Dom approached the small Palace Gate on the back of his Red Hare, as agreed with General Tau the Egyptians all took a step back. This partially exposed Dom who was still bandaged up from the early battle to any archers that may be within the small Palace grounds. He mentally prepared himself and worked through the different possible situations that may arise based on his next few actions.
He arrived at the gate, his spear held in one hand and the horse reins in the other. He looked over and saw that the overweight man was watching him and whispering to a tall muscular man that was stood beside him. Between him and the overweight man was the gate and wall, and at least fifteen ranks deep of Hittite warriors that were in the courtyard in a tight formation.
"My name is Lord Lazarus from the Kingdom of Riverside." Dom announced loudly, "I have come to speak with your leader."
There was silence from the Hittites that stared up at him, all of them ready to fight at a minutes notice. Dom was impressed by their glares and the lack of movement from them, the fear in them vivid but the defiance was strong. The overweight man looked up at Dom, before whispering a few more times to the tall muscular man, he then stepped forwards out of the entrance to the ground floor of the Palace, flanked by the tall muscular man.
"My name is Lord Lazarus from the Kingdom of Riverside." Dom repeated loudly, "I have come to speak with your leader!"
"And why would our leader want to speak with some slave of the Egyptians!" The Overweight Man bellowed, causing the Riverside Cavalry that were beside General Tau to grumble in anger. Subutai calmed them down whilst watching on at Dom and his reaction.
"I am an ally of the Egyptians, an equal partner." Dom replied, "We have come to help our ally, and after this we shall leave and return to our far away lands."
"HA!" The Overweight Man laughed, "A slave who doesn't even know he is a slave!"
"Again, I am an ally of the Egyptians, not a slave." Dom replied, before realising that if he continued down this route he would be going in circles for a long time. "You have two choices, Surrender or we will attack the Palace."
"Surrender to you, Lord of Riverside, or the Large army of Egyptians behind you?" The Overweight man questioned with a smile, before whispering to the Tall Muscular Man again.
"Me and Riverside." Dom replied, "Unless you would rather surrender to the Egyptian army behind me."
"HA, surrender to the Egyptians means death or slavery and then death. Why should we surrender?" He asked, "When I know we have an army across the River who will come to our aid at any time."
"They won't." Dom replied, louder this time so the Hittite Warriors could hear. "King Rameses II has led his army against the Hittite force beside the River, they are currently in battle and after the defeat yesterday will be in no condition to come to your aid. If you surrender, I can guarantee your freedom and your safety."
The Hittite Warriors looked at each other, aware of the defeat yesterday but not that the King of Egypt himself was leading his army against theirs across the River from them. Some started to whisper, but quickly became silent when the Overweight man coughed.
"Lies." He shouted, "It's all lies, there is no way that you could defeat us, and even less that you can guarantee our safety. I have heard the stories, I have seen the bodies that line the ground in previous conflicts, Warriors made to dig their own graves before being thrown in them."
"If you do not surrender, we will attack you and kill every last one of you." Dom replied seriously. "I do not want to see pointless death, but I can not leave an enemy behind me. I have the numbers, it will be bloody and we will loose lots of men, but I will win."
"Just leave us and go back to your Kingdom of Riverside, or join King Rameses II in Egypt. More Hittites and our allies will gather and destroy you eventually anyway." The Overweight Man argued back, "If you do not leave us, then send your men to your deaths, we will happily die knowing we have weakened the Egyptians for our allies at a later time."
Some of the Hittite Warriors stood prouder at the sound of this, aware that death awaited them, so why not fight to take down as many of their enemies with them as possible. Dom was contemplating how to respond, as it seemed his decision to request a surrender was not going to plan. He wanted to turn to Subutai and get his opinion, but knew he would look weak if he turned away.
Tomoe was saddled beside Subutai and was gripping her clean Naginata in her hand, frustrated by what was being said and ready to charge through the closed gate and cut down the arrogant man who was speaking with her Lord in this way. Leonidas and Cleombrotus were reacting in a similar way, and needed Banas and her female Archers to calm them down.
General Tau watched on patiently, his Egyptian Warriors ready to charge at the small Palace gates as soon as he ordered and kill every last Hittite inside so that he could claim the biggest victory for his king.
"I will give you one chance." Dom stated, "Surrender now, and I will guarantee your safety for your loyalty. Any who surrender can join my Kingdom of Riverside, far from this dry land, and have a fresh start. Those that do not can die honourably fighting against the Legion behind me."
More Warriors looked at each other, and some had even started whispering with each other. This caused some clear division between those that wanted to live, versus those that wanted to fight their way to survival. Small arguments broke out, whilst the Overweight Man continued to whisper with the Tall Muscular Man.
