"The Battle of Ebretman Hill"

Chapter 4

Matt was pacing himself, trying to keep the sounds of dying allies out of his ears. He had a plan of attack though. They would flank around the enemy. Then they'd smash their phalanx wall from the back.

He spoke to one of his bodyguards, "Collect troops who have finished being healed, and bring them over here. I have an idea to win."

"Yes sir." The bodyguard ran off toward the first aid area, other bodyguards followed suit. They were calling for volunteers to help Matt execute a victory plan.

Enter dream world

Matt began to become excited. The clashes of steel and iron in the background became the sounds in his dream. He dreamt of him sneaking around the side of the hill. They'd reach the top. Matt would call the charge, "Attack!"

Chris then screamed, "What, but how? That's impossible. There's no way."

Matt laughed, "That's Chris for you. Always a perverted retard, isn't smart enough to play war games."

Chris said, "Fuck it, I'm getting out of here." He attempted to teleport, but it failed. "Oh crap. I surrender! I am a cowardly fool."

Matt replied, "Oh no you don't. Down you go!" He hit Chris with a mighty attack from his claymore. Chris's weak dream body collapsed. Matt then began to join in the fray from behind. "You will all suffer. Let's rock!" Matt charged the rear.

Chris's army now folded like paper. They began to scream in terror. "We cannot win, Matt is too strong."

They ran down the hill, into the gauntlet of Matt's awaiting army. Chris's men got down on their knees. "Please forgive us. We'll help you fight the'Galin."

Matt pretended to think about it. "No way, bastards!" He and his army started slaughtering the survivors of Chris's army.

Exit dream world. Jesus Christ, what is this guy thinking?

Matt's dream abruptly ended. A lone bodyguard stood in front of him. "Sir, we have 500 volunteers ready, they'll march on your or- Holy crap, look out!"

Matt hardly had anytime to react, but he turned around to see a lone archer, standing near the Jolon slope. The archer had an arrow notched in his bow, and was a second away from firing. The lone bodyguard sprinted, and knocked Matt out of the way. The bodyguard took an arrow to the leg. The bodyguard initially shrugged it off because of his heavy adrenaline levels, but his body was starting to cool down. Matt bolted after the archer in hot pursuit.

The archer wore a light suit of leather armor dyed in purple, with intricate metal bracers. The bracers were unusual, because they ran down the entire forearm, they were made of bronze instead of traditional leather, and they had a design engraved on them. Matt could not make out the design though, because he was not only too far away, but was too bloodthirsty to care.

The archer ran. As he ran, he whistled and then screamed, "Levi is coming!" Matt at first thought he had misheard him. But he realized that the archer had said Levi. He did not know who Levi was, but he seemed pretty scary, and was on his side no doubt. The archer ran onward, but out of the bushes appeared a brown stallion. Matt began to pick up his pace, because he realized that the archers was going to mount up on it. Matt was only 20 feet away when the archer hopped on the horse's back and began to ride. Matt was within 15 feet of the horse by the time it picked up speed.

The archer ran about 50 feet in front of Matt before firing an arrow at him. Matt parried the arrow with his claymore, cutting off the head of the arrow. But the shaft maintained its flight, and struck him in the shoulder. It did not penetrate, but Matt felt a sharp, stinging, pain.

"Levi, cover that archer, keep him pinned!" Matt exclaimed. He went back to see the bodyguard. The bodyguard was lying on the ground, panting heavily. "Hey, you okay there?" Matt said as he approached.

"My leg feels really weird. Its almost numb." was the bodyguard's reply.

Matt bent down, "Rico dear, can you help me examine his leg?"

Ricobabie bent down as well "Anything for you, my love." She began to examine the arrow. "Oh, nasty scratch here. Well, let me check the entrance wound."

She reached over and saw blood coming out of the arrow wound. "Matt, place pressure near his wounds, it will slow the bleeding."

