Call of the navy part 2

  In order to be able to think, Alyena often goes horseback riding through the imperial forest. This is a nature reserve where only the emperor, or in this case empress, is allowed to enter. There is a family of foresters who have the right to hunt here, but only to keep the game level in order.

  While Alyena is deep in thought, Captain Cervik keeps getting a frown on his face. Not that the empress sees this, as the captain is riding behind her to not disturb her solitude. The fact is though, that the captain keeps seeing things that are out of place in the forest. He has already seen some human footprints, a piece of string on a bush, and a lot of traces that someone has been there. This route is the one that Alyena rides often, and both her and the captain know it inside and out. These traces that Captain Cervik sees are something that he has never seen before. Deep in thought, Alyena sees none of these traces.

  Just when he warns the empress by softly calling her name, several times because she doesn't hear it right away, an arrow is shot. If Alyena hadn't held back her horse to turn towards Cervik just at that moment, it would have hit her full in the back. Trembling, the arrow stays in a tree.

  When they see that their arrow has missed, four men on horses storm out of the bushes. With a scream from Alyena, her horse jumps forward after Cervik hits the horse's buttocks with the flat of his sword.

  Two men try to grab her horse by the reins, but are knocked over.

  The other two attack Cervik with their swords. Desperately, he tries to get rid of his attackers to protect his empress, but the men know what they are doing. He has to watch in horror as the other two men give chase.

  The fight seems to last an hour, but in fact it is only a few minutes. Cervik is too busy defending himself to get away, although he tries several times. Each time, one of the two cuts him off the road, after which Cervik is injured by the other.

  Then it’s suddenly over. Out of nowhere, a large branch swings across the path. Cervik manages to duck just in time, after which the man behind him does the same.

  However, the last man does not realize this warning in time, because he is standing with his back to the branch, in front of Cervik. With a bang, the branch hits his back, after which he flies over his horse's neck. He almost takes Cervik with him in his fall because he flies into Cervik’s horse.

  The second man is just a little faster to get up than Cervik, and manages to stab him in his side. As a thank you, Cervik knocks off the man's sword hand after a quick exchange of blows. He looks in disbelief at the stump where his hand was just a moment ago, before he spurs his horse and disappears between the bushes.

  Panting heavily, Cervik sits bent over in pain on his horse. The ranger appears between the bushes, with a huge bloody bump on his head.

  The man babbles a bit about his regret and about his children, but Cervik can't make much sense of it. He quickly kicks his horse to follow Alyena.

  Less than two corners later, however, Empress Alyena is already meeting him.

  "Cervik! Are you all right?" she exclaims when she sees him.

  Next to the empress, a large woman runs along in the same clothes as the man who has just helped Cervik.

  Alyena says that this is the female ranger, and the man her husband. They and their children were captured, after which they forced the man to help them. If he didn't help, his wife and children wouldn't survive. One of the men had stayed behind to guard the woman and children. However, he did not realize that the woman was just as good a ranger as her husband. As soon as the man was not paying attention, she managed to free herself from the ropes with which she was tied. Very cliché, she hit the man on the head with a pan, after which she went after the rest. Her eldest daughter stayed behind to tie up the man and guard him.

  The ranger, who knew nothing about this, was forced to show where Alyena's route went through. Carefully he managed to leave some clues to warn the empress.

  Cervik is furious with the man, but Alyena manages to calm him down. The two rangers take horses from the attackers, and the dead robbers are hoisted onto the other horses. Together they ride to the cabin of the rangers. There, the wounds of Cervik and the male ranger are treated. When they go and take a look at the captured attacker, they find him dead on the ground without obvious signs how he died.

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  Day three of the siege has arrived. After that first night, the Chakranen did not attempt another night attack. Nevertheless, twenty soldiers were killed or wounded yesterday. Raidon himself is resting in his tent with deep circles under his eyes. He doesn't know how long they can hold out. With those twenty dead and wounded, the total has risen to seventy-six dead and wounded. Even with the fifteen wounded who do take their place on the wall, the position of the New Legion is extremely vulnerable now that more than half of the soldiers are dead or wounded.

  Suddenly Raidon hears the alarm, and immediately a soldier also opens Raidon's tent.

  "Captain, they're attacking again!"

  Raidon quickly puts on his helmet and grabs his shield and the spears that are next to the entrance.

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  It still seems quiet on the wall. "Sergeant, what's happening?"

  "There is movement in their camp, captain. The ladders have been moved forward, and one of the men already saw two commanders coming together. If you look closely, you can also see that there is a lot of movement among the warriors, so I think they can get ready to do a storming at any moment."

  "Good that you have already sounded the alarm. Better to be ready too early than too late. We can't give up a single meter of the wall, because then we will never get them off again with the few soldiers we have left."

  A little later, the new assault really starts to take shape. The Chakra warriors line up, and the ladders are picked up. When the commanders finally join their units, the attack can start. The attack is announced with a trumpet signal.

  On the wall, the soldiers of the New Legion brace themselves. The crossbows are picked up, because almost half of the soldiers of the legion have been taken out of action, there are more than enough spare crossbows.

  As soon as the Chakrans are within range, the soldiers aim their crossbows. Raidon waits a little longer before he gives the order to shoot, but then the time has come. Almost ninety arrows disappear into the mass of warriors, but it doesn't seem to have much effect. The number of attacking Chakranen is just too big.

  The soldiers quickly reload their crossbows, and when the Chakrans have covered half the distance to the wall, most of them have finished reloading. Raidon waits for a moment, and then he gives the order to shoot again. Immediately after dozens of arrows disappear into the mass of Chakranen, the soldiers put away the crossbows and take their own crossbows. They also shoot these as fast as they can. The soldiers have just enough time to reload these crossbows as well. After a fourth salvo, Raidon calls for the rest of the ranged weapons to be used. A javelin is still used here and there, but most of them have already been used during the first attacks. Most soldiers use everything they can get their hands on, especially a lot of stones and whole boulders that have been dragged up, and even the weapons they collected after the previous assault are thrown at the attackers. Anything to wound and slow down the enemy, and sometimes even kill them.

  Then the ladders are put against the walls and there is no time to throw things anymore. One Chakraan after another appears at the top of the wall. But just as quickly they are killed by the soldiers of the New Legion and fall back down. Here and there a ladder is knocked over and several warriors are crushed under the heavy equipment. Unfortunately, the ladders are not damaged and are just as quickly put back against the wall.

  Right next to Raidon, a Chakran manages to get past the defending soldier, and he stands on top of the wall. Raidon immediately attacks him. Raidon hits the Chakran's face with his shield, causing him to flinch. However, this puts him within reach of the other soldiers of the New Legion. The soldier immediately takes advantage of the opening by sticking his sword in the back of the Chakraan.

  However, Raidon himself has also exposed himself by pushing his shield up. With a dull thud, he feels a sword slapping against his side.

  Fortunately, his armor largely stops the blow, but it will result in a serious bruise. He quickly turns to the new Chakran and manages to fend off another blow. Then, with a quick reaction, he manages to hit his sword against the man's hand. Three fingers are immediately amputated, and the Chakran lets go of the ladder with a huge scream. This causes him to lose his balance and fall backwards down the ladder, throwing down three other Chakrans.

  Suddenly, Raidon sees that his soldiers are being pushed back at another point. Soon the Chakrans will have the wall completely in their hands. Several soldiers are already at the bottom of the wall, and although the others are doing their best, they are being pushed back further and further. Sergeant Mateo makes a last attempt to stop them at the stairs with seven soldiers, but that seems to be a doomed position. Slowly, the Chakrans expand their position on the wall and the soldiers are pushed back.

  Then suddenly a trumpet sounds. Not just any trumpet, but one that blows the signal for the attack. For a moment, Raidon feels cold, but then he suddenly recognizes that it is the attack signal of the New Legion, not that of the Chakrans.

  The Chakran who was fighting him seems to be unsure for a moment, so Raidon quickly stabs him in the leg. This also gives him time to look back. However, he hardly had to do that. One after another new squads of legionaries are already ascending the stairs.

  Within moments, the stairs are secured and the wall is secured. Only the position of the Chakranian near Sergeant Mateo managed to resist, but as soon as the rest of the wall was safe, the Chakrans were pushed back from two sides. After a fierce fight, the last Chakrans are defeated.

  "Raidon, I see we're just in time!" Suddenly, Captain Brandon is standing next to Raidon.

  "Well, we shouldn't have been much later either." On the other side of Raidon, Morris approaches.

  "Thanks guys, without you we wouldn't have made it."

  "Don't cheer too soon, captain. There are still a lot of Chakrans there in front of the wall."

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  The general is sitting in his luxury tent brooding on the new assault. Those weird warriors of Falwyn must have a weak spot. During the previous assault he thought he had caught them, but then suddenly another bunch of those warriors came up the wall. Who knows how many reserves they still have.

  Then one of his guards sticks his head through the tent flap.

  "General, a messenger with urgent news from Commander Forza has arrived."

  "Let him in. I was already wondering why the infantry is not here yet. As soon as they are here, we can crush these upstarts."

  The messenger enters. "General, I come with news of Fort Shi."

  "Fort Shi? I thought you came from Commander Forza, he must be close by now anyway."

  "No general, the commander almost immediately called the retreat."

  "What!" exclaims the general, "I will have that man executed! What gives him the right to disregard my orders? I need those warriors here."

  "The commander returned a day after departure because Falwyn's army had raided the fort. A unit of those strange metal warriors attacked the fort in the middle of the night and burned it almost to the ground. The regiment that was stationed there as a guard was murdered to the last man. There is little left of the supplies."

  "What!" exclaims the general again, "I hope that Commander Forza has sent the rest of the cavalry to take revenge. Or were there too many attackers?"

  "I don't know exactly, General. I think there were only two hundred attackers. Maybe even less. The cavalry went after them to catch them before they would reach the bridge. When I left, they hadn't returned yet."

  "That doesn't matter. Without the infantry, we will not get any further here, and the fort has to be rebuilt. Ask my guards to show you a place to sleep, and ask them to send the commanders to me. Tomorrow morning we will return to Fort Shi."