The sun scorched the sand and rocks of the desert in the middle of the day, but an icy wind came from the south, tempering the temperature, cooling the blood and drying the sweat that coats the faces, keeping everything balanced, as if autumn had visited spring, was somewhere close to the Assyrians, but in these hazy times, they stayed away from battles, and the people who came from the north, far beyond the Assyrians, came in search of territory, riches, and slaves, from conquered cities and tribes, through of extraordinary violence, and unusual greed.

Fine dust rose every time the wind blew, a man was sitting on top of a rock, he had a deep cut on his arm, at the height of his right bicep, his hand couldn't close, blood was splattered everywhere, dripping in large quantities, covering his forearm with a bright red, with a piece of cloth from his uniform, he improvises a bandage, tries to stop the blood from continuing to fall on the floor, he looks back, sees some bodies on the floor, four of them is him fellow soldiers, and many others laying down, from the enemies.

A sigh he released softly and very slowly, half of that sigh was for the relief of being alive, the other half for the dead companions, who a few minutes ago were talking about their homeland, the longing they felt to sleep under the shade trees without fearing the enemy's sword cutting their meats, and this soldier survivor, talked about the longing he had for home, for his children, for sleeping next to his wife, few times he had opened his heart like that, even among his friends from the village, perhaps, knowing the dangers of the task given to them by General Hanna, this group of soldiers were reconnaissance of the area, they were sentries, trying to find out where the camp of the enemies from the north was.

He goes to the mutilated bodies on the ground, his mouth is dry, his lips are asking for some water, his gaze is fleeing, trying not to see, the amount of blood that was falling to the ground, a large red stain has formed around the bodies, however, something made him distant from his own thoughts, about the horror of that scene, the blood of his companions and those of his enemies mixed on top of that fine powder, a dark mud came from this mixture, almost the same color as the eyes of the man sentry who watched the stain.

This soldier takes a deep breath, the numbness in his arm is great, and he knows he won't be able to fight anymore, he searches the enemies, and finds two bags of wine and a jug of water, the water would satisfy him, and the wine would keep him body standing, until he finishes the task, so that, his fellow soldiers, have not died in vain, it was like that, and he goes back to his mission that he carried out alone, observe the enemy troops, know his location, preferably without being seen, and return safely, something that ended up not happening, and he was the only one left to finish this task, or many more lives would be lost.

He took a camel that his enemies used, and headed towards where they came from, he feared for his life, he was going to meet hundreds or thousands of enemies, and with his wounded arm, he would not be able to hold even a spear or sword, the only option was to run away if they saw him.

Enemy soldiers were at full advantage, they were not part of the local nations but they managed to buy support from many tribes, many powerful men came from these local tribes, all they needed was a spear, certain groups did not wear any kind of armor, the spears in their hands were all they needed, or a slinger, and they managed to excel against their adversaries, as they lived and depended solely on warfare.

The soldier followed a trail that seemed to have been made by one of these tribes, he saw that the stones in the way had been removed, and the camel ran with grace, it was a small relief in that man's day, he was able to remember the conversations he had, and saw, even with his eyes closed and feeling the icy wind at his back, his village, his neighbors, his goat farming, his children running and playing, throwing stones at lizards that got lost between one house and another, he saw his wife, on the doorstep, hair down, a light dress, smiling and waiting for him to welcome him with a hug and a kiss, was her hero, and he would be treated like that, but before his daydream trapped him out of the war, he opened his eyes, and a little further on he saw a small hill, about one hour away, and he decided to go to that hill, even if he met his end there.

The camel's steps dictated the rhythm, the soldier's nervousness only increased, and with each swing, he got closer to the hill, his nervousness was a much, that he only realized he had reached his destination when he came across the small hill, in front of him, right after that, he noticed that there was a lot of movement there, he saw tracks everywhere, it looked like an immense nation had passed through there, but, like a cloudless sky, he also didn't see anyone around, and very cautiously, he continued investigating and observing everything around, and climbed to the top of the hill, and after climbing for a while, ignoring the pains in his arm, and fatigue, and the thirst that he could not quench even with wine, he managed to see the reason for his mission.

There were about forty thousand men scattered in a grandiose camp, he could see the fire in front of thousands of lit tents, roasting some antelope meat, or some bird, while they awaited new orders from their kings of the north, and the soldier already he could see all he wanted, see the number of enemies, and where they were now, he just needed to get back safely to his own camp, and a silent sigh he gave himself, as he gently held his wounded arm, and saw the blood already dry coring part of the hands.

The enemies were distracted by themselves, the soldier saw that many groups in that camp were celebrating and singing! they were a people from the north, from beyond the Mediterranean sea, they caused many losses to all the neighboring kingdoms of King Khalid, and so he decided to expand his territory to near, or beyond Syria! to face these people outside their main lands, and have as few losses as possible.

