Dom was stood on the prow of the Galatea as she prepared to anchor and unload her troops. Gan Ning stood beside him had a huge grin on his face as his five hundred man army prepared to disembark from the three ships that were in their small fleet. They had ordered all but one of the ships in the Tongpai Lake Fleet to be involved in this battle, with the others spread across the circumference of the bend that covered Mount Calm River through to remains of Tongpai Town.
All ships had a small contingent of Horse Archers that were stood and ready to fire at anything that enemies that may attempt to leave the forest that was not a member of their forces. Subutai and Xun You had recalled a portion of both Tomoe and Liao Hua's forces to support with this. Each of the four directions had at least five hundred Warriors that were well trained and ready to fight. There was also a Civilian volunteer force, mainly made from Lumberjacks and Builders, who wielded a variety of older weapons that were a second line in the forest. After the battle, the Civilian Volunteers would work on dismantling Nakbe, but for now, they were a final line of the net.
"It's time." Gan Ning commented with excitement as he looked at the sky, before turning to the Batavi Centurion Chariovalda. "Order the men to disembark."
"Prepare Arms and Disembark!" Centurion Chariovalda barked loudly. His command was repeated on the other two ships when his voice was heard. Gan Ning had a third of the Warriors on the Flagship the Galatea, whilst Lu Fang was on Artemisia's ship the Sibylla with another third. The final Trireme was the Enyo with it's stronger ram, Subutai had dispatched Abubakar with an elite force to support Gan Ning on the third ship. There was also a fourth Merchant Ship, which had the Batavi Cavalry onboard, their horses comfortable on the ships, but too big to all fit comfortable on a Trireme.
Gan Ning's forces was made up of eighty Batavi, three hundred and twenty Legionaries and one hundred Slingers. He also had eighty of the Spartans with him whose role was to hunt any escapees.
Tomyris who was attacking from the west had also been given three hundred and twenty Legionaries, eighty Batavi and one hundred Slingers. The remaining Batavi were spread around Mount Calm River to block any escape route to the Cave's.
The rest of the forces were with Subutai and Sun Ce. Subutai had the hundred and fifty Sabre Tooth Tiger mounted Forbidden Guard, three hundred and twenty Legionaries and the one hundred Slingers. Sun Ce, who was attacking from the east, had; five hundred Hoplite, half using upgraded spears and the others using swords, plus the eighty Praetorians to protect their flanks.
Each group also had a Horse Archer with them that travelled on foot, guarded by two Forbidden Guards, their role to send signal arrows in to the sky when it was the arranged time, whilst the Forbidden Guards role was to keep them safe.
Dom soon disembarked with Gan Ning, his guard unit this time being four Batavi Emperor's Guards who were holding a variety of heavy weapons led by Actumerus and his four guard Hoplite who were equipped with swords and shields. Dom had been informed by Gan Ning that Subutai, Meritamen and Shang Yang had arranged this to be his new guard, with the Forbidden Guard he had now being redeployed as commanders across their units. Dom suspected that his Hoplite would have a similar result as well soon, but it felt good having four attackers and four defenders with him. Gan Ning also had four Batavi Guards that followed him, but they seemed different to Dom's and he suspected that they had all been dispatched based on the personality of their Commander. Dom wondered if Tomoe's were blood thirsty like the rest of her unit was supposed to be.
The Warriors quickly got in to formation, with the four Centuries of Legionaries lining along side each other in the centre, the Batavi Cavalry to the left of them, their horses happily disembarked. On the right were the Century of Spartans, and to the rear where the one hundred Slingers led by Centurion Balius.
"We march at pace until we reach our agreed point." Gan Ning ordered, Lu Fang and Abubakar to his left and right ready to battle. "Then we wait for the signal."
The other Generals nodded their heads, before the signal was given and the small force began marching in to the dense Silver Forest. As they marched, Dom was impressed by the organised manner they did it, their repeated training by the different Generals and their experienced Centurions was obvious. After entering the forest, the Warriors became silent, with the horses having small bundles placed in their mouths and their feet covered in sheep wool.
...
After marching for around an hour, Lu Fang signalled with his hands, before heading in a more south westerly direction with the Spartans and one of the Centuries of Legionaries. Around ten minutes after that, Abubakar did the same thing, taking another Century of Legionaries. This left Gan Ning with the majority of the Warriors, two full Centuries of Legionaries, the Century of Batavi Horsemen and the hundred Slingers. Dom caught his eye, and saw the deep concentration that was now on his face.
They continued walking for another ten minutes, when they heard the sound of a whistle in the sky, soon followed by a second. Dom and Gan Ning looked at each other, aware that they were still at least twenty minutes away from Nakbe. A flash of worry came across Gan Ning's face as he signalled for his Warriors to increase their pace. They were only supposed to hear the one Whistle, but two in quick succession from the same direction was worrying. A few minutes later, another whistle could be heard in the sky, followed by a second.
"Someone is early." Gan Ning whispered frustratedly. "Two Arrows must mean that they have come across the enemy early"
"Or something else unexpected has come up." Dom replied, a look of thought on his face.
After travelling at a jogging pace for a few more minutes, they could hear the sounds of shouts and weapons clashing in the distance. Dom was impressed when Gan Ning signalled for his Warriors to halt, rather than rushing in. All that could be seen in the distance was more Silver Forest, but Dom expected that Nakbe was just beyond that.
