World Conquest Online

"Centurion Cato, we need to get round this bend and see if we can find General Subutai!" Gan Ning declared to Centurion Cato as he boarded the Bellona. The Echo had pulled out of the Cove, leaving the Galatea and the Calypso behind as a potential retreat route for the four Centuries and support units that Dom and Qin Ming were leading. After leaving the Cove, the Echo had pulled alongside the Bellona, Gan Ning’s flagship in his Serene Sea Fleet. Gan Ning had climbed across and the Echo joined the formation, taking position to the left of the Bellona, with the Enyo and Cyrene to the right of her.

"As you Command General!" Centurion Cato replied, turning to his men and shouting orders. Gan Ning headed towards the front of the ship, some apprehension as the plan was so simple, yet something had clearly changed. The Bellona’s oars entered the gentle sea water and began pushing to the gentle beat of the drums, the three Trireme in escort following the same pattern as they began to make progress away from the cove and in to the slightly deeper waters where they knew they wouldn’t run aground on any hidden rocks.

The sound of the fighting within the Cove began to fade away as they began to head south and then turn westwards, following the shore line beside the towering cliff faces that covered the south of the cove. They hadn’t sent any ships past here yet, wanting to keep their presence hidden from any seeing eyes, with only the ground forces spreading across the southern part of the land.

"How was the battle?" Centurion Cato asked Gan Ning as he headed towards him down the centre of the ship, the marines positioned around the edges whilst the rowers beneath them continued to row in a synchronised pattern.

"A lot more enemies than expected, but they seemed fierce but untrained." Gan Ning explained to him as he continued to look out across the towering cliff face, no signs of anyone at the top of it, where he expected Subutai or Tomoe to be.

"Did our scouts fail in their mission?" Centurion Cato asked in shock, having only heard positive things of the army under Tomoe and Qin Ming.

"They must have, but it just doesn’t seem right. It’s like more enemies have appeared recently." Gan Ning replied, "Either through a tunnel system, which gives me a lot of worries, or another way. They also didn’t seem to have any intention of throwing down their weapons in surrender."

"So they just went to their deaths?" Centurion Cato asked, confident that he would do the same thing in that situation, but he was exceptionally trained and proud.

"They did, it wasn’t expected." Gan Ning laughed bitterly, still watching as Legionaries across the deck did the same thing.

"Sir, look there!" One of the Legionary Marines shouted towards him, pointing towards a large hidden opening at the base of the cliffs a few hundred metres in front of them. The gap was large enough to take two ships through side by side at the same time and seemed to head in to total darkness that lay beyond.

"Do we head in or keep travelling?" Centurion Cato asked Gan Ning as he leant forwards and was looking towards it himself, clear surprise in his voice.

"We need to find General Subutai, but we also need to explore westwards." Gan Ning grumbled, trying to work out what the best solution would be. All of his ships were fast, faster than anything he had ever seen before. He had two Titanaconda’s on each of the ships that had stayed out of the cove, untested in the salty waters of the Serene Sea. He didn’t want to risk his giant snakes by sending them in alone, but he also didn’t want to risk his ships either.

"There could be ships hidden in there." Centurion Cato said suddenly, as if a thought had just hit him. "How else would more of them arrive, other than the tunnel systems that are unknown." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"If there was ships there, they should have tried to hold us back so they could retreat." Gan Ning thought out loud. "Signal for the Echo to continue heading west to look for our Army, we’ll encircle this hole with the Enyo, Bellona and the Cyrene."

"I’ll have them travel until they find flat land and then return." Centurion Cato put forwards, shouting for his one of his men who had some flags to approach him. The flags would be moved in different formations to signal orders to the other ships.

"Good idea, I don’t want them to be alone if there is unknown dangers." Gan Ning agreed, thinking that if there was ships inside, there could be others. "Have the Titanaconda’s readied as well, whilst they are important, the ships are harder to replace. I’ll take one and head in."

"Sir, there is no need to do that." Centurion Cato protested, but Gan Ning shook his head in disagreement, refusing to ask someone to do something that he wouldn’t do something himself.

....

"Prepare lines!" Septimius bellowed from the front of the Praetorian Century, technically the most senior Centurion as he was directly under Dom’s command. They had moved their forces further enough in to the entrance of the Cavern that two Centuries could line up beside each other, ten ranks wide and eight deep. The first Century under Centurion Percennius was to the Praetorian Centuries left, with the second under Centurion Macro behind the first and the third under Centurion Varro behind the Praetorians.

"They seem more unsure than those below." Qin Ming commented from beside Dom, the two of them stood in the middle where the two Centuries met. Qin Ming would command the left whilst Dom commanded the right. The enemies had now formed in to some loose formation, no more than two hundred of them against the nearly four hundred of Dom’s, with the Hoplite Marines and Wudang Archers to the rear.

