//------------------------------// // Chapter 35 // Story: My Little Destroyermen: Walker on Water // by The Atlantean //------------------------------// As a single unit, the Allied Expeditionary Force advanced towards the blob of Grik assailing Aryaal’s walls. Some of them--enough to match the AEF’s four thousand in numbers, actually--turned at the sound of a horn in the distance to face the Lemurian force, but not nearly enough to do much. Most Grik continued to throw themselves at Aryaal in hopes that they might take the city. “Archers! Cannons!” Shinya called. The second and third lines, safely behind the front’s shield wall, prepared their longbows. Cannoneers wheeled the AEF’s six-pounder field artillery to poke their loaded barrels through temporary gaps in the shield wall. “Fire!” The archers loosed their arrows as the AEF disappeared in a cloud of smoke, quickly followed by the near-simultaneous thunderclap of a dozen cannons. When the smoke cleared, the Grik that had turned were writhing on the ground, their bones shattered by thousands of little copper balls--a double load of canister round from each cannon. A good number of them stood, and some reinforcements filtered in. Then a hailstorm of arrows wiped out the remaining few. A cheer rose from the Lemurians when they saw the destruction they’d wrought. They had defeated a force as large as their own with little to no casualties. Some of the regimental flags began waving around, and Matt could sense the cohesion dropping. Before he could say anything, though, Shinya called for order. Officers and NCOs down the line repeated his commands. Eventually, total cohesion was restored. But the Grik hadn’t been silent the whole time. While the AEF was in partial celebration, the majority of the remaining Grik army changed their focus of attack. A long horn sounded, catching Matt’s attention. The mass of Grik began to charge. The cannons, reloaded, poked out again and blasted double canister into the mess. A lot of Grik collapsed, but it looked like for each one they killed, another three took its place. The archers, reacting to the sound of cannon, loosed again--not necessarily in their previous perfectly-choreographed fashion--while the ‘Cats on the shield wall took a defensive stance. Despite the slight chaos, Matt was proud. The AEF hadn’t really had a chance to train as one, but the constant drill of Alden’s Marine-like training regimen had a significant effect. The ‘Cats became more proactive and reactionary at the same time, using their training and split-second decision-making skills to try to thin out the enemy force. The Grik flailed against the shield wall, but the ‘Cats held strong. The cannoneers used brief gaps in the fight to fire a load of canister into the Grik, and the third rank loosed over the shields while the second rank speared Grik. The three ranks rotated as they could, but eventually, someone would tire. Matt fired a flare high above the battle, signaling the Aryaalan army to attack the Grik from the rear. ------------------------- Twilight watched the battle through her scrying spell, using her mage-sword’s shiny section of blade near the hilt as a mirror. It looked fine so far, but they were less than a couple hours into the fight. She saw Matt’s flare an hour ago and recognized it as a signal to someone, but having not made the plan herself, she didn’t know who was supposed to answer. The PBY bounced around her, breaking her concentration. She looked up nervously. Nothing seemed to be damaged, although Ed Palmer’s coffee mug rattled closer to the edge of his navigator’s station. Ed stopped the mug from dancing off the station and smiled. “Don’t worry, Princess, that’s normal. Just some crosswind. How’s the battle going?” She stared into her sword. “Not bad, currently. The AEF’s holding the line, and the Grik are dropping like flies.” “That’s good news. I was afraid we’d lose in the first five minutes.” “I’m sure Matt thought of that.” “Yeah.” Ed consulted the map spread across his station. “Looks like we’re half an hour out. Are your barrels secure?” “Both of them,” Twilight answered without even looking. She’d decided to bring two barrels since they had the weight to spare, and it would help spread out the stuff. One of them was locked to keep her from burning through its precious magic, while the other remained unlocked for her to use as needed. “Can you actually check, please?” Twilight shrugged and stood. She arched her back to stretch and windmilled her arms as best she could in the confined space. Her barrels were stored near the waist gunners, mostly