Dozens of javelins, arrows and rocks rained down from the sky, smashing into shields, armour and sometimes flesh. Their sharpened points fell upon their victims and mercilessly embedded themselves into whatever was unlucky enough to get in their way. Every minute, one of Kaewyn’s soldiers fell victim to the never-ending barrage of projectiles. A man would be hit and go down with a sickening shriek as his fellow soldiers closed ranks and shielded him from further harm. The luckiest that were hit, the ones who still lived, were dragged back into the fort to receive treatment. Despite the frustration of the men clear to him, he bit his lip and held back from giving the order to charge.
With their backs to the fort and barbarian army in front of them, Kaewyn, General Alaric, Yohren, and their soldiers stood in a defensive formation with their shields raised. Bowstrings thrummed behind him from up on the wooden platforms above whenever the enemy skirmishers came within range to hurl their projectiles. The allied archers loosed their arrows on them, returning the barbarian’s intended mischief with interest. From their position up on high, their bows easily outranged their barbarian counterparts and each volley paid them back threefold. Even though the skirmishing was going well for them, Kaewyn knew that victory was out of their reach unless they took out Prince Odabek.
Whenever he got the chance to look out over his shield without feeling like he was going to take an arrow to the face, he scanned the barbarian line for any sign of their enemy’s leader. It was difficult to tell if anything significant was going on and there were no banners to indicate the presence of the barbarian prince. The one thing he did notice is that the barbarians only loosely formed up in ranks. Mostly they stood apart in large clusters and cheered before running closer to throw their javelins. They did not appear concerned at all about the possibility of the Greystone and Vinum soldiers charging out from within the safety of their fort. And why would they? They outnumber us greatly. They probably think we’re just content to hold our ground.
A sudden thwack of an arrow bouncing off of the shield of the soldier next to him startled him. He jerked backwards and nearly lost his footing. Several pairs of strong hands secured his back and shoulders and helped him to stabilise himself. He turned around and realised that General Alaric and Yohren had been the ones to help him. He thanked them and then decided to observe the enemy from behind the relative safety of his shield from then on, a sentiment echoed by Yohren several times over. The last thing he needed was a wound or injury his retainer had said.
A full hour passed and yet, there had been no sign of Odabek, or at least nothing Kaewyn recognised as a sign. With every passing minute, his confidence in their makeshift plan faltered a little more. The late afternoon sun had already started to dip on the horizon and soon he knew that the light of the day would soon turn to an orange glow. They were running out of time.
Arlan rode past and out in front of their defensive formation for the ninth, perhaps tenth time on his recognisable white steed. The idea had been Kaewyn’s own. He’d ordered Arlan to do this once the barbarians had grown tired of mostly wasting their projectiles and losing many warriors to the allied archers up in the fort. He hoped that the sight of Arlan would bait the barbarian prince to show himself, but there hadn’t been any indication that Prince Odabek even noticed.
Arlan slowed his horse to a trot on his next pass and stopped just in front of where Kaewyn was standing in the shield wall. He leant down in the saddle, but several soldiers shouted before he could get a word out and began to point to their right. Within a few seconds, everyone was shouting, everyone except the General and Yohren. Kaewyn couldn’t see what the commotion was all about, and judging by his friend’s confused faces neither did they, but based on how loud everyone else was getting, it was something he needed to see. Kaewyn stepped out from within the safety of the shield wall to get a better look at what was going on. He narrowed his eyes and peered down their defensive line. To his absolute horror, a large portion of their men had broken off from their formation and were charging toward the barbarians at full speed. Their shining silver armour and the fact that they carried banners of Green and White revealed their identity to him immediately. Even though they were fairly far away from his position, Kaewyn heard their thunderous war cries in support of Vinum Province. The soldiers and personal guard of Lord Rhys waved their banners proudly in the air and continued their charge toward the barbarians, increasing the distance between themselves and the relative safety of the fort behind them each passing second.
