Rise of the Horde

Captain Kertakk hurriedly made his way down the flight of stairs and even directly jumped over the heads of his panicked men after the deafening blast. He grabbed the collar of one of his sergeants and shouted right at his face to gather the wounded and have them treated by the healers. The sergeant was still shaken by what just happened but when he saw the face of their captain shouting his orders right on his face, his body instinctively responded, “Yes captain!” before heading towards the terrified soldiers to take control of the situation.

The captain nodded his head when he saw the other sergeants performing their supposed job which was to take control of the situation and calm the panicky soldiers and get them back into line. He directed his gaze towards the walls and shouted as loud as he can, the veins in his neck even bulged a bit as he shouted to make sure that those on the walls would hear him, “Archers!!! Nock your arrows and prepare to fire at will!!! Infantry!!! Get your asses down here!!!”

The attack of their foes blowing apart the gates deemed most of their early preparations since they were expecting a long-drawn fight in the form of a siege not an all-out brawl at the beginning. His forehead slowly got covered in sweat, his hands didn’t stop moving around as he reinforced almost his every command with his hands as a way to make sure to let his soldiers know where he wanted them to be and what they should do.

“Spears and shields!!! Form up in front of the destroyed gate and buy us more time to arrange the defenses!!!”

“Swords and shields!!! Protect their flanks!!!”

“And archers!!! Make every arrow count!!!”

Captain Kertakk’s throat felt dry after shouting his commands non-stop but he had to do it or risk his orders not being heard clearly and misunderstood by his soldiers.

.....

Baron Masud was rooted where he stood after the deafening boom which shredded their gate to pieces along with some of his soldiers. He had confidence in the strength of the massive doors that blocks the path towards the town since they were made of ironwood bundled together by metallic binders which would pose a lot of trouble for battering rams. One of the personal guards of the baron called towards him, “My lord, it would be better for you to retreat to the castle or you’ll be caught in the chaos when the battle starts.” his guard advised him.

The baron mechanically turned his head towards the owner of the voice then his gaze shifted to the archers who were prepared to draw the strings of their bows to fire their first arrow as soon as the enemies get within their range. He knew he was weak compared to many of his soldiers since he had neglected his training ever since and his combat prowess was stuck at the First Realm of Power. His thoughts were simple back then, ‘I am a noble and my duty is to govern my territory, gather wealth and enjoy life. Training hard to become stronger should be left to the soldiers since they will be the one who will fight for me.’ But now he regretted spending his days just lazing around doing nothing when he could have trained to become stronger.

“You know what, I am tired of always running.” His hoarse voice came as he turned towards the weapon rack that was along the walls. “Some of my soldiers haven’t even awakened their battle energy and yet here they are… Ready to fight!” the baron grabbed a plain looking bow and gave its string a tug to test its elasticity. “I have been called a coward for far too long as I always hide behind my soldiers… But now it’s time to change that…” he grabbed a quiver of arrows and slung it along his back and stood right beside the nearest archer to him. His eyes were full of determination as he wanted to even just for once be worthy of being a descendant of the House of Masud, the House of the Soaring Hawk.

The guard that was protecting wanted to refute him but the sudden cheers of the archers who were unexpectedly eavesdropping on their conversation came. Cheers and battle cries originated from those who were close to the baron and his guard after hearing the contents of their conversation, those who were further away didn’t know what was the reason for the abrupt cheers but they too joined in. In the beginning the one who were cheering were only those who were close to the baron and his guard which spread to all the soldiers who were on the walls then it even reached the soldiers who were on the ground and the infantry who were tasked to block the entrance also joined in.

Baron Masud was confused on the sudden turn of events but he felt really good after knowing that his soldiers were all cheering because of him. Captain Kertakk was finally able to catch his breath and drink some water to ease the dryness of his throat while also listening to the conversation of the baron and his guard a few steps down from the top of the stairs. And as he was about to give further instructions to his soldiers, the cheering started. He turned his gaze towards where it was coming from and a smile crept up to his lips as he knew who was the reason for it, “Who knew he had the ability to lift the morale of the soldiers.” Was all that he could say as he continued on with his job.