The final decision made by the mercenary leaders produced about half the expected number of soldiers, as reported by Damious to Samaras.
"Go, tell them that if a single soldier from a mercenary group doesn't fight, the whole group won't get a single fu*king coin!" Samaras burst out in a tirade. .
"I advise you not to do anything so stupid." Damious commented. "It was already hard enough to convince the ones we did and even when threatened with beatings and pay cuts from their group leaders many refused to go. Most were just too tired." He complained with ironically a tired voice.
"Win! We just need to win! A win today and now and we can feast away all our fatigue inside Adhan." Samaras declared in a crazed tone.
To this man, only victory mattered now, for him and his love.
Understanding the mental state of his superior, Damious decided to inform of something that might cheer him up.
He said, "We got some solid leads on who started the rumor."
"Who?" Samaras's eye suddenly turned sharp as he turned to face the giant and he uttered just a single word from the depths of his soul.
The hate he felt towards the one who started this rumor was probably at the moment higher than his combined hate for the whole of Adhania.
After all, if it was not for that accursed rumor this attack would have been ten times smoother.
"I don't know exactly yet. But it's pretty much confirmed it spread from the mercenary Nestoras's camp. Particularly from that medical clinic." Damious gave the full details.
"I heard almost all the mercenary forces sent their wounded there," Samaras recalled a report with some difficulty.
That particular report came to him because a few of his soldiers, who wanted to get some treatment from the clinic, had gotten into a brawl with some of the mercenaries, who were supposededly blockading the clinic, saying it was reserved for only mercenaries.
Such petty disputes were dime a dozen and at that time, Samaras had bigger fish to fry
So he threw the report into the dustbin of his memory, only to recall it with great arduousness just now.
"Yes. Even many of my men are there. But that place is now a chaotic hodgepodge of people, so finding out exactly who started it is proving difficult." Damious explained the challenges.
But then he offered some reassuring news, "But we have a pretty good suspect. It's likely to be the Claws mercenary leader-Melodias."
"A mercenary leader, huh? I suspected as much." Samaras agreed with the erroneous Damious.
In his mind, only a mercenary leader had the guts and the manpower to spread a rumor so quickly.
"But do you have any proof? Even I can't deal with a mercenary leader without proof." Samras said.
"Not yet. But, it seems Melodias never had the desire to deploy. I didn't see him when Menicus came to see me and he has been supposedly treating the wounded inside Nestoras's camp all this time. A prime opportunity to spread the rumor." Damious conjectured.
"Hmm, that is pretty suspicious. Once we get back, have your men arrest him and then hang him for plotting against the military."Samaras off-handedly signed off on a death warrant.
"Don't worry sir. I will bring him to you with irrefutable evidence soon. I just need a little bit more time." Damious offered a sweeter deal.
" Time, huh? *Sigh*, if only we had a bit more time we wouldn't be in this mess!" Samaras deeply exhaled as he was again reminded of his situation.
Time!
The thing most precious to them now.
The thing all of them were short on.
If they had a bit more time, they could have rested. Then maybe more soldiers would have joined them.
Maybe they could have even convinced, cajoled and strong-armed all the mercenary groups into the attack if they had the time.
But alas, the enemy won't stop for them.
"Sir, all the soldiers are almost in position. You are needed to command them." Just at that moment, a runner came dashing towards Samaras to relay the news.
"Hmmm, I will be there soon. Go." Samaras ordered.
"Wait, before you go, I have to ask, it was you who was pleading to Agapios to retreat. But now it is you who wants to so recklessly attack? What changed?" Damious questioned.
"Ophenia changed," was Samras's answer in his mind.
Though he would never admit this, but this attack was greatly motivated by his personal feelings- to obtain the love of his life.
Hiding this fact, instead he decided to guise it as one of strategic importance, which in fairness it was.
"When I pleaded to the general we had our entire army then. We could have launched a second wave even after our retreat. We could have even feigned a retreat and caught the Adhanians out of formation like they are now." Samaras theorized.
"But now, retreat means death. We can only win by attacking and rescuing the soldiers." Samaras spoke with an unmatched in his voice. "But do idiots see that? No. They only see gold and silvers. Not realizing all the gold and silver in the world doesn't matter if you're dead. Fu*king idiots." Samaras finished one last rant before the battle.
This situation was in fact a classic example of looking at the same thing in two completely different ways.
While Alexander believed they had lost all offensive capabilities and should cut their losses and run, Samaras still believed they had a chance to rescue the trapped soldiers and do a complete uno reverse and win, much like Adhania did to them just some time ago.
"Remember the Cantagenans will be the one to take the vanguard this time and the mercenaries will follow behind." Damious reminded his commander of the deal the mercenaries struck with him.
"Um, that's fine by me." Samaras readily nodded his head in agreement.
After all, he really didn't have a choice in the matter.
And besides, in actuality, the mercenaries were really too tired and his fresh Cantagenan troops would most likely be much more useful.
He then advised Damious on the tactics, "It's almost dark. We will just slam straight into the mouth of the cauldron in one giant formation and open a gap to allow the soldiers to flee. Remember to concentrate on keeping the mouth open and not chasing fleeing enemies." He emphasized.
"Yea, I understand. We don't have the energy to run after them anyway, hahaha." The giant laughed out loud and then urged his horse to his station.
Samaras soon followed suit.
But it had to be said that Samaras, in all his planning, consciously or unconsciously assumed the slingers would simply run away at first contact.
He never bothered to ask, 'What if they didn't'.
What if they had a countermeasure?
What if the slingers were reinforced by regular infantry?
And this oversight would come back to bite him hard.