text stringlengths 0 41.4k |
|---|
Placing down the figures representing our infantry, cavalry and skirmishers I saw how he had purposely placed the infantry to the south east, followed by the cavalry directly to their north. "I have full faith in our men-at-arms keeping formation in open terrain but if we have to go through something like those ruins o... |
Seeing a similar expression of agreement mirrored across all of the other commanders I felt somewhat more confident in my own assessment. The infantry had come a long way since we had initially created them out of pilgrims and volunteers but the previous months had done a lot of damage to their coherence. We had lost m... |
"A feint." Falid rumbled. "To draw their forces out." |
Carodus nodded, placing the skirmisher marker down in front of the infantry marker and adding another marker representing the enemy directly into the ruins themselves. "Correct me if I’m wrong but our overall mission here is to defeat that ugly fucker I saw today. Everything else is secondary." |
Again there was a series of nods throughout the abandoned tavern and the mood was growing even more sombre. I doubted that there was anyone, present or otherwise who were doubting their chances in the coming days and what stakes we were playing for. We may had lost many over the previous months but those who had stayed... |
"Our infantry draws them out. I would bet that as soon as they see us advancing that they’re going to throw everything they have at us. We advance until we get attacked, trying to use our archers to whittle them down somewhat but as soon as we get engaged that will be the best time to really attack." |
"I like the plan Carodus, but you have put our cavalry into the forest there." |
The veteran legionary grinned fiercely, making a point to look from Alexi and his questioning expression to the other knights in the room. "Yeh, I did. It might be a bit difficult but are you all going to tell me that those woods aren’t traversable by horses?" |
There was no doubt from the grins he received from the likes of Stavond in particular. Even though I was more used to being dismounted myself, my own experience as a forester finding paths for the Legion’s horsemen left me knowing what he was getting at. It would be difficult and require several hours to get into posit... |
"These guys have no scouts and are relying on the fact that there is about a kilometre at least of open ground to respond to any attacks so we give them an attack that they will think is legitimate. We send the infantry, skirmishers and light cavalry to attack and draw them out, and then we hit them in the flanks with ... |
I watched as he moved the figures about, the marker for the knights shifting and attacking the ruins from the east and as the enemy unit came into contact with the infantry he moved the light cavalry down and attacked with them from the south. |
"To really sell this though we will need someone in particular to be leading the light cavalry." |
All eyes followed his own to the young man standing opposite me and Caleb nodded. "Umaril is there and his eyes will be solely on me. I have a feeling that as soon as he knows that I am present everything is going to be thrown in my direction." |
"The legends say how he was never one for direct confrontations and seemed to prefer to let his minions do the fighting." Alexi stated simply. "Let’s hope that four thousand years in Oblivion hasn’t changed his bad habits." |
"And that the legends were accurate." I could feel my own anxieties of commanding slowly ebbing away, however they were steadily being replaced with a sensation that I knew was shared by everyone around me. It was a strangely familiar sensation of impending battle and my adrenaline was already beginning to flow through... |
The giant traded a glance with his equally enormous comrade, Morihe who fixed me with a cold stare and a warm grin. "Thirteen knights, eighty-six men-at-arms. Exactly." |
While she may have had the appearance of a bookish monk or innkeeper, the ex-Extraordinarii champion was as cold as a block of ice and yet eager at riding to battle once again. "Thirty-two light cavalry, and forty-eight knights including yourself." |
Although the prospect of going to battle was strangely exciting, especially the yearning for blood within my mind due to my vampirism the idea of doing such on the back of Trygve was not as attractive. While the fact that I would have preferred to fight with my boots on the ground was greatly preferred, it wasn’t visib... |
"A hundred and thirty men-at-arms and if I recall all the scouts we will have thirty skirmishers, mostly archers. We’ll be able to give them a bloody nose, that’s for certain." |
Mathematically the coming battle was almost pure insanity. We were outnumbered by almost a third of our total strength with a mismatched band of highly trained knights and partially trained militia against a foe of unknown quality supported by daedra and lead by literally one of the most powerful beings to have ever wa... |
The overall battle plan had been crudely decided upon but it was not the end of our planning. For several more hours until the early hours of the morning we continued discussing and planning, some of us putting ourselves into the mind of the enemy to determine how they would react or act to our presence and attack and ... |
