Chapter 11: The Battle of Erinvale Part One
THE MONTH OF NINSUM DAY 20 YEAR 675 OF THE SECOND HOLY CALENDAR
On the 18th Of the month, the Red Towers Army finally crossed the Great Alloro River with 25,000 soldiers. Valerius intentionally allowed them to cross as he didn't want them to delay further and even had to encourage them by raiding as far south as Cachexia. He grew increasingly worried with ever-worsening reports from the West. With the destruction of the third division and the bottled up of the second division, Lapetra was vulnerable. So, his tactics grew increasingly brutal. He slaughtered entire populations of multiple towns and started hanging enemy officers, something that was against the traditions of War. The King of the Redtowers Army knew that time was on his side, so he delayed as long as possible. But a kingdom had a responsibility to protect citizens, and dead Nobles meant their relatives would finally get off their asses.
Valerius gathered his forces and awaited the enemy between the Village of Erinvale and the village of Barksdale. He chose this spot because it was completely flat. There were no rivers, no mountains, and no cover. It was an open invitation for a decisive battle, an invitation that the kingdom of Redtowers accepted. They arrived on the 19th and made camp only a few hours away from the black camp.
On the dawn of the 20th, both armies prepared for battle. Valerius ordered James Tallwood to prepare a hearty breakfast and to give the Soldiers alcohol before the Battle. After completing his battle preparations, the Black Army departed their camp at 8:00 a.m. Valerius's forces totaled 20,000 men. He had 12,000 heavy Infantry, 5,000 Light Infantry Archers, Javelin throwers, skirmishers, and 3,000 cavalry. But only 1,200 of them were knights. The Redtowers Army left their camp shortly after Valerius without fully completing their preparations. The Redtowers Army Was personally commanded by their King and composed of 17,000 Infantry, 4,000 Light Infantry, and 4000 cavalry, 2,000 of which were knights. The kingdom of Redtowers focused quite a bit on heavy Infantry. Overall, Valerius had a numerical disadvantage but maintained the advantage in the overall battle due to the quality of his forces, which was accepted by both sides.
Valerius arrived at their chosen Battlefield at 8:28. He began setting up formation, kicking up a cloud of dust as they did so, although, to a certain extent, already prearranged, it still took quite some time for them to build a proper formation. The Red Towers Army arrived at 8:42 And began setting up their formation. Their soldiers were not very disciplined and couldn't finish their breakfast before being sent out.
Valerius simultaneously set up his Battle formation in a standard and nonstandard way. He positioned one Brigade on the left in the center and on the right, with 4,000 soldiers in each Brigade. He positioned an additional brigade of 5,000 soldiers in reserve. He then positioned all his cavalry except for a small reserve of light cavalry on the left flank. He did one other thing, and that had the reserve Brigade Dawn the uniform of the border regiment despite being made up of the first division. Meanwhile, the actual border regiment was sent to the Left.
The king of Redtowers knew that his forces were inferior, so he focused on a Brute Force strategy. He sent 4,000 soldiers to mirror the Black forces on the flanks, 8,000 soldiers to his center, and a brigade of 5,000 in reserve. He positioned all his cavalry on his right, on Valerius's left.
The Blacks completed their formation at 8:52. Despite only having a 14-minute lead, this would prove decisive as Valerius was not polite enough to allow his enemy to complete their formation before making his move. Dark clouds gathered over the battlefield. The day was quite overcast, and it looked like it could rain.
Most of the military was comprised of second sons of farmers and tradesmen. They could not inherit their father's fields or craft and had little choice but to join the military. Ashton Carn was no different. He was 35 this year, having served in the military for almost 20 years. He was a part of the first brigade of the first division, which he took immense pride in. He fought over five full-scale battles throughout his career. He married the daughter of the mayor of the town he grew up in, a woman who his elder brother, despite being the heir to his father's fields, couldn't even dream of. He even took the town's name for his last name, which was only permitted for commoners who joined the military. He now had three daughters and was relatively wealthy from plundering and his salary as a soldier.
He's now marched to the kingdom's eastern border to fight against the kingdom of Redtowers. Despite being at a numerical disadvantage, he had absolute confidence in their victory. For one thing, the first division was seasoned, and countless battles had already been won while at a disadvantage. Ashton, like most people in the first division, worshiped Valerius, the prince of the storm. He was positioned along with the first brigade on the right flank.
