"We should be fighting." Aristodemus complained from beside Ling Tong, having now temporarily joined his unit with his Phalanx of Spartans. Ling Tong had enjoyed watching them fight, Myron had explained how the phalanx worked to him earlier. The younger Warriors were in the middle, full of energy and fear, with the senior Warriors at the rear to hold discipline and structure. At the front stood the season veterans, who had once been the youth at the front but weren't quite senior to be at the rear. These Warriors on the front line were the fittest and had the highest chance to lose their lives when the Phalanx hit, whilst the Seniors at the rear would order a retreat if it was clear the front lines would fail. The youth in the middle learnt from
Comparing them to the Legionaries, Ling Tong now understood their tactics and was even more impressed by how Dom and his Senior Generals were transforming their own Centuries at home to become more professional. His current seven Phalanx were all pure Greeks who he had gained at this battle, other than the few that remained with him from Riverside that weren't doing their own mini quests right now. They weren't as flexible as the units he had fought alongside before, but they were just as deadly.
"And we will, but the battle is progressing and we need to see where we could best support." Myron replied from beside Ling Tong, the current leaders all on horseback. Andrew was on the other side of him, watching with intense eyes as the lines of Persians and Greeks fought against each other, the Player Alliances now both much smaller and less impact full as they could have been. Strabo and Iason were mounted behind them, the rest of the seven Phalanx waiting in anticipation for redeployment.
"They should have engrained themselves better in to the lines, rather than creating their own flank. They have cancelled out most of the advantage that each side brought." Andrew commented in understanding as he watched. "Now that the Greek Players have the advantage, the situation in the centre will change soon."
"It will, however the Persian's centre is strong!" Iason replied, pointing to the centre line of the Persian forces. "The Persian Immortals are an elite force, they won't break easily. Once the Stranger Allies move to fight them, they will be little but a distraction."
"Mardonius has his Cavalry ready to screen against the Cavalry on the flank as well, they will cause a distraction, but little else." Aristodemus agreed, "But a distraction is important, it will give time for my Spartan brothers to push through, we should support there."
"No, we shouldn't." Ling Tong replied, catching everyone's attention. Before pointing towards a naturally formed embankment to the south west of them. "Myron, head to the Cavalry. Tell them to feign retreat and head to that location. We will ambush the enemy Cavalry there. If we can remove them from the battle, then the infantry will win easier."
"And remove Mardonius from the battle." Aristodemus nodded as he understood the idea. "It's a simple tactic, he will only fall for it if he sees blood."
"I am sure that they will be happy to give him some." Andrew laughed, knowing that the Players wouldn't be loyal to each other as they wanted their own gains. "I'll go with Myron, let's get this organised."
"Strabo and Aristodemus. Take your men to the Embankment below, this will not be a battle of formation, but a charge with your Dory Spears in to the enemy flank. We will then switch to your swords and fight up close and de-horse as many enemies as possible." Ling Tong commanded, "Andrew, tell the Cavalry to turn and come back in once we strike."
"Hopefully they have some leaders with a brain amongst them." Andrew laughed as he and Myron headed towards the Player Cavalry that was finishing the Persian Player Infantry with the Greek Player Infantry. They took a few guards with them and headed down with some of the horses that they had taken from the Persian's in the previous battle the day earlier.
Ling Tong turned behind him, where around eighty Hoplite had been removed from their units. They currently held the reigns of multiple horses that were covered in large sacks full of looted items, mainly weapons, armour and gold that was on the bodies of the fallen. There was also a couple of enemy Warriors that had somehow survived the two battles they had been involved in this morning and survived. Andrew had questioned them and all of those that were Players had been dispatched by the Spartans. Those that remained were part of Players entourages, including a couple of interesting Warriors and a minor Hero.
"Iason, we will check on the prisoners and then join with Aristodemus and Strabo." Ling Tong ordered with a wry smile as he walked towards where they had been placed. There was six of them in total, four men and two women. The women on the battlefield had been a partial shock to some of the Greek's, but he was beginning to get used to it after fighting for Dom.
There had been other captives, but these ones seemed to be the only ones that Andrew and Ling Tong felt would happily switch sides, their loyalty to their former employers or Lords being low. Ling Tong had been quite cut throat, under the promises from Dom that any losses in this battle from forces that arrived externally wouldn't be real deaths, not that he particularly cared about those of his enemies.
The four men were different, two were riders from Japan who wielded lances called Yari. They had been part of a Lord's group and had been in their opinion, dishonourably ordered to battle. Their Lord wasn't a great person and treated the NPC's badly, so their loyalty was low. Andrew said it was worth keeping them and seeing if when they returned to Riverside, if they would return with them as they were from an other lords town. So their life was saved, primarily so Andrew could test the games mechanics.
