The combined forces of the Caegon Dynasty and the Avalon Kingdom stood on the outer walls of Woodford City. Thousands of eyes were scanning the northern horizon in apprehensive anticipation for the arrival of the remaining Rodara troops.
A few hours after the cavalry had returned from their hit-and-run tactics the wary invaders who they had continuously harassed were finally spotted approaching the capital city from the north.
It was now near the end of the day and the defenders could only wait to see if the Rodara commander would order his troops to attack the city now or to wait until tomorrow.
Commander Drogo let out a sigh of relief when Woodford City was spotted by his lead scouts. They had lost a few thousand men due to the ambushes from the strange armored men who rode on the impossibly fast creatures.
Hey had not been ambushed in the past few hours but they could not relax until they knew they were almost upon the Caegon Capital city. Not only had their numbers been reduced from these ambushes but it also delayed their travel time.
They were forced to march forward at a slower speed to prepare for any sudden ambushes. When they were ambushed they would have to stop and defend against the thousands of javelins which were tossed out at them.
It was at the point that Drogo and his men felt like they had been in a battle the entire time they had crossed the border. They were all exhausted and things were going far worse than they had originally planned.
This invasion was supposed to be a simple march into Caegon territory where they would storm over the capital city walls and capture the city and the dynasty monarch in one go.
If he chose to attack the city now it would evolve into a night battle which he wasn't comfortable in attempting. It was obvious to him now that their invasion plans had been ruined with every step they took by this mysterious foreign kingdom who they had earlier looked down on.
All they had seen since they came over the border were strange troops wearing all black armor and clothing with red accents. The creatures they rode upon were even red and black. These colors and their crest were much different from the white and blue colors worn by the Caegon guards and troops.
Drogo turned to Lambert sitting beside him in the cart and explained he wanted to set camp for the night. The men had now marched over a hundred miles and fought along a good portion of the march.
If he still had superior numbers he wouldn't mind directly attacking upon reaching Woodford City. It made him nervous not knowing how many troops this Avalon Kingdom had brought along to fight and if any of them were here to defend Woodford City.
It was better to allow everyone to rest for the night and look at the battlefield with fresh eyes in the morning.
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Ben stood on the northern wall watching the invaders as they marched to within a mile of the city walls. When he saw they began to set up tents he called out for his generals.
He had them send part of their men down from the walls to erect tents at the base of the wall so his men could sleep in shifts. General Victor was ordered to put together a division of five hundred healthy uninjured Elven Archers and to have them assemble near the city gate.
If the invaders were going to wait until tomorrow morning to attack, Ben was going to give them a reason to make it hard to get a decent night's sleep.
As Ben's troops arranged their tents at the foot of the walls and prepared dinner over campfires, he left the city with five hundred archers following him.
The sun had set and the cover of night hid their exit from the city. His nighttime squad headed toward the woods directly west of the city and used them as cover to make their way north. The Elves lived up to their lore and could move through the trees agilely and silently.
It was hard for Ben to believe himself that there were five hundred people following behind him. Once they were parallel with the invaders camp,
Ben had his archers gather around to hand out rations. They did not have the luxury of making a fire to cook a proper meal for fear of being sighted. They all made do with eating packaged foods such as canned fruits, pastries, flavored loaves of bread, and dried meats.
After their meal, they watched as the invaders settled in and began to climb into their tents for the night. THey left a few men around the camp to stand guard, but they would not hinder Ben's plans.
Sometime later Ben figured the Rodara men would be sleeping or almost asleep. He signaled his archers to follow him out of the trees out onto the prairie.
They stalked up to three hundred yards from the camp and prepared to attack. Using only hand signals Be ordered the archers to knock arrows aim three inches high above the closest tents and then to fire.
A strange sound like an approaching wind could be heard right before the volley of arrows fell into the center of the camp. Instant chaos broke out as men were startled awake by the screams of injured men and the shredding sound of arrows piercing through the surrounding tents.
Ben did not let off and had his archers release five arrow barrages into the camp before retreating back into the forest. They continued through the woods to the far west side and began to move south.
Before the camp could figure out what had happened two thousand steel barbed arrows had been launched into the camp. Men were running around half dressed while carrying weapons in hand looking for an enemy who they could not see. The screams and cries of injured men continued to add to the chaos.
Drogo was startled awake by the attack and found even his tent was spared. He wasn't hit but there were a couple of slice marks in the tent fabric where arrows had passed through his tent. If he were standing up at the time there was a good chance he would have also been injured.
When he stepped outside, he quickly yelled out to calm the men and organize them on the camp perimeter. They had to prepare for an attack on the camp and they were unsure of where the attack had originated. While a defensive ring was being formed small squads were sent out as probes with torches in each direction to locate the enemy.
The next hour and a half it was reminiscent of the cavalry attacks. An enemy suddenly appeared and vanished after causing them damage. All Drogo could do was to send half of his men back to bed in shifts while the others watched out for further attacks.
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Ben was now located south of the invaders camp and began to lead his second attack against the camp. He waited until the commander had split his troops to sleep and watch for them.
With him and the archers having the quiet of night and the ability to remain silent he still had no problem launching a second attack.
*Whoosh!*
*Whoosh!*
*Whoosh!*
*Whoosh!*
In under a half a minute another two thousand arrows were arching toward their targets. The camp exploded from their tents scared and enraged by the elusive attackers whom they were yet to even see.
They discovered more dead and injured men along the northern area of the camp so they arranged more men to defend there and sent out more patrols to the south. Drogo began to fear that the troops who were defending the northern town near the border had marched here to attack them during the night.
Ben had already moved his archers back into the trees and had them all lay down on the leaves in a shallow basin. He let them all sleep for three hours and woke them up to move toward the southwestern border of the enemy camp.
They used the same tactics to strike at the camp and to melt away into the night. There were now only a couple of hours left before sunrise. He led hi archers back into the city and allowed them to enter the tents to get some sleep.
There was no possible way the Rodara troops would have a restful night sleep. They were all on edge laying in their tents holding their weapons and listening to the constant screams and cries of the injured men around them while fearfully wondering if they would join this chorus of dying men during the next surprise attack.
Ben had sent his men to sleep in shifts right as the sun began to set so they all slept for a good six hours each or longer. They felt great and sat around eating breakfast in good spirits without knowing how the enemy had been put through last night.
The Avalon and Caegon troops intermingled and ate their breakfast together while they waited on the invaders to make their move. Ben's night raids had put them all on edge and had them scrambling through the night to save the wounded while looking out for further attacks.
The Rodara troops were tired and the morale was nonexistent. They had two choices left to them. retreat or fight! It was impossible for them to spend another day here. If they were submitted to night attacks again they would only lose more men and become even more exhausted.
Drogo knew if he returned to Rodara the king would strip him of everything he had ever worked for. His only saving grace was to capture this city or die trying. His king had dumped too much money and resources into this operation for it to fail.
As Drogo and Lambert stood behind the approximately fifteen thousand remaining men he began to wonder how it had turned out this way. Years of planning and preparation and they were now being forced to attack a defended city with fewer men than the defenders have.
He knew it was a losing situation before the battle even began. To capture a walled city would need enough men to allow for the losses you would take by charging and scaling the walls. They could only pray to the gods of war some miracle might be granted to them for their bravery on this day. As it is now they have enough men to do some damage but not enough to take the city.
Drogo let out a quiet sigh as he nodded to Lambert who gave the orders to march toward to city.