Maxis stood atop the mountain and looked down into the pine forest below the summit. He wondered how close the crusaders were and what their true numbers were.
He walked away from the ledge where he stood and into the camp his men had set up. It had been a week since the war was officially declared, and the Cochise River was lost. The Crusaders had yet to make a move on their position because of the strategic move of Maxis placing his men on top of the mountain, giving the Middle Tahleans an advantage.
The sun was starting to set as Maxis sat down next to his friends at a fire. Hetfield and Tos-Que were talking, Edelweiss was sitting on a log half asleep, and Owaine sharpened a knife by the fire.
"Maxis." Owaine greeted, his eyes still on his knife. Maxis nodded in response and headed towards his tent to get a blanket. He emerged and walked out and placed the blanket over Edelweiss' shoulders, which woke him up. Edelweiss jumped a bit, startled, and looked around sleepily. Maxis chuckled a bit at him and patted his shoulder.
"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." Maxis said, leaning down to kiss his lover's forehead.
"N-noo is okay…" Edelweiss responded, closing his eyes. "Why don't you go lay down on my cot?"
"Mkayy…"
Edelweiss slowly got up and walked into Maxis' tent. Maxis smiled and went to sit down where Edelweiss was.
"What do you think they're planning?" Owaine asked, still busy sharpening his knives.
"What do you mean?"
"It's been a week. No way they can't be planning something."
"I don't know. They might try to fight the cavalry at the base and flanks of our defenses. We still don't know if they've built any siege equipment."
"True, though it's unlikely. I doubt they'd be able to haul catapults or trebuchets across the Cochise."
As the two talked, Hetfield perked up a bit and looked around as if he heard something in the distance. Maxis noticed as Hetfield began looking around.
"What is it?" Maxis asked, approaching the knight. Hetfield remained silent for a while and then stood up, still looking around. He turned around and looked at the path that led to the base of the mountain, and he pointed straight forward with his index finger.
Confused, Maxis tugged Hetfield's shoulder and asked him again. "What is it, man?"
"I hear marching." Hetfield said grimly, reaching to unsheathe his sword.
"Marching?" Maxis said, starting to panic.
"Yeah…" Hetfield said, walking over to the path and getting into his battle stance. Maxis quickly alerted all the men and sounded a horn to catch everyone's attention.
As Baldwin and his templars marched up the snow-covered mountain path, he heard the sound of Maxis' horn. "Dammit, they hear us! Quickly men, get up this mountain and wipe them out!" Baldwin shouted, followed by the furious screaming of all his men as they charged up the mountain.
Maxis gathered about twenty men to serve as a buffer to block the path. Tos-Que ran to his tent and grabbed his musket and satchel, Edelweiss frantically got out of Maxis' tent and searched for his crossbow and sword. Nathaniel and Owaine, along with a few other rangers with rifles and bows, took cover behind the twenty knights blocking the path and took aim. They all nervously clenched their weapons as the sound of the crusader's feet crunching in the snow got louder, and their cries of fury drew closer.
The christians soon came up to the road and were met by a small hail of arrows and balls of lead before crashing into the shields of Maxis' knights.
Of course, Baldwin didn't lead the charge. His standard bearer, Arthur, did, as usual. Arthur fought with ferocity with only his shield and the pike that held up the templars flag.
The rangers fired off rounds from their rifles and crossbows at almost point blank range, shattering wooden shields and creating deadly wounds by breaking through chainmail, sending shrapnel into soldiers behind the knights in the front. The smoke from all the guns was enough to nauseate combatants on both sides, but it only worsened when the templars own riflemen arrived to even things out.
The force of the templars was too much for Maxis' knights, and the line was soon broken, and they were forced to retreat into their camp just as they did a week prior to this battle. Owaine held a knife in his mouth, bearing his teeth as he unsheathed two short swords and began engaging the enemy. Tos-Que took careful aim with his rifle and fired a round into the face of a templar, and quickly started to reload. Nathaniel took out his sword and picked up a dead pine knight's shield. He perried the blow of a soldier and struck his arm, causing the templar to drop his ax. Nathaniel then bashed the christian in the head with his shield, which sent him to the ground. Seizing the opportunity, Nathaniel thrusted his sword into the templar's chest. The crusader groaned in pain as blood spilled out and stained the white tunic he wore and the ground beneath him. The templar gasped for air and tried to reach over for his axe, but Nathaniel took out a dagger and quickly stabbed the Templar's hand, causing the soldier to scream in pain. Nathaniel breathed heavily and started stabbing the soldier with the dagger again and again until he was dead.
Nathaniel was in a daze as he tried to get up and remove his sword from the templar's chest when he was suddenly attacked by yet another crusader. The templar screamed in fury as he hacked at Nathaniel's shield with a mace.
