Chapter 17: Civil war(6)

The black banners of house Rosewood can be seen in 40 ships on the Quintus River, which carry 6000 soldiers under the command of Lord Alfred Rosewood. Currently, he is standing on the watching site of the biggest ship, observing the water and wind. Being an experienced sailor, his ship goes swiftly follows the flow of the water. A Rosewood soldier climbs onto the watching point and informs him:

- Milord, I bring bad news, our scout has spouted the banner of house Crayton outside Veronica. And house Aetherwolf has recruited mercenaries and volunteers, the number of Aetherwolf soldiers has grown to about 5000 men. A mercenary band also aids them, its' name is Spears of Thorax, Milord. In total, we are dealing with 12000 men.

- That's indeed very bad, house Aetherwolf has built a good relationship with mercenaries, haven't they? So we might have to wait for troops of house Fortuna to arrive. Do you see the movement of house Aetherwolf's soldiers?

- Milord, the Spears of Thorax and house Aetherwolf has about 67 ships. Gavin Aetherwolf, eldest son of Lord Aetherwolf has ordered his soldiers and men of Spears of Thorax to embark and confront us.

. Hearing this, Lord Rosewood shows a wry smile, murmur:

- So the young eagle dares to challenge us to a fight on the water.

Seeing his lord forgetting his existence, the Rosewood man asks:

- Will we fall back, Milord? Without house Crayton on boats, they'll still have 8000 men.

- No, continue to sail forward, tell Harry that he'll command the attack. No one can defeat us on the surface of the water.

- Yes, Lord.

********

64 ships under the yellow banner of house Aetherwolf are advancing rapidly. Oppose to them is 40 ships of house Rosewood, which are forming an arrow formation with a huge ship leading the fleet. Different from the fleet of house Rosewood, house Aetherwolf's fleet from an eagle formation with strong and fast ship leading the front, left and right-wing while slower ships following behind.

Two fleets notice each other and with the sound of war drums from both sides, the battle begins. Both of them speed up, archers ignite fire arrows and start to fire at any moment. When the distance between them is only about 150 meters, arrows from bows and projectiles like rocks, oil barrels are thrown by trebuchets into the air. Some hit their targets, some don't; however, both sides sustain casualties right in the first round. Men's heads are crushed by stones, oil barrels break while crash with ships and the fire arrows ignite the oils, which lead to fire and several ships start to sink.

Not long after, two fleets close the distance, and soldiers from both sides can see the faces of each other. They roar and iron hooks are thrown from ship to ship. Although being outnumbered, soldiers of house Rosewood show their experience in sailing. Many ships of house Aetherwolf are slammed at their bodies by the solid heads of Rosewood ships and sink to the river. Soldiers of house, Aetherwolf men do not devote their time to learn how to swim or fight in an unstable environment like on the water.

After 1 hour of brutal fighting, slowly ships on Aetherwolf's side start to be pushed back. The first one who notices that they are at disadvantage is Thorax, leader of the mercenary band. His height is more than two meters with a well-built body. Two axes on his hands are covered in blood. He violently kicks a Rosewood man to the river and when he tries to climb back, he uses Thorax uses his axes to cut off the Rosewood soldier's hand. Crying painfully, the soldier falls to the river again. Thorax call Gavin, who is commanding his men to repel the Rosewood advance:

- Gavin, we need to do something, they are crushing us.

Gavin- a 23 years old man, although doesn't have a well-train body and, has virtually no experience in combat, has studied tactics, field, siege, and navy warfare since he was small. He starts to carefully observe the battle, his brain works to its maximum to find out any methods that can defeat the enemies. Then, he notices the biggest ship of house Rosewood, which is crushing his ships like killing fries, he shouts to Thorax:

- Thorax, the commander of house Rosewood is on that boat. Take your men to go there and kill him. Avoid other ships, only by killing the enemies' commander, we can win this battle.

Not hesitating for a second, Thorax calls his comrades and 6 others ship to follow him. They are the best in the Spears of Thorax, the sailors move the ships swiftly avoiding any fight with Rosewood soldiers. However, the Rosewood soldiers realize what they are trying to do. Before they can get close to the commander's boat, arrows and rocks pouring onto them, Rosewood ships strike their ships and cause two of them to sink.

In this crucial moment, Thorax exposes his talents, controls his ship himself, drives it skillfully, and sinks one Rosewood ship, and creates a gap for his other ships to follow. The commander boat of house Rosewood comes in reach of Thorax, he takes a hook and throws by all his might. The hook creates a hole on the Rosewood commander boat and is stuck there. Not wasting any time, Thorax and his men pull the rope that links the hook with their ship. When the distance is closed, Thorax jump first. He is followed by his men; they get on the commander boat and start to fight with the Rosewood knight.

Alfred Rosewood, see that the enemy's soldiers have managed to get on his boat with a huge man leading them, he shouts:

- Harry, lead the knights. That huge man is the leader of the mercenary band, wall formation.

Harry, who has just slashed the throat of a mercenary and use his sword to kill another one, notices the man who is rampaging on his boat. He raises his shield and command:

- KNIGHTS OF ROSEWOOD, WALL FORMATION.

The knights immediately pull back and create a shield wall, surround the mercenaries who just get on their boat. And long spears are carried out by some knights and they thrust them to the enemies. Thorax's face is scratched by the spear and he has to use his axes to block another one. His comrades are not as skillful as him, many of them are killed by spears, and those who try to break the shield wall are slashed by the knights' swords. Seeing the current situation, Thorax charges forward, throws one of his axes, the ax blows the helmet of a knight and breaks his skull. The knight falls to the floor; utilizing the gap that the fallen knight opens, he breaks the shield wall. Unfortunately, an arrow hits his back, he lost his balance, and swords cut his body.

Thorax fall to the floor, breathing hard. The Rosewood knights want to finish him but Harry shout:

- STOP.

The knights stop, Harry orders them to carry him to the physicians. He talks to them:

- This man is a real warrior, with him by our side, we can take Veronica easier.

Gavin Aetherwolf sees the fall of Thorax, know that they have no chance to win this battle, he orders:

- Raise the retreat flags. Fall back to Veronica, they are no match for us if they get on the ground.

The flags are raised. Aetherwolf's ships retreat follows their commander. The Rosewood men cheer up loudly while pursuing their enemies.

*********

In the first battle between house Rosewood and house, Aetherwolf finishes with the victory belongs to house Rosewood. There are huge casualties for both sides; however, house Rosewood loses only 11 ships and 780 men while house Aetherwolf loses 36 ships and 3640 men. This battle is the first navy battle commanded by one of the 16 greatest generals of Ivar the Great Emperor, who'll be well-known in the future with the name Harry the Water Demon.