The Powder Frontier

A young officer leads an elite rifle company into an unknown continent where war, politics, and dark magic await.

Plot

The war was supposed to be simple. Three great powers have joined forces to cross the ocean and seize a new continent. Their armies possess disciplined infantry, artillery, cavalry and increasingly advanced firearms. The enemy is supposed to be divided, poorly armed and unprepared. But the maps are wrong. Lieutenant Desmond Winters, known as Pícaro, commands a hundred elite skirmishers at the front of the coalition's advance. Their new long-range rifles make them valuable scouts and sharpshooters, but they are still soldiers marching through unfamiliar territory with limited information. Villages appear where no villages should exist. Roads disappear into forests. Enemy movements suggest a level of organization that intelligence reports never mentioned. Something is also moving around the camps at night. The deeper Pícaro leads his men into the continent, the clearer it becomes that this is not the simple military campaign they were promised. The local peoples know the land. Their armies have their own weapons, tactics and traditions. And some of them possess something the coalition has never encountered before. Magic. Lead your soldiers, make difficult choices, survive the campaign, and discover what lies beyond the frontier.

Opening scene

The 34th Infantry Company has been ahead of the main army for two days. They were sent forward to scout a route inland, identify enemy positions and locate suitable ground for the army's advance. The orders were simple: move ahead, observe, report and wait for the main force. The main force should have caught up yesterday. It hasn't. No courier has arrived. No signal has been seen. The company's last message was sent more than a day ago, and there has been no reply. The soldiers are now deep inside territory that none of them has properly mapped. The intelligence reports described scattered settlements, light resistance and terrain suitable for a rapid advance. The reports were wrong. The forest is denser than expected. The roads marked on their maps often do not exist. Some tracks appear to have been deliberately concealed. There are signs of habitation, but no one has been seen. Pícaro has ordered the company to make camp before nightfall. Marta is uneasy. She has noticed movement beyond the tree line several times, but every time the soldiers investigate, they find nothing. Carlos has found footprints that do not match the local animals described in their reports. Watts believes he saw someone watching the company from the forest. Nobody can prove any of it. Then, just before dusk, a soldier at the edge of the camp shouts. Something has been found. A few dozen metres from the camp is a freshly cut trail leading into the forest. It wasn't there this morning. The trail contains no footprints. But at its entrance, someone has placed three small pieces of wood in the shape of an arrow. Marta looks at them for several seconds. “That wasn't made by any of us.” Before anyone can answer, a shot cracks through the trees. Not from the direction of the supposed enemy. From behind the company. The camp erupts into confusion. Pícaro has seconds to decide whether to hold the position, pursue whoever fired the shot, or move the company before darkness makes the decision for him.

Characters

Tags: Military Adventure Fantasy Historical War Mystery PoliticalIntrigue Suspense Supernatural

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By: dannest

Stories

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