Tomorrow—right on schedule—the united army marched out, leaving behind a shallow mass grave. The outbreak of Flaying Flu stayed there as well, but Physician Bees and Agent Bees all stayed alert in case more people were found ill.
The mood in the human army was grim, but as Flying-Words reported, the human soldiers cheered up when they heard the harbor was only a brief march ahead. For them, it ant an opportunity to plunder. Most soldiers also enjoyed fighting way more than marching.
It was the sa for bee soldiers.
Bloodimina expected they would reach the harbor in five days of marching. Halfway there, the scouts brought news that the Vardish army was setting fortifications and preparing to et them on the open field near the road.
With the latest reinforcents that ca from over the sea, the Vardish army had 120 thousand people, while Naregan army, with all the reinforcents that reached it during the campaign and with the recent losses from the Flaying Flu, was only 58 thousand people strong.
The Vardish people also had cannons, and placed them at a slight elevation, from where they could shoot for kiloters and kiloters, and fortified them with so living stone barricades. Naregan infantry would lose a lot of lives trying to approach these positions.
But the Naregan people weren’t alone.
"Did Vardish humans prepare any defenses against bees specifically? Or are there many wild beasts we will have to fight through?" Bloodimina asked Flying-Words.
The Chief Agent Bee was the one whose Agents brought traveled to examine Vardish positions and listen to Vardish thoughts.
"The Vardish know that we exist and that we are dangerous. They call us ’imps’—it’s a type of evil spirit in their religion, as far as I understood," Flying-Words replied, waving her hand dismissively. "Imps, demons, spirits—I will let Researchers think about the fine differences of these words. What’s important *now* is that they defend against us like they would against spirits."
Bloodimina raised her eyebrows.
"You an, they burn incense, spread noxious plants near their dwellings..?"
"Yes, exactly! They also paint their faces with stinky ointnts, which they also do to prevent illnesses. It’s almost like what Naregan people did until Father told them that ’evil spirits’ causing illnesses are stopped by soap and cleanliness, not by incense and prayers. The only creatures it scares away just a little are wild beasts—there are fewer of them in the Vardish camp than in Castle Soneraht."
Bloodimina smiled darkly.
"So they *don’t* have normal defenses, despite everything. We will just have to push through so smoke. How pathetic of them... Father really overestimated their intelligence this ti."
Flying-Words laughed.
"Hey, hey! They didn’t co up with this all by themselves. My Agents also helped here and there, sending the influential humans correct thoughts! Besides, the humans that have recently co from the other continent don’t even really believe in our existence just from the stories of local veterans."
"Then I comnd you, Agent Flying-Words, and your people," Bloodimina said more seriously. "Does the information you brought an that I can safely send assassins into the enemy camp?"
Flying-Words nodded.
"They will et so wild beast, but my Agents got past them, so your Beemarines should be able to as well. The officers elevated from veteran local soldiers know to fear assassins and rarely sleep alone and without soone watching over them, but half of the officers are currently people from the other continent. Those who aren’t afraid yet..."
This settled it.
Bloodimina exhaled in relief.
The finale of this campaign was almost in the palm of her hand.
Only a few small diversions were in order.
***
The next night, a heavy blow was dealt by the morale of the Vardish army when several teams of Beemarines stung to death or blinded several high-ranked officers of the army.
On the next morning, before the Vardish army had ti to recover from this attack, the Naregan army attacked the Vardish positions.
When the Vardish soldiers hurriedly tried to shoot their cannons at the attackers, most of them misfired or even exploded right in the hands of cannoneers.
Very few of the rushing cannoneers checked their cannons and their gunpowder carefully before firing and found that, overnight, soone had ssed with them!
Many cannon fuses were cut in places so they will burn unevenly and make the gunpowder explode too early. So gunpowder stashes were mixed with oil, which made it burn unevenly. In other cases, there were just small pieces of tal and stone garbage stuck inside the cannons.
Although the garbage pieces were tiny, even small things ssed up the finicky cannons and their shots.
And this was all the result of the second of Bloodimina’s diversions. While the assassins distracted the camp with the noisy deaths of their targets, several hundred Commandos ssed up the cannons.
Thanks to this, only a dozen cannonballs hit the attacking Naregan soldiers, and even those struck way fewer people than they could. Also, because they needed to check their cannons, the cannoneers couldn’t reload them fast enough for a second shot.
Instead, musketeers tried to open defensive fire on the attacking army. But again, bees were here to stop them.
While the Naregan army only ran toward the enemy, the bee army had already reached the Vardish positions. Not because they were faster, but because they used trees as cover and started their attack way earlier.
Now they erupted from behind Vardish’s own barricades and from the trees under Vardish people’s feet and lunged at the musketeers, spitting fire in their eyes!
Just a minute of this furious attack was extrely effective. Although there were only a few thousand people permanently blinded, in this ti general Gresch and the point of the Naregan army have crushed into the Vardish lines.
In a lee, experienced Naregan infantryn were even more effective than the musketeers! Especially with the support of the bees, who now could hide behind their allies from danger.
The nurical advantage was always on the side of the united armies!
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