Nathaniel was quickly overwhelmed by the templar and was pushed to the ground and disarmed of his shield and sword. As he lay defenseless, Nathaniel looked in horror as the templar raised his mace high above his head. All Nathaniel could think of, however, was the hope that his face wouldn't be too horribly smashed that he couldn't have an open casket funeral.
Just before Nathaniel's head could be caved in, Tos-Que ran over and blocked the templar's mace with his hatchet. Before the templar could do anything, Tos-Que pointed his rifle up and pressed the barrel of the gun against the soldier's jaw and fired.
Tos-Que helped Nathaniel up to his feet and nodded.
"Try not to focus on only one enemy. It'll be your undoing." He said before running off into the battle.
Meanwhile, Owaine rallied his ranged soldiers behind Maxis' knights and ordered them to fire at will. Owaine left his men and went looking for Maxis to fight with him and Hetfield. The three put together were almost unstoppable. Maxis' mastery of the sword, Hetfield's raw strength, and Owaine's accuracy proved formidable against their foes.
Of course, Edelweiss and Nathaniel provided more strength in numbers, and Tos-Que brought his accuracy with rifles and bows to the table as well. They were slayers. Many men had fallen to their blades, and many more would.
After losing his sword, Nathaniel picked up a poleaxe and began using it. The templars had taken more casualties than the knights of the pines, but they pressed onward. The seemingly endless onslaught of Templars was starting to overpower the small detachment of Middle Tahleans, and Maxis had begun to panic once he realized he didn't know where Edelweiss was.
After defeating another templar, Maxis left the company of his friends and frantically searched for his lover, calling out his name while killing a few Templars as he ran through the snow-covered ground.
"Edelwiess! Edelweiss! Where are you?" He called out as he parried blows from swords and axes. He fought desperately and brutally, hacking at chainmail and plate armor until his blade broke through and sunk into the flesh of a templar. He breathed heavily and continued searching for Edelweiss as blood dripped from his face and clothes.
Just when he was about to give up, he saw Edelweiss riding on his white steed with a group of around forty knights following closely behind him. He smiled in relief and began laughing and cheering him on as Edelweiss led the group of knights into the flank of the Templars.
Edelweiss lifted his mace up into the air and let out a loud battle cry as he galloped forward with his men behind him. His detachment came crashing into the sides of the templars and killed a number of the christians before they realized they'd been flanked.
Edelweiss brought his mace crashing down into the tops of helmets, killing six templars in the first few seconds of engagement. Though Edelweiss had the element of surprise, he did not have the numbers to carry out a successful attack. The templars formed a shield wall to protect their archers and riflemen, who began loading their weapons.
Edelweiss' knights were already low on numbers after fighting for the first ten minutes. They were down to half of their original force. Edelweiss killed another templar when he looked over and saw twenty guns and twenty crossbows aimed at him. He stood completely still and just stared blankly in shock. The templars opened fire on him and his men, wiping most of them out.
As the Templars fired their volley, Edelweiss was hit in the shoulder. Groaning in pain and gritting his teeth, he tried to steer his horse away but failed and he was bucked off his steed and sent to the ground, the air being knocked out of his lungs as he impacted the cold and rocky earth.
Watching this unfold, Maxis screamed in defiance and began to tear up. Cursing and yelling and whooping like his father would, he rushed over to the templars. By the path that the crusaders were on was a ledge about seven or eight feet, Maxis saw this as an advantage, and he ran over to it. He jumped off the ledge and sent his sword flying into the ribs of a templar as he descended into the inside of the shieldwall where the ranged soldiers were. He landed on a soldier and quickly took out his dagger and lodged it inside the templar riflemans neck. He then seized the gun for himself and blasted a hole into the helmet of a knight.
He retrieved his sword and started mercilessly slaughtering the templar marksmen who had no melee weapons. Some tried to shoot him but only ended up killing their comrades, making Maxis' job easier.
The Templars had lost about seventy men when Baldwin finally came around with his auxiliaries. Baldwin's auxiliaries consisted of his own personal company of a hundred or so knights. Cid and Edwin nervously marched alongside Alfred and a few other templars in the same row"Hey Cid?" Edwin asked.
"Hm?"
"You nervous?"
"'Bout what?"
"The battle, isn't this your first real battle?"
"Yeah. We have God, though. The Lord will surely guide us to victory."
"Of course."
As they marched, the sounds of the battle got louder and clearer the closer they got. Eventually, they could hear the weapons and armor clanging and the men screaming and cursing and groaning as they bled and died. They could smell the putrid stench of entrails, the nauseating smell of gunpowder, and the iron-like smell of blood.
Edwin nearly vomited out of pure fear and anxiousness. Cid just continued marching even though he was just as scared as Edwin. Alfred, however, knew this feeling all too well. The thought of dying in battle no longer scared him that much anymore. He was old. Too old to care about being killed and too old to care about how gruesome his death could be. The templars came to a stop just a few yards away from the fighting, and Baldwin turned around to give them a short speech.
