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A steady tremor reverberated through the ground, rhythmic and foreboding, as a haze began to rise and take form in the distance to the west. Saxan eyes were immediately riveted towards the stark line of the horizon, many tightly gripping their weapons, as they waited for the inevitable presence of the force causing the ground itself to shake.
The noise and tremors swelled into a steady, building rumble, as the steps of teeming thousands of horses and men combined with the thunder erupting from great numbers of booming, sonorous war drums.
Facing the Saxan right flank, and serving as the left flank of the attacking force, was an Andamooran force of such prodigious strength that it could have served alone as the invasion force. A host of vibrant banners, red, green, white and black, billowed in the air as the Andamooran juggernaut crested the edge of the horizon. The massive ranks emerged into full view, marching resolutely towards the Saxan lines in a cohesive order.
The Andamoorans had departed their native lands amid the splendor of great flag ceremonies, and the majestic nature of their appearance was no accident. The sea of colored banners were made of luxuriant fabrics, displaying geometric patterns and inscriptions worked into them with golden thread, taken directly from the Prophet’s Sacred Revelation. The elegant standards billowed proudly from their high perches at the end of long poles and lances.
The Andamooran force reflected the diversity of its many territories and heritages, stretching from the western-most parts of the Sunlands, areas that included the sacred city of Marracca, to the wealthy territories occupying nearly half of Eberias’ lands.
In Eberias, Andamooran territory included bountiful lands, boasting of opulent palaces and elegant, walled cities. Lush and fertile river valleys alternated with broad, open plains, and mountainous terrain, bestowing lands that were quite varied and conducive to new farming techniques, crops, and irrigation methods brought in from the Sunlands.
Over in the Sunlands themselves, the territories held by Andamoor expanded from mountain ranges rising across the strait from Eberias to drier climes of desert and shrubland.
Andamoor was truly an expansive realm, one that possessed elements from a wide range of origins. Eberian foundations in an older Empire, and later in the Western Church, had long ago given way to successive waves of conquerors from the Sunlands. Those conquerors, while all adhering steadfastly to the revelations of the Prophet, were diverse themselves. They ranged from earlier rulers that had enabled art and learning to flourish, to the latest, dominant wave, which was as strict and austere as the arid climates that they had crossed over from.
The warriors assembled within the massive invasion force reflected styles and influences derived from all the areas of Andamoor, both from Eberias and the lands facing it across the ocean waters to the north. It was from across those waters that the latest ruling class of Andamoor had manifested, to subdue the fragmented kingdoms that had come dangerously close to being reconquered by the despised infidel kings located in the south of Eberias. A strict, fundamentalist flame burned strongly within this latest influx of followers of the Prophet.
Advancing in the foremost rank of the oncoming Andamooran tide were dedicated, fanatical warriors, who originally hailed from the lands of the latest ruling class of Andamoor. Their faces and heads were covered by the revered, distinctive litham veil-turban, which was wrapped in such a manner that only the wearer’s eyes were exposed. Despite having most of their faces covered by the dark cloth, there was no mistaking the measured gazes that lanced forth from their iron-hard eyes.
Their focused, disciplined motivations were further reflected in the simplicity of their dress, as they were clothed in long tunics, trousers, and the hooded robe-cloaks known as burnus.
The veiled spearmen clutched a unique kind of tall, rectangular-shaped shields, which were composed of several layers of toughened antelope hide. They carried a nearly uniform compliment of weapons, from long lances made of bamboo, to throwing javelins, as well as sharp daggers for close-quarters fighting.
Behind the veiled spearmen were deep contingents of infantry, bearing an array of vivid banners representing their various regional units. They exhibited a wide variety of armor and helms, the former including quilted styles, coats of mail, and scale armors, and the latter ranging from simple conical designs to more elaborate ones, with downward extensions from the brow that held horizontal plates at their ends to protect mouth and chin. Their shields were different than those of the veiled spearmen, as they were a mixture of round shields, oval shields, and another, quite distinctive kind, with wide, twin lobes along their top widths. A majority of the shields featured a few distinctive, downward-hanging tassels affixed to their front facings.
All of the infantry were formed into a broad, dense front, with lines extending straight back from the ends of each flank, so as to form a giant, moving square.
The litham-wearing spearmen with the tall shields in the outermost ranks lent a great functionality to the formation. The warriors with their elongated, bamboo spears enabled the vast phalanx to present a thicket of lances, and a barrier of high shields, to attacks coming from any direction.
A host of archers were drawn up behind the broad, frontline elements, armed with the angular, composite bows that were very popular with the Andamoorans. Protected by little more than small, leather round shields, wearing a type of cotton quilted armor, and bearing only long, single-edged daggers for close-quarters combat, the archers were dependent upon the other infantry to keep enemy fighters from reaching them.
A modest force of crossbowmen, whose primary weapon was a simple manner of crossbow, one that was both unique in form and common to Andamoor, accompanied the archers, mixed amongst them in small units. They were more properly outfitted to fight as infantry if the need arose, equipped with mail and shield, and bearing swords at their sides. Rudimentary white turban-cloths were wound around their heