The Battle of Telmarion A collaboration between
@AndrewCooper and
@KlomsterThe march had been done as fast as possible, hurried for a march, but also slow enough to try to prevent the men from being tired when they arrived. Claus was happy when he saw the open area he had planned for on the maps, he recognized the natural earthworks and began to order his lieutenants to begin constructing stakes and gather them at the banks so other work groups could add them to the natural defense banks.
After barely an hour of working, one of the Telmarian guards approached Claus and informed.
-"Sir, a farmer from the north have approached our camp and wanted to speak to the commander of the defense force, he's already spoken to Lord Tuania... however i heard from some of the other men that you are in fact the general of this force so i thought you wanted to know."
The man was clearly a bit cloven in what to think and was visibly unsure. Claus groaned inwardly and pinched in between his eyes.
-"Thank you mister, please send the farmer to me." Claus wasn't exactly pleased with this whole ordeal, but at least this man was prudent enough to tell him.
The farmer was a rather glum looking fellow, with a bushy unkept beard and a wild gaze.
-"Please, listen the enemy army, i saw it. IT'S HUGE! And it has... it has... DEAMONS!" The farmer was frantic and incomprehensive. One of the guards spoke to Claus.
-"Sir, this is the reason why we sent him away from lord Tuania, he's clearly insane." Claus held up his palm to stop the guards from taking him away, then spoke.
-"I want to hear what he is saying. Farmer, could you describe these deamons?" While he was curteous to at least hear him out, Claus was clearly sceptical.
-"Oh yes sir lord, they are MASSIVE, much larger than a cow, they also are dark skinned and have a single arm on their head. And horns! MASSIVE HORNS!" Claus watched the man with a literal raised eyebrow and twisted lips, but politely asked.
-"So a single arm on their heads? I see, so how many... deamons, do they have?" He asked and waited for the reply.
-"I don't know... many... HUNDREDS!! They walked in rows, like when i heard the sheep. Please master lord, you must flee!" The frantic farmer finished off his rambling with grabbing Claus's cuirass and shaking, he was quickly taken away by the guards, repeatedly screaming 'you must flee' and 'the deamons', this didn't exactly raise Claus view of him.
-"I understand why Orland didn't hear him out." Claus told no one in particular.
He had barely resumed overlooking the construction when one of his scouts ran as fast as he could and fell down next to him, an arrow was sticking out of his back.
-"Trooper! Are you hurt?" Claus worriedly exclaimed. The man panted heavily before regaining his composure enough to speak with heavy breaths.
-"The arrow's just stuck in the armour, Sir, the enemy force... they have elephants! And they are much closer than expected!" Claus realised the situation and thought really hard.
Damn, the farmers description made much more sense now, Claus had envisioned some crazy two legged monster but the description made sense now, massive, dark, a single arm on the head with massive horns. A reasonable description from a person who's never seen an elephant before.
He was just going to ask the scout how far away the Manshrew army was, when a distant warning horn was called.
In the distance, a Manshrew banner fluttered and a column was seen marching towards the area.
-"DAMN! That's way closer than i expected, they are less than an hour away. TO YOUR POSITIONS!!!" Claus boomed out and grabbed his horn and sounded the call for preparing for battle. The situation turned frantic, the defences were far from finished, just a few sections of the line had stakes and the entire force began to hurriedly setting up their positions while the Manshrew army began doing the same outside archery distance. How in the world did they hide the fact they had elephants? Perhaps he deployed them far behind to hide their advance from the scouts? Perhaps it's just chance? Crafty bastard in command no less Claus had to admit. Another thing that worried Claus was the size of the Manshrew army, it was indeed large. The situation was looking more and more dire, but in the very least Claus had the better ground and there was two dips in the field that could ruin the advance of a battle line if the commander was not careful or went in between them. Funneling the force. Claus was hoping for this to happen.
Orland approached him and exclaimed.
-"The enemy army has appeared! Finally we have a chance to show them our mettle!" Orland was visibly smiling, Claus had calmed down but wasn't in the mood for smiles.
