Chapter 58: Chapter 51 – Reinforcements

"Few sights could warm one's heart on the battlefield as the sight of reinforcements coming to one's rescue could." - Adalbert Chisholm, Chief of Staff of the Ptolodeccan Army.

"Did we make it in time!?" Aideen yelled from atop her racing mount to her brother. At the speed they were riding, they had to yell to make themselves heard to each other.

 

"They're still fighting at the top of the hill- oh!" Diarmuid said as he peered through the spyglass while entrusting the gallop to his horse. It was a shaky ride at this speed, but he still managed to get glimpses of the situation at the hilltop. "I see Faerghus! I think he noticed us, he just brought what looked like half his templars to flank them!"

 

"What are we waiting for then? Let's hurry and help him!" Replied Aideen as she tried to get more speed out of her horse. She, Diarmuid, and the Death Guards had switched to their individual mounts, and while their mounts were more for transportation, not trained warhorses like what the templars rode on, it was plenty to allow them to speed ahead of the militia, who were chasing behind them in their wagons.

 

With a nod, Diarmuid gave a signal to speed up, and the one hundred plus riders further separated from the wagons carrying the militiamen. They rode their horses straight up the hillside, with Aideen and Diarmuid on the lead. Normally they would have waited for their militiamen to catch up, but with the raiders already heavily engaged, they took the risk and forged ahead.

 

A barrage of javelins was thrown at them by a few elves who noticed their approach, almost entirely aimed at Aideen and Diarmuid who were in the lead. Diarmuid juked aside with his mount, and avoided them, as he was a far better horseman than Aideen was. Aideen on the other hand was not so lucky. She tried to avoid it but two javelins struck her mare, and the horse collapsed, throwing her off its back.

 

"Dismount!" Diarmuid yelled as he pulled out a large shield and walked up the hill while keeping himself covered. He saw Aideen land with a roll and got up to her feet immediately, and did not worry about her. Behind him, his Death Guards followed his example, dismounted, sent their horses away, and wielded large shields as they climbed up the hills.

 

Aideen was the first to hit the raider backline, as she ran ahead unencumbered by a shield, and viciously smashed aside a young elf's swords before she broke he neck with a second blow of her staff. Diarmuid and the Death Guards reached moments later, as they stored back their shields and charged with weapons at hand.

 

The raider backline buckled.under their charge, as elves died one after another beneath the blades of the elite soldiers, while their frontlines were still engaged with militiamen and Faerghus' templars struck them hard from the side. Behind the Death Guards more militiamen ran up the hill in haste.

 

Everything had looked to be in their favor, until suddenly the arrows that had accurately pelted the elven raiders from behind the hill stopped firing.

 

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"Why had they stopped firing?" Faerghus asked his lieutenant. They had just wheeled out of the raider lines and readied themselves for another charge. "And where is Qravor's detachment?"

 

Before the woman could answer, Faerghus received his answer when a tall, brawny elf covered with a lion's pelt crested the hill, and bellowed. The raiders cheered upon hearing the bellow, and a dreadful possibility settled down in Faerghus's mind.

 

The possibility he feared came true when another two hundred or so raiders - all particularly brawny specimens - dressed in animal pelts like the one that crested the hill followed him there, with no sign of the militiamen he had left behind the hill. Or of Qravor's detachment for that matter.

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As they bellowed, the raiders seemed to have doubled their ferocity despite the horrible casualties they had taken - there were maybe only six or seven hundred of them left - and they turned, charging down the hill towards Diarmuid's Death Guards and his militiamen.

 

"Vitalis damn it!" Faerghus cursed at the turn of the situation, but he had little options left at this point. With the extra manpower Diarmuid brought with him, they barely matched the elves in number, and to turn his back and leave his siblings, were never an option for him. He quickly made up his mind, and signaled his templars to gather to him. "To me, men! We charge! Aim for their flanks and avenge your fallen brothers!"

 

His men raised a yell as they charged along with him, and the cavalry galloped again towards the raider flank.

 

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Aideen felt it keenly, how the raiders suddenly doubled their ferocity and struck hard at them. Fortunately Diarmuid's Death Guards were well trained soldiers, and they held against the push as their militia compatriots helped secure their flanks as they found themselves now facing the raiders' downhill advance.

 

She knew that something must have went awry with the ambush, and fought all the harder, as she struck down raiders one after another, with not a flicker of hesitation left. Diarmuid fought next to her, and similarly worked his axe as he hacked and cleaved his way through the elves.

 

Emboldened by the sight of their leaders fighting at the very front, their soldiers surged behind them and slowly, but surely pushed back the raiders despite all their ferocity. Men and women fell on both sides, and were left behind to their own fates, as nobody had the time to come to their assistance.

 

Aideen saw as Faerghus led his templars to another charge towards the elven flank, and hoped that would be enough to put an end to the battle. Her hopes were betrayed, however, when a particularly tall, brawny elf clad in animal pelt led over a hundred similarly clad raiders to meet the charge head on.

 

To her dismayed surprise, she saw them clash, and how many templars were thrown off their mounts when the horses were cut down beneath them. Some of the templars never rose again, though others landed relatively uninjured and proceeded to clash with the raiders on foot instead.

 

Faerghus was of the latter group, and he found himself face to face with the brawny elf he thought of as their leader. His axe clashed against another axe, while he blocked a blow - a far heavier one than he expected - with his shield as he engaged the raider.

 

On the other side of the field, Aideen saw her brother engage the raider's leader, and soon noticed how he was on the backfoot and defended himself more often than not. She gave a signal to Diarmuid, who nodded, and they both cut their way towards the fight, to come to the aid of their brother in need.

 

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