By the time that we finally retired, dawn was only a few hours away and yet I didn’t sleep for very long at all. The tension of the coming battle and the preparation needed for such an event was eating into my very soul and like it had over the previous months and even years I was restless and edgy. The abandoned villa... |
As I moved through the village I saw that I wasn’t the only one filled with nerves at the coming battle. For many this will have been the first time they had seen combat, for others simply another number to add to their memories of blood and death. With a glance I could pick out which people belonged to each group. The... |
Somewhat surprisingly there was a large number who were preparing themselves more than those who were busy considering their own mortality and almost everywhere I looked the Order of the Nine and the Order of Talos were readying themselves. A line had already formed near the blacksmith’s wagon with its portable forge a... |
While not as effective as legion tower shields, the procured kite shields from Skingrad provided an effective mix of protection and durability without encumbering those carrying them into battle. Other than the shields there was very little at all that united the men-at-arms in terms of uniform. There hadn’t been enoug... |
Yet despite what they were lacking I had no concerns about these men and women going into battle, as they were certainly not lacking determination, courage and morale. As I moved through them in search of one particular individual I could hear crudely made jokes and laughter, that while nervous in most cases was a clea... |
My particular target had set up his temporary home on the outskirts of the camp as he habitually did. Like most travelling with us he had a very limited amount of personal possessions and it was a little surprising when I finally reached him to see that for the most part he had packed everything away. |
"Isn’t there some kind of bad luck for a priest to leave on the eve of battle?" I joked as I walked over to where he stood, placing a pair of dog-eared books into a saddle bag while whistling a legion marching song. |
"There is, but you forget that I’m not a real priest." Saccinus smiled as he finished buckling the bag closed and the whistling tune faded into the morning air. "I also doubt that the Eight and One would let something like bad luck get in the way of such an endeavour." |
"When are you leaving?" |
"Soon. Very soon." He replied, bending down slowly and picking up a smaller bag that from the sound contained some kind of waterskin that sloshed about. "I had intended on leaving yesterday but with all the excitement I thought it would be best not to excite the guards or scouts wandering about the wilds." |
"You’ve chosen an interesting time and place to leave." |
Nodding, there was still the hint of a smile as he placed the last few items into the saddlebag on his dejected looking mule. "Hammerfell is only a day away to the north and you and your comrades have no need for an old man like me in what is to come." The smile grew bigger and he seemed to look off into the distance a... |
Giving me a glance, he nodded and turned back to his bags, patting a few of them as he searched for something. "Many of the others have already come and said their goodbyes so don’t be concerned that I’m simply running off into the wilds." |
"You know; most people would be concerned about letting you go off on your own." |
"Why? Because I’m old?" Saccinus barked with laughter and grinned fiercely. "I’m old, yes but I’m not dead. I know that you worry about wolves and the like but I think I might be too tough and gristly to make a decent meal." |
"Thanks for everything." I said simply as he finished fishing about in one of the bags and began shuffling over to me. "None of this would have been possible without you." |
"Without me? Kaius, without you none of this would have been possible. I am just an old fool who read enough books to see things how they really were. You and Viconia and all of the others here; you are all much more important that I." he walked over to me holding a tiny leather pouch sealed with a piece of string and ... |
"What is it?" I asked, taking the tiny pouch and loosening the string. |
"Just a token of the tough young hero I used to be." He said with a smile as I opened the pouch and poured the contents into the palm of a hand. A single gold coin with a hole punched through the centre was attached to a leather loop and I could see how the coin was very, very old. "I’ve had that coin with me a long ti... |
The coin itself didn’t appear as much but the fact that it was gold alone meant it was worth quite a bit. While the hole in the centre may have reduced how much it was truly worth there was the weight of sentimentality about it. |
"Thank you. I think I’ll need a lot of luck with what’s in store for me." |
"Ha! With even half the things you have done lad you shouldn’t have any issues." Our hands clasped together and I could feel the ancient strength in his limbs from his own lifetime of fighting. There was no doubting the friendliness of his smile as well as he shook my hand and we said our goodbyes. |
"Novem benedicat tibi." I said to him as he turned, gathering the reins of his mule and beginning to move towards the forest’s edge near the abandoned village. "Take care Wulf." |
"And the Nine bless you Kaius." The piercing gaze of his bright blue eyes met mine for one last time as he waved, and I watched as he led his mule away, disappearing into the greenery as though he had never existed. |
