EMPIRE: Song of Peace and War

**Jive** · 09-14-2012, 05:46

Originally Posted by seleucid empire

Chapter 9: The Hounds of Elissa
Winter 249 BC Sidon

"Ennychos, you will ride out to Tyre tomorrow and give my orders to captain Abibaal."
"My Lord..Captain Abibaal is not fond of me or my presence."
"On the contrary I have heard that he is very fond of you my faithful Eunuch. It is said he prefers creatures who have lost their manhood over women." snickered Vanara

Ennychos sighed. So his Lord had heard the rumours. The Last time Ennychos had delivered a message to Abibaal, he had left the troop camp the next day with the sorest arse. So sore, he couldn't even sit on his saddle properly, falling off after his horse had taken a few steps and was greeted with the roaring laughter of every soldier in the camp. He couldn't even fight back the night Abibaal had come onto him. He had been humiliated and ridden on like a horse. Yet he had no choice now but to ride back into the hands of his tormentor, whom he was sure, would use him as his woman again.

"Very well my Lord," said Ennychos, sinking into despair..

This is a scream, seleucid empire, a real scream!

**seleucid empire** · 09-14-2012, 08:27

Originally Posted by Jive

This is a scream, seleucid empire, a real scream!

Im not familiar with that phrase. did you like it or hate it lol?

**Jive** · 09-14-2012, 14:24

Loved it

! Keep up the good work.

**seleucid empire** · 09-15-2012, 07:52

thank you!!! :D
I included that last part so you would feel sympathy for him despite the fact that he is a slimy, plotting eel. I wanted to show you some of the suffering he has undergone which made him the way he is. After all every every enemy is a hero on the other side. Thats why i gave more than one dimension to all my characters. even the main protagonists are flawed (e.g. Archimenes has rage, killing his daugter and wife, Helioketes is bound by vengeance and Mardonious is cold and calculating)

**seleucid empire** · 09-15-2012, 18:02

Chapter 10: The Arrows Flight
Winter 249 BC Assyria

The Enemy approached steadily and silently towards their position. This fact alone amazed Helioketes. Were the enemy not composed of levies and peasants? Helioketes had seen levied peasants fight in battle before. They usually charged towards their enemy in a disorderly line, screaming obscenities at the enemy as if doing so would give them the courage they desperately lacked. Indeed, that was what had given their position away in many battles he had fought. In the battle of Alexandria all those years ago, the noise made by the enemy levies had alerted Alexandros 'the Black' to the flanking force that Ptolemaios II had hidden before the battle. This gave Alexandros enough time to wheel his Peltasts in place and prevent an envelopment, winning the famous victory. However, the enemy they faced today were utterly silent despite being armed like levies. He felt very uneasy.

He gave his men the signal and they moved to the front of the battle line. The hill that the army had deployed on gave his archers a huge advantage over the enemy archers. He had been placed in command of his own company of some 1 000 men almost a month ago. When he had arrived at the camp of Lord Artabazanes, he had immediately befriended two Persians, who were unfortunately, very prone to gossiping. The news that a member of the legendary Death Seekers and a survivor of the Northern Legion had arrived in camp spread through the ranks like wildfire. In the very same afternoon, Lord Artazabanes had called him to his tent and asked him if he would command and train some of the new recruits as he was desperately short of competent commanders who had seen battle.

Helioketes made a judgement of the enemy force spread out on the plains below them. Something was wrong. They had expected 8 000 men in the army of Philetairos but there was at least 12 000 approaching them now, maybe even 15 000. Still, despite this unexpected surprise, they had a good chance to win the battle. Lord Artazabanes had gathered 6 000 well trained Thureophoroi, the standard medium infantry of the empire, 2 000 Persian and Syrian archers and his personal retinue of 500 heavy cavalry. The army of Philetairos appeared to be primarily composed of Persian Archers and Peasants armed in the same manner as the Parthian spearmen of the east. Helioketes had seen these spearmen before in his time serving in the east and had observed that they broke very easily. However there was something about the way these spearmen marched in synch and they way they locked their shields together as they marched that suggested that today, it would not be so easy.

