Zachania (65 page)

Surprised by
Lord Heikan’s demeanour, Lord Tanaga suddenly found himself in
agreement with Heikan.

“My liege,
there is wisdom in Heikan’s words, we cannot fight on like this for
much longer, your own army is down to one third of its
strength.”

King Arun
nodded his head, uncertainty was ravaging his thoughts, Ganasis saw
that the exhausted King felt too indecisive to make a decision.

“Arun, let us
give Lord Heikan the opportunity to come up with a plan, then we
will make a decision on what to do.” Ganasis said as placed a
reassuring hand on the Kings hand.

King Arun again
nodded his head, thankful for Ganasis’s intervention.

“Make it so
Heikan.” he sighed trying to sound alert and positive.

Just as the
King finished talking his wizard Zumal walked over to him and
produced a large note and placed it on the table before him,

“Sire this is
the latest report on our casualties, your own army has suffered two
hundred and forty six thousand fatalities, you have ninety nine
thousand soldiers on the front line who are on the verge of
exhaustion. I would suggest that we let these men fall back and
bring forward Lord Tanaga’s army of one hundred and seventy
thousand men, we also have Lord Krazmos’s army of one hundred
thousand, both armies are camped at Fort Arun so it could be done
in a matter of hours my liege.”

King Arun
looked at the note in silence as the colour seemed to drain from
his face; he cleared his throat and looked at Lord Tanaga to see
what his opinion was on what Zumal had just suggested.

“Well?” the
King asked him.

“I will bring
my army to the front sire but I would ask for exceptions.”

“What
exceptions do you ask for Lord Tanaga?”

“My exception
sire is that our plan of attack be changed…..I agree with Heikan,
we cannot continue to fight as we have been fighting……I give you
complete control of my army and Generals but I implore you as a
friend to change the way we are fighting.”

The King nodded
in agreement before turning to Lord Krazmos.

“You have my
allegiance as always sire, my men are at your disposal but I also
agree that we need to change, this stalemate is doing nothing for
our quest and nothing for our morale, let us try something new.”
replied Krazmos.

“The Empire are
grinding us down with weight of numbers, it seems they care nothing
of their own lives, they seem willing to lose a life as long as
they take a life, I say we attack them, and attack them hard.”
added Kinlan, Lord Heikan’s champion.

The King
listened intently to his men and realised the truth in what they
were saying, bringing fresh men to the front lines would be the
ideal time to change how they had been fighting.

“Gentleman I am
open to suggestions.” the King answered.

For the next
few hours the Lords of Zachania discussed many different plans and
ideas. Generals and Captains were sent for as the King probed every
kind of scenario they could think of. Lord Heikan was finally given
permission to attack the Empire from the east and it was agreed
that attack was going to be the Zachanian’s new way of battle.

When dawn broke
it brought with it a huge storm, rain, wind and thunder crashed
over the heads of Lord Tanaga’s army as they prepared for their
first day of battle, General Heikan had already left with two
hundred thousand warriors, marching out under the blanket of night
to avoid being seen he headed east where they could attack the
Empire on their flanks.

King Arun
looked down onto the battlefield from his position on the hill
overlooking the valley; he walked out of the tent and looked up
into the sky where the rain splattered his face

“Ganasis this
is the work of the Empire.” he sighed.

Ganasis
standing beside his King looked above before answering.

“I do not think
so Arun, but one thing is certain, if this does not stop soon then
our men will be fighting up to their knees in mud.”

“I hope this
rain does not slow Lord Heikan, there are some treacherous hills he
must cross, Ganasis can you not cast a spell to stop this?” replied
Arun.

Ganasis stepped
forward and raised both arms to the sky, he started to strain as he
began to talk in wizard language, Arun noticed the wizard start to
shake and that he had a strange look of pain on his face, Arun then
looked up to the sky and saw no change before his attention was
sharply returned to Ganasis who let out a loud cry before dropping
to his knees.

“GANASIS!” Arun
shouted as rushed to his aid.

“Are you
alright Ganasis?”

