War Path. Chapter 4. Counter attack.

The enemy commander watched as his troops formed up at the base of the incline. When they were in place he signalled for the infantry to charge up the hill. It would be useless for his cavalry to try to surmount the hill they would be too easy to cut down. His troops ran up the hill but halfway up the arrows rained down killing and wounding. The rest of his troops carried on and got to the top watching the archer's retreat and enemy infantry stand up spear pointed at them. They were cut down as their advance ran out of momentum and they retreated back down the hill. The commander realised that he had made a grave mistake attacking uphill and the enemy commander was smart not chasing his retreating troops down to the plains. As his troops were reforming he got the news that enemy forces had flanked him on either side. So he split his cavalry and sent one **** left and **** right. Another mistake never split your forces but he did not realise it at this time. Cavalry are fast and can strike fear in the rear areas of armies overstretched supply line. Unfortunately, his cavalry came across entrenched troops formed up into squares and horses hate running at squares so they were decimated. The survivors limped back to the gates outside Guhan and it was now that the enemy commander realised his situation.

Arerto's HQ Fort Alcippe( Formerly fort Hillion)

Messengers had been coming and going all evening and Arerto smiled. Sabine had secured the heights above Guhan and Valeria had secured the two villages and the road blocking reinforcements. Elandra had secured her objectives of Pel and Sabines left flank. Arerto was weighing up whether she should lead the cavalry to cut off the city northern entrance but she passed over to her trusted aide. Then the message came in from Sabine that the enemy had counter-attacked and had been beaten back. Also, she stated that she felt the enemy would not try to attack the hill again and estimated that the enemy commander had lost around 5000 men wounded and killed from his attacks on all fronts. Arerto had started with 15000 total fighting troops and she was now down 9000 which still outnumbered the enemy here. But if enemy reinforcements got through it would not last. She also knew that the enemy could call on the civilians inside the city and a cornered animal is very dangerous. She sent messages to Valeria and Elandra to start to squeeze the enemy and ordered Sabine to hold the heights. The plan was going well for the moment but plans don't mean much if ground cannot be held but Arerto allowed herself a smile.