Dom was now stood at the rear of a semi circle that was blocking the gate, of the original fifty seven, only forty three were still standing, including the Commanders and the few from Riverside. Those that had not made it to the semi circle were all elite's from the Egyptian's, and each of their losses was a huge loss to the Egyptian forces.
The semi circle perimeter was manned by the Egyptians, with Leonidas, Cleombrotus and Tomoe taking up key locations within the formation, able to quickly move and support where needed. Subutai had climbed the top of the wall and alongside the two Egyptian Archers he unleashed arrow after arrow in to the enemy forces that were appearing from the different pathways.
Dom had his head wrapped with a bandage that had been put on by Abubakar, blood had been flowing freely from a cut to his head that he had taken when he was fighting with the Hittite on the floor minutes earlier. Beside him Abubakar and the Prince Sethi were stood, preparing to reinforce where ever needed.
The enemies continued to come, with their being a mixture of trained Warriors, Guards and some Civilians with crude weaponry. The key advantage was that the Egyptians were prepared, whilst most of these Hittites had just awoken or were heading to sleep after guard duty, very few of them were fresh and prepared for a fight to the death on their doorstep. There was obvious shock and anger in their faces, as they had expected if there was any battle, it would be across the River with the main forces destroying the Egyptians.
"What is taking him so long?" The Prince grumbled agitatedly, his elegant armour covered in blood and dirt. He now had a small open cut on his cheek and the fabric that had covered his arm was torn in multiple places.
"If he was any closer we wouldn't have been able to do this tactic in the first instance." Abubakar responded measuredly, not wanting to upset the Prince, but also understanding his current role. He also didn't look in the best condition, as did none of the Warriors that were currently fighting, all dirty and bloodied from the gruelling fight they had been involved in so far.
"I understand that!" The Prince exclaimed, rotating his arm and trying to reduce the pain that he was feeling in it, "But if we don't get reinforcements soon, we won't survive long enough to hold the gate!"
"The gate is ours regardless." Dom replied seriously, watching the clashes that were taking place around them, "You've done such a good job of breaking the hinges, that us surviving has no major impact on the final situation. As long as Tau arrives before they can repair them, the fall of Kadesh should be within his grasp."
"You don't sound confident of our survival." Abubakar said in a depressed manner.
"Oh, I'm confident that we will survive if they arrive within the next few minutes." Dom stated, "I wouldn't have risked some of my best Warriors otherwise. I'm just frustrated that we didn't attack another gate at the same time, splitting their defenders."
"That would have been a good idea, but as you know, the reason we didn't was that we would stretch our Elite's too thin. There was also to much risk on one of the parties being discovered if there was more than one of them." Abubakar replied, trying to reassure Dom that they had made the right decision.
"None of this matters now." Prince Sethi replied, "I'm confident in my skill, but when father asked me to join you on this, I thought it was a place of honour, not a suicide mission so he can reduce the amount of potential heirs he has!"
"It's not like that at all your highness." Abubakar said quickly, "You are one of his favourite sons, he would never sacrifice you. He would have understood that this was important and trusted that you would see it through"
"Never think that you know my father Commander Abubakar." Prince Sethi replied seriously.
The three of them looked around at the ring of Warriors in front of them, they were fighting as a good unit and Dom noted how once one of the men stabbed or slashed forwards at an enemy, another would straight away move to protect him so that he wouldn't be overly exposed. Tomoe was the most central person in the formation and had taken lots of deflections on her armour, which was now marked and dented in many places. She was overly exposed as she often left the formation to step forwards and fight a few enemies before stepping back in it, but she was confident in her flanks as every now and then an arrow would fly past her and take out an enemy that was aiming at her exposed spots.
Leonidas had created a small group with the Egyptian Elites and was looking after the left flank, he was directing them and some of them had collected spears or shields from the fallen Hittites that had carried them, creating a small mock of a Hoplite Shield Wall. The spears were not as long or as targeted as he was used to but they had created a mighty defence that the Hittites were struggling to get past.
Cleombrotus was looking after the right flank, and had done a similar job to Leonidas, however he was fighting more aggressively and attempting to move his side of the semi circle in to a line and attempt to block of some of the passages again as they had done in the initial attack.