"Silence!" The Tall Muscular Man bellowed, he was nearly seven foot tall, a giant in comparison to the Hittites that were around five foot five, Dom himself felt tall surrounded by the Egyptians and Hittites, but compared to the Tall Muscular Man he felt tiny. His muscles bulged and he had veins protruding from all over him. He held a wide sabre in one hand, whilst the other he had by his side. As soon as he requested silence, all of the Hittites went quiet.
"We do not surrender." The Overweight Man replied confidently, trying to call Dom's bluff.
"Just a reminder." Dom said back to him, "I am the Lord of Riverside, and these are Egyptian Warriors, not mine."
The Overweight Man looked at Dom confused for a second, wondering what he meant by this statement, but was quickly silenced when he said Dom turn to General Tau and nod his head. There was a huge roar as the thousand Egyptians that surrounded the Palace quickly charged at it's walls. With a large selection rushing straight for the main Gate that Dom was stood in front of.
Subutai looked across to the Horse Archers and also nodded his head, as they all grabbed an arrow from their side saddles and placed them on their bows. They pulled back the bows and took aim at the Overweight Man, before letting loose.
The Overweight Man saw the incoming arrows and panicked, terrified as he called for his guards and turned to run. His Guards all quickly shielded him, several taking the first group of arrows in their backs, arms and sides, several of whom fell to the ground straight away. The Tall Muscular Man stood his ground and bellowed, pushing the away with his sabre and his bare hand.
"Charge!" Tomoe shouted in anger as she charged towards the gate on top of her Red Hare, followed by the Spartans and the Lancers to support Dom who was on horseback in front of the gate.
As Dom was about to start ordering warriors to attack the gate's hinges he was surprised to see that the Hittite Warriors had began fighting amongst themselves. Hittite against Hittite had sword and spear drawn as they fought amongst themselves to get to the gate or to the Overweight Man who was trying to push his way back in to the open forum on the ground floor.
"Open the gate!" One of the more Heavily Armoured Hittite Warriors shouted, a bearded man with a tanned complexion. Hittites that were near the gate followed his instruction and opened the gate as the Egyptians approached it.
"Cease the charge!" Dom shouted quickly before the Egyptians charged in and killed all of the infighting Hittites. The Heavily Armoured Hittite quickly stabbed one of his compatriots in the chest, before heading to the gate himself and helping open it.
As he did, the Tall Muscular Warrior appeared and swung his sabre towards him, the Armoured one quickly tried to parry with his sword but was pushed back due to the excessive strength of the Muscular one. The Gates were open now and even though the Egyptians had stopped charging they still gathered outside and were ready to march in on order.
The Riverside group however took the instructions differently as Tomoe ducked her head as she headed through the gate and swung her Naginata at the Tall Warrior's head, swiftly decapitating him in her action, causing all of the other nearby Hittites to drop their weapons in shock.
"On your knees now!" She shouted loudly.
Hittite after Hittite that were around the gate quickly dropped their weapons and to their knees, whilst those that were further back and near the Overweight Man all quickly ran inside the Palace. Some didn't enter and instead threw down their weapons and headed towards the other Hittites and joined them.
"Name?" Dom asked as he appeared beside the Heavily Armoured Hittite who had just got back up, realised that he had a Naginata pointed at his neck and threw his weapon down and got back on his knees.
"Uriah." He replied, "We are a collection of small cities that have gathered together, we do not want slavery or death. A new home away from all of this however sounds good."
"Very well Uriah, if you and your men are willing to join me, you can become members of Riverside and will be safe from Egyptian repercussion." Dom questioned.
"We are willing." Uriah replied, before many of the Hittites nearby agreed.
"Then your first order is to help lead our allies inside and claim this palace." Dom ordered. "Prove you are worthy of Riverside."
"Very well!" Uriah agreed, "Men, grab your weapons, it seems we can get rid of some of these Kadeshie scum ourselves!"
The nearby Hittites grabbed their weapons and stood up again, looking confused at Uriah's order, but willing to follow the man, which made Dom question what was happening.
"Lead Commander Tomoe and her Egyptian counter parts with you, I will speak with you upon your success." Dom commanded, before turning to General Tau and Subutai that had just entered behind him.
"What is going on?" Subutai asked, confused as to why Tomoe was marching off with some Hittites and Egyptians in to the Palace.
"Seems they are not very unified." General Tau laughed, "King Rameses will be impressed, even if his ally now has a small force of Hittites."
"I have no idea what is going on either." Dom said, "I expected a full surrender or a battle, not somewhere in between."