The morning air was cold, flowing through the grass around my armoured knees as I knelt with dew and sweat soaking my clothes. My cloak was wrapped around me tightly, hood over my head but for the moment my helmet was clasped down on my side out of the way as I watched the ruins below. It was peaceful and serene but it... |
Behind me, hidden within the vegetation of the forest awaited every knight from the Order of the Nine and the Black Knights of Talos. I knew that if I turned I might have been able to pick them out with my supernatural senses but for those hundreds of beings occupying the ancient Ayleid fort of Garlas Malatar there wou... |
It was impossible not to feel nervous at what was happening. I was in command of over two hundred souls in a battle that hung in the balance before it even commenced and this was even before the usual pre-battle jitters that turned bowels to water and left hands shaking. I may have fought numerous times, especially in ... |
No amount of vampiric might or esoteric abilities would allow me to face the dread being down in the ruins, let alone the hundreds of mortal and daedric followers he had at his disposal. Carodus’ spyglass was again proving its worth as I watched the ruins and for signs of our impending attack, and I had caught glimpses... |
The first signs that anything was amiss was a sudden slowing of activity within Garlas Malatar, followed by a surge of anxious movement as those who had not yet awoken were startled into activity and those that already were began rushing about. From the distance it truly did resemble an anthill as people poured out of ... |
It also wasn’t hard to see the source of their alarm, even without the use of Carodus’ spyglass. Several kilometres to my south an almost pathetically small group was marching over the gentle slopes towards the ruins in what was undoubtedly a battle formation. Arrayed in ranks four deep and followed up by a small colle... |
Hundreds of elves were shifting through the ruins, flowing out along the roads and as I watched they too began arraying themselves for battle. They formed up in a single block of troops much like the Order’s, their golden armour glittering in the sun and I watched with interest through the spyglass. Guessing their numb... |
What was even more concerning was the additional support that they had at their command. Even before the formation of armoured mortals had finished taking their positions their supernatural allies were already on the move. Unmistakable from their sheer size and the way their golden flesh-armour glittered unnaturally in... |
My time in Vvardenfell’s legion and the previous month’s experience had provided me with better knowledge than most regarding Oblivion and its denizens but the Atronachs moving into a skirmishing line between the two armoured formations were unfamiliar to me. That they were like the light Atronachs we had fought in the... |
There was one single detail that left me grinning fiercely as I gazed over the ranks of our assembled foes and the flutter of anticipation was growing stronger as they began to advance to meet the rest of the Order. With the spyglass I could see their weapons, count their ranks and determine a lot about our enemy and w... |
My grin was growing even stronger now, and I could feel my anticipation slowly overwhelming the anxiety that I had. I watched as the elves began marching forward, their ranks perfect and glittering like precious metals under the morning sun in comparison to what I could only describe as a rag-tag group cobbled together... |
"Et Novem vult!" echoed across the wind from the tiny band of soldiers and I saw weapons raised into the sky for a moment as they continued to advance. There was no hesitation that I could see in their own advance towards a greater foe, and if anything it appeared that they were almost straining to engage their foes in... |
The distance between the two forces was shrinking, even as the elvish host stopped in place a few hundred metres from the edge of the ruins. They seemed content on waiting for the Order’s attack to reach them, sitting back and waiting on the defensive with their array of Atronachs ready to absorb the first charge, and ... |
I could see a hundred or more elves still within Garlas Malatar, moving about as though gripped by panic and as far as I could determine now of them were armed in any meaningful degree. Some were dressed differently, moving about in flowing black robes with golden trim as they rushed towards the summoning circle, other... |
Metre by metre the Order advanced in good order, their ranks and shields locked together and even from such a distance I didn’t need the spyglass to see the billowing white standard, or the glowing form of Caleb mounted on his horse in the centre. There was no doubting that the elves could see the same from the way tha... |
As I lifted my fist into the air and rose to my feet, I could already see the handful of archers and hunters in front of the Order’s formation began launching their deadly projectiles at the massed ranks of the elves who immediately raised shields and locked tighter together. With my vampirism I could hear the strange ... |
From the forests behind me I heard the clanking of metal plates, the jingling of chainmail and the snorting of enormous warhorses as they were lead through the vegetation. Branches were snapped aside, shrubs and smaller trees crushed underfoot and anything smaller than a sapling was left broken and bent by the mass of ... |
