Cabdes felt a bit uneasy. Now, he only hoped that the warriors in the village had seen the banners they raised, heard the blaring horns, understood their arrival, and started preparing...
The village walls were already empty. Wallis must have gathered all the warriors in the village, ready to launch an attack at any moment... Cabdes stared forward, his confidence surging again: when it comes to battle, Wallis is indeed reliable!
When the two sides were less than 100 meters apart, "Woo!... Woo!... Woo!..." The sharp sound of copper horns suddenly echoed. The enemies standing still ahead roared in unison and charged toward Cabdes’s side, their momentum as imposing as a mountain collapse he’d once witnessed.
"Blow the attack horn! Let the men charge!" Cabdes shouted urgently.
Before the horn could blow, the front-line Pannonian heavy warriors clad in armor had already started their charge, driving the light infantry behind them forward...
The soldiers on both sides slammed into each other with ferocity while running at high speed.
"Leader, quick! Look behind us!" A guard’s terrified voice made Cabdes, who had been watching the battle intently, turn around to see a chilling sight: hundreds of fully armed enemy soldiers burst out from the forest by the riverbend side, gathering near the riverside behind his troops...
I’ve fallen into an ambush! Cabdes’s heart sank to the depths. If not for a guard supporting him in time, his dazed state might have caused him to fall off his horse.
"Blow... blow the attack horn again!" His face pale, he gripped the reins tightly with both hands, his wide-open eyes staring through the battling soldiers of both sides toward the village ahead. His only hope was for Wallis to lead the army out quickly and crush the enemies in front!
However, the village gate remained tightly closed, while the enemies behind had already formed their ranks and were rapidly advancing toward them.
"Leader, you must flee! If we don’t, we’ll be surrounded!" The Guard Captain urgently reminded him, "If you are... trapped here, what will happen to our tribe?"
After a year of tranquil living, Cabdes was swayed: Indeed, I still have a tribe to protect! I must return quickly!... This is Wallis’s fault! That damn man is hiding in the village, leaving my people surrounded by the enemy!...
Clenching his teeth, Cabdes turned his horse around, glancing back one last time before departing—the village gate remained tightly closed...
.....................
"Leader, we’ve killed or injured over 500 enemies, captured around 1,500, with only a few managing to escape—this is a great victory!" Camillus excitedly reported the results after counting the battlefield to Maximus.
"What are our casualties?" Maximus asked calmly.
"36 dead, 120 wounded." Camillus’s tone lowered slightly.
Maximus knew that this time, the casualties were higher than the last battle because the troops launched the offensive first and couldn’t maintain a tightly defensive formation. Coupled with the enemy’s counter-charge, the initial melee led to a surge in casualties.
But to prevent the enemy from getting closer to the village, discovering anything unusual, and retreating, initiating the charge was necessary. It allowed them to quickly engage the enemy, making it impossible for them to escape. The subsequent battles confirmed this strategy—as the ambush forces struck from the rear, the enemy leader abandoned his troops and fled first. This two-sided attack caused the enemy’s morale to collapse rapidly, resulting in fewer casualties and more prisoners.
Maximus, without dwelling much on the casualties, asked, "Has Oluus gone to pursue the fleeing soldiers?"
"Yes, he took 3,000 men to chase the escaping enemies, hoping to seize the opportunity to capture their village just as we did here."
"Let’s hope so." Maximus sounded uncertain. Earlier, from the wall, he’d noticed a few of the fleeing enemy soldiers riding horses. If they returned to their village early, alerting them to prepare defenses, the pursuers’ plan of overtaking the village via scattered enemies might become unfeasible.
At that moment, Pequot walked over with a grim expression: "Leader, I interrogated several prisoners. They said there are still 800 warriors remaining in the village."
Noticing Pequot’s blood-stained hands, Maximus didn’t ask him how he conducted the interrogation. Instead, raising his head to observe the sky, he commented with some disappointment, "It seems we won’t have much time to attack the next village if this is true. Let’s hope there’s still time today—"
Suddenly realizing something, Maximus asked, "By the way, did you directly question the prisoners? Could you understand their words?"
"Their speech is somewhat strange, but by listening carefully, I could understand most of it," replied Pequot.
It seemed the word of the Aldean Great Chief might be correct—the Pannonians could indeed be an offshoot of the Illyrians. This was good news!... Maximus’s spirits lifted; scanning the surroundings, he asked, "Where is Quintus?"
"He went over there," Akegu pointed toward the nearby village.
When Maximus found Quintus, he was standing by the wooden wall, sometimes digging into the wood with his hands, sometimes kicking the wooden wall, sometimes inserting his fingers into the gaps between the planks.
"What are you doing?" Maximus asked curiously.
"I’m studying the wooden walls built by the Pannonians." Quintus patted the wooden wall, speaking with some disdain, "What they’ve made here is far too simple! The gaps between the wood are too large; the base isn’t dug deep enough into the soil. Some of the wood is already rotting inside, yet they haven’t replaced it promptly. What’s more, some parts—who knows if it’s out of laziness—only have a single row of planks..."