Last minute preparations filled the camp, weapons were sharpened armor inspected for damages, horses were shod and last minute goodbyes were said, Haytham strode about his men offering encouragement to any who seemed to need it; he came across Zayd the soldier he had given guidance to, "Remember what I told you about courage Zayd." Zayd nodded at the general, "I haven't forgotten nor will I ever." Haytham felt a twinge of pride and satisfaction; if the only thing he accomplished was to give a life lesson to one of his men then he had accomplished a great thing.
Over on the Telmarine side of the field, the Telmarines set about making similar preparations, Tertias could feel apprehension boiling inside him but he kept a confident face, "General," Tertias turned it was one of his aides, "I owe you an apology." The man said, "For what?" Tertias asked, "I haven't shown you the respect you deserve I joked about you behind your back, said you were unfit for command. But after seeing you take charge of things I know now that I was wrong, please can you forgive me?"
Tertias was taken aback he didn't quite know how to respond, "Please, you don't owe me anything; I have hardly done anything worth mentioning. A battle looms ahead and it is that battle which is the true test, I can only hope I'm worthy enough." The other man started to walk away, "I have faith in you." He said over his shoulder.
Soon both armies were assembled the battle lines were drawn and the troops waited anxiously for the command to attack. Haytham had all three of his halberd divisions on the right flank his swordsmen and axe-men, on the left flank one of his cavalry companies the rest he kept behind the lines in reserve. Tertias had employed a similar setting with his halberdiers and pike-men supported by cavalry and Telmarine swordsmen.
Astride his faithful horse among his aides and bodyguards Haytham waited for the battle to begin, he had done this countless times and this seemed to be the last time, "Sir, look." One of Haytham's aides pointed to a group of three riders coming out of the Telmarine army bearing a flag of truce. "Well, let's go meet the enemy, Kamal, Hamilcar, you're both with me." Haytham and his two selected men rode out to meet the Telmarines between both armies. The two parties of horsemen drew up a respectable distance from one another, and for the first time Haytham, and Tertias gazed upon one another. Haytham spoke first, "Etiquette mandates that I give you a chance to surrender." Tertias shook his head, "Never, as long as I live I shall defend my people, but I am going to give you this one opportunity to turn around and go home." "That is something I cannot do I pledged my life in service to the Tisroc, I can no more turn back than I can sprout wings." "Then these negotiations are over." Tertias said with an air of finality.
Haytham and his aides rode quickly back behind the Calormene lines, "We're in luck general." Kamal said, "How's that Bash-Kara?" "Didn't you see how young their general was? He probably has never seen a battlefield." Haytham was skeptical, "Really? You think age is a measure of skill and leadership? Why he was about the same age as you Bash-Kara Kamal." Kamal had no response to this.
The troops stood poised ready for the command, overhead carrion birds circled over head, it was a partly cloudy day and a strong breeze blew catching the banners of the two armies and they streamed out gallantly. On the Telmarine side of the field Tertias waited, the enemy just stood there ground, "They want me to make the first move," Tertias realized, "Signal our crossbow-men to attack."
Haythams Archers surged forward to meet the oncoming threat, a bow and a crossbow have several advantages and disadvantages, a cross bow is easier to use and hits harder, a bow however has greater range and has a faster reload time. Haytham's archers reached their maximum range before the crossbowmen and began raining death upon the crossbowmen, several of the telmarines went down as the arrows showered down upon them, volley after volley wore their ranks down, finally they reached max range and opened fire with their crossbows, crossbow bolts tore thru the archers throwing men back with the force of impact, ragged holes appeared in the archers ranks; but the archer were well disciplined they filled in the holes and returned fire.
Tertias could see that the crossbowmen were losing, "Have them fall back and sent the infantry forward." He commanded. With a chorous of shouting the Telmarine troops started forward, Haytham signaled his infantry to counter as the archers thinned the Telmarines ranks with arrows. The Calormene Halberdiers marched forward to meet their Telmarine counterparts, the light infantry marched close to the heavy infantry, there job was to support the heavy infantry by hitting the enemy in the vulnerable flanks, they would be at a disadvantage if they attacked strait on due to the longer weapons of the heavy infantry.
With quick gestures from the officers the Calormene light infantry rushed towards the Telmarine light infantry, the Telmarines countered by charging right back at the Calormenes they met with a terrible crash. The Calormenes carried scimitars and axes with a round shield in the off hand, the Telmarines carried long cut-and-thrust swords and falchions a short slightly curved hacking sword and a triangular shield in the off hand; the fighting was fierce and savage men were, slashing, hacking, stabbing, and bashing each other with shields. No mercy was shown, the soldiers had turned into complete animals, there was yelling, screaming and groans from the dying.
