All Out War Begins Chapter

For two more days Leothrad and his coalition army fought an enlarged army. On the second day the enemy received some reinforcements. When part of these reinforcements attacked their positions Leothrad saw thousands of Makool, Goblins, and those crocodile warriors from the swamp caves. On that day the rest of the ships sent most of their crews leaving a dozen or so men aboard each craft.

That one move on the part of the Captains increased their numbers. This allowed them construct minor fortifications. Their second day of battle proved difficult. A huge force of ten thousand Makool emerged from the south. They were split up by the time the third day ended. Leothrad had sent out scouts to spy on the ten thousand Makool. They all returned to him saying only five thousand would be coming. The other half had marched down to the south. He had no idea where the other half was going.

All the scouts said they only saw the army split up before heading back to the camps. Leothrad hoped the other half would meet resistance. He looked over at the fortress and saw what appeared like a huge force of thirty thousand. Yet to him it seemed to keep on growing.

Over at the villages Leothrad could see the villagers and Ilkabad’s group fortifying their positions. He saw the knight from the Civid lands took residence inside the tower. The Champion saw to sending both leaders a hundred men to reinforce their defenses.

A strong wind blew from the west carrying the stench of the enemy into the noses. The banners and flags of six thousand or so warriors plus armed sailors, flapped in this westward wind. As the morning ended and the midday was approaching Leothrad had their lines stretched a little further to cover more the beach and grassland. It was to ensure the enemy wouldn’t flank their positions so easily. Some of the galleys they had captured from the Cren fleet made nice barriers to block the enemy from maneuvering around them. A force of six thousand and three hundred warriors stood firm and waited for the enemy. Leothrad and the other captains agreed not to advance since the gathering foes would simply surround them.

A horn blew then others were blown from the sid of the fortress. He looked over at the army amassed before the fortress. A portion of the army was already advancing towards them. It would be a battle for the Angoths and their allies.

“Rider!” Leothrad hollered and a warrior/scout approached him.

“Yes Champion. What is you command?” the scout asked as a pelt for staying put was raised for Ilkabad and Titan.

“Ride as as far north as you can Send any warriors down here. Speak with the Jarls and commanders of any forts you run across. Hurry rider! This could be our last battle!” Leothrad urged him to go. With the words of the Champion’s command in mind the rider rode off to the north. Leothrad did not waste time watching the rider, he turned to give the orders to the coalition.

“Archers at the ready!” he shouted and waited until the all archers were ready with bows and arrows.

“Loose!” he yelled and the archers sent a volley of arrows down on the advancing enemy.

“Send another volley!” Leothrad ordered.

He marched up to the infantry who already formed up their shield walls formations. The enemy had sent another group of eight thousand infantry. Arrows continued to rain down on the first legion of enemies. Numerous Makool and goblins fell to the volley of arrows. There were a number of the crocodile warriors that fell to the coalition arrows. The archers loosed a seventh volley before the rest of the soldiers prepared for a frontal assault. Leothrad watched as some ten thousand enemies march up to them. He would have ordered the archers to shoot except the legions of enemies had already charged their lines.

The front lines of warriors braced for impact as thousands upon thousands of enemies attacked them. Their enemy smashed against their lines pressing against their shields despite the swords, spears, axes and other weapons waiting to cut them down. Leothrad rushed to the front to aid his men. In the back of his mind he hoped Ilkabad and Titan aren’t overwhelmed by any large forces sent against them. The line appeared to be holding as warriors on the first two rows killed each Makool that approached them. Most of the goblins and Elite Makool fared better than the Makool standard infantry.

When Leothrad reached the front a quarter of the two legions lay dead at their feet. One warrior fought on until he lost control and pushed ahead of the shield walls. He found himself in between a few lines of enemies still killing Makool and Goblins. His fellow warriors tried to force their way to him when four crocodile warriors approached hims and killed the lone warrior. They managed to kill several more warriors before the coalition cut them down. The first lines of warriors were getting tired, but were being pushed against by the legions.

Leothrad saw multiple warriors get killed or forced down from the weight and wounds. He jumped in to lend a hand forcing his way through enemy lines. His sword arm swung as if something else possessed it. Numerous enemies fell to his hand bringing their morale down and encouraged his men to press the attack. The Makool and goblins easily fell to the next lines of warriors that pushed forward. They gave the other two lines of warriors time to rest. When they caught up with Leothrad the legions started to back off due to heavy losses.

Once victory seemed to be insight the enemy only backed off to let their brutes in the front. Hundreds of crocodile warriors marched up to the front. Every warrior at the front stood their ground with spears and other weapons raised against the oncoming brutes. Leothrad picked up a trident from a dead Makool and threw it at a crocodile warrior. It staggered a bit with the trident lodged in its stomach. The other lizard monsters advanced on the coalition leaving the one crocodile to die. Leothrad swung at another beast as the coalition stabbed at the others. Several warriors fell before the rest tried ganging up on the other beasts.