From the smallest charger to the largest destrier of the Black Knights, each horse and rider were completely armoured and weighed over a tonne and they crushed their way through the forest as though it was little more than a mist or low hanging fog. Like myself, the sixty other riders were fully ready for war and my co... |
Without a word spoken Alexi moved over to me, leading his own steed and Trygve and handing over his reins. Most of the knights were dismounted to move through the forest and unlike the numerous plays and shows throughout the Empire that portrayed knights as heavy and cumbersome we all quickly climbed into our saddles w... |
As I cast my gaze over the assembled knights I couldn’t help but shiver, feeling their gazes upon me and the commencing battle on the plains. They were a swathe of colours and armours, dressed as differently to each other as their backgrounds and ye they were all united under my command against a common foe, with a com... |
"For the Nine." I said, loud enough for all to hear but not loud enough to be truly considered a battlecry before pulling down my visor with a metallic thud. |
"For the Nine!" came the reply, following quickly by a series of metallic clicks and thuds as every knight under my command with visors lowered theirs and there was jingling and scraping as we prepared ourselves. |
Everything about this moment was alien, despite the months of practice that Alexi and the others had put me through. I had trained and fought and lived as a forester, as a legionary specialised in scouting and attacking from afar and despite my own skills with a sword to fight on horseback was almost going against ever... |
It shouldn’t have been something to be comfortable with. It should have been alien and wrong and yet I rolled my shoulders, twisting my head about and looking through the single slit while listening to my breathing and the muffled sound of those around me. My heart was racing in my chest and as I held Trygve’s reins in... |
"Forward!" I called, the weight of my lance somewhat unwieldy as I lifted it into the sky, digging my heels into Trygve’s flanks and feeling him begin to move forward without hesitation. The others were close behind, moving a fraction of a second after I did and while muffled through the padded coif and helm I could he... |
By now the battle had truly begun and the distance between us seemed to stretch on to oblivion. My entire world had been reduced to nothing more than a finger wide slit across my eyes and yet it was filled with the sight of a ruin, and two forces finally engaging each other. Across the hundreds of metres separating us ... |
Moving like deformed puppets, it was the Atronachs that first moved against their enemies after being maddened by the light hail of arrows loosed from the skirmishers. Every scout had been recalled and while there hadn’t been enough time to train them to fight in the proper manner of archers they were quite effective n... |
It was impossible to remain hidden for long, even though our numbers were few the sight of so many heavily armoured cavalry emerging from the forest was impossible not to notice and the bells in the ruins began ringing once more. Those remaining in Garlas Malatar had seen us within seconds and were doing their best to ... |
In a charge so fierce that we could hear it over the clanking of armour and the thudding of hooves the Atronachs smashed into the men-at-arms and the sounds of death and dying was all too easy to hear. Their role completed, the scouts had fled back through the ranks of the Order’s formation with seconds to spare before... |
Whoever was in command of the elves seemed oblivious to the threat that myself and the knights represented, even as we urged our horse into a canter towards them. The bells within the ruins were soon joined by horns echoing their haunting notes of warning into the skies but it was growing too late for the enemy. More a... |
So effective it seemed that the elven commander did something that struck me as ridiculous even as I watched it unfold. With over a thousand metres between us and the enemy I saw how the first two ranks of the elven shieldwall suddenly fractured and rushed forward with a roar, and in a display of superb discipline and ... |
I had no doubt that my own grin was being mirrored under the layers of metal, leather and cloth of those knights around me at the sight of the enemy splitting their force in two. Under me, Trygve was straining, his power and might held in check only by his own discipline, generations of selective breeding for this one ... |
This was what we had spent months training for, practicing and riding and spending hours not just learning how to correctly utilising lances and fight from the saddle but how to correctly hold a formation. This was what separated knights from other cavalry throughout the empire, even horsemen as superb as Extraordinari... |
In two ranks of thirty we rode armoured knee to armoured knee and covered an area just less than sixty metres wide. Although I was mostly blind and deaf to the other rank, I knew from our practice that they were no more than ten metres behind us; enough space to be able to react to a fallen rider but not enough space t... |
Part of the trick of such a charge was timing it. Even across perfectly flat and open ground, breaking the horses into a gallop across the entire distance would break the formation and tire out our steeds. They were not bred for endurance or for speed, and so we waited, continuing on at a canter until the distance betw... |
