Chapter 431: Battle on the Hills: Part Two

The tide of men crashed into the western flank. From atop the hill, archer fire fell, like a storm from thinning the tide, but with each man killed, another took his place. Cassius clicked his tongue as he watched from a distance, leading the second wave flanking the west. He wished to send men up to charge and dislodge the archers, but with the thin shield walls placed in front of them to defend against any attack, he had no choice but to delay and wait for the archers to run out of arrows.

Cassius knew he had fewer troops than Octavius. It was true at the start of the war and even more so after the last battle. Everything he did had to be timed perfectly, and that was why he took command over the flank.’With two directions to fire in, they will eventually run out.’Taking a deep breath, Cassius led the second wave into the western flank.

A shout came from above the hill to refocus the archer fire solely on Cassius and his forces. Cassius instantly knew he outnumbered the forces holding the west. "CHARGE! DO NOT GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO RECOVER!" Yelling at the top of his lungs, he pushed through the sea of men. Above, those not involved in the fighting held their shields up to provide cover. Cassius slowly wormed his way through, needing to get to the front to get a better look.

Soon, his commands would be drowned out by noise and the thrill of battle. Whilst his men still hadn’t been consumed by it, he needed to order them. The continuous thudding above him made Cassius’ heart beat rapidly. Arrows pierced through the wooden shields every second, with the occasional piercing through the gaps above, piercing and killing a man. Despite the mayhem going on around and the struggle he was facing trying to squeeze through the gaps, the only thought running through Cassius’ mind was how much he hated being the attacker.

He had no choice in the matter either. Magnus wanted a quick war, and whilst he understood that they were the assaulting side, they could have forced Octvaius out of such a fortified position. Cassius rolled his eyes at his cousin’s impatience. After so many years of it, Cassius expected Magnus to at least still run on it.

Sighing again, the noise of battle got louder as he inched closer. He fell into thought again, knowing soon he wouldn’t have free time to himself. He understood Magnus’s need to rush the battle. The longer they waited, the tighter Julius’ rule became. People supported Magnus because he had proven himself over decades as Archduke to be an efficient ruler of his land. Compared to the Imperial Family, Magnus felt like a better choice. But if he couldn’t finish the war in a quick enough manner, he would prove that both Julius was a good wartime ruler and that he himself wasn’t fit for the throne.

Just thinking about it, Cassius wanted to groan and grab his head in pain. He couldn’t understand how either Magnus or Julius could do such things. It gave him a headache to even try to picture himself in their positions.’Being a soldier is good enough. All I have to do is follow orders.’

Telling himself, he reached the front and scanned the enemy lines. He couldn’t see over them, but could get a rough estimate of how many forces were blocking his way.’A battalion. A little more, maybe. Makes sense. The scouts told us he had one on each flank.’Cassius charged in two battalions into the west, with one split into two. He was ready for a strong defence and didn’t wish to take any risks.

Watching the battle, blood sprayed onto his face as the man before him suddenly died, an arrow piercing the side of the neck. He spun to try to find help, but quickly collapsed from the stray attack. Cassius subconsciously tightened the leather protection near his neck and hurriedly filled the gap.

Focusing on defending himself, kept one eye on the enemies before him and the other on the battle situation. It made him want to bitterly chuckle as tactics came and went from his mind. Every man and commander was from the same Empire, trained in the same ways. How could he fight someone who knew everything he did? Who knew how to counter his every move. In the city, he got lucky, fighting weaker forces without strong leadership and Templars, but here, Octavius was watching everything. He wouldn’t dare risk putting a weak commander on such an integral flank.

Blocking a few attacks, Casisus’s arms ached as he tensed his muscles to hold firm. Eyeing the entire situation, he looked atop the hill.’Is it the only chan-’His thoughts were cut short, falling to his knee to block the heavy attack. The attack didn’t let up and pulled their sword up once again, bringing it down hard. The shield split open, and Cassius knew he was in a bad situation.

