Chapter 141 Victory
When they got close enough to the siege weapons so that Zaos could set them ablaze, several groups of archers pointed their bows toward them. Still, the horde of soldiers raised their shields and kept charging like nothing had happened. The first target had been a catapult, Zaos aimed at the core of the weapon. When the mercenaries noticed who was among the soldiers, they tried to form a barrier, but they weren't fast enough. The flames quickly spread, and the archers watched it helplessly. They were supposed to protect that, and now they were going to pay with their lives. Commander Ruvyn and the soldiers charged toward them and wiped them out instantly.
Before selecting the next target, Ruvyn looked around and saw that the mercenaries' formation had been completely destroyed, and there was no sign that they were going to regroup. He couldn't hear any signs of the chain of command trying to organize things.
"All right, let's split into two groups," Commander Ruvyn said. "We will finish faster this way. We can't afford to let any of those pieces of shit regroup and cause any more damage to our county while they run away."
Even without flames, they could destroy the siege weapons with swords and spears relatively fast. That was a golden chance since it seemed that the generals fled from the battlefield. In the end, things proceeded as smoothly as Ruvyn had envisioned. Some soldiers tried to get on their way, but they couldn't do anything without the chain of command. Zaos helped a lot to make things much faster than before, and after burning ten or so siege weapons, they saw the mercenaries running in all directions. The battle on the left wing had been won… around two thousand soldiers had been killed. Still, around six thousand mercenaries had fallen, and they lost more than half of their siege weapons.
"WOAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The soldiers roared in celebration while they watched the enemies running away with their tails between their legs.
Things happened a lot faster than Zaos had imagined. He expected that the siege would take several days, and things would be pretty harsh. Still, as it turns out, thanks to the Commander's fast thinking and actions, the enemies had no chance of working on a siege. Zaos didn't change his mind regarding the fact that the Commander had muscles for brains, but that didn't make him less of an amazing commander.
"There is no time to celebrate, men," Commander Ruvyn said. "We need to help our allies on the right wing. Follow me to that battlefield and to those who survive, and all those standing in the end will receive a full month off and a bag filled with gold coins! Now it is time to show tell how the soldiers kn the north make them regret this stupid idea of theirs of invading our lands."
"WOAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The soldiers roared in excitement.
Zaos wanted to hear where Commander would find so many gold coins, but he sure was interested in the one month off. Even though he was exhausted, Zaos still followed that horde of mad beasts thirsty for blood.
Things were a bit more complicated on the right-wing, but not as much as Zaos had imagined considering that he saw some piles of corpses that had been smashed by rocks that had been thrown by catapults. The right-wing had divided itself into five groups of one thousand soldiers because they had five soldiers commanding that battlefield. It was the only way commander Ruvyn thought of making up for his absence on that battlefield.
Even though not a single siege weapon had been destroyed, they haven't been used all that much either. Soon enough, Zaos learned why… which group had several archers who had the single task of firing arrows toward the siege weapons, and anyone who tried to use those was caught in the numerous volleys of fire arrows. Even when the mercenaries escaped, they had to work hard to extinguish the flames when the siege weapons got hit.
Even before they could join the battle, the flow changed in the soldier's favor. The reason for that was the snow that they raised while they were marching. The mercenaries saw that their allies were defeated, and the soldiers got excited since they were receiving reinforcements of three thousand soldiers. Slowly, but certainly, the mercenaries began to retreat. They couldn't afford to try that once they lose their numerical advantage or the siege weapons. If they weren't going to try another attack, they would need all the help they can get on their path home…
"Fucking cowards… always running away at the first sign of trouble," Commander Ruvyn said. "Follow me, men! Those bastards won't return home, their rotten bodies will decompose on these frozen lands! Is the least we can do to honor those that were killed by those dirty dogs!"
Once again, the soldiers roared in response. Zaos was getting tired of that since every time he heard those shouts, his ears would ring for several minutes. Despite that, he followed the Commander and chased the mercenaries away. This time they used horses as much as possible, and little by little, decreased the strength of the enemies. Commander Ruvyn gave the order to another party to chase the enemies on the other side of the mountains and only stop when all their siege weapons had been destroyed and all their men had been scared through the mountains. It would be impossible to kill every single one of them, but at least they had to make sure that the region would be safe and the towns and villages won't be sacked by the mercenaries if the citizens return… in the end, after three days. All the siege weapons had been destroyed, and commander Ruvyn declared their victory. Zaos finally will have the chance to relax a little bit and then accept everything that happened in the last few days, but soon he will to learn that will be the hard part.