One of the others was an early Roman Principes who had joined a guild similar to Andrew's, his guild had been defeated during the attack and by some luck he had survived the stone from a Balearic Slinger to the head that had caught his helmet and knocked him unconscious. They had spared him as he was polite when he was found, he was also roman and part of them felt guilty when so many Legionaries were on their side. The final male was a tall warrior who wore a wolfskin, he had fought through the long Dory spears on Andrew's flank and was close to getting to the front line before Zhang Sui released a couple of arrows at him, taking him down. They had spared him due to his bravery and he didn't seem to have any loyalty to the people he had come with.
The two women were interesting as they weren't Players and there weren't as many female units as their was male units. The first was also from the Cavalry, an adventurer character who had joined a guild as well. She had tanned skin and seemed to be from southern Europe, but she hadn't shared much information about herself. She did however seem to be good with horses and had offered her life in exchange with helping them with the collection of the Cavalry. Ling Tong expected she would escape at some point, but if she could help them get more horses then it was a worthy exchange.
The final woman was the most interesting though, she was a minor Hero from Andrew's limited knowledge. She was called Penthesilea, and according to Myron, she was an Amazon Warrior who fought valiantly in history to appease her sisters spirit. Supposedly the myth was that she had accidently killed her sister and in penance wanted to die in battle. She had supported the Trojans in the Trojan war and died at the hands of Achilles, who had wept afterwards after falling in love with her beauty.
Ling Tong could understand his thoughts as he looked at the toned woman, who was currently covered in dried blood and dirt, with a bandage wrapped around her shoulder. She wore armour similar to the Hoplite's, however it seemed more basic and ancient in comparison. They also decided to spare her, she had no loyalty, which surprised Andrew as all of Dom's Heroes seemed loyal to him. He wanted to see if he could poach a Hero from another Player, whilst also being caught off-guard by her beauty. She had fought wildly at the front, killing multiple players and their entourages, but when the Hoplite Phalanx under Ling Tong arrived, she succumbed to their range and the sniping ability of the Archers and Slingers.
"We are departing to defeat the Persian's. I will have some of the Cavalry behind you escort you to a safe place from here." Ling Tong explained to them, before looking at the woman who had promised to help them capture horses. She had already helped Myron partially, but Ling Tong wanted more from her. "You will come with us, I expect we'll gain some new horses at the end of this."
Ling Tong wasn't sure if they'd be able to take the horses back with them, they had joined as part of the Naval Battle and none of them knew what would happen at the end, however he intended to get his main earnings back to his waiting fleet, with Andrew planning the same.
"I won't disappoint you General." She replied, whilst the four men nodded in acceptance. Penthesilea on the other hand looked down at the floor, clearly disappointed in her defeat and subsequent capture. Ling Tong thought for a second, and decided to take a slight self indulgent risk.
"Lady Penthesilea, we have thousands of Warriors at home and a new Battle day by day. You may have lost today, but there will be the chance of many victories in the future if you decide to join us." Ling Tong commented, as Iason beside him listened in. "I am not sure what your experience has been like so far, but I promise you, it will be better going forwards."
She didn't seem to react to his words, however Ling Tong could feel that the depressed energy that surrounded her had lowered slightly as he signalled for some of the eighty Hoplite nearby to prepare to move their captives and their loot towards a safer meeting location that had been arranged with Centurion Phillip and Alpheus.
He headed back to his earlier location with Iason beside him, his Hoplite making their way down the mountain side towards the natural embankment he had noticed earlier. In the distance he could see the horses of Andrew and Myron as they powered towards the left of the battlefield where the Cavalry were about to engage with the Persian flank. Ling Tong couldn't see the right flank, but the sound of battle echoed throughout as the Persian and Greek lines clashed in the middle, with the mountain to the rear of the Greeks and the streams and open land to the Persians.
"There is the enemy Cavalry." Iason pointed, the sight of thousands of horsemen charging towards the left flank where the Players were heading.
"Then let's hope this tactic works." Ling Tong replied as he looked towards the centre where he hoped his Spartans that had infiltrated Pausanias's side were thinking similar things. If he could ambush the Cavalry, they could close in with him and end the battle much quicker. He had no loyalty to the seven hundred new men he had gained, but he wanted to get them back to Riverside regardless. For Ling Tong, this would be his way of showing his use to the senior Generals and his Lord, cementing his place as a key General in the fast growing kingdom.