Oasis Part 3

Dom rode his horse beside Tau at the front of the column, Leonidas, Cleombrotus and Tomoe were beside him, whilst Tau had his guards with him. Subutai managed the rest of the column who rode between Tau's guards and the long column of warriors that spread like ants in to the distance.

"The Amun division should be around an hour behind us." Tau commented to Dom as they rode, "We captured some Hittites yesterday, after questioning them they told us that they are still on the march and should be a few days away. We want to use this opportunity to get ahead of the curve and ambush them."

"So you are not planning to set up camp at the Oasis then?" Dom asked confused.

"Oh we are, but later after we have destroyed the enemy. We will continue to march and the Amun can set up the camp." Tau replied, "I want us to get first blood in this battle."

"So we are marching straight there to create an ambush?" Dom asked.

"Correct, we have around an hour until their is a deep ravine on the way to the city of Kadesh, we will set up on both flanks and ambush them as they march through towards the Oasis." Tau replied proudly, "It should be a simple win and King Rameses can block the exit of the Ravine with the Amun division to wipe them out. If we can win this battle then we can close this war quickly."

Dom turned to Subutai who was behind them and had a thought based on the quest data that had been shared. There was a line that stated that the Hittites knew about the Egyptians locations and not the other way round, which made him feel that this could be a trap.

"Commander Subutai, I have an idea!" Dom shouted back to Subutai, who left the Riverside Cavalry and trotted forwards on his Red Hare horse towards them.

"What are you thinking Lord Lazarus?" Tau asked, quite interested in these strange well armoured mercenaries that had appeared. After Tomoe's display he had started to treat them well and with respect as they seemed a mighty bunch.

"What if the prisoners you caught were a lure." Dom responded as Subutai approached them. "Subutai, do you think there could be a trap set for us ahead."

"Possibly, what is the situation?" Subutai replied, Dom had left him with the Cavalry so that him and Banas could come up with some tactics for their small unit which would maximise their input and reduce any risk to the Riverside contingent.

"General Tau and his army are marching to set up a trap at a ravine around one hour in front of us." Dom started, "They have received information that the Hittites are still on the march to the Oasis that the Egyptians are planning to set up camp at. They should be travelling through the ravine."

Subutai paused for a second and looked at Dom's eyes, noticing the glint in them and thinking about the information Dom had passed on to them all earlier before they chose which side to join. "Are there any other ambush locations between here and the ravine?"

"There are other opportunities to set up an ambush." Abubakar, one of Tau's guards stated. "Some smaller Ravine's and there is also a sand dune around half way to our destination. Neither are as good as our choice, but both could be used."

"Ha, you worry to much!" Tau stated, "Some of the other generals argued that we shouldn't trust the information, but King Rameses said it's the truth and I trust in my king."

"As we all should." Abubakar agreed loyally. "The generals of the Ptah and Seth battalions are craven and weak, only the Ra and Amun can show our worth."

"My brother commands the Seth." Tau replied with an angry look at Abubakar.

"All but your mighty brother are Craven, he is a godsend that the King is lucky to have." Abubakar quickly added.

"I wouldn't dare to question the King's thoughts." Subutai quickly interrupted in agreement to Abubakar's earlier comment, "Do you mind if I scout ahead just to be sure?"

At this, both Leonidas and Cleombrotus looked at Dom in shock, having never heard Subutai being so polite or backing down in this way, he was the Commander that struck fear in everyone's hearts. Subutai was a good Commander, but he had scary moments.

"I think that's a great idea Commander Subutai." Tomoe stated from beside Dom, her armour reflecting the sun in the rider's eyes, but they were all too afraid of her to mention it.

"Well, you can never be to careful." Tau said, rolling his eyes and accepting the idea.

"Very well General." Subutai replied politely, "Lord Lazarus, I am going to scout ahead with Genghis and the Archers, I'll leave the Lancers with you."

"Thank you Commander Subutai." Dom said, "have them move up to the General's group."

Subutai nodded his head and turned towards Banas and whistled loudly twice. The Riverside Cavalry quickly sped forwards and came to the side of the Generals group. "Banas, leave the Lancers under Tomoe's command as originally planned, we are scouting ahead."

