Chapter 29 - Test of Insight 5

“CHARGE!”

The ground rumbled as Arnest’s army ran forward and slammed into the enemies that blocked their path back north. The Ralomans of Arnest’s army had swords and spears but the Ingras only had their fists. Luckily most of the well equipped members of his team were standing at the forefront of the charge.

It wasn’t a clean fight, especially when the undisciplined and untrained Ingras were added to the mix. Ralomans would try to use their practiced skills but achieved little due to the lack of space to swing swords and thrust spears. Attacks were usually directed towards weak points like eyes and crotches and anyone who fell down was indiscriminately trampled on by friend and foe alike. It was a free for all with no side having a clear advantage. Both sides could, at most, have twenty boys stand side by side so there were even odds of either side winning.

Arnest watched from a distance with his three Captains.

“Should we ask Urbano and the others to help and reinforce us?” asked Palben, who was sweaty from shouting orders.

“No.” Arnest answered without hesitation.

Arnest turned to Palben. “They should already be able to see we’re fighting from where they are. If we are able to beat them, they might change their minds and come up north with us afterwards.”

“And if we do ask for help, they’ll probably refuse and want us to run further south to hide until sunrise tomorrow.” Zenon said while Arnest nodded.

“Well what should we do then?” Palben said while scratching his head and tapping his foot impatiently.

“We’re fairly even right now, we can just-”

“PREPARE YOURSELVES, INGRAS BOY AND SON OF THE DESERTER!”

Arnest and his Captains looked up and saw a figure standing on top of a branch on a tall tree. It was above the canopy of the forest so he was easily visible from a distance.

“I, HAGEN LOYAL, HAVE COME!”

Arnest squinted his eyes and focused onto the boy shouting. “Oh so it’s him.”

“Who is he?” Zenon asked while Palben and Victoro also looked equally confused.

“That’s not really important but now that I know who he is, it changes things.”

A Lieutenant who was stationed at the rear guard came running up to Arnest. “General, look behind!” he said with exasperation.

The four of them turned around and saw another mob of boys running towards them from the south. This group was much larger than the northern forces they were currently fighting, at least double the amount of soldiers.

“So he got some more help. He’s smarter than I thought.” Arnest chuckled to himself.

The Lieutenant looked at his General like he was a mad man. What sane person would laugh when they were caught in a trap with no way out? “General, what do we do?!”

“Let them come.”

“But General! We don’t have enough-”

“Don’t worry, I have something planned.” Arnest interrupted and then paused for a bit to think.

“Palben and Zenon, take command of the rear guard while Victoro holds the front.”

“Understood.”

And so they split up the team again, a majority of the forces sent to fend off the new attackers while a small portion was left to stop Hagen from pushing too far south. When the rearguard was reinforced it was able to hold out against the south fairly easily since they were at a chokepoint. However on the northern front there was an issue cropping up. They were no longer able to maintain formation and were slowly being pushed back in the center.

If Hagen managed to breach the thinned defense then he would be able to rush in and flank the rest of Arnest’s army. Once that happened, pandemonium would surely break loose and commanding the army would be impossible. They had to hold the line.

Unfortunately they couldn’t. Their fears soon became reality. Hagen’s forces broke through in no time, pouring into the opening in the middle between Arnest’s northern and southern forces and chaos ensued.

“Kill them all Leave none of them alive!” yelled Hagen, face red and veins popping out of this neck.

“General Abdiel said not to kill anyone.” one of Hagen’s lackeys, Retraso, reminded

“I’m your General, you listen to my orders. If you don’t like it I can just kick you off my team.” Hagen growled back.

Retraso went quiet for a while and then proceeded to charge mindlessly forward.

Back towards the south Arnest was by himself now, overlooking the battle. He saw Hagen’s soldiers come in and they were attacking viciously, kicking people who they forced to the ground with the intent to kill. If they had actual weapons they were aiming for vitals rather than to disable them of their weapon, as you would in a friendly spar.

“I better end this farce before someone gets more than a few bruises.”

Arnest removed his white shirt and twisted it up into a thick whip. Then he climbed the biggest boulder along the lake's shore he could find. When he reached a good height, he started waving it back and forth like he was offering his surrender. Some of his men looked to the waving white flag and thought the skirmish was over and they lost. But they wouldn’t be allowed to relieve themselves of fighting that quickly. Hagen would never allow it.

