On the cliff, Patel realized the severeness of the situation as well. His position on the higher ground allowed him to see the battlefield more clearly than anyone else involved, which was precisely why he knew the militias had to fall back now.
He quickly turned to Raymond.
“We need to get our men out of there. Gather your men. We’re going in.”
He had around forty militias with him. Raymond had fifty. Ninety militias weren’t enough to change the tide of the battle, but they were enough to make somewhat of a difference.
Raymond suddenly hesitated.
“We can still make it out.” He said. “The Sullivans are focused on the canyon. We can still get out of here and into the mountains with our men.”
“And then what?” Patel retaliated fiercely. “Without an army, there will be nothing we can do. We will be hunted down and slaughtered. You should be smarter than this.” He drew his sword and charged down into the canyon with his men.
Raymond bit his lips. The screams continued in the canyon. He finally made up his mind.
“To the canyon!” He screamed.
Meanwhile, the Sullivans continued to push forward. Patel and his forces charged down and merged with the main forces of the teens. He found his way past swords and spears and arrows to Jerry and Chris.
“The Sullivans are closing in from the two ends. We need to find a way out or we will be gradually overwhelmed.” Patel screamed into Jerry’s ears as he saw Chris launching another charge at the Sullivan shield wall. When he was pushed back, he lost another half a dozen militias.
Jerry nodded and darted toward the front line.
“Chris! Sophia!” He reached the two spearheads. Sophia took a few steps back and fell behind the protection of a line of militias when she heard Jerry. Chris was a little more tied in the battle, and Jerry had to have two of his militias to pull Chris back by force. It took him a while to calm down.
“What is it?” Chris demanded loudly.
“We need to fall back now! We’re getting ripped apart!” Jerry replied with equal volume.
“I can still fight!”
“Our men can’t!”
Chris couldn’t help but look around. Both the teens and the militias were exhausted. They have just charged down a cliff and fought enemies near non-stop for nearly half an hour. Sure, the Sullivans had it even worse, but they had more men. Some could fight while others rested. The militias were dragged thin. Nearly every single one had to keep fighting, and this was having a toll on their body. Some militias could barely hold their weapons.
Now that his rage started to wear off, Chris felt his sword getting heavier and heavier as well.
Jerry grabbed onto Chris’s arm and pulled his attention back.
“Bring your people to the other side and break the Sullivan lines! Open up a way for us to return to the camp and regroup!”
“What about here?” Chris glanced at the Sullivan lines, which continued to close in. “I’m the one holding the door!”
“Not really!” On the side, Sophia smiled weakly. She flipped her dagger. “You go! I’ll cover the retreat here!”
“You can’t hold them back alone!”
“I won’t be alone!” Sophia turned around and saw Raymond arriving with fifty brand new militias. All of them were fully rested. “I’m glad you came.”
Raymond shrugged.
Chris gave one last glance at Sophia before nodding and leaving. His followers and their militias followed him. He didn't want to leave a sister in arm behind, but he also knew if he couldn’t create a path soon, everyone here would end up like Karl.
The Sullivans continued to push forward. Sophia turned around and faced them as Raymond and Jerry casually backed off. Neither of them were fighters, and they both knew that. Their presence could only cause problems.
“Charge!” The Sullivans obviously saw the weakness in the militia ranks. Following a scream from the captain, the swordsmen abandoned their formation and charged forward.
Sophia and the militias fought back.
The first Sullivan saw a flash of reflection. He struck his sword forward and clashed with the source of reflection. As soon as the two weapons made contact, the Sullivan found himself pushing the opposing weapon back with nearly no resistance. Just as he wondered why the enemy didn't even try to hold her ground, Sophia jammed her spear into his neck.
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Fresh, warm blood added to the ones on the ground.
Another Sullivan took a leap at Sophia from the side. Sophia took a step back and dodged the strike. The Sullivan took another step forward and attempted to continue to push. Sophia turned around her spear and smacked the Sullivan on the side of his helmet, knocking him off his feet. Just as she was about to finish off the man, another Sullivan got too close for comfort.
Militias behind her fought bravely, but they were outnumbered. Take down one Sullivan, and another would take the place of the fallen in a heartbeat. Countless militias took down a Sullivan after a long fight, only to get cut down by the replacement.
Gradually, Sophia found herself facing multiple hostiles. Multiple swords slashed down on her at the same time, forcing her to spend most of her time backing off or deflecting the attacks rather than attacking.
The fighting got bloodier and bloodier. As more and more time passed, Sophia’s movement turned more machine like. She was no longer able to strike elegantly and carefully like she did when she first charged into battle. Instead, the war has being turned from a battle of skills to a battle of attrition. All Sophia knew was to stab the figures in red, not stab the figures in white, and raise her sword when she was about to be stabbed.
