Battle at the Gates

Dom galloped across the open ground on the back of his Red Hare Horse, beside him was Xun You and the large group of Infantry that were under their command. The original plan to take the gate and then charge through was out of the window, as the Warriors who were fighting outside of the Gate were struggling.

"We need to get there soon!" Dom exclaimed, willing the men around him to sprint faster. The sound of the armour clanging against itself as the Praetorians under Centurion Septimius ran was loud and frequent, where as the Hoplite's whose armour was lighter and Dom could just hear their heavy breathing as they ran. The Hoplite's were at the front of the Formation, their spears held high as they made good pace. Dom's Forbidden Guard surrounded him, with Chen Lu on Sabre Tooth Tiger back on the other side of him. Dom was impressed with his units and how they kept in formation as they ran.

"Get a move on men!" Dom heard Centurion Septimius shout from behind him, urging his Praetorians to increase the pace and make sure that a gap wasn't formed between them and the rest of Dom's group.

Dom looked to the east and saw that Subutai was going to get to the gate before them, his Lancers at the front with his Horse Archers following behind, they were raised on the horse back, arrows already in their bows and aimed. The Lancers had positioned themselves in an triangle formation and were prepared to charge straight through the gate and the warriors that were fighting before it.

"We can't let them have all the fun!" Centurion Alexander shouted from the front as they neared Tongpai Town.

He looked further and saw Tomoe and her forces, would arrive slightly behind Subutai and Dom. She was charging, but was keeping a slow pace so that her Legionaries didn't overly exert themselves at the beginning of the Battle. Dom realised she had done this as she had timed that Dom would get there before her and there was only a certain amount of space at the gate to fight. 

"Draw swords!" Centurion Chen Lu shouted to the Forbidden Guard who were there, the Spear holders and Archers already prepared and ready. 

Dom was now much closer and could now recognise the figures of Abubakar and Centurion Meng Gao who were both fighting at the Gate against enemy Tongpai Shang Swordsmen, they were both dressed the same as the enemy, but they did not have their helmets on any more and had red rope tied around their shoulders, differentiating them from the enemy. There were other Riverside Warriors who also were fighting and also had red rope tied around them. 

"They need to get out of the way" Dom exclaimed as he looked at the gate and the battle taking place in front of it.

Subutai's forces approached, and Dom started to panic that his own men would be taken out by the charging Lancers, but he had no reason to panic. The Horse Archers loosened their arrows towards those fighting outside the gate, and each fighting Warrior that wasn't wearing a red rope around their arm was shot. The remaining Warrior's who were all from Riverside quickly dived away to the different sides of the gate as the Lancers charged through and in to Tongpai beyond. 

Subutai, Hua Rong and the Horse Archers soon followed, whilst Abubakar, Meng Gao and the other Riverside Infiltrators quickly got up and also ran inside to make sure the gate was kept open. Dom watched as the Warriors who were fighting on the top of the gate were also shot, leaving only the Riverside contingent alive. A small group of Horse Archers stayed outside the gates to protect any necessary retreat.

"The gate looks secured!" Xun You exclaimed as they neared it. Dom felt the same way and was relieved, before casting his eyes back towards the Tongpai Military Camp, seeing more of his Warriors climbing the outer walls, the recognisable white Halberd of Guo Sheng now on the top. 

The Hoplite under Centurion Alexander were soon passing the Horse Archers at the gate and were now also inside Tongpai Town, the sound of weapons clashing and people screaming from beyond. The Forbidden Guard entered next, seconds passing between the two units. Dom then followed with Xun You. 

Beyond the gate there was a large opening, where Carts and Merchants would normally pass through before heading towards the centre of the town. It was now full of Riverside's Cavalry who were now using swords to slash down at Tongpai Shang Swordsmen that appeared from the different pathways that headed from further in to the Town to the Main Gate. 

"Alexander, get the Hoplite to block the North and West pathways!" Dom heard Subutai ordering from the front, as the Hoplite split in to three units, with two of them, lead by Leonidas and his brother Cleombrotus the Spartans, taking the two paths designated by Subutai. The third unit stayed in the centre to wait for further instruction.

Behind Dom, the Praetorians now appeared, and they quickly charged in and began fighting alongside the Cavalry who were easily dispatching the few Tongpai Shang Warriors who were inside Tongpai Town's Main Gate area.

"More enemies than expected!" Subutai declared as he appeared beside Dom and Xun You, who were stood in the middle of the Merchants area. 

"It looks like it is taken care of though." Dom replied, looking around and seeing that there were less and less appearing on the side streets. 

"We need to move quick, before the populace comes out in support." Xun You replied.

"We need to get these gates secured once Tomoe is through." Subutai stated, "We need to give Tomyris a secure retreat location if her attack falls through."

Dom looked towards the front, where Centurion Septimius was having his Praetorians dispatch any enemy that remained, while Centurion Banas was having her Horse Archers support the Hoplite on the flanks who were slowly pushing up the two pathways with their long spears held forwards to hold back the few enemy who were left.

"Why did she attack first?" Xun You said, "We lost control of the attack pace and our quick momentum."

