Capítulo 24: War Never Changes
"This...is blank."
Antioch walked over.
"Yes. It's something I found in an ancient tomb, around Athens. I don't know why I kept it, I just felt like it was the right thing to do."
Confused, Edward repeatedly checked every side and held it at every angle for any writing or picture. How could something with so much magical power have nothing on it? He kept checking, but nothing appeared.
"I told you, it's blank. In fact, I'll throw it out now."
"No!" Edward shouted, "No, I'll keep it."
"Fine by me," Antioch replied, eyeing Edward suspiciously.
Afterwards, they left the tomb and headed back to the palace.
When they had returned, they saw a group of men waiting for them in the throne room. Upon seeing Antioch, they rushed towards him.
"Sir, it's about time we do something. We need to expand while Rome is weak so that they cannot just swallow us when they have recovered."
"I agree. At the moment, they're embroiled in a civil war between Octavius and Mark Antony. It's the best time to strike."
Raising his hand, Antioch signalled for everyone to be silent, and the noise gradually fell.
"We cannot attack them. If Antony wins, he will come for out heads next. Our best chance is to build up our defensive power, so that they cannot attack," Antioch explained.
Grumbling and mutters of disagreement spread across the room like wildfire, and the noise began to get louder again.
"Quiet! I have made my decision," Antioch bellowed.
Out of nowhere, Edward spoke up.
"I think we should attack."
Everybody turned to him.
"My liege, who is this man?"
"What right does he have to be in this court?"
"Some petty merchant attempting to play politics, I assume."
"Silence! Let my friend here speak."
Hearing Antioch call the man a friend, the nobles were forced to be quiet.
"Thank you. Now as you just heard, I believe we should attack. Firstly, this will weaken Mark Antony and it will be less likely for him to win the war. On top of that, Octavius, if he wins, will be grateful that we helped him and not bother us."
Of course, Edward was making random reasons to attack, since he couldn't just say that he knew Antony would win.
"What do you know of warfare?" one noble couldn't help but question.
"A fair amount."
Edward thought back to his battles with King Uther, and all of the strategies he had seen in History books. These nobles were just rookies in his eyes.
"Surely, Octavius will want the land we have taken back."
"Not if we help him defeat Antony. He will see it as compensation to allow us to keep the land. Of course, we don't want to take too much, or he will demand it back."
All of them turned to Antioch: at the end of the day, he made the final decision.
"Do you believe that we can win?" Antioch asked Edward.
"I know it."
***
Roman Turkey, City of Tarsus, January of 32 BC
"This battle is vital. We need to do is take the city before Antony's forces arrive. If we don't, we won't have any standing in this war."
After preparing for a couple of months, Commagene had finally declared war on Mark Antony's forces, and while he was busy defending against Octavius, they had marched into Tarsus.
"Prepare the siege weapons!" Antioch shouted.
Outside of Tarsus' stone walls were monstrously large, wooden structures. Intimidating ballistae and a huge trebuchet (which shouldn't have been brought to Europe yet) stood in front of the city. Facing the castle walls, was a looming siege tower, which was slowly being pushed towards them.
Edward clenched his sword. He had decided not to use magic this time around, so that he didn't change the magical world in the future too much. Instead, he currently carried the sword that got stronger with age after Antioch had given it to him. He had named it 'Wisdom' because he remembered a quote, "With age comes wisdom" and he didn't feel like being very creative.
He turned to see Antioch. Shouting bravely to his men, he seemed fearless, but Edward could see his trembling hands.
"Ready! Aim! Fire!"
That was when the battle begun.
Suddenly, flaming balls fired over the stone walls and into the city, indiscriminately destroying anything in its path. Arrows rained down from above onto the soldiers standing on the walls. As soon as the attack started, Commagene's men began pushing the siege towers towards the city as fast as they could.
In response, the soldiers in the city began firing arrows towards the towers and rapidly approaching army.
Edward watched as the arrows seemed to momentarily block all light, and then rained down destruction. Despite many putting their shields up, some arrows managed to pierce through the gaps in the formation and through human flesh.
Men dropped like flies and were trampled by the army that continued to push forwards, their corpses forgotten and made unrecognisable under the masses of boots.
"Push!" the army began chanting.
At first, the chant was weak, with only a few shouting it, but it got progressively louder and more and more joined in, until it became a rhythmic boom.
"Push!"
Finally, they got to the walls and began throwing up ladders and climbing the siege towers.
The defending army tried to push them down with swords and spears, but whilst many fell, crashing down onto the cracked ground below, the defenders were eventually overwhelmed.
Edward clambered up a ladder with insane speed, and started cutting down any foe that came his way.
His sword flowed through the air with such agility as he fought with grace; it looked almost as if he was dancing - that was if you could see it at the speeds it travelled at. Due to his strength being so high, every enemy that came his way, was sliced through like their flesh and bones were butter.
Antioch saw Edward's fighting and was blown away by how quick and efficient he was. In the end, Edward almost took out the whole wall himself.
Once the soldiers on the wall were defeated, the army marched through the city, any resistance instantly cut down by Edward.
The army reached the Forum (centre of local government) and charged in. Inside, the politicians cowered behind their guards, who pointed spears towards the army.
"Give it up. The city is ours. Surrender now and keep your life," Edward ordered emotionlessly.
"Guards! Attack them!"
The politicians screamed at their guards to attack so that they could make a getaway. However, the guards just dropped their weapons.
"What are you doing? Attack them!" one politician demanded.
Edward walked up to the politician, who had just shouted.
"We gave you a chance, but you would rather sacrifice your own men to save your life."
Edward whistled and a group of guards came over.
"Take them away, and place their heads on the city walls."
"Please, no! Have mercy!" they began to beg as they were dragged away.
Then, Edward turned to the army.
"Victory!" he shouted.
The men all cheered.
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*SPOILER*
For people wondering about Cynewise: I can tell you now that she is coming soon. I've planned it so that - He attends Hogwarts 1st + 2nd Year, Adventures 3rd Year, Relaxes with Cynewise 4th Year (explore the world and time together or something), Returns end of 5th Year to save Sirius Black, Finds Horcruxes and defeats Voldemort with the main cast 6th Year.
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