The mêlée trampled the ground beneath the fighter's feet and the wounded, wild shouts like, "Go for the eyes!" "Help me!" "DIE!DIE!DIE!" "Circle around him!" rang out over the din of battle. The heavy infantry marched on heedless of the slaughter right next to them they had eyes only for the enemy in front of them.
Captain Zulfiqar and his cavalry rode abreast of the marching halberdiers; it would be suicide to charge one of the enemy formations head on the long polearms would spell doom for horse and rider alike the idea would be to hit them in the vulnerable flanks, such as the sides and the rear, and Zulfiqar had spotted some Telmarine cavalry trying to do just that. Drawing his saber captain Zulfiqar gave the command to charge, the shofar a rams hhorn blew a loud note and the horsemen charged into the enemy.
Lances shattered and were wrenched from their owners hands men and horses screamed as the two forces collided, the cavalry troopers on both sides began shucking away the long lances and grabbing shorter weapons, the Calormenes pulled their sabers and the Telmarines their long-swords, the mace was also a popular weapon on both sides; they fought atop horseback the fighting was brutal man and animal alike payed the price. Some were knocked from their saddles to be trampled beneath the brawling forces, others stayed in their saddles sitting at odd angles their eyes empty. A short blast on both sides respective horns signaled fallback and the surviving troopers wheeled their mounts away from the scene of carnage. The departing cavalry left behind a pile of dead men and horses as well as discarded items; there were several horses that ran around the battlefield rider-less.
By this time the heavy infantry had met each other in a clash of arms, the halberd to halberd fighting was fierce, a halberd is a cruel weapon a cross between a spear and an axe, the shaft is similar to a spears with a broad axe blade attached and ending in a spear point, not only could the soldiers stab each other they could chop and slice at each other. The din of battle was deafening A Telmarine grunted as a halberd point stabbed him in the chest, a Calormene screamed as the broad blade of a halberd bit deep into his shoulder, another Calormene hooked the blade of his halberd into the back calves of a Telmarine soldier. As the two halberdier companies from both sides battled it out, Tertia's pikemen fought the third company of halberdiers.
The pike was essentially a long spear, its one advantage over the halberd was it was slightly longer, however a halberd was a much more versatile weapon. A Telmarine brought the shaft of his Pike down upon a Calormene's shoulder dislocating it, the man yelped with pain and dropped his weapon his arm hanging uselessly at his side, another Calormene countered slashing his Halberd blade into the Telmarines face, Two pike points punctured thru a Calormenes armor one in the chest the other in the gut, the man was dead upon hitting the ground.
Thus the battle continued both sides taking casualties; a stalemate. Haytham knew he had to break the stalemate, so he gave the signal that had been agreed upon the other night, and signaled his spearmen to attack, they had been hidden from view in the dense forest huddling the ground, and then at a horn blast they rose and charged towards the sensitive flanks of the pike-men. Though their weapons were the shortest of the pole arms the spearmen had the advantage of surprise and flanking, the pike-men were too busy fighting the halberdiers to turn and meet the new threat coming from their sides, soon the spearmen were cutting down ranks of the pike-men, some dropped their pikes and loosed swords but to no avail, the front and sides were to hard pressed to fight back effectively, the horn blew retreat and the pike-men fled.
Instead of pursuing the routing foe, the spearmen and halberdiers attacked the Telmarine halberdiers, faced with sudden and overwhelming force, the Halberdiers broke, the commander of the last Telmarine halberd company saw the retreat of his fellow soldiers and instinctively called for his men to fallback, the light infantry of Telmarine swordsmen also broke and retreated, there was a howl of triumph from the Calormenes as they sensed victory. Throwing caution to the wind the Calormene chased after the departing infantry.
Haytham watched with horror as he saw the potential for disaster, "No, no, no! Get them back!" Haytham knew that if he allowed his men to run wild they would be easy prey.
Tertias had watched his men being slaughtered; it made him sick to his stomach there were too many casualties, he watched as the discipline broke and his man ran for their lives, then he saw his opportunity. "Have what's left of our crossbowmen fire upon the enemy and signal our cavalry to attack." Tertias drew his sword, "We're going out too."
