Epic Unearthed

by Thomas Turner

  Chapter XXXVI

  Ultimate Sacrifices

  Daygun’s scouts report that the Continental Alliance is nearing Masaba. Persephone is ordered back to Atlantis, and Quentoris will be the Supreme Commander of the Masabaian Army. The Atlantean Emperor commands all Atlantean warriors stationed at the Great West Wall to regroup in Atlantis. The Western defenders are ordered to let the wall be taken, and to go around Masaba toward Vasic. At Vasic, they will veer off and march toward the capital. Their orders are to avoid the enemy at all cost.

  The Masabaian warriors know their lives must be sacrificed for their empire, because the Atlanteans need more time to evacuate their capital. Ten Atlantean divisions are in Masaba, but the Masabaian King does not want to let his city go. Ryeland is dead and knew the weaknesses of the Great East Wall leading into Atlantis. Mantis believes the enemy is much weaker without his son’s guidance.

  Mantis wants revenge for his son’s death. He wonders what the enemy could have done to make his son become a traitor. Ultimately, he blames the enemy for his son’s decision to turn his back on Atlantis.

  Daygun wishes he could order the Masabaian Army to retreat to save lives, but the city must be sacrificed for the majority of Atlanteans to flee the peninsula. As the Atlantean warriors await the enemy, they feel honored to die for their empire. The new Atlantean Emperor needs more time, and that time can only be purchased with Atlantean lives. Mantis knows the enemy will not be able to take the city quickly. There is still a small possibility to end this war, but the Atlantean Emperor understands freedom from strife is probably a false hope.

  The Atlantean capital is the strongest city in the Atlantean Empire. The great city is twice as strong as the other two cities combined, and more warriors are marching from the Great West Wall to help protect it. Every piece of artillery, munitions, and food is being stockpiled in the capital. The Atlanteans are also setting up more difficult defensive parameters outside the city to prevent the enemy’s using their tightuses. Daygun is learning the enemy’s tactics, so they do not have the advantages of previous battles; however, Masaba is stranded.

  Mantis craves to be the one to defeat the enemy. The Masabaian King believes in his men and is counting on their loyalty. Before the city is surrounded, Quentoris arrives and rushes to Mantis saying, “I have an executive order to take command.”

  Mantis responds, “My kingdom is yours and so are my men.”

  Quentoris says, “This will be my last command. There will be over nine-million warriors at your kingdom’s walls. There is no way to escape. You and I will die as warriors for our empire.”

  The Masabaian horns blow as Quentoris and Mantis climb the tallest tower in the city, and witness Nextear’s first wave of soldiers approaching. The Continental Alliance is fifteen miles away. The two know the enemy will wait for the remainder of their army before attacking. Mantis wants to destroy the enemy which sacked the City of God. Because of his son’s death, the Masabaian King is filled with rage and hatred, wanting to kill every enemy warrior with his own blade.

  Quentoris examines the battlefield and desires nothing but death to his enemy. If he can somehow escape when the city is sacked, he has been ordered to return to Atlantis. Quentoris understands this is a suicide mission, and sends one last message to his family to assure them he will see them in the afterlife.

  Looking from the tower, Quentoris says to Mantis, “Three of our leaders of the peninsula are dead. I can’t let you be the fourth. Before we are completely surrounded, I want you to retreat back to Atlantis. I will lead this battle.”

  Mantis responds, “My son is the one who betrayed our empire. I take full responsibility as a father. If I save my people here, I am making things right. I have ten divisions and two-hundred-thousand civilians, willing to give their lives for the Atlantean Empire. If they have a chance to survive, I can’t let them die.”

  Quentoris asks, “What are you getting at?”

  Mantis says, “Three-hundred years ago, we found iron ore at our doorstep, not even a mile from our city. Mining was done at the mountains southeast of here; we extracted rich veins of iron ore, and tunneled straight to Masaba. The mining tunnel is underneath our feet, and large enough for our heavy cavalry to pass through. On the other side of the mountain range is the passage to a valley. I am requesting that my civilian population be allowed to leave. They do not need to die here.”

  Quentoris responds, “I am the person responsible here. It should be you who leads your people to safety. Why was I not notified about this?”

