Herald of Steel

As the legionaries made their way along the single, one way street, they soon found themselves being confronted with what appeared to them many shadows recklessly running towards them.

Given the ambient darkness, the men were unable to judge who, or even what these were.

But it did not matter anyway.

For they knew the only friendlies were the people beside them.

So by default, everyone else was the enemy, regardless of whether these men were civilians trying to run from the disaster, or soldiers coming to meet them.

That was their order and there was only one recourse for the men to take.

Kill them.

Thus as the mercenaries wildly running at the approaching black curtain finally closer to see what they were facing, they did not even get to finish their shouts of shock and alarm for they were instantly peppered by a hail of javelins and crossbows, and as such the legionaries drew first blood.

Following which Grahtos's men continued on their way, slowly and steadily advancing their way towards the town center since the street they were on led straight to that- from the gate to the marketplace.

And it was slow progress as the surrounding darkness made it very hard to see any potential potholes or small craters laid strewn about the badly maintained roadway.

So the men tried to be careful to not stumble.

It was an endeavor made all the harder by the fact that the surrounding houses appeared to tower on either side of the road, soaking away what little ambient light there was and drowning the road in inky darkness.

And this absence of light was as much a hindrance to the legionaries as it was a boon for the mercenaries, for the slow advance of Grahtos's men gave them just the amount of time they needed to make an educated guess of what would have happened to the men who had went to 'greet' the approaching crowd.

And given their vast battlefield experience, they were soon able to come to the most likely scenario- an enemy attack.

And their panicked shouts laid credence to that fact, as some of the more sober men started to cry and haul towards their comrade, urging them to quickly form up.

And the language they used to do this was as crass and rude as could be imagined from these rough men.

"Bitch! Get your ass back here if you don't want to die!"

"Motherf***! Listen to me."

"I will skin your ass, you ass whooping tramp."

"Maggot! Stop fucking that dead whore and get your shield!"

All such and many more 'colorful' languages could be heard being thrown at the drunken men who were in the middle of drinking or 'enjoying' themselves with a woman.

But to the credit of the mercenaries, all these calls worked, as alarmed by the loud thuds of the heavy boots of the legionaries, the Petricuno and Kaiser mercenaries were able to quickly start forming into at least some sort of acceptable formation to try and hold the enemy.

Here, it was also almost a godsend that many of the men had entered the city with their shields still with them, despite Perseus's urging to enter unarmed, as they cited distrust over the local militia's attitude towards them, to which the king acquiesced as he did not want to squabble over such a petty matter.

Thus now, having access to their most important weapon, the men at least held a sliver of chance against a vastly outnumbering foe, as the thinly lined men, locked shields and stood defiantly shoulder to shoulder against the inevitable onslaught that was to come.

"Throw! Shoot!"

Once the legionaries got close enough to the marketplace, the officers leading them quickly shouted these words just before the point of imminent contact, and the men obeyed to the dot, bringing a hail of projectiles on the hastily arranged mercenaries.

And staying true to the pilum's prowess, many subsequently fell to its lethal fire.

However, although highly effective, the attack was still limited in its efficacy, as the narrow streets limited how many men could stand in one row, meaning it limited the number of projectiles that could be thrown.

Furthermore, given the relatively ambient darkness still present, the legionaries refused to charge to capitalize on the enemy's moment of weakness, but instead opted to approach the enemy slowly and tentatively, thus losing a critical opportunity.

This was also caused by the fact the vanguard that made up the attacking force was made up of those inexperienced peasants mentioned before, so they lacked the proper courage and coordination to attempt such a thing.

Instead, afraid of fighting, many of these men even tried to shrike away when presented against the spears of the mercenaries, even though a strong push might have ended the fight then and there.

Yes, that could have indeed been the case.

Because it had to be noted that although the mercenaries had managed to form a line, it was really by the barest technical sense and any strong attack would have knocked them out.

So it seemed that in this case, Grahtos's over cautiousness came to bite him in the back.

He had used the low quality troops to poke for any traps and ambushes but subsequently had forgotten to switch them for the vanguard, thus denting the spear of his attack.

Thus now facing these novice troops, the mercenaries were allowed to perform a miracle as they withstood Grahtos's deadliest attack, one that was laced with shock and surprise.

And then over the subsequent hour, the mercenaries found their ranks swell as more and more men started to join them after waking up to the danger that was being posed at them, and thus their position began to strengthen.

It was also at that point that Perseus was informed of the disaster unfolding in the city, as the messenger dashed through the halls of the brothel looking for the king.

And his mind was so occupied with the thought of the news that it did not even register the pitched screams of the two women.

Instead he only concentrated on the task at hand, and left quickly afterward, not even bothering to pay any attention to that scene as he threw it into the trash can of his mind.

No questions such as 'Why the king was inside the room Petricuno was in?' came to the man's mind, although that was also due to the fact that the man did not know where Petricuno was staying.

As for the ones that did know, they were also high level people, meaning they were also drunk out of their minds and asleep, or had already gone out to lead the defense.

It was due to such a combination of factors that Perseus was almost miraculously able to avoid getting caught red handed.

However, although scot free on this charge, the news that he let him to do this did not inspire a breath of relief in him.

'Enemy! How are they here? Who opened the gates?' Instead, Perseus's mind was a mess, and his heart started to beat naturally fast as he started to smell the whiff of conspiracy and his instincts told him that he might be in great danger.

To the man, it felt like he was simply taken out of the frying pan and then put into the fire.

But whatever the case was, the king did not have the luxury to dwell on that for much longer.

From the sound of it, the defenses of the city were in great peril, and the men needed his help to inspire them and help turn the tide.

So he quickly bolted out of the brothel, before he and his man quickly joined the active defense of the city.

Luckily, the brothel was right around the marketplace so Perseus did not need to go far.

Also as a side note, those two prostitutes that were with Petricuno, Perseus killed them before he left the room.

They were the only two people who could definitely identify Perseus as the mercenary leader's killer and the king would have been foolish to let them live.

When Perseus had given the order, those girls had screamed, cried, and pleaded, but it was to no avail, as the men around the king quickly grabbed the duo and slit their throats, giving them a quick and relatively painless victory.

It was a tragedy that Perseus took no joy in committing, and the man knew those girls were innocent bystanders who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But such was life.

Perseus did not have much mental capacity on the right and wrong of the deed for long, as he had to quickly join the battlefield, and found that upon seeing him and his entourage joining the fray, many men cheering.

Much of the city garrison who had been diverted from all parts of the city shouted,

"His Majesty! His Majesty is here."

"Ancestors bless us. We have not yet lost. We cannot lose!"

"The city lord is here too.

"Fight men. For your city. For your lord."

Until they were struck from the back too that is, as Grahtos caught them in a glorious pincher attack using the eastern gate that is!

Perseus was now trapped!

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