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“Kill anyone who stops fighting! I don’t care what team they’re on, kill everyone!” Hagen roared and scared a few soldiers to keep fighting.

But most of Hagen’s army ignored the order and stopped. Even the southern team led by Faunco’s cousin, Federico, ordered his army to stop once he saw the white flag. Most of the boys on Arnest’s team breathed a sigh of relief when the attacks ceased and they could finally relax. They all threw themselves onto the ground, breathing heavily and trying to regain some normalcy of their bodies.

However no one expected what Hagen’s army did next. All the Ingras boys of Hagen’s team pulled out sharpened sticks that were hidden under their clothes. They turned around, makeshift daggers in hand, and stabbed at their own comrades.

“What the hell?!”

“What’s going on?!”

The Ralomans of Hagen’s team, which were extremely few, were instantly overwhelmed. They first had their legs stabbed so they couldn’t run and then were pummeled with fists until they were knocked out. When stabbed they would cry out and it caused a horrible sound to imprint itself on the minds of everyone here on the battlefield.

Hagen stared at the scene in disbelief as all of his team either defected or was incapacitated. He fell onto his back in shock and couldn’t even think straight, only able to keep asking himself in his mind, “Why?”

Soon enough his soldiers eventually reached him. The leader of the unit, who found Hagen on the ground, walked up to him and bent down to say, “ Remember me?”

Hagen looked up and muttered with a crazed look, “You?”

He recognized the Ingras boy. He was the one whom he had asked if he was an Ingras when they first met and then quickly told to get lost when he heard the answer.

“I’m one of the cowardly Ingras. Here to beat the shit out of you.” he said and then punched him in the face.

The other Ingras boys surrounded Hagen and started to beat the living daylights out of him until he was unconscious and even for a while longer after, until they were satisfied. This was the first time they were able to thrash a Raloman, especially one who so openly discriminated against Ingras. With every punch and kick they remembered when they were insulted by a Raloman just because they were Ingras, fueling their unbridled rage.

Arnest’s soldiers were also in a daze but quickly regained their senses when Arnest shouted, “Everyone go to the south and push the enemy back!”

The army reorganized, picking themselves up off the ground and forming along the south. They were still outnumbered but with the added defectors of Hagen’s defeated army, they were just slightly weaker than Federico’s army. It was a bitter fight but the boys held their ground, neither side giving up an inch.

After an hour the fighting subsided and the two armies separated from each other, setting up camps. Prolonged fights were not something young boys could really participate in. They were not warriors hardened by a hundred battles nor were they practiced martial artists. Even if they ran for hours every day, their stamina would not be enough to sustain this kind of strategy. And so night came, darkness covering the entire island and the once noisy chaotic battlefield became a quiet, scenic visage.

Arnest, his Captains and Lajos sat around a fire.

“How did you convince them to betray Hagen?” Victoro asked, his eyes shining. He saw the futility of the situation only to be turned around by Arnest waving his shirt around and was amazed by him.

“I wouldn’t say they betrayed Hagen. I had ordered them to join his team.”

“Ordered them?” Zenon and Palben were confused too. They never were told about this before.

“Arnest offered a lot of the Ingras a deal. That if he signaled with a  white flag that they could decide to join his team if they wanted to.” Lajos explained.

“Just how many teams did you plant spies in?...” asked Zenon while adding kindling to the fire.

“I don’t know. I talked to a lot of people, even those who joined teams already. Whether or not it works is up to luck.”

Palben’s face started to contort into unnatural curves. “Luck? You put us in this situation because you believed we would get lucky?!”

“Well it’s not all luck, at least with Hagen. Hagen has an immense hate for Ingras. With his personality I assume he treated all the Ingras on his team poorly. Also like I said, I ordered Ingras from our team specifically to join him so the chances of them betraying me were even lower.”

Zenon then realized something while Arnest was talking. “Wait, so does that mean there weren’t any Ingras on the team to the south then, since they didn’t join our side?”

“Who knows? Maybe they just didn’t want to join us.”

“Right now they have more soldiers than us, but if we somehow send a messenger to Urbano, we would have the upper hand.” Lajos said.

“That won’t be necessary I think. I have another idea.” Arnest then got up and started walking south towards the enemy, waving his shirt above his head.

Victoro got up and grabbed Arnest by the arm, stopping him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I just thought I’d say hello to a fellow General.”

Everyone’s mouths dropped as they stared at their General, thinking like most people who hear him talk, “Is this guy crazy?”