-"Just be thankful the area is so defensible, had it been a more open place on their end the enemy might have been able to attack us before we managed to set up the battle lines." Claus sternly said while studying the deployment of the Manshrew army. He couldn't really do anything to redeploy his forces to counter them though. Orland looked a bit less happy after hearing that.
Claus had set up his army along the earth banks. The areas which had spikes had archers behind them, and the rest of the line were in areas that was a bit less defensible.
The centre was comprised of the core of the skilled troops, the concord infantry with the Steel fists halberdiers forming the centre of the vanguard. To his left Orland had deployed the militia similar to Claus's vanguard, with the archers in more defensible areas.
The plan was for the militia to hold up the enemy to maximise the time the Telmarian archers could rain devastating barrages upon the enemy.
Claus was sort of confident in his ability to win this battle, sure he was outnumbered, but his defensible positions would help immensely.
Over in the distance, he could see what he guessed was the enemy commander speaking to his troops.
The armies of Manshrew, Humber and Lanistark stood united on the battlefield. Andrew stood with pride. Andrew was wearing his armour with the addition of his weapons, on his left side was a sword on his right was a shorter sword this was to allow him to dual-wield and to be more effective in battle. On his back was a circular wooden shield which bore the symbol of the House of Manshrew upon it, he used his shield to mostly block any volley fire from archers. Looking behind him to see 125,000 strong men behind him. As he looked forward to the distance he could see the banners of the two joining armies that opposed him.
The opposing army was smaller than his but Andrew knew better than to underestimate the army. However Andrew could partially see that their defences weren’t finished, if Andrew could push the enemy forces back to that location then it would make the battle a lot easier. He then evaluated the battlefield itself. The enemy had the better ground and there were two dips in the field. He could see that whoever’s army was unfortunate enough to get stuck in between those dips would make easy pickings for the archers. It wasn’t ideal for Andrew but he knew that battles had been won with worse.
Andrew looked at his own forces to evaluate them, he looked at the war elephants he must have easily had a hundred of them all heavily armoured with archers on top along with a handler to direct the each elephant. Behind the elephants stood both the Manshrew’s and the Lanistark’s infantry. Both infantry’s wore their own armour corresponding to their house. They either had a sword and a shield or a two-handed spear, this was the majority of the army which was to be primarily led by Andrew himself with the Lanistark twins in second in command. Then behind them was the cavalry which would be led by Daeron Humber himself. The soldiers had enough armour to protect them as they would stay on the horses for the battle. Andrew recalled that Daeron prided himself by claiming he had the best horses in all of Formaroth, Andrew didn’t know if this was true but he admired his respect for his own forces.
Andrew was proud to have such a force by his side, it was time for him to deliver his speech before the battle started.
“Today is a monument day for Formaroth! Today is the day that the united armies of Manshrew, Humber and Lanistark push back the Imperial Concord from Telmarion! Today we say no more!” As he raised his fist into the army the entire army cheered. The morale was high and he could tell that they were ready to battle. “When we march into battle know that not only do we have the entire alliance riding our backs but the fate of Formaroth as well! Together we will show that Manshrew Alliance stands for equality and justice for all! The men I see before stand for those very ideals and it’s an honour to fight beside you all!”
Andrew then pointed to the Concord army.
“Those men fight for the gold a man’s wallet, their bonds are only held together by the integrity of a man’s wealth, a man who claims to be the king of this land but is too afraid to stand alongside his men so he sends his attack dog instead! I know that some of you may have your doubts and some of you may not see the end of this battle! But know this all of you will live in history as heroes who stood against a tyrant and you will not be forgotten!”
Andrew was nearing the end of his speech when suddenly he heard a distant war cry as he looked he could see the Tuanian forces advancing without the rest of the concord. Andrew saw this chance to gain the upper hand and he was going to take it.
“Here is our chance! The enemy runs into battle without thought and planning and we will show them their errors with our steel!”
Andrew then signalled for the war elephants to charge in. As he did some of the elephants trumpeted and started to stampede towards the enemy. As the elephants stampeded ahead Andrew unsheathed his swords and signalled the infantry to charge in. As he did the infantry bashed their swords against their shields and started to charge as Andrew joined the infantry he too began to charge and together they unleashed a huge battle cry. The battle had begun.
