Chapter 5: Chapter 5.
Apollonia, the village of the Wolf tribe, is one of the three major tribes among the tribes of the Apes. They are immigrants from the far south and settled here, living with the Olumians for centuries. 3 days ago, they have received news from Count Francis II with a large tribute asking for their warriors to join the war against the Duke of Poland. The three tribes have agreed to meet here today to discuss this matter; however, they've gathered about 600 men already. The army of the Apes is ready to move at any moment, so this meeting is just for formal purposes.
3 men are sitting around a round table, chatting and drinking while flirting with the women around them. On their bodies are the tattoos of giant wolves, tigers, and snakes, which show their status as the chieftains of the three clans of the Apes. Suddenly, the sound of a horse screaming can be heard. The guards, people, and chieftains all look to the gate of the village, a headless warrior of the Wolf clan carried by a horse is running through the village. The warriors all grab their weapons, the women and children scream and run back to their houses. The wolf chieftain grabs his double-edged ax while the other two draw their swords.
-BUMMMMM!
The corpse of the headless rider is blown up, the pieces of grenades wound several men nearby. And then, they see the charge of hundreds of Polish soldiers toward them, the chieftains stand up and rush toward the Polish army while shouting:
- MY BRAVE WARRIORS! THE POLISHES HAVE COME TO TAKE OUR HOME, COME WITH ME AND SEND THEM TO HELL.
Roaring to answer their leaders, the warriors of the apes follow them and charge against the Polishes. But not like the well-prepared Polishes, the tribesmen are caught off guard so only half of the number of 600 manage to fight alongside their chieftains while others are still drunk. 2 armies face each other on the battlefield, the Polish army stop, and the musketeers move to the first line, aim and shoot at the charging tribesmen, there are tribesman archers fire back but obviously, the fire powers between the two armies is largely different.
Men fall after men dying of bullet shells, the Wolf chieftain is killed by a stray bullet that pierces through his chest. The two others soon realize that continuing to charge will be complete suicide and call back their men to run back to the village and utilize the fortifications there to defend.
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(Charge POV)
With nearly 100 cavalries and 200 spearmen behind me, I observe the battlefield between my army and the Bavarians from afar. On the open field, musketeers are far stronger than archers, longer range, stronger power, which is a complete slaughter to these barbarians. I leave there about 200 swordsmen aside from 200 musketeers in case the enemies manage to get close to my ranks. Now the enemies have routed, it's time to land the final blow. I need to strike fear hard into these barbarians' hearts that they would never dare to raise arms against Poland again.
Like last time, I have taken men to go behind the enemies. Now the enemies' concentration is on the other side like last time, and with 300 men to attack from behind, the outcome will be settled. I signal the troops, not like last time, the village is located on a clumsy hillside so riding horses to attack might not be a good idea.
Then we run, charge against the village, form this side it is protected by a wooden wall but that is not a big matter. An archer on the watchtower notice us, the dismounted Hussars aim at him with their pistols and fire. As I expected, the archer is hit and fall from the tower.
The spearmen with lighter armors and weapons get close to the wall first, they throw the spears that have been tied with explosives to the wall and the area behind it. The wooden wall is blown up and we pour in, there are only about 50 men that have arms that engage us. It doesn't even take 10 minutes to see these barbarians lying dead on the ground, my men start to throw torches onto the houses, anyone who gets out of the houses is slaughtered brutally, even children. I do not like this but now is in the middle of the battle, I can't stop my men from their blood lust.
With slaughtering and destruction, we make our way to the village center, where the lucky civilians are protected by the rest of the warriors of the Apes. My musketeers and swordsmen have pushed to this area, too. I must say that although being outnumbered, my foes are tough. The warriors are fast and strong and some fight even much more skillfully than my swordsmen in close combat. I command:
- Pull back, musketeers, form the front line. Hold fire.
My soldiers get out of the engagement, get information to surrounding the area while the musketeers point muskets at the enemies' survival. I walk ahead of the ranks, facing the enemies, and speak:
- You have fought bravely, I admire that. But your situation is hopeless, drop your weapons and swear not to raise arms against me again.
- True Apes never surrender.
And the others roar, supporting whoever speaks that sentence. I sigh, so there is no other way, I take out my pistol and fire, the bullets hit a man with the tattoos of Tiger on his body and blow his head. And sounds of muskets fired constantly can be heard after, I've obtained many military supplies from the Tuscany Fortress so wasting gunpowders and bullets here is acceptable.
After nearly an hour, there are no tribesmen of the Apes left standing, those survive to groan painfully on the ground. I wave my hand, my troops advance and kill anyone left breathing on the ground.
I wander into the corpses area, seeing the terror and desperation in the eyes of my foes make me feel bad and nearly vomit. But I do not have any other way to tackle the problems that can be caused by these people. Luckily, I can attack them when they're feasting; otherwise, the casualties can be higher.
Suddenly, among the corpses, I hear a child crying. I push the corpse of a woman away and notice a baby crying, hugging the arms of the woman I've just moved. I raise him from the ground and look sadly at him. I feel sorry for him but this is war, I take out a knife and am about to cut his throat. But he stops crying and touches my hand with his small fingers. Surprisingly, he smiles at me. Looking at his innocent smile, I call a soldier nearby:
- Bring this baby to the camp followers and ask them to take care of him on my behalf.
The soldier takes the baby from my arms and then leaves. Can not withstand any longer, I go to a well and bury my head into a bucket of water. The coldness calms me down and my mind becomes clearer. I rise and tighten my fists, I don't care what crimes might I commit from today until my last day, I will do everything necessary for the sake of my country.
Now, let's head to Rhanes, it's time to eliminate Olumia out of the war.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone