Herald of Steel - Chapter 1137: Phyrros Island Battle

The second round of the battle on the sea raged on with arguably even greater intensity, there being even more ships churning the unruly waters, making the place a bloody and chaotic hot stop, one filled with sharp arrow fire, bloody sword swings, ravenous spear thrusts, bloodthirsty axe swings, and pained moans.

And in the midst of that chaotic maelstrom, the reinforcing legionaries assaulting the Heeat family ships found that things were not going to be as smooth as one thought they might be, even when many of the enemy troops were tired from prior fighting.

No, for despite having much more stamina and possessing support from powerful archers, there were many times the legionaries had difficulty budging the opposing lines, as the elite Heeat family men simply chose to bear through many of the attacks even at the risk of death.

Some would die and have their bodies used as a human shield rather than retreat.

While more of the cleverer men would use not just one but two or in some extreme cases even three layers of shields to try and better withstand the barrage, with the extra shields being usually picked up from a fallen comrade.

A few would even shamelessly take shelter under the much heavier and sturdier legionary shield, ones that were naturally taken as spoils of war, and that offered much greater protection, at the cost of maneuverability.

All these measures combined helped Lord Kite’s men mitigate a lot of the nastier effects of the attack, and thus maintain a coherent line formation, able to withstand the many boarding attempts.

And even when the legionaries did board them, they found it hard to proceed much further, as their bulky armor made it hard to land a good strike against their much more agile and skilled target, finding the enemy to ‘dance’ around them.

These men were once again learning the same lesson Remus and his company had, and like many of their former comrades, it was a lesson to be learned in blood.

And all this was also not considering the fact that not all enemy ships were being boarded.

Because some of them managed to inevitably get out of Kazid’s way in time, who then sometimes managed to turn and ram them in return, once again laying testament to the rower’s great skill, while the Heeat soldiers proceeded to ‘counter board’ Alexander’s reinforcements.

It was like this both sides continued to bleed themselves out, dancing a macabre dance in that small patch of sea, where the duet seemed to have at least a good few more hours left before curtain call.

While Kazid and Remus were busy experiencing their first naval battle, Alexander had managed to prepare his own forces for the western amphibious attack.

The required four hundred men and three ships were finally requisitioned and as soon as they were ready, the group promptly set off without further ado, sailing north before turning west.

The short journey was made without any real obstacle, with Alexander only stopping for a bit when they were sailing past his garrisoned men on the island, to whom he gave the signal to launch their eagerly awaiting attack on the enemy holed up there.

The idea was that these legionaries would draw the enemy’s attention by assaulting their position while Alexander disembarked discreetly behind them, and crept up on the unsuspecting formation, thus catching the stationed enemy in a completely unprepared pincher.

And up until now, that strategy seemed to be mostly going to plan.

“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”

Upon receiving Alexander’s order, the legionaries began to quickly form up outside the enemy’s walls, their shields locked and crossbows ready, staring menacing down the small camp.

And seeing which the guards posted at the gates quickly let out panicked shouts, rousing the residing men to the imminent assault.

Given Alexander’s initial troop landing was well known, the entire camp had already been on alert mode.

So the call caused little confusion.

Instead, at the shout, the men reacted swiftly and with expert ease, running up with their shields and spears to take defensive positions along the ramparts, while also bringing out their own archers and a scant few crossbowmen.

Then soon the two sides had them staring down each other, one neatly lined up in a checkerboard formation outside, the other pridefully perched up inside.

“Surrender! There is no hope for you. You are outmatched!”

Then from Alexander’s side came forth a crier, calling out to the garrisoned force in an arrogant, almost impetuous voice.

It was so curt that even if the Heeat family soldier originally had the mind to consider this, they would have been turned off by the sheer crass tone in his address.

It was apparent this was no genuine offer but only a taunting gesture.

So out of anger, in a tit for tat response, one of their archers shot at the messenger, and from such a close range, it was a confirmed hit.

The arrow was able to easily make good, solid contact with its target breastplate, and then it breezed past the outer bronze metal, broke off one of the metal links in the chainmail, tore through the leather thorax underneath to finally enter flesh, cutting the blood vessels and thus drawing blood.

However, due to all the layers of armor, the shot was not fortunately lethal, only managing to penetrate about an inch deep into his body, thus letting the crier quickly scurry back to his line to seek aid.

While the other legionaries, seeing their brother get attacked as such, instantly became incensed, and quickly drew their swords.

Negotiations had clearly broken down.

Hence the air began to soon smell of imminent blood and steel, and seeing this the officers manning the ramparts turned to the defenders to let a few last words of encouragement, shouting,

“Do not fear! You have faced these rabble before. And know them to be little more than craven cowards who hide and cower behind their walls all day long. Do you think they will ever have the guts to truly attack you? No! Stand strong and these rats will soon scurry back to the dens they came from!”

“That’s right! They think they can bully you just because we are outnumbered! Bah! Men! Show them the steel of Lynican! Show them the blade of the Heeat family. Send these rats scurrying.”

The speech given here by the officers was really a cut above the rest.

Usually, it would be simply orders such as ‘hold steady’ and ‘do not run’ said with a stricter voice.

But there was a nobleman stationed here and his eloquent words had all the desired effect, as evidenced by how hearing this, the soldiers all felt pumped up and ready, letting out a loud hurrah.

Some of them let the embellished propaganda get to their head so much that they soon even started suggesting that given the enemy was almost equal to them, they should skip the tedious siege and go out to meet them in open field, just to show them what the Heeat family was really about.

These over the top suggestions were of course immediately shot down, with the reasoning that they should wait for their reinforcements as well as simply letting the enemy tire himself out before going overboard.

But still, such an example worked to vividly demonstrate the unmistakable cheerful and almost bellicose atmosphere around the camp.

The men seemed very optimistic about being able to hold out against Alexander.

That bravado lasted all the way to the point when Alexander’s men began to set up the three catapults they had brought with them and then started to throw balls of stone and some even of solid iron against the wooden barricade.

“Wha… what was that? Are they shooting stones! By the gods!”

The garrisoned soldiers had never experienced such a phenomenon, and seeing it for the first time, they all panicked with utter incredulity, quickly ducking their heads with haste to take cover from these lethal weapons.

And from behind their walls, they heard with increasing trepidation the dreadful bang of the solid mass punching against their defenses, the cracking and snapping of wood splintering, and even the wet thud of the large stone slumping to the floor, laying evidence to its large weight.

It all worked to make their hands and feet shake with a chill, and many of them even cried with a dreadful heart, ‘How can such a huge stone be thrown so far? Is this magic? Are the gods against us? By the heavens!’

It seemed that the shock of seeing their first catapults proved a great shock to many of the men, who were barely able to provide any defense, mostly choosing to keep their heads down in prayer.

Hence Alexander’s legionaries were able to assault the position with almost impunity, to the point that it seemed that if Alexander had been able to properly estimate the lethality of his catapults as well as know the shabby state of defense on the island, he might not have even needed to contemplate sending a second ambitious force in the first place.

Give the initial force of five hundred a few more ladders and they would have likely been able to take the island on their own with little problem.

Let us say no to piracy! Don’t take part in a crime! Don’t patronize thieves!