Chapter 4: I shall feel no fear.
Jolting in his saddle at the shrieking wind that buffeted his face, seeping through in all the small gaps in his armor. Wymar frantically looked around in shock at what greeted him.
Absolute. Pandemonium.
Riderless horses were galloping around, carrying empty blood stained saddles. Men where bolted up against rocky surfaces, massive spears sticking out from their stomachs - keeping them in place as they screamed desperately trying to pull the spears out of them.
Stunned, Wymar, saw their Commander in the distance pointing into the air and screaming silently, as the wind tore away his words, at the nearby legionaries. He saw what the Commander was pointing at as he barely had time to raise his shield against the rain of arrows.
Feeling impacts against his shield, Wymar turned around shouting loudly enough to turn his throat bloody at Vilhelm who had just appeared.
" SHIELDS UP, VILHELM! "
Vilhelm looked at him confused, before Wymar saw Vilhelm´s eyes widen a split second later at the carnage around him. Wymar saw him raise his shields as he rode forward to join him. When out of the corners of his eye he saw a blurry streak and instantly Vilhelm disappeared from his saddle.
Straining his eyes to the left of the riderless horse he saw Vilhelm bolted to the ground, spear through his stomach, eyes hidden behind a bloody visor.
"VILHELM!" Wymar screamed in loss.
" Wymar, we need to move, to the boulders at the sides of the valley!"
Startled form his grief, he moved his shocked eyes towards Manfred who had suddenly appeared by his side, shield raised against the continuous barrage of arrows. Behind him, the rest of his squadron were gathered.
Blinking his eyes, Wymar steeled himself, taking a last glance at Vilhem, he nodded in respect towards his fallen brother. "TO THE LEFT WALL! He commanded as he charged across the stony and open ground towards an area that would offer them a modicum of protection.
Around them he could see shocked legionaries look at them as they galloped across, realization shining in their eyes as they joined them.
"DISMOUNT!" Wymar bellowed as he reached the cover, leaping of his horse as he ran crouched until he was behind the rocky surface. Looking back he saw several warriors fall of their horses, arrows sticking out of their armor. Wymar saw the rest of his squadron dismount and with shields raised running to join him behind the cover.
Suddenly one of them, Antonie, he realized, stumbled. An arrow embedded in his leg the man fell unexpectedly towards the ground and instantly was trampled upon as a stampede of desperate men ran over Antonie towards the cover.
Screaming, Wymar ran up stream, straight into the river of men. " MANFRED, WITH ME" he bellowed while he rushed frantically towards where he last saw Antoine. Pushing men aside he saw Antonie face down in a pool of blood. Cursing, he heaved Antonie up straining against the mans weight, when he felt the burden lessen, looking up in surprise he saw Manfred helping him.
"Comon´ Wymar, back to cover" the large man yelled, men collapsing around them.
Carrying their brother back to the cover they shove their way back to their squadron, hollering all the way.
"On three, one, two - three." Wymar ordered to Manfred, as they lowered Antoine gently amidst the sea of brutality, putting him with has back against the boulder´s wall.
Wymar, saw the normally constantly joking Allan, with a serious expression on his face, crouch and take off Antoine's helmet, putting the singular ungloved finger to the mans throat, attempting to feel the pulse. Looking towards Wymar, the man nodded.
"He is alive, it's weak though. He needs a medic."
Confused, why Allan would not just administer first aid. Wymar looked around and saw the sea of chaos, red mist floating in the wind - blood pools staining the ground everywhere as the fierce wind blew it up, carrying droplets of blood in the wind and the distant horses galloping around in this red cloud.
Cursing, that they left the squadron level medical supplies with their horses, Wymar darted his eyes around for a medic. He saw the red cross on white background belonging to a medic, laying way back out in the open - on the ground. The medic in question dead.
Allan and Wymar exchange a look, as they both nodded and both stood up to begin running, only to see the form of Manfred speed past them, shield not even raised as the large man had holstered it across his back as he ran with the heavy steps towards the downed medic, sword in hand.
Crouching back down again, Wymar saw Manfred reach the medic and without even stopping to untangle the medical satchel from the medic. Manfred simply slashed with giant force, his sword cutting away the medics arm as Manfred lifted the satchel and ran back - not even hesitating in mutilating a fallen brother to save a living one.
Skidding to a stop with a cloud of dust next to Wymar, the man shoved the medical kit into Allan´s arms and hunkered down next to Wymar without a word, removing the shield strapped to his back with nothing but a grunt. Seeing Allan get to work on stabilizing Antoine, Wymar switch to look at the form of his hunkered brother, alarmed at the grunt.
"Manfred, you are wounded." He said seeing the arrow sticking out from the side of his back. Wymar saw Allan look up startled, eyes honed onto the arrow like a hawk before he was interrupted by Manfred.
"Focus on, Antoine, I can wait."
Wymar was about to protest that it was against regulations, when he heard Allan´s teary reply.
"Aye, you lovely giant of a man."The medical specialist of the squadron replied, getting back to work.
Wymar, looked at Manfred, taking in his weary state.
"Patch yourself up, next. That's an order." He said shaking as he turned to peer above the rock, gazing across the valley of corpses and assessing the situation of the legion.
