Zachania (59 page)

Kraal nodded at
Talon just as he saw a group of scouts return.

“My Lord the
encampment is just beyond those hills.”

“Are they ready
for battle?” asked Kraal

“They are aware
of us, we have seen them making barricades, everyone who was
outside is now inside the encampment.”

“So they are
going to sit and wait for us, hoping that we cannot breach their
walls.” replied Kraal turning to Talon.

“They are
mistaken.” snapped Talon sounding full of confidence to Kraal
before turning back to the scout party leader.

“Did you
calculate their numbers?” asked Talon.

“It is
difficult to say correctly my Lord but I would surmise that number
between ten and fifteen thousand.”

“As I expected
it.” replied Talon.

“Fifteen
thousand is an impressive number my Lord, especially if they are
preparing for a siege.” replied Kraal.

Talon nodded
and then looked up at the sky.

“Come we will
eat and prepare.” he said tapping Kraal on the arm.

“Have men
posted on all of those hills, if they see one Imperial soldier
leave that camp then I want to hear of it immediately.” Talon added
to one of the commanders.

As the morning
sun broke over the horizon, Talon rode proudly before his men, he
smiled to himself as he saw the columns of Zachanian soldiers ready
and eager for combat, Talon then dismounted his horse and told two
soldiers to come over to him and form their shields together so
that Talon could stand on them. Talon climbed onto the shields and
three more soldiers aided in carrying him and hoisting him high up
into the air, Talon stood motionless with his hands on his hips as
the soldiers paraded him before the army. The warriors then began
to knock their swords against their shields as the roar of
Zararhakzar sang out, Talon then raised his arm and moments later
the field fell into silence.

Talon paused as
he looked upon the faces of the men, he could see their adulation
for him, and a moment later he began to address them

“Brave
warriors…… Brave Zachanian’s …….for your King…..for the house of
Heikan…and for your blood, I ask you to fight today with steel in
your hands, with hunger in your eyes……..and with revenge in your
hearts…. Now today, we show Kratos……..today we show Kratos the
wrath of the Zachanian!”

Talon then
pulled his sword and pointed it into the air.

“DEATH TO THE
EMPIRE! ………..VICTORY AND NOTHING ELSE!” Shouted Talon as the army
before him all pulled their own swords and shouted victory at the
top of their voices.

Talon jumped
from the shields and got back onto his horse, he then gave Kraal a
nod and the march began.

“The men look
like they have fire in their bellies.” Kraal commented as the army
passed before them.

Talon smiled
back at him, today felt like victory to him, he felt confident and
could not wait for the battle to begin.

The Empires
encampment lay in open countryside, Talon was aware that the Empire
knew they were coming so surprise was not an option for him but one
thing Talon wanted to make work for him was the dense undergrowth
that lay to the east of the camp. The bushes and long grass would
help shield his Zachanian warriors and Talon knew it was a mistake
for the Empire to allow such growth to get out of control so close
to their camp.

Talon gave the
order for three thousand of his men to crawl into the undergrowth.
They would wait with their bows ready to launch a devastating
attack once ordered to do so. Once the men were in position Talon
led the remaining army into an advanced position stopping at the
last hill before the camp.

“If we cross
this hill Lord Talon we will be in their eyesight.” Kraal snapped
as they ground to a halt. Talon dismounted his horse and walked
towards the hill where he saw the camp for the first time with his
own eyes.

“I see six
huts, we should focus our attack on them, once the huts are
breached they will fall back behind the centre walls.”

“We will have
to breach the first wall before we breach the huts Lord Talon”
added Kraal

“We will begin
the attack there.” Talon pointed.

“Have the
archers concentrate their aim at that point, there is little cover
there, once we have them on the retreat then I will attack with
three thousand of our army.” Talon added.

“You are
leading the attack Lord Talon.” asked Kraal shocked.

“Yes” Talon
replied smiling.

Kraal stiffened
before replying.