My breath was huge and deafening within my helm, my sight limited to the strip of light which was now almost entirely filled with a formation of foes bracing for us and yet I couldn’t help but grin with a mouth growing a pair of fangs. I could feel every jolt of Trygve’s hooves into the ground, the shuddering of his ar... |
A single horse and rider was enough to be felt from a hundred metres away in the soles of the boots. |
A dozen was enough to be felt in the guts. |
Sixty knights with raised lances charging right at you would have been enough to be felt in the very soul. |
"Et Novem vult!" I roared, the sound metallic and muffled and yet powerful in the confines of my helm and I dug my heels into Trygve’s sides. His canter was suddenly gone and I felt the surge of power flow through his body as without hesitation he broke into a gallop. |
Every other knight added their own voices into the battlecry, digging their own heels in and having their steeds begin galloping within a split second of mine. My knees were still bouncing, almost painfully off my companions but the distance was now too short for the formation to truly splinter apart, and so we let our... |
I had been close to the knights over the past months as they trained, seeing and feeling the might of galloping warhorses in close proximity but I could not have imagined what it would have been like for our foes at that moment. The sound and feeling of crashing hooves that would have been shuddering the ground itself ... |
My mind seemed to slow in those last moments as I couched my lance, bringing the steel point down and tucking the long base under my armpit where I somehow managed to place it into the hook attached to my spine. It had taken me months to do such a seemingly simple act but now I found myself looking down the enormous le... |
As one single mass of riders we struck the enemy, our lances spearing out and at the very last fraction of a second we thrust forward as one, putting all of our weight and that of our steeds and their momentum into a single powerful strike. Each single thrust had behind it over a tonne of metal and meat, and it proved ... |
Without spears or pikes there was nothing that the elvish infantry could do to stop our charge. They had no spikes to plant into the ground, no caltrops to break our charge and had instead relied on their shieldwall to fend off over ninety tonnes of armoured horseflesh and riders. We struck the centre of their formatio... |
The tip of my lance found the wide eyed expression of an elven soldier in his moonstone barbute, and I faintly registered that their shieldwall was already breaking as many of their members were turning to run. This thought was quickly washed from my mind as the lance simply punched through the elf’s face and skull wit... |
In that moment their formation was utterly shattered. We didn’t have the numbers to truly crush the entirety of their ranks but we had enough to rip their centre into bloody shreds. The survivors on the flanks we left stunned and dazed as our horses simply rode over the top of those few that hadn’t felt the bite of a l... |
With the crash of metal and meat ringing through my ears I suddenly found myself and the others beyond the broken elven formation, tasting copper on the air and feeling sweat soaking my tunic under my armour. I had expected success but this was insanity and as far as I could tell from my frantic glances around at our d... |
Dozens were dead or severely maimed from lances and hooves, but those who survived and still had the mental faculties remained counter attacked before we had a chance to regroup. It was at this point that we were at the most vulnerable, where the shock of impact and our formation broken from the charge and even though ... |
"Kaius! The Aurorans!" |
I couldn’t tell who the shout belonged to but their warning was more than enough. Towards the ruins and in response to our charge the Aurorans were now joining the fray, stomping their way across the open field with long powerful strides that were comparable to the speed of our horses. |
Bent, cracked and coated with gore and jellied brains my lance was thrown into the face of a screaming elf as the survivors began rushing our milling formation. They still heavily outnumbered us but I ripped Sunchild from its shealth and drew a circle in the sky. "Divide!" |
Moving our horses in a steady trot the first and second ranks began fighting their way through the growing numbers of elves as they charged us but there was little they could do to stop us. The knights of the second rank and those few within the first rank that still contained unbroken lances immediately galloped free ... |
We had practiced this moment, knowing full well that the seconds after such a charge was where we were most vulnerable and even as I began to hack and slash at the encroaching soldiers in their moonstone plate I watched as a large majority of our heavy cavalry broke free. Even the strongest of knights and the most heav... |
This was also where Trygve had been truly bred for and I barely even had to guide or command him to act in such a situation. He had been trained for this, bred for this through the Nine knew how many generations and war and battle was a part of him as much as his flesh and blood. He stamped and kicked his way through t... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.