The enemy were now 250 metres from the base of the hill. If it were the Death seekers in place of these recruits, they would have began to fire already and gotten many devastating volleys in before the enemy even knew that they were in range. However these were not his old companions and he waited patiently until the enemy were close enough before he gave the signal. A thousand arrows arched into the air and showered on the enemy. Hundreds died in that first volley but they kept their pace, not even noticing their fallen comrades. They gave three more volleys before the enemy were at the base of the hill. They marched up steadily and Helioketes gave the order for his archers to fall back behind the main line.

The Thureophoroi lifted their javelins and at their captain's command, they loosened, 6 000 javelins falling on the enemy. Then, a second volley of Javelins followed. The enemy must have lost close to a thousand men by now but they still marched steadily. Then, a single loud note blew into the air. The first line of Thureophoroi charged down the hill using the slope as momentum. The two lines clashed and the sounds of swords clashing and shields breaking rang through the air. He ordered his archers to fire on the middle ranks of the enemy, who were crowded together, inflicting huge casualties. But they did not break. Helioketes realised that these men must have been the surviving veterans of the fallen Bactrian Kingdom, who had all followed Philetairos west to inflict misery in the heartlands of the empire that had stripped them of their lands and freedom.

He had ordered his archers to bring two quivers of arrows with them into battle and this proved wise as they could now shower arrows at their leisure inflicting mass destruction. but although they had killed hundreds and maybe thousands, many more men replaced each that had fallen and they never seemed to waver. The situation at the centre was not well. The Thureophoroi, despite being much better armed were beginning to be pushed back by the sheer force of numbers. The Second line of Thureophoroi now marched downhill to aid their brothers. At a signal, the first line broke off from combat and reformed behind the second line, which charged into enemy spear men. He saw a movement at the back of the enemy lines. They were moving their archers forward.

He ordered his men to concentrate their fire on the archers. Many arrows found their mark, but many hit the other infantry men. They were now in range to return fire. The sky darkened. Helioketes knew what was coming next. This was the hardest part of battle for any archer. When the enemy returned fire and each archer could do nothing but stand and watch as the arrows came and prayed that the arrows hit another man and not himself. They were at the mercy of pure chance in every battle. The fates decided who lived and who died. The arrows made a whistling noise as they approached. When they struck, there were horrible cries among his company.

Three loud notes rang through the air. Helioketes heard a thundering of hooves and saw the heavy cavalry charge into the flank of the enemy. Faced with a flank attack by the companions, their enemy, who had until now been resolute, suddenly broke and began running down the hill. The Thureophoroi ran after them, cutting many down. Helioketes ordered his archers to fire at any of the enemy who remained defiant and soon, they also broke. Helioketes watched as the cavalry and infantry hunted them down without mercy. Then, he saw it, a thousand cavalry men emerging from a cluster of trees and making for the retinue of Artazabanes. Artazabanes saw the threat and wheeled his cavalry around and faced them. The two companies met with the scream of dying men and horses.

Helioketes spotted Lord Artzabanes fighting in his beautifully gilded armour. His opponent was a much older man but he fought with the grace of a Bactrian noble who spent their lives fighting from horseback. Helioketes instantly knew that the man was Philetairos. Philetairos quickly gained the upper hand and with a swift and sudden motion, he slid the tip of his spear past Artazabanes shield and into his chest. Artazabanes fell off his horse and his cavalry panicked and broke. Philetairos quickly turned his attention to the Thureophoroi who were chasing after his men. His charge bought time for his men who had began to reform into lines. However, he had made one fatal mistake: He had come too close to the hill. Of course it was not Philetairo's fault. How could he have known there was a member of the death seekers on the hill? How could he had known that there was a man who could deliver a killing shot at that range? Helioketes only took a second to aim. Then he loosened. The arrow went swift and true, a blur across the battlefield and lodged itself in right in Philetairo's eye, the only inch of his body that was not covered in armour. He was killed instantly. Seeing this, those of his men that had reformed broke again and ran for their lives. The chase went on into the afternoon..

