Troubled Times (6) : The Battle of Kynesgrove

The fight took place on the road north to Kynesgrove, the Bloodsails didn't expect the Firemanes to come out to fight while the mammoths are rampaging around, the thing that they didn't expect even more was that the Firemanes were in full strength and weren't in any disadvantage.

It vexed them a lot that even the Blackrock force was not complete. Some of the Blackrocks were to make an ambush and cut the reinforcements and the supplies of the Firemanes long enough to take out their elite members with numbers but it seemed that it wasn't successful, not even a bit.

"Damn you, Firemanes! You will pay no matter what!" The Patriarchs of both the Bloodsails and the Blackrocks were in 'it means war' mindset and to fight no matter the consequences, they had the advantage of the high ground and the numbers.

With all of the Bloodsails' first class forces and the reinforcements of the Blackrocks, it was around 1200 men ready to fight. The Firemanes can't muster more than a mere 500 men without the help of the Moonblades, from them there were a total of 100 to secure the supply lines, the medical team, the grove, and the back of the main force on the side of the firemanes.

Even though the Firemanes were lacking in numbers but they were having the advantage of the quality and the advantage of the ground. The Firemanes were a fighting force that was mainly made of Riders and Beast Riders, add to it the new Flame Atronach Horse that started to get popular between all of the Firemane members that can cast magic. The mages team on the Firemane force were all Flame Atronach Horse Riders which made a triggered a big trauma between the troops of the Firemanes.

To them, the Flaming Steeds are the symbol of the most infamous 'Thane of Winterhold' who murdered a lot of their brethren and showed his fangs on many occasions. It also confirmed to the Firemanes and the 'Thane of Winterhold' are in cahoots.

At the center of the Firemanes' force, a meeting was being held.

"Jonhild's idea of conjuring as many Flame Atronach Horses as we could is really working!" Tyr said.

"The kid likes to play mind games a lot. Not that it shows effects many often but he knows how to taunt people." Skadi replied.

"Enough admiring that brat. I have sent some of my men as normal travelers to hire any mercenaries from Windhelm. Should we start an early assault or wait for a better chance?" Sigurd Moonblade, who joined the Firemanes lately, took part in the discussion.

"I think our chance is very good now. We still have some trump cards we left to whip out those low lives."

Everyone looked at the hooded couple on the side. These two were as calm as ever but they were a vengeful duo that has a long and personal hatred to the enemy clans.

After a short discussion, the sound of war drums echoed in the veracity and the horn was blown. The blood of the men started boiling and the battle formations were formed.

***

On a higher place, a Flame Atronach Hawk was flying over the battlefield and a girl was watching everything from up there.

Jull who followed Jon's order and became his eyes over the battlefield was observing everything closely.

The enemy clans had big numbers. This was the biggest gathering of people in a wild area she ever saw in her life. Add to that the amount of undead that was summoned by the Blackrocks, the Firemanes seemed to be in a great disadvantage.

The Firemanes forces were around 200 infantries led by Patriarch Tormund and 100 riders led by Njord. The foot soldiers were are shield bearers armed with swords and axes and the riders were all carrying spears. The road to the Kynesgrove was not wide so if 50 men stood shoulder to shoulder, they would most certainly block it. The Firemanes' infantries stood shoulder to shoulder in for rows to face of the coming force.

The riders, however, were more flexible and made four teams stood in front of the infantries. Their role was still not clear yet to Jull.

The six teams each of 200 men and started to march in waves.

In response, two of the Firemanes' cavalry teams got ready to attack and the other two moved to the flanks. Once the first wave started, the two cavalry teams charged ahead.

Noble Horses, Great Bears, Direwolves, and some other strange rideable beasts were what made the Firemanes riding unit unique and dangerous. Once the enemies saw them charging recklessly ahead. They stopped their charge and stood in an anti-cavalry formation where they point their spears and halberds up and stick their ends to the ground. It was the only way to stop this type of force.

The Firemanes, however, were no pushovers. They were beastmasters but their bonds wouldn't let them put their beasts in such a dangerous situation without calculations. Once they were about to clash, they made some sharp turns to the left and right after fainting their charge. Their purpose was to completely eliminate the enemies charge.

The strategy was still reckless as their backs were open and they could be surrounded any time now but soon the next phase started.

Behind the infantry lines, stood a small mage squad led by Jenna Firemane herself.

"Give them hell!"

With her strong shout, all sorts of Flame Magic spells rained down on the first wave of the enemy lines.

It was a total obliteration.

In the span of five seconds, the Firemanes used their mage squad as if it was some bombardment unit and a lot of Fireballs exploded on the battlefield causing more than 100 casualties.

The sound of the spells exploding overlapped with the voices of screaming and the voices of cheering.

Two squads were moving behind the first wave that got nearly annihilated but their movement slowed down after the bombardment started. In response to it, a third squad of light infantry joined and it seemed that it was a long ranged archery squad. This is the second wave of attacks and it was advancing towards the Firemanes.

