Herald of Steel

Chapter 1146 Change in Fortunes

Alexander, who was observing the ongoing battle from atop the bridge found the fight to be going quite well for him.

The legionaries fought bravely and the lines up till now showed little signs of buckling, appearing very strong and robust.

Things were going so well in fact that the usually prudent man even brushed aside Hemicus's concerned urging, who had tried to make Alexander retreat by saying,

"Alexander! This is not safe. Fighting on this small bridge…. it's too easy to get trapped. Let's retreat when we can! Leave here to the men and let's go secure the island."

Seeing that things were going very well for them now, the man wanted to capitalize on it when they had the chance.

And the potential risk as dictated by Hemicus was also something that Alexander himself had thought of when he had seen Lord Bernard's ships for the first time.

However in a rare move on his part, Alexander chose to overrule this advice even when the man had a very good point, dismissively waving his hands and brushing the occurrence as too far fetched to consider,

"There's no need! They are already cracking. How are they gonna trap us? We are the ones who trapped them, haha!"

It was unknown what had suddenly bought this calivier, almost damn care attitude in Alexander today.

Perhaps he was simply feeling different, perhaps he too wanted to vent his frustrations on the battlefield like his soldiers, or perhaps he was simply willing to take larger than regular risks given the circumstances.

After all, it was he who had said that they would not be able the fight without risks.

Thus, whichever the case was, Alexander refused to leave, even adding this after seeing Hemicus's sour face,

"Besides, the men need me here. If I am gone, they might think I have fled. And morale will surely fall. We will even be at risk of losing the bridge. That would be a disaster."

All this was of course hyperbolic and Alexander knew it.

Given the state of their units, they would never fall just because of Alexander's take of absence.

Especially given that these were trained men, not levied peasants.

In fact, given things were going so well, many might even be glad to see Alexander leave, as a way to see him get out of harm's way.

Fighting atop a bridge was indeed dangerous

Thus hearing Alexander's weak excuse, the stoic man tried again, trying to turn Alexander's words against him.

"Then Quinnolin can take over the command here." Hemicus succinctly pronounced in a flat, disinterested tone

Quinnolin was Hemicus's right hand man and the one who usually got all the things around here since Hemicus had to always stick to Alexander like glue.

Hence leaving such a veteran man in charge of the formation was without doubt a very safe choice.

However, this naturally did not get the applause of approval from the man himself.

Alexander had not really made the excuse because he was truly concerned about his formation.

Thus instead, Alexander patted the man on the back, trying to alleviate Hemicus's concerns by reassuring him,

"Relax Hemicus! The island is safe. We have two hundred men along and a few hundred servants there. No one's going to take it from us."

"And we are safe here as well. No one's going to attack us from anyway! Look around you! Ocean all around! We will see that anyone coming at us from a mile away! So relax man!"

If it was not so that Hemicus would not understand, Alexander might have chimed the famous phrase-

'Chill mate.'

And feeling Alexander's constant patting on the back as well as the reasons laid out, Hemicus did find himself somewhat placated

He recalled the troops on the island were garrisoned behind sturdy fortifications, while here on the bridge, the charging soldiers were being repelled handily.

These attackers were brave men no doubt about it.

But wars could not be won with bravery alone- skill, tactic, numbers as well as the all important luck were all critical components too.

And here, the Margraves seemed to lack all of them.

There was little skill involved in ladder rushes- it being one of the most crude and primitive siege techniques, so there was no advantage to be sought there.

The tactic they chose to try and win this battle- a ladder rush against an actively defended wall was extremely foolish.

The Margraves also did not have the advantage of the enormous number necessary to overcome this great disadvantage.

As for luck, well their fortunes did not seem to be looking up.

Seeing all this, Hemicus finally reluctantly nodded, assenting to letting Alexander stay on the bridge.

"Good! Good!" And the man instantly got up to congratulate him for this.

Before Alexander quickly flashed his eyes with a greedy glint, ordering Hemicus, "Send a couple of scouts to our ships on the island and have them sail towards us. These Margrave's ships have set anchor and are basically sitting ducks. It would be a tragedy if we did not ram them, haha!"

Hemicus was more than happy to comply with this great idea and thus soon the fleets that were moored east and the north of the island started to make themselves towards the bridge, their spiked rams pointed menacingly towards the ports of the anchored vessels.

A good hit would likely spit them in two, no doubt about that.

While Alexander played his card, Ser Robert and Lord Parker both played theirs as well.

In the latter's case, the fleeing soldiers from Phyrros Island were quick to inform their brethren of their defeat, shouting to them, "The enemy was too many! We could not hold on! They are chasing us even as we speak."

This reached Lord Parker's ears within minutes, causing the man to first curse out in anger,

"Dammit!" as he found it frustrating to be thwarted time and time again.

First the mansion, then the ships, and now the island- all lost! Lord Parker felt like stringing someone for all these failures.

Thus after calling his officers, the man first let out a small tirade, screaming so hard that his bursting voice could be picked from many of the surrounding tents,

"All you imbeciles! Who has more than four times the troops? Me or that Alexander? Tell me! Me or Alexander?"

The reaction really showed that the recent losses were starting to get to the man. Lord Parker might have not lost a lot of men till now, but he had lost almost all of his objectives.

And it enraged him.

And seeing this the surrounding officers around him wisely decided to only keep their heads down in shame and then shivered in fright when they heard Lord Parker shout, "Arrest all those who fled for desertion! I will deal with them personally!"

'Dealing with them' most likely meant execution for the poor souls and while many of the officers felt this was too extreme, given the ducal lord's bellicose state, none dared to speak up for them.

Perhaps they could approach the topic at a later date.

For now, they just stayed quiet while Lord Parker continued to accuse them of all sorts of things- from gross incompetence to willful negligence to even cowardice in battle.

Until he felt he had vented enough and given the time crunch, decided to get back to the topic, quickly ordering the preparation of a third wave of reinforcements, also numbering one thousand, this time to be sent straight via the bridge.

By this time, any concerns about whether the bridge could hold its weight or not were flung far out the window, replaced with only the thought of reclaiming the island.

And the officers were too afraid to argue, finding themselves extremely relieved just to be excused.

Instead, they rushed to raise this force, and quickly they started to march towards their destination, intending to press Alexander.

While back at the Margraves's sides, Ser Robert's eyes shined with glee upon his subordinate's plan and approved it immediately.

Thus the legionnaires atop the bridge suddenly noticed that two of the five enemy ships had stopped sending men up their ladder, having seemingly run out, but were now retracting their siege equipment as well as lifting their anchors from the water.

And before long, these two began to sail towards the underside of the bridge, giving a clear impression that they were leaving the battlefield.

It was a sight that caused a great deal of cheer among the legionaries, as from their perspective, this definitely looked as if they were fleeing.

And knowing if a few were to flee, the remaining three were sure to follow, they felt victory was just within their grasp.

Perhaps it was because of such expectant celebrations that everyone, including Alexander, missed how the two ships sneakily sailed past them, disappearing beneath the bridge and thus placing themselves on the opposite side, before they silently dropped their anchors about 50 meters behind Alexander's lines.

They hoped that this way, their siege ladders would not directly face the defending men, thus allowing them to safely get up on the bridge.

And wouldn't you know it worked!

There were twenty men behind Alexander even before he noticed it.

And now he was trapped!

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