17 Ch 12.1 Battle of dead valley

MRE Ch 12.1

Both armies are just three hundred meters apart.

Charles shouted " Conley surrender yourself and disband the army, you will be dealt mercifully."

Conley got agitated " Huh ! I have a larger and better army. You step aside , we won't harm anyone , and will take what's ours and leave"

Charles shouted last warning " if you cross that barrier then don't blame the death of soldiers on us."

" Heh! We will see who blames whom."

Then Conley barked orders" soldiers get ready." Soldiers tightened their grips on their weapons.

"Attack"Duke roared.

"Attack" commanders leading soldiers ordered .

Barrier was not that high, foot soldiers and cavalry easily crossed it . Duke mumbled " heh, this puny barrier can stop us, wishful thinking."

Most of the front row and some elite troops crossed the first barrier .

Bows have been strung. Jason ignited the arrow and gave it to Jake and a few others " fire it there, when they crossed the barrier near us " indicating towards the barrier at 200 mtr.

Conley's soldiers reached the second barrier within a minute. Kipler got to the barrier and saw oily and sticky things on it. He looked at sky and saw burning arrows , he turned and frantically shouted " Stop the attack,"

"Stop " .

His men also started shouting , by then arrows had hit the barrier and in a flash a whole lot of boulders caught fire.

Some tried jumping back but got heavily injured by the heat.

Duke and Kipler shouted " stay where you are, don't cross the barrier , wait for fire to set off."

On Jason's side Archers we're ready .

Jake shouted " loose" a set of arrows and got into the fire drawing low arcs in air, soon other sets followed.

Three thousand archers with firing speed of 12 arrows per minute. A minute was enough to decimate Duke's whole Army let alone those trapped inside the fire barrier.

Soldiers inside barriers were already panicked on being surrounded by fire but when arrows started pouring they ran frenziedly.

Some soldiers got pierced and pinned to ground, dread and panic got the better of them; they tried jumping out of fire but intense fire devoured them .

It was completely a hellish sight. Blood flowing, fire burning , cries of agony and helplessness . It was as if some angry deity crossed this area.

Duke tried putting water, it burned with more intensity. At last when Kipler got sand and dust poured on the barrier then only fire was controlled.

When their side put off fire, they saw the scene inside the barrier , and felt terrified by Carnage that happened inside. Even now some half dead soldiers were crying with the half side was burned, the other side pinned by an arrow.

No soldier in Duke's army was ready to cross the barrier ; they were fully terrified .

The Duke's army hadn't lost many soldiers. But now most of them were filled with dread completely shaken from inside.

Duke was fuming inside, he commanded some soldiers to remove boulders but no one followed him.

He looked towards Kipler helplessly. Kipler and his elite men got to remove barriers and carry injured and dead back to their camp.

Without even reaching their enemy, their formation had completely crumbled.

Now was there any soldier ready to fight? They got their men back to their camps. First thing they have to do now is to stabilize their men and uplift their morale .

Injured got to healers, dead were buried.

Duke decided to let soldiers rest for a few days then they will consider what to do. He was sure that even if he talked about battle his soldiers would flee from the camp.

On Jason's side everyone was shocked , completely shocked when they looked at the scene and thanked God that they were not on the opposing side of the prince, even thinking about it was enough to make them sweat and shiver.

After the soul shaking battle ,

Charles felt relieved that now Conley won't think of attacking for some days .

But Jason doesn't want to give Conley any chance " if we don't utilise this opportunity then all will be for naught. They may think of a way to counter our arrows"

" Conley's forces are in despair but still they are larger than us, it won't be advantageous for us." rebuked Charles

" That's what I was saying it won't benefit us if we let them recover. We need to keep them in despair. That way they will surrender easily." said Jason.

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Conley was now at his wits end, he can't think of anything but fire that burned everything before his eyes.

Kipler came to him and presented the battle report.

They lost 1780 soldiers and 235 elites

Injured total at 2269 soldiers and 128 elites. His losses were a little less than five thousand.

They still have more than 20000 soldiers. But soldiers are not ready to even talk about battle, much less revenge or anything else.

" Aagh , in what mess have I fallen. " Duke tooked report from Kipler and shoved it in his bag.

" Worry not, we will be ready in a few days. Now what tricks can they play? We now know about their special arrows that can penetrate armor , we will use shields to defend us" suggested Kipler and left the Duke pondering .

Kipler is good at commanding troops and his presence of mind is far superior to others. He could have been a great asset for any kingdom. But Dakota sent him here to meddle.

Night breeze was flowing through the tree, night guards got to their posts for night watch. Night went peacefully . Sun was about to rise in an hour. Some guards went missing from their posts.

No one noticed the storm that was about to arrive , which may decide Victor of this tussle.

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