He watched the coalition warriors take down these monstrous beasts with some difficulty. One or two men per beast killed died as the coalition struggled to bring the reptiles down. Even with the champion killing the beasts easily, the coalition still lost a few hundred warriors. Right as the last few of the beasts died the legions of Makool and Goblins pressed their attack.

Then someone in the back yelled for archers to fire on the legions. To their surprise only a hundred arrows flew over their heads. What was wrong? Did they forget their job?

“What the demon hells are they doing over there?” Leothrad asked as he turned around. among the packed formations of shields he spotted a Vycyrel who could take command for the moment.

“You there, Vyceryl Starson, take command and drive these frogs back!” Leothrad said before he looked for Scur among the center line. When he found Scur he grabbed the young warrior from the formations.

“Scur come with me!” He ordered pulling Scur along with him.

The young warrior said nothing since he was given no choice than to come along. Leothrad made his way to the archers to see for his own eyes. He did not need to ask again why the archers weren’t firing arrows on the legions. About one and a half thousand Makool had emerged from the waters behind them. Every archer loosed arrow after arrow on the encroaching Makool.

He watched as hundreds of archers took out numerous Makool with every volley they fired. The Champion observed the battle as the archers reduced the Makool’s forces to a third of its size. The Makool panicked and either fled or charged anyways. Archers at the front prepared for the ones charging while the ones in the back fired on the ones fleeing. Leothrad rushed in to join the archers at the front. Leothrad rushed in to join the archers at the front. Scur followed him just in time to be caught in the Frey.

Leothrad and a hundred archers faced the advancing Makool. Despite the Makool’s advantage in numbers Leothrad and the archers hacked their way to the ocean. It was easy for them because most of the Makool wore little or no armor. Leothrad took pleasure in taking down the larger elites. For him it was almost a game to see how many would die before the enemy retreated.

He enjoyed every moment of the game he created, which Scur joined in. To his surprise the young warrior took down seven elite Makool even though more were emerged from the ocean. When the lad stopped swinging his weapon only one Makool remained. It rushed straight for the ocean hoping to get away. None of the archers fired any arrows in their direction. That was good enough for Leothrad. Assuming their archers were firing on the legion of enemies Leothrad picked up a Makool spear. He chunked it at the last one when it was knee deep in the water. The Makool fell in the shallow waters with the spear through its torso.

The archers who had aided Leothrad ran back to aid the others. Only fifty archers stood watch over the back of the coalition. Leothrad turned to the landed ships on his left. It had a single line dangling from the yard. The Champion looked at the line then turned to Scur.

“I have a job for you Scur. Collect those tridents and spears then place them in the sand facing the ocean.” Leothrad said before he left the youth as he grabbed the dangling rope and climbed up to the crows nest.

When he made it to the crows nest he saw eight thousand Makool emerge from the sea. He turned his head to see several thousand more Makool emerging on their left flanks. The only things separating his coalition were the ships they had pulled onto the sands. He felt a war coming from this King known as Kewan.

To his own amazement he saw fireballs hit the legions of Makool emerging from the sea. Leothrad turned to face the ocean and saw projectiles being fired from the fleet he had gathered. He watched the fire balls attempt to reak havoc upon the newly arrived legions. A smile was force onto his face even though he knew the projectiles did little to route the Makool. There were still numerous casualties being inflicted upon the two legions marching out of the sea. Leothrad looked over at his coalition and saw that the Makool were backing off. In the back of his mind he knew they were only doing that to regroup and build up their armies.

Arrows continued to rain down upon the retreating enemy. It was the archers’ attempts to reduce the numbers of enemies they’d have to face the next day. As the newly arrived forces came further ashore Leothrad saw more ships approaching the battle. They were certainly Angothic vessels coming in from the north.

He counted the numbers of sails he could see as the sun dipped down. His heart felt relieved at the sight of reinforcements approaching them. Before he came down, the champion looked over at Ilkabad’s position. He made out fresh corpses around the palisades they had set up around the villages and the tower. It was another eventful day only the enemy had more men now.

At dawn Leothrad awoke to Scur standing over him. The lad had been trying to wake him for sometime. He stirred a little then forced his body up to see what Scur needed. Scur was never a needy lad and hardly asked for anything.

“Yes Scur, what is it?” he asked the young warrior.