“I am sorry
Arun but I am too exhausted.” replied Ganasis as the King and two
soldiers carried him back into the tent.

“It is ok my
friend, just rest Ganasis.” replied the King as they laid him
down.

King Arun knelt
down besides the old wizard and wiped the rain from his face, he
stayed by his side until Ganasis slipped into sleep, just as Arun
rose to his feet Lord Tanaga burst into the tent.

“Sire the
Empire is advancing!” Tanaga shouted.

“You know the
plan.” replied the King as both men walked back outside.

Tanaga nodded
at Arun, tapped his arm firmly and then ran down the hill to join
his men on the front lines behind the barricades and trench, he
watched as the Imperial army continued their advance into the
valley.

“Wait” he said
to one of his Generals as he could see the puzzled look on the
Empires soldiers faces wondering why the Zachanian’s had not come
forward to meet them.

Tanaga waited
till the very last moment then drew his sword and pointed it into
the air.

“NOW!…..ATTACK!” he screamed.

Moments later
thousands of his soldiers ran from behind their barricades towards
the Empire. The two armies clashed together to the sound of
screams, in the mud they stood face to face fighting as the death
toll increased, Lord Tanaga against the protests of his Generals
ran into the battle and joined the fighting. Lord Tanaga’s men
fresh and full of energy soon broke the Imperial line; groups of
Imperial soldiers were forming trying to defend themselves from the
attack. When they could defend no more what was left of the
Imperial attack, they began to retreat but this time instead of the
Zachanian army retreating with them they followed and attacked
them, the rest of Lord Tanaga’s men ran from their positions behind
the trench and they took the battle for the first time,

“Where the damn
is Heikan!” the King shouted to his Generals as he noticed his
absence

“Send scouts to
see where they are.” he added looking on at the fighting and
growing frustrated.

The plan was
for Lord Tanaga’s army to attack the Empire front line with Lord
Heikan’s men attacking their flank at the same time but with this
rain it was clear that Heikan’s men must have been slowed by the
mud which was covering the landscape.

Lord Tanaga was
with his men on the Empires position, the fighting was fierce and
they had broken the Empires positions twice already, sixty thousand
Imperial soldiers had already been killed, Tanaga ordered his men
to keep advancing as he shouted to his Generals where Heikan
was.

“My Lord, we
have broken through on their defences on the west but they are
regrouping quickly.” shouted back one of Tanaga’s Generals.

“Where is
Heikan? We cannot fight this battle alone.” shouted back
Tanaga.

“My Lord we are
taking heavy casualties, we grow tired, what do you want us to
do?”

“We keep
fighting.” replied the Lord before raising his sword again and
joining the fighting.

King Arun was
still in his position on the hillside behind the Zachanian lines
looking over the battle before him; he was also getting deeply
concerned why Heikan had not stuck to the plan.”

“We have to
make a decision sire.” General Kanyan suddenly said standing next
to the King, also noticing that the Empires initial surprise had
now passed and they were re-organising themselves quickly.

“DAMN HEIKAN!”
King Arun shouted in frustration.

“SIRE!” Lord
Kanyan then shouted as he pointed to a group of men who were
running back to the Zachanian lines carrying someone.

“By the gods
it’s Tanaga.” Arun replied with his voice and face ravaged with
concern as he saw that it was Lord Tanaga covered in blood being
returned.

King Arun and
General Kanyan ran down to the trench just as the Tanaga was
carried behind the front lines.

“TANAGA!” Arun
shouted as he knelt down besides his Lord.

Lord Tanaga
struggled to lift his arm but he grabbed Arun’s sleeve and spoke
through his pain.

“Where is
Heikan Arun?” he mouthed angrily.

“We do not
know.” the King replied almost apologetically.

Tanaga spat out
some blood from his mouth and spoke in a furious tone.

“We cannot hold
the lines unless Heikan arrives soon; my men are dying on their own
up there.”

“It is true
sire we have already lost a third of our army.” added a soldier who
was with Tanaga.

“We have
attacked and Heikan has let us down sire, we will be massacred if
we do not get help.” added Tanaga now coughing blood.

