War For The Kingdom (Part 16)

[dupuy 318]

Sir Gavin sat waiting for the distant sound of yelling voices and crashing steel that he expected to hear at any moment. Still lying on the ground with his cavalry behind him, he continued to listen to the nonchalant conversations of  the handful of enemy soldiers in front of him. Through the trees, he could barely see their black-clad forms as they moved amongst each other, walking the perimeter of their encampment. He could also see a number of large tents, as well as several towering cloth pavilions. This would be the perfect place to attack and an extremely vulnerable point of the enemy's position. Sir Gavin hoped that he could cause great alarm to the enemy force by his attack, thus drawing a number of dark soldiers off of the field officer's front. His ultimate goal was to confuse the Dark Lord's army of several hundred thousand with his comparatively minuscule group of ten thousand cavalry and the field officer's ten thousand infantry until the main royal force from the capital arrived to assist them. Before he could do anything, though, he had to have some confirmation that the field officer's infantry had engaged.

After another few minutes of waiting, such confirmation came. An echoing shout rang through the trees, immediately followed by legions of yelling voices. The enemy guards before Sir Gavin's force stopped their patrol and listened for a moment before frantically running in the direction of the sound. Only one of them remained behind to watch the camp.

Sir Gavin rose up from the ground and mounted his horse, signaling his force to do the same. After all were ready, they spurred their beasts forward and burst from the woods, shocking the single enemy guard. Sir Gavin motioned to two of the soldiers behind him to take the guard prisoner, as the man knew better than to try fighting such a force.

The cavalry moved forward, weaving between the empty tents with care, but keeping a fast pace nonetheless. They encountered very few enemy soldiers within the encampment: most of them must have been rushed to stop the field officer's advance. Sir Gavin pressed his steed faster. The sounds of battle ahead were growing louder by the second and he knew that they were close to the enemy. The tents and trees to his sides flew by with lightning speed and his horse kicked up clouds of white from the wintry ground. Finally, the last of the tents flew behind him and the enemy army lie directly ahead. Sir Gavin slammed down the visor of his heavy steel helmet and slowly lowered his lance parallel to the ground. With a unison cry of "For the Kingdom!", Sir Gavin and his men thundered into battle. Their powerful horses pounded the ground as the rear line of enemy soldiers turned just in time to receive the points of their lances. They plowed into the midst of the enemy, pushing them aside like water under a ship. Instead of water, however, this ship had to journey through a vast sea of black, which sliced and cut at it like a furious kraken.

The cavalry began to feel these cuts and slices more and more as they advanced. several of the horses near Sir Gavin reared and their riders fell into the merciless hands of the enemy soldiers. Sir Gavin's wooden lance shattered from impact against a dark warrior's armor, prompting him to switch to his sword. He battered at the foot soldiers below him, knocking many to the ground and driving many more away. Looking behind him, Sir Gavin saw that his formation was still advancing as quick as lightning. The wind in the sails of this ship was far from depleted.

As they continued onward, Sir Gavin began to catch sight of royal foot soldiers on the other side of the enemy formations. His plans had done exactly what they were intended to do. With the field officer leading the other force, he had trapped the enemy between two lines. All that he needed to do now was hold this position until the royal army marched triumphantly into the forest.

Sir Gavin felt a twinge of pain in his side which caused him to momentarily stop his sword. Looking down, he saw a tiny trickle of blood drop from a small hole in his gambeson. Suddenly, his horse neighed loudly and tried to rear, but he was able to get the animal back under control. The beast seemed in pain, however, and Sir Gavin soon found out why. Sticking from its rear haunch was an arrow from a longbow, a weapon which even the most skilled knights had learned to fear. This was likely the cause of the prick he had received in his armor. Archers were a dangerous threat - one that had to be eliminated if his cavalry were to advance with success. He turned his head back and forth, searching for the source of the projectiles until his eyes settled on a gently sloping hill about one hundred feet to his right. At its crest was a group of maybe fifty enemy longbowmen which hurled arrows down in a deadly fashion. Sir Gavin wheeled his horse in their direction and motioned for a portion of his cavalry to do the same. It was crucial that this obstacle be eliminated.

The man next to Sir Gavin screamed and fell from his horse, a bloody arrow poking through the eye slit of his visor. Another one whizzed off the side of Sir Gavin's helmet, creating a metallic chink before skittering into the snow. The hail of arrows continued, inflicting multiple casualties upon the advancing column. Sir Gavin pressed his horse to move faster. His progress towards the hill seemed to be made at a snail's crawl due to the enemy foot soldiers in his way, but finally, his squad of men reached the crest of the rise. The archers loosed their last arrows before drawing their swords, and a brutal melee began. Sir Gavin's cavalry immediately regained the advantage that they had lost at a distance, and the archers suffered massive casualties before retreating in disorder.

Sir Gavin had no time to bask in his victory. He quickly turned his horse and moved back to his main force, whose advance had finally ground to a halt. Many of his men lie sprawled upon the ground and more still were falling. Sir Gavin could not help but wonder where the royal army was.

They should have been here by now," he thought to himself. More enemy soldiers were pouring into their front, and Sir Gavin was beginning to wonder how much longer he and his force could hold out.

"Sir, they be flankin' us on th' right!" came Bartholomew's frantic voice. Sir Gavin swiveled his head towards the right flank, and the apprehension that he had begun to feel rose by tenfold. Hundreds, maybe thousands of enemy cavalry were hammering his flank, threatening to fold it and collapse the entire column. His men were fighting bravely, but against impossible odds. Now it was they, instead of the enemy, that were being mown down like grass. The enemy had recovered from the surprise attack and were beginning to use their strength in numbers with devastating effect.

Another arrow bounced off of Sir Gavin's helmet, this time from the left. Looking in that direction, he saw four or five hundred enemy archers advancing towards his other flank. Despair filled Sir Gavin as he gave a frantic order to fall back. His men began to slowly move farther from the enemy and nearer to defeat. The great and mighty ship which had confidently churned its way into the shimmering sea of black was about to sink.

[Person_Random 4,991]

Approved.

Sorry it took so long to approve - had a few other Newspaper duties and forum errors to dodge yet again. So far, I really love the description - it's very detailed and gives a clear picture of the ongoing action. I'm looking forward to more of the battle scene as we've only gotten partway into the action, so I'll be sure to rush to read the next few chapters as they come out. Can't wait for more!

Edits: very minor spelling edits.

[Iron_Man 2,376]

Must say you have a remarkable way of describing action scenes intricately which is quite rare. Excellent!

Can't wait for next chapters!