"Faster, faster, row faster, you sons of bitches!" The officer shouted harshly, trying to reach the neighbouring boats in the heat of battle. Many dozens of them were moving towards the unknown that befell their fleet.
The soldiers nervously gazed at the ships standing in the background, on which, judging by the sound, a real battle was simmering. A young grenadier, a two metre tall man whose massive figure towered over his fellow soldiers, turned to the officer and asked quietly, as quietly as possible.
"Mr Officer, can you at least explain what is going on?" The question was taken absolutely sincerely, the grenadier, like his comrades raised on alarm did not understand at all what was going on. From his point of view they were simply collected, loaded into boats and sent into the unknown.
What was happening on the ships was a real mystery to everyone: a riot, an attack of savages, many superstitious fools even suggested an attack of evil spirits.
"I have no idea!" Shouted the officer, holding on to the bench, from his facial expression it was clear he was angry, fucking angry.
"Bitch, no senior officers, no mission, no information about the enemy - how fucked up is this shit?" The officer wailed in a half voice, nervously staring out at the ocean, and seeing nothing new, turned his attention to the grenadier.
"Boy stay close, I don't like this situation." The officer shouted, leaning back on the rear beam to get a better look at his ships. "Wait, what's this thing doing?"
The officer shrieked in surprise as the flagship of their group, an old four-deck battleship, sailed towards them, and what frightened the experienced military officer even more was that it was coming into firing range.
"Sir, what's going on?" The officer didn't answer, he simply didn't have adequate options, explanations for this situation, except one - the ships had already been captured and were about to open fire.
"Sir?" Panic shouted from half of the boat on which the shadow of the massive ship had already fallen, eclipsing the pale moonlight.
"Overboard!"
"Overboard?" The grenadier had just time to ask, when the wiry hand of the officer seized him by the sleeve and, as if deliberately ignoring the difference in weight, threw his body overboard. In the next instant the boat was cut in half by a precise hit from a cannonball. But this the grenadier saw very vaguely - the salt water of the ocean was flooding his eyes.
It was not a battle, not a fight, not even a massacre - it was nothing more than a shooting gallery. The captured ships were firing without respite at the approaching landing party, who heroically tried to shoot back with muskets, but all in vain.
Boat after boat went to the bottom, to the cries of the drowning men, who were like fry fluttering in the water, clinging to the wreckage and to each other in the hope of reaching the saving shore. The shore quickly realised what was going on and turned their guns towards their own ships and opened fire. The cannonballs struck the sides and hulls of the ships in bright flashes.
A long and confused firefight began: on one side were the shore guns and the few ships whose crews had managed to fend off the surprise attack. On the other side were the best of the Umi Clan's warriors, fighting to the best of their ability on freshly-captured ships.
Fire and smoke covered the harbour, in this battle there were no outsiders and outsiders, everyone was shooting at everyone - since it was impossible to know who was their own in this situation, the ships were firing at each other, half of the time hitting their own allies. The shore batteries just fired at everyone indiscriminately, hoping for a miracle.
The battle was in danger of dragging on if the battlefield hadn't been shaken by the powerful shouting of tens of thousands of soldiers. - From the city outskirts, a veritable sea of humanity poured out of the darkness, hundreds and hundreds of men, running forward without formation, without plan, running with only one purpose, to kill.
The first line of defence was crushed almost instantly, the sentries simply failed to react adequately to the enemy and either scattered or died surrounded.
The second line of defence was already ready, the soldiers, standing in tight formation, were blocking the long straight streets, snipers were already on the roofs of buildings, and cavalry was circling the square - waiting for orders.
The soldiers nervously gazed into the darkness of the first line of defence, which was shrouded in impenetrable darkness, and from time to time the defenders of the first line, in groups and alone, returned to their positions overtaking their own shrieks, shouting - 'Their own!', 'There are thousands of them!', 'Don't shoot!'.
The survivors were let through the ranks without trouble, and immediately sent to talk to the junior officers, to clarify the situation.
"What happened?" Asked the officer, glaring at the arriving patrolman?
"We were attacked! Fast and vicious they jumped out of the night darkness, they are many, very many, they will be here soon!" A soldier shouted in panic.
"What are they armed with?"
"Mostly cold steel, there are bows, crossbows, rifles, - how many I don't know." The officer nodded silently, rubbing his already boiling head, the situation was monstrous, they were pinned down on both sides, and there were no other options but to hold their positions, and it couldn't bother him.
"AAA." The shout was unbelievable, a huge crowd was running at them under the lazy moonlight, clustered in one street they had set themselves up in a way that only a lazy man would take advantage of. After waiting for the enemy to get closer, the officer shouted with all his might.
