Captain Antonius Melt was one of the best in service of the Plaza, but now he was facing one of his toughest challenges, yet the feeling couldn\'t be surpassed.
Exhilleration, pride, and an unquenchable thirst for glory... emotions that could quite easily never be felt again, in a sergeant that quite possibly was going to be silenced forever.
The campaign had been going on fairly continuously for two years, and now in front of his home city, the one-city nation, which was the last hope for a huge area of small villages and towns, towns which had given up any chance of self defence to pledge their armies to the vast sprawling metropolis of Hydlaa.
He looked down over the valley from which the attack would come, training a telescope over the lush fertile land. The land in the valley looked so peaceful, so tranquil - as if it didn\'t know what was coming.
And then he saw it. A massed horde of horror, outnumbering the Hydlaa guard at least 3 to 1. On the other hand, the Hydlaa army were far better trained, his squad especially.
\"Ready arms!\" he barked, obediently the squadron unsheathed their blades. \"Seargeant, weapons inspection! Load crossbows.\" Sergeant Johnson went among the ranks checking peoples equipment as the squadron loaded their crossbows. There was nothing to do now but wait. \"Ready positions, Standing Front Face!\" Melt confirmed, making sure everyone was standing to greet their attackers.
The wait could of been no more than 3 minutes, but for Melt and his men it was 3 minutes that would echo throughout eternity as seemingly endless waiting. At last, the advancing horde was within a charging distance, with it\'s cavalry in front. Melt expected them to wait and re-form, but either they were too poor soldiers or they thought they could cause the defenders of Hydlaa to turn and run after 1 charge. Either way, it was a good thing.
\"Back rank arms ready, crossbow and swords. Front rank unsheath swords.\" The commands were not shouted, but there was no need, in the silence before the slaughter a whisper was all that was needed. \"Ready positions, hold Ready Positions.\" A soldier newly appointed to his command opened his mouth to protest, but the rest had learned faith in their captain.
The cavalry charge was imminent, a charge which could devestate the defences instantly. \"Ready positions...\" Melt maintained, and now the charge was only 30 feet away, 20 feet away... 10 feet away. Melt shouted; \"Front rank Scissor Movement!\" and instantly, just in time, the front rank of his massed troops ducked into the kneeling position ususally used to check cavalry charges, the cavalry were now in danger, they hadn\'t been expecting this and were ill prepared, almost every single horseman failed to readjust in time to hit the lower target, and they were greeted with a sword lunge from the back rank. They had gone in no more than 3 seconds from charging standing enemies to being lunged at by a newly visible back rank.
There were few survivors among the cavalry, and those that did survive were met a few seconds later by the rising, upercutting swords of the front rank. The movement was so well practiced, and today it had quite possibly saved all their lives. Melt was truly proud of his division, with 1 command and no less than 7 seconds total from command to finish, the front rank had knelt, at almost the exact same time the back rank made a deadly lunge (the movement was so fast the horsemen couldn\'t block the lunges they hadn\'t been able to see coming), then the front rank immediatley again had risen with deadly readied blades to take down any surviving cavalry.
\"Back Rank - Overshot!\" Melt bellowed, obediently the front rank ducked and a second later the back rank unleashed a rain of deadly crossbow bolts. \"Front Rank - FIRE!\" The front rank rose in unison and discharged their weapons. A large portion of the second cavalry charge had fallen, but there were a lot left, and they smelt blood.
\"Cavalry Brace! Back rank - Ready Arms!\" Melt ordered, the front rank crouched behind their sheilds, the second row readied their swords for the counter-attack. \"Skirmish Line!\" Immediatley the ranks spread out so that there was spaces wide enough for one man between every 2 men.
This was it, Melt knew.... this was the charge that was REALLY going to hurt.