"Templars! Sons and servants of God! Our order was formed seven hundred and fifty-two years ago by nine knights. We've been persecuted and put down many times, but our order will continue to persist so long as there are men willing to fight for Christ, our savior. We will show these dogs the true power of God!"
The templars cheered and let out screams of fury and excitement at Baldwin's rousing speech. Baldwin unsheathed his sword and ordered them to charge, and they did. Baldwin and his men crashed into the already overwhelmed knights and rangers.
Edwin parried and blocked blows from the Middle Tahleans, and Cid would come from the side and stab the distracted knight for Edwin.
"Dammit, we're overwhelmed. There's no way we can fend them off." Hetfield cursed
"Where the HELL is Maxis?!" Owaine said angrily as he and his men were pushed back by Baldwin's auxiliaries.
After retreating a few yards away, Nathaniel and a few other spearmen and soldiers with polearms went up to the front of the main unit and held their weapons out forward to ward off the Templars.
"There's no way they'll be stupid or desperate enough to attack us in this formation." Nathaniel said to the soldiers around him. The Templars now had a slight height advantage after forcing the knights of the pines to retreat a few yards down the mountain. Baldwin and his men peered over the mountain and began singing Salve Regina. The Middle Tahleans stood still and listened, almost mesmerized by the men's voices.
When the Templars finished, they all let out cries of war as they charged down the hill and crashed into the Middle Tahleans. Nathniel and the other soldiers with polearms stabbed into advancing Templars and threw spears that went piercing through the chainmail and quilted armors of the crusaders.
The polearm soldiers killed a great number of the Templars within minutes, but they were soon overwhelmed. Luckily, they had given Owaine and his marksmen enough time to retrieve more ammunition. Hetfield and a handful of soldiers left the scene and went to the southern flank of the mountain to look for Maxis. The further south he went, the more bodies he found. "Maxis, you damn fool." Hetfield said worriedly as he and his men kept up the search for his friend "Maxis! Where the hell are you?!" Hetfield called out. Starting to lose hope, he cursed and sat down on a rock when he heard something. He pursed his head up and tried to listen. His men continued walking around and drowning out the sound. "Shut up, I can't hear!" He exclaimed, making them stop. He tried to find the source of the noise. It sounded like gasping or maybe groaning. Hetfield came to a ledge, the same one where Maxis had jumped off, and looked down at the path below where he saw Maxis on his knees and surrounded by dead Templars, trying to stand up with his sword. He had crossbow bolts sticking out of him, and he was bleeding profusely, and behind him was Edelweiss, who was unconscious.
Hetfield jumped down and took Maxis in his arms. "My God, Maxis…What have you done?" Hetfield uttered as he looked down at Maxis' near lifeless body. "GO GET STRETCHERS. NOW!" Hetfield barked at his soldiers, his voice cracking as he shouted. His men ran off to retrieve the requested stretchers for Maxis and Edelweiss.
Hetfield stayed with Maxis and his lover and waited for his men to return with stretchers. As he was waiting, a group of about seven Templars came up the road and stared down Sir Hetfield.
The Austrian simply unsheathed his sword and took his stance as the Templars slowly made their way over to him.
"What are you doing here by yourself?" one of the Templars asked.
"Beschütze meinen Freund." Hetfield said bluntly.
"What?"
Without any hesitation, Hetfield picked up a rifle and fired it at a Templar, killing him. He picked up another rifle and fired it, then a crossbow, and then finally, he began to engage the remaining crusaders with his sword.
Their swords and spears glanced right off his plate armor, but he needed to be careful and keep his neck and under his arms protected from their blades. He drove his sword through the chest of one Templar, killing him and then severing the arm of another.
He fought off the remaining two soldiers, blocking their blows as best as he could.
Maxis awoke from a short slumber and saw Hetfield kill the remaining Templars in front of him.
Maxis widened his tired eyes in shock of the sight. He'd never seen Hetfield fight like that before and was amazed by the precise nature of Hetfield's counterattacks, strikes, and parries. After he defeated the remaining Templars, Hetfield sheathed his sword and walked over to Maxis.
"Are you goods?"
"I'm fine. Just a few crossbows to the chest."
"You damn fool. Don't waste your energy on jokes."
Hetfield stayed with Maxis for a while, and his men finally came back with stretchers for Maxis and Edelweiss. They quickly hauled the two off to the back of the battle where they stayed.
The battle raged for hours after Maxis was rescued, and it was now mid day. The Middle Tahleans fought valiantly for every inch of the mountain but were far outmatched in numbers by the Templars. The fighting raged until it was sunset, and Hetfield assumed the position of commander and ordered a retreat.
A few Templars began to chase after the Middle Tahleans, but Baldwin insisted that they be let go.
From atop the mountain, Baldwin looked forward into the distance. He could barely make out Middle Tahl. His cloak and hair blew in the cold wind as he set his gaze on the city and its surroundings. He felt proud, but he knew this was only the beginning.