- Prologue -

  Wastelands West of the Mississippi, August, 19th 1880.

  “Hold Steady.” Captain Emmett Miller called out. His voice carried a sense of calm urgency to the 500 hundred riflemen standing beside him.

  The platoon’s Lieutenant was leading the mounted riflemen in another charge. Once they Drew the Dwarf’s attention the 10 platoons of riflemen would engage.

  “I have a bad feeling about today.” Jonathan said as he stowed his signal flags in the crook of his elbow and took a swig from a flask hidden in his pocket.

  Emmett brought the wide brim of his slouch hat down lower. His recent promotion apparent for all to see by the brass insignia pinning the left side of the brim up.

  Stupid way to reward a guy for a promotion, pin up his hat so it’s harder to see.

  “Why is our group always out front?” Jonathan said. “We could be at the back you know.”

  “Shut up and watch for signals,” Emmett said. “You really are the worst soldier.”

  Jonathan scanned the other platoons for any raised flags and turned back to Emmett.

  “Its not like the Dwarves are attacking us. We should just leave them alone and find some pretty woman to drink with,” Jonathan said.

  The Dwarf was finally roused from it’s slumber. The armored behemoth stood two times taller than a man and was twice as wide when it was asleep. Now that they had woken it up it unfolded into what the army called it’s combat mode. It was three times as tall as a man and hefted a war-hammer as long as a horse and cart.

  Tough bastards, each of them.

  The Dwarf turned it’s head to track the retreating horsemen, their bullets pinged off it’s stone armor. Each bullet did one point of damage, knocking off more sod and rust than any of it’s hit points.

  The Dwarf roared, deep and guttural and banged its fist against its chest.

  Dwarf Guardian Lvl:???

  HP:???

  “Hold Steady!” Emmett called out again.

  “Lets run away,” Jonathan whispered. “Why can’t we just leave.”

  “I said shut up!” Emmett whispered. “Give me your cartridge belt.”

  Jonathan pulled off his belt and gave it to Emmett. He belted it on crosswise to his own.

  “Thank you, Yes.” Jonathan said, offering over his revolver too. “I’ll just run away. Right now. While I can still make it.”

  Emmett tucked the pistol into his belt beside his own in it’s holster.

  “Jonathan. Hand your flags to Lars there, and go and get me a stick,” Emmett said.

  Jonathan handed his flags to the man beside him. Lars was pale and sweating.

  “What do you need a stick for?” Jonathan asked.

  “I’m going to stick it down the back of your shirt since you have no spine,” Emmett growled.

  The Dwarf lumbered forwards then, it’s usual sedate plodding pace forgotten as it built up speed. The first of the Horsemen rode past the defensive trenches, drawing their enemy along behind them.

  The trenches had taken a week to build, they were built up behind mounds of earth for the men to fire over then retreat. It was standard military procedure at this point to draw the Dwarf a half mile away from the edge of the forest. They would not usually move farther than that.

  The scholars had discovered that these giants were slightly more vulnerable at least that far away from their forests.

  Can’t really call them forests anymore.

  What had once been a small rain forest complete with massive redwoods, deer and bears and boars as big as a man, had been stripped clean by the dwarves. The Dwarves were cutting their losses after the last defeat. The Army had systematically pushed West and captured the Dwarves’ forests and claimed three of their towers.

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  Reports had started coming in later that month that the rest of the Dwarves across the continent had started demolishing their forests. They tore down trees, butchered fauna and even dug up the top soil. Everything was boxed up and brought into their towers.

  “Funny guy. See you can tell a joke,” Jonathan said. “You know full well there are not any sticks in the wasteland.”

  “How did a guy like you end up in the Army anyways?” Emmett asked.

  “I was sentenced to service by the Holy Church,” Jonathan said.

  “Messing ‘vith an alter boy?” Lars asked in his thick Russian accent.

  “No! It was a priest,” Jonathan said. “No it’s not like that. They accused me of heresy.”

  “That’s serious,” Lars said. “Shouldn’t mess around ‘vith the Church.”

  “I just wanted to view my status screen,” Jonathan said. “You know they can see your whole status screen. All the details. But they only show you the things that lead you down their Divine Path.”

  “Heresy.” Lars said and made the sign of the trinity in front of his heart.

  The Dwarf was within a quarter mile now. The last of the horsemen had cleared the defenses and flags were raising around the trenches to signal the next phase.

  Emmett activated his Steady Heart and Blessed Hands AOE abilities.

  Steady Heart: Creates a field of effect around the user. All allies within the field have steadier nerves and their stamina drains slower. The field increases in size for each level of this ability.

  Blessed Hands: Creates a field of effect around the user. All allies within the field find it easier to complete rushed actions precisely. The field increases in size for each level of this ability.

  The abilities washed over the whole platoon, the men and women visibly relaxed and readied their weapons.

  Halfway down the formation Marie smiled at Emmett.

  Lars waved the flag to signal they were ready. And other flags down the defensive line signaled the same.

