Twilight's Last Gleaming - Chapter 5
Hello again faithful readers! I bring you battle scene 2 of 3. This scene is inspired by actual historical events during the Battle of Saratoga. (Note - there is a bit of a time skip between chapters 4 and 5). The Battle of Saratoga is often considered to be the turning point in the American Revolutionary War. The tables turned and the Americans started winning. Hetalia and its characters are still not mine. Also, while writing this I was listening to "A Tribe Called Red" by Angel Haze.
It had been just over a year ago, in late summer that Arthur and his men had attacked Alfred's forces at Long Island and had won by a landslide. Now, it was the autumn of 1777, and during that time, Arthur had been a very busy man. He was a strategist, and always spent a lot of time preparing for his battles. In fact, he had been so busy and so distracted that his heavy drinking stopped, (much to the relief of his friends). Arthur's dedication was most likely the reason why England was winning the war. Today was the day of another battle, and Arthur had just notified his troops of the plan of attack. Arthur was in his personal tent, standing in front of a full-length mirror and suiting up for battle. Unfortunately for Arthur, he would be outnumbered today. Another English force was supposed to have joined with his last night, but they never showed. Arthur wondered what had happened to them. It seemed that at this point, his reinforcements weren't coming at all. Arthur wasn't used to being outnumbered, but he figured that his troops were more skilled than Alfred's, and that their skills would make up for it. Arthur finished dressing, and stood up to look at himself in the mirror. His intense, green eyes seemed to have a fire lit in them lately. A fire of determination.
"Bring me my riding crop, I am ready to go out." Arthur called to Richard, his right-hand man.
Richard appeared with the crop, and Arthur left for the stables to retrieve his horse, Marzipan. Marzipan was a pale gray mare which Arthur had owned for about a decade now. She was a swift, strong horse and Arthur refused to use any other horse for battles. Today, he would need her since this was a cavalry battle. Currently, she was eating hay.
"Hello girl, how are you today?" He asked. Marzipan's ear twitched at Arthur's voice, and then she raised her head out of the feed sack. She whinnied and grabbed a hold of the empty feed sack with her mouth. Marzipan then shoved it in Arthur's face, her neck leaning over her stall door.
Arthur chuckled. Marzipan always made him laugh with her antics.
"No Marzipan, you can't fool me today. I know the stable boy already fed you your breakfast."
Marzipan dropped the feed sack and hung her head in disappointment. Arthur opened the gate and quickly mounted her.
"Ok girl, you know what to do."
Then Arthur and Marzipan trotted off, out of the stable door and onto the battlefield.
Arthur sat on top of Marzipan, alongside his men. They were about to go over a hill, and after that they would likely be able to see the enemy approaching in the distance, on the other side of the large, open, grassy plain. Today, Arthur had a division of cavalry, and a division of infantrymen. In the back of the lines, with him and the other high-ranking officers there were several wooden carts carrying heavy cannons. Then suddenly Arthur was standing at the top, looking down at his troops scattered along the bottom of the hill, and at a sea of blue coats. There was blue as far as the eye could see. Arthur gave a hand signal, then nodded to his colonel. The drummers began drumming out a quick beat, signaling for the rest of the troops to prepare themselves and continue marching forward. The staccato beat of dozens of drums playing in unison was hypnotizing, and drew Arthur and his men into a new state of mind. The beat of the drums made them focus on their goal, and gave them a feeling of intensity. All across the battlefield, jaws clenched and eyes narrowed. The pounding of horses' hooves was like thunder rolling across the plains, and added to the intensity. The two fleets were almost upon each other by now, probably about 50 feet apart. Alfred's troops were beating out a slightly different beat on their drums, and when the two fleets came together, the differing beats created a cacophony of chaotic noise. Not long after, real chaos ensued. The first shots rang out. Arthur tried to find Alfred in the sea of blue coats, but was unable to. However, he heard his loud, obnoxious voice directing his troops. Alfred also had some troops on horseback today. Now the troops were about 30 feet apart. Men on both sides began to fall, into the dirt to be trampled on by the men and horses behind. Arthur noticed that his troops were holding up just as well as Alfred's were so far. This pleased him. Neither side was losing much more men than the other. The distance was 20 feet now, and Arthur smirked underneath his hat as he caught a glimpse of Alfred trotting along on his brown steed. He felt confident that he could beat Alfred today, even though Alfred had more men.
