Back of the Thebasian formation,4 and a half hours later

An angry voice shouted

"Why did the column stop!"

20 minutes later a courier arrived.

"Your majesty the Volyns barricaded the river crossing and their contingent is waiting on the other side, commanders ordered their men to stop and are waiting for your decision"

The anger on Emperors face turned to hesitation.

"Call the generals!"

Shortly four men in decorated armour rode to their liege.

The Emperor began speaking.

"The Volyns erected a barrier on the other side of the river"

A middle-aged man with red feathers in his helmet responded.

"They are preparing a trap. We should retreat"

Another general refuted

"Retreating will just give them more time to prepare! There is no way Lesztko can match the size of our army. You should order our Gifted to prepare and bombard the barricade."

A general with green eyes stood next to the one with red feathers.

" If it is indeed an ambush our men are not in optimal condition to fight, they need rest. We should retreat so we can do so and pick another path".

Remaining general also supported the retreat option.

If we are attacked here we would win but our losses would be high. My liege, I believe we should retreat"

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The Emperor started shouting.

"You are too hesitant! If we retreat now we would have to make a long way to another crossing, if they pulled another stunt like this my army won't be able to force them to take to the field before winter and we would have to go back with tails between our legs!"

General with red feathers quickly refuted.

"Then we can retreat back to our territories and attack next spring!"

As the men got worked up the Emperor's son Alexios, a man in his mid-twenties with fine features and a black beard, decided to speak up.

"Father, the Volyns surely planed something, the barricade doesn't look like something improvised, it's purposefully placed there!"

Paleilos got angry

" If we retreat now we would either have to go back home or face them at a more disadvantageous position later, I will not delay my reconquest of themes we lost to Ildrisids, those provinces will quickly make up for whatever we could possibly lose here. If Volyns attack us they will be slaughtered by my tagmata like sheep they are!"

Two men approached and stared at each other

The son's response sounded almost like a growl.

"The men are tired they need to rest, the tagmata won't be able to hold if the rest of our soldiers are massacred!"

The Emperor put his hand on the pommel of his sword and gripped tightly, a vein bulging on his forehead.

"You, get out of my sight before I strike you down! Order our men to rest and stay alert. Send scouts forward, I don't care if they die, their absence will be an answer in itself. Let's see what "cleaver" plan they have!"

With that, Paleilos stormed off to his temporary tent, two hours later he was yet to hear anything from the scouts beside that they are alive when he started to hear the faint sound of metal hitting metal.

As he stepped out of the tent the ruckus became louder!

The sound came from both sides of the valley and reverberated into a terrifying cacophony.

As he looked around he realized the only direction the sound didn't come from was the direction of the barricade.

Emperor hurridly issued orders.

"Get into defensive formation! Send messengers to the rest of the army and order an immediate reinforcement!"

As minutes ticked by the Volyn warriors could be seen at the tops of the hills, at the hill closest to his camp he could hear sounds of horses.

Soon amidst the sounds of horses a trumpet could be heard soon followed by trumpets from other hills, the sounds meshed.

He could feel the vibrations in his heart.

The tops of the hills started changing colours, green being swept with a wave of charging warriors.

Paleilos ran back to arm himself and when he returned his horse was waiting for him.

He mounted him and drew his sword.

"Retreat! Keep the formation and pull back! Deserters will be executed!"

The valley turned into chaos.