That sentry watched his enemies from the top of the hill, he would love to be able to enter the battle at that moment, the little blood that was left in his body, boiled to fight and put an end to that battle at once, very quickly but while he thought about how many enemies he was going to kill, an almost unidentifiable sound penetrated his ear, this sound came from very close to him, and he recognized that noise, for he had heard it several times, while fighting some battle far from home, it was a lion.

When he turned to the side, he saw a little less than four meters away from him, a lion, the biggest lion he had ever seen, standing and watching the same camp as him, the soldier was frozen, completely frozen, the sword still was with him, but his fist wouldn't hold anything under those conditions, however, the lion didn't take his eyes off that camp, watched as if they were his prey, and suddenly, the lion moved, the lion followed between some rocks in the opposite direction soldier and after walking a little, he disappeared from the sight of that man, who was so terrified that he could barely move, and he realized that this encounter with the lion was more frightening than the fight he had against the enemies who found him and the others sentries, who were together doing their duty to their nation, and especially to their families.

The return of this sentry was the most difficult moment of his day, his nerves were trembling without any control, each step that the camel took was a fight won, his body writhed in pain, the lack of blood made the thirst cause a very burning sensation strong in his organs, and everything seemed out of his mind inside, thirst was covering all the sensations in his body, but the heat of the sun no longer bothered him, he seemed to be being carried inside a mirage, he was with sweat covering his face, his eyes see everything around the blurry, he dreams of a bath in the caspian sea, his wife bathing next to him, his children running free on the sand of the beach, was all he thought about on his return to the camp.

As soon as he arrived at his camp, he was received with immense joy and praise, everyone saw that he was returning alone, and with a camel, distinguished, so they only asked if only he could return, and he only nodded, but the return of him, strengthened the peace of all, to see that at least he had completed the mission, and even before drinking water, he went straight to the general to tell what he saw, and when General Hanna saw the state he was in, he gave water from his own pitcher for him to drink, and food from his own plate for him to eat.

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"General, we found some people from local tribes who are supporting these people from the north, unfortunately, only I survived the battle, everyone else perished, and I left with this wound" The soldier showed the wound to the general, it was already completely dark, and this man could not return to battle, he must stay in the camp and tend to these wounds, or he would have to amputate his arm.

"Tell me what you saw about the enemies" The general spoke in a hurry, saw the condition of that man and wished he could go quickly to find a place to rest, and a doctor to tend to his wounds.

"There were around forty thousand soldiers, mixed between the people of the north and the local tribes, I saw thousands of tents set up, it seemed that their entire army is gathered in that place, they must be planning something" The soldier spoke showing that he was careful with the In words, any misinformation could mean the army's total defeat.

General Hanna demonstrated that he was content with the situation, a smile on one side of the face he blurted out, but he still considered other possibilities.

"Something happened to get together like this, it's not common, even further away from the big cities, do you think they'll come here all at once?" he asked aloud.

"Maybe they want to go to Lake Urmia even though it's in our territory, it's been a strategic point for our army, somehow they found out about the lake and plan to go there" The voice was that of Qabbani, the second eldest son of King Khalid, there were two other sons of King Khalid accompanying General Hanna Wannous, they were, Nazir, the fourth son of the king, and Attar the sixth son of the king.

The wounded soldier exclaimed "This can't happen, my whole family lives in Chokia village, it's near Lake Urmia, if they go to the lake they will have to go through the village where I was born" even though it was against the conduct, he raised his voice in the general's tent, but they only told him to calm down, for they saw the panic on his face.

"I think that whatever they do, we need to act fast, and use the terrain to our advantage" General Hanna spoke with conviction, he wore molten copper armor, over his torso, wore a brown tunic under the armor, carried with him a sword on the right side, and a dagger on the left, he was left-handed, for many peoples in that region this was a sign of weakness and bad luck, but he gained his value after many victories on the side of King Khalid, even before Khalid became To become king, they fought side by side and even conquered territories in Africa before Khalid was king, but after he began his reign he gave up the territories for personal reasons.

"This doesn't seem right, they are outnumbered, we have less than half of soldiers, if we go ahead with this confrontation, we can all die" Said Qabbani, who was worried about the situation, he was gesturing his hands openly, he was with a red robe and black cloths wrapped around his head, in addition to his sword, he always walked with a dagger at his waist, in front, and was easily recognized among the soldiers.

"It's no use staying and waiting, they may be coming to meet us too, if they find us unprepared, it will surely be our end" Said Attar, who was more focused on attacking quickly, he spoke peacefully, his hand resting on his chin, he wore a white tunic and a dark green cloth over it, and dark green cloths wrapped around his head, he had a lot of confidence in his father's army, and most of all, he trusted General Hanna.