In the distance Claus could hear how someone spoke to their men and loud cheers. They seem to be in high spirits, let's break it Claus smugly thought.
He was busy inspecting the battle line, jogging along to make sure he inspected every important point in the line when the sound of trumpeting elephants echoed over the field, followed by the clamour of swords banging against shields.
-"What on Formaroth... no, OH NO!!" Claus turned his head to look at the enemy, he expected them to be advancing, which they were. What had sparked his horror was that most of the militia of Orland was advancing, with many archers behind them, about two thirds of the Telmarion archers.
He could also see Orland slowly riding behind his forces with a few mounted men at arms, swords raised symbolically and held to point the way.
Claus loudly expressed some vile profanities, only a select few concord infantrymen heard what before he ran at full speed to the Steel Fist and thus the vanguard.
-"My sword!" Claus yelled, someone tossed his flamberge styled greatsword to him which he caught on the ricasso with his right hand.
His left hand was used for raising the battle horn, which he sounded a few times in the pattern for moving out.
Claus wanted to just walk away, let Orland make a fool out of himself and perish with his forces.
But he actually held a sense of honor, something he often cursed, he didn't want to send thousands of men to die without a reason if he could avoid it, also, the concord would not pay him if he just left the battle when it started to look glum.
Claus had the Vanguard move forth, he left all of the crossbowmen at their positions while bringing the entire vanguard forth.
To a passing peasant Claus could be mistaken for some sort of wrothful deity or similar, clad in shining steel armour, holding a greatsword in one hand while glaring in a way that would have some grown men running in fear.
-"MEN! We will have this day, or many will die trying. In the very least, i will have THAT ONE!!!" Claus roared while pointing at Orland with his greatsword.
-"VISOR!" He roared, one of his men put the visor of his burgonet on and fastened it with the leather strap around the helm.
As he marched he saw how the militia was setting up position in between the two dips, with archers behind. Did Orland just take the old deployment and move it forward? Had he no schooling in tactics?
In the distance, the elephants rumbled forth, the ground shook at their advance. This would not be a pretty sight.
He could see the Manshrew infantry setting up behind the two dips, waiting. Claus realized that even if he had waited he would have been forced to move in regardless.
The war elephants charged and trumpeted towards Orland's forces. The archers on top of the elephants could easily see that fear was gripping these men. Then finally the elephants stuck. Instantly the front lines of Orland's forces were being destroyed. Men were being crushed by the sheer weight of the elephant’s feet’s. Some were being impaled by the tusks, screaming and wriggling with pain. The archers on top must have seemed like angels of mercy as they fired their arrows upon the soldier’s heads. Then as Andrew was nearing battle he could see that one soldier was picked up by his feet from a trunk of one of the elephants, the elephant then proceeded to throw the soldier away. Orland's soldiers were screaming either in fear or pain. Andrew could have sworn that he heard a soldier say "Daemons!" It seemed that some of these soldiers had never seen an elephant before.
Then finally Andrew and his forces joined the battle. Swords, shields and spears clashed and blood was in the air. Andrew’s forces were cutting the opposition down as they at first they were too focused on the elephants than the enormous army heading their way. At this point, Andrew was in the thick of it. An enemy soldier charged at him and tried to do an overhead swipe down with his sword, and blocked the attack with his swords and then Andrew using his long sword stab the soldier in the stomach. Andrew then looked behind to see that another soldier was charging at him. Andrew drew his sword out of the soldier’s stomach and performed a sideways slash to the soldier behind him. The sword partially sliced through the soldier's neck nearly chopping off the man’s head off. The blood squirted out of the man’s neck, it was almost like a fountain. Andrew walked further into the battle he could see that his men were doing well and were in high spirits if the battle progressed at this rate then I would be a clear win for the alliance.
As Andrew was walking towards an enemy soldier the soldier noticed him and was ready to confront him. Then suddenly Andrew noticed something was heading towards the soldier from the behind. Andrew smiled and step to the right. The soldier was puzzled as to why Andrew did this. Then suddenly an elephant knocked the solder down and squashed the man’s head like it was a melon. Andrew could then see that the banners of the Steel Fist were starting to approach the battle. Andrew remembered when his brother had hired the Steel Fist twelve years ago. Andrew had always despised the group as they held no loyalty at all, however Rhys had told him that they were a necessary evil and that they if they were to ever cross swords with them that the battle would be indeed bloody for both sides. Andrew knew that the real battle was about to begin.