“By the gods!” General Alaric bellowed. “That’s…
“It’s Lord Callidus!” Arlan said quickly. “My lord, if we do not support his charge, he and all his men will be slain!”
Kaewyn turned to face his advisors and balled his fists. “Why are they attacking? Has he lost his mind?”
Arlan shrugged his shoulders. “Someone claimed to have spotted Odabek, but I was right there and I saw nothing, then Lord Callidus gave the order…”
Kaewyn shook his head. “Then why did you not stop him?”
“I…I tried! Forgive me, but you know his nature. Nothing I said could sway him from his path once his mind was set.”
“Argue later!” General Alaric shouted. “You must decide now, Kaewyn. Do we join them or hold our men back?”
“Hold back?” He questioned. “We cannot just let Rhys and his men perish.”
“We could.” Yohren offered. “Marcus would insist that the plan must come first.”
“Marcus would also insist that without Rhys and his men, we are doomed.”
“If we don’t get Odabek, we’re doomed anyway.” General Alaric protested by angrily pointing at the barbarians to emphasise his point. “If he isn’t there and we commit to a charge, we’re simply fighting out in the open outnumbered for no reason.”
Kaewyn felt a strong urge to shout at Yohren and the General to be quiet and simply follow his orders. It was harder to make such decisions when his advisors questioned his ideas or every thought that came to his mind, but he then realised it was harder for a reason. The last time he refused to listen to the counsel of his advisors, his men paid the price in Taneby Forest. His hubris had gotten the better of him then, much like the late Lord Severus had allowed himself, in his arrogance, to underestimate Kaewyn before the Battle of the Rau. No, he could not afford to ignore his advisors when they spoke up. He had to consider their words carefully in making his decision. That is why he took them into his confidence in the first place.
“Arlan, are you absolutely sure you did not see Odabek?” He asked.
“Truthfully, my lord, I did not see him myself. But… I suppose it is possible that he was there.”
Kaewyn shook his head in frustration. Ultimately, it was his decision alone. The consequences and responsibility was a heavy burden upon him. The duty that came with being a lord of a province meant that these decisions fell to him. He hated it. He wanted to preserve the lives of those who had followed him to battle, but could he truly allow Rhys and his men to charge to their doom? He may have his differences with Rhys, especially after what he had done to Camilla, but he knew that he was an intelligent man, as well as a brave one when it came to battle. He would not have given the order to charge if he was not absolutely certain of Odabek’s presence. At least he hoped so.
He watched as Rhys and his personal guard got further and further away from their line and closer to the barbarians who were scrambling to assemble for the unexpected attack. Amongst their own lines, he saw soldiers beginning to break away from their defensive formation and rush after Lord Rhys. Several of them made their allegiance known and cried out in support of Vinum. If he didn’t act decisively, all order and cohesion amongst their forces would soon collapse completely.
“My lord!”
A familiar voice shouted out from atop the fort’s makeshift walls. Kaewyn looked to where the archers were stationed and saw Marcus waving frantically like a man possessed.
“Follow him! You have to follow Lord Callidus!”
Kaewyn didn’t know Marcus’s reasoning. Perhaps he believed that without Rhys they had little chance of victory. Or maybe from his vantage point up on the walls, Marcus had spotted something, either Odabek’s presence or a weakness in the barbarian ranks they could exploit. Either way, it did not matter to him. While he may not have trusted Rhys’s judgement completely, he did trust Marcus. Calling for his men to follow him with all of the courage he could muster, he reached for the Token of Ohnix hanging from his neck and pressed it to his lips. Watch over us, Father.
He then turned and faced the barbarian army across the open field, still littered with the arrow-filled bodies of the barbarian skirmishers. He took another moment to steel himself and gather his wits, then he shouted the order to advance with as much energy and passion he could muster. General Alaric echoed his order and using his deep, thunderous voice, he shouted out a war cry.
“FOR GREYSTONE!”
