were stacked against the rear wall.

For the moment, there was nothing left to build.