"Red light!" Miro cried. "Full attack!"
High above, the Alturan dirigible flashed a bright red light. With the Alturan and Dunfolk archers providing covering fire, the allied soldiers rushed forward in an unstoppable wave. The first through the breach were the bladesingers, followed by the colossus itself, and then there were so many men pouring through they were like a sea of people.
Landing craft still crossed the river, but now the warriors who disembarked ran straight up the riverbank, shouting and cheering, swords held in the air as they joined their fellows.
Miro closed his eyes and then let out a slow, deep breath.
"Lord Marshal," Beorn said. "Are you coming?" He grinned, his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"I know a faster way," Miro said. He waved his arms, and the dirigible slowly descended. A ladder was thrown out.
"No, thank you," Beorn said. "I don't have a head for heights. I'll chance the river."
"See you there," Miro said. "Bring the Halrana animators over with you, will you?"
Soon Miro was lifted up and over the splashing river. From his vantage he could see his men swiftly gain the advantage, and the green and brown flag of the allied army soon flew from one, then another of the squat towers. Miro was careful to display the Alturan raj hada on the dirigible for all to see, the circle double-striped to indicate the Lord Marshal was present.
When he was across, he jumped down from the dirigible and sent it back out of danger.
His first concern was for defences. "Secure the towers on both sides as long as you are in view of the bridgehead, then pin the rest down with archers. Have the colossus smash up the walls and get the men to move the blocks to form a wall on four sides. Let me know the instant the Halrana animators have arrived from the Alturan side. The instant, you understand? Tell Marshal Scola to continue the advance and encirclement, I want the river cleared in both directions. When Marshal Beorn arrives, he's in charge of the defences."
"Yes, Lord Marshal." They said as he issued the orders.
"The animators are here," a soldier came running up, six men in brown robes behind him.
"Thank you, soldier," Miro said. "Please get me fifty men to form a patrol."
"Yes, Lord Marshal."
The soldier spoke to another man in the raj hada of an Alturan captain. Miro regarded the approaching animators.
"You know what you're here for," Miro said.
"We do," one of the animators, a Halrana with tapered moustaches, said. "I can hardly breathe. Do you think there are many still functional?"
"Calm down," Miro said. "You're in the middle of a battle."
The captain came forward. "You requested a detachment, Lord Marshal?"
"Yes, captain. We're going to find those constructs."
Amidst the chaos Miro heard someone calling his name. "Miro!"
He turned and saw Marshal Beorn. "What is it?"
"The dirigible pilot signalled that there's a mass of men forming in the east. They must be from the enemy's main encampment. It's a counter attack."
Miro nodded. "I understand… Marshal Beorn, our defences are in your hands." He turned to the Alturan captain and the Halrana animators. "Come on," he said, "we don't have much time."
~
THEY found some of the constructs almost immediately, in a field where only the ditches and gullies that were too straight for nature told that a battle had ever taken place.
Miro felt his hope fade as he looked at the huge mound of charred limbs. A pile of woodmen had been thrown here and burned. Of course the enemy wouldn't be foolish enough to leave them lying around.
A cluster of bonemen had been deliberately splintered and thrown onto the pile. Miro turned to the moustached Halrana animator, expecting to see the man in tears. Instead the animator looked at the small tablet he held in his hands, where some symbols were flashing and fading.
"Ironmen," the animator said. "They're close." He began to search the area.
"Stop," the Alturan captain said, waving his men back. The animator halted in his tracks. The captain walked forward, prodding the ground in front of the brown-robed Halrana with his sword.
Where the animator was about to step, the ground fell away under the captain's probing, to reveal a deep ditch lined with spikes.
The animator turned white-faced to the Alturan captain.
"It's treacherous around here," the captain said. "Fan out!" he called to his men. "Look for ditches and traps. The animators need to search this area, and they need to do it fast. Look out for your skins, but mark out the safe ground."
The fifty men dispersed, probing at the ground with their swords and calling out when they found a trap. Miro cursed the delay, while the Halrana animators conferred among themselves, gesturing to the flashing symbols on their controller tablets.