King Arun
gritted his teeth as he listened to his Lord; he looked out at the
battlefield and saw the fighting in the distance.

“Arun!” Tanaga
pleaded.

The King turned
back to Lord Tanaga, who was bloodied and hunched in pain on the
floor.

“Break off the
attack!” the King mouthed angrily to one of Tanaga’s soldiers.

“You heard the
King, order the retreat.” Tanaga added sounding more urgent.

King Arun then
turned to General Kanyan.

“Find Heikan,
get word to him the attack has been cancelled.” the King mouthed
sounding angry and frustrated.

“We could have
won this battle today Arun! By Apollo, Heikan will answer
personally to me for this.” Tanaga snapped as he was led away to
have his wounds attended to.

The order was
relayed and Tanaga’s army retreated back to the Zachanian front,
with the retreat the fighting ended for the day as both armies
attended to their wounded and tried to get some rest. As night fell
the King and his Lords once again met in the King’s tent to discuss
the day’s battle. Lord Tanaga was present but was still deeply in
pain, he sat fidgeting as tried to get into a position where he
felt no pain from the sword wound on his back. Between moments
where he cried out in pain he was still furious at what had
happened today, he was furious with Lord Heikan and was taking out
his frustrations on the King.

Zumal the
King’s wizard had been sitting quietly listening to Tanaga’s rants
until he finally lost his patience.

“Tanaga!…you
hold your mouth, remember you are in the presence of the King of
Zachania, your friendship with him does not give you the right to
raise your voice, you are a Lord of this council, act like one.”
snapped Zumal clearly angered.

“Zumal it is
alright, we all share in Tanaga’s frustration.” replied the
King.

“Sire, I
apologise if I am sounding brash but I am outraged that Heikan did
not make the battle.”

King Arun bit
his lip feeling lost for words as the meeting fell into silence;
everyone was deep in thought and wondering why Heikan had not
arrived as planned.

“It must have
been the rain, or Heikan met the Empire en route to their flank, I
can think of no other reason why he was absent.” the King said
breaking the silence.

“Sire, Lord
Heikan is an honourable man who’s allegiance to the crown is
unquestionable, there must be a very good reason why he did not
show.” added Zumal the wizard.

King Arun then
asked Zumal if Ganasis was awake and if he could join them for the
meeting. Zumal turned and went to find out,

“I will go and
see.” he added as he walked from the tent only to be met at the
door by Lord Heikan who burst into the room with a look of urgency
and anguish about him.

Lord Tanaga
stiffened his posture and stared coldly at Heikan who hurriedly
walked over to the King and then dropped to his knees before
him.

“Sire, I am at
your mercy, I humbly beg your forgiveness, I have failed in my
duty.”

“What happened
to you? We were butchered.” Tanaga snapped.

“No matter how
hard we tried, we could not gain the speed of foot to get us
through the hills and mud.” replied Heikan still with his head
bowed.

King Arun
reached out and placed a hand on Heikan’s shoulder, the King was
lost for words at Heikan’s show of regret, Lord Tanaga also found
his anger disappearing at the sight of his brave fellow Lord
hunched over, Tanaga rose from his seat sighing in pain as he did
so and placed to hands under Heikan’s arms to lift him.

“You did what
you could my friend.” Tanaga whispered as he lifted him.

“Damn mud! We
failed you because of damn mud.” Heikan replied as he lifted his
head to look at Tanaga and then scowled while noticing his
wounds.

Lord Tanaga
embraced Heikan in a show of friendship until Heikan broke free and
turned back towards the King.

“Sire if the
council feels that my actions have brought shame on the house of
Heikan then I will stand down so that my son Kraal can take my
place.” Heikan said sounding as if he was choking on his words.

“Lord Heikan,
no one on this council is more loyal than you, you have acted with
honour and courage, no one doubts you when you say it was not
possible to reach the battle, you are a Lord of Zachania and we are
blessed and proud that you stand amongst us.” replied the King as
he got to his feet and spoke sternly.

“As always I am
your servant my liege.” replied Heikan now sounding more proud.