Claus could in the distance see how the line of war elephants slammed into the poor militia. Men and women were flung like small dolls, the lines were almost instantly destroyed and the people began building small pockets of defense against the lumbering beasts.
This battle was probably lost already Claus thought, better leave the militia and take up a new defence, leave Orland to his demise... no.
He would never be able to explain a retreat at this point, and what surprised him more, he wouldn't be able to face himself without at least trying to get those poor sods out of there.
In the very least he had to hinder the enemy from following them while they retreated. If this army was hounded by the Manshrew army in their retreat it would be decimated.
The army had had a chance if the defensive positions were held like ravenous tigers. But the prize would be high.
But in a pitched battle, where Claus and Tuania only had 53'000 against the 125'000 of the enemy. Claus would have to perform more than one miracle for that to happen.
Then it struck him, his plan. He would have the day, even if it didn't mean winning the battle. He spoke to a runner, what was told could not be heard from far with the clamour of battle, then he was off, back to the defensive main line.
In the distance Orland was taking his small pocket of cavalry and retreating, he had seen the devastation of the elephants and decided to retreat behind the defensive line. Cowardly fool Claus thought.
But his sense of revenge would need to wait, he sent runners for the Telmarion archers to open up so the vanguard could move up between them. Forming flanking ranged forces to support the elite vanguard as it forced its way in between the two dips. Sure, Manshrew could order men to move across the dips, but fighting uphill against archers would not be a fun ordeal.
Unfortunately this meant that the militia could not retreat backwards anymore. Many were lucky and had already fled, some pockets of resistance never fled and some parts of the force had somehow not engaged yet.
With a hornblow their fate was sealed, flee to the sides or be squashed between two advancing elite formations. As the Concord vanguard moved forth at a steady pace arrows and magic artillery was let loose upon them. Battlemages formed shielding gusts of wind, shot massive fireballs into the incoming ones or formed temporary magic barriers to stop the incoming barrage, while they were performing admirably, many projectiles came through and arrows rained down into Concord troops, getting stuck in shields and armour, several cut down by them.
Pillars of fire and dirt arose from here and there within the vanguard, men torn to pieces and flung like nothing at their immense power. A molten rock glimmering with fire struck into the steel fist just a couple of metres away from Claus.
Screams and yells were drowned out by the fiery explosion, shards pinged of the steel armours of those not hit. Claus did not even flinch as several splinters bounced off his armour and the reflection of fire danced across the polished steel of his helm and his armour.
-"DOUBLE TIME! Move it... CHARGE!!!" Claus roared and sounded the call on his horn, then the vanguard broke into a charge. Confused militia stood dumbfounded fell or ran for their lives. Those who didn't get out in time were smashed out of the way or trampled.
Now the melee had begun for real. Mercenaries and Concord troops were in heated battle with lines of professional Uzgob, Humber and Lanistark troops. Rough battle lines were formed all along the line except for in front of the steel fist, where triple layers of halberds arrayed in a spear wall formed. With routine thrusts the steel fist was beginning to cut down many opponents.
Most of the elephant riders began to turn their mounts and assault the Concord battle line, disrupting it. In one place an elephant was seen toppling twelve men with shields, impaling one on its tusks as it smashed it down upon others. In another place an elephants smashed through a bunch of arrayed halberds pushing the line back and killing some.
At the centre, the steel fist mercenaries managed to make an elephant rear on its hind legs, with a roar it began to smash down but the mercenaries pressed the advance and pierced it dozens of times before a massive rage filled roar echoed across the line.
From within the line, Claus jumped using a kneeling halberdier as a ramp.
He flung himself, constantly roaring, stabbing the flamberge into the heart of the elephant. It trumpeted in pain as it toppled over backwards and crushing its howdah.
Claus tried to hang unto his sword, but the momentum tossed him into the ranks of the enemy.
He smashed into a soldier at the torso, both fell to the ground. As several men surprisedly watched Claus rise two rushed the captain.