“I must protest
Lord Talon, you are the commander of the field ……..commanders do
not partake in personnel combat.”

“This one
does.” Talon replied before then turning to look over his
shoulder.

“It is time.”
he then added before giving the signal for the archers to attack,
moments later the sky darkened as thousands of arrows were
unleashed, Kraal jumped to his feet and quickly ordered one of his
men to instruct the archers where to concentrate their aim, he then
turned back to Talon and was shocked to see that Talon had already
left and was busy leading the men towards the camp. Talon ordered
the men to wait as the arrows continued to bombard the
encampment.

The arrows
smashed into the compound exactly where Talon had instructed, and
moments later the Imperial soldiers ran for cover allowing Talon
and his men the opportunity to breach the wall.

Talon led the
men to attack a large wooden door that the Imperial soldiers had
retreated from, when the archers stopped then instructed four of
his men to destroy the door with large heavy axes.

Talon could
feel his heart pounding as he waited for the door to break, he knew
within moments he and his men would be within the encampment, then
he steadied himself as he saw the door begin to split, four more
strikes and it was destroyed.

Talon shouted
‘attack’ and ran into the grounds with his men, inside the walls he
found the Imperial soldiers in a state of panic; they were running
in all directions.

Talon then led
some of the men into a nearby hut which was one of the many
soldiers sleeping quarters. He could see that they were trying to
barricade the doorway but Talon and his men now crazed with the
frenzy of battle entered the hut easily, inside they encountered
around a hundred Imperial soldiers, Talon killed at least five of
them as fighting was breaking out everywhere.

Moments later
screams were coming from everywhere as the camp was full of
Zachanian warriors, the Imperial soldiers were being massacred,
they were trying to fight but they were no match for the
Zachanian’s.

When Talon
walked back outside he saw that the whole camp was now swamped with
his Zachanian’s, Kraal was now inside the walls and was shouting
orders to some of his men to attack a large group of Imperial
soldiers who were trying to get into the Fort at the centre of the
encampment but the gates of the Fort were firmly shut.

“ARCHERS!”
Kraal shouted instructing his men to fire.

“Lord Talon,
the outside area will soon be secure.” Kraal told Talon.

“Burn the
huts!” Talon ordered.

“Lord Talon
shall I order our men to attack the Fort”.

“Not yet Kraal,
secure this area first and then bring in the archers, have them
light their arrows with fire, let’s see if we can get them to come
out to us.”

Kraal then
walked off to carry out more orders as Talon retreated to a nearby
hut where he found a bucket of water and began to wash off some of
the blood from his hands and face.

The Zachanian
archers who had been hiding in the undergrowth soon moved into
position, where Talon walked over to Kraal and patted him on the
back.

“Are we ready?”
he said.

“Yes my
Lord.”

“Good attack
the Fort.”

Then a volley
of burning arrows was sent flying, arrow after arrow was unleashed,
Talon could see fires breaking out inside the Fort and he knew that
the Imperial soldiers could not stay in there for much longer.

Inside the Fort
the Imperial soldiers were trying frantically to put out the fires
that were now beginning to burn out of control, men were dropping
as they choked on the smoke and they quickly realised that they
could not hide any longer, the order was given to open the gates
and fight the Zachanian’s and fight for their lives.

What followed
was a brutal and bloody battle as thousands of men began to fight
in hand to hand combat, at first the Imperial soldiers made a real
stand of the fight, they took many Zachanian life’s but the
Zachanian spirit soon became too much for them, if the Empire
killed one Zachanian then five Furious warriors took their place.
By weight of numbers and sheer aggression Talon and his Zachanian
warriors ground out a bloody and brutal victory.

After a few
hours and when the fires died down, Talon walked wearily amongst
the carnage, he could hear the cries of injured men mixed with
boasts and jubilation, it was a surreal sight as men all around
were pushed to all extremes of their emotions.

“We have won
the day my Lord.” Kraal said as he walked over covered in blood but
with a look of exhaustion on his face.

