160 Marseille's Bombs

After speaking with Rana, Tyr set out to find Macha. He would be leaving at nightfall and wanted her around him even though he needed to prepare. When he found her, she was chatting with some slaves about where they originated from. They were sorting out some supplies that had been delivered. The view did not look like a war scene but reminded him of how she appeared when she worked at the pie shop.

The hairs on the back of her neck tingled, and she sensed someone watching her. She continued her conversation but scanned the area. Tyr stood, leaning his shoulder against a stack of crates and nodded his head at her. When she saw him, she excused herself. The people she worked with seemed friendly and came from countries she never heard of before. She was excited to learn more about their original homes.

He glanced at the slaves. Although he did not need to explain anything to them, he still felt like being nice, "She'll start tomorrow." There were actually many slaves on base because they were free labor. He did not want them to dislike her because she would be working with so many of them.

Reaching up to hold Tyr's hand, she asked, "What did Rana talk with you about?"

The base bustled with activity. Everyone needed to prepare to leave and supplies were being distributed. "I'm leaving tonight. I wanted to spend the rest of the day with you even though I'll be busy preparing."

Macha gave a small sigh. They had just been reunited and he would have to be deployed already. "If you finish your preparations early, I want you to get some sleep. You mentioned you stayed up last night." This was an issue she would leave with no room for dispute.

Despite wanting to stay up with her, Tyr knew it would be better for him to rest. He conceded, "All right, but you need to be with me while I sleep." He wanted to remember the relaxing sensation of waking up and seeing her next to him.

****

Tyr had Macha stay in the barracks instead of seeing them off at the gate. Like always, it would be harder for him to keep a cool demeanor if she were there. His team was smaller now than when they first started out. Seeing them wait for him filled his heart with sadness, but he hid it behind a cold mask. The army had a clear plan on how to end this war and he needed to be an unmoving pillar of strength for his guildmates.

Most of the forces were leaving tonight to push for a decisive win. Rana stood in front of the troops, her silver armor glistened from the moonlight. She held her chin high as she spoke in Kogian, "All of you have been assigned specific instructions. Do not fail. We will travel all night and attack at dawn. Remember, you do this for your country and your family." Her words were short and lacked intensity, but the way she said them reverberated in the hearts of everyone.

The war had gone on for three years and the soldiers wanted to go home and be with their loved ones. They did not need for her to raise their hopes, the possibility of ending this nightmare was enough to spur them into action.

As they proceeded through the darkness, Tyr's party traveled behind Rana's. She requested that his party watch the flank and make sure nothing would attack them from behind. He had mixed feelings about his team not being in the thick of the fight this time. It was because they were one of the stronger troops in the camp and she wanted to use them to protect herself.

Sounds of explosions erupted in the distance. A centaur raced up to Rana and reported, "A huge army is set up ahead. The scouts estimate there to be fifty-thousand."

Rana's confident appearance waivered and her eyebrows drew together. "Fifty-thousand? That is practically their whole army. How did they know we were coming?" She turned to Alec, who sat mounted beside her and she backhanded him.

The force of the blow knocked him off his mount and he tumbled to the jungle floor. "I didn't tell them anything I swear!"

She clicked her tongue. One could never trust a spy. It was impossible to identify if he told the truth or not. A spy on her end or Freyr's end could have alerted the enemy for all she knew.

The loud screeches of hippogryphs fighting in the air sounded through the night. Both sides engaged in areal combat while the main forces made their way towards each other.

Rana turned to her second in command and yelled, "Signal for them to drop half the bombs on the enemy's forces. I want to kill as many as we can before we engage. Save the other three for when we are fighting in case we need to take care of a certain unit."

As they carried her orders, she glanced over to Tyr. While the numbers appeared slightly against her, she had Marseille's technology. They were the only country to have developed a technology so advanced that it had the ability to wipe out large chunks of enemy forces. Her mages tried to reverse the spells, but Freyr put a safety mechanism in order to stop them. The moment her people began looking into the multitude of spells that were layered in the bomb, it exploded.

Dawn pushed back the darkness, and the sky lit up the battlefield, revealing the enemy.

A deafening explosion caused the ground to shake and a pillar of smoke rose in the distance. From the aftershock, many of the traps that the Toowoomba army laid went off. This caused some of Kochi's troops to cry out in pain.

A few minutes later a rain of lightning streaked across the sky. The loud sound of thunder quickly followed. Tyr did not realize his cousin had been researching such a technology. It was as if Luna cast two huge spells, back to back. His eyes scanned the horizon and his lips parted with terror.

The main Kochi forces cheered at seeing such a sight, but the people around Rana remained silent. They were the more experienced soldiers and realized what power these weapons held. Only the most competent fighters would survive an attack like that. For the average soldier, it would mean certain death.

The last bomb fell silently and a fog of black rolled out. They could hear screams of pain and terror from the enemy, but most could not identify what the black cloud was doing. From their vantage point, Luna saw the spell that was released and her eyes widened.

Tyr turned to his sister, "What was it?" He had never seen such a destructive force released from a device before. The sheer power made him question all he knew about magic.

Her green eyes met his, "Freyr employed an eldritch mage." Eldritch magic was looked down upon and not many people learned such a sinister spell variety. This sort of magic did not have any other purpose besides killing. The dark magic poisoned the body and could not be sustained for long without the help of a demon. The very nature of the magic was an abomination when compared to other sorts of magic which drew its strength from life itself.

This display of power made Tyr realize that Freyr wished to send a clear message. He wanted Phocée to see that Marseille was not to be messed with. In life, there were many things his cousin did that Tyr considered too soft-hearted, but in times of war, Freyr always tried to overpower the enemy decisively.

When Rana heard that Luna recognized the spell, she demanded, "What did it do?" After seeing the force of the spells she had been glad she teamed up with the King of Marseille.

Luna continued to stare at the dark cloud as it engulfed the troops. Her mouth felt dry, "It causes all living things to decompose and die at an incredible rate. The spell seeps into your skin, so there's almost no way to stop it. Holding your breath would give you only seconds before the magic works its way in. You would have to get out of the spell's radius, but most people couldn't do that."