Matt complied, placing a great deal of force. The bodyguard had a confused look on his face, he was somewhat curious and looked at the leg. Ricobabie used two fingers to spread the wound open…

A fountain of blood gushed out of the wound, splattering all over Matt, Ricobabie, and the bodyguard. The bodyguard began to thrash violently and screamed in terror.

"Oh my god, all that blood squirted out of my fuckin' leg! Aaahhhh!!!! Oh my god, oh my god, help me, dear god help me! Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck!!"

Matt and Ricobabie tried to calm him down and pin him. The bodyguard refused, and flipped onto his front side. The bodyguard again screamed, but even louder than before. "Oh my god, it hurts so much! Oh god! It hurts so fuckin much! And its bleeding everwhere, I'm gonna fuckin die here. Motherfuckers killed me! I'm screwed!! Help me, someone, please, please!"

Matt yelled to him, "Stop being a coward and calm down. Suck it up!"

Ricobabie was serious. She slapped Matt across the face. "I hope I never have to do that again. Don't tell him that! Let me do a prognosis first. Hey, guys," She called over to a group of soldiers, who were watching the spectacle in horror. "Help me keep him calm so I can examine his wounds."

After a few minutes though, Ricobabie came to a chilling conclusion. "The arrow severed his femoral artery, and he has severe bleeding. I can't just use a healing potion, because he'll bleed out the liquid before it can take effect. The arrow is a major source of bleeding, because its position in the leg is applying consistent pressure on wound. The pressure is being applied so that it pushes more blood out of the leg than it would if he had normal wounds. I can't just pull the arrow out, because there are barbs toward the rear of the head. If I pulled the arrows out, he head and barbs would sever more arteries and veins, and possibly create a fracture in the bones, giving him bone marrow poisoning above other things."

"Oh… then what can we do." Matt could only murmur a response at the results.

"He needs healing from an expert healing. He needs surgery. There are apothecaries and surgeons at the first aid tents, we can drop him off there and then continue with your plan."

"Alright," Matt got down and said to the bodyguard, "You're okay, we'll get you to a doctor and you'll live. You're a good soldier, you'll live. You just gotta suck up the pain as I carry you to the medical tent, okay?"

"I understand sir."

"Alright, on three, one…two…three!" Matt picked up the wounded man, and carried him on his shoulders to the first aid area. He began to scream as he approached the area "Hey, hey! This man needs help, give him surgery, now!"

An apothecary wearing bright purple robes with a golden trim walked over to him. "Alright, but he'll need to wait a little bit. There people going into surgery before him."

"Well, he needs surgery NOW."

"Well, so do all THESE people!" The surgeon pointed past the medical area. There was a line of hundreds of men, all with arrows in their bodies, being carried by comrades. They all were hurt badly, and they looked depressed, as if they knew they'd die of their injuries.

"Can you please just admit this man?"

"No, I've got 521 arrow victims to save before him. More casualties show up before we're even done setting up for the next surgery, the prospects of him getting treatment are unlikely."

"Where are the spear victim's tents? Do you think they might have an open surgeon?"

"All the surgeons are treating arrow victims, because we have no spear casualties."

"That doesn't seem possible. There many men getting hurt on that hill-"

"Its those damn enemy spearmen. Whatever Chris taught them he never showed us. Those guys are mindless butchers, they don't leave wounded, they just kill them. And they have no problem doing it. Are they even human?"

Matt began to wallow in doubt. He knew he had to flank that hill, it was his destiny. But for the first time he felt fear. He had always felt confident before. As if he was in a game, but when reality hit, it was a bitch. He finally made up his mind.

"Rico, Damani. Both of you stay here. If I don't take that hill, you both should live. Don't tell me otherwise. Besides, I need someone to lead in my stead. Damani, you may not have had as much experience as me, but your not as dumb as Chris. You're in charge. And Rico, make sure this man gets medical attention. Understand?"

"Yes, Matt."

Matt heard a groan. He looked at the line of wounded. Somebody had just been hit with an arrow. "Levi I told you to cover the archer-"

Matt turned his head to see it was no longer one archer. There were dozens of cavalrymen, standing about. They were in two groups, lancers and archers. The archers fired a salvo of arrows. Matt ducked, and the salvo zoomed overhead. The mass of arrows ripped through the tents. Matt could hear screams. He looked up the Apothecary. He was coughing up blood; an arrow had struck him in the chest.