The soldiers let out a cheer and repeated the general’s words over and over. Within seconds, their entire formation advanced rapidly with Kaewyn at the forefront. Yohren and the General remained by his side as the entire force moved forward as quickly as possible. A few over-eager soldiers rushed forward a little too quickly, but General Alaric quickly called them back into formation and maintained the discipline required for an entire force to move as one.
Kaewyn noticed as they closed in on the chaotic barbarian line that Arlan had disappeared, but there was no time to look for him. Carried by the momentum of hundreds of soldiers pressing forward behind him, Kaewyn forced his tired legs to carry him toward their enemy. He saw the barbarians rushing around and trying to form some sort of organised defensive formation, but it was obvious to him that they had not expected the Greystone soldiers to leave the safety of the fort. Many of the barbarian soldiers appeared to panic as they came closer and closer. The braver of their enemy managed to form ranks to meet them, but many others were already taking steps back and looking around for reassurance from their fellow warriors.
Several dead barbarian skirmishers laid upon the ground in front of him, some still holding onto javelins they had attempted to toss before meeting their ends at the hands of the fort’s archers. Kaewyn reached down to pick up one such javelin and once it was firmly in his grasp, he lined up a throw and took his chances. His javelin sailed in the air and landed harmlessly behind the line of barbarians, but his actions were not for naught as several of his men emulated him and did the same. Many of their javelins found their mark, further weakening the line of barbarians that were forming up to resist their charge.
Sensing an opportunity, Kaewyn lifted his sword into the air and told his men to break formation and charge their unorganised enemy. A thunderous reply of his soldiers shouts almost startled him as they rushed forward screaming their war cries. He chased after them, forgetting how tired his legs had been only moments ago and lifted his sword into the air once more. Just as they crashed into the enemy warriors brave enough to receive them, he brought his blade down hard and began to hack and slash. Within seconds, Kaewyn and his men broke through the improvised barbarian line. Several warriors had turned tail and were fleeing North towards the woods. Many more, not quite so afraid as to turn and flee, but also not as brave as to directly oppose them, stood awkwardly in loose groups and reluctantly held their ground. To their right, Kaewyn saw Rhys and his personal guard had already broken their way through their first test of resistance. He turned his attention back to his own men and saw that the battle had quickly begun to devolve into hundreds of individual contests. His men were clearly outnumbered, so he shouted out for his men to regroup after their charge and work together rather than be drawn into individual combat. When he turned back to look for Rhys once again, hoping to also regroup with them, he realised that he could no longer find them among the sea of enemy warriors. The only sign of their presence was the sight of the Callidus family banner still held high in the air well behind yet more enemy warriors who continued to stream into the battle. The barbarians who had withdrawn or backed away had already begun to return, seemingly realising that the advantage in numbers was theirs.
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While Kaewyn’s initial charge had been decisive in breaking the enemy, the tide was quickly turning against him and his men. The barbarian warriors had scattered in all directions after the initial attack, but now the majority of them had returned to the battle. Rather than outright attack, however, the bulk of the barbarians decided to hang back and keep a respectable distance from the Greystone soldiers who, being veterans of several battles and conflicts by now, held together and maintained their discipline. Under the guidance and ever-watchful eye of their General, Kaewyn’s men refused to be drawn out of position and baited into individual contests of skill. The Greystone soldiers held firm and used their shields expertly to keep themselves safe. Every few seconds a particularly brave warrior rushed at their organised formation only to be cut down swiftly by a wall of spears and shields. The remaining barbarians, while outnumbering the Greystone soldiers three to one, seemed content to keep their distance after losing many more warriors with nothing to show for it. Even with their initial success, Kaewyn saw how clearly outnumbered and hopeless it was for them to expect to win a conventional battle. Without their cavalry under General Falke, they had no way to run down the panicked barbarians who fled the field as they had originally planned, which meant they were then free to return once their nerves had settled. While his soldiers remained in their defensive formation, it was nearly impossible for the barbarian warriors to do any significant damage to them, but neither was it possible for them to give chase to the barbarians themselves.