Stabbing his sword forward, he stabbed straight through the man’s stomach and pushed him off with his shield. Looking at the corpse of the man peirced by the arrow, he turned around to face one of his men. "SHEILD ME!" The soldiers quickly stepped in front of Cassius and defended against the onslaught.

Deep in the mud, Casisus fumbled around, trying to pull the man’s arms free from beneath his body. With great effort, he had to avoid the footsteps of his allies as he unlatched the shield on his dead comrade’s arm. Pulling the knife from his back, he cut loose the leather straps on his own damaged shield and quickly fitted the new one in place.

Standing up, he looked at he hill and sighed.’I have to take it. I must break their will before I can break the line.’Cassius held his shield up and fell back. Men grabbed him and threw him backwards, trying to get him out of the way. None could tell nor cared at the moment that he was their General, that he had the highest authority on the field.

Cassius wanted to repemand them, but by the time he could turn, he was already chucked down the line once again. Breaking free from the battle, he held his shield up and hung close to the hill, staying out of line of the archer fire. Running across, he saw the troops he had in resver, waiting for his orders.

"MEN!" Cassius fixed his appearance and shouted, "WE MUST TAKE THE HILL! OUR COMRADES OUR FRINEDS ARE PINNED, UNABLE TO MOVE! ARE YOU WITH ME!"

A loud battle cry followed his words as Cassius led the charge. His rallying cry didn’t go unnoticed by the people atop it, and quickly spotting the mad charge up, the infantry placed to defend the archers took positions, holding the rim of the hill.

Behind them, a loud horn blew for three seconds, stopping for five and blowing again for three. This happened four times and was followed by a quiet one on the East, as if acknowledging it.

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Octavius heard the horn blow from the other hill parallel to him. Octavius looked behind him into the distance. Whilst the reason he had chosen this place was its preferable terrain, it was also because of the ease with which he would have communicated at long distances.

Reaching to his waist at the small flags he had holstered on his waist, he carefully pulled out the red one and swung it in the air for the reserve force in the middle of the road. With the horns blowing earlier, the man leading the reserves was already looking up at Octavius and saw him waving the red flag madly in the air to get his attention. Lifting his own small red flag to tell Octavius he understood the order, he waited for the General to stop signalling him before ordering a messenger to run to the second hilltop that trapped the western force in a small valley.

The message ran with one order. Join the Western flank. Octavius’ plan was convoluted and required him to leave different areas underdefended. Charing his men out east, he kept the west weak to force Cassius to assault that direction. If Cassius committed troops to take the hill, he would attack with a force in hiding. If he didn’t, he would order a fake retreat to force Cassius in, where he would surround him with the forces atop the hills.

It wasn’t a perfect plan, Octavius knew that. The longer the battle, the less likely such a complex manoeuvre could be pulled off, but throughout the war, he had realised that he had done things. Magnus and Cassius were strangely rushed with what they were doing. From night raids to the siege of the city, everything they did screamed they wanted things over quickly.

It was a gamble to bet on that they would act the same way, but Octavius was happy that it paid off.

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Hearing the horn sound, Cassius slowed down. "HALT!" In the face of arrow fire, his men didn’t stop. "HOLD YOUR PLACES!" Cassius screamed once again, his men finally stopping and shielding the arrow fire.’They sounded a horn. They are expecting us to try and take the hill.’

From the slightly raised position, Casisus forced himself to the edge of the while wall, and looked across to the other hill. In the distance, he could see a dark shadow over it that could easily be mistaken for the moving clouds. But Cassius knew better.’A trap. They wanted this.’

"FALL BACK!" Cassius cried the order, abandoning the idea of taking the hill. "FALL BACK!" Crying out, Cassius and his men slowly retreated, the archer fire never ending. From behind the sound of the horn, it blew once again, lasting for five seconds straight and taking a five-second pause.