"Fire!" Hundreds of rifle volleys, sounding like thunderclaps of thunder famously defeated the first wave of attackers, the brave madmen, who ran in the first rows, fell dead, giving way to the next.
"Fire!" Again the officer gave the command, not forgetting to bang in the direction of the enemy from his gun. The second volley knocked out more of the attackers, but they came as if from a horn of plenty, without relenting.
The third volley was no different from the previous two, but it was at this point that the fervour of Haro's warriors waned, and the frightened men, seeing only the prospect of an imminent encounter with a swarm of bullets, began to scatter.
They ran to parallel streets, broke into buildings, hid behind wagons and fences, hoping to survive the enemy's devastating fire.
There was an awkward silence in the alley, with dead men lying all along the street. It was only now that Officer Weby was able to get a closer look at them. At first glance they didn't seem to be soldiers at all, each of them clothed and armed with whatever they had to hand: clubs, spears, axes, occasional swords. There was no need to speak of uniforms at all; half of them ran into the attack naked to the waist.
'What kind of rabble?' flashed through the officer's mind, she struggled to come up with a plan, it was impossible to stay here indefinitely, and there was no other way.
Whoo. - All the officer had time to do, reacting to the sound, was look up as a cannonball flew into the neighbouring building. Suppressing his instinct for self-preservation, the man stood up to his full height, screaming like a cutlass.
"Break into small groups, take cover, keep the streets and the nearest houses in your sights!" The men standing under artillery fire did not need to be told twice, they scattered in a flash, forming a scattered formation. The soldiers hid behind buildings and wagons, taking aim at the unfortunate street.
The cannonballs continued to rain down on their positions without pause or delay.
"Sir, we must signal our artillery!" Shouted in the officer's ear, a sergeant, who came out of nowhere. He did not answer, and with a grim face turned round to the harbour, where a fierce battle was going on.
It was perfectly visible, thanks to the ships burning like matches. And the officer had no hope that the artillery would drop the direct threat to themselves and switch to their problems.
"It's no use, as long as the enemy is in port, they won't even look our way."
"Why not?" Asked the sergeant, crouching even lower from the near hit of the cannonball.
"Because if we die, they might be able to escape, but if we lose the fleet, we're dead, all of us, do you understand?" The sergeant shook his head in agreement, it was the last thing he did. At the same moment a crossbow bolt flew into his head and the man collapsed to the ground.
"Here they come!" The Umian rabble launched a second attack, but this time they were wiser, taking advantage of the artillery fire to move forward in small groups, not hesitating to pelt the enemy positions with whistling swarms of bolts and arrows.
A new battle ensued, with the Haro Warriors taking advantage of the defence's defensive moves to slowly advance, closing the distance with each passing minute. The defenders' view was obstructed by the buildings, through which the assault squads of the selected Umiya rabble were fleeing past the fire from the street.
The Webice were being pressed on all fronts, and their hopes of victory, or at least survival, were dwindling by the minute.
"They're in the next house!" Shouted someone from the roof. But it was too late, and a mob of savages burst through the paper-thin wall and into the Webiites' position.
"Throw it!" Shouted the officer, with a satisfied face watching the flight of a whole scattering of grenades flying somewhere behind the building.
Bam, bam, bam. - The explosions went off almost synchronously, and the grenadiers with axes came out to meet the uninvited guests, a bloody close fight ensued, and the advantage was far from the stunned band of savages.
The savages, seeing such an unfortunate arrangement, and the huge men with axes in front of them, rushed scattering into the street, forgetting about the enemy's marksmen, for which they paid with shots in the back.
"Cuirassiers, forward!" The officer shouted, waving his sabre, and dozens of mounted warriors in steel cuirasses literally jumped out of the depths of the Vebians' formation. A horse is a fearsome beast, especially if it is not alone, and especially if you have nowhere to hide from it.
The cuirassiers burst into the enemy's positions with their heavy swords and horse hooves and turned him into flight, cutting and trampling all living things on their way. There was a crush and panic in the ranks of the Umians, which was gladly used by the mounted soldiers and the enemy infantry running after them.
"Phew... we seem to have fought back!" The tired officer said to himself and brushed the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve. In the distance from him the battle was still simmering, with a known result,
Viu - Turning round at the sound he saw in the sky purple smoke, from a signal flare, in their fleet there were no such signals, remembering this the man lost interest in it, and was about to move after his men.
His attention was attracted by a lit arrow flying slowly in the sky...