Chapter 447: Dark Clouds

Dom could hear the enemy Ram, bashing against the reinforced gate that had been built in Pausanias’s part of the wall. They had expected to be charging out and taking the enemy from behind, with the prospect of them breaching the wall unthought off. Dom could see that if they did breach, his own forces would clearly take them out.

Dom wasn’t sure how much time had passed since the Battle had began, but the clouds were darker now and their grey was turning to black. Dom was grateful he had his helmet on, which kept some of the rain from his face, but from his high position on the tower he was more exposed than those below. The ground beneath the waiting Legionaries boots beneath him was also turning to mud, and as soon as the men began walking on it, it would become a danger within it’s own.

"Something is wrong, our information isn’t complete." Xun You muttered beside Dom as Pausanias’s orders were passed. Some Warriors were bracing the gate, whilst the others prepared themselves for the potential flood of enemies that may breach their part of the wall. Dom turned to the south and could see that a similar situation was unfolding near Huang Zhong’s gate as well. Ladders were still being pushed against the rest of the wall, and some Warriors were already pushing the Ladders back or killing their climbers.

"What do you mean?" Dom asked his Strategist, seeing that Victory must be close as the enemies were still unaware of the numbers behind his wall. Dom imagined that they felt if they could push through the wall, they could escape the Cavalry behind them. Zhao Yun and Subutai were still carving in to the rear of the enemies forces, as Dom watched them move like a snake as they moved up and down the enemy lines.

The Navy were still engaged and Dom could see the fighting amongst the enemy transport ships was fierce as more of Dom’s own ships began engaging them. He thought he could see one of his Titanaconda’s in the distance of the River, travelling towards the Battle, but after he blinked the rain from his eyes, the giant snake was gone.

"Logic would dictate that they should have attempted to retreat, to break through our Cavalry and flee. Our Cavalry would strike in to their rear and destroy the majority of them, before we recalled our men and the rest fled." Xun You explained to him. "The majority of losses in a Battle, especially with units like these, is when the loosing side flee from the engagement. Even a mighty Commander such as Subutai would struggle to keep his men engaged. There is something else at play here, and I do not think we know what that is yet."

"They will be breaching the gate soon, shall we join them?" Actumerus asked Dom, his Sabre Tooth Tiger at the bottom of the Tower shaking the rain from his thick coat.

"Shortly, our Chief Strategist has a point and I want to be here when their hand is shown." Dom replied as he squinted his own eyes, the clouds and rain making his vision struggle to even see his Cavalry in the distance now. Dom had never experienced weather like this since playing World Conquest Online and he felt that Game Support would be laughing to herself at the situation. Dom turned to Xun You to ask his thoughts, but he could see he shouldn’t be interrupted right now.

"The gate is breaking!" Actumerus stated, pointing to the gate on Pausanias’s side. He could see that the Hoplite were edging to leave their current parts of the wall to join in, but Pausanias had good control of his lines, as did his other Generals. A group of Legionaries from the second line stepped forwards to reinforce the breach location and the enemies coming through were cut down.

"Inform Pausanias that the enemies Elite Troops will be mixed in, have his own look for them to engage so they do not create openings." Xun You ordered one of his aides, who had to run down the Tower and mount a horse to pass the message on, as the Flags could not direct a message like that.

Dom could see his Legionaries in the distance engaged with the enemy, as more and more tried pushing through. There was suddenly a strike of Lightning in the distance, illuminating the background where Dom felt he could make out a large shadow in the distance. Moments later Thunder echoed through the ground as Xun You turned to Pausanias’s Tower again. The Flags were waving erratically from Pausanias’s Tower, signalling something that Dom didn’t understand, whilst a Horseman from beneath that Tower was heading towards them as pace on a Red Hare Horse.

"Signal Huang Zhong, prepare for a major assault." Xun You ordered, his tone serious as the enemies below began to pull back, those that were engaged with the Legionaries either being cut down or running.

"They are retreating?" Dom said to Xun You, the rain dripping from his helm heavily. His eyes were telling him they were about to win the Battle, but Xun You’s words had said something different to him.

"Their Vanguard has done their job, they have exposed our traps and ambushes. Our walls are breached, our Artillery strikes are finished." Xun You stated, "They prepared for the worst, their Commander or Strategist has a long vision and we should have expected so."

"Lord Xun You, Lord Xun You!" A voice trailed from below the Tower, as the Horseman from Pausanias’s Tower had arrived. His footsteps could be heard as he headed up the Tower. Dom recognised the Warrior immediately, Centurion Hector was the Titanaconda Commander and should be with Ling Tong right now. "Message from General Ling Tong!"

....

