Chapter 1143 Margraves Vs Alexander (Part-2)

Chapter 1143 Margraves Vs Alexander (Part-2)

Like so many times today, Alexander's sudden and precision arrow fire from his crossbows caused a great deal of casualties among his enemy, especially in the first few volleys.

The thick bolts with sharp steel heads pierced through the bronze armor and the light clothes the Margraves men wore underneath like they were paper, before strictly embedding themselves into the flesh- digging deep, deep into the hands, chest, thighs, belly, and for a very unlucky few, even the head and face.

The Margraves were luckily more armored than Lord Kite's leather clad guys.

But due to the close range and the complete surprise of the ambush, the lethality of the wound infected on the unit was perhaps similar if not arguably greater.

Several tens of men fell like scarecrows in a storm, their loud, pained, anguished cries filling the surrounding air as they clutched at their shot areas with shock and horror, trying to stymie the flow of blood without any real hope of success, their lives seeming to fade away from them right in front of their eyes.

And so they soon began to cry out to the brothers around them, pleading and some even clutching their legs in desperation,

"Agghhh! Help! Help me! I don't want to die!"

"Save me! Ohhh.... Please!?I have three daughters! They have no mother!"

"Oh gods why? What will happen to my family now? Ahhhh!"

"Brother! Shield! Give me my.... auhhhh!"

However as tragic as this tearful situation might have been, it had little effect on the surrounding men, who had a much more concerning matter to attend to- which was the rain of death that was falling from the sky in the disguise of steel and wood.

"Let go, you idiot! Let go!"

"Fool! You are already dead! Don't drag me with you!"

"Stop pulling me! I can't help you! I also have a family to feed!"

It was like so that many of the soldiers chose to abandon their injured brothers with manic speed, with only a few, who perhaps knew the other from long ago, choosing to extend a helping hand and help them drag their brothers to the safety of a shade, hoping they would not get shot from there.

While some cruel ones simply kicked these injured men to the side and ducked for cover, shouting at the top of their voice,

"Archers! Archers on the bridge! Take cover!"

"Get your shields up! You fools! Get your shields."

"Huddle up! Huddle up and layer your shields."

Like this, the panic aboard the congested ship was such that the confusion caused by the surprise attack perhaps caused more damage than the actual volleys of attack, as the men ran hurriedly and without a thought in every direction, pushing, shoving, hitting, and trampling or throwing many abroad, all in an attempt to save themselves.

And among them, the worst of the offenders were undoubtedly the nobles or their henchmen,

Thus, instead of distracting himself with such miscellaneous thoughts, Ser Robert put them aside and decided to bring his attention back to the troops, shouting to the others at the top of his voice, "You fools! Stop running and bunch together! They can't shoot you through your shields! Idiots!"

Whether what he said was true or not, Ser Robert's lion like roar did manage to snap the men out of their stupor quickly, and given the simplicity of the order, they quickly complied.

"Quickly! Sail quickly! Get close to the bridge and start attacking!" And as the men complied, Ser Robert turned to the captain to additionally order so.

Time passed quickly, and to Ser Robert's credit, his two orders did work.

The layered shield managed to keep most of the Margraves troops safe, only letting the extremely one or two lucky shots to pass through, and causing minimal casualties.

While the rowers in the decks below worked overtime to cross the small distance as fast as they could, intending to pass through Alexander's concentrated arrow fire with as little time as possible.

And thus soon the ships arrived at their target- they were right below the bridge.

But here came the next set of problems.

Mainly- how were they going to get up the tall arches?

The bridge was built to let most ships pass through under them as a matter of convenience and so it was taller than any ship, much less its deck.

So there was no option to 'park' the thing next to the bridge and let the soldiers use hooks and planks to 'board' it.

So to overcome this challenge, they originally planned to use siege ladders to scale it.

Which admittedly was 'not too bad an idea'.

If they had not run into the slight problem called 'crossbows'.

But with Alexander's raining death from above, the bundled up men found it extremely hard to even get out of their defensive formation, much less prepare the ladders for the assent.

Most could only kneel, lock shields with their brothers, and cower.

However, most did not mean all and hard did not mean impossible.

So under a relentless barrage of threatening expletives from Ser Robert, who whipped the men up into a frenzy, some of them chose to brave the elements despite the danger.

Thus numerous skeletal ladders were suddenly placed along 00:35

the wall of the bridges, and soon a few daredevils began to scale them, holding one, and sometimes even two shields over their head.

You had to give it to them, these guys had the guts to attempt such a dangerous move, especially given the concentrated arrow fire they were facing.

As for whether that courage would bear any fruits, well that needed to be seen.