Herald of Steel

The trumpet call made all of Alexander’s infantry huddle together to brace for the inevitable impact, as soon the enemy phalanx was on them and a repeat of the previous encounter replayed itself.

As they had practiced, the legionaries threw their pilums once the enemy was in range, and then charged, intending to deal a heavy blow to the incoming enemy.

But this time the phalanx, having suffered once, adjusted to the situation much better, and effectively counterattacked, thus drawing another stalemate, where two giant bodies of men, wood, and steel meshed together to produce a pool of blood and gore.

‘The same thing? What are they planning?’ Alexander appeared confused at this one-trick pony-style attack.p’

But soon, his confusion began to turn into concern as they saw the slingers and archers whom he previously thought had been routed begun to make a comeback.

And both of the contingents, now totaling 8,000 saw themselves converge on his right flank, and started concentrating there, peppering the soldiers there in an intense shower of arrows and stones

There were now a total of 13,000 soldiers attacking Alexander’s 5,000 men and it made the Zanzan lord think, ‘Should I order some battalions in the left flank to attack the enemy infantry? That should force the enemy to divert some of the troops to reinforce that front.”

Alexander was thinking of ways to relieve some of the pressure on the right flank.

“Hold! Hold! Do not lose courage. Stay behind our shields and hold!” And while Alexander was thinking, Melodias was screaming at the top of his voice, as he sensed his flank weakening under the heavy attack.

They had been under on and off the arrow rain for over 6 hours, and the peasant crossbowmen seemed to be nearing their end limit.

And so, as the legion commander, Melodias called his herald to deliver the following messenger, “Tell, Lord Alexander, we can’t hold on much longer. We need reinforcements!”

Here he was of course referring to the reserves.

But soon that messenger only came back with these words of reproachment, “Melodias, tell your men to keep their heads down and shoot calmly. The enemy can’t break your shield, so what are you afraid of? Stand strong man!”

Alexander was a bit peeved that Melodias was calling for help so soon, and thus the angry rebuke.

And besides, Alexander would be foolish to send his reserves to a place the enemy had no way of breaching and the men were in no danger of being overrun.

So Alexander only scolded his general for failing to inspire courage and bravery in his men and then got about with sending his word to his left flank to attack the enemy infantry.

‘What do you think I’m doing?’ While Melodias could only sourly receive the message, before sending messengers to his offices down the chain of command urging them to inspire the troops and fight harder.

And thus soon cries like this began to drift out of Alexander’s right flank,

“Fight! You beat them once, you can do it again.”

“Haha, lads look these pansies are back for more. Fuck them up.”

“Don’t be afraid. Look at those cowards, they have arrows sticking out of their butts. Those cowards only know how to run.”

The officers were trying their level best to raise the morale of their troops.

And soon the sector began to stabilize, though not for the reasons one might expect.

The stabilization had more to do with the fact that the Jahal mercenaries had begun to withdraw themselves from that front and seemed to be retreating than Melodias’s and Alexander’s actions.

“They are routing?” Alexander thought incredulously, as it seemed all too sudden.

Weren’t they supposed to be this elite, almost indestructible monstrous cavalry?

And didn’t they only start the second round?

Why were they running away so soon?

Something did not sit right with Alexander.

But on the other hand, as he thought about it a little longer, a rout was certainly possible.

This was because many times a rout did not happen gradually, but all of sudden, almost like a figurative landscape, as illustrated many times in history.

In those cases, an army would appear solid and strong, but then a few disillusioned soldiers would start running away at first, and then a few more others would follow, and then a few more, then many would follow until the whole army started routing.

Just like at the start of a landslide, first a few rocks would fall, then a bit of soil, then one or two trees, and then all of a sudden the entire mountain would seem to be dissolving away.

A horrifying sight.

And given that the mercenaries were fighting nonstop for six hours firing from regular bows, which was far more tiring than the crossbows, this horrible circumstance manifesting was certainly possible.

