Following the Skywolf

[SoF]

Battle for the Black-Gold Fortress I

Out of the comforting shadow of the cliff, we were under the direct heat of the sun. Our mobiles were hovering above the sand, our weapons were reflecting the light towards the enemy that gathered all their forces a mile away. It was obvious that they were prepared fully. Their numbers summed up to probably twenty five thousand, and were supported by their war machines. To move that much force unnoticed, they had used the cover of night. On our side, Sheik Darius had fifteen thousand standing army, and our raiders were three thousand.

If the enemy marched all night to catch us unprepared, they were surely tired, yet they seemed eager to strike soon rather than late. Darius would love to drag this fight on, despite a possible advantage of attacking while they are tired. In the desert, there is no water, and the sand storms are nasty. Supplying the army over a massive desert was tough for Sheik Akkad, and waiting further would just give more discomfort to the soldiers. Try to keep your tent bolted while a dust storm ravages your camp, not too pleasant.

If they waited more our forces could find the time to prepare the defense fully, and we had enough supplies to last a while at the expense of the poor. The fortress was a great place to defend, surrounded by one side a cliff and mountains on the other side.

Aedan came with orders "We will hold the left flank of the Sheik, while he draws the enemy and feigns retreat into the deeper parts of the city, we will use our mobility to harass them while they are chasing Sheik's guards, then strike their right flank." He was appointed as the commander of the raiders again by Darius, it was the obvious choice.

This plan depended on the tiredness of the enemy and the mobility of our forces. Sheik Darius' guards were all professional soldiers, they would also know when to retreat and to strike back when it is time. After all, the Great Sheik Darius held the Black-Gold Fortress, the jewel of Samarra, and it was a great feat to hold it for as much as ten years. This fortress was a great source of resources - oil and water, two most important things for an army in this barren world. But because of that, the fortress was also a target for every tribe who wants to hold some power in Samarra. Our enemies, Akkadians, were an aggressive bunch, they had already united a few great tribes, and they had the support of the Temple. They could field great armies, and their ambition sure was greater.

My eyes searched for the trio again within the crowd, without me realizing it. I saw them on the far edge of our left flank, they were silently sitting on their mobiles, staring towards the enemy we will soon meet. As for me... this was one of the first battles I had been in, and I was very anxious to be honest. Could still remember the pain of that bullet from the last time. I looked at Abdul, who was on my right. He nodded as if he wanted to put me at ease.

Soon the enemy made their move, they were steadily closing the distance towards the main army. A cloud of fog was chasing them. Aedan ordered us all to stand our ground until we were ordered to move. We could see Darius' engineers, trying to set up the defenses, digging up holes on the ground, putting the turrets in place. The enemy got close enough to charge in, the engineers started to run away, leaving their jobs unfinished as there was no time for it. Akkadians increased their speed before the charge, the first bout was devastating for Darius's forces, enemy's colossal war machines led the charge. Moving on two massive legs, they were dreadful beasts out there. I felt that I was getting more nervous by second. The enemy ignored our raiders, probably wanting to finish this as fast as possible with their overwhelming strength, with a quick stroke to Darius himself.

It wasn't looking good for Darius, they were being beaten real bad. Aedan was in front of our forces, with an eagle like demeanor, scanning the battle which was just a bit off our reach. A red flag, and Darius' forces started to retreat slowly into the deeper parts of the city. Akkadians gave chase, probably looking for the Sheik, to take his head and break the spirit of their opponents. Then a green flag, I knew what that meant.

Aedan shouted "Raiders! Howl!" All the raiders started to howl like beasts, it was a terrible sound, but it moved our hearts. I forgot my fear the second I took part. Aedan already started to move towards the enemy, and we all followed him like a pack of wolves. We first hailed the enemy with our long range shots while they were chasing Darius towards the city. When half the enemy followed them inside, Darius' forces stopped retreating and started to fight back. The other half we were harassing with our mobility. Yet it wasn't enough, the enemy was putting up a better fight than we expected, they were able to keep us separated from the main army while slowly shooting them down. Aeden ordered us to charge in now, we gathered up and rushed in, in a wedge formation Aedan on point. We started striking there and fro, made a rush into the midst of the enemy then got out, gathered up and charged in again.

After a few more charges, suddenly Aedan stopped his mobile, his eyes fixated on some point in the main army. I soon saw what was up, Darius was in trouble, his banner was surrounded by enemies, his own soldiers left him with only a few personal guards standing by him. Aedan's rushed towards his master without a warning, and after hesitating for a second, we followed him and covered his flanks. It wasn't a careful charge, the distance between us and the Sheik was long with many opponents inbetween. At least half of our forces couldn't get past the enemy and were cut off from us, the other half were being shot down, they lost their will to continue or died. When Aedan reached where the Sheik was surrounded, there were only a few dozen raiders with him, me and Abdul included somehow. We rushed to defend the Sheik. Aedan was a beast, many limbs he cut off with his pala, the enemy started to to run before him. But Akkadians didn't plan to leave this to chance, a giant war machine was slowly making it's way towards Darius, who was covering his head with fear, and was completely oblivious to the beast approaching him.

Aedan stopped chasing around the enemy soldiers and shouted "Concentrate your fire on that thing!". We all started to discharge our weapons towards it. It was at least 10 times bigger than a human. It's armor absorbed our fire, and it looked like we would not be able to take it down in time as it was getting really close to Darius. The man, when he saw it approaching to him, couldn't move, seized by fear... I don't know what made Aedan rush in-between the beast and his master, and what made him think that such an act would help at all. None of us could do anything, the beast just moved its leg forward and squished the great Aedan like a bug. We couldn't believe just what happened, and we lost all hope. I was ready to turn back and run away, with Abdul or not...

But three men replaced Aedan in front of the the Sheik. They were on foot, not on their mobiles. They had menacing grins, behaving in contrast to everyone around them. For the first time, I saw the slim figure taking something serious. His two friends were holding on to their weapons tight, while he was staring very intently at the machine. I don't know what really happened, the machine stopped moving first, then the big one of the trio simply hit one of its leg with his weapon... It fell down like a toy, quite unexpectedly. I can't be sure if I saw an otherworldly fire in the eyes of the slim one just after that.

From that point the battle was completely different, and we all forgot the death of Aedan. I saw the trio cutting down the enemy around them like a tornado, every one of us started to fight with renewed zeal, and every bullet missed us as if we were protected by some godly power.

A short time later, it was a full rout. The enemy threw away their weapons and armors, started to run with tails between their legs. We cut down many that day in the rout.

Counting after the battle, we lost a thousand of our raiders, and many were injured. The main army took more damage, lost half. Still it was a victory, and dying in battle was the most honorable thing for the fighting caste. There were many poor people around to replace the dead soldier. We held ceremonies for our lost, especially for Aedan. But more importantly, we gained three heroes, Jared Nomak, Bassam Hussaini and Adrian Thrax, it was a time for celebration for them and the rest of us who survived.