Small hollow openings were made in the trees in front of Cadin, the stairwells. Lit up by wooden torches hanging on the sides. They were tight, only allowing two to walk up and down the stairwell, multiple of them were present on the nearby trees. Above, Cadin could see the large wooden platforms, connected by thin bridges. The sound of footsteps could be heard even from where he stood.
"Soldiers, remember the plan, harass the enemy by firing at them. Cavalrymen stay behind me, we will storm all the stairwells and push into the platforms above. On my orders, we will begin." Cadin ordered in a quieter tone, looking behind him at his prepared soldiers.
He gazed upwards for a few minutes, preparing his sword for the battle ahead. None seemed to notice Cadin's army.
"Now." In an instant, Cadin ran through the bushes, Joken and the rest of the cavalrymen started moving behind him. Footmen began firing upwards at the wooden deck, getting the attention of the soldiers. Through dense foliage, Cadin reached one of the stairwell entrances, built into the tree itself with a crude stair design inside.
The rest of the horsemen managed to reach the other stairwells on the other side, awaiting Cadin's next steps. He looked back to his soldiers, waiting for arrows to start raining down upon them to begin moving.
Soon, hails of arrowtips fell from the sky, whistling loudly before landing onto raised shields, tree bark, or the dirt ground.
"That's our signal, follow me!" Cadin, gripping his sword with both hands and a shield on his back, began running up the stairs, soldiers behind him rapidly joined, their footsteps echoed loudly throughout the spiral staircase.
Soon, he reached the top, greeted by a crowd of leather armored men and women bearing bows, firing down at the soldiers below.
A few noticed Cadin, shouting at the rest. In seconds, the entire unit stopped firing, pulling out their short blades, prepared to fight. Some of them bore faces of fear while the rest with anger.
"Soldiers, start attacking, stick together and gain as much ground as possible!" Cadin ran forward, his cavalrymen followed from behind with their shields aimed forward as Cadin charged headfirst into the crowd.
Blood flew and splattered onto the wood and nearby soldiers as Cadin began his frenzy. Slashing and burying his blade into their bodies, attempting to cause as much fear as possible within the ranks. The men behind him slowly joined, sticking together they started attacking the remaining archers, quickly escalating the battle into a war on multiple fronts with the rest of the cavalrymen finally emerging out of the other staircases.
Soldiers from all around the elevated camp began fighting the invading soldiers, cavalrymen pushed forward, sticking together with their shields in front and their swords waiting just behind it. The weakly armored fighters started falling in front of them as the horsemen drove their swords through the gaps, into their bodies.
Shouts and cries erupted loudly while the battle raged on. Cadin's body was riddled once more in cuts, slashes, and stab wounds, but he continued fighting. The enemy fighters were astonished, slowly their faces of anger and determination changed to fear. The cavalrymen with Cadin continued slashing at the occupied fighters, killing as much as possible, soon moving in front of Cadin with their shields slamming the last of the fighters back.
A shout temporarily ceased the fight. Above them, Foren and his men jumped down, driving their blades into the soldiers down below. Joining Cadin and his men in the frenzy of swords.
More bodies fell to the ground, parts of their bodies stained with a large amount of blood from wounds, the lights in their eyes rapidly fading.
"Joken, order the rest to start moving to the entrances!" Cadin yelled while holding off the fighters in front of them with his sword, pushing as hard as he could, sending them back.
"Soldiers, begin taking down the last of the enemy!" Roars erupted from the soldiers, running past their leader and taking down the horrified soldiers, now retreating to a bridge behind them to another platform.
'I suppose this is enough. Now, when will they surrender?' The enemy fighters continued getting pushed back as the ones at the very front fell lifeless on the ground. Some began falling off the ledges, screaming down to their deaths in pure terror.
The cavalrymen on the other platforms fought with Foren's soldiers, killing as much as they could, forcing the last ones to retreat to any form of cover, screaming while running around.
Foren emerged out of the frenzy, walking towards Cadin breathing heavily with blood soaking large portions of his cloak.
"Cadin, I think we killed enough of them. They don't seem to want to fight. Call off your men." Cadin nodded his head, turning to his cavalrymen already on the bridge being supported by the footmen from below, just arriving from the stairs.
"Soldiers!" Cadin raised his blood dripping hand, "Stop fighting, stop fighting, round up the last soldiers and bring them to any shelters on this camp and hold them there. We have broken them. We have won the battle!" As Cadin spoke, the soldiers continued running back, with the stair exits sealed off by the footmen, they ran to any wooden building in the area. Cowering in fear.
All went silent upon Cadin finishing his words. In seconds, the entire camp was filled with the shouts of joy by the soldiers, raising their weapons up while blood and wounds coated their bodies.
"It seems we have finished our battle here, do we have any new camps in mind to take?" Cadin asked Foren, wiping the blood off his sword with his hands, forming a puddle just below him.
His entire body was coated in the crimson fluid, a mix of his own and the many fighters he killed just earlier.
"Is there?"
"None," He responded, breathing heavily while wiping his own short blades. "Well, apart from one other camp further north of here. Larger." Cadin looked at Foren upon hearing this.
'An extra camp should not hurt. Should be the same as what I did here.'