Aurion Ch. 03

Michael barely had to consider before responding, "bring me my Princely Guard Captain."

The man quickly remounted his horse in an athletic display before racing off towards the stables. Ten minutes later, Jelme approached before dismounting and kneeling before Michael, "My Prince?"

"I assume you've already heard about both of our approaching parties?" Michael inquired.

"Yes, Prince Michael. Both scouts reported to me after you debriefed them. I'm aware of the situations. How would you like to proceed?" He asked, still a bit in awe of his Prince and new friend.

"I want you to head to the peasants with Amila, bring a hundred men as an escort, and then lead all of whom she approves to the camp we intended to use as a decoy. It's large enough to hold more than a whole imperial Legion. It will give them shelter and protection and we may still be able to use it as a decoy if someone tries to come root us out of the our little forest. Make sure to only take outdoor types. Shepherds, Hunters, Woodcutters, experienced ranchers, etc." detailed Michael, "send the inexperienced farmers back with orders to organize a home guard for their land in case they are attacked or we need their local support. Their main cause will be to provide and guard our future food supplies as well as provide us with local intelligence. We will accept their daughters and wives if their men wish for them to be out of harms way or to accompany their husbands. However the women will have to stay in a separate camp. We have more than enough manpower and materials to use in building them a secure camp."

"Yes, my Prince. It will be as you say," responded Jelme, "may I ask about the two thousand horsemen heading towards us? Won't you need every cavalryman available to fight a battle where you are outnumbered two-to-one by a force consisting of entirely heavy cavalry?"

"No. Not if things proceed in the way I suspect they will. Nevertheless, don't worry about anything besides retrieving the peasants and making sure a camp for women and camp followers is established near the camp. I'd like to keep our little fort here a secret for now, it's location at least."

"Of course, my Prince."

:..:

The next morning Michael sat on his saddle at the edge of the forest in line with the approaching force of Knights. He sat out in the open, alone and confident. Just inside the tree line was dismounted Xia warriors with bows trained, Rangers with steel crossbows winched and steel bows ready, engineers with Scorpion bolt-throwers as well as the larger Ballistas at the ready though the large Onager catapults were still back at camp, his PyroFighters (the other specialist had been left to defend the camp and fort) were positioned directly in the center while the Dorian Hoplites were split into two large wedge formations and hidden on either flank.

If the approaching horsemen attempted to attack, they would race straight into a covered trench with a spiked bottom. The trench, as well

as several spike pits and shallow holes dug with a single large stake anchored at the bottom in clay before both were hardened by fire, also served as their waste depository. It was as disgusting as it was necessary since they couldn't burn out their latrines like usual without giving more clue to their location and Michael wouldn't risk the spread of sickness or disease by letting it fester in holes through his camp or fort. This guaranteed an unpleasant death but he hoped it wouldn't be necessary.

If it was, these heavy horsemen would lose their first ranks to the trench while those that followed were engulfed by incendiary grenades, lit by flaming arrows, burned siphon flame throwers, crushed or impaled by catapults and bolt-throwers or simply turned into pin cushions by arrows that were plenty capable of penetrating their armor-especially with flat shots at such close distance.

As it turned out, the preparations were for naught. At least on that day, as the Kandorian Knights weren't like their leader. Men of honor from old families who had inhabited their home land for all of memory, they openly swore their oaths of allegiance to Michael through their appointed leader, Sir Austin. It was only after they had learned that the blackmail files damning them had been secured and would only ever be used in the event of open betrayal, but never as leverage, did they truly relax.

They further grasped the wisdom of their situation as they were lead over the trench and through the nasty surprise waiting for any hostiles on one of a few safe trails meant for Michael's men to sally forward if necessary. They knew that they would've been slaughtered by a force of barely half their number that was totally lacking a mounted defense. Like most, these men had thought their heavy warhorses and mail clad bodies were all but unstoppable. Seeing the fate they escaped left them feeling shaken but grateful. They had made the right choice and they knew it.

