Battle for Peruna by Josiah Boss (book club suggestions TXT) 📕

into the forest in the direction the rider had come from. Within ten minutes, he came out into the top of a valley and was looking down on to a camp. He recognized it instantly as Mardoc's camp. He took in the landmarks so he could recognize it, hopefully then turned around and raced back to the castle.
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It was almost noon before Zebulon had everybody around to get moving towards Mardoc's camp. When he bribed them with the prospect of a good battle, they readily got up and were ready to break camp within a few hours. It took a good hour and a half to find the camp again, then when they did find the camp, they found it deserted. Zebulon's hopes were starting to go down the drain.
It was then that one of the bowmen, picked up a faint sign of a trail. He waved the others over and they followed it till late afternoon when they stopped to rest.
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The battle had started around mid morning and had gone on till late afternoon, neither side giving way. Looking over his losses against Mardoc's losses, he could see that he was slowly but steadily losing. Not so many men to death as to wounded. No centaurs had died—yet. They had all pulled out before they were wounded to death. They fought as long as they could, then they pulled out and went back to get patched up. Then they came in to the back again.
Mardoc, too, could tell that he was steadily winning. He wasn't gaining any ground yet but he could see the centaurs were weakening. He saw the sun going down and noticed that it was early evening. He gave the order to charge and fight with all they had. He stood there with a pleased smirk on his face as he saw all his men wash thought his centaurs like a wave.
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It was late afternoon coming into early evening when the roar of battle reached Zebulon's ears. He and his company of men stood on top of a hill listening to the battle taking place in a break in the trees about half a mile up ahead. He could see the excitement building in the centaurs faces. He could feel excitement rising in himself as well. He glanced at Avelignese, who's eyes were glowing with anticipation.
“Let's go!” he shouted to the others who yelled their approval. They swept down the hill like a tsunami.
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Half an hour later, they stood on top of the hill leading down into plain where the battle was taking place. Zebulon felt the general in him, taking over. He turned around and started barking out orders.
“Darius! See that little hill down there? Take your men to the top of it and when you see me leading my men into battle start shooting as hard and fast as you can.”
“Yes, sir!” they turned and raced off.
“Ricardo, Riley, Gideon! Take your regiments to the various sides. Ricardo, you take the far side, Riley, you take your men to the left side, and Gideon, you take your men to the right side. Me and Avelignese will lead the other remaining regiment straight ahead.”
A chorus of “Yes, sir's” chorused then the three regiments split up and headed to their various ways. Finally, he turned to Leon.
“Leon, you come in after you see all of the regiments are in fighting. You and your heavy centaurs, will come in to put the finishing destroying touches on the battle.”
“Yes, sir.” he said gravely then lined his men up behind Avelignese, Zebulon and his men.
Zebulon, using his sword as a mirror, flashed a signal to Darius to tell him to start shooting.
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“Garnock! Look up!” he heard Skandar shout to him. He stopped fighting just long enough to glance upward and see a flash, like from a mirror, flash across the sky. He felt a thrill shoot through him. He then felt dread settle in when he thought that it was probably Mardoc signaling for more men to come in. “Fight to the death!” he screamed his voice breaking because it was so hoarse from yelling.
Suddenly he noticed dark flashes across the sky. He looked up, then threw his back and let out a yell fit to shake the heavens. Skandar looked up and saw dew from heaven falling on Mardoc's army. He knew that it wasn't from their little band of centaurs because they had run out of arrows around noon. Then he glanced up on top of a small rise at the edge of the plain and saw several dozen archers shooting as thick and fast as they could.
Suddenly he heard the roar of battle rise to a new pitch. He stood stock still knowing something was happening yet not knowing quite what it was. Suddenly he heard a thunder of hoof beats behind him. He whirled around ready to take on any soldier that tried to come up behind him, only to see a wave of centaurs sweeping down from the ridge behind them joining the battle. He heard Garnock's tired and battle weary troops give a loud shout of victory and felt a surge of adrenaline shoot through him.
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Garnock, too, was caught off guard by the sudden wave of troops that overtook him and swept into the battle in his favor. He stood there and let his sword drop from his hand as he felt weariness take over him.
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Mardoc felt a rush of panic when he suddenly saw more centaurs rushing into battle. Some out of the trees right out from under him. He turned to run but noticed that the only way to go was on the outskirts of the battle. He jumped onto his horse and took off at a fast run for the plain and the edge of the woods. He swept down onto the plain trying to avoid all the flying arrows and swords.