"They probably wasn’t expecting the attack to get this far." Dom replied in thought, trying to see if there was any clear leaders amongst the enemies that faced them. The sound of battle could still be heard echoing in the distance, the forces involved, Dom didn’t know though.

"I am not a fan of this dark cavern, this is definitely a battlefield for Lu Fang and Guo Sheng." Qin Ming laughed, knowing that the two of them would curse him if they heard him say it to them.

"It is quite eerie, and when ever we have been underground so far, we have discovered something strange." Dom agreed, the Zhan Lu sword in his hand ready, whilst Actumerus and three other Batavi Guards stood behind him, two that were assigned to Qin Ming and another of his own. Others were spread across the Centuries beside him, able to react if needed.

"Pilum ready!" Septimius shouted, only around half of the Legionaries still had one of these weapons, but they would be deadly at thinning the enemy ranks before the front lines clashed. Whilst there was only around two hundred enemies, the terrain was challenging and there was no need to take any risks.

"Ready?" Qin Ming asked Dom, himself ready to charge in and fight the enemies without the expertise of the Legionaries beside him.

"Let’s do it." Dom agreed, before shouting to Septimius. "Ready on your signal Centurion!"

"You heard the Lord!" Septimius bellowed loudly, his voice echoing throughout the Cavern. Dom was sure that who ever was battling in the dark in the distance would have also heard it, not that any change took place with the sounds of clashing that continued to echo back towards them. "Front line march, launch Pilum on my signal."

The twenty Legionaries in the front row began marching forwards at a slow pace, the second line matching their speed, ready to push their shields in to their allies back or rotate with them when needed. Those behind with Pilum, most taken from the the Praetorians or Varro’s Century, aimed them high as the enemies began to charge towards them in a mismatched formation.

"Launch!" Septimius bellowed again, as Pilum rose from within his and Percennius ranks and crashed in to the wave of enemies that charged at them, the wild eyes on them looking fearless even in death. Those that weren’t taken by the Pilum, or tripped over their allies feet, continued to run forwards.

"Shields!" Percennius bellowed, those in both Centuries bracing themselves for the enemies, allowing them to run on to them and allow the shields to take brunt of the attack, before following up with a stab of their deadly swords.

.....

"Quiet now." Gan Ning whispered to those beside him, Centurion Hector, the former Hoplite who now led the Titanaconda unit passed the order on, as all eight snakes held themselves low in the water. Only the eyes and noses of the giant beasts could be seen, whilst only the heads of their riders were above the gentle lapping waves outside the edge of the cavern’s entrance. The Titanaconda’s continued to move silently and slowly forwards, as if they were hunting something that no one else could sense.

Behind them, the three ships of the Bellona, Enyo and Cyrene also slowly approached at quarter speed, the beating of the drums ended earlier and now only a whisper from the captains leading them forwards. All three had Ballista’s and extended ram’s, a deadly combination for any enemy ships that they could face. Gan Ning had ordered that whilst they encircle, they leave enough space so that they could attack anything that left without exposing themselves.

"Look there!" Hector whispered to him, the distance shadow of a ship looming within the Cavern. The Cavern was dark, however the occasional torch cast shadows of several tall ships that were all docked or anchored within the shallow waters. The sounds of battle could be heard echoing around them, whilst some figures could be seen running across the ships, either preparing to depart or disembarking to help their allies.

"So we have located where the reinforcements came from, but not found our missing army." Gan Ning whispered back, whilst Hector seemed to shrug in response, his shoulders barely visible above the water.

"What do we do General?" Hector asked seriously, the eight of them could not support the armies above much, but they could cause some chaos of their own.

"Split in to two’s, use your Trident and create some holes in the base of the ships." Gan Ning whispered to the seven Warriors around him, their giant snakes tongues flickering above the water. They could sense prey, and Gan Ning knew that if he didn’t act soon and cause some leaks and retreat, they would become much harder to control. His riders knew the same thing, the clear excitement on some of the snakes was worrying.

"They don’t normally act like this." Hector commented, as if a natural prey was within.

"I know, let’s be fast!" Gan Ning agreed, a worry of his own as the echoes above continued.

"You heard the lord!" a voice echoed, travelling down to where Gan Ning and Hector were gathered, a look crossing both their faces that this was the best chance for them to act whilst everyone else was distracted.

.....

"General Subutai, we have found something strange!" One of the scouts reported to him and Tomoe as they slowly made their approach towards the Cliffs. The sun was barely visible on the horizon and Tomoe yawned loudly beside him. Tomoe had prepared a large number of ropes for travelling down the cliff faces, and Subutai was confident that Qin Ming and Dom would be in position by the time they arrived at the Cove.