Scroll: Judano's Climb - 2nd Battle
From FiranMUX
Summary
This scroll was written by Centurion Kelarik Cylisti during the Campaign for Ellish in 42 A.U.
Scroll Text
Judano's Climb
The second battle of this season was the battle for Judano's Climb. We mustered just out of range of the Shamibelian forces, although we could see the darkness on the horizon. The area is a treacherous slope, which the goats had fortified using hay bales to try to guard their archers, and there were enemy griffons aloft. Sharin Rissik flew towards the battlefield on his giant eagle, and the vast majority of their aerial forces scattered to the four winds, most not returning to the field.
A mission of scouts vanished out of our mustering area prior to the beginning of our march as well - Elif Aedilik, Norik Karik, Arinsana Zutivik, and Clarissa Anivarin, by names. I did not see them depart, as I was in the process of getting prepared for battle.
The mustering field, in and of itself, was chaos. Controlled chaos, but it was the rush to ensure that we all had armor, that the archers had their arrows prepared, that all was ready to do battle in a decent manner. My brother Yacen was sword to my spear for this battle, and we tried to focus ourselves on the task at hand grimly. Donos himself declared the battle cry of the day - Republic, Unity, and Lord Idham was the call, and this because the night prior to the battle, Her Honor Fidelia Ista Aldrik told a story of her own first war season, which I have chronicled on another scroll. It was Her Honor's birthday, and it brought back memories of that first season, during which she turned nineteen.
The Fighting Fifth were well-represented on the field. At some point, one or another of the Fifth - I think it may have been Karana - began a rhythmic thumping of a staff against the ground. The rest of the Fifth slowly but surely picked up the beat, and the heartbeat of the Fighting Fifth rang out towards the enemy. Some few soldiers of other divisions carried that heartbeat as well, although it was predominantly us. We are, in the end, the heart of the army... without us, they wouldn't go very far.
As we began our march, the goat archers readied their bows, but then all of their hay bales spontaneously ignited, sending flames soaring into the sky. With prayers offered to Srenna, we marched onward through the acrid smoke to meet the enemy. There is no way to adequately describe the feeling one gets when they know that the Battle Mistress herself is smiling on our forward march - it was an increased pounding of blood in the veins, a relaxation of the tenseness we all carried, and we moved forward to victory.
The scouting party's intent was determined quickly - they had fortified themselves far off to one side of the field to provide flank damage and take out strategic, key figures whom they saw amongst the main mass of the goats. However, when the armies met, a pack of the goats led by a warlord broke off and charged their position. Elif protected the other archers by setting himself between two trees, keeping them behind him as he literally used his bow as a staff, taking down two of the goats before the rest downed him. The archers in his protection managed to escape, Clarissa joining the regular lines, Norik and Arinsana doing so after retrieving Elif's body and pulling it behind our forces.
Yacen and I fought hard, but Yacen took a stray swing and was downed, although he did not die - and thank the Gods for that. I defended his fallen body with my father's quarterstaff in hand, keeping him and the archers and medics behind me protected while taking down the beast who'd knocked him out. One of the goat archers began to riddle me with arrows - I was hit badly in my left arm, and while I recall breaking off the shaft, it was an inconvenience rather than something to incapacitate me. Two more arrows hit, one in my back, another in my shoulder, but the iron I wore kept them from doing more than scratching me. Yacen woke up as another third arrow clanged off my breastplate, and he and I made to remove the threat of the archer who had been plinking shots at me, accompanied by Karish, who had started towards the archer just prior to Yacen's regaining of consciousness. That goat ate good Republic iron.
We continued fighting through the heat of the day and the muddied, smoke-filled field, and in short order, we were down to a few goats. I remember knocking one out with a spear strike to the face, and then just before he was slain, there was a call to take prisoners. I stood over that goat, my spear at the side of his throat so that he did not move even if he should wake up.
In the end, the count of the fallen whom I was familiar with was Elif, and two more - those two being Vinetti and Ghana. Vinetti fell while holding the front line against no less than four goats, and it may well have been more. Ghana likewise - she was being fired upon by enemy archers, and yet she also held her line with sword, keeping them at bay until she offered up the final breath. Both were valiant warriors, and while I did not see their deaths as I did Elif's, they were mourned as much as the other soldiers fallen.
In total, sixty thousand Shamibelian forces were defeated that day, forty thousand of whom were killed. For every Republic soldier who died, thirty goats were eradicated. And the goats fled from the field, like scared rabbits, from a battle where in the beginning they outnumbered us two to one - for we were a force of thirty thousand strong, and backed by the Gods themselves.
After the battle, I found myself shaken, but strengthened by the knowledge that our cause is just and that we were one step closer to a freed Ellish. Gods willing, we still will see that goal accomplished.
{Signature} The signature of Kelarik.
{Date} Dated Sep 21, in the year 42 A.U.