Claus responded with a growling scream and headbutted one so hard he toppled to the ground. The other got in a swing with his sword on Claus neck, but it simply glided off barely scratching the layers of steel plate.
Claus drew his mace as he gave the man who had cut him a good kick on his right side putting him off balance. With a quick movement Claus then pinched the soldiers head with his left arm against his torso while beginning to fend off the other soldiers now realising the enemy in their midst.
With small steps he dragged the flailing soldier with him and fended off enemies with the mace, managing to get in a solid hit, crushing a soldiers face. With a twist of his arm, Claus put his entire weight into ripping loose the helmet of the one he held, the straps breaking and thus hurting the man quite bad.
Now swinging a helmet and a mace while screaming, Claus managed with pure ferocity give himself some space and half a second of rest. An Humber soldier charged in, only to have Claus smash a helmet into his head three times before tossing it at another whom backed off because of the impact.
Claus dared to locate his sword, still stuck in the elephants torso, he gambled and ran for it. Two soldiers got in a good hit on him as he ran, had his armour not been of such quality, he would have been downed.
With a tackle, a couple of jumps and a quick climb, he got to his weapon and lifted it with both his hands, turned it and lifted it above him with his right hand while sounding his horn with the left.
Around the carcass of the elephant, Steel fist mercenaries moved forth and arrayed their halberds, shortly after being met by Humber and Lanistark soldiers.
Claus fell to one knee and allowed himself a breather, the entire area was nearing chaos.
Elephants pushed into Concord lines, some cut down with massive amounts of stabs and thrusts, some just pressing on while a few panicked and began running in random directions, mad with pain.
The battle progressed and it seemed that both sides had an even chance of winning. After quickly dispatching a soldier, Andrew had a brief time to take a breath and take in his surroundings. Several battle lines had been made by the two opposing armies they were mostly at a standstill but the steel fist was slowly cutting down the opposition. Andrew knew he would have to pull something off to turn the tables. Then it hit him, and he knew exactly what to he found the nearest Manshrew soldier. He issued some orders to the soldier which could not be heard over the noise of the battle. However, the soldier nodded and ran from the battle.
A few minutes later, Andrew had gone through a number of concord soldiers. The concord soldiers posed more of a challenge to Andrew but he was able to manage with the help of his allies. Then suddenly Andrew heard a battle horn, he turned his head and with relief he saw that Humber’s cavalry riding towards the battle. They were to hit the battle lines to give the ground soldiers some support. As Andrew watched he saw the cavalry ride around the battle lines to the enemy’s side and collided into them. With the enemy having to fight on both sides the battle lines would soon disappear. Then Andrew spotted something which Andrew thought was impossible, but there was no mistaking it, he saw Klaus resting on top of the carcass of one of his war elephants. Andrew saw the chance to capture and important figure in the concord and maybe have some leverage to win this war.
“Klaus!” shouted Andrew. “Lay down your arms and surrender. It’s time for you to pay for your crimes!”
Klaus laughed “Do you really think you and your so called army can defeat me let alone the DeReimer’s. I don’t have time for this I have the battle to win. Deal with him!” Klaus ordered two of his troops.
Andrew readied himself. Both troopers had spears in their hands, both had a range of attack to their advantage but Andrew could use that range to his advantage. Andrew sheathed his short sword leaving his left hand free. This confused the troopers but then one approached Andrew. The trooper plunged the spear towards Andrew, but Andrew using his left hand grab the spear and using his long sword struck the spear and broke it in two. Then using the end the spear Andrew had required stabbed the trooper in his side and using the hilt of his sword hit the trooper on the side of his head knocking him down. Both Klaus and remaining trooper were quite shocked. The last trooper ran in without even thinking. Andrew quickly grabbed the spear and stabbed the trooper with his sword. Kicking the man down to ground Andrew sheathed his sword and put the spear into his right hand. Andrew saw a chance to get rid of Klaus once and for all. Andrew using all of his strength he threw the spear. The spear flew straight towards Klaus and hit the side of Klaus’ helmet, only just scratching it but the force was just enough to knock Klaus of the elephant.