"I do believe we can win this!" Arthur yelled over the noise of the drums, the horses' hooves, and the gunshots.
"You may be right sir!" Yelled Richard.
"Sir, I mean no disrespect but you are clearly outnumbered!" Yelled the colonel, whose name was Benjamin. "In fact, now that I see just how many men they have, I think it might be wisest to not fight them at all!"
Arthur ignored this comment. It was time to focus. They were closing in on the enemy now. The men left in the front line drew out their bayonets and swords, (the close-combat weapons) and began clashing with Alfred's troops. To Arthur's dismay, Alfred's front line plowed over his. Arthur's eyes widened. He looked over at Benjamin, whose emotionless face seemed to say "I told you so". Arthur looked back. His troops were trying their hardest to keep the Americans back, but the complete obliteration of the first row had put them on edge, and made them a bit fearful. Alfred's troops seemed to have more of a drive than usual, which was something that Arthur couldn't explain. The American soldiers were making war cries, and Alfred was screaming out something that Arthur couldn't quite make out. Most likely, it was a form of encouragement or a motivational speech. Arthur's troops were holding out a bit better now, but Arthur had to admit, he was actually feeling a bit nervous and unconfident now, which never happened to him on the battlefield. Usually, people told him that he was actually overconfident.
Arthur made another hand signal and shouted out "CAVALRY!"
The beat of the drums changed, and the cavalry emerged from the back. The rest of Arthur's soldiers moved aside to let the horses and their riders past. Alfred seemed to have the same idea, which didn't give Arthur an advantage. Now both troops had cavalry out in front. Unfortunately for Arthur and his troops, Alfred's cavalry had a devastating effect. Their horses knocked over all of the English soldiers standing in their way. It seemed that the goal of their cavalry was to disperse and separate Arthur's men. The men in red fell over like dominoes. Many were them were trampled by the horses. Arthur's heart leapt up in his throat, seeing how close the American cavalry were to him now. He decided to pick up his own gun and start trying to shoot some of the riders down himself. Then Arthur heard a whizzing sound. He whipped around to his left just in time to see Benjamin get pierced in the neck with a bullet. He made a choking sound as it buried itself deep in the center of his throat and broke multiple major arteries. Only a few seconds later he fell off of his horse, and stopped moving. Arthur was in absolute shock. He stopped shooting. His face went as white as death. His eyes were like two round globes, fixated on his colonel's corpse, which was being left behind. Oh my god. He was right and he died for my mistake. This was all a mistake. Arthur thought. While Arthur and his men were panicking, Alfred's troops prepared the weapon that would end the battle. In his shock, Arthur had failed to notice that some of the men on horses were carrying large wooden barrels with fuses on the ends of them. These barrels were filled with highly explosive gunpowder. Alfred's men dropped the barrels simultaneously, and then quickly took off, away from the scene. Arthur turned his head around, away from the body of his fallen comrade. The American cavalry had escaped just in time for the gunpowder bombs to start to detonate. Loud explosions sounded all over the battlefield, as puffs of smoke and flames flew up into the sky. One by one they exploded, and to Arthur's horror, there were bodies and body parts flying up into the air, then falling back down. Pieces of earth and grass were also flying everywhere. He had no other choice at this point. He had to do it.
"RETREAT MEN!" Arthur waved a large white flag over his head as the explosions continued.
The remaining redcoats fled the scene quickly. As they turned around Arthur saw that the whites of their eyes were wide. Many were limping along or coughing from all of the smoke. The injured were carried back on carts. As they retreated, Arthur passed by the body of his dear colonel Benjamin, lying in a pool of blood. A tear escaped Arthur's eye as he passed by.
"Come on Marzipan" Arthur said quietly to his horse as the Americans cheered. "Let's get you washed up."
ALFRED IS A BLOODY BASTARD! Thought Arthur as he growled. He was currently in his tent, at his dining table, clutching a bottle of gin and scowling. He took a swig, then slammed the bottle down so hard on the table that it smashed into bits everywhere.
"AAAAHH!" He screamed, seeing a piece of glass in his hand. "BLOODY HELL, OWWW!"
"Oh dear! Sir let me assist you!" exclaimed Richard.
"GET OFF MY CASE GIT, I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!" Arthur yelled.
Richard just stood there, feeling a bit shocked for a moment, then slowly left.
Standing outside of the tent was a young boy who served as Arthur's messenger. "Bad time?" He asked.
"Yes, indeed." Replied Richard.