It was a good thing Michael had formed the fort with ample room for expansion. In addition to the two thousand heavy cavalry that had just joined him, he returned to the fort to find that Jelme and Amila had returned, and they weren't alone. More than 9,000 peasant men and 2,000 women had come to join him.

There were so many that instead of putting them in the decoy camp, it had been necessary for them to build their own huge camp plus another for their women. Apparently, word of Felix and his men had gotten out and more than 4,000 of the men were veterans of the Legions, giving Michael nearly an entire Imperial legion. The other 5,000 were composed of men who would serve as archers since they were already armed with the bows they use to hunt or defend their livestock from beast and bandit alike. All hardened Northern men, strong and used to outdoor life in the freezing north.

It was going to be next to impossible to keep his location secret from his enemies but the position was still extremely strong and the forest would allow hit-and-run attacks and guerrilla warfare.

:..:

All of the men had immediately been set to drilling and trading out on the plains near where Michael accepted the paths of Kandorian Knights. He had many of the best fighters in the world as well as many that were simply men who had learned to live in a tough land by becoming tougher and smarter, but he had to get them to work together. Motivation wasn't difficult to inspire which made it easier to work on forming the men into a single cohesive force or, hopefully, even a force that could compliment it's individual parts to create a much greater sum.

A few more men wandering in from the plains meant that Michael now had more than enough veterans to form a full legion. He took the healthiest men to form what he suspected may turn out to be his first legion. They already had all of their gear and equipment, as well as training and experience, so all they needed was a little time to shake off any dust and learn how to move with the new men next to them. Most had served together at one point or another so there was already a modicum of trust and respect and within three days the legion was already nearing cohesion.

With the 5,000 Hunters, Shepherds, Woodcutters and all of the rest who had a strong bow and the skill to use it, Michael knew better than to try to turn them into legionaries. Instead, he made sure they learned how to move together and coordinate or concentrate their fire, as well as giving them some close combat training since they all carried hatchets and the Woodcutters had their large double handed axes. Both could be effectively used against the armor of downed Knights or bodies of opposing light troops, many of whom had only daggers to supplement their bows or slings.

Michael and the legionaries also taught them how to protect themselves and their position by digging trenches and planting sharpened staves to stop or even funnel an enemy charge into kill zones or cross fires. They were also all issued a bag of small caltrops, taken from Kandoris' untouched siege warfare armory, to be spread about in front of a position to pierce the feet of even the heaviest armored enemy cavalry mounts should they try to ride down the archers.

Each archer was issued high quality arrows from Kandoris' huge supply, including half a dozen flaming arrows and half a dozen poisoned arrows to keep in their quiver, since most of them only owned at most a dozen arrows. There were a few who traded in the bows they brought for Kandorian longbows either due to wear, age or insufficient power to make a good war-bow. It only took a fifty pound draw for a longbow to make a good stag hunting bow, unfortunately any stag hunter knows that he may have to contend with giant wolves, cats or bears for his prey so few of them carried bows that were underpowered. And if the hunter is one who targets the larger animals, especially predators, their bows often have a draw weight exceeding that of a typical war-bow (for example, Mammoth bows needed the strength to pierce several inches of the solid bone in a Mammoth's skull or fully pierce the body of a marauding 2,000 pound Brown Bear).

The Dorian Hoplites were earning how to best work with the legionnaires in battle while the Helots (who served as light troops and with bows but they also carried a bundle of barbed javelins on their shoulder for heavier jobs at shorter ranges and a spear for close combat or planting in the ground pointing forward as a quick defense against a cavalry charge) prepared their bows and helped the Xia to further train the peasant archers in battlefield archery tactics and techniques.

The cavalrymen trained longer each day than anyone, learning to work and move together as a whole or to compliment each other smaller groups. The fact that both man and mount had to adapt made things more complicated, as we as the fact that mounted fights move a lot faster and involved a lot more momentum than infantry battles. They made progress beyond even what Michael had anticipated in the first week. By the end of the second, they were almost an organic group.