Andrew drew his sword and quickly climbed the elephant to see where Klaus had fallen. As Andrew reached the top he could see the battlefield he could see that his army was winning. Then he saw Klaus on the ground, the spear didn’t seem to cause any physical damage but Andrew could tell the Klaus’ pride was hurt more.
“It’s over Klaus!” Shouted Andrew. “Your army is falling and victory is in my hands. I give you one last chance to surrender and I might grant you an honourable death!”
Klaus stood up and proceeded to lower the visor on his helmet. Then he smiled “You think you’ve won this battle. Don’t get your hopes up too soon. You may win this battle but you will never win this war.”
Claus suddenly raised his decorated battle horn to his mouth, and made a three note call Andrew did not recognize. He turned to Andrew and laughed. “See you in hell Manshrew!”
Klaus made a run for it. Andrew then looked to the sky to see thousands of fireballs heading towards the battle. Andrew quickly turned to his soldiers and shouted. “Take cover!”
Andrew jumped of the elephant carcass and got his shield ready to block the oncoming fire. Andrew ran as fast as he could to get away from the fireballs as quick as possible. As the fireballs got closer Andrew stopped and raised his shield and just in time, hell was raining down on the Manshrew army. Andrew could feel the force of impact on his shield, what felt like hours was just merely minutes. Andrew felt that the fireballs had stopped, Andrew lowered his shield but suddenly a stray fireball his right arm. Andrew could instantly feel his armour burning against his skin he had to take the armour off. Andrew quickly took off the armour on his right arm and he saw the burn on his upper right arm he would have to bear with the pain until the battle ended. Andrew then looked around to see the onslaught. There was a wall of fire separating Andrew’s army and Klaus’, there was no way to get to Klaus and the rest of his army. Then Andrew saw the horrendous site. He saw hundreds of soldiers engulfed in the flames, soldiers from both sides were screaming in fire. Andrew ran towards the wall of fire to see if could save some of his men. Andrew tried but the just the heat from the fire was intense even hotter than a hot day in Uzgob. Daeron Humber quickly got Andrew away from the fire. “Andrew it’s useless! There is nothing you can to help them.” Andrew looked ahead the screams were slowly quieting down but the flames raged on. Klaus would be long gone before the flames died down. Andrew looked to Daeron.
“Get all of our wounded and get them patched up and capture any enemy soldiers patch them up and then detain them. If Duncan has the slightest sense of honour he’ll want his soldiers back.”
“Of course Andrew.” Said Daeron. As Daeron was walking off he issued Andrew’s orders.
Andrew kept staring into the fire. He knew that the battle was won but the price was too high.
That was Andrew alright, he remembered him from the meeting in Miserth keep. He had been dressed all fancy in some orange garb and Claus was a bit sceptic of his prowess back then.
But not anymore, that spear throw sure gave him a beating, even through the visor and seeing the lord of Uzgob on the field he had to respect the man.
Too bad he'd probably be dead after the trick with the battlemages, he would have liked to speak to him first.
As the fireballs launched by the concord battlemages rained down with unsurpassed ferocity Claus yelled, dragged and beat his men to start running.
To say it was a close call was an understatement, he had ran for several minutes before stopping and even as he stopped he saw that his armour was reeking with smoke and he could smell his own burnt hair.
He lowered his visor.
-"All out retreat, sound it! This battle is lost, but we can save most of our forces still!" Claus followed the spoken order with a horncall, it was a melancholic and drawn out call. But the retreat had been sounded.
The firewall had cut off the main Manshrew force. It would take far too long to circumvent it in time to begin a proper pursuit with enough men.
Claus knew this was the best option, he had seen the impact of the Humber cavalry and how difficult the elephants had been to take down. Had he stayed for longer the Concord army would probably have been forced into an all out rout.
On his right, Claus saw Orland's cavalry actually beginning an organized retreat. Wow, the boy actually followed his orders without problems for once.
The Concord army made a quick but orderly retreat at this point, under the cover of the burning wall of spellfire.
He did not have the proper numbers yet, but he guessed his army was halved. The Telmarion militia taking the brunt of the casualties.
He was sure some would have been left behind, and he hoped that Andrew was decent enough a man not to execute prisoners. Not just was it on the unethical side, but prisoners of war was worth money.
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