What made it unusable however was the maze of jagged rocks that jutted above and below the surface of the water, at the mouth of the bay where it narrowed between the two rocky promontories. It would be suicide to attempt to sail a ship into the turbulent white water breakers that washed around the bases of the rocks guarding the bay. We were alone with little chance of succeeding in the battle to come. It had been the chance we had all taken.
General Santaran lay in hiding to the northeast with forty thousand experienced warriors and ten thousand heavy cavalry. He was not to engage until General Nadero appeared from the south with his cavalry and whatever was left of the fifty thousand militia. I had but a little over eight thousand warriors left at the Shrine, and that was including our reserves.
Our force of warriors had to somehow find a way to last until General Nadero could arrive and then General Santaran's troops would make their presence known. The appearance of two armies on the enemy's flanks would hopefully be enough to convince the Attorgron slave warriors to throw in with us. Without them turning sides we didn't stand a chance. Even with them, our chance of winning was still minimal at best.
I was starting to feel like Rolf. I wanted to quit thinking about it and just get started in on it, but anything that wasted time was to our advantage so I held back from issuing the order for the archers to fire. If the enemy wanted to stand there and gloat then fine by me. I'd let them do it all day long if they wanted to.
The enemy's trumpets suddenly rang out splitting the formerly tranquil morning air with their blare of challenge. The enemy formation began to approach and I gave the order for the archers to fire.
"Rolf we're likely to be over run early in some parts so be sure to rush the reserve to those areas as you see fit. Go and make ready for the assault. Give the order to fall back to the Shrine as our positions are overrun on the breastwork defense. We'll make our last stand at the Shrine itself."
Rolf turned to go but hesitated and then turned back to me and offered a hand out to me, "See you soon brother."
I knew what he meant and I took his hand, "Likewise brother!"
Then he was gone and I turned back to the enemy as they started reaching our forward ditches. I picked up a bow by my side and notched an arrow only to let it fly seconds later.