Zhao Yun and his men had continued to carve through the enemies, his arm muscles tight as he stabbed repeatedly, before pulling his unit away, allowing Masistius and his men to take point. The rain was heavy and the ground was being churned up by the enemy dead and the feet of his horses.

The enemy had turned to fight them as they had slowly approached the wall themselves, but they hadn’t ran as he had expected. Subutai was further behind and had kept his own forces disengaged, holding his arrows back so he didn’t injure his own forces. Zhao Yun intended to head towards his Commander and leave the rest of the battle to Masistius. The sky had darkened more than it should have, the dark clouds blocking out most of the sun with the sounds of thunder striking in the distance.

The ground was rumbling and at first Zhao Yun felt it was from the sounds of his own Cavalry, but it was heavier and deeper than he expected. He halted his horse, his honour guard stopping around him as his own forces continued under their own Sub-Commanders. He put his hand in the air for silence as one of his men went to ask him something. He closed his eyes, trying to hear through the fighting and the rain, another sound entering his ears from the west. His eyes pinged open as he turned towards where he could see Subutai in the distance, the two of them locking eyes across the battlefield as if they had realised the same thing at the same time.

Subutai reacted quickest, a horn sounding from one of his Archers as he turned west and charged towards the new threat. Zhao Yun closed his eyes, breathing heavily as Thunder struck again. Within the thunder the sound of a horn could be heard, the enemies they had been fighting suddenly dropping their weapons and running, as if they had been waiting for this signal with baited breath the entire time.

.....

Gan Ning charged through the enemy camp, setting fire to every tent they came across, as his own Warriors either struck down the exposed enemies that came to fight them or lit fires of their own. The enemy Camp was huge, almost the size of Riverside, with sub districts of the different armies that had gathered. Gan Ning wasn’t sure where they had all come from, or why they were heading towards the Lazarus Kingdom, but he intended to gather as much information as possible as they charged through and caused chaos.

"General, are you sure?" Chariovalda asked from beside him, still thinking back to an earlier conversation they had earlier.

"I have never fought one myself, but I have read the stories. The Tribesmen from the South West of my home used to ride them to Battle. These giant creatures, with ivory tusks that could impale a man, could charge through a battleline and destroy an army." Gan Ning replied, as his torch caught another tent as he charged past.

The enemy had raised the alarm that someone was attacking their camp, but Gan Ning’s small number allowed them to be quick and strike before the enemies could react. Chariovalda had recommended that they do not attack, the enemy camp was too vast. But Gan Ning was adamant that they see what information they could find and that the enemy would be fighting against their army regardless and not defending the camp.

"Command tent over there General!" One of the Batavi shouted, his powerful figure and horse charging to the far left of Gan Ning, the red feather noticeable in the Germanic Warriors long black hair.

"You heard the man!" Gan Ning replied loudly, his unit flanking to the left through the enemy camp, a path of carnage and Warriors chasing after them in the rear.

"We need to leave soon or we will be surrounded." Chariovalda warned from beside him, their unit continuing to follow them as they did so.

"I know." Gan Ning grumbled, no further in knowing who the enemy was other than they were much larger than they had believed. They had expected half of the number this camp could hold at most, and whilst the units he had seen seemed to be from those they were expecting, there was other noticeable sections that outlined thing that weren’t in Ling Tong’s report.

.....

Zhao Yun had signalled Masistius and Megabyzus to follow him, the two thousand plus Cavalry in a Wedge formation, ready to charge at the enemy who were approaching. The ground shook as the enemies front line appeared as Zhao Yun tried to hide his own fears from the Warriors around them. Masistius was beside him, seemingly was less worried than he was.

"If we can scare them, they will charge through their own lines and cause more chaos." Masistius commented, his own spear ready as he looked to the south of them.

Subutai was already charging, his warriors shouting as they came, arrows in their bows. Zhao Yun was grateful that Subutai had paused in the Battle earlier to conserve arrows, as now was the best use of them. Subutai was followed by around four hundred Horse Archers, both his Female Horse Archers and his new heavily armoured arrivals.

"Strike for their ankles, strike for their eyes. Keep your horses safe, get through them and strike the enemies behind." Masistius shouted, his voice travelling across the giant wedge of Warriors behind him. "Concentrate on your first charge and passing. Allow the Archers to cause chaos."

"Once we are through, we flank south and repeat what we did earlier!" Zhao Yun took over, "We will make the enemy regret striking for our home. Once they reach the wall, our Infantry will destroy them. Let’s not let them have too much fun though, let’s take as many as possible and make their journey to Eruthros their last!"

Zhao Yun paused for a moment, allowing the rain to fall around him for a moment. He looked towards his men, some who had fought beside him since his youth under Gongsun Zan and then Liu Bei afterwards.

"Charge!" He bellowed.