World Conquest Online

Dom was bent low as the sun rose in the sky above him, beside him was Subutai who was also bent low. They were both covered in sand and their clothes were dirty from the long distance they had travelled through the early morning. They had slept early and risen before the sun had rose, the moon having been still high in the sky.

Dom turned to look behind him and looked at the Warriors that had crawled with them for the last few hundred metres, all dirty and covered in dust and grime as he was. Tomoe was there in her heavy armour, visibly exhausted from the long crawl. Behind her were Leonidas and Cleombrotus, as well as fifty chosen Egyptians, Abubakar and a strong warrior who was dressed more elegantly than the other Egyptians. Dom had been relucent about the final member joining, but didn’t have a choice in the matter, King Rameses II had directly requested it, and Dom wasn’t in the mood to argue with him over it.

They had been crawling through the rough terrain for over an hour now and were now near the city walls of Kadesh, the centre to all of the chaos that was happening. They had crossed the river during the early hours, with some rafts that had been crafted by some of the Egyptian carpenters that had followed in the marching camps. The rafts had been crudely made, but they were held together tightly by well constructed ropes. They lasted long enough as the group had passed across the river safely, having had each raft tied together so they didn’t drift away from each other. The river had been calm in the night, but if anyone had fallen in, the chances of them being saved where small, as they had been warned of the Crocodiles that lived in that River.

Out of view, behind the rising sun, the Ra Legion were in waiting. Banas was with them with the Horse Archers and Lancer’s, as they awaited the signal to charge on the city. The plan had been agreed with King Rameses II, General Tau and General Sadiki. Subutai was supposed to stay with Banas and General Tau, but didn’t want to risk Dom being injured without him being nearby.

The plan was simple, and Dom was just waiting now for his time to arrive. Across the river the Hittite army was starting to awaken and Dom could just see the first signs of movement as the units across the water began their morning routine.

"Shouldn’t be long now." Subutai whispered to Dom. They were well out of sight from the Hittites, but they didn’t have long until the shadow that covered their from the city wall disappeared and they would be much more easily spotted.

"We need to get beside the wall before the shadow moves." Dom replied quietly, agreeing with Subutai that the time was getting ripe.

"Keep moving." Subutai whispered behind him as Dom got back on to his belly and started to crawl towards the nearby wall.

The wall of Kadesh was around five metres high, with a regular pattern of guards that wandered it’s walls. Dom and Subutai had been in this position for over twenty minutes and had been watching the patterns, trying to work out the best way to enter without being caught. When they finally reached the wall, they all stayed low and placed their backs directly against it. Unless the guards were to look directly down, the chances of them being seen where very small.

There was total silence in the fifty seven of them as they waited patiently. Time passed slowly, and the silence was soon interrupted by the sound of a guard talking above them.

"When will these Egyptian’s realise that they are nothing against our mighty alliance." The guard said to another who was nearby.

The elegantly dressed Egyptian Warrior’s face changed at this and it looked like he was about to react, but Abubakar who was sixth in the line placed his finger on his lips. Subutai looked to Dom as they both noticed this, and they followed Abubakar’s example and also placed their fingers on their lips.

"When we beat them black and blue." The other guard responded. "Then they will leave us to our peaceful lives."

"I just wish I was on the other side of this River, ready to fight against them!" The first guard continued. "I would show them who a real warrior is, I may even get rewarded by the ladies in the tavern later."

"I doubt that you would get a reward even if you did fight, you would just end up getting yourself killed." The second guard scoffed.

"I’m going to relieve myself and get some rest." The first guard said responded, "I may then head to the taverns anyway."

"Put that back in your pants and do it out of my sight!" The second guard laughed, before the silence was all that they heard.

The group stayed silent for another minute or so, before Subutai moved himself extremely close to Dom and leant towards his ear.

"I think he was going to urinate on us." Subutai whispered quietly.

"I would have to agree." Dom replied just as quiet, "I think I owe that second guard a drink."

"You’ll more than likely have to pay him back with a swift death instead unfortunately." Subutai responded, "I feel that Gan Ning would enjoy being here right now."

"I do regret not bringing him as well, but not bringing Tomoe would have been stupid." Dom said.