"I'm not sure, I just hope she has enough Warriors." Subutai replied, before looking towards the Riverside Warriors in Disguise who were trying to secure the Gate mechanism. "I need to speak with Abubakar and find out what delayed them."

The third group of Hoplite, which had a large amount of Spartans within it, were holding at the main pathway that led to the Town Centre, waiting for further instructions but creating a clear blocking line from any enemy that tried to approach. Hua Rong was placed behind them on his new Red Hare Horse and was loosing Arrows every now and then at enemy heads that attempted to make their way forwards.

"Grab him when he has finished securing the gate." Dom declared as he looked around the small battlefield, "We need to push on and get the momentum back."

As Dom said this, Tomoe and her fresh unit marched in. She directed the Legionaries, all from the Ninth Legion Hispania, to order themselves in their Centuries, with Centurion Octavian at the front Century and Centurion Pullo at the second. 

"I was worried for a minute." Tomoe declared as she arrived beside the other Commanders, "It looks like we have gained our initial foothold."

"We have." Subutai agreed, "Just a bit messier than planned. There are more enemies than expected."

As he said this, Abubakar arrived, blood pouring from a gash on his arm. Dom was surprised to see this, as Abubakar was a Hero class Character, even if he was of a low grade.

"You timed that perfectly." Abubakar said exhaustedly, holding his arm tightly with his other hand.

"You need to get that checked!" Dom said seriously, genuinely worried as Abubakar's face seemed pale.

"Come here." Tomoe ordered as she grabbed some cloth from her saddle bag and placed it around Abubakar's arm.

"Thank you, but I don't think it is appropriate for the Lord's Concubine to be dealing with my arm." Abubakar replied with a small smile, before grimacing as Tomoe pulled the cloth extremely tight. Dom was about to reply with his usual line but was beaten to it.

"I'm not a Concubine." She said through gritted teeth, which caused a bit of much needed laughter between the group, breaking some of the tension. 

"What happened?" Subutai asked Abubakar, moving the conversation on. Suddenly there was a scream, causing the group to look and recoil in horror as one of the Sabre Tooth Tiger's ripped the arm from socket of a Tongpai Shang Warrior who wasn't fully dead yet. Causing Dom to have a memory of a previous battle, Subutai must have had the same thought as he continued, "That must be Chen Ping."

"It's been an interesting day." Abubakar replied, continuing, "Some big trade partner arrived and they upped the security in the Town, there wasn't supposed to be this many Warriors in the Town. There was also a celebration at the Military Camp as they have received a large reward from the Lord of Tongpai Town, Da Qiao. We had been discussing our plan with one of Centurion Meng Gao's old Comrades, which is where we got the uniforms and the chance to get to the gate, but one of his Comrades men betrayed him and we lost the surprise we were expecting. It is a good job that General Tomyris started the attack on the Military Camp or we would have lost all chance of taking the gate."

"Where is Centurion Meng Gao's Comrade?" Dom asked, wanting to thank the person that had tried to help his men.

"You see that body near the gate?" Abubakar stated as he looked toward the gate, "That's him, and the one next to him, he's one of the Shang Legionaries. On top of the wall, another Shang Legionary. We lost another two outside the gate, those however where Tongpai Shang Warriors who were involved in our scheme and had turned to our side."

"We lost a lot of good men then it seems." Xun You said, "I doubt these will be the only ones."

"I agree, Abubakar get yourself sat down and I'll get one of the Legionaries to continue what General Tomoe has done to your arm." Subutai agreed, "We can't risk loosing you as well. Where is Centurion Meng Gao?"

"He is trying to fix the gate mechanism, the idiots have blocked it so that we can't open it or close it any further. He thinks he can fix it." Abubakar replied.

"Get some of the Legionaries to have a look." Dom ordered, as he looked towards his guard and signalled for one of them to pass on that message to Centurion Pullo who was the nearest Legionary Commander.

"I'll go sit down." Abubakar responded as he headed towards a broken cart that was near the gate and took a seat, a few other injured Warriors were also there. There was a Horse Archer with a cut to her leg from a sword slash, that wasn't very deep, as well as a Hoplite holding his head and a couple of the others that had infiltrated Tongpai Town with Centurion Meng Gao. 

"Tomoe and I will start our push towards the Town Centre in the North West." Dom declared, the three Centuries of Legionaries now lined up, Centurion Octavian, Centurion Pullo and now the Praetorian Century under Septimius that had finished their clear up task. The Spartans and Hoplite from the third Hoplite Unit were also there, who would block side streets as they went. The few Tiger Forbidden Guard were amongst thee unit's and Dom hoped the sight of these would cause fear in the enemy and make them surrender. "I'll take Hua Rong as he can take out any problems with his Bow."

"We'll spread through the town and pass on that we are not planning to hurt any civilians or loot the Town." Subutai said, "I'll also send a unit to the Military Camp to support Tomyris."

"We need a unit to go to the Docks to the North and signal Gan Ning." Xun You added, "We've heard nothing from him."

"I'll take the North." Subutai declared, before doing a loud whistle, "You take the West."