“The Jarl Aberis of Seaguard port wants to see you.” Scur said as the Champion sat up on the makeshift cot. Leothrad looked up at Scur and saw a plate of roasted Makool limbs. Just because the Makool were hate did not mean they did not make horrible meals. Every time they fought Makool the Angoths or Veeks filled their bellies with roasted corpses of enemy Makool.

Leothrad grabbed the plate from the young warrior and commenced eating his breakfast. He bit into a roasted foreleg of an elite and chewed slowly.

“What does Jarl Aberis want to see me for?” the Champion asked as he took another bite.

Scur did not say anything to Leothrad about that. He just gestured with his head turning the Champion’s attention to the hut’s entrance. There stood Jarl Aberis in his fine fur lined mail armor and leather greaves. His thick white beard was in two knots. Each one looked more like lines of a ship that kept the sails up or down. The Champion rose up and place the plate of Makool limbs next to him. He offered a seat to the Jarl who accepted the offer and helped himself to roasted Makool. The three Angoths ate in silence until there was nothing else but the bones.

Jarl Aberis wiped his mouth on a cloth offered to him by Scur who took it away for washing. Champion Leothrad waited for the Jarl to finish picking his teeth with the blunt dirk he offered.

“I will be brief Champio. Our forces may be over nine thousand strong, but the enemy has more than seventy thousand now. Prepare your men and yourself.” Jarl Aberis got up and left the Champion’s hut.

Leothrad wasted no time ad prepared for a long drawn out battle against unfavorable odds. He walked out of the hut thinking of the Nine thousand and four hundred men on the field. Leothrad found two bows and three quivers of arrows. He picked them up then handed a bow and quiver to Scur.

“Archers, finish your breakfast and form up! Infantry take your positions and hold them!” Leothrad roared the orders and took his position among the archers with Scur at his side. When the archers formed up their lines the infantry did the same thing not wasting a moment to dawdle around. The enemy camps were just now stirring and there was enough Makool and Goblins to overrun the fortress three times over. He cared for his warriors but was still willing to pit them against these odds.

“Archers, loose a volley and turn them away from Ilkabad and his men!” Leothrad barked at them. About a thousand arrows were loosed and shot up in the air. Each shaft made its way to the camps and rained down on the Makool. He assumed most of the shafts hit the tents, but killed a few hundred of the Makool in the process.

Leothrad and the coalition watched the enemy form up and march towards them in force. He waited for the enemy to move their first lines of warriors out of the camps before firing another volley. The drums of war boomed around them long with weapons banging against shields in rhythm.

“Archers! Send another volley, fire!” Leothrad notched an arrow along with the archers and fire his arrow. A second volley of arrows rained down on the enemy as they marched out in the open field. It was all they could do for now since there were well over eighty thousand Makool headed straight for them. A third volley was fired by the time this horde was halfway to their positions.

Once the fourth volley was fired the first two lines of infantry were ordered to prepare for the wave of enemies. They picked up a spear or trident off the ground and waited to throw them at the enemy. After two more volleys of arrows were fired the enemy was close enough to charge. Tens of thousands of Makool and Goblin warriors charged nine thousand Angoths and Auxmirians on the beaches. The first two lines of infantry launched spears and tridents like javelins. It was a last ditch effort to even some of the odds against them. Leothrad estimated that at least a thousand or so had died from the projectile flung at them. He watched the horde clash against the shield walls of the coalition forces.

Spears, axes, swords and war picks chopped up and pierced the first few thousand enemies. Angoths and Leothrad’s new allies hacked and speared as many Makool as possible before their lines had to switch. Leothrad left the archers and tried his best not to push through the enemy. That would cause him to advance too far into the enemy ranks. There was a great amount of pushing and shoving as there was killing while the morning drew to noon. Despite the defensive advantage more warriors slowly died as they fought to the death. There were a few points were the enemy would get tangled in their lines, but would wind up dead each time. Each warrior who died fighting took as many Makool with them as possible. Some even cut the limbs of the enemies closest to them just to put obstacles for the others to stumble over. Leothrad chose to stay with his men at the front to stir up morale.

Even as they lost men they fought on and slew as many enemies as they could. Thousands of fighters fell on the battlefield. An officer cut down three elite Makools that managed to beat down one warrior and slip through their lines.

“How many warriors have we lost?” he asked the champion as he killed a chieftain and Leothrad chopped off a Makool’s arm. That Makool was speared with four spears. Seventeen wounded warriors were dragged to the back as the rest fought furiously to reduce the enemy’s numbers.

“I counted nearly three thousand dead. Count the wounded!” Leothrad said taking out another elite. He used an enemy’s mace to kill a Makool with one swing. The Champion then cracked the skull of a goblin before he realized the enemy had pushed them back.