Kaewyn called for his soldiers to cease advancing and instead make for the Callidus banner instead. To have a chance, he recognised that they needed to regroup with the Vinum soldiers or risk being surrounded. The Greystone soldiers broke their formation and rushed at the enemy in the direction of the Callidus banner, taking them by surprise and quickly sending them running for the woods to the north. Climbing a gentle slope, Kaewyn was overcome with relief when Rhys and his silver armoured soldiers came into view, but what was truly of interest to him was that a duel was taking place. Rhys and a man he could only guess was Prince Odabek, stood on foot surrounded by both of their soldiers who cheered on their respective leaders. A temporary truce had taken hold between ally and foe, but the sudden appearance of Kaewyn and his men brought the truce to an abrupt end. The soldiers around the two duellists began to fight again and soon the small space cleared for the duel was filled with battling warriors. The majority of the barbarian soldiers, however, began to panic now that the Greystone soldiers had appeared on their unguarded flank and many had begun to flee north towards the shelter of the woods.
Kaewyn immediately gave the order for his men to join the fray and assist their allies, shouting for his men to target the barbarian prince. If they could just take him down, victory was a distinct possibility. Even better if they managed to capture him alive.
As he fought his way toward Rhys and Odabek, he saw the barbarian prince break off and climb onto his horse, a smaller one than Kaewyn thought typical. For some reason, he imagined a great barbarian prince would surely want the biggest and strongest mount for himself as a matter of pride and image, but the horse he was riding was rather small. As he galloped away, Kaewyn shouted and shouted for someone to stop him from escaping. Yohren stepped up beside him and nocked an arrow. Just before the prince disappeared from view, Yohren’s arrow pierced the side of one of the horse’s unprotected legs, sending the beast toppling down into a dusty cloud of horse and man. Odabek staggered to his feet a moment later and shouted at his men in his foreign and harsh language, but it appeared to Kaewyn that he had little control over them while they panicked all around him. The barbarian prince turned and began to limp away from the fighting. Kaewyn and his men fought their way through a dozen or so barbarians who put up little resistance to their attack. As they closed in on Prince Odabek, Kaewyn felt his heart beat faster and faster. Just a bit farther! We almost have him!
Odabek paused and turned to face them, an angry look of defiance and irritation upon his dusty and dirt-covered face. He stood with a limp and his right arm cradled his left. He began to mutter what Kaewyn guessed were curse words as his barbarian warriors ran right past him without a care in the world for the safety of their prince. Kaewyn pointed his blade at the prince and was about to demand his surrender when a dozen gigantic warriors appeared from within the maelstrom of fleeing warriors and surrounded their prince protectively. Rather than use shields, these giants seemed to prefer the use of immense two-handed curved blades and mighty war hammers. Their armour was intricate and marked by swirling designs of colour, mostly blues and reds, painted upon steel. It covered them completely from head to toe and reflected the sun’s now orange glow ominously. Their helmets were fully enclosed, rounded and thick with golden trims and more swirling patterns. Between their thin eye slits for visors, their hateful eyes stared menacingly at them. Kaewyn suspected that these gargantuan men must be Odabek’s bodyguards, as they quickly began to usher him north towards the shelter of the woods where the majority of his fleeing warriors were headed to. Four of them remained behind however and dared Kaewyn and his men to try anything by twirling their immense weapons in their oversized hands like children’s toys.
“What are you waiting for Kaewyn? An invitation? Get at them!”
Kaewyn turned his head to see Rhys and half a dozen of his personal guard rush out from the battle raging behind them. Rather than hesitate, Rhys rushed right past him and attacked the four giants blocking their way. The seven of them overran one of the giants immediately and sent him to the ground and began to hack away at him. The other three moved to assist their ally, but he was already dead by the time they could react. Rhys and his personal guard were formidable indeed, Kaewyn thought to himself, but if they were to overcome the other three and catch up to Odabek, they would need his help. As Rhys and his guards engaged the remaining giants, Kaewyn moved to assist with General Alaric, Yohren and his own half dozen men that had managed to stay with him despite the battle still going on behind them.
