Rise of the Horde

The Ereian riders turned around to look back at their allies who were holding off the enemy army that they pursued and the orcs accompanied by giant wolves who joined the battle but all they saw were hostiles and no more of their allies. Dread engulfed the group of Ereian and some of them tried to take their chances and made a break for it which spurted the others in their group to do the same. In the face of certain death, the riders had one thing running in their mind ‘Every man for himself’ as they scattered in different directions while hoping that their foes would go after the others and not them.

Before some of the Ereian riders could make it far, bolts of iron flew from behind them and pierced through their bodies and knocking them down from their mounts that continued to sprint away. Haguk stared at the fleeing figures then turned towards the wargs that weren’t carrying any riders, “Chase!” he simply shouted to them and the wargs raised their heads towards the sky and gave out a sonorous howl before madly sprinting forward to chase after their prey.

The Drakhars who acted as bait began rounding up their wounded and capturing any surviving enemies. Haguk and his clansmen dismounted from their steeds and aided their allies in cleaning up the battlefield while the Rhakaddon cavalry went after the fleeing enemies.

In the main battlefield, the strike force that was created to take the camp of the Drakhars was facing attacks from all directions after they were fully encircled by the warriors of the Yohan First Horde. The First Warband turned to sandwiched the half of their enemies that was on the right while the Second Warband assaulted the other half that was on the left.

Khao’khen was observing how the proceedings of the battle nearby and behind him was the riders that served as cavalry unit to the Drakhars. Seeing that the enemy infantry was successfully pinned down by the horde, he turned towards the still solemn Zaraki, “Strike their archers…” he instructed then the assigned Drakhars’ commander nodded his head in acknowledgement to his words and led the cavalry to the space created by the orcs as they pinned down the enemy infantry.

An over ten meter gap was created at the center of the battle as the orcs split the enemy lines into two and Zaraki and the cavalry behind him made use of it as they headed towards the Ereian archers who still had no idea of what was happening to their allies. After passing by the noisy area of the battlefield which was filled with battlecries, dreadful creams of pain and cries for help of the overpowered Ereian infantry, Zaraki and the cavalry that he led began increasing their pace.

About a hundred meters away, the Ereian archers noticed the fast moving figures that was heading towards them and they were certain that they weren’t friendlies since their cavalry headed away from the main battlefield to pursue the fleeing enemy army, “Arrows! Shoot them!” the commander of the archers hurriedly commanded.

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Zaraki and the riders behind him leaned forward and tightly hug the back of their steeds to minimized the chances of an arrow successfully hitting them. A volley of arrows went into the air in a small arc and fell upon the cavalry led by Zaraki but they managed to endure the rain of arrows with minimal casualties and their charged didn’t slow down not even for a bit.

Distress began to set in among the archers as they knew that they were no match against a cavalry even though they have a great advantage when it comes to numbers since they weren’t trained nor equipped to fight in melee combat and the small knives that they carried with them was lacking when it comes to an all-out face to face brawl. The archers began firing their arrows as soon as they loaded their bows in an attempt to repel the cavalry that was charging towards them at full speed.

Arrows began flying in a straight line instead of an arc which posed a greater threat to cavalry belonging to the side of the Drakhars. Zaraki let out a fury filled roar as soon as he crashed against the ranks of archers and with the momentum of his steed, he trampled over more than five archers on his path while he killed two more with his weapon. The cavalry began slaughtering the Ereian archers who were trying their best to keep their distance from the rampaging enemy cavalry that was in their midst.

Probably a bit over ten minutes into the clash, the Ereian archers finally couldn’t endure the fight any longer as they began a full retreat and sprinted back towards their camp as fast as their legs could. Zaraki was still not quench with his thirst to seek vengeance for his fallen soldiers, “After them! Don’t let them get away!” he shouted and led the pursuit.

Four legs would always be faster than two or at least that is how it is when it comes to speed between a soldier on foot and one that is atop a mount. The cavalry slaughtered all enemies that they caught up with and some of them just even outright trampled over their fleeing foes with their steeds as they continued to chased after their foes who were further to the rear.

It didn’t take long for the Ereian archers to reach their allies who were waiting at the front of their camp, Ounephes saw the terror filled faces of their archers who were fleeing for their lives. He no longer had any idea of what was going on with the rest of his army that he sent out after his scrying spell faltered because of a countermeasure by their foes. “Sound the retreat! We will withdraw from the battle immediately…” his dissatisfied voice came as he moved forward while chanting a spell.

Mana began gathering in his hands and the temperature began rising in his surroundings, after seeing the first of the enemy cavalry that was pursuing after their archers, he release his spell and a giant wall of flame rose right below the first of the enemy rider that he had spotted courtesy of the spell ‘Blazing Wall’. With the wall of fire barring their path forward, Zaraki and the cavalry who were with him didn’t have any other choice but to halt in their advance but thanks to the light provided by the fire barrier, they spotted some of the enemy archers that they have missed because of the darkness of the surrounding.

With the help of the brightness provided by the spell of Ounephes, Zaraki and the riders who were with him began cleaning up any surviving enemies on their side of the barrier. No matter how the remaining archers who were at the wrong side of the barrier tried in order to outrun their pursuers, they inevitably didn’t manage to escape their fate as they were mercilessly cut down.

Being assaulted from all sides, the Ereian infantry desperately tried to fight for a way out but their efforts was all in vain. The trapped Ereian infantry perished with no survivors as the battle hungry orcs didn’t show even an ounce of mercy after being deprived of a good battle to satisfy their starvation for battle in the past few days.

Khao’khen was grateful that the battle was over before sunrise as he still wanted to hid the presence of his kin and leave their foes guessing of who they are really up against. Instructions were then disseminated to the Yohan First Horde to head back inside the camp. The satisfied Zaraki with the cavalry made their return as they supported their wounded fellow riders and brought back with them the corpses of their fallen comrades.

With the battle over, the orcs headed back inside the camp and pulled back up the parts of the walls that they collapse before the beginning of the battle to allow more of them to be able to charge towards their foes. The Drakhars who were left behind inside the camp to provide security to the wounded just in case something unexpected occurred were sent out of the camp to go and clean up the battlefield and to make it look like they were the ones who slaughtered the enemy infantry that attempted to raid their camp during the night.