"Lu Fang and Abubakar were supposed to keep pace with us, so they should be to both of our flanks." Gan Ning thought out loud, having ordered them to keep an eye on his position. Before turning to one of the Centurions in the Century in front of him. "Centurion Meng, I want Pilum ready to be thrown before swords are drawn."
"We are ready General." Centurion Meng replied, having originally been a captured Shang Swordsmen during the ambush at Banas's Tribe, Meng Gao had grown from strength to strength.
"Centurion Chariovalda, after the Pilum have been thrown, I want what ever we are facing to be obliterated." Gan Ning ordered to his Batavi Cavalry Commander who was stood behind him on his horse, before turning to Centurion Balius of the Slingers. "Aim your shots and then find the prisoners, once they are secured we can fight at our leisure."
"We won't let you down." Centurion Balius replied proudly, fire in his eyes.
"Fire the arrow!" Gan Ning ordered the Horse Archer that had travelled with them, "Men, March!"
....
The marched at a brisk place, trying to maintain formation as they passed through the Forest until it began to thin and they could finally see Nakbe beyond. As they had arrived from the north, in front of them was the large structure of a limestone temple that towered high in the sky. There were limestone staircases on each side of it that led to the top that held a long pointed roof. Beside the temple were other similar structured that were slightly smaller, with white stone causeways that travelled between them around four metres above ground level.
On the ground Dom could see tens of cages, made from metal, wood and stone. Most of these cages were empty, with dark stains that covered their material, where as some held the husks of the dead or dead like people inside. Further inside, Dom could see other structures, but his eyes were too busy looking at the battle in front of him to work out what else there was.
On top of the Western Temple, Dom could see Legionaries battling against the wild Type 3's whose pale and bloodied skin looked more monstrous in the light. The causeway between the Western Temple and the Central Temple was full of Legionaries pushing back against a tide of Type 3's that were running across it to get at them, some even attempting to climb across the edges to flank the Legionaries. The Legionaries were fighting hard to get across, seemingly separated from what ever was on the Central Temple
"Balius, ignore my earlier orders, kill those creatures now!" Gan Ning ordered, as the sudden whirl of slings being span could be heard, before over a hundred stones rose in the air and clattered in to charging group on the causeway. As many of them fell dead from the top, Dom could see the crested face of Centurion Percennius look in their direction with relief, before raising his bloodied sword and charging across the causeway with his men.
"If Percennius is here, then so is Tomoe." Gan Ning commented as he looked around the Battlefield for the General.
Under the causeway, where bodies of Type 3's had now fallen, a group of enemies appeared, that charged directly towards Dom, Gan Ning and their warriors. Their teeth were sharp and their mouths open as they ran, with a mixture of repurposed weapons in their hands. Dom grabbed his spear, ready to strike, but held back when he heard Centurion Meng's order.
"Pilum ready!" Centurion Meng ordered his men, without waiting on instruction from Gan Ning, with the Century beside them following suit. "Launch!"
The Pilum travelled in a shallow arch towards the charging foes, quickly skewering them through and leaving the ground with twitching corpses, a few of them tried to crawl forwards, but were hit by a second throw from the other Century. Centurion Meng then pulled his sword free, before clashing it against the back of his shield. To their flank, Dom could see the figure of Lu Fang and his men appear, charging directly towards the west of the Western Temple to what ever they could see in that direction. Dom hoped that the rest of Tomoe and Percennius' forces were not in a dire situation, he had expected Tomyris to arrive from that direction and was confused by Tomoe's forces appearance.
"Prepare to charge!" Gan Ning ordered his two Centuries, whilst the Balearic Slingers continued to hit any enemies they could see, whilst the Batavi stood behind them on their horses, awaiting their turn.
"Centurion Flavius, you are to stay with myself and Lord Lazarus. Centurion Meng, head under the Causeway and in to the City beyond. Centurion Chariovalda, support Centurion Meng and kill any enemy insight. Centurion Balius, send half your men with Chariovalda and Meng, the rest are to stay with us." Gan Ning ordered, as he made his way towards the steps of the Central Temple. To their right they could now see Abubakar who had arrived and was heading towards the Eastern Temple where they could hear further clashes of weapons. Dom felt that something had gone wrong with the plan, and that the number of enemies was much higher than he had expected.
As everyone began to follow their orders, Dom heard a loud shout of anger from the top of the Temple, the noise echoing throughout the forest. On the top of the Central Temple, wielding her Naginata in one hand and a sword in the other, Tomoe swung wildly, as more and more enemies climbed up the temple steps towards her. Blood covered her armour as her foes fell beneath her feet at every swing. Dom hadn't seen Tomoe for a while, but the description of bloodthirsty that Subutai had given her seemed true.
"So that was why Percennius was trying to get across, she must have arrived earlier and engaged them." Dom explained to himself out loud, watching as the Centurion and the small unit he had with him battled across the Causeway and began to move up the stairs towards her.
"There must have been a reason for it, she would have waited otherwise." Gan Ning replied seriously with his teeth grit in frustration. Dom agreed and nodded his head in acknowledgment. "She's amazing though isn't she, I wish I had half of her talent."