Capítulo 19: Conspired War Part 3: Eastern Front

Joel has been thinking of a way to find information of how many knights Conley sent to Jola and came to a conclusion that there might not be enough or else they would have attacked them. It's been a day since Captain Freeman has docked his ship at the port area yet Joel hadn't received any distress message or Retreat order it means Jola doesn't have the numbers to attack them. they are depending on the slope wall they built at the port area.

"Albert get the men ready we will march 400 men into the city before sun down today." said Joel

"But sir if they can build a wall in 6 months don't you think they have at least 10,000 men out there?" asked Albert.

"10,000 construction workers Albert not Knights and even if they all take up arms and fight us we can at least flee. I don't believe that 500 knights can beat 10,000 Peasants but I believe they can at least run away from untrained peasants." Said Joal.

Unlike the Western Shore, Jola is only 5 hours away on horseback so Joel is taking a different approach with the situation.

He is going to leave 100 men to keep the slaves in check while he and 400 knights will attack the city if they have more numbers then he will withdraw to the ship.

After half an hour Joel and his men were already riding in the desert with their shiny iron Armors. The heat was making them uncomfortable but they still endured it , afterall having protection is better than having a little discomfort.

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Frank, a 20 year old Knight in Eugene's Army, was standing on a sand dune outside Jola City waiting for any attack coming from the west.

He has been waiting for more than a day. He camped here yesterday night and it was the worst sleep he ever had. He had Brown hair reaching till his neck and brown eyes/skin.

He was not wearing his knight Armor because his majesty Ordered him to because according to him it will slow him down in this heat. He did agree with his majesty but he was scared that without protection he might die. He never fought with his armor, shit in fact he has never been in a real war before and that was true for most of the knights in Eugene's Army because their main purpose was to protect Lady Lain and His Majesty. There were very few who experienced war before and Frank was not one of those.

He had a one man operable Catapult with him on this sand dune to attack any intruders with it. He also had a crossbow which had arrows made with pure steel, these crossbows were special because they can shoot 8 times continuously without him reloading it.

One has to know Crossbow is already an advanced weapon in this era which has not been made yet but Eugene went ahead and gave the Blacksmiths the most advanced crossbow design so his knights have better odds at survival.

Frank was stationed here alone because Jola lacked man-power; they had very few knights and people, so Eugene planned to use guerilla tactics against the enemy. One knight will use the Catapult till the enemy reaches 50 meters to their sand hill. After that the knight is supposed to retreat back to the city and inform the enemy's whereabouts because they are alone there odds of retreat are High . There are more than 40 knights stationed solo on different sand dunes in the Eastern area, same with the Western area as well.

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Joel looked around his formation and was very confident that even if the enemy rained arrows, the majority of them would survive.

However he had this weird feeling ever since they left the coastal area, he can't explain it.

"Halt we will rest here for 20 minutes" Said Joel, everyone stopped in their places and started drinking water, chatting some even started eating beef jerky they brought with them.They have been riding for more than 2 hours so this rest was very much welcomed by everyone.

"The skies are so clear here don't you think Squad Captain?" Said one of Joel's men. They have been sailing the sea for months now and the weather near the Deep Lanes Sea is really bad.

"Yeah you are right after that gloomy sky this is really a good change" Said Joel as he looked up at the sky through his helmet. Suddenly he had a feeling that something disastrous was about to happen.

"Guys I don't know I have been feeling that something's wro-" Before he can tell everyone about this. A loud explosion happened right next to Joel and he fell from his horse 8 meters away. His chest was hurting so bad that he couldn't say a single word. He looked at his previous spot he saw.

Bodies of his men lying in blood, Huge pieces of ice and horses crawling trying to run away from this disaster but unable to because their legs were crushed or they were on their final breaths. loud squeals can be heard from others sides as all the horses were very scared they started to throw off the riders and run trampling people in the process some of the men who had injuries died when horses trampled over them while running.

The screams of his men ranged in Joel's head as he tried to get up and stand. He could not even understand how all this happened, it is common knowledge that Hail doesn't happen in deserted areas so how?why?

As soon as he stood up with much difficulty another giant piece of Ice Fell on the men killing some instantly while fatally injuring others killing more horses. Those injuries were not like others; these ones hurt very badly because they were hit by cold ice.

"Get Back Retreat!!" "Run Run!!" "help!"

Screams and veils were the only thing that could be heard in the desert for quite a while, some ran towards Jola City in hopes of getting shelter, some fled back towards the ship yet everyone met the same fate.

Joel was walking west back to the ship he saw countless bodies, guts and limbs of humans and horses. When he reached a point he looked up and just smiled at his fate, he survived the Hailstorm of huge ice blocks till now but fate played a cruel game with him just when he was thinking that the rain of ice had stopped an arrow was flying straight for his head.

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Frank couldn't believe what he just saw. The catapults worked way more than their expectations. They used Ice blocks to kill the enemy rather than Boulders because they don't have that many boulders so his majesty asked everyone to use ice blocks on catapults.

Frank alone killed 60 people with his one attack then they just fled towards another knight who was stationed on top of another hill continuously dying in the process.One should know there were 4 more people stationed before Frank's position but they didn't fire their Catapult when they were coming towards the city. So that those knights can kill the retreating meanwhile those stationed near the City can kill those advancing. Someone near the end also fired their Crossbow because he saw a survivor kill every single enemy.

Only if the enemy tried to check up the hill, might they have survived but sadly they didn't believe that humans could throw such large Ice blocks in the middle of the desert as such they just thought that it was a hailstorm.

Sun slowly set on the horizon , Frank took out a lantern and lit it up. He used a cloth to cover the light for a few seconds then removed it and repeated this for quite some time. After sometime Another light can be seen on a distant hill blinking as well, that's right they were using morse code to pass the information about their victory.

So enough Hughes who was standing on top of the lord's castle saw a blinking light on the horizon which was reporting about their battle after receiving the information he blinked back his new orders using his lantern.

This way the knights got information across the field way faster than any messenger bird.

Hughes Smile but soon he became serious this battle was over but the War was not.