"A few more minutes and we will be fine." Dom commented as he watched on, holding his spear tightly as he watched the line and looked for an open space where he could re-join.
The three of them looked up at Subutai who was firing arrows indiscriminately in to the enemies, he was every now and then looking behind him, to see if the Ra Legion would make it in time, or if the Hittites on the other side of the River would beat them to it.
Dom heard a scream in pain, and quickly turned back to see that an Egyptian that was near Tomoe had taken a spear to his leg, causing him to grab it and stumble backwards. Before the Hittites had chance to charge through the gap and attack, Dom sprinted their himself, launching his spear in to the fray and stabbing two enemies in quick succession.
"Good kill Lord Lazarus!" Tomoe exclaimed from the side, her breathing staggered and exhaustion heard from her tone.
"How are you holding up?" Dom asked her, as he used the butt of his spear to push an enemy back, before using the tip against another. An Egyptian beside him quickly stabbed forwards and took out a Hittite Civilian with a large butcher's knife that had got infused with the fighting.
"Not great." Tomoe replied seriously, "I'm sore, exhausted and frustrated at this never ending torment of not finding a worthy opponent."
Dom was not expecting that response, but wondered why he hadn't. Tomoe was a battle maniac and nothing seemed to fill her thirst to fight. He continued to fight alongside the others for a couple of minutes, taking a few more lives as he did. The real life experience from this battle would have a long term impact on his fighting techniques he thought, and the close shave with death had made him realise that he had to be on constant guard and thinking ahead.
"Lord, let me back in." Dom heard as he stabbed forwards again, he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked to see that the Egyptian who had taken the wound to his leg had it strapped up and was wanting to re-join the battle in his place.
"Only if you are sure!" Dom replied as he took a step back and walked towards the centre where Prince Sethi was stood. Abubakar had left and had joined the battle on the right flank with Cleombrotus, who was currently dealing with a heavy push against his counter attack.
"Riders approaching!" Subutai shouted from above, Dom turned to see what was happening. He looked through the open gates and could see a dust cloud quickly coming towards them.
"Ours or theirs?" Dom asked.
"I see the flag of Riverside!" Subutai shouted happily, "Looks like our Lancers are leading the charge!"
Dom was relieved that support was finally on the way, he looked around and saw the visible exhaustion on the Egyptians that fought, with more having fallen back due to injuries, or permanently fallen in their place as they took a serious or life rendering wound.
"How long?" Prince Sethi shouted up to Subutai.
"Two minutes maximum!" Subutai replied, as he fired an arrow in to one of the paths as a better armoured warrior charged down with an entourage. "And no time to soon, we are almost out of arrows and it seems the key families are now sending their warriors."
Dom looked and saw what Subutai had meant, the Warriors appearing now were much better equipped and looked fresher. Dom suspected that it wouldn't be long until the formation collapsed, as it was now much smaller than it was several minutes ago, with only thirty five Egyptians and Riverside Warriors left in the fight.
"Nearly time!" Subutai shouted to Dom.
"Listen up!" Dom bellowed an order loudly to the Warriors that were fighting. "When I shout my next order, follow it immediately."
The group knew what Dom was referring to, having all been in the briefing in the very early morning before departure. The group of fifty seven had all gathered around the Oasis whilst the Carpenters were finishing the boats and Dom had explained the dangers of the mission and what the key parts of it would be. All of the Egyptian Elites were volunteers, except for Abubakar and Prince Sethi that had been assigned to the task by General Tau and King Rameses II.
"Break!" Dom Shouted loudly.
As he did the Egyptians, Tomoe and the Spartans all quickly ran towards the wall on their sides, abandoning the fight with the Hittites who suddenly wanted to chase their fleeing foes. Before the Hittites had chance though, through the large open gates a stream of heavily armoured horse's charged through. The Lancers of Riverside had appeared, followed by a large force of Egyptian Lancers who crashed in to the Hittite force and decimated them within seconds.
The Lancers stabbed down and used the weight of their horses to push the enemies back or crush those that were beneath them. The newly arrived more experienced Hittites understood that the situation was about to change and quickly stopped their charge and turned and fled back in to the City. Soon, behind the two hundred and fifty lancers that had first arrived, Horse Archers, Banas and General Tau arrived.