The march inland had been grueling, both physically and emotionally. Johnny had never seen such a tortured landscape in his life.
The intellectual portion of Johnny's mind understood what he was seeing: landscape blighted by industrial pollution and overuse, a river overrun with algae rapidly being displaced by prokaryotic organisms. The oxygen had literally been leeched out of the water by the nitrates and phosphates of the Horde's primitive industrial efforts. Johnny vaguely recalled seeing a very old video clip from the late 20th century of an Indian (though not one of the People) observing what civilization had done to the once-pristine wilderness of North America, and weeping.
Johnny felt like doing more than weeping. And he had an army of a thousand at his back with which to do it.
During the weeks of training in Noran, Johnny had approached the Virgo's engineers and the blacksmiths of the Borials, and arranged to have helmets made for the invasion force. A large number of casualties had come as a result of head injuries, most notably the loss of Lt. Loran's eye at the battle for the gates of Noran. After that particularly gruesome wound, selling the rest of the command staff on the idea was not difficult at all.
The result was a helmet which was part men, or samurai helmet, and part World War I era "tin hat". It was specifically designed to protect against the Horde's acid attacks, shielding both head, neck, and eyes from debris. Nothing less than a direct hit to the face would cause injury. Johnny's helmet, like the rest of the army commanders, bore two tall, arcing projections like those of a samurai helmet. Company commanders had two horns, not unlike old Viking helmets. Platoon leaders had one Prussian-esque spike at the top of the helmet.
Johnny's army was divided into four companies, each led by one of his surviving Marines. Sergeant Barek had become Johnny's regimental sergeant-major, responsible for ensuring that Johnny's orders were followed and for making sure that Johnny got the information he needed to issue the orders. To the rear was Lieutenant Jenara Tomme, who had insisted (for some strange reason) on accompanying Johnny's army. Johnny was not entirely comfortable with the arrangement but something (the dream?) persuaded him otherwise. She would coordinate the archery and artillery unit to the rear.
The artillery consisted of the trebuchets salvaged from the Horde siege towers, mounted on carts and converted to ballistae, gigantic crossbows capable of projecting a javelin-sized missile over half a kilometer. Intelligence gained from escaped Aody slaves had indicated that very little (if any) fodder existed for glap'tas to feed upon in the vicinity of Stonefist; as a consequence, those glap'tas who had not escaped or were not killed during the stampede at Noran had been left behind. This meant that the troops had to pull the siege machinery. Every one of them, Johnny included, had participated in hauling the gear up the beach and onto the road to Stonefist. The Duke made it look so easy in Sands of Iwo Jima, Johnny thought. Of course, The Duke never had to do it for real!!!
The combined Virgo/Borial forces had surrounded Stonefist. The river, green with all manner of anonymous chemicals and alien algae, was for all intents impassable. Three pontoon bridges had been built by the Virgo engineers, and had been set up under cover of darkness when the Horde's archers would not be able to pick targets so easily. The Virgos and Borials, however, had to press their advantage while they could.
Johnny's army was positioned immediately in front of the city gates; the armies of Lt. Benton and Lt. Wallace flanking him on either side. The first sun was just beginning to rise over the dreaded citadel.
"Sergeant-major, compliments to Lt. Tomme, and inform her that she may find her range and commence firing when ready."
"Aye, sir!" Barek replied, dispatching a runner to the archery line. Moments later, a lone archer fired, repositioned himself, fired again, and signaled to the rest of the line. A half dozen of the huge ballistae let fly, each carrying gunpowder charges.
Jenara's aim is terrific! Johnny thought as he watched the javelins strike the massive wooden gates of Stonefist. The charges went off with a low, rumbling barrrrooommmm and the gate shattered! Only about half of the gate remained in place, the timbers smoldering in the dry air around the castle.
"Well, that should piss them off!" Johnny yelled to his troops, who immediately sent up a cheer! "Antipersonnel projectiles, independent fire at will!"
Barek dropped back to the archery line to help Jenara supervise the loading of the massive acid arrows which had been used with such horrific effect against the defenders of Noran. It's payback time, you bastards! Johnny thought.
The archery units of the other armies were following suit. No sooner than a Horde archer raised his head above the battlements than a barrage of ballista-driven and hand-fired acid arrows converge upon that position. The screams of Horde wounded and dying filled the air as smoke rose from the wood and stone of the battlements, the acid performing its ravenous task. Intermixed with the acid arrows were more fired gunpowder charges, intended to reduce the towers and other strong points of the citadel. By the time the first sun had reached directly overhead, most of the walls of Stonefist were smoking rubble. Johnny could see into the city and observe the chaos their attack had wrought.
"Okay troops, let's end this!!!" Johnny yelled as he led his army over the pontoon bridge onto the other bank. The Horde troops, seeing what was happening, started out the city gate and began forming lines around the city walls. No mounted cavalry charges or fancy siege machinery this time, Johnny thought. This is going to be a real, honest-to-goodness hand-to-hand fight!