More and more combatants fell as the sands and dirt became red from the blood. As the battle went further on into the afternoon Leothrad’s men and the Jarl’s men were reduced to a few thousand. Nearly twenty to thirty thousand enemies lay dead in the field. Archers shot more volleys but were forced to fight alongside the infantry. Each warrior tried their hardest to reduce this horde down to the point where the forces would be forced to route.

Leothrad’s arm ached as he kept killing foe after foe. He managed to stay in the fight to bring morale up, which had been dropping ever since they lost over half their numbers. It didn’t matter if they were wounded or dead each warrior that fell was a casualty. The day looked like it would end badly for the coalition. The champion felt sweat dripping from his nose and chin. Another hour of fighting and he would be spent. He looked over at Ilkabad’s position and saw thousands of Makool retreating. Some warriors and captains saw this and felt the odds turning back in their favor. That was when the tables turned against the Makool King Kewan who was not even present for this battle.

To the north twelve loud horns blew. The noise drew everyone’s attention to the north as the sound of a stampede came up. To the dismay of the enemy the sounds of hooves thundering down from the north spelled death to the horde. Over eight thousand Angoth riders came thundering towards the horde of Makool. Leothrad watched the riders smash into the horde with force. They trampled over thousand upon thousands of Makool. Each warrior hacked and cut down any the ones in front had missed as they rode the enemy down.

The enemy immediately routed and left Leothrad’s and Aberis’ forces alone. Many Makool ran towards the ocean to escape. Most were too stunned over the heavy losses and ran southward. A few hundred managed to make to the fortress, which was only a death trap for them. Leothrad ran down to one of the ships and climbed up to the bow. From there he watched thousands of Makool be intercepted by another force of five thousand Angoth riders.

Leothrad continued to watch with a joyful heart as this second force of riders rode down the remnants of the retreating Makool. To his surprise the second force rode away when it was finished with the Makool. What for, they had won a victory over this King Kewan? He looked up and saw his banner dangling over the masts. Then he realized the commander of the second force wanted to leave the fortress for him to take. When those riders had left he turned his attention to the others. Six horsemen came riding up to his coalition.

The Champion slid down a line of rope and scoured the area for Scur and the other Captains. He passed men who were lifting corpses off the fallen and wound comrades. Wounded warriors used spears or tridents to prop themselves up. Nine warriors seemed to have died of their wounds. He found Scur with the Captain and kneeled down to see how the lad was after a long drawn out battle. Scur had been stabbed in the side and the arm. His arm was now in a sling to let the wounds heal. The young warrior did not look up at Leothrad for he was too embarrassed to be wounded in front of the Champion Leothrad. Leothrad understood this and left Scur alone. As turned away the captain answered his question.

“Well over five thousand men are wounded and three thousand of us are dead. That leaves us just two thousand men, Champion!” he said to Leothrad still in pain from his wounds.

“That is all we need to take this fortress back.” Leothrad said and he walked over to the six horsemen that approached their ships. The rider he sent out nodded and dismounted at the same time the others did. Leothrad smiled at the rider and turned to him.

“I was right to send you.” He complimented the rider who had brought them thousands of riders. He thanked the rider and then turned his attention to the Warlord that had come to his aid.

“Thank the gods they have come Leothrad! Otherwise we’d be dead.” Aberis cried with joy. The Jarl welcomed the other leaders that came to their aid. Leothrad looked at the leaders which consisted of a Warlord, a thane, a Vyceryl, and two Jarls.

“We must finish this battle tomorrow.” He said to them before he retired to his hut. The Champion slept like a log and awoke to the sounds of drums in the morning. He exited his hut which had Scur and the Jarl there with him. Aberis woke just after Leothrad left the hut. The two leaders approached the others for breakfast. For some reason a Makool representative sat with them. It seemed odd for the enemy to dine with them unless this particular Makool was joining their side or sought peace with them.

“Ah, good morning champion Leothrad. This is representative Agwopog of King Kewan. He has message for all of us.” Said the warlord named Orvice.

“Tell us Makool what does your master want from us?” Leothrad asked taking a pear and biting out of it.

The Makool stood up to speak. “My King Kewan says that all out war has only begun.”

Leothrad spat the seed at the Makool’s feet. “Leave these lands and never invade us again frogling!” he yelled in the Makool’s face.

“Very well then, I see you Angoths wish only war with us and death!” the Makool said as it stood up to walk back to the fortress. Leothrad left as well and gathered his weapons and armor. He gathered his troops and immediately charged the fortress. To his surprise another three thousand Angoths came to retake the fortress. Both forces surrounded Fort Night Stone and made an all out assault. Several thousand Angoths overwhelmed the few hundred defenders. They freed the prisoners and retook another fortress from the Makool Domain of Kewan.