Chapter 35 - Chapter 35: Existential war

The general asked the soldiers to prepare themselves and meet him outside the city gates. "That was a reckless stunt you pulled Ariel. 'Can we win?' what if it caused more trouble." The General asked. "You worry too much grandfather. Besides, it achieved the desired results that you asked for." The young lady answered. "Yes. Perhaps it achieved my objective." The General answered. Roy was seated in the room where he was privy to this discussion. "I am heading to the gate now." Roy said as he woke up. He could tell that he was intruding on them. Roy left the generals room and went to the gate. On his journey there, he saw that the morale of the troops was high. Over half of the troops were already there and it had not been a few minutes since the meeting with the general was adjourned. Felt betrayed and was hurt. 'All that was just a ploy? But it was so believable.' Roy wondered. "Prince Roy. Are you not making any preparations?" The General asked. "No. I am good t go. I have sent a letter to the king describing everything that has occurred. Everything on my end is set." Roy answered. This General was known for his cunningness but to use his granddaughter in such a way, that greatly puzzled Roy. Roy had a full plate armor, shield and a sword on his hands. "For the glory of the Orthon Kingdom. Victory…" Roy shouted. "Ours" the soldiers responded. The routine went on a few times where Roy would shout 'Victory' and soldiers responded with 'Ours'. A few moments later, the general arrived. "I have visited the shrine and the priestess has blessed our campaign. The civilians have begun to flee. We should ensure that we buy as much as eight hours for all the civilians to escape. Our focus is on high mobility therefore everybody here will be on horseback. You strike and then leave the area. Do not throw more than three strikes on the enemy. Your various captains will explain the details. Victory…" The General shouted. "Ours." The soldier responded. With that, the army was divided into eight groups of troops each. Each was led by a commander.The army then left the castle gates and took positions a little farther. Roy was stationed in the front lines as per his requests. "If we keep the enemy occupied with us for eight hours then we are the victors. Do not forget that." Roy said. This was in a bid to calm the various soldiers who were now seeing the Lokain's army come to view. Their soldiers were marching towards them in large numbers. However, that was not the worst part, they could hear the ground shaking. In the distance, few giant figures that looked like elephants were observed. "Are those the wall breakers?" Ariel asked. "No these are just war elephants. The wall breakers according to rumors, it appears a few hours later." The general said. "Rumors? Have you never seen it or them?" Ariel asked. "No I haven't seen it. The other strongholds fell after a few hours so I never got to see it in action." The General said. It was truly a sight to behold. Elephants or more like mammoths considering their sizes and tusks were towering the battlefield. "Now soldiers. We attack." The General said. It was late in the evening. The general placed a gamble that the enemy troops would be tired from the continuous marching. Attacking now was going to have the element of surprise and with their hit and run tactics on a tired enemy, the general thought this was going to be a successful technique. At once, the message was passed through the whole army. Shouts were heard and according to the plan given, each soldier from the third to eight army went to the firing range, shot five arrows at the enemy and retreated. This managed to catch their attention and they responded by holding up shields. The attack did not shave much of the enemy's forces. "Now, they are pinned!" the general shouted. Twenty trebuchet on the opposite side threw a burning mass that once it hit the ground, spattered into a liquid that burnt a large area. Trebuchets were only used in this kingdom because the others lacked the skill to make theirs. The second army then withdrew from the trebuchet location. The enemy's army at the frontline was in a disarray. A stampede was observed. "Now target the flaming areas." The general said. The six armies (3rd -8th) rode uniformly to the range of the arrows, shot five of them and made a u turn back. The enemy's front line was in a mess. They could not stay in place to defend the arrows because they were wary of the trebuchets. "First army. Attack." The general said. A force of 5000 of the swiftest riders armed with bows attacked the enemy at a distance but did not retreat immediately. Instead, they kept up with the continuous volleys. The enemy's army was in a disarray for a few more minutes before they organized themselves. The first army continued with their volley of arrows. They began experiencing some counter fire. The enemy was now standstill. "Second army. Next volley." The General said. The trebuchets had been wheeled away by horses to another location. In an instant, different locations within the frontlines where the elephants were, got struck. The same chaos was caused but this time, on a much larger scale because controlling frightened elephants was not a simple task. Screams were heard as the enemy was trampled on. "First army, retreat. The six armies attack." The General said. Arrows rained on the frontlines causing massive casualties. However, the rest of the enemy's army was fine. Only about 20% of the enemy's army was at the front, the rest were far from the range of arrow attacks. The trebuchets range was limited to give the enemy a false sense of security. "First army attack." The general said. They went and shot all their arrows and retreated. The enemy was now frustrated. "What are you idiots doing?" stop running away. The commander of the war elephants said. The Lokain's army at the frontline was now running wild all over the place. "Those fires they are throwing will be dangerous. The only way to ensure that we are not defeated is to attack." He said on top of the war elephant. "Listen to me soldiers. We have never spent more than two hours conquering a castle in the last two years. It is not going to start today. Attack." The commander said. The various groups in Lokain's army began full on sprinting toward the Orthonians. There was a reason why the Orthonians marched in a narrow pathway to attack with the various arrows. That reason, the Lokain army came to find out about it. "Arghh. Help me! Please don't!" screams were heard all around. The Orthonian army had retreated a few meters back and they could see what was happening. Traps were set throughout the battlefield. Horses had broken legs. Various people had fallen into pits. It was difficult to stop the momentum hence most of the casualties were self-inflicted. "Second army now!" the general shouted. The trebuchets which had once again shifted position began firing. The frontline of the Lokain army collapsed. Casualties were so high that the other Lokain commanders who had not moved their troops began to get worried. "That fool. Always in such a hurry. Now look at the mess." The commander of the archers in the Lokain force said. Within a few minutes of this fighting, the army at the frontline numbering over 30,000 were annihilated."Retreat! Retreat!" the general shouted. The eight armies numbering 5000 each began to move away. The other Lokain armies did not move from their original position. Each army was headed by their own commanders and they had the say on what their military would and would not do. Franz was now laughing at the situation. "I heard the general of Orthon was crafty but this is something else. Maybe we should invite him to join our ranks." Commander Franz said out loud. "General what should we do now?" Roy asked. "Nothing. Our aim is to buy time. From now they will be wary of us and not attack." The General answered. "Can we repeat the same attacks again?" Roy asked. "No! This was the final attack but they do not know that." The General said.Hour two. It was now night time. Both armies are alert. Franz looks at his fellow commanders and wonders. "Do you think they can repeat such a performance?" he asked. The other commanders answered that they could. "Hmm. Why did they leave the safety of the walls? It does not make any sense. This general would not make such a mistake." Franz said. "Yes indeed. I was planning on seeing the wall destroyer in action." "Yes, me too. It has been a long time almost five years ago since we used that." The opinions of commanders flew around. "So that is why they moved to the side of the castle and started fighting hahaha." Franz said while grinning. "My soldiers are beginning the march immediately." Franz said. "Are you crazy? You want to fight them?" A commander asked. "No. we are going to bypass them immediately and start climbing the walls." Franz said as he left. There were six armies in Lokain. Each commander had a troop of 30,000-50,000 under them. Franz army specialized in archery. "Tell everyone we are heading towards the castle wall immediately." Franz ordered his subordinate. In a few minutes, the army began to move towards the city bypassing the Orthonians that were standing by. "Retreat at full speed inside the castle walls." The General said. Perhaps this was because of his long military career that he was able to determine what the enemies were up to. The gate entrance was always near the general's army and the Lokain army was heading to another section of the wall. They likely meant to climb over it.