Chapter 48: Flame over the border
Dawn broke crisp and pale. Thalen stood atop Reuven’s border fort, gaze fixed on the distant ridge that marked the Ashen Canyons. Beyond it, the Crown’s regiments drew rank, their silhouettes clean against the golden haze. Between them and Reuven’s fighters lay only the open plain soon to become the stage for the first joint drills between former enemies. A sun-bleached banner snapped in the rising wind, bearing Reuven’s emblem: the silver blade entwined with violet flame.
At his side, Captain Terres adjusted his helmet. "Regiment is ready."
Thalen nodded, his fingers tightening the straps on his gauntlet. "We begin."
Descending the spiral staircase, he emerged into the courtyard, where soldiers stood in clean lines, armor freshly polished. Reuven’s scouts with their horned helms, pikemen in layered leathers, musketeers with gleaming barrels. On the far end of the field, the Crown engineers had assembled black-cloaked and sharp-eyed, unarmed but no less imposing with their tools and measurement rods. Between the two forces stood Captain Renal, calm and centered in his polished duskplate.
Renal inclined his head. "Ascendant. Today we drill twice: formation and volley. Our engineers will observe."
"Then let’s begin," Thalen replied.
The first exercise began with the precision march. Soldiers moved in practiced harmony, Reuven’s units flanking while Crown regiments held center. The ground trembled beneath the rhythm of their unified step. With Thalen’s raised hand, they halted in perfect synchronization.
A single misstep shattered the moment.
One of Thalen’s pikemen slipped, stumbling on an uneven patch of earth and crashing shoulder-first into a Crown soldier. The clang of armor echoed across the field. Instantly, all motion ceased.
Thalen moved before the tension could ripple. He knelt beside the two, helping the pikeman upright, brushing dust from the soldier’s brow. "On your feet," he said firmly but without reprimand. The man’s eyes widened as he nodded and returned to the line without shame.
He turned to the troops. "We fall. We rise. And we do it together."