"Keep pace!" Dom ordered, as they followed the fleeing warriors.
The remaining Hoplite and Legionaries that hadn't been kept behind were escorted on both flanks by ten Horse Archers. The pace had sped up, but Dom made sure that formation was kept, with Tomyris at the rear and Octavian by his side now in the lead in the front row.
In the distance, with the limit light from the moon, the enemy Warriors were starting to gain a slight lead on the chasing Warriors from Riverside. They outnumbered the Riverside group easily, but they were unskilled in comparison.
"We are going to lose them." The lead Horse Archer shouted over to Dom, with respect, but the eagerness to speed up and leave the infantry behind.
"Oh we won't." Dom replied, "Stage three should begin around now."
As if on target, there was the sound of a roar from ahead of them in the distance. Soon followed by the sound of the clashing of weapons and the grunts and screams of men who were fighting.
"Ok, now we can increase the pace." Dom grinned, as he started to run.
The Hoplite ran with their long spears held high, whilst the Legionaries in their heavier armour kept pace over the short run. The Horse Archers pulled away from the flanks and started to circle out to hit the enemy from the sides.
The roaring and clashing got louder, and the backs of the enemies started to get closer as their pace slowed down and the Riverside contingent's pace increased.
"I can see them!" Octavian grinned, seeing the red crest of Alexander riverside in the distance. "Alexander has his lads hitting them hard!"
Dom agreed, seeing that the Hoplite and Legionaries in the distance had caught the retreating enemy Warriors off guard and ambushing them by one of the only areas on the open ground that had any form of shrubbery. They had planned how to defeat the enemy force, which they had little information on other than what Zanug had been told. They had assumed that the enemy wouldn't be totally honest with the information, so tried to plan as much as possible.
The plan was simple, Dom would leave with the majority of his force and feign an unprotected camp in the night. This was Gan Ning's idea who was a master of night raids, but rather than being the attacker, they had planned traps as the defender. Once the enemy struck, they would have the Horse Archers, who the enemy thought were going to be their allies, throw a surprise attack at them with the arrows. If the enemy were strong, they wouldn't have needed to use subterfuge in the first place, so they believe that the force would be on the weaker side.
They hoped that the shock from the Horse Archers, as well as the resilience from the Riverside Contingent would cause them to retreat and rethink their battle plan. Which is where Subutai's force came in to play. The rider that Gan Ning had dispatched had given Subutai a run down of the plan, Subutai would have had to have left almost straight away and cancel most of his excavation plans to arrive at the ideal time without being seen. Timing was key on this attack, but having the night mind of Gan Ning and the master strategy skills of Subutai was ideal.
"In to the back of them!" Dom growled, as they clashed in to the rear of the enemy force that was now squashed between Dom's group and the reinforcements, his sword stabbing forwards, whilst using Octavian and his shield as his protection from any counter stabs.
The Horse Archers shot some arrows in to the centre of the group, making sure to take their time aiming so as to not injure any of their allies. They shouted and yelled in excitement as arrow after arrow rained down, turning some of the enemy force in to pin cushions, whose robes and thin armour did little to protect them from the onslaught of arrows.
"Circle them!" Dom heard an order from the other side, the voice recognisable of Subutai's serious voice when he was ordering. Subutai had brought another forty warriors with him for the ambush, a combination of Hoplite and Legionaries, with Alexander at the head of the force. He also brought a couple of Spartans who were carving a path with their long spears in to the enemy forces, stabbing relentlessly and proving their worth.
Dom looked and noticed there must be over one hundred and fifty enemy soldiers still fighting, and they must have faced over two hundred and fifty in total, a scary number with the troops he had brought with him initially. He was grateful they were weaker, and not of the same level as the Warriors that he had. He felt that if this force had attacked the Nomadic Tribe unprepared, the larger amount of numbers would have won, but it seemed that their leader was worried about losses and had used the numbers game to try and get an advantage.
The Hoplite stabbed their spears in to the back of the enemy, whilst the Legionaries smashed their shields in and stabbed their short swords. Soon the enemy struggled to fight back and were getting squashed together, with limited space to move or escape. Gaps of air were leaving them as they were pushed by their allies in the centre of the encirclement and the shields and spears from the Hoplite and Legionaries at the edges.