Locking onto the position where he last saw the Commander of the 4th Chapter, he saw the Commander´s personal guard gutted - laying on the ground like pincushions behind equally brutalized cover - their own horses. From the circle of corpses, a groove of dirt and blood trailed from inside their circular grave to behind a rock, there he saw the Commander slumped against a stone, hand lifelessly holding onto his sword.
"The Commander is dead" Wymar said pointing.
Moving his gaze forwards he spotted two flags fluttering in the air, belonging to the personal guards of two commanders - both seemingly having grouped up. The flags were being raised and lowered rhythmically. Giving the order to find cover, regroup and then- , the message cut out as one flag fell.
At least two commanders are alive, perhaps not for long, Wymar thought. Straining his eyes forward, he saw the flag of the Lord Commander proudly held a loft in the distance - at the Vanguard.
Blood spurted across his visor, blinking, Wymar wiped it away with his hand, noticing it was ineffective as the blood just got smeared across his visor. Looking to his right, he saw there, two men away, crouched a headless man, blood flowing from the stump.
Not one of his, Wymar noticed with relief.
Eyes locking onto the large spear that had killed the man, Wymar flicked his eyes upwards, there he saw that atop of the opposite mountain wall stood creatures throwing spears at them, by hurling them upwards towards to sky and letting gravity take a hold of it as the projectiles flew in an arch towards them, despite the fact that they could not see them from their position.
Fuck.
"TESTUDO FORMATION" he roared, hoisting up his shield and slamming half of its surface onto the boulders top, allowing it to rest. Around him men instantly joined in, a few seconds later, a shield roof protecting them against the projectiles sprung into existence.
Lifting his shield - creating a tiny window where he could observe the battlefield, he cursed. The gap was not large enough, he thought, looking to his left and right.
"Manfred, Allan, no forget that, Guibe - come. Lift your shields, I need to be able to see." He ordered.
The men of the 4th legion were getting slaughtered, entire gaps present in their formation leading to an ineffective testudo formation. Grimly he noticed a few projectiles pierced through their shields as if they were paper. Few men present were running towards cover, despite the ineffectiveness of the testudo. Wynar dimly realized there was barely any cover present, the boulder they hid behind being one of the few.
Looking at the remains of the 3rd Chapter, he saw a few officers roaring, gathering the scattered survivors and pushing forward both on horse and foot towards the Vanguard, intent on reinforcing the Lord Commander.
"I've done all I could for Antonie, sir." He saw Allan say joining him in looking at the battlefield.
No, they were not going to reinforce the Lord Commander, Wymar realized as he nodded towards Allan, sparing a dark glance at Antonie.
They had to breakthrough. Gazing once more up at the top of the mountain valley across of him, he saw there hundreds of creatures throwing projectiles down upon the Legion. Indeed, only death would await them if they remained here. They had to pierce through the blockage at the front and flank the hostiles above.
"Allan, cover Antoine with a few nearby shields, we'll have to leave him here. Then get ready. Stay next to each other." Wymar said to his men before standing up.
"We need to reinforce the Vanguard! We need to pierce through!" Wymar yelled his throat raw to the nearby warriors.
He saw the men around him gaze at him, eyes flickering up to him and then to the ranged hostile forces above as understanding filled their eyes.
"MAINTAIN, TESTUDO, FORWARD MARCH TO THE VANGUARD" he screamed - his order mimicked by nearby officers and men.
Standing up, they assembled as they began marching forward, their synchronized steps echoing like thunder in the valley. Around them scattered and battered brothers rushed with their shields above their heads to join their formation. Wymar saw tens, of the men desperate to join them, die, struck down by arrows and spears before they managed to join ranks.
Thudding noises kept coming from the impacts above, against their shields, interspersed with the screams of men, as the larger projectiles tore through them. The man to his left in the formation, a man Wymar did not recognize, stumbled, seemingly on a corpse. The man fell forward landing on top of his shield, as his head twirled to face Wymar´s, not even attempting to stand up.
Desperate eyes belonging to a dead man locked onto his. They both knew, it was a fatal accident.
"Ma mére-" the last words of the man died on a bloody gurgle, as arrows tore into his armored body. His raised head as if cut falling into his muddy shield.
The gap in the formation was quickly filled, as a legionnaire from behind stepped onto the corpse of his fallen brother without even a glance downwards as he took the now vacant position.
Around him, Wymar, heard men dying or screaming as their limbs disappeared in showers of blood and above all the noise of chaos, he could hear the sound of order.
"FORWARD!" Orders were being screamed across the sharp wind.
Wymar, realized they were close to the Vanguard. Tearing his gaze from the front he looked to Manfred, meeting his eyes. He gave him a grim nod before switching to look behind him at Guibe, the scared look on his face from before journeying gone, replaced by a stoic expression of absolute determination.
"FILL THE GA-"
Their eyes, met, and they exchanged a nod of comfort. Looking around, Wymar tried to find Allan in the mess of men. Unable to, he reluctantly tore his eyes away from his search, glaring forward towards the Vanguard.
"Stay safe, you lovely bastard." Wymar whispered, sparing a quick moment in the hectic battlefield, to murmur words of comfort into the uncaring wind to his stray friend and brother.
Settling his nerves, Wymar stepped on another corpse of a fallen brother, blood oozing from the holes in the backplate at the pressure of his foot as he entered joined his brothers at the Vanguard.