Dom held on to the reins of his Red Hare tightly with his left hand, whilst his right had his Slaying Spear gripped tightly, ready to charge in to the enemy. Beside him Leonidas and Cleombrotus did the same with their spears, their red capes fluttering in the gentle breeze. Tomoe held her Naginata at her side, whilst the Lancers prepared themselves for the charge, their horses angrily neighing in their heavier armour.
"Ready?" Dom asked, turning to General Tau who was beside him with half of his personal guard.
The army had been split, with the infantry continuing to march, with the other half of the Generals guard leading from the front as a decoy, where as the entire cavalry of Lancers and Chariots had gone in a northern direction with General Tau and Dom.
"If this plan works, we will get a great victory." Tau responded, "If it doesn't I've just lost my army and nearly four thousand of my men."
"It's the best option." Tomoe commented, "Now we just need to wait for the signal."
"The Concubine speaks sense." Abubakar added.
"Not a Concubine." Dom stated, "We will head to the Lancer's now, good luck with the chariots. I'll see you on the other side."
Dom clasped arms with Tau and then nodded at Abubakar who was going to join him. The other guards stayed with Tau at the front of the chariots. The Riverside Lancers headed slightly to their left where Subutai had arranged the Lancers in to a formation not seen before in this part of the world, the Wedge.
Dom arrived at the front of the wedge formation with his guard, it was decided by General Tau that Abubakar was to command the Lancer's and he took the point of the wedge, with a group of senior lancers taking up the left flank, and the Riverside group taking up the right, with Tomoe in the third row behind the Lancers with Dom behind her with Leonidas and Cleombrotus, the Riverside Lancers and their heavy armour behind them.
The Riverside group stood out clearly as an odd bunch in the Lancer wedge formation, as they had much more powerful horses and more experienced rider's, but they were a small drop in the large formation. Dom's powerful Red Hare seemed to be getting frustrated, as if it wanted to be at the front of the group, not behind the horses in front of it. It was a leader not a follower, as was Dom.
The Horse Archers under Subutai would join the Chariots on their charge, they had a different tactic to the wedge formation though, and they would be the leaders of the ambush. Subutai was on his horse at the front of the formation, soon joined by general Tau and his guards. He was looking in to the air, waiting for Genghis to come back to him, which would be the time when he would start his initial manoeuvres.
"Excited Lord?" Cleombrotus asked Dom from beside him, his helmet shining in the sunlight.
"Honestly, I am a little nervous." Dom replied, the Slaying Spear sitting comfortably in his hand.
"Why Lord Lazarus?" Leonidas asked from the other side of him, rotating his shoulders to loosen them.
"I'm always nervous before a battle." Dom responded, "I'd be devastated if I lost any of you."
"That's very kind." Tomoe said from in front, "But that is part of the excitement for us warriors, knowing that we are fighting in a life or death situation gets your blood flowing."
"A simple mistake could mean your death." Leonidas added.
"Or just some simple bad luck, such as a loose arrow." Cleombrotus lamented.
"So don't be worried for us." Tomoe continued, "As this is why we fight."
"Thanks." Dom replied, "But I'll still worry, even if I understand."
As they talked, they noticed that the Chariot formation started moving towards the south where the enemy were. They moved on a loose column towards the enemies who should now be launching their ambush against the Infantry that were used as bait to spawn the trap. The Infantry were obviously aware of the trap they were walking in to, so once the launched the trap, they had plans and tactics to create a simple defensive formation which would give them the time for the Cavalry to arrive. The Infantry were trained soldiers and not conscripts or peasants like lots of the other armies around this time, so should be able to hold the formation longer than others.
"Looks like it's time for us to move then." Tomoe said loudly, "Abubakar, are we ready?"
"We are Concubine." He shouted back from the front, "Lancer's let's move!"
"Not a Concubine." Dom grumbled as his horse started to move, following the lead of those in front of him.
They soon heard the sound of clashes and shouts in the distance, signifying that Infantry had sprang the trap and were now fighting for their lives whilst they waited for the Cavalry to do there job. As the sound got closer the Chariots under General Tau and Subutai suddenly increased their speed and charged ahead.