The three giants realised quickly that they were in trouble. They backed away and began to swing their great weapons in strong, wide arcs, threatening to decapitate or crush any who risked advancing on them. All the while Prince Odabek and the rest of his bodyguards were slowly disappearing from view toward the woods to the north. One of Rhys’s personal guards decided suddenly to take the chance and rushed in, dodging the first swing adeptly. But before he could strike at the giant with his sword, the second swing found its mark. The silver armour of Rhys’s man did nothing to stop the two-handed blade from cutting right through his lower half almost completely with a sickening slice. With his weapon now stuck, the others rushed in and stabbed at the giant who promptly abandoned his weapon to withdraw.
General Alaric took advantage of the distraction and attacked one of the two who still had their weapons, but they saw him coming before he could close the distance. Kaewyn held his breath as the General ducked the first blow with ease and then angled his own blade so that the second strike slid upwards and away harmlessly with a metallic scrape. Now within striking range, the General thrust his blade upwards into the chest plate of the giant closest to him, but the point of the sword bounced and did nothing other than mark the thick armour with a scratch. The giant then lifted his blade up high and was about to bring it down upon the defenceless general, when Kaewyn heard the twang of a bowstring to his side. An arrow bounced off of the faceplate of the giant’s helmet and stunned him, letting General Alaric slip out of harm’s way while the barbarian giant recovered.
The General cursed loudly and told everyone to assault the behemoths altogether this time. With only two still wielding weapons and the other disarmed, Kaewyn knew the advantage was theirs. He, along with Rhys, Yohren and the General, as well as all of their men, charged toward the prince’s bodyguards. Kaewyn looked on in horror as the first two Greystone soldiers to engage the giant men were swatted aside like flies, collapsing into pools of their own blood. Determined to not let their loss be wasted, Kaewyn did not hesitate. He stepped forward and put all of his strength into a diagonal downwards cut. The giant bodyguard didn’t even bother to move or parry his strike, instead allowing Kaewyn’s blade to harmlessly connect with his armour and bounce off. The impact of the heavy hit shook the hilt of his sword violently and his grip almost slipped. The giant let out a maniacal chuckle and lifted his own blade into the air with both hands and then brought it down hard. Kaewyn instinctively fell to one knee and raised his shield to meet the blow. With a mighty thud, he felt his shield resist the heavy assault, but when he tried to pull his shield back, he realised the barbarian’s sizeable weapon had lodged itself deep within the oaken wood of his shield. The giant pulled and Kaewyn felt himself being pulled toward his enemy. Rather than be dragged helplessly against his will, he slipped his arm out of the two straps that bound his hand and forearm to the shield and let it go. The giant smashed his sword, with the shield still stuck to it, into the ground. Kaewyn’s shield splintered and finally broke into two uneven pieces. Gripping his family sword in two hands now, Kaewyn prepared for round two.
The giant however, had other problems. During their scuffle, the other Greystone soldiers had surrounded the him. Meanwhile Rhys’s personal guard had made short work of the bodyguard who had lost his weapon earlier in the fight. Now down to two, the giant men were easily surrounded and were constantly assaulted by a barrage of spear tips and slashing blades. Yohren’s arrows hadn’t penetrated their thick armour, but he had succeeded so far in disorienting them whenever he could by repeatedly hitting the visors of their helmets. The two giants let out a rage induced scream and began to recklessly advance despite being surrounded. Each swing threatened to cleave a man in two, but no one was eager to be caught by their wide, ponderous attacks and kept their distance. Kaewyn knew however, that every moment they were held here, the further away Prince Odabek would be. Rather than be defensive, he pressed forward.