It would only require a few rogue, tired personnel, and a bit of luck.

So knowing this Alexander contemplated whether to use his reserves to fish for some kind of opportunity.

But just like Alexander had dashed Grahtos’s jubilant cheer a few hours ago, it appeared the cavalry captain’s turn to do the same had arrived as he decided to squash these ideas of Alexander.

“No, that is unlikely my lord,” He responded to Alexander’s theory about the mercenaries’ routing.

And then proceed to give his explanation.

Grahtos pointed to the archers and slingers on their right flank and said, “See those men. They ran away from us just two hours ago. So they should have low morale even now.”

“And so if they thought the scary, trained mercenaries on horseback were running away, they should have likely broken and also ran. Or at the very least there should have been some chaos in their ranks as they saw the riders past them.” Grahtos sharply commented.

“But there was nothing like that. Those men kept shooting arrows like nothing happened. That can only mean that they knew this was going to happen. Meaning the mercenaries retreat is a fake!”

Grahtos was very confident in his hypothesis, as his tone was cock sure with no doubt in it, almost as if he had insider job knowledge.

Though the real reason was just experience.

The simple experience of spending a lot of time on the battlefield, seeing many tactics, and surviving for so long until he developed a kind of 6th sense for seeing through the enemy’s strategies.

“…” Alexander first only silently marveled at the deduction, and at this instant understood firsthand how important it was to have good generals leading the army.

They were needed in cases like this.

To see through the enemy’s deceptions using their battlefield experience.

Experience which could not be taught but had to be gained.

If Grahtos was not here, Alexander might have committed his reserves of the enemy’s now exposed left flank (toward the right side for Alexander), and left himself completely out of any cards.

So Grahtos might have literally saved Alexander and even Zanzan.

“Hmmm, you may be right. So what should we do?” Alexander thus almost differentially asked for advice from his senior in military experience.

Because Grahtos had been doing this fighting and killing far longer than Alexander had.

“The enemy will likely swing around to attack our flanks. That’s the classic hammer and anvil technique.” Grahtos was able to piece through Faruq’s plan using this simple move and then suggested the following countermeasure.

“So, I suggest we get the reserves ready into formation to do our own counter-charging formation. And also have the 5th legion turn around to deal with them. Because we are only 2,000 and if that half of the mercenary is planning to attack us, that will be 5,000 camel riders. We will be too outnumbered!”

Grahtos seemed to have thought about everything.

And hearing this proposal, Alexander contemplated it for a minute, trying to find some obvious flaws.

But there were no glaring inconsistencies evident to him, only a few minor considerations.

And so he agreed, “Okay, I will tell the 5th legion to turn. And I will also tell Heliptos (who was in charge of the 2nd legion and currently in front of the 5th legion ) to brace himself.”

“If the charge happens, the 5th legion will reinforce the flanks. If not, we will also start moving the 6th legion to start our plan. Our men are getting tired, and if we wait any longer, they might not have the strength to pull off the maneuver, ” Alexander hence laid out his plans.

“Yes, my lord,” Grahtos supported his move and thus saluted in response, before attempting to ride off to organize the cavalry’s charge.

But was stopped by Alexander’s call from behind, “Wait!”

This was where those minor considerations would be addressed.

“The 1,000 infantry we have on horseback. Keep them with me. They do not have the stirrups and will not be able to use the lance.”

Alexander reminded, as without the stirrup, the recoil from the lance would knock the riders off.

“That…..then let them ride behind us, my lord. The enemy might outnumber us so much that every man might be needed,” Grahtos wanted to be on the side of caution.

And hearing the request, and remembering how the man might have literally saved his life, thus Alexander consented, though only to half, 500. 𝑜𝘷𝑙.𝘰𝑟𝑔

And in this way, though little did Alexander know now, that single action might have saved his life, as now he would have at least something to defend against Ural’s attack.

Though whether he would be successful was another question entirely.