As it turned out, it was not wasted time. Nor was it a minute too soon.

:..:

The scouts reported the enemy army approaching our current position on the edge of the plains while they were still more than three days out. The fact that the army consisted of mostly infantry wasn't nearly as comforting as it should've been since apparently the army consisted of the previous 5,000 Myssan mercenaries had joined up with another identical group of another 5,000 Myssans as well as an thousands more infantry levies.

Despite the infantry nature of the approaching army, with more than 20,000 foot soldiers (including 10,000 of the infamous Myssan Pikemen), they still had around 6,000 horsemen. This meant that Michael was seriously outnumbered in both foot and horse soldiers. However, he saw it as an opportunity to wipe a significant force off the board and build morale by claiming a resounding victory in his men's first pitched open battle. He didn't even consider retreating, especially with all of the innocents now sheltering in the forest at his back.

Fortunately, the battlefield he had prepared to fight the Knights on, if necessary, was still intact. He immediately set about extending the covered and spike-lined trench as well as adding a second one a hundred yards in front of the original.

He had his catapults and ballista placed behind the infantry lines while he placed the scorpion bolt-throwers on the wings behind his cavalry positions on each flank. It was a risk, as of the positions fell, his men would be caught in a crossfire if the enemy captured the scorpions and turned the against him. However, it was a necessary risk to take.

On the flanks, out in front of the covered trenches, Michael had added many smaller traps in the form of individual spike pits, ankle traps as we as a few covered barrels of oil buried in the ground and covered with straw, wood chips and a light layer of dirt for concealment. The traps wouldn't stop them but it would get in their heads when random men in their line or company got their ankles caught in traps or fell into spike pits and ended up screaming in agony or dead and nobody knew if their foot or life was the next to be lost.

He also put a covered trench on each flank of his infantry line so it was angled out at 45 degrees to prevent any flanking maneuvers. The cavalry would be outside of the trench but their mobility was their main defense and they could still simply move back to the tree line before rising across behind the lines if they needed to switch flanks or retreat to the center.

The night before the battle, the cooking fires of the enemy camp could be seen in the distance and they had completed their preparations with plenty of time to spare. Michael was quite tired and, after making his rounds and checking on both the men and their camp, he retired to his tent early and promptly dozed off.

It was only an hour or so after he first fell asleep that he was silently awoken by the sense of someone quietly entering his tent. He didn't move or change his breathing patterns and, after slightly cracking one eye, he did t go for his sword because he knew the tiny form could only be Amila coming to his bed. He wordlessly sat up and slightly turned up the bedside lamp to softly illuminate her lithe body as she slipped a heavy cloak off her shoulders and stood before Michael completely naked underneath.

Her silver hair, pointed ears and intense eyes gave her an exotic look that was only further intensified by the traits of her nude form. Amila's tiny waist, apparently long legs and soft skin was immediately evident. However, it was her tiny areola and hard little nipples capped all but nonexistent breasts that somehow got Michael as hard as a big round rack. Her coveted pussy consisted of a tiny little opening that didn't look to have any outer lips but rather appeared to simply be a little weeping slit. There wasn't a hair on her body below the neck which combined with her other features gave her an almost boyish look that somehow didn't subtract from her desirability at all.

By now, Michael was sitting up in bed and Amila crawled between he legs with feline grace after yanking back his blanket to expose his prodigious appendage to her hungry eyes. The giant thing had been the fodder of her fantasies since she saw it in the Dorian Capitol but she knew that it wouldn't fit into her little pussy without some significant stretching. She simply leaned forward and gave the swollen head a playful lick before bringing both hands to bear and initiating a soft corkscrewing motion.

It took her multiple tries but eventually she stretched her mouth wide enough to fit Michael's cockhead into her mouth, though her small teeth lightly tickled his crown as the head popped in the last bit. Once that happened, she became bear frenzied with lust. She couldn't escape the musky smell of him and she couldn't get enough of his taste, lovingly laving and slurping on just Michael's cockhead while her hands expertly loved on his ample shaft.