He dodged a wide, slow swing by ducking backwards, then rushed forwards and hacked at the closest giant’s legs. Again, his sword did nothing but leave a mark. As the giant attempted to retaliate after his futile attack, he lifted his arms up and exposed a weak point in his armour. The armpits. General Alaric, now armed with one of the fallen Greystone soldier’s spears, rushed in low and thrust directly at the chainmail-covered armpit. The heavy-plate armour of the giant bodyguards covered nearly the entirety of their body, but the plate was not flexible enough to cover the joints. The neck and armpits were both protected only by mail, and therefore General Alaric’s thrust pierced the mail and flesh underneath. The giant let out a horrific scream, but still he did not go down. He turned his body and used both of his arms to lash out at General Alaric and send him reeling backwards and onto his backside.
Now injured, the giant’s movements had slowed considerably and he seemed to be having trouble swinging his large sword. Kaewyn gripped his sword tightly in both hands and tried again. Rather than attack blindly, he waited for the giant’s swing which came as predictably as it had done before. He dodged it by stepping backwards, then rushed in. The giant was still recovering from his immense swing and was slower due to his new wound, therefore Kaewyn had the time he required to be more precise. This time, he aimed for the exposed neck with the tip of his sword and thrust as hard as he could. The mail resisted the tip of his blade for only the briefest of moments before the steel penetrated through and met flesh. The giant let out a scream and fell to his knees, but Kaewyn pushed harder until the blade was more than several inches deep. The giant’s body lost all strength and his body went limp, so he pulled the sword from his opponent and let him fall to the ground. The Greystone soldiers rushed in and began to stab at his body, but he was certain that the man was already dead. To his right, Rhys and his men had similarly taken down the last remaining bodyguard, though he also saw two more silvered armoured corpses on the ground.
They had lost five men all told. Three of Rhys’s personal guard lay dead, and two more from Greystone, leaving them with eleven strong to pursue the prince and his remaining bodyguards. The effort it had taken them to dispatch only four of these giants was considerable. He did not look forward to facing another eight of them.
One of Rhys’s surviving personal guards shook his head and pointed back behind them towards the battle. Kaewyn saw that the barbarian’s numbers had only grown since the initial charge. Seemingly recovering from the shock of their unexpected attack. From what he could tell, the majority of the Greystone and Vinum soldiers were still maintaining their discipline and holding strong, but against such odds, he knew that it was simply a matter of time before their resolve began to give way.
“The battle is turning against us, my lords.” One of the soldiers said worryingly.
“The battle is irrelevant. We must capture or kill their prince to bring them to heel.” Rhys snapped back. “Prepare yourself. We give chase.”
“I do not like the idea of leaving our men to fight by themselves,” Kaewyn protested. “One of us should stay behind to bolster the army.”
“As much as I despise the idea of abandoning our men in the midst of battle, Lord Rhys speaks truly.” General Alaric said between coughs as he rose to his feet. “We have to go after that bastard of a prince if we want to win this battle and we’re going to need every one of us to do it.”
“You want to leave our soldiers without someone to lead them?” Yohren said.
“Arlan is back there somewhere.” General Alaric said. “And besides, are the barbarians also not without their leader?”
“By Ohnix, you really do run your camp like a democracy don’t you Kaewyn?” Rhys scoffed. “Everyone having their say before a decision is made. Stay here and balk all you like. I’m going after that bastard.”
Rhys signalled to the remainder of his personal guard and then took off at a jog towards the woods to the north where they had last seen Prince Odabek and his fearsome bodyguards. Kaewyn grit his teeth as the sounds of battle rang out behind them. With every passing second, he knew more men died to buy them time. He wanted to fight with them so desperately, to share with them the hardships of battle as he believed a virtuous lord should, but he also knew it was a losing battle. Even if he joined them now, he and his friends would only share in their defeat. The only course left to still win a victory against the barbarians was to capture or kill Odabek. He knew it was clearly the best chance he had to save what remained of their army.
His mind made up, he reluctantly nodded his head and ordered General Alaric and Yohren, as well as the rest of the Greystone soldiers still with him, to follow. Taking down Odabek was all that mattered now.