Ashton felt the same shifting restlessness encompassing the entire black army as they finished forming up. All they could do was stand there in silence. It was against military law to speak in a formation unless absolutely necessary. He jumped up and down to work out the nervous energy that filled his body while moving his fingers up and down his sword, which was already drawn from its sheath, working out the nervous tension that filled his body.
The light infantry lined up in front of him, unlike the heavy infantry, which lined up in four rows. Instead, they lined up in a single-file line. Ashton realized something was wrong with how the light infantry lined up. Typically, javelin throwers would be in front of archers as they had a shorter range, and the light infantry would advance, hoping to clear out the enemy light infantry and damage their heavy infantry. However, there were no javelin throwers and twice as many archers as usual. Before he could question this deeply, a bugle rang out, one short and one long blast, the tune to start singing the Hymn of Noel.
Ashton lifted his sword, the archers lifted their bows, and the cavalry lifted their lances. Before the entire army began singing in chorus, “Noel, goddess of death, the afterlife, and judgment, I sing your praises. Oh, Noel, I have come here today to fight your enemies in your name. If I were to die today, when I come into your hall and your gates open for me, and you ask me what I have done all my life, I will answer: I fought with bravery and honor for my nation, for my brothers and sisters back home, and for your glory. Noel, I sing your praises in hopes of your blessings, that you may grant me strength and courage, that you may grant us victory, and me a noble death. Noel!”
The bugle rang again, this time signaling the advance. The officers also started shouting, repeating the order. The flag also moved, signaling that the first brigade would move forward. This was so that even if a soldier missed the bugle or the officer, all they would need to do was look at the flag and know what to do. The entire first brigade began moving in lockstep. That way, no Soldier moved faster than the other soldiers, and they maintained a coherent formation.
Ashton felt the familiar rush of the battlefield and the rising bloodlust that always occurred before a battle. He couldn't see the enemy from where he was standing, but he could see their banners - three red towers on a gray field. He once heard from the vice commander of his company, an educated noble, that their words were ironic because the Towers Empire had collapsed into many fragmented nations due to a civil war. The words on their banner are written in red thread, "We stand together.”
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The first brigade continued moving forward steadily. Ashton realized that the left and center were not moving. He thought, "We'll be isolated." The famous Black discipline and trust in his general kept his feet moving forward. The bugle sounded again: "First brigade, double-quick." The officers took the shout, and the soldiers picked up the pace and jogged.
The spotter for the light infantry shouted, “Within range in 100 ft.” the officers began shouting, “Prepare to stop.”
The message was passed to the buglers, so the bugles played the tune for stop when the spotter shouted to stop. Ashton watched as the Archers notched their arrows and fired repeated shots. “That's likely the javelin throwers.” After only a few rounds, the tune for Double Quick was played from the bugle again, and they began jogging again.
They resumed jogging for barely a minute before stopping again to exchange arrows between their archers and the enemies. Their own archers started to take hits, and a three-minute exchange of fire began as the two sides traded arrows. A few of their archers cried out as they were hit, although some got back up again and continued firing. Their archers were more seasoned, so they could fight the pain and get back up. They were also better shots. Finally, there were more of them than there were of the enemy, so only 10% were injured or killed. They started moving. The archers moved to the right and left, splitting down the middle to get out of the way of the charge of the infantry.
The bugle sounded the double quick again before the Archers were out of the way, and Ashton and his comrades began jogging. The enemy finally came into view. They wore heavy metal cuirasses and visored helmets. They were armed with short spears and round shields. Their shields had the emblem of the kingdom of Red Towers painted on them. With a surge of elation, Ashton realized why the officers had hurried to advance. The enemy archers were retreating and trying to push through the enemy formation.
The formation was invented and perfected by the Towers Empire. It involved tightly packed units of heavy infantry armed with round shields and spears. They would raise their shields, locking them together while lowering their spears, forming a metal hedgehog. It was challenging to pierce even for heavy cavalry. The Redtowers Army used this very same formation, meaning every soldier was pressed shoulder to shoulder. Retreating or even moving to the side under such conditions was very difficult. The archers struggled to get through the formation under normal circumstances; they would have retreated to the right and the left, but they had already lost all cohesion.
Ashton saw an enemy Archer with an arrow lodged in his back, trying to push his way through and being shoved back by the heavy Infantry. Best of all, the Archer was right in front of him. He subconsciously picked up the pace, trying to take advantage of this perfect opportunity to attack. “Soldier Ashton, get the fuck back in line.” Ashton's military training kicked in, and before he knew it, he was jogging again in formation.
