Chapter 21: Civil war (10)

Slowly, I ride to the central area of our formation, I meet Impetus there, I just nod my head and say:

- I'll leave the command for you, Impetus.

- Thanks, Lord.

I lend him my sword, which is the symbol of command in my army; I call it Arondight. I get this sword forged by gold, silver, and diamond with a distinguished shape. I get the idea of using the sword as a symbol of myself from the Chinese ancient system, like wherever the sword is, people must see the sword like me. It's a symbol of power, I guess.

On my chariot and about several lines from the front line, accompanied by Mushashi and my best warriors, since I suppose Mandred'll come and find me, and his poweress can not be underestimated. Take out my bow, take a deep breath, I know that I'm not a good warrior, if I fight on the front line, I'll die for sure. However, with my archery skills, I can kill many enemies from distance.

Impetus raises Arondight to the air and wield it, war drums' sound rises, the soldiers immediately get in battle formation from rest one. I observe the enemies, Mandred is quarreling with somebody; I think that that person is trying to prevent Mandred from being ruthless. However, Mandred seems doesn't like his advice, a hot-blood person is hard to persuade, I think. Bold is a good trait of a warrior but as a general, being ruthless will only bring his army to destruction.

*******

Mandred shout:

- SHUT UP! I'LL GOING TO KILL THAT CRIPPLE MYSELF, JUST FOLLOW ME.

- But Milord, the king has ordered you to negotiate with them.

- NO NEGOTIATION, I CAN'T WITHSTAND HIS INSULT, AFTER I TEAR DOWN HIS HEAD, THE KING'LL HAVE NOTHING TO COMPLAIN.

Not give the knight any more chance to speak to speak, in full heavy iron armor, Mandred rides ahead of his army front line. About 3000 cavalries with similar heavy armors follow him, they are household knights of house Pyrell, wearing green cloaks. This force is why House Pyrell is very proud of the military power. Leading the vanguard, Mandred inspires his men:

- My soldiers, they have taken our homeland and our families. Today, follow me, together we will destroy them and take back what is rightful belongs to us. ANYONE WHO OPPOSES US...

- WILL TASTE OUR VENOM.

With their motto shouted out, the Pyrellian knights get in fighting stance and form a diamond formation. With Mandred leading the charge, the knights follow him with the point of their spears toward the blue cloaks, men of house Fortuna. Their horse steps shake the ground while moving.

Impetus, the commander of the Fortunian army, seeing the enemies charging toward his lord's place, which is placed in the center. He smiles, signals the archer commander. The archer commander nod and shouts:

- ARCHERS, LOAD.

2500 Fortunian archers load their arrows into their bows. Getting in firing stance they aim at the charging knights. The charging knights start to get inside the area between two wings of the bow formation. See that Impetus has not given any more signals, the archer commander shout:

- HOLD!

The knights are 300 feet from the Fortunian center.

- HOLD!

200 feet from the center.

- HOLD!

When they reach about 150 feet from the center of the Fortunian army, Impetus deal a slash to the air with Arondight. Having waited for this moment, the archer captain command:

-LOOSE!!!

2500 sharp iron head arrows are loosed at once. They flew into the sky and pierced the charging cavalries. Some Pyrellian knights ignore the incoming arrows without blocking them with their shields since they are confident that their well-made armor can block any type of arrows. However, the arrows they meet are not the same compared to what they've seen. Anyone who is hit is knocked down immediately, there are even knights who manage to block the arrows with their shield but their horses are killed and they are sent into the ground.

The diamond formation of the line starts to collapse, but with Mandred leading them, they still recover and continue to charge. More rows of arrows are loosed into the air and more riders are killed. Nonetheless, they make it into the Fortunian infantry line. Utilizing his war hammer, Mandred sends 5 samurais to fly and kill about 10 more why berserking. And then, he sees his rival, Ivar Fortuna, about 50 meters from his place, he changes his direction and makes his way their.

But before Mandred can get close, 5 arrows are fire repeatedly toward him, he blocks 3 first ones but one hit his left arm and another pierces his horse head. He falls to the field. Stand up immediately, he activates his blessing. His muscles grow bigger, he slams the ground and large cracks are formed. He looks around, he has charged too far from his knights and get too deep into the enemies' formation, now he sees no one under his command .

Anxious about his strength, Fortunian soldiers bring out large shields and spears to attack him from afar in a safe shield wall. Mandred clenches his teeth and roars, and then he charges toward the surrounding soldiers, his monstrous strength plus with his huge war hammer breaks iron shields easily and human's bones like smashing eggs. However, after 5 minutes of berserking, he still can not escape from being surrounded, although he kills many Fortunian men. He is wounded, too. 5 minutes more, he realizes that there are no more men around 5 meters- radius. They all pull back to form a new shield wall with more pikes to stop him. He stops a moment to rest a little.

He raises his hammer into the air again, intends to continue to fight. But luck is not on his side, the shield wall opens several gaps and from there, he sees about 50 archers aiming at him. He let out his war cry and charge again. 50 arrows are fired, they pierce his body and knock him down. Mandred is wounded badly, he stops moving and kneel, breaths heavily. Blood coming out from all over his body, using his hammer as a crutch, he tries to stand up again.

That's when Mandred sees his rival, Ivar, just 10 feet from him. Ivar gets close to him, he rises and tries to attack Ivar. However, he has been heavily wounded and three wolves come from nowhere and bite him, keep him kneel. Ivar stands in front of him, he sees Ivar load his bow and aim at him. The last thing he hears is" I have said that you can't kill me, this is for what you do to my father, Mandred the Bonecracker" and then, everything he felt is darkness.

The royal army is heavily defeated on the vast plains of Meath. After seeing they their vanguard is trapped and destroyed by the Fortunians, the rest of the Royal Army rush up trying to rescue them. However, the Fortunians quickly form a new formation similar to a box with Pyrellian knights inside. After about 20 of brutal fighting, the news of Mandred reaches their ears and then, the Royal troops are depleted and they quickly flee the battle field.