Herald of Steel

As soon as Ser Robert gave the order to attack, his men began to instantly scramble to their position with great agency, a bubble of fury and anger hidden beneath their focused faces.

'How dare they attack the general when he was at his most vulnerable!' They shouted to themselves in righteous anger.

"Dammit it all!"

While at the back, seeing this hasty order, Anoon let off this cry of frustration.

In his opinion, this was not at all what they should be doing.

Because upon pondering the attack a bit, he reached a very different conclusion from that of Ser Robert.

From his perspective, it did not look like the other side was at all gearing up for a fight but instead more seemed like a stray shot taken to try and capitalize on an opportune moment, to fish for a kill against a man wearing extremely provocative armor.

He reached this conclusion based on the simple reasoning that if Alexander's idea really was to attack them while they retreated, well then how come there was only one shot?

If the idea was to try and kill as many of the Margraves cramped together on the boats as possible before quickly making their escape, then the attack should have come in volleys.

And if that were to happen, Anoon should have been able to easily see the enemy's decks filled with archers all lined up and facing them, ready to let off large amounts of arrowfire.

But that had not clearly happened.

The decks were empty and the ships appeared to be moving away from them in a slow, leisurely pace, not too fast, not too slow.

It was like the men there were enjoying the scenery around them.

So this sniping shot was clearly the work of a lone man who was simply taking potshots.

Thus Anoon wished that they did not overreact and let this one slide.

However, the option for peace was cleanly stroked off even before Anoon could get his two cents in as by the time he returned to the helm that was commanded by Ser Robert, two of the ships at the very front had already been displayed, and seemed to be making an impressed gain on the enemy, its great speed greatly outpacing its opponent's.

"Shit!" And as they made contact and a battle began to unfold, Anoon once again cursed like so in anger.

Back aboard Alexander's vessel, things were indeed as Anoon had thought.

In fact, it was even more extreme than what he thought because most of the men, Alexander and his officers included still remained oblivious to that one unnamed servant's voluntary attack or even his success.

They did not even notice this as instead, they were more busy leisurely chatting to themselves about the events of the day, such as their close shave with death, the various heroic deeds they did, how many men they killed, how they were saved by another's quick thinking, etc.

"I really thought I was a goner there… only I am realizing how close we all came!" One of the legionaries said while lifting up his hands to show the other, it was shivering like a leaf in a storm.

"Yeah…. Never fighting on a bridge again. Fuck!" Another man cursed in a tone laced with fear.

"I just wanna go back and sleep! We have been fighting for hours!" While another let out this exhausted sigh of relief and pleasure.

Thus it came as a great surprise to all of them when the spotters from the back produced this shrill, panicked cry,

"Enemy attack! Get up quickly! Enemy attack! They are trying to ram us! They are coming to ram us!"

"Move the ship! Move it! Dodge!"

"Brothers! Put on your armor! Pick up your swords! Quick! Quick! There is no time!"

The watchmen placed at the rear of the ships obviously noticed Ser Robert's 'unprovoked' attack, the two giant ships steaming towards them with great malice, whipping up the waters into a frenzy.

Thus the men sought to warn the crew as fast as they could.

But unfortunately, despite their best efforts, their warning was nowhere fast enough. It was never going to be.

The distance between the sides was too short, just a few hundred meters, and the attack too sudden.

'Attack! What attac…' And thus even before the soldiers were able to wake to the dangers and get into any sort of coherent formation, one of the ships at the corner of the formation was rammed from behind, the blow made with such precision that it sent the ship half spinning, making them rotate ninety degrees clockwise and causing their flanks to get exposed.

And it was an opportunity that was of course instantly exploited by the second ship, which closely followed behind with a full powered charge, cheering, "For the general!" and making solid contact with the starboard.

The attack on the keel was a lethal perpendicular strike and hence dealt a critical hit on that weak spot, snapping even the toughened wood and causing a huge crack to run through half of the deck.

The only reason the ship was even standing and had not split in two was due to a thin strip of wood at the other end that was yet to snap, barely holding the whole structure in place.

But it was apparent that this was only temporary, destined to fail in the next few seconds.

Because there was no way such a thin, flimsy thing would support the load of tens of tons of men and material.

This attack by the two Margraves ships had been the perfect textbook example of how to do a ramming attack, demonstrated live by the best rowers in the world.

The results themselves spoke of its efficacy, the immense damage it caused being clear for all to see.

Many men fell overboard from the great shock of the hit, and who were wearing armor among those found themselves almost unable to swim, and a lot drowned.

And even those who could somehow swim through sheer will were sometimes hit by the moving ships, seriously injuring if not outright killing them.

While those who were lucky to stay on the deck were also mostly thrown off their feet and hit their head on something or someone, making them bleed and causing them to feel dizzy and disoriented.

Thus their formations lay in tatters, as all of them struggled to get up and just get a hold of their bearing.

An endeavor made that much harder by the fact that the blow had caused such a large gaping wound to open up in its hull and water was beginning to gush in with great rapidness, making the ship quickly begin to list.

It was so extreme that there were some places that were tilting at such steep angles that the men even found it impossible to stand.

The ship was a complete write off, the damage was so grave that it was suspected even the gods would have a hard time performing a miracle to save it.

And it looked like the same fate was to be shared by the hundred or so soldiers plus sailor aboard it, as immediately following the hit, hooks were thrown in from both the enemy ships, and some of the nimbler troops even simply jumped abroad, eager to finish the job.

Most had no shields and only wielded a short, dagger like sword, but there was no fear in them, only bloodlust and alacrity.

If they were facing Alexander's orderly legionaries with their shields and heavy armor in proper formation, these men might have had some scruples, even choosing to stand back and let the sea claim them as opposed to meeting them head on.

But now…

The other side was able to barely stand, with no shields and only a small sword, lying scattered throughout the deck haphazardly like dots of kernels strewn all about.

These were no threats, they were easy prey.

Thus licking their lips with anticipation, the Margraves troops expertly jumped into the sinking ships with manic glees and streaked across the slanted deck like they were moving through the flattest tarmac road, laying full testament to their naval skill.

And whilst they danced, they bared their deadly fangs on the struggling legionnaires, bringing their daggers down in large, wide, powerful arches and producing great and fearful gnashes and cuts, thus painting the wooden decks a macabre crimson.

But although this was harrowing to watch, surprisingly the attacking force had a very hard time creating any deep wounds on their opponents, most being relegated to only swallow cuts that were frightening to look at but did not damage the core.

It was of course because the thick multi layered armor that the legionaries wore was proving to be a very tough nut to crack for the small daggers.

One had to really get in there.

But this extreme close quarters combat then opened them up to counterattacks, as the Margraves were unable to use their great footwork when so close, and thus there were even instances of the legionaries literally grabbing the Margraves by the hands and stabbing them.

This was unfortunately not a complete bloodbath as the Margraves had expected, but a brutal massacre of both sides.

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