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Then, an archer out of Darius bunch, by chance picked out an arrow, set it to his bow string and launched it towards the back of Mardoc's men. Unknowing of what happened, he pulled another arrow from his quiver and shot again.
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Suddenly, Mardoc glanced up just in time to see an arrow, but not soon enough to avoid it. He screamed like a possessed person, then hit the ground dead. A soldier riding into battle, saw Mardoc fall with an arrow in the back of his neck and immediately panicked. Panic spread like a wave through Mardoc's doomed army.
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Garnock noticed the change in Mardoc's army right away. It changed from one fighting for a cause, to one fighting just to stay alive. That's when Garnock realized that something drastic must of happened, and knew right away that they had won. He let his soldiers fight for several more minutes than passed the word to start taking prisoners.
When the army of centaurs rode into camp, the next morning, the whole camp had turned out to greet them. When they saw Zebulon out front with Garnock, the cheers increased. Right away, Chance led the band of centaurs to the castle that they had found and by evening a big celebration had been set up in the court yard.
That evening they, only then, had their triumphal entry into the castle. They took out the prisoners and put them into the rear for the triumphal return.
Glass windows filled the one wall every four or five feet. Each window was reflecting the sun and looking like great golden eyes set in a wall of silver polished stones.
From the top of each battlement flowed long, red and gold banners. On top of each battlement, underneath the flowing banners, stood sentries, tall and unmoving. In their right hands they held a long spear decorated with a smaller red and gold banner. Their left hands rested on the hilts of highly polished swords. Their faces held an unspeakable joy.
A bugle sounded coming from the sentry in the right front battlement signaling the coming of a king. The drawbridge land with a soft thump. Out of the gates flowed two lines of heavy centaurs. Their silver armor flashed brightly in the evening sun as they lined the drawbridge and raised their swords, forming a sort of tunnel over the drawbridge.
Out from the crowd stepped Garnock with Garnet on his right and Gardenia on Garnet's right. A few steps after them came Zebulon and Avelignese leading a bunch of centaurs with a blue and gold banner flowing over them. After him came Atherton leading his battalion with a black and white banner. Next was Tace holding a green and light blue banner leading his battalion. Next was Skylar holding a black and red banner and leading his battalion. Then last, but not least, came Aubin with a brown and blue flag leading his archers.
After them came a bunch of prisoners herded along by Garth, Nikkelon, Chance, and Fletch. To bring up the rearmost of the victory parade, came all the generals’ families. The huge crowd cut in behind them and followed them into the castle.
Garnock paused at the gates to the castle and looked behind him. He glanced at the hills where the sun was setting behind, and saw the silhouette of the old man, his head back and arms raised in victory. He looked down and met Garnock's eyes and smiled, then nodded. Garnock smiled back then turned and led the way into the castle. He had a feeling that everything was going to be all right.


Epilogue
When I got home from my adventures in Peruna, I was new man. Not just physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. Being there did something for me.
After all the excitement was over of that last battle, we were there for a couple of years and were there long enough to see Garth and Natelin, then twenty-years old, get married. They're one of the best couples that I've ever seen. Nikkelon and Gardenia were making plans to be married in the fall when we left. Garnock gave Garth the rock castle on the lake as a wedding present and he was very surprised and pleased.
The old man showed up more also. He was the one who performed Garth's wedding ceremony. Whenever he comes into camp, there's always a big feast and celebration.
Something that I thought I'd tell you was that the day after the triumphal entry we went down to the dungeons to get Mardoc's soldiers but they had disappeared into thin air. Conveniently, the old man showed up just then and said not to worry about them, they weren't in Peruna anymore.
Just the other day, I was walking in the mall and saw a guy who looked very familiar though I'd never seen him before that I was aware of. He approached me at a coffee shop, slid into the seat beside me and said, and I quote: “That was some battle, wasn't it? But...was it real?” That's when it struck me that he must've been one of Mardoc's soldiers that survived.
I assured him that it was as real as this world was. We ended up talking for several hours. Mostly him telling me what had happened, how he had come into Peruna and all that. I found it very interesting, but I won't bore you with all the details.
Since then, I've met several others who've approached me on the same thing. I asked several of them if they had any desire to kill me for beating them. They said no, because that world just seemed like a dream. A dream that a lot of people had at one time. The one guy said that he met one of his fellow soldiers that had gotten killed in battle,