By Ton Hood
It was a horrid day, the rain was coming down in torrents as I sit in my tent huddled next to the fire wating for day break. I was somewhat worried due to the situation. I had been sent personally by the king of Sostaera along with his elite guard to eliminate a faction of bandits that had been terrorizing the area for a few years. The scouts had given me the location of the camp the day before and we made out our attack plans. We were outnumbered as usuall but this time in smaller numbers we had only 20 soldiers and they were expected to have 40. Today in the early morn we are to attack the bandit's pallisade.
It was not long until the soldiers were out and marching. We established the basic formation and packed up our campsite. In a line formation through the dark we marched for hours. It was now around 5 or 6 in the morning and we were within a mile of the enemy camp but still out of site. The moons had cast an dim eerie red glow on the surrounding contry side which we used to our advantage. We extinguished our torches, ditched our camping supplies, split up into teams of four, and surrounded the tiny pallisade.
When the main group had gotten within 20 yards of the pallisade our five archers lit their arrows and fired shot after shot into the pallisade. No sooner had the second volley started a horn from within the compound had been sounded. The area quickly lit up by the light of the burning straw roofs within the pallisade. The gates opened and warriors poured out in the direction of our archers. After three vollies our archers had started using broad head arrows and exchanged shots with the archers within the enemy pallisade. Our frontline troops then decended upon the glowing pallisade and met the defending enemies in a head on clash. I myself upon my trusty war steed with my heavy staff bladed on each end and pointed at the heavier end in hand and rode head on into the battle. I held the staff in my right hand as I lowered it. With a splash of blood my first victim had fallen, his head loped off and at his side.
Soon after I turned around to head back into the thick of battle another horn had sounded in the distance but not far enough away to be drowned out by the sound of battle. I looked out over the rolling plains to the west and noticed a band of warriors about 20 or so in size. I then noticed my situation. We had attacked the pallisade unknowingly while one of the parties was out, this had given us a temporary advantage, as it was till now even in number for each side though our main advantages came from us being better trained and having the element of surprise.
We continued to fight our current opposition noticing the other enemies were still a mile off. I turned the horse and charged yet again into the thick of battle trampleing down a couple of the poorly armored bandits. As this happened a brave sole approached my horse and rammed his gladius into the heart of my horse. I jumped off just before my horse fell over dead. With my staff inhand I walked up to the man.with the tip of the staff, the man looked in fear while trying to remove his gladius from the horse. At that point he gave up hope and took a bloody spear from the ground. As I watched this happen I suddenly lurched forward onto the ground and noticed something had hit me on the head. I fell face first and immediatly rolled over four or five times to my left then sprung up. It was one on two now. I gazed at the two men, one holding a spear the other holding an axe and shield. I charged in paying no attention to the rest of the battle with my staff horizontal infront of me. I tried to run inbetween the two men as to get the both in one try. The one wielding the axe lifted his shield and easily blocking my attack while the other man was not so lucky, I had snapped right through his spear and cut his face wide open killing him almost instantly. I turned to face the other target and moved into a more defensive posture. I charged in then all of a sudden the mans eyes widened and a spear petruded through his chest. Behind him was one of my soldiers covered in blood. I nodded and continued to fight. Within a few minutes we had suppressed the enemies just outside the fort with only minor noticable losses. One archer and four of our soldiers lay dead as the wave of enemy warriors marched in from the grasslands. "Open field battle formation to the west, team four enter the pallisade," I yelled. The forth team and only one unscratched raided the pallisade as the other teams including me marched head on into the final wave of bandits.
Our open field battle formation was our standard attack formation. Spearsmen up front followed by stavesmen, gladsmen, knivesmen, and archers in that order. Before the two teams would meet at 50 yards the archers would start their first few vollies and continue until the two forces get within 5 yards of each other. The spearsmen would hold their spears far out infront of them while we marched when we meet the stavesmen would run up with their staves horizontal knocking whoever they came in contact with to the ground. The gladsmen would follow in their wake taking care of all those that didn't fall. Then the knivesmen run through killing all those laying on the ground or just starting to stand.
We marched quietly and steadily towards the approaching enemy. At 100 yards the enemy ran into a full rush as our troops walked calmly in formation. 70, 60, 50 yards, the enemy was fast and detirmined. Our archers started were able to fit in two quick vollies which was enough to suppress a few of the attackers. The two groups then met head on. Our formation worked very well, eliminating the unorganized enemy group comprised of gladsmen, spearsmen, and axemen, within a minute. We had lost another five men in this melee however. Two spearsmen, two stavesmen, and one gladsman were lost to the enemy in the final melee.
We took what valuables we could find in the enemy pallisade and burnt it to the ground. We then marched to the nearest stream and setup camp in the vicinity to rest for a couple of days before we marched back into the city. Upon arrival we were greeted by a small parade and each of the members in my party were given a medal of commendation from the royal family.