*****

Helioketes crept silently past the sentries posted at the camp. Earlier that night, he had been in a council with the captains of the army. The others had all agreed that to go on to the north without a leader after losing 3000 men was pointless and had voted to return to Babylon despite his protest. So he had silently left the camp. He would not rest until the spirits of his brothers had been avenged. With nothing but his bow, his short sword and a weeks worth of provisions, he began the long journey, into the north....

**seleucid empire** · 09-16-2012, 07:50

well that was the first battle ive written about, I hope you like that. I auto-calced that one and for some reason my general died even though we won. srsly wtf????(this was before i started a new game on VH)

**seleucid empire** · 09-16-2012, 12:39

Chapter 11: Discovery
Winter 249 Seleukeia

It had been a great past few months for Mardonious. He allowed himself to whistle happily as he strode through the Agora, ready to spend some of his gold. They had arrived in the camp of Seron just before he had taken the city of Maryab. Seron had been extremely bold. He had bypassed the Arabian army waiting near the fortress of Carna and went straight for Maryab, the heart of the Sabean Federation who were utterly unprepared for siege. Of all the would-be slave traders throughout the empire, only Mardonious had believed that Seron would actually survive his journey down the desert M'ain with his army intact. His faith was repaid when he was allowed to get first pickings of the slaves, since none of the other slave traders would arrive for months afterwards. He paid a quarter of what was usually paid because the soldiers were so eager to be rid of them. As a result, he had gathered 10 000 of the fittest slaves for a meagre sum and brought them back to Seleukeia to sell for twenty-fold the price he had bought them for. Some of his slaves were educated in mathematics and arts and these he had sold at Palmyra for a hefty sum. Now he was richer than even Archimenes

He stopped by a Merchants store and examined the wines imported from the west.

"Hello friend." greeted the merchant."May I interest you in some fine Greek wine, imported from Olympia?"
"Yes, three jars of your finest." replied Mardonious. Then he remembered the foul mood Archimenes had been in since yesterday, when he had been insulted at a tavern resulting in a fistfight, "Make it five jars... Do you have any news?"
"There have been some ill tidings these days."
"Oh?"
"Yes, just yesterday I heard that the 12th Army crushed the rebellion of Philetairos near Edessa. They say a lone archer made a near-impossible shot and brought down Philetairos."
"Interesting" replied Mardonious. Helioketes marched with the 12th and Mardonious wondered if it was his bow from which the arrow flew."But that is hardly bad news."
'Nay, but they lost a full 4 000 men and Lord Artazabanes lost his life!"
"That is shocking indeed."
"What's even more shocking is news from Arabia."
"Arabia? I have come back from Arabia not a month ago"
"Haven't you heard of the disaster that has befallen the 4th army?"
"The fourth army? Of Lord Seron? I have just returned from his camp after the sack of Maryab."
"You were lucky to have left when you did. His forces were utterly crushed near Carna."
"What!" exclaimed Mardonious.
"Yes, the poor general was too kind hearted I believe. He sold many of the men of Maryab as slaves but otherwise didn't harm them. That was his mistake. When he left to attack Carna, and finish of the Arabians in the north, the inhabitants of Maryab revolted and threw out the Garrison. Then the bastards called for help and the Sabean King arrived with a vast army. Trapped between the two large forces and unable to retreat to Maryab, the entire 4th army was annihilated. The few survivors of the disaster made their way back here in disgrace not a week ago"
"What happened to general Seron?"
"Well some of the survivors rode past Maryab in an attempt to evade the Sabaen forces. They saw his head on a pike on the city walls... But he will be avenged. The 5th army stationed near Homna has rallied under Seron's Brother-in-Law and now march on Ubar. It is said that their general is far more merciless than Seron."
"Yes, I have no doubt they will succeed," mused Mardonious, "The empire always wins in the end..."