As Subutai approached the enemy, he was shocked to see the numbers. There was easily fifteen thousand warriors charging down the hill in front of him towards the four thousand infantry at the bottom. His tactics were not to win this battle with a destruction of the enemy forces, but more of a destruction of their morale and to cause them to retreat.
The enemy force was mainly infantry units, a combination of a miss match of different infantry styles from the different city states that had built up this force. They also had large contingent of Lancers and Chariots themselves, but they were clearly separated in to different factions and didn't have the comradeship of the Egyptians.
"Ready Commander Subutai?" General Tau asked, impressed with the ideas that he had come up with.
"Yes, let's do it!" Subutai replied, as Genghis flew above his head as they started to charge.
"Archers, ready arrows!" General Tau shouted to the Chariots as they charged, the Horse Archers under Banas doing the same thing. The Archers on the Chariots had their bows strung and drawn, ready to loose on the command. "I'll let you direct from here Commander Subutai, I'll take over on the second run."
"On my order, loose and turn!" Subutai shouted. "Loose!"
The leading row of Chariots and Horse Archers let loose their arrows in to the rear of the enemy forces that had only just started to realise that their was an enemy behind them. The first row of arrows landed amongst the rear of the enemy force, killing many instantly. The front row of Cavalry turned to the right and and began to circle to the rear of the formation. The next row then loose their arrows and followed the path.
A constant none stop storm of arrows hit the enemy forces, who suddenly had to slow their approach to the Egyptian Infantry at the bottom of the hill as the rear was being hit by the arrow storm. This caused a slight division and the formation of charging Warriors was less fixed as it was.
"This is the Cantabrian Circle then?" General Tau asked Subutai, clearly impressed as they turned and loosed their arrows at the front and then continued to circle.
"It is, it's a tactic that is used in other parts of the world, I hope you use it well." Subutai replied.
"Oh, this will revolutionise our Cavalry and Chariot tactics in the future!" General Tau replied with a grin.
"Enemy Cavalry approaching!" One of the guards shouted.
They turned their necks and saw that some of the enemy Lancers and Chariots began to turn towards them. They lumped together in a tight formation as they charged towards the Chariots.
"Ready for stage two?" Subutai asked.
"Definitely." General Tau confirmed, before shouting loudly. "Cavalry, retreat!"
The circle quickly became a large square of Chariots as they suddenly turned and retreated from the charging enemy. The enemy seeing this increased their pace, excited that they had scared away the small force of Egyptians.
"Turn and fire!" General Tau commanded as the enemy got closer to them.
In their saddles the Horse Archers turned and fired to the rear, hitting the charging enemy unexpectedly, the Archers on the Chariots did the same, aiming at horses, riders and drivers. The front row of the enemy Cavalry collapsed, causing Chariots in the second and third rows to crash in to the chaos of the front row.
The further back rows manoeuvred around the chaos and began to fire back at the Egyptians, who continued to fire back as they ran.
"The Parthian Shot you call this?" General Tau asked.
"I didn't call it this, but yes!" Subutai responded, "It's great isn't it!"
"I'd love to meet this Parthian's, I never realised we could do things like this." General Tau commented, "We normally just charge and clash with each other, or hit each other from the flank."
"We have time for that next!" Subutai grinned. Tau nodded in response and looked at how close the enemy were gaining on them.
"Split ranks!" General Tau commanded, excited by the sight that was heading towards him.
The force suddenly split in half, with Subutai leading half to the left and turning back, whilst General Tau went to the right. The enemy who were catching up were suddenly surprised to see the enemy splitting up and something else charging towards him.
"Charge!" Abubakar shouted from the front of the Wedge formation, in front of them the Egyptian Chariots and Horse Archers split in half, both going around the flanks of the Wedge as it suddenly appeared in front of the enemy force.
"Kill them all!" Tomoe shouted excitedly, her blood lust flowing and causing those around her to feel the same eagerness to crush the Hittite Cavalry in front of them.
Dom was in the fourth row behind Tomoe as they charged, he saw Abubakar crash in to the first of the shocked enemy, his Lance stabbing through the rider and knocking him loose, the riderless horse following the Egyptians who flanked to the side. Dom hoisted his Slaying Spear, ready to stab at the enemies as the Wedge pushed through the confused foe.