Amila's body had worked it's way up the bed as she bobbed and twisted her head over his manhood and soon the bottom of his shaft was grinding against her flat chest and tiny nipples while her hands rubbed the top and pressed him into her torso. She occasionally let the head slip back out of her mouth while she proceeded to rub her small face all over his shaft like a cat rubbing on a scratching post. Inhaling deeply and letting the extremely heavy weight of Michael's cock cover more than half of her tiny face as she got drunk on his scent and the helplessness she ft under such strength and masculinity.

When Michael finally exploded in her mouth she amazed him by swallowing more than a half dozen consecutive blasts of cum in a rhythm of repeated and well timed swallowing before it became too much and the remainder fountained up ridiculously to land back on Michael's sculpted torso and Amila's hair in a thorough drenching that the little elf proceeded to clean up with her sucking little mouth.

Throughout the whole experience neither of them said a word vocally and when she had finished cleaning up with her tongue and mouth, Amila simple slipped down to rest her head on his abs as he lay down on his back. She took just the tip of his cockhead back into her mouth and proceeded to fall asleep suckling at it like a baby on the tit.

Three times Michael was awoken by his own orgasms throughout the night and Amila lovingly cleaned him after swallowing as much as possible each time. All in all, it was one of the most relaxing nights in memory as, even in her sleep, she ran her hands over his muscular body and sensually messaged the skin she came into contact with over his torso and upper legs.

When they awoke in the morning, Amila's hair was completely slicked back over her head and gelled to her skull like a helmet as milky crust coated all of her skin above the waist. The sight got Michael so hot that she sucked him off again. Though this time, halfway through, he picked up her light body and swung her around into 69 position and proceeded to attack her G-spot with his tongue tip while softly petting her clit with a wet thumb while his other wet thumb slowly stroked her anus. However, what pushed her over the edge repeatedly was when Michael would envelope her entire opening with his mouth before tonguing her clit inside his mouth while sucking her whole pussy intensely. Amila had never felt or wanted anything like it in all of her life. Now, she didn't know how she ever lived without it.

:..:

Both armies took to the field in the morning and had formed their battle lines within a few hours of sunrise. With his back to the forest, Michael was sacrificing mobility for security and position. The enemy commander was no fool either.

Infantry in the center and cavalry on the wings, but that is where the similarities stopped. Michael had placed his veteran legion in the dead center of the line with a Dorian Mora to each side and the archers outside of them on each side. The Special Warfare Groups were positioned directly behind them in the center while the ballista and onager catapults sat behind them just in front of the tree line (protected by yet another trench). Michael's cavalry had been divided equally on each flank, the line of Xia riders were positioned out in front of the heavier ex-Kandoris Knights and their men-at-arms, who preferred to charge in wedge formations to pierce the enemy formations with their large armored horses, heavy lances and Mail clad bodies.

The enemy cavalry was positioned directly across, consisting of barbarian tribesmen mounted on high flanked northern horses. With a total of 6,000 horsemen, the enemy commander had split them evenly between both flanks. These men were clad in rough furs and thick leather and wielding longswords and axes. In the center, the enemy infantry had been formed in three lines. The front and back lines were composed of Myssan mercenaries while the second line of militia men was sandwiched in between. Michael acknowledged that he would've arranged them the same way if he were their commander, who was obviously not inexperienced.

The Myssan's were some of the only infantry in the world that could stand toe to toe with heavy mounted Knights. They fought in large squares, their pikes so long that the weapons of the first five ranks protruded beyond the front line. This presented any of their enemies with a veritable wall of large pike heads to penetrate before they could even reach the front line. In the past, the Aurion legions had seen some success by equipping their front line with axes and ordering the legionaries chop the heads off the extra long pikes to help them get in close, though this led to the Myssans adding a prominent spearhead to the butt of their weapons that they could simply turn the weapon around if their pike broke or lost it's head.