"Yes Commander!" She responded, before nodding to her unit and marching ahead of the line with Subutai. Genghis suddenly appeared and flew down and landed on Subutai's shoulder as they all charged ahead in to the distance. They fanned out in to a large semi circle, with the Horse Archers on the further flanks more ahead than the central where Subutai was a bit further back.

"Lord Lazarus, I have been thinking and I think you should stay with us in the battle." Tau stated as they continued to march forwards, around fifteen minutes had passed since Subutai and the Horse Archers had marched ahead. "You have fine warriors and you would be wasted out on the flanks somewhere, I would rather you could advise and charge with me in the centre."

"That sounds like lots of fun to me." Dom replied with a grin. "I look forward to hitting the Hittites hard."

"Oh we will." Tau commented, "So tell me about this Riverside you are from?"

"We are a small kingdom in the wilderness." Dom lied, "We have a growing force of warriors and decided to explore and see the world, so we can create trade routes and bring in new exotic goods to our home."

"You live a very free life Lord Lazarus." Tau responded, "If we win this war, I'll have to come and see this Riverside at some point."

"Of course, you are more than welcome." Dom replied, wondering if they did win this war, could Tau come and visit Riverside. Two of the town's guard, Paul and Duncan, as well as two Shepherds had joined Riverside after the tutorial mission. Maybe this was an opportunity to recruit some new members, he knew he needed Civilians and not Warriors or Shang Yang would moan at him, but more people was more people.

"May I have a look at your spear?" Tau asked Dom, interrupting his thoughts as he liked at the Slaying Spear, "It's an impressive sight and I have never seen a weapon so mesmerising."

"It's bad luck to hand over your weapon to someone else." Tomoe commented from the side seriously, "Only if a weapon is given as a gift or claimed as a prize should it be touched."

"Damn your concubine is fierce." Tau laughed, "Fine I shall just admire it from afar, I wouldn't dare challenge you to a duel if she decides to be the fighter."

"Not my concubine." Dom responded with a smile, "But I do agree, she is very fierce."

"General, rider approaching!" Abubakar shouted from the side, interrupting the awkward conversation happening beside him. Dom gratefully looked up and saw that Banas was quickly speeding towards them on her Steppe Horse, a small dust cloud appearing behind her as the ground they walked on became less hard mud and more sand like.

"Woah!" Banas said as she pulled her horse to a half in front of the General's group, it neighed loudly in response. "I have a report from Commander Subutai."

"Go ahead!" Dom ordered quickly.

"Around ten minutes ahead of us we spotted enemy scouts, it seemed that they were look outs." Banas started, "We killed all of them except for one that we captured, who quickly admitted that they have a force ready to ambush us at the Sand Dune's fifteen minutes ahead of us."

"What!" Tau responded angrily, "Are you saying that Hittites are already here, those lying little..."

"Yes, General." Banas continued quickly, "Subutai has had Genghis do a fly over and it seems that the circle of his was large, there must be a big force there waiting for us."

"Damn it!" Tau angrily grumbled.

"I don't want to say I told you so sir, but maybe the prisoners lied." Abubakar commented.

"Shut up Abubakar, you said that it would be fine, I wish Nkuku was here, he would have known." Tau said, before asking the group "What should we do?"

"Halt the column and wait for the Amun to arrive?" One of the guards stated, wanting to get in Tau's good books.

"Turn back and camp at the Oasis?" Another commented, "We can fight them on our terms when we have our full army."

Tau nodded his head at both of these comments, before turning to Dom. "What are your thoughts Lord Lazarus?"

"Well, we could do as your guards stated, both are sound ideas. Or we could use this opportunity to catch the enemy off guard." Dom replied, "They are expecting us to march through, unaware of their presence. Why not use this as a chance to ambush the ambush?"

"And how do you propose that?" Tau questioned, both of his guards grateful at Dom's comments in their favour.

"We don't need to win the war here, but if we can give them a bloody nose and make them retreat then this could be the first victory and give the army a big morale boost." Dom stated.

"And impress the King." Abubakar commented.

"So what is your plan?" Tau asked seriously, ignoring Abubakar.

"Well, it goes a little like this...." Dom started.