Just as Haytham had used his spearmen to surprise the Telmarines, Tertias had done the same with one of his cavalry companies, coming from the opposite side as the spearmen had the horsemen sprung forward mowing down Haytham's archers, at the same time the rest of the Telmarine cavalry charged forward springing upon the rabble that the Calormene's had become. "Haytham drew his Calormene saber, "Quick we have to counter this or the battles lost!"
With no regard to his personal safety and with no thoughts about the ghostly warning or his ominous dream Haytham charged forward followed by his faithful cavalry and aides. Haytham's retinue slammed into the flanks of the attacking Telmarines, it all seemed to be a blur of violence to Haytham he cut down enemy after enemy.
All around the battlefield had become chaos the Telmarines that had fallen back had charged forward on the heels of the cavalry; there were no more battle lines, no disciplined ranks just a large brawl, the men fought with sword, Pike, spear, Halberd, dagger, bare fists, anything they could use.
Atop his horse Haytham battled a Telmarine trooper a well placed slash into the man's helmet and he fell to the ground below, a scream, made Haytham turn and he saw Kamal his faithful Bash-Kara being struck down by a horseman, rage overtook Haytham he charged forward ramming his sword point downward thru the man's armor and thru his heart, a flurry of movement to his left and Haytham turned his mount to meet the oncoming threat of yet another Telmarine, but this one seemed different than the others, the trappings revealed him to be an officer; this had to be the enemy general!
Tertias and Haytham dueled atop their horses the cut-and-thrust clashed against the saber, sparks flew from the blades as the two warriors fought, Haytham spied an opportunity and took it, he feinted, parried the incoming attack and slashed Tertias's saddle strap. The horse bolted away frightened as saddle and rider fell away, Haytham made to ride off and return to finish the Telmarine but a pair of arms wrenched him off his saddle, Haytham hit the ground hard but reacted instantly, slamming his forearm into the chest of his attacker, he heard a satisfying grunt from his opponent.
Capitalizing on his attack, Haytham sprang to his feet and brought his sword down on his opponent, Tertias was ready though and deflected the blade with his sword while rising to his own feet. Haytham and Tertias squared off facing each other, each style was different, Haytham held his blade high edge towards the sky and point towards the ground, Tertias held his straight ahead pointed at Haytham, a flurry of movement and the two swordsmen met both were skilled warriors, Tertias lunged in an attempt to stab Haytham, the Calormene parried and slashed his saber at Tertias, Tertias blocked the blow and countered with an upward chop, Haytham stepped back and the blade whistled harmlessly away from him.
The two men continued to fight Tertias lost his helmet and Haytham had a chunk of his armor ripped away by Tertias's sword, The Calormene general was growing tired he knew he had to end the fight and end it soon, Haytham feinted and Tertias went for him, going for a devastating chop towards Haytham's head, Haytham quickly brought his sword up catching the blow, he then slid the blade onto the quillions of his sword and pushed the blade aside, then reacting quickly pivoted bringing both fists and the pommel of his sword smashing into Tertias's forehead. Terias fell to the ground stunned, Haytham brought his saber up in a deathblow and then stopped maybe it was the look in Tertias eyes Haytham had seen the look in so many men's eyes before they died.
Haytham was tired, tired of death, tired of killing, he would take this man who was still young prisoner instead, just for once he would show some compassion to an enemy. Understanding registered on Tertias face, Haytham was about to lower his weapon when he became aware of a great pain in his back, he suddenly grew weak at the knees he dropped his sword and fell to a kneeling position, he gasped as a bitter taste came to his mouth, Haytham felt so weak and the pain and exhaustion were so much he keeled over face down on the ground.
Tertias was startled when the Calormene general was seized by a violent spasm, when the man hit the ground Tertias saw why, a crossbow bolt had hit him in the back, The man seemed to be trying to say something, Tertias bent down to hear him, "Don't let this be the only thing in life." Haytham gasped, "What?" Tertias asked, "Warfare is all I've known, I have no family, no one to carry on my legacy, there is nothing wrong with defending what's right, but don't let yourself turn into nothing me more than a weapon."
Haytham felt better after he had said those last words, he felt all his strength leaving him his vision became blurred, what was the sound he was hearing? It seemed to Haytham that a voice was calling him; he recalled the ghost's warning, he recalled his dream the long night before, and Haytham wasn't afraid, death was natural it was time for him to move on. Haytham, the Calormene general, warrior of many wars, drew his last breath.
Tertias felt sick to his stomach, even after he heard the sounds of victory, even as the Calormene's retreated, a realization dawned on him, he had thought to seize glory from this war but that seemed pointless now especially after he received the casualty report, one thing was for sure he would resign his commission and find a better way of life.