Ballistae Fortress

I

Tullius, Aldi, and several other workers were in a tent. They had been in this place for hours planning the division of labor to build the fort. The captain clapped his hands once, causing everyone to turn their gazes on him.

"Fine. Teams one through five are split in numbers. Teams six and seven will be on the beach and make their way from the coast to the fort, and build a small fort that can be guarded."

"Captain, are you sure we're going to take down the galleys? Shouldn't we use it again?" a worker representative sounded worried.

"No need, we need to strengthen the coastal defenses. That's the main thing, and nothing else. If they find us (but hopefully not), then we need to strengthen the coastal defenses. We can't beat those guys at sea, then let's take it to the beach."

"I have a question too, captain," a worker turned to a page of building materials. "The logs of those ships... you want to use them to make two big ballistae. Of course this drains our resources, the wood could have been used to build that big fort."

"My choice is final. Defend first, when we are safe. Then we will prioritize the fort. Now, any questions?"

Tullius looks around, those people had nothing to say against the captain's choice.

"Good. Now go out and do your part. Dismissed."

Everyone in the tent turned from the court table and out of the meeting place, except for the carpenter. Aldi looked at Tullius as he walked out, the captain looked back at him.

The captain took off his armor when everyone was out. He wiped his sweat, the cloth covered in battle armor showed his hot and sweaty body. He sat on the bench quietly, trying to take a moment to rest after his long journey. Five minutes he sat down and came a soldier.

"Report, captain," he saluted. The gaze ahead was eye level, even though the captain was slightly below his sight.

"What is it?"

"Teams six and seven are ready to go to the beach on your orders."

"Did I order you?"

"Yes," the man was a little surprised. "Is there something wrong?"

The captain was also surprised, he did not remember telling the group of six and seven to go to the beach. He who was exhausted could only nod at him.

"Sure," he stood. "Let's go."

"Ready."

Tullius and the soldiers came out of the tent and saw teams six and seven which were filled with all his elite soldiers, those people were now working as a defense building team on the coast of the island. They were quick and agile in building small forts on the coast, for they were the best of Spearhead soldiers.

"Fair left, move!" the soldier's orders to the twmove!" The soldier's orders to the two teams.

In the same rhythm, the feet face to the left which is then followed by the front of the body. The sound of the movement was loud in the camp, the working people were quiet and watched the soldiers.

"Team six. Forward, march!"

The working soldiers directly stomp their left foot on the ground, then they walked normally towards the coast. Tullius hurried to follow the troop of soldiers to the beach. When team six build a coastal defense, team seven will build a path leading to the beach.

Their trip to the beach was not that long. The direction of their journey was known, the symbols of the directions had been embedded in the ground, showing where their fort and the beach is located. The soldiers chatted as they walked, exchanging stories of their past before in the Spearhead. Tullius overheard some of their conversation. Some said they were mercenaries too, some had been fighters, and some had been a peasants.

"Captain," called a soldier walking behind him.

Tullius heard him being called, slowed down his path so that he was right next to the soldier.

"What is it?" He answered politely.

"One wonders, what did you do before entering the Spearhead?"

"We speculated that you might be one of the top commanders in Uthgaard. But we doubt it."

"Doubt how?" the captain asked.

"Tullius is an old southerner's name. You could be from all over the southern continent, but we're not sure where."

"He's right, the name 'Tullius' is too widespread. What are your origins?"

"Me?" Tullius stopped talking for a moment, he looked at the road he was walking. "I'm just a peasant."

"Okay, we know that it's a lie."

The captain raised one of his eyebrows, the soldier could not speak. They gaped at that knowing the captain isn't bullshitting.

"No, that's not true."

"W-we saw how you fight. Of course that's not true, right? You must be at least a soldier."

"Oh... this is actually what you will hear from me. General Nazeir put me in when I was a teenager, and now I serve him. The Spearhead has stood for hundreds of years under the leadership of generals Jurko and master Tabot. General Nazeir came a few years after the army was built, and that's all I know. If you want to know the most puzzling past, ask general Nazeir's past. Master Tabot doesn't really know him very well."

"Isn't he from Nazaire? Nazeir, Nazaire."

"No, he doesn't look from Nazaire. He looks as if he's from the north, his skin is different from southerners like us. They are lighter-skinned, we're not."

"But they're dumber," tucked the soldier's comrade.

"Yes, I agree with that. Wait... actually, the general kinda looks mixed, northern and... outer rings? But anyway, the northern men are described by people as handsome, tall, big, strong. But stupid, too bad they are not good at simple things."

"Master Tabot is from the north, and he's not stupid. Are you saying master Tabot is stupid?"

"I never said master Tabot was stupid!"

"Yes, you were just talking like that. All northerners are idiots, master Tabot northerners. You just called him stupid. You all listened to him, didn't you?"

The four soldiers started bickering with each other, the captain laughed inwardly and let the men continue their conversation.

"Yeah... fuck you. I could demote you right now if you don't shut up."

The soldiers suddenly stopped the conversation and just kept their heads straight. Tullius again walked in front of the group, directing the soldiers to their destination.

II

Fresh air from the beach. The sun was above their heads, a bright light blinding those who looked at it. Tullius stood on the sand with a small branch in hand. Their ships still looked intact and hadn't moved at all since yesterday. All the soldiers gathered and made a big circle with Tullius in the middle.

"Listen carefully. We need to do this quickly. Don't play too much, know break time. We will start this work with disassembling galleys only, transport ships will be kept.

