Hello everyone. Here is chapter 13. I hope that you will enjoy it. :)
While Albert and Alfred are coming towards him, Haredi was busy sitting in his tent as he watched his men go around killing the locals as well as burning the crops and building Motte-and-bailey castles in order to protect themselves from possible enemy reinforcements.
Haredi was thinking about he took the news and he was, at the time, out hunting when he heard the news while becoming angry in the process as he realised that Albert took the throne for himself, the thought only making him more angry which led to the current invasion.
It was very clear to everyone that Haredi considered Albert an usurper and that he had made a grave mistake in taking the throne, even when it was alleged that not only Albert's father had promised him the throne, fifteen years ago, but, Albert, himself, promised him the throne, two years earlier.
Haredi, like Swain, had made sure that his children will be told of their own claim to Albert's throne and that Albert is a usurper, who broke an oath that was promised in the face of god and Haredi, clearly, wasn't going to let Albert forget about anytime soon.
Though he has no idea that Albert is getting some important allies with King Eduardo and King Challa amongst the other royals that are going to help Albert fight against Haredi as they knew that the latter was bound to come with an invasion force to conquer their enemies kingdom.
Having no idea that his enemy is getting reinforcements, Haredi waited for Albert to come to meet him and he waited for four days before sending an scout to search Albert on the fifth day with the scout reporting back that Albert is coming with his two hundred men, Alfred is coming with his two thousand men.
Knowing that he and his men could be trapped in their current position, Haredi moved his army towards a steep hill and they had just got to the bottom of it when they looked up the slope to see Albert and Alfred as well as their respective armies taking the high ground and forming their shield-wall.
Albert and his men took the front part of the shield-wall while Alfred and his men took the backbone of the shield-wall as they and their men began taunting Haredi in hopes of showing that they are not afraid of him and that they would stop him from hurting their families.
It was very clear that Albert was keeping with his father and predecessor's traditional shield-wall fighting formation while hoping that it pays off against the remaining contender to his throne and he is determined to beat Haredi at any cost in order to secure his kingdom as well ad the safety of his people.
Haredi, on the other hand, has put his army into three lines with the archers at the front and the infantry in the middle while his horsemen are at the back as Albert and Alfred had a good idea at what Haredi is planning to do based on this formation that he had chosen for his army to form.
Soon enough, the battle began with Haredi's archers firing their arrows up into the air and they came raining down onto Albert's army's shield-wall, though, the archers had a problem, they were firing uphill which meant that the arrows either bounced off the shield-wall or sailed harmlessly over the heads of Albert and Alfred's respective armies.
After trying to soften up the enemy shield-wall, Haredi sent in his infantry as they charged up the slope and onto the awaiting enemy shield-wall with both sides suffering casualties as the cries of both the wounded and the dying being heard as the battle continued to be fought.
Once he thought that the infantry needed a break, Haredi sent in his horsemen with the mere sight of a thousand horses charging at them causing a lot of Albert and Alfred's men to start shivering in fear as the horsemen came upon them with their spears in their attempts to break the shield-wall.
Like the archers and infantry before them, the horsemen couldn't find a way to break the well-formed shield-wall that was currently working for both Albert and Alfred as the horsemen went back to Haredi while the infantry ran up the slope again and fought against the enemy soldiers.
Suddenly, amongst the thickest of the fighting, a rumour began to circulate that Haredi has been killed during the battle with the news causing Haredi's left flank to panic before they began to run back down the slope in terror at the fact that they have lost this battle and the fact that they are leaderless.
Albert and Alfred, themselves, were confused by these turn of events until they saw something that proved to be an horrifying sight to them...The soldiers, on their right flank, was now breaking ranks and charging after the fleeing enemy with the sight causing Albert and Alfred to look on in disbelief.
What made matters worse was the fact that Haredi is not dead and it was only his horse that had been killed which led to Haredi to inspire his men to fight back with this resulting in his men slaughtering the soldiers that had charged after them and they surrounded them before hacking them to pieces with the horsemen joining in.