“We have lost
many good men today Kraal.” Talon replied as he looked upon the
twisted and mutilated bodies of his fellow Zachanian’s.

“True, they put
up a good fight but it is better to lose men and win than to lose
men and fail.”

Talon gave
Kraal a slight smile, it was all he could muster as like everyone
else Talon was drained both physically and emotionally, today was a
winning day but this first real taste of battle did not fill Talon
with enthusiasm, this was just the beginning and he knew that he
would walk across many more battlefields littered with dead
Zachanian warriors before this war was won.

On the
Zachanian side of Death Valley the newly named Fort Arun was
growing by the day, at first it was a few tents but now it had
walls under construction and wooden buildings being built. King
Arun had brought in builders from his hometown of Zachra and had
told them to build a formidable war-base for his council to
use.

Nearby the
tents were still standing in true Zachanian fashion, the
Zachanian’s were experts in tent building, it was a talent they
first learnt centuries ago when the Empire invaded Zachania. When
the Zachanian’s ran to the hills and lived day by day ready to move
at a moment’s notice, this trade had been passed down by father to
son and over the years they had adapted this art where some of the
tents were better than most people homes.

King Arun’s
tent at Death Valley was huge; it had six bedrooms and a large
meeting room where he could hold meetings with his council.

In the map room
the King was busying himself going over some newly drawn maps as he
waited for the council meeting to begin, when he was called he made
his way into the meeting room where all the Lords were already
seated including Lord Heikan who had travelled back from
Vilsillius, the wizards Ganasis and Zumal were also present.

King Arun took
his seat and smiled at the Lords and then addressed Heikan
first.

“Welcome
gentlemen, Lord Heikan have we any word from Talon? It has been six
days since he left you at Vilsillius; this silence has got me
concerned.”

Lord Heikan
stood up and replied sternly.

“Sire, the men
who are with Talon are of the finest calibre, I have no concerns
whatsoever, if we have not heard anything from Lord Talon then that
is because he is occupied killing the Empire.”

“Heikan my
question was not to question the quality of your men but was a
query for information.” King Arun snapped back and then gazed
across at Ganasis to see if he wanted to add anything, Ganasis took
the hint and took over.

“I fully
understand your concern my King but Talon is very familiar with the
regions of the south-west, we have no one better who knows where
the Empires strengths and weaknesses are, Varanasa and the various
other small outpost’s along the western coastline should not pose
too much of a problem, however I would have grave concerns if Talon
pushed on to Tallasian.”

“Talon will not
attack Tallasian, we discussed this.” added Lord Heikan.

Lord Tanaga
then decided to speak as all this talk of Tallasian was unfamiliar
with him

“What is so
important about Tallasian?” he asked showing his naivety on the
subject.

“The Empire are
strong in Tallasian, Talon took ten thousand men with him from
Vilsillius, if he went to Tallasian he would be outnumbered ten to
one.” replied Ganasis.

“By the gods!
Surely he is not going to go up against that!” snapped King Arun
showing his deep concern.

“Sire we must
act now! If we are not sure that Talon will attack Tallasian then
we must send more warriors there immediately.” Lord Tanaga
pleaded.

Sitting quiet
and listening was Talon’s Grandfather Lord Zalon, he was growing
more and more agitated with how the conversation was going, finally
when he could hold his silence no more he rose and banged his fist
hard onto the table.

“I tell you
now!…..and I will say this only once!…my Grandson will not take
matters into his own hands, he was asked to conquer the south-west
and that is exactly what he will do. We have no proof that he is
marching or even thinking about attacking Tallasian, you sit here
Tanaga comfortable and question my Grandsons integrity, he is in
the battlefield spilling blood and back home his kin spill words of
his loyalty”

“ZALON!” the
King then snapped which sobered the Lord immediately.

“Remember you
are a member of the council now, where is your reserve?” the King
added which made Zalon nod an apology before he sat back down.