All the wood we remove we will make to build two big ballistae. Each one can catapult seven hundred meters. That's our target, we will succeed if you all really persevere with all this. Fifty ballistae each, meaning the rest will be used to build small forts. This will be group one assignment.

Our little fort will use tree woods from here. Sharpen the ends of the fort walls, making sure they are thrice our height. Make a length on this beach, the target is five days. I hope this isn't a challenge. I mean, we could do all of this in a few hours if we had the manpower, but sadly we don't have that many people. Thus, group two will do this.

And one more thing, trenches. Every wall must have a trench. Six meters deep, five meters to eight meters wide. When it has been dug, channel the water from the sea to the trench. Just pile up the dug in the fort, make these ballistae bigger than they think using earthwork."

Tullius drew the defense map on the sand, and all the soldiers who saw it nodded in understanding.

"Is there any question?"

A soldier raised his hand, Tullius pointed at him with the branch.

"This place is vast, what happens if they don't choose to attack our small fortress and go straight to the fortress from the other side of the island?"

The captain pointed at the ballistae image engraved on the ground.

"Oh, they must go through us. They have to eliminate our giant ballista. Otherwise, those people will be overwhelmed. I hope there are no more questions. Then, get to work!"

The soldiers dispersed and began to do their respective jobs. Tullius stood there and watched his soldiers start taking the galleys out. He helped cut the trees with the second group.

On the first day they began to prepare the foundations of the fort. Indicates where the wall will be placed, where the ballista will be installed. People sing as they work, lighting up the dark times in their lives. Laughter, jokes they exchanged together. When night comes, these people will sleep on the beach with banana tree leaves covering their legs and bodies. Some of them also carry wide cloth as a blanket and some sleep without covering their bodies. Tullius fell asleep with the people and woke up to a beautiful morning. On the east coast you can see the sun rising from its slumber along with the soldiers who are ready to return to work.

A cart will come in the morning with supplies. There are game animals provided, ranging from rabbits to deer that inhabit almost the entire forest. The deer in this forest were smaller than usual, but no less delicious when the soldiers ate them hot. After breakfast, they worked until the sun was directly overhead, indicating it was time to rest. An hour's rest and they went back to work until the sun went down, and when the moon rose from behind the sea.

The defensive walls could be seen building and extending on the shore. The gallyes are gone, replaced by two gigantic ballistae being built. The structure can be seen, the launch rope is not visible at all. The soldiers were sure that their work could be faster than before, but that was just words not results. But just hearing it made Tullius secretly pleased. The soldiers morale skyrocketed.

Soldiers start work in the morning. Trenches began to be dug by the soldiers, extending in front of the wide-spread defensive wall. On the other hand, the giant ballistae has seen its shape even though there is no vital part in throwing its ammunition. The thing's legs had already formed, everything was going better than the captain had thought. He was full of ecstasy, seeing his soldiers work fast from the target he had set.

Shortly after the trench was dug, the soldiers came carrying the sand in sacks. The sand is dumped where the ballista is, creating a small hill. When all the sand has been removed, dozens of soldiers began to push the object up the hill. The ballista's wheels turned, and with their teamwork the artillery was finally ready for the finishing touch.

When the team had finished digging the trench, they were given a new job by Tullius. They would go mining for boulders, and the boulders would be transported to the coastal fort as ballista ammunition that would throw rocks. The team left, leaving the others to build the ballista.

While the captain was having a nap, he was awakened by a soldier. In front of him was a beauty made by his soldiers. The two weapons had stood upright on the small hill. The captain smiled as he got up from his slumber and immediately came out of the tent. He walked into the distance and saw how big the thing they had just made. He was proud of his soldiers, but they didn't know yet. Everything started to get more beautiful when a big wagon came with giant rocks on it. Seeing the stones led the captain to estimate the weight of each stone, and he estimated that one large rock could be between two and thirty kilos. He walked beside the wagon, watching people lower the rocks.

In the afternoon they started pushing the rock into the ballista launcher. The soldiers crank the ballistae, Tullius just stood still and watched them operate the giants. When it has been crank to the max, the stone is placed in the launcher. Tulius watched it being loaded and gave the signal to throw the stone. A soldier pulled a lever, and the rock flew high in the air. Everyone who saw the stone crashing to the sea in the distance immediately cheered. Tullius could not contain his excitement, he and his soldiers were jumping on the sand with joy seeing this thing work for the first time.

Today had been a great success for the captain, he could see his soldiers starting to talk about 'what if' with their friends about the ballistae.

On the fourth day, things started to go differently. Tullius planned their combat tactics. While the majority of the soldiers were planning their tactics, a small team was ordered by the captain to build a tall tower. People learn how to deal with landing when the day comes, learn how to operate ballistae, learn to save people if someone gets hurt.

Tullius didn't stop all day teaching those who didn't seem bored with their captain's lectures. All day talking, and all day dozens of ballista stones came. From tens, then hundreds. Before long, the captain had more than two tons of ballistae rocks. Equal to sixty stones in two days. The small mines worked like an industry, bringing in boulders every few couple hours in varying amounts.

On the fifth day they walked back to the fort and met the soldiers who were making their way in the forest. With teamwork their work becomes faster. By midday, they finally had a tidy path leading from the main fortress to the beach. The road was intentionally hidden by weeds, shielding them from the Spearhead's enemies if they came.

Evening came, and they were back at the fort. All of them started working with other people, some became carpenters and some became hunters to prepare people's food.

Everything starts to look better from here, maybe the Spearheads have found their new home.