because of spacing issues. Checking the straps that held each in place, she ran her fingers along their rims. They seemed fine. “As I said,” she replied, “they’re fine.” “Sorry. You know how jumpy Ben is around magic.” She laughed. “Well, I did blast you guys with a magic round from the three-inch gun.” “Yeah, you did.” Ed smiled, but a tick of anxiety trickled into his voice. “Ed, where are we?” Ben Mallory called from the cockpit. “Sixty-two miles out,” Ed replied over the PBY’s engines, which suddenly roared for a second. Just as quickly, they cut and restarted at their normal rumble. “That didn’t sound good,” Twilight commented. “No, it didn’t.” Ed grabbed his mug and made his way to the cockpit. A few minutes later, he returned. “Ben doesn’t know either. Fuel is fine, and he didn’t touch the throttle. Neither did Tikker. He’ll look into it once we land.” Twilight nodded and went back to scrying. She could see the AEF was tiring, and if the Aryaalans were supposed to help, they weren’t coming. As she watched, Matt fired a second flare. ------------------------- “They’re not coming,” Matt said. He lifted his foot from the mud, briefly frowned at the state of his brand-new shoes, and looked worriedly at the two remaining full ranks. “Shinya!” he called, grabbing the Japanese officer’s arm as he ran past. Shinya's frenzied expression died when he saw the captain. “Captain?” Shinya answered. “We need to pull back. We’re overextended for the people we have. The barricades back there will help us.” “It’s going to be difficult. Once the Grik see we’re retreating, they will renew their attack. Also, there’s a point along the river where we’ll need to extend the shield wall. Holding the wall is one thing. Holding it and advancing is another. While retreating…” He shrugged. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to pull it off.” “If we don’t, we’ll end up like my mount,” Matt said, gesturing to the dead dinosaur next to him. Luckily, Silva had hosed it with his BAR without waiting for orders, preventing it from stampeding anyone. That would’ve really lost the battle. “Just get ready. At the next flare, General.” “Yes, Captain Reddy.” ------------------------- Twilight watched as the maze of sunken Grik vessels that Aryaal’s bay had become blurred from the battle smoke ahead. Her scrying spell told her that the AEF had begun to fall apart, and despite the belated Aryaalan reinforcements starting to stream in from behind the barricades near the shoreline and field hospital, it wasn’t going to be easy. Walker was picking her way up the river to assist, and Salissa thundered her broadside over the failing Lemurian force to dig temporary trenches through the Grik. “Ben, fly directly over the fight,” she called. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea, Princess. From what you’ve said, we’re losing.” She glanced at her sword again. The Fourth Baalkpan Guard had been cut off from the rest of the AEF by the river. The Second Marines and Fifth Guard, along with remnants of other regiments, formed a square by the Aryaalan wall and were trying to fight their way to the barricades, flags waving defiantly in the wind. Her regiment, the First Royals, were by the river and attempting to link with the Fourth. She felt each ‘Cat death like a dagger to her heart. “Do it,” she repeated, blinking tears from her eyes. “Try to get a little lower.” “If that’s what you want.” Aryaal came closer. Ben circled once to bleed altitude and fly parallel to Salissa’s line of fire, and the PBY’s engines flared again like magic. He quickly cycled them and glanced back at Twilight, who was checking her gear one final time. Her mouth was grim with determination. Ed opened the door and held his papers down as best he could when the wind started to blow everything around. Twilight gave a thumbs-up and dove out the plane when Salissa was directly below. She kept her wings tucked as she plummeted to earth, picking up a lot more speed than she’d bargained for. At the last second, she blasted a column of magic to clear where she was going to land near the Royals, spread her wings (with some magic strengthening), and landed. A cheer rose when they realized what was happening. A familiar unicorn’s presence, albeit corrupted, appeared in the Grik formation. She threw aside everything between her and the other unicorn with a burst of telekinesis. Twilight gritted her teeth and prepared for the worst, but nothing could prepare her for what she saw. Sunset Shimmer, surrounded in swirls of Nightmare Moon’s magic, was on the other side of the battlefield.