Patriarch Tormund noticed the movement and ordered a defensive formation to protect the Mage Squad and ordered the cavalry to retreat immediately. Before anything could happen, the third and fourth raw in the Firemanes' infantry squad switched two bows and started shooting at the survivors of the first wave.

This wasn't really a wise move for someone who was looking from the side but it changed the movements of the enemies dramatically.

The second wave first two squads that were made of infantry were the closest to the first wave's squad. From the point of view, the bombardment with magic is too overwhelming to go against but arrows can still be blocked with shields.

One thing in common between the Firemanes and the Bloodsails in this battle was closeness the blood ties between their troops. The first wave had a lot of family members to the second wave! Sons, fathers, brothers, cousins, friends… It was too heartbreaking for them to see their kin die like that under the heavy bombardment of magic.

When Patriarch Tormund ordered to switch from Magic attacks to Arrow attacks and with the retreat of the cavalry, he intended to plant the illusion that the Mage Squad ran out of Magicka and they can't shoot magic anymore. He also showed a petty movement like trying to annihilate a fallen enemy with arrows and his actions seemed desperate and forced. All of that gave that illusion.

In truth, it was all a trap.

Once, the Bloodsail made a firm belief in the illusion, they ran to protect their brethren with their shields from the Firemanes' merciless arrows.

It was a perfect response and the arrows were blocked by the second and third infantry squads of the Bloodsails. The archer squad didn't act and remained in the back to make sure nothing happens but suddenly it all went down in a single second.

The bombardment from a while ago made a large cloud of dust and caused the view to be hard but it didn't block the very unpleasant sound that came afterward.

From the flanks of the second and the third infantry squads of the bloodsails, a lot of noises came.

"Riders..."

As one soldier shouted, his head was smashed by something heavy.

The third and fourth cavalry squads of the Firemanes that didn't participate in the provocation maneuver attacked the Bloodsails from the left and right. A second later, the first and the second team of cavalry that was ordered to retreat turned around and charged at the Bloodsails' infantry too.

A 100 cavalry and around 400 infantry were a bit ridiculous in the eyes of some but Jullanar was opening her eyes wide from the scene. The cavalries charge was devastating and that was all to be said.

When someone mentions the Firemanes' cavalries, one should remember very well that the Firemanes ride beasts and not so ordinary horses. Each unit in the squad was counted as two because the beast or the horse was not just carrying the riders but were also fighting with their spiky armors, fangs, claws, and hooves. Even the Flame Atronach Horses were adjusted to cause a Flame damage to the foes around them.

"Put all that aside, the 'Cavalry Charge' itself was so devastating that it sent the first layer of enemy defenses flying right over ten meters." Jullanar was analyzing the situation from above.

She kept looking at the man who was ordering the Firemanes around and felt cold shivers in running through her back. She looked closely at Patriarch Tormund and gulped her saliva.

"These Firemanes are all monsters. That old man looked like your average Firemane but he played the Bloodsails around like little babies. What of Nirn is wrong with these people?"

Jullanar remembered the struggle they had to go through just to face the threat of the pirates and how many men they had lost during the days of establishing a foothold in Winterhold. In the last battle when Jon sank two ships and entered from the Sky like a hero, it was all like a fairy tale after that even though many people died and many got crippled.

On the contrary, Tormund Firemane led his men in a very efficient way and obliterated the Bloodsails without even making a single move himself. The losses in the Firemanes lines weren't even a thing to be mentioned.

Jullanar realized the meaning of Jon's words that day.

'I strive to be the best leader I can possibly be as this world doesn't need a hero, it needs a professional!'

Little did she know that Jon learned those world from a video game even though he was serious when he said them.

And little did she know who was the terrifying person that was leading the Firemanes.

Patriarch Tormund lacked a bit in appearance as he wasn't as tall and large as even his children. Compared to his cousin, Jonrad's father, Ve Firemane, Tormund wasn't really as flash in the terms of power and magic but he was the one that led the Firemanes into victory after victory for more than seventy years and survived the prosecution of the Clans sixteen years ago even though he failed to reach Hilda without the interference of the Greybeards. A terrifying existence only is known to few people.

There were many people who sought his advice and hoped to be allied with him. This was a great advantage he could use to attract allies but the policies of the clan held him from having too many debts.

This, however, never stopped some people from trying to curry favor to him even by force.

Like what happened in this very second.

*BOOOOOOO*

The sound of a horn was heard and it came from the north behind the lines of the Bloodsails and the Blackrocks.

An unexpected fourth party was announcing his entrance to the battle.

"Sigurd! Could it be your men have managed to find mercenaries this fast?" Tormund asked Sigurd.

"I doubt it! They should be arriving at Windhelm if they were riding in straight line…"

"... Hmmm! I smell trouble."

In the air, Jullanar was watching the situation by a 'Far Sight' spell and held her head after she realized what was going on.

"Jon won't like this at all!" she exclaimed to herself then began to land in front of Tormund Firemane and the rest.

"Grandpa!"

"Young Jull! Speak, what did you see?"

"Troops carrying the blue banner of a bear! It's Ulfric Stormcloak!"