King Farkas of the Averians, the disgrace part 3

At the break of dawn, the allied soldiers were ready to fight. The cavalry moved forward and started to chase the Hephthalites' horse archers. As again in the morning, the horse archers gave ground and rode away.

The heavy cavalry, scarlet riders, rode forward to crush once more the allied cavalry. The earth trembled and shook as the large beast-like horses rode out, with their riders having spears ready to destroy anything and everything. Up in the sky, Farkas inspected and gave orders on where every unit should be, riding a top of his horse, kept afloat by a strong gust of wind.

Though this time, the allied cavalry gave ground, and the scarlet riders started the chase. The allied cavalry rode to the sides, revealing the Bogatyrs, who waited in ambush. They held their bows up high and unleashed a volley of arrows. The heads of the arrows were made from black ice and easily cut through the riders. Though badly hurt, the scarlet riders were caught up in the heat of battle and prepared to crush the Bogatyrs.

"No, stop!" King Farkas yelled while flying ahead on his horse.

The Bogatyrs dropped their bows and took up spears and shields. They braced for the impact, forming a strong shield wall. Before the scarlet riders could clash, the knight of the black sun jumped from behind the shield wall. They cut down the first row of warriors, being led by Joan and Edward, and soon after, the Bogatyrs rushed forward and plunged their spears at the cavalry.

The scarlet riders were plunged into chaos as they lost their momentum. The horses still fought with immense strength, biting and stomping on the knights and Bogatyrs. The scarlet riders refused to surrender, but their fate was sealed.

Farkas lunged in and blasted with a tornado distance between the allied forces and his riders.

"Get your sorry asses out of here!" king Farkas yelled.

He created an opening for the riders to retreat. Still, before they could, a sizeable divine sphere exploded behind them, preventing them from escaping. Rufus flew onto the ground and threw a couple more divine spheres to kill a few more scarlet riders.

Farkas instead flew away on his horse and left his warriors to fight for their lives. They watched as their king fled, leaving his most prized cavalry to die.

"That coward," Edward said.

"Concentrate on the enemy in front of us. The scarlet riders have not yet been defeated," Joan yelled.

Instead of feeling despair, the scarlet riders kept fighting to the very last. More soldiers had been brought in just so they could be defeated. Only twenty riders remained, and they were chained up and their horses bound as fierce beasts.

Rufus walked to the remaining riders. The attacks had stopped, and the horse archers had fled. Losing their prized cavalry didn't let them harass the allied army anymore.

"Why did you spare us?" one of the scarlet riders asked.

"Farkas left you," Rufus said.

"And your point is?"

"What the king here means is that you have a choice now. Fight for us, or be executed," Satifa continued.

"We had a feeling that you did not have the best relationship with your king. Usually, a king would try to do more for their most loyal warriors," Joan said.

The scarlet riders laughed.

"We do not fight for anyone else than our king. Be they how horrible and despicable."

"Then why do you fight for the emperor?"

"Because Farkas is our king, and he serves the empire. He claimed the royal saddle in our civil war. After the emperor killed the last king, he allowed us to fight amongst ourselves as we once more decided who would become our next king. During it, Farkas Arpad, one of the children of the deceased king, allied himself with the emperor, who then aided him in gaining the royal saddle. The other claimants were destroyed, and Farkas declared himself not of the royal house of Arpad but created his own cadet branch."

"The house and tribe of Aver."

"Yes. He bed his own sisters and cousins in an attempt to completely wipe out the true line. He has attacked our ways of life. Turn pastures into farms and given lands to Heian settlers. Rebellions were put down with the help of the emperor. Soon later, we, the gem of the Hephthalites, also capitulated. Becoming the frontline men in the imperial wars. We trained the imperial riders, and they made the cataphracts based on us," The rider explained.

"Then why don't you join us. Fight alongside us, and we will help you reclaim what is rightfully yours," Satifa said in an optimistic tone.

The scarlet riders laughed.

"You really think you can defeat the empire!? We fought and rebelled against Farkas and the emperor for decades, and we know it can not be done."

"I guess you guys don't have much fate in yourself or in us," Satifa said with a smile.

A Saracen soldier came and reported that a two-thousand-strong cavalry contingent was found nearby. It was a small local force, joining the main army, and being led by a local noble. Because of bad luck, they hadn't realized the much larger enemy force near by.

"This seems like a good time to showcase our strength and resolve," Satifa explained.

~~

The imperial contingent was composed of around 1500 infantry and 500 cataphract cavalry. As they marched, they were suddenly shot by hundreds of arrows.

"AMBUSH!"

The Varangian soldiers formed with discipline a square formation. The arrow fire kept on shooting with deadly precision.

The ones firing were the Saracen. Lightly armored archers shot down many of the men. The cataphracts and the small army's leader marched and rode out to destroy the archers.

Saracen cataphract cavalry rode out from between the ranks. In front, they saw the Mamluk cavalry charging ahead. Before the two forces could clash lances and swords, an ominous power flew from atop the Mamluks. Dreadful for the imperial troops.

The locust witches were flying in the air on top of their shcytes. They unleashed their insects and locusts from beneath their clothes and disrupted the charge of cataphracts. Their initial force was halted and was utterly obliterated when the Mamluks hit them.

It was a short battle, and the captured scarlet riders were allowed to watch as the imperial forces were cut apart. In astonishment, they saw how the feared imperial forces were so easily defeated.

It was a show of strength. A show of willpower. And a show of who was fighting against the empire this time.

"Do you finally believe now? The empire AND the emperor can be defeated."