Dom tried to look through the crowd of grey robed warriors, to see if there was anyone who stood out or looked different than the rest of them, such as a leader or a commander. There was one, a warrior with blonde hair and slightly taller than the others, who were shorter with black or grey hair. He carried a large axe that he swung around, rather than the swords of the Warriors. He also wore slightly improved armour compared to the surrounding Warriors.
"Target him!" Dom ordered, pointing at the man, who seemed to notice he was being watched. He barged his way through the crowd and headed in Dom's direction.
"Keep pushing" Dom heard Tomyris order, as she stabbed her sword in to an enemy to the left of Dom, having pushed her way to the front row to get her sword bloodied.
The Blonde Warrior soon pushed to the front, his axe swinging as he tried to approach the Riverside Warriors. His axe clashing in to the Hoplite Spears, whilst the Legionaries tried to create a circle around him, creating space and blocking him of from any reinforcement.
"Are you the leader?" He yelled, over the scream and shout of the battle, arrows still raining down as the other Hoplite and Legionaries stabbed and smashed in to them.
"I am!" Dom replied, the battle around him starting to slow down as the Warriors of both sides turned to watch. "Are you?"
"I am the leader of this force, my name is Guthrum." The man, Guthrum, replied with a bloody grin, "But I am not the leader overall, he has other tasks."
"Are you here to surrender?" Dom asked seriously.
"No, I am here to take your head so I can rest easily in Valhalla." Guthrum said with a grin, before charging towards Dom, and trying to push the Legionaries aside.
"You don't need to duel him." Tomyris responded, wanting to persuade Dom to not duel against the enemy and risk his life, "You are the Leader and there is no honour in fighting a dead man."
"Will you surrender if I win?" Dom asked Guthrum again. Hoping to reduce the bloodshed if possible, so many lives already lost.
"Of course not!" Guthrum yelled with his eyes turning red and his muscles bulging as he swung his axe at a Legionaries shield. "I will kill you, and even if we lose, it'll be a victory."
Dom was tempted to step forwards and fight him, but the look in Tomyris eye made him rethink his decision. He was a Leader and not a Warrior, it wasn't his job to duel enemies and risk his life. He had Warriors who were trained for the task.
"You are not worthy to fight me." Dom replied with a grin, trying to cause Guthrum to over react.
"Not worthy?" He replied in anger, before spitting blood on the floor. "I'll show you not worthy!"
As Guthrum went to charge towards Dom, a spear stabbed him in the shoulder, soon followed by another in the chest. Guthrum pulled at them, trying to free them from his bleeding body, but another spear stabbed him in the gut, followed by another in the rear of his leg.
Guthrum stopped pushing and fell to his knee, blood flowing freely from his wounds as he gurgled on his words. "Pathetic."
"Pathetic?" Octavian said, as he approached Guthrum and placed his sword against his neck. "Our Lord has lead from the front, where is yours? You really are not worthy."
With that, Octavian swung his sword, cutting the blonde haired Warriors head loose. It rolled and came to a stop nearby, causing the nearby Warriors from both sides to have a dumb look on their face.
"What are you waiting for!" Octavian shouted, "Get these cleaned up!"
The Warriors continued to push their attack, but were soon greeted by a warrior throwing his sword to the ground, before throwing himself to his knees.
"Surrender!" One of them shouted.
"We surrender!" Another one did, throwing his sword to the ground.
"And me!" A Third shouted, an arrow however came in to the centre and took him in the throat, the shock visible on his face.
"Cease the attack!" Dom ordered loudly, as the arrows stopped falling and the push in to the bloodbath lamented.
There were little over eighty warriors left, a large group that wasn't much smaller than Dom's. A lot of them had injuries of some kind, and Dom had the Doctors, under heavy guard, approach and inspect. They applied simple wrappings where they could, whilst others they said would most likely not make it. Hua Tou was in shock at the destruction across the long battlefield, grateful that he was a Doctor and not a Warrior.
Dom, Subutai and Tomyris were all stood together near the edge of the camp from earlier, the battlefields being cleaned, whilst they planned their next steps.
"We need to find the base location." Tomyris stated, "Then we can go and attack them and conquer their base."
"I do agree." Subutai stated, "but first we need to know how Commander Gan Ning got on."