After a good night’s sleep the whole army came together early. They started marching right as the sun began to rise. Everyone that was going to fight today had been told to go to sleep early and those that stayed behind had to pull a double shift on the lookout. Not only that but they were also quite busy, each of the guard camps had caught at least two and as many as four spies trying to infiltrate. The main camp had caught ten and a after a quick interrogation to make sure there were no more they were all promptly stuffed together in a tent.

The tent was quite spacious even for the almost twenty people but it would start getting really cramped if another wave of spies was caught. Their meals also consisted of bland rations and water, not something they would be enjoying, but at least they no longer had to take part as they were considered killed.

Because both sides were inexperienced archers wouldn’t take part in the main battles as the death toll would grow too large. This meant that Ajax was going to fight in melee today unlike yesterday.

Luckily because of his young age and low level both him and Tom were placed in the reserves. Their job was to take the place of fallen warriors and ensure the line was not breached. This also meant they were in the least amount of danger and would also be given a chance to watch the battlefield as a whole until they were needed.

As expected since yesterday the first thing they ran into was an army only half their size, the rest of the enemy soldiers being split off as they weren’t expecting a reckless charge after the vigilance shown only a day before. As soon as they were close enough that they could see reinforcements for the enemy were nowhere close and that they would have enough time to deal some damage to the enemy forces the orders came in concert. They started from the back where the nobles were and echoed from officers all the way to the front.

“Charge!”

“Charge!”

“Charge!”

“Charge!”

The army had been practising this since they arrived and managed to somewhat keep in step with each other and not break formation as they rushed their unprepared opponents. Ajax could see from his vantage point just how unprepared the enemy were for this development. Despite their leadership reacting accordingly and sounding the retreat, this was easier said than done.

He had learnt a lot about the fight or flight response that humans have even back on Earth, yet what they didn’t teach was there was a third option, one that was useless yet very much a possibility and quite likely the reason why these little wars were accepted and even encouraged. Half of the enemy troops retreated cautiously and in formation. A fifth just turned and ran away for all they were worth seeing the number difference while a tenth charged forward to meet the enemy head on. The remaining fifth just froze.

It wasn’t until the fastest of the ones running to fight had been taken down that the ones who froze broke out of their stupor and made the sensible decision to retreat and quite a few of the ones eager to fight turned around. Yet all this meant that their formation was broken, and Ajax’s side had plenty of time and numbers to get a partial surround on the enemy force.

Watching in the distance Ajax and the leaders could also see the surge of troops rushing from the forest. The enemy had reacted quicker than anticipated and quickly came to reinforce once their tactic was seen through.

As the enemy reunited with their reinforcements the fight became a lot more even and both sides started taking casualties. With this development Ajax didn’t have the luxury to watch as he was called up to the front where he pulled out a spear and started to work on looking for opportunities to impale the enemy.

The fight was a lot different than anything he had experienced before. He was locked in place by the men in front, behind, to the left and right. Where he usually had the freedom to move now all he could do was twist and duck when an enemy spear broke past. He wouldn’t even have that much time to react as they were not aimed at him but those in front so he would only see them as his own allies dodged out the way. The first time this happened he barely moved his head out of the way in time and ended up with a nasty, if shallow, cut on his shoulder limiting his range of motion a little.

Despite managing to form a proper united line the enemy were still pushed back all the way to the trees and the advantage in troops had swapped over from just about even to decently on their side since the start of the skirmish.

The repetitive motions were starting to get to him as the muscles in his shoulders hurt from keeping the spear moving backwards and forwards. This all came to a head as the soldier in front of him took a spear to the gut and dropped down. Ajax didn’t hesitate to drop his spear and quickly launched forward to reinforce the shield wall.

As part of the wall he didn’t do all that much attacking which let his dominant arm get some rest only swinging the sword when he had a clear shot or to parry. His shield arm however was taking a heavy pounding from people with higher physical stats than him, this on top of the cut to his shoulder that was starting to present an issue.

Despite all this Ajax struggled onward pressing the enemy and advancing in time with his allies. That is until his superior senses heard a commotion coming from behind him, a few screams of agony came a quick succession before some loud swearing that took his attention. This distracted him enough that he didn’t notice he had advanced too quickly and broke the line stepping up alone in front of the enemy and took a shallow slice to his sword arm and a deeper one on his shin before he backed up into formation.

“Pull back.”

“Pull back”

The orders were heard from the officers around him. The line collectively came to a dead stop before starting to disengage as they retreated from the engagement. Ajax however couldn’t help but be a little troubled by the fact that the order to retreat had come in a much lower frequency and disorganised as compared to the one to charge.

As the army pulled back they picked up prisoners and wounded allies alike and made their way back to their camp. Ajax himself also headed to the healers tent looking to get his cuts taken care of.

“Ajax, what happened?” Kate quickly rushed to him and helped him limp over to a bed as soon as he entered the tent with Fluffy hot on her heels even if it was to provide comfort in the way of something to mindlessly pet while he got healed.

“I was a little surprised. Reacting to a spear is a lot harder if you only see it after the person in front of you dodges it.” Ajax said, not mentioning that he also got distracted and charged in front like an idiot.

Tom P.O.V.

I saw Ajax limp over to the healers tent and felt the urge to follow him and make sure he was ok. At least this was not to be as I hadn’t gotten injured at all and was following commander Grievous to the post battle meeting.

The atmosphere among the leadership was tense. Apparently an enemy assassin had dropped down from the trees and targeted the invited baron’s son. He didn’t quite manage to take out the noble even for the intents and purposes of the war but half of his guard sported wounds close to their necks and were as such removed from any further combat.

The atmosphere was thick with animosity as despite the assassin being slowed by the archduke’s daughter and taken out by her guard the baron’s son called for the retreat out of fear and brought an end to the advantageous fight we had on the relatively open field.

I took my place behind the commander's chair as the nobles and other commanders took a seat at the main table in the centre of which was the receiver from the bug Ajax had planted. Despite the annoyed looks on the commanders and the noble girls' faces they were all eager to listen to what the enemy thought before having their own discussion.

“I told you we shouldn’t have split the army a second time.” The voice of the man who fought commander Grievous yesterday came loudly.

“How was I to expect that they would stop being at all cautious from one day to the next?” a much younger voice complained.

“Because I told you so” the first voice roared followed by the sound of metal impact and numerous things falling.

“You don’t have to kick the table” the second voice sounded after a short silence. “Hey what do you - “

“SHHHH” the whooshing sound came from multiple sources.

“Oh lay off it and tell me what that is?” the second voice said, sounding a lot angrier. “ Wait! Is that a bug?”

“Yes, you idiot, it's a bug. One we now can’t use to give them false information because you told them we found it.” The first voice roared so loudly I could almost swear we didn’t need the bug to hear it.