"My lung, those bastards. The arrow collapsed my lung." The Apothecary stood there, a 1000-yard stare on his face, directed towards the attacking archers. He had gone into shock. The horse archers did not spare him. Two arrows ripped into his chest, and the Apothecary landed on the ground, flat on his face.

The lancers, feeling the archers had done sufficient damage, began to take their turn. The wounded could not run, and the lancers slashed them like a scythe through wheat. They would charge through the enemy, killing them with lances, then circle around and charge again, over and over.

Matt cried out, "No, no, no!" He began to run at the cavalry, swinging his claymore wildly. To no avail, their lancers merely rode their horses around him and other unwounded soldiers. They continually hunted surgeons, apothecaries, and wounded guardians, killing more with each pass they made. They found and killed their targets with deadly accuracy.

But Matt finally stuck. He swung his claymore at an oncoming lancer. The lancer held out his shield, but the impact with the claymore knocked him off his horse, which kept running on after him. The man fell on his right leg. Matt turned around to see the man had his shield on his back, and was slowly backing away, his right leg wobbling from pain. He had his 10 foot lance, similar in design to the spears that Chris's troops on the hill were using, and positioned it defensively.

Matt began to approach him, feeling ready for his first kill of the day. Yet, this mans fate was to live. An allied lancer rode in to pick up the wounded man. Matt abandoned the idea of using caution and rushed. The lancer on the horse scooped up his wounded brethren. The wounded man saw Matt, and reversed the lance, to the side of the counter weight. He jabbed off the side of the horse at Matt, meeting Matt's cuirass with perfect timing. Matt's legs were going forward, but Matt's body was being forced backward by the blow. Matt fell straight on his back, and lancers rode away.

As Matt got up and dusted himself off, Ricobabie showed concern. He quickly reassured her he was fine, but he had to go catch the enemy cavalry. He saw the man he wounded, remount his horse, which had been capture and restrained by an archer. Then, the cavalry, feeling satisfied in their raid, began to make their way of Jolon slope.

Matt began to curse them out, "Come on you cowardly bastards, come and fight us. You can't fight real men, you can only prey on the wounded, huh?" The cavalry ignored his taunt, and continued upwards. Matt quickly regroup his forces, then gave chase, "You bastards can't hide from us. There's only one hilltop!"

Chris, watching carnage from the top of the hill, and felt confident. He saw his men continue to slaughter the Guardians. He watched his cavalry pull off their harassment maneuver, and kill of the wounded without mercy, much to Matt's dismay. It was the most confident he had ever felt. But he knew that if he became too self-confident, he'd be a fool like Matt. "Silly little Matt, doesn't seem to realize what I'm doing."

An archer approached him. "Chris, the enemy are chasing our cavalry up Jolon hill. Levi is amongst them."

"Very well, tell the artillery men to ready the machines. They are to fire once the cavalry are in a safe position."

"Sir, are you certain? We only have a limited amount of ammunition…"

"You are right to question me. But I did not build those machines to have them sit idle. They could save many lives which would be wasted in a downhill charge. Besides, I did not delay the enemy for three days for nothing. Tell the artillery men to carry out the order. And also, have someone tell our friends on Xavzer slope to expect some company. Just a few…walking targets."

"Yes sire, I'll relay the orders at once."

Chris went back into thinking, and began a monologue "Matt, we all knew that you're supreme self-confidence would come back to you one day. I think you've abused and underestimated me for the last time. You think that you have amazing super strength and wits. I'll put you through hell before my time here is over. And this is the beginning of the end. For all of Lore. And when the day comes that I trample Battleon to the ground, and all Lore's people beg for my favor, I will walk up to the historians and say 'My name is Chris, and today, I have conquered what no one else could. I defeated the supposedly undefeatable Battleonian army. My name is Chris, remember it…'"