Subutai nodded his head in agreement, thinking of all of the chaos she had caused so far, before looking back out towards the Hittites across the river. There seemed to be more movement now as the sun rose higher in the sky. They soon heard the sounds of drums and horns as the Hittite forces quickly began moving, with a lot more chaos happening within their camp. Guards began appearing on top of the wall and the group went silent again.

"What’s happening?" One of the guards said loudly, sounding agitated.

"Well if you can’t see, neither can I!" Another guard argued back, sounding similar to the second guard from earlier.

"Send someone to go and check then!" A third guard groaned.

"Looks like a big dust cloud on the horizon." The first of the three said. "I hope are storm isn’t incoming."

"Could the weather be changing?" The third was asked. "I do hope not."

"Or the Egyptians are attacking?" The second one replied.

"Damn, get someone to check!" The third said. "I’d rather the storm!"

Subutai tapped Dom on the shoulder, and he nodded in agreement, slowly side stepping across the wall towards the large gate that was to their right. The gate was made from a thick wood, and there were no obvious traps or holes above it that could cause any hidden damages to the group if they were discovered. All fifty seven of them stepped slowly and quietly so as to not make any noise, as even the slightest crunch could cause one of the guards above to look down and inspect.

Across the River, King Rameses II and General Sadiki led the three Legions of Amun, Seth and Ptah to attack the Hittite forces. Dom and Subutai had not explained any tactics to Rameses in regards to this, the Hittites would slightly outnumber the Egyptians but Rameses was a mighty general in his own might. Dom has asked the System to show his stats, but as he wasn’t a member of Riverside or a defeated enemy, it hadn’t shown him, However Dom did suspect that he would be at least a Grade A if not a Grade S.

The Egyptians had decided to use some of the Riverside tactics and Rameses had decided to merge his cavalry units from Seth and Ptah to create similar Wedge formations to attack the Hittites from the flanks. They had a battle plan, which was to draw the battle out so that the City could be captured in surprise by the Ra Legion, which historically had been almost wiped out by this point of the conflict.

Rameses however had made it clear that if he felt he could win the battle directly, without given the Hittites chance to retreat, he would do that. This meant that Dom and Subutai had a limited time frame from the battle starting to capture the gates and signal General Tau to attack.

They stayed in wait by the side of the Gate, waiting for it to open. It wasn’t long until both of the large double doors were swung open inwards, with a small group of cavalry charging through towards the distance where there was a shallow crossing that the Hittites could use to traverse the River. They would most likely have to abandon items such as Chariots if they did retreat, but the Horsemen and the Warriors should easily be able to cross there safely.

"Now!" Subutai exclaimed as he pushed the Egyptians behind him forwards so that they could charge through the gate. One of the horsemen heard the sound and turned his head, seeing the large group of Egyptians in wait. He was about to call out, but Subutai had already drawn his bow at this point and released an arrow that hit the rider in his neck.

The rider grasped at the arrow as he gurgled on his own blood, he quickly lost balance from his horse and fell loudly on the floor. This caused the other horse riders to turn and see the Egyptians charging through the open gates in to the City of Kadesh.

Tomoe led the charge, with some Egyptian Warriors running beside her. She was followed by the Elegantly dressed Warrior and Abubakar, whilst Dom, Subutai and the two Spartans, Leonidas and Cleombrotus brought up the rear. The small group of Hittite guards that had opened the gates were in to much shock to react and were swiftly cut down by Tomoe’s Katana that she had drawn, having left her Naginata with her horse that was stationed with Banas and the Ra Legion. The fifty Egyptian chosen warriors quickly spread out and began cutting down the other guards that were nearby.

"Get control of the Gate!" Subutai ordered from the rear, as he released another arrow that hit another of the Horse Riders. The Horse Riders made a quick decision, and rather than returning to the City to attack the Egyptians, they instead ran towards the army across the river instead. It would take them longer to reach their allies, but it would be safer than facing the Archer who was releasing arrows at them at a quick speed.

"I’ll take them out before they reach the River’s edge." Subutai bragged, as he released another arrow, which hit a Rider between the shoulder blades.

"I’ll leave you here then, I’ll go and help Tomoe take control of the gate." Dom replied, charging through the gates himself.