"We can further fortify this camp, leave guards all night, and wait for them with our swords in hand, they think they will catch us unprepared, and they will find us with our swords in hand, and so, we will catch them unprepared" Said Nazir, who aspired to be a great battle general, clenched his fist in front of his body as he spoke, showing that he had a stronger temper, but was still controlled in his attitudes. He wore a white robe and a large red cloth tied around his waist that covered much of his abdomen, he left a pair of knives, smaller than a dagger in that cloth, and a sword at his side.

General Hanna said "If we stay and wait, they can attack Lake Urmia, and cause many deaths to innocent people and maybe, they will even manage to take control of the lake, if we fight here, the number of them will make all the difference, will surround us and that will leave our soldiers scattered" he had a serious expression, his hands circling a cup of tea that was under the table.

General Hanna spoke aggressively and slowly "When a soldier leaves the comfort of his home, his home, leaves his children and wife behind to fight in the war, he doesn't do it just for merit, if it was simply for merit, wars would have far fewer people willing to fight, and many of these wars would not even take place, I already had several famous soldiers in my army, they were praised in their cities, their villages, some, even by the king, but after death, few are remembered, after a few years, only their family members remember, and some time passes, even they forget, but that's not why we fight, we give our lives, to defend our homes, our villages, the elders , the children, our wives and daughters, and that's why we fight"

And he continued "I will not allow our sons and daughters to become slaves, nor will they rape our wives, nor will they tear down city walls, or destroy everything we have built, I will not allow that to happen"

Everyone was silent, Qabbani seemed to want to say something, but he just grabbed a cup of tea from the table, and after taking a sip, went on to say "What do you have in mind? How will we attack?"

General Hanna got all the details about what the sentilena saw and experienced, and soon after, he dismissed the soldier for the doctors care, and the war meeting continued.

"We will send messengers to the neighboring tribes of Lake Urmia, I will send more messengers to the camp to the south, and to the camp to the west, saying that Gather at Lake Urmia until you receive news, we will only attack with our current army" General Hanna was serious. about his decision, King Khalid's army had about seventy five thousands soldiers, who were scattered among camps, ports, villages and cities, King Khalid's eldest son was the general who took care of the troops in the south of the kingdom, which for various reasons, was considered a more peaceful place.

"We only have thirteen thousand soldiers, they must have more than forty thousand, it looks like you are jumping off a cliff, General Hanna, we will all die and they continued to attack us" Said Nazir, as he gently smoothed his beard and made it look that he was calm, but his breathing was already accelerated

"If we wait too long, they will move, and that's what I least want now, as they didn't leave soldiers on the mound, we can approach them without being seen, it's less than two days of walking, if we leave in 2 hours, we'll reach the their camp in the middle of the night, and we'll catch them sleeping" General Hanna was confident of victory, and drank the rest of his tea in one gulp.

"Leave in two hours? But no one is prepared for battle" said Attar, he gestured even more than nazir, and approached General Hanna, as if in supplication

The sound of the wind shaking the tent cloths, it was like music, with melody and harmony, and the music grew louder, after everyone was quiet, King Khalid's sons, feared to die in this battle, but they did not say it directly, and General Hanna was silent for a long time.

Attar continued to speak "We know the importance of this battle, our house is also at the point of the sword, but we can't act like that, we need to act with caution, if even the general dies, our army will suffer a great loss"

General Hanna spoke with a smile on his face "When I die, another will sit in my place, just as I sat in another's place, I don't come to war fearing my death, I come to win" This caught Attar's attention, and he soon changed the expression on his face, General Hanna continued "Sometimes all you have to do to win a battle is take the first step first, sometimes, that's the determining factor between victory and defeat"

Everyone was more excited, and the mood inside that tent had changed, the fire of the lamps was swinging, and General Hanna realized that everyone was ready for battle.

Qabbani said cheerfully and respectfully, holding General Hanna's shoulders "I keep learning from you Hanna, being honored to be by your side at this time"

Nazir stressed "We will do as you say, I will prepare and I will meet with my troops and my trusted guard"

Attar said "I will do the same, I will prepare everything, in two hours we will leave, all soldiers"

All three left General Hanna's tent, he was preparing some more tea, and shortly after the tea was ready, he heard all the movement in the camp, and felt so happy, that he whispered a few words to himself, and then After drinking tea, he came out of his tent to watch the troops.

The blue sky covered the entire camp like a roof, the harshness of the desert was already more than comfortable at General Hanna's feet, and he had already dispersed the messengers, with their missions, and the army hurriedly prepared itself, while the general was watching everything, that's when something caught his attention, he saw a hawk flying low, very close to the camp, then the hawk dived suddenly, and General Hanna's gaze was under the hawk, and he saw it rise from the sands, carrying a snake in its claws, and that's when he remembered something that the sentrie said "There are lions on the mound."