THE GREAT FALL

Grenades rained down upon the Skartians from every direction.

There was mass explosion and the majority were injured.

They were bruised and killed in the shortest time possible.

Where Valerian was, a group of soldiers were spotted and they began shooting at the Skartians.

The enemy was already disorganized and the next move was for the Scolns to take action.

A group advanced from behind and took on the Skartians, they were Scoln horsemen who shot their way through.

Valerian also gave the order and the Scolns at the front charged with him towards the Skartian troops.

They had already been rounded up and trapped and at once, there was a mighty clash.

The Skartians who were many in number were massacred and the Scolns were proving triumphant.

The soldiers surrounding the Skartian general didn't cease firing out of retaliation but as it seemed many of them had been reduced to lower numbers.

More than tens of thousands of soldiers lay dead and wounded in the valley and those that were still alive saw no hope at all.

The best alternative was to retreat and reorganize themselves but even running away was going to be difficult.

Valerian emerged and entered the mob of wrestling warriors with bullets and bayonets.

He shot through many of them and sliced the another mass of them.

The Skartians had no way of escaping unless they forged one out.

"Retreat." The Skartian Commander in Chief gave an order.

"We can't do that Sir, we are completely cut off." One of the generals said.

The men with the steel shields brought them forth.

"Make the caterpillar formation." The acting commander in chief ordered.

The strong surviving Skartians brought their shields alined in a single file on either said facing outside.

Those in the middle put their shields above as the Scoln Generals abandoned their horses.

They all stuck together with their bayonets sticking out through the gaps of their shields and they had made a very long caterpillar like structure.

Some tried to shoot their way through as others pierced and Valerian seeing what they had done gave another commander.

"Release the sacks of gun powder." Valerian ordered.

The other generals passed on the news and small handful sacks of gun powder were tossed towards the structure.

Because of the bayonets, many of them got stuck to the structure and it was difficult for the Skartians to put them off quickly.

"Throw the bombs." Valerian ordered once again and the explosives were thrown on to the caterpillar.

Once they exploded the metallic shields were set in flames and the Skartians were burnt.

Others were scattered and they were thrown back into the targets of the Scolns.

The surviving about forty thousand were shot down at an immense speed.

A mass of the Skartians had managed to go beyond the hills stepping outside the valley back into the open.

Before they could continue and make it to their camp, the Skartians froze in their steps.

The acting Commander in Chief stopped after he noticed that there were a few other Scoln soldiers on guard.

"Onward." He gave the order and the Skartians charged towards the thin wall of Scolns.

They were all armed men and surprisingly they were masked in the Scoln military uniform.

The Commander charged and they shot them all down before they could even respond to the gun shots.

The path to the camp was clear and so the Skartians made an effort to approach it in time.

They made a quick entry and rushed in deeper to the structure while a group stayed behind.

The Scolns had stopped attacking at that very moment and Valerian was stationed right in front of his troops looking at them.

Suddenly, there were terrible explosions that tore the Skartians to pieces.

Land mines that had been set near their weaponry started to go off one by one and the barricades they had created couldn't last long.

"What is happening." The acting Commander in Chief asked.

One of the Skartian soldiers whose feet had been severed from his body drew closer.

"They ambushed us, they filled our camp with landmines and explosives.

They took all the soldiers that were in guard and dressed them in their military uniform with masks.

You killed them Sir, you killed your own people." The soldiers said as he cried.

Flames were rising from the camp and it was a pleasant sight to the Scolns that they cheered themselves greatly.

"Halt." Valerian shouted.

The soldiers ceased at once on his order.

"How can you jubilate at this very hour?" Valerian rhetorically asked and there was a silence that prevailed.

Some of the soldiers could not even understand why he had started acting that way.

"How then can we rest and jubilate while those tyrants still stand on Scoln soil." Valerian asked.

He drew the Scoln soldiers into his sense.

"The war is no over and now it is our time to crown it." Valerian said.

The soldiers then began murmuring amongst themselves.

"What should we do your Majesty?" One of the generals asked.

"Bring out our biggest canons." Valerian gave the order.

At once, the biggest canons that were long distance shooters and manned the town were drawn to the field.

It took about a hundred soldiers to do the job for all the six canons.

"Put the camp in our Target." Valerian gave the order.

At once, the Scoln soldiers complied and the war drums were sounded.

The acting Commander in Chief of the Skartians beholding the sight of what was coming for them gave his final order.

"Retreat from the camp." He said and the soldiers didn't need another warning.

They scattered about as the bombs did their jobs while the Scolns locked their targets.

"For our country." Valerian said.

"For our country." the army replied in unison.

"Fire." Valerian said and the Canons released their balls.

The camp was torn from smithereens to ashes, the arsenals were damaged along with some of the weapons.

The Skartians who had tried to flee of the hundreds of thousands were less than a hundred.

Those that didn't survive were the majority whose corpses were on Scoln land.

The soil drained them of their blood and in the shortest time possible, the Skartians were defeated.

The Scolns marched South and progressed to the captured towns beyond.

On their arrival, it was already to the flight of the still standing Skartian soldiers.

Those that were found inside were killed and before the sun would set, the green flags were burnt.

In every one of the reclaimed towns in less than six hours, the Scoln flag was flying against the background of the evening saffron sky.

Valerian on his horse gazed and mused at the land that he had managed to save.

He had succeeded in protecting it, his home and his country while the Skartians were no threat once again.

As he watched and listened to the whisper of the wind and the melodies of the birds retiring to sleep, he felt a sharp pain.

It came from his lower abdomen and it was causing him to become more and more wearing.

Valerian cried out loud that he caught every one's attention.

From the soldiers, Helren and Gerald immediately emerged.

He strained himself and got off his horse only to fall in the arms of his fellow Scoln soldiers.

"Your Majesty." they called him by title.

He was too weak to respond and all he kept on saying was the phrase "my baby."

Valerian felt something wet running down his body and he didn't hesitate to touch there.

His feeling was not lying to him, it was wet with both his hands there.

He was forced to pull his hands back up to his face and make a detailed study of what the liquid was.

"Hell no." Valerian said to himself as the soldiers delivered him to a nearby building that had served as a hospital before the Skartians had invaded.

Helren and Gerald had gathered while Valerian had lost his mind at the sight of blood.

His or the baby's he wasn't certain either.

As long as it was coming from him then it was bad enough to know that something wrong had happened to his child.

He started to feel dizzy and the aftermath was him closing his eyes and everything went black.