Junis stood behind his towering shield as he looked out over the Nerian Army which advanced slowly up the valley. Eight thousand Nerians. Maybe two thousand archers, one thousand Calvary, and about five thousand Infantry. Luckily the rocky terrain had slowed down there machines of war which where not present. Eight thousand versus seven hundred Seridans. Four hundred Seridan soldiers and three hundred female archers. He knew that they had to give the Ilyans time to escape to Serida. They had to hold this mountain pass as long as possible. Luckily night was coming quickly. If there was any luck then there would be no fighting tonight. Maybe the Ilyans would wait for night fall before they tried to take the Pass.
He looked down the rows. It only took Fifty Seridans to cover one side of the pass to the other. They had been arranged in rows. The first few rows where all soldiers. Then in the middle to the rear the rows alternated between archers and soldiers. Of course he stood on the front line. When the enemy came he would be ready. Even he had to die here in this place he would take an Nerian or three with him.
He looked down the pass at their leader his uncle who was meeting with the leaders of the Nerian Army. His uncle had said the meeting was pointless. The Nerian army would only demand that the Seridans stand aside. If there was one thing the Seridans never did it was back down from a fight. It had been over five hundred years since an army had even dared invade Serida. Every male citizen and first born female was expected to serve at least five years in service of its army. When armies stopped invading Serida it went looking for war. It traded its vast armies for supplies and food from neighboring nations. It was funny that this had brought peace to the land since no country wanted to go to war with Serida. Soon every nation in the region had a battalion of Seridans to help defend its borders. The Seridan pact was signed five years ago which said that if any nation goes to war with another the Seridan armies would only help the defending army.
Then the Nerian army came. Driven to conqueror all of Endowiar. At first they had seemed to have noble goals. They had mustered there forces to stop the troll hoards and to destroy the ogres that roamed the nearby mount side. However they enslaved both races adding them and others to what was actually a growing war machine. The Nerians where humans who hated the other races and the Seridans who had even the smallest bit of elfin blood had no place in the Endowiar they had envisioned. Suddenly his uncle drew out his sword and took off the head of the Nerian general.
“One thousand yards, Let fly.” He heard the captain of the guard say as every soldier went to his knee and leaned his shield forward. Ever Archer grabbed an Arrow and fired into the sky. His uncle began to ride up the Valley quickly hoping to get back to his army before the enemy could launch there arrows. Junis could only watch as the Seridan arrows rained down on an enemy who was not yet ready. He saw soldiers scramble for to take cover. There lines where frantic.
“By the numbers, target there archers. One, Two…” He heard the Captain begin to count off as he yelled numbers so that with each number a row of archers now released its arrows into the enemy archers which where trying to get organized. But like a machine just as one row of archers fired another was drawing back there bow. By the time he got to the last number the first row had an arrow ready to fly. The enemy was no doubt used to trading volleys and had never seen an army who would fire arrow after arrow.
His uncle made it just in time to there line as they made a gap and his horse rode through. They quickly closed the hole as Enemy arrows filled the sky. Junis got a look at the damage they had done as he saw maybe a half of there archers where down.
“Hold Arrows. Shields Together.” The Captain yelled and he tilted his shield back as he stood. A soldier behind him lifted his shield and placed it over his head and butted it up against Junis’s. Row after row lifted there shields which where as tall as men and formed a roof. The rows of archers in between scouted close to the soldiers. They had formed the roof of shields just as the enemy arrows begin to land upon there shields.
“Listen to the rain.” A male soldier yelled as the Seridan army filled with laughter. The sound of hundreds of arrows braking on there shields sounded as if it was raining indeed. Junis looked up at a dent in his on shield which had taken a blow from a ballista. He had little to fear under this wall of shields. They could have a million archers for all he cared. As he listened to the rain his mind drifted back. |