  “Hold Steady!” Emmett called out for the final time.

  The Dwarf was within a hundred feet of them now. The ground shook from each of its steps. It took three more steps and then tripped into the first hidden trap. The shock wave of its fall bounced the soldiers up in the air for a moment.

  A second later their the large pit turned into a crater, as their 4 artillery cannons unloaded on the Dwarf’s head. The roar of the blasts coming nearly on top of each other.

  It will take a minute for those big guns to reload. Our time to shine.

  Emmett smiled. All his soldiers had kept their footing, none had fallen over this time.

  For a long second nobody moved as the dust settled. When the Dwarf stood up it was bleeding through it’s cracked armor.

  “Open Fire!” Emmett yelled.

  Shots echoed repeatedly down the line as eight platoons of riflemen fired in unison.

  Emmett fired along with them, slowly pulling ahead after each reload due to his higher dexterity and agility.

  A few soldiers activated their own abilities and every once in a while a round exploded against the dwarf’s armor, or here and there a rifle fired twice instead of once.

  Hard men and women, every one of them.

  Emmett was their captain, he had to save his mana to recast his AOE abilities.

  Jonathan crouched down at Emmett’s feet with his hands over his ears.

  The Dwarf lifted it’s shoulder and protected it’s face behind it’s armor. The barrage of bullets kept it on the defensive for nearly a minute.

  Emmett’s AOE abilities came off cooldown and he started counting down his AOE abilities durations. Steady Heart lasted five minutes, and Blessed hands lasted six. He would recast both abilities before they ran out.

  The Dwarf took a step forwards, exposing more of it’s sides to the riflemen on the sides. Before it could raise it’s war hammer to charge, their artillery teams dropped their heavy fire down on it again. The Dwarf staggered to one knee under the heavy fire.

  A cheer went up down the defensive line.

  It’s not dead yet.

  “Reload!” Emmett yelled.

  The Dwarf roared and sprung into action. It closed the gap with the defensive line in three long steps. It swung down with it’s hammer, shattering the defenses and scattering earth and soldiers in every direction.

  Flags flapped and platoons moved back to make room for the next volley from the artillery. No flags signaled for Emmett’s platoon to move.

  “Fire at Will!” Emmett yelled.

  We are outside of the Artillery range, we must press the attack.

  His platoon had a clear view of the Dwarf’s back. For twenty long seconds they made the behemoth bleed while it butchered soldiers in their trench.

  The Dwarf turned slowly. It readied its hammer to attack the platoon opposite Emmett’s and he thanked the gods for the simple twist of luck.

  Where’s that Artillery?

  The Dwarf slammed its war hammer down twice on the entrenched platoon. Emmett’s group reloaded and fired continuously into its back. The behemoth slumped its shoulders then turned its head towards Emmett’s platoon.

  A wave of fear rolled over his men and Emmett recast both of this AOE abilities.

  Its early but the effects stack.

  “Fall back, Maintain Fire!” Emmett called.

  I’m down to the last of my Mana! Where are those damn Artillery?

  “Emmett It’s time to retreat!” Jonathan screamed.

  Emmett pulled his eyes away from the Dwarf rounding on his platoon to yell at the coward, but saw where Jonathan was pointing.

  A second Dwarf? That’s impossible.

  A second Dwarf had lumbered to the edge of the forest. It unfolded into it’s battle mode and hefted a large double bladed war axe. The three platoons on the edges of their defenses charged the second Dwarf.

  There are no other platoons left on the front lines to signal the retreat.

  “Full Retreat!” Emmett yelled.

  Artillery fell on the new Dwarf but only two of the shells hit well at that distance. The Dwarf shrugged them off and started it’s charge.

  Idiots! It’s too close to it’s tower to be hurt by artillery!

  Emmett and his platoon turned and made a hasty retreat, but the first dwarf followed them. It swung down once, and then two steps later it swung down again. Emmett’s Men and women screamed as they were smashed to pieces. The ground erupted knocking Emmett and the soldiers near him off their feet.

  Emmett dropped his rifle and drew both pistols.

  Explosive shot! Multi Shot!

  He fired with both pistols, hands moving faster than his eyes could see. Each pistol had an eight round cylinder, each round fired twice and every round exploded in the Dwarf’s face.

  Emmett pushed himself backwards laying flat on the ground as he reloaded both pistols. Stones cut into his back as his hands moved automatically.

  He emptied the cylinders, swung the cranes and gates just wide enough to eject the spent casings before he pulled the fresh rounds from his belts.

  His friends had laughed and called it a party trick, to reload two guns at once, but under the effects of his Blessed Hands ability, and with his high dexterity it was a manageable feat.

  Emmett reloaded and fired both pistols three times in the span of forty five seconds.

  The behemoth staggered under this last barrage. It brought its armored hand up to it’s face.

  “Get down!” Jonathan screamed. He jumped on top of Emmett as the whine of Artillery fire came down on top of the Dwarf.