  Mantis says, “The underground tunnels were lost in time. Quentoris, my son destroyed my family’s name. In three days our enemy will take my city. We are subject to Atlantis, but let me take command of the battle. You will become a hero when Daygun learns that you saved tens of thousands of lives and returned more divisions to Atlantis. The message from Daygun said that if you make it out alive, to retreat back to Atlantis; the tunnel is that opportunity.”

  Quentoris says, “I will get your people to safety. We will stay for the initial attack. If the enemy sees that there is only a skeletal crew fighting, they will take the city quickly. They need to think there are hundreds of thousands of men here. We will fight hard until they start to take the city’s secondary line of defense.”

  Mantis asks, “Would you like to see the tunnel?”

  Quentoris replies, “Let’s do it quickly. We need to review plans to keep the enemy here as long as possible. Our capital needs more time for defense and extracting our civilians from the peninsula.”

  The two leaders enter the tunnel where various paths are going every direction, leading to the valley below. Quentoris is amazed at what he sees. Tens of thousands of people can fit comfortably inside. He knows now he has a fighting chance to return to Atlantis.

  Outside the city, Melercertis and Nextear regroup their men for battle. The enemy moves the tightuses in formation for attack, aligning them to face the east side of Masaba. Because Mantis’ kingdom has been left with very little cavalry, they will compensate with artillery.

  Melercertis does not know the weaknesses of the city and decides to attack every direction at the same time. The cavalry of the Continental Alliance is on each side of Masaba to attack the gates.

  Mantis looks outside his chambers and observes the enemy advancing. He hears them chanting and yelling of death to the Atlanteans. The defenders of Masaba do the same.

  After Persephone’s exit from Great West Wall, Commander Cregnikias took command and marches his divisions to Atlantis. As they advance through the mountains, they hear the same roar of the enemy at Masaba. Even though their fellow countrymen are about to die, they continue toward the capital.

  Melercertis looks upon Masaba and orders his army to ready for attack. This time the Atlantean infantry is staying inside. There are more archers than the Atlanteans had in Halotropolis. The Masabaian artillery will destroy anything on the battlefield, but eventually run out of munitions. Mantis’ kingdom made more artillery pieces when the war began, but they resort to crude arms for this battle. The Masabaian archers have over three-hundred arrows apiece and blacksmiths have worked twenty-four hours a day to provide that many. Masaba has the firepower to destroy an entire empire, but not the whole continent.

  The battle begins, and the Masabaian artillery fires in fast increments, firing at will. Atlantean catapults and giant crossbows hit the enemy no matter where they point their artillery, but there are too many soldiers to defeat. Some artillery positions focus their firepower on the tightuses.

  Melercertis sees a weak spot in the ranks of the Masabaian artillery, and orders the siege towers to attack the east and north wings of the city. There is some concentrated fire from the Masabaian artillery, but not enough to repel the number of tightuses. If those machines reach the walls, there is nothing the Atlanteans’ artillery can do.

  The city’s artillery is fixed and cannot move. Although the artillery is on turrets, it cannot reposition from
one end of the city to the other. The main objective of the Atlantean artillery is to destroy tightuses before they reach the walls. The enemy has tens of thousands of men dying on the battlefield, but millions take their places.

  At first, the Atlanteans seem to beat back enemy advances. Due to the steady stream of Atlantean firepower, the enemy becomes scattered and cannot concentrate on one area of the city. The Atlanteans’ giant crossbows and archers are destroying anything near the walls. Two-hundred giant crossbows are firing on the battlefield and artillery personnel are able to reload every two minutes. When the enemy infantry moves within range of the Masabaian archers, a barrage of arrows airs through the sky, killing anything in its path.

  The Atlantean catapults fire two-hundred-pound circular boulders, mowing down the ranks of their enemy. Because the enemy’s projectiles lose momentum from such a long distance, some enemy catapults’ ammunition hits the Masabaian walls and bounces off. The Atlantean city’s walls are taller and thicker than those of Halotropolis. The tightuses finally reach their objectives on two sides of the Atlantean city.

  The Masabaian infantry and heavy cavalry charge outside their walls and attack the tightuses that move so ever closer to their fortifications. Some siege towers reach the walls, and Atlantean infantry rush toward enemy swordsmen who are debarking from their tightuses. Because the Masabaian walls are so tall, only men on the top levels of the Ladonean war machines are able to rush across the city’s defenses. The Atlantean infantry repels the enemy emerging from those siege towers, but more are able to hit the defensive walls. Thousands of Ladoneans and Sabatheans breach the fortifications.