Finally, the path behind was opened up. Sophia took a step back, dodged a strike from one of the Sullivan foot soldiers, and turned around and saw the rest of the militias have broken through the blockade on the other side and were heading back to the camp.
“Fall back!” She screamed.
The militias retreated successfully. The Sullivans weren’t able to pursue in time. Their cavalry, positioned around the banner and the commander, was stuck behind layers and layers of exhausted infantry. The foot soldiers were exhausted. They have marched for miles and fought an ambush. They were just happy they were alive. Asking them to chase after the fleeing enemy was simply not going to happen.
Finally, the Sullivans got out of the canyon. They promptly collected the bodies from both sides on the battlefield and buried them. It wasn’t a matter of respect. It was a matter of preventing an epidemic. Afterward, the rest of the Sullivans camped at the outlet of the valley. Their morale was too low to keep on moving. Their commander decided to give them a night of rest and see if it could bring the morale back up.
----------------------------------------
Sophia and no more than twenty militias returned to the mining camp. As the men laid down and rested, she wasted no time to walk into the commander’s tent, where all the teens were.
“What were you thinking back there? We shouldn’t have attacked! That was nothing but stupid! Do you have any idea how many of our men died? Four hundred! Four hundred! How many men did we have in total, huh? Eight hundred! We lost half of men in a single battle!”
Before she walked into the tent, Sophia could already hear Jerry screaming. This made her slightly anxious. She has never seen Jerry angry. The teenager was always so calm. Even when he was used as target practice by that Sullivan commander, he still had a hold of himself. This was never seen before.
“We killed at least eight hundred Sullivans!” Sophia could hear Chris protesting.
“So? So what? Even if we killed half of them, they still have at least a thousand men! They outnumber us 2.5 to 1! We have lost the element of surprise. We have lost the army strong enough to allow us to safely retreat into the mountains!”
Jerry pointed at outside the tent. “Tell me, genius, how much do you know about our men? Do you really think they’re just pawns that are willing to follow your every command without question? They are living, breathing men! They need food! They need water! They need rest!”
“I don’t see how that’s connected to…”
“They can also feel fear! Truth to be told I’m surprised they didn't crumble in the battle, but I have already seen the way they looked at us! They were built to trust us and obey us after being summoned, but if their commander is an idiot that keeps on leading them to suicide missions, how long do you think it will be until they abandon us?”
Chris suddenly snapped. “Stop being so condescending! You think you’re so clever? Why didn't you stop me?”
“Stop you?” Jerry almost felt disgusted. “Use that pathetic, emotion clouded mind of yours! Would you have listened? Would any of you pathetic idiots have listened to me?” He turned to most of the tent and yelled.
“It’s no time for pointing fingers. We need a plan.” Sophia just couldn’t listen to this anymore. The alliance was falling apart. Her voice brought some attention to her, and both Chris and Jerry seemed to have calmed down. Both of them saw how Sophia took the giant risk to cover the retreat of the majority of the forces. This deserves some respect.
Another figure entered the tent. Patel. He went to check out the exact amount of resource the alliance had left. That was partially how Chris and Jerry were at each other’s throat and no one stopped them.
“We have 412 militias in total, as well as five hundred or so liberated slaves. They can fight if they have to, but we can’t count on them.” Patel announced.
“And the Sullivans?”
“I estimate a thousand or so of them left.”
Jerry tapped his forehead. He could feel his mind was a mess. He wasn’t exactly the strongest person either, and all the running and fighting really made him physically drained, but he did his best to suppress those feelings. There was no time for rest.
“We can’t engage them front on. We just don’t have the men. If we somehow manage to hold their attacks during the day and then harass their camp at night, we can eventually wear them out...but we don’t have the men. The camp will probably fall in the first day.”
“So no ideas.” Chris knew his mistake as soon as the words came out of his mouth.
Jerry turned and walked out of the room without another word.
The camp remained silent for a couple of seconds.
“Everyone go back to your forces and make sure they’re ready for combat. Whether we fight or we retreat, we will need our men to fight.”
The teenagers nodded and left. When the camp was almost empty, Patel turned to Sophia.
“Thank you.”
“What?” Sophia tilted her head.
“What you did back there, it was brave.” Patel pulled out a stool and placed it in front of Sophia. Sophia smiled slightly before sitting down. “You risked your life to protect us. If no one stopped the Sullivans from just chasing after us all the way into the camp, we’ll all be dead by now. We owe you our lives.”
Sophia smiled before suddenly frowning. She looked down and saw there was a small graze wound on her calve. When the adrenalin wore off, it started to hurt like hell. Patel saw that and carefully knelt down and ripped off a piece of clothes from the tent.
“I learned how to work a first aid kit. I should be able to work this.” He reassured.
Sophia smiled as she felt the warmth on her leg. It was as if the pain was eased. She smiled slightly and laid back...before falling off the stool.
“Ow!”