The enemy archer finally managed to break through the formation, which closed once more. "Shit," he quietly swore under his breath. Even though no one heard, he thought he saw the Squad Captain glaring at him for breaking the silence. The enemy finally began praying to their own god, Heari, but it was far too late. After a few more paces, the bugle blew again, one prolonged blast delivered in a second. It was the order to charge. Ashton heard the platoon leader, the captain, and the vice-captain all shout at the top of their lungs simultaneously, "Charge!"
"Noel!" The guttural cry ripped out of his throat. All the soldiers around him were screaming the same thing, combining into one chorus of prayer and agitation. They prayed for strength and courage to live another day, for death to kill the enemy in front of them, and to make themselves feel a little bit less scared.
He charged headfirst straight towards the enemy. Once Ashton was in striking range, the soldier thrust his spear forward with all his might, the sword glowing with green Mana. A less experienced soldier would have simply blocked the spear with the shield, which would have risked it being pierced or his arm breaking. Instead, Ashton skillfully used the shield to deflect the spear to the right, causing it to slip and the soldier to be dragged along the force of his thrust. Not wasting this opportunity, Ashton brought his sword down as hard as he could, aiming for the gap between the helmet and the cuirasses along the neck. The enemy soldier wasn't as unskillful as he thought, and he managed to bring the shield up, barely deflecting the blow off the top of his shield. Ashton quickly corrected his posture after the loud bang and the shock that ran through his arm.
The enemy soldier dropped his spear, realizing it was now worthless, and moved to draw his sword instead. But Ashton wasn't about to let him do that. He used his kite Shield like a spear and Bash the point against the enemy's Shield, knocking him off balance. He then quickly slashed his sword towards his thigh. The kingdom of Antlatur had abandoned wearing mail greaves that protected your thighs. However, the kingdom of Red Towers still wore their chainmail leg protectors. Chainmail wasn't invulnerable, especially to a mana-infused sword. The round Shield had its disadvantages, but it had a significant advantage, which was to protect the entire body. All one needed to do was move it up and down, protecting the legs or the head depending on where the enemy was aimed. But that depended on one knowing where they would be attacked. The enemy soldier was still off balance and unable to protect his thigh. Ashton's stab pierced the chainmail and went through the flesh. Ashton then dragged the sword back, widening the wound and making it even deeper.
The enemy soldier cried out in pain and dropped his sword. Only then did Ashton realize how inexperienced the soldier was. It was likely his and his comrade's first battle. Ashton felt a momentary flash of pity for them, knowing they were going up against the first division in their first battle, which could only be a stroke of bad luck. They were doomed from the start. Ashton didn't let his pity get in the way; he feinted towards the other thigh, causing the enemy to lower his shield. Quickly, he brought his sword back up and stabbed towards the enemy's shoulder, which was only protected by a layer of chainmail. He twisted it and then dragged it back out. The arm that he got was the arm that was holding the shield, which now went limp on the enemy's side.
The enemy desperately tried to bring his shield back up, but his shoulder was so severely damaged he only managed to make his wound worse. It was worse because the shield was strapped to his arm, and he couldn't properly work it. The shield was only weighing it down even more. Ashton wasn't about to show him any pity. He thrust his sword forward, aiming straight for the unguarded throat. He was so busy trying to work his arm that he didn't even see the sword coming until it had already come out of his neck. His eyes moved to Ashton's, and he saw his blue eyes for the first time. As blood started to flow not just from his wound but also from his mouth, he murmured a name, “Emily.” Ashton would never known if that were his mother, sister, or wife, but it was his last word on this Earth.
Ashton kicked his body forward, slamming him into the guy behind him, who was already moving forward to take his place. Right after that, he squeezed into the gap. He turned to the enemy to his right and stabbed him in the thigh before dragging his sword out. His comrade took advantage of this to decapitate the enemy soldier. He turned to the man in front of him, who had finally gotten disentangled and was now trying to stab him with a spear. His attempts were laughable as his spear was far too long to be used in close-quarter combat like this.
Ashton grabbed his spear with his sword hand and yanked, pulling the man out of formation. He then brought his sword down on his exposed neck. But the slash wasn't clean, and part of his sword got wedged in his neck, and part of it lodged itself in his helmet. Ashton had no choice but to abandon his sword. But even without his help, the breech was widening. The Enemy to his left had already been killed. He picked up the sword the first guy had dropped and prepared himself for the next enemy.