Chapter 335: Blood banner
The armies clashed with the cries of fury and pain, the clashing of swords and the thuds of footsteps and falling bodies. The High King’s infantry t Gresch’s charge stalwartly, but the militia, spurred with religious zeal, didn’t relent.
Gradually, both armies spread around, and more and more people entered the fight.
The High King’s archers slowed down with shooting, since they had to aim over the heads of their allies. Unlike them, Farini’s ballistas kept shooting.
From his observation point, Farini saw that the enemy’s lines were stretching to the sides. The High King’s army clearly was about to use its bigger numbers to encircle Gresch and the infantry—their lines of infantry were already wider than Gresch’s, despite being the sa thickness.
‘At least the musketeers are still in reserve,’ Farini thought, looking through his spyglass at them. ‘It looks like the High King is using them as his personal guard for now. I wonder if a ballista can hit him…’
‘It would require an extrely hard shot at this distance, Farini,’ Whisper replied. ‘Your forces don’t have ballista n that good. Don’t waste arrows on this! The High King will receive his retribution when the ti is right.’
Farini nodded, accepting this, and watched the enemy army a little closer. Gresch had to do sothing to avoid being surrounded!
‘Look at the left flank of their army, Farini!’ Whisper said. ‘The people there are weakest in spirit.’
That was true. Although the forces on both flanks were equal, by so coincidence, those on the left flank seed to act slower than those on the right.
‘Holy Whisper, tell Gresch that the army must attack in that direction!’
‘He already knows.’
And Farini could see it—the line of his soldiers shifted a little. Guided by their own blessed whisperers, the army began to turn slowly in that direction.
It opened the other side to being surrounded, but Gresch ordered another decisive attack. One swift push—to break through an encirclent before it was even done!
And in this mont, Farini knew—it was ti. He looked at the banners of nobles flying over the army in this area.
‘Whisper, call all our allies to help. Let them strike the High King’s army in the back! We will finish this fight quickly, before our forces are tired.’
‘Yes! Commander Bloodimina is itching to fight herself.’
As she said so in Farini’s mind, Whisper flew off his head and made a circle around his face, saying sothing in a voice barely audible over the sound of her wings.
Farini was so used to her being extrely close that he didn’t even twitch. And he didn’t understand the language the holy guardians used sotis, but it sounded much more elegant than the Naregan language.
Perhaps the only language that could be used aloud without sullying the words.
When Whisper landed on Farini’s head again, several new drum signals sounded in the distance.
Following their promises, several noble lords turned on the High King’s army. Their soldiers cut into lines of his infantry, attacking confusing n in the backs before they could even realize that they were betrayed!
The shock of it was even more destructive than the attack itself. The soldiers beca too confused to fight off the frontal attack of Farini’s n!
Gresch was still in the front, cutting people down left and right from the height of his horse. The banner he carried beca so bloody, the image beca impossible to discern, but this only made the soldiers near it more zealous.
People nearby chanted in a frenzy, so loudly that Farini could almost hear the words.
‘They say, “Blood banner! Blood banner! Blood for the Prophet! Blood for the Brotherhood!”, Farini! They are fighting like a—like demons on fire!’ Whisper said excitedly.
They were! Now it looked like the numbers of the armies were evening out—the High King was suffering massive losses!
Which was why he decided to interfere.
The infantry moved out of the way when the High King himself led a thousand musketeers forward. The line of his infantry, broken earlier by all the fighting, was restored with their appearance—and their muskets were about to strike right at the place where the best soldiers of Farini were fighting.
At Gresch, who was surrounded by the core of professional soldiers!
But Farini warned him about it as soon as Whisper told him about the High King’s intent. Farini also told Gresch what to do.
From the flank of Farini’s army, officers leading the assorted militia turned and charged at musketeers before they could go in position.
This charge was dood to be shot down by a musket volley, but with how long it took to recharge a musket, the sacrifice of the militian would save the lives of much more valuable soldiers!
At the sa ti, the divine guardians began doing their work in full.
Already, many people began falling or flinching in the wrong monts when a guardian stung them. On a battlefield, this ant a swift death.
But now, the guardians aid synchronously at the High King’s officers. As if struck by an invisible hand, all of them fell at once—even those who were riding horses!
In an instant, the entire chain of authority was in shambles. And this happened at the most crucial attack, when the musketeers should have been given an order to attack.
Instead, they were watching at the charging tide of zealots, while the High King gaped at his generals that were holding their eyes or their limbs and gasping.
So musketeers began shooting without an order, others followed. Dozens of militian from the bullets, but there were hundreds more—and soon, the musketeers had to shoulder their muskets and pull out their sabers to fight in the lee.
All their previous superiority was utterly wasted by the reluctance of the High King to use them earlier, when they could’ve broken Gresch’s initial charge.
‘The High King is next!’ Whisper exclaid. ‘The divine wrath is upon him! And you, Farini, are the symbol of all this.’
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