  The Masabaian infantry strikes the enemy from the second line of defense inside the city, and Atlantean archers keep them at bay. The Ladoneans use the tightus’ rams, and smash all four sides of Masaba’s gates at the same time. The Atlanteans destroy three tightuses before the fourth enemy siege tower finally tears down the Masabaian Northern Gate. Atlantean infantry compensates and engages the infringed area of the city.

  At the Masabaian North Gate, Mantis leads his men into battle. The King of Masaba feels guilty about Ryeland’s decision to attack his own people. As a father, he feels he could have done something differently in the upbringing of his son. Mantis draws his sword and fights beside his men. The Masabaian King has so much hatred for the enemy that it keeps him pushing forward. He puts himself in harm’s way because of the anger, and kills ten men without becoming short of breath.

  At the eastern side of Masaba, Quentoris is in dire need of reinforcements. He rushes to the nearest tightus, as it is trying to breach the wall. He sees a Masabaian general fighting with his infantry and decides to assist. He understands it is a matter of time before the enemy has complete control of the wall.

  Near Quentoris, the Atlantean archers are quickly running out of arrows. They take arrows out of dead enemy soldiers for reuse. Women rush to bring more ammunition to the front, but many die in the process. The Masabaian artillery has only enough munitions for another hour. The enemy’s main objective is to take the city’s artillery out of action. They are succeeding, and less artillery is firing at their army beyond the walls of Masaba.

  Quentoris orders his military to regroup inside the secondary wall of the city, where the tunnel is located. More archer munitions are ready for the next fight. The Masabaian infantry stays at the first wall to rebuff their enemy.

  At the Masabaian north gate, Mantis is losing men quickly and has no reinforcements. The King of Masaba continues to fight on, and does not care if he dies. He becomes exhausted, and finds it harder to continue. Because the Masabaian King is fatigued, the enemy turns toward him and his elite warriors.

  In the middle of the fight, Mantis is surrounded. The Masabaian King looks at his city and orders one more offensive. Mantis charges forward, but a young Sabathean warrior slices him through the thigh. It is not a fatal wound, but slows him down. Another enemy archer sees this and puts an arrow in Mantis’ back. The gate is taken, giving the enemy full control of its northern entrance to the city. There are not enough Atlanteans to retake what was lost. Mantis falls to the ground, and the father of a traitor is dead.

  On the other side of the city, Quentoris has tens of thousands of civilians already inside the mining tunnels. The pathways have good ventilation for the people inside and the shafts have hundreds of torches for light. The Atlanteans have over twenty-thousand archers, seven-hundred heavy cavalry, seventy-thousand infantry, and twelve-thousand light cavalry ready to break through the wooden doorway to the valley below. The doorway is hidden from the other side by a thin layer of rock. Quentoris runs to the doorway which faces the valley.

  Quentoris yells inside the tunnel, “Now!”

  The mammoths push forward and knock down the door. Everyone starts removing the rocks in front of the entrance, and the heavy cavalry is able to proceed easily from the mouth of the tunnel. No enemy is to be found, nor was anyone expected to be here. Melercertis’ main objective was the city, not the area where the Atlanteans are fleeing.

  Back in Masaba, fifty-thousand Masabaian warriors remain behind to give the civilians a chance to survive. The tunnel entrance is ordered to be collapsed. Hundreds of boulders fall, so no one can enter the tunnel. Obstructing that entrance seals the fate of the people inside Masaba. The tunnel was the only way of escape.

  The bells sound from Masaba in an older Atlantean code. Most of the officers learned the code in military school. The message tells the Atlantean Empire that Quentoris is retreating. He knows the enemy will follow. He does not know if his message will be transmitted to the next Atlantean bell post. Over seventy-thousand civilians from Masaba are on their way to Atlantis.

  Three hours later, Masaba falls. Melercertis is inside the city, sees the tunnel, and orders his men to investigate. Thirty minutes later a scout runs and salutes Melercertis saying, “We found where the tunnel leads. It is a shortcut we can’t get to; we will have to go around. We see the Atlanteans on the horizon, fleeing.”

  Melercertis responds, “Send three light and heavy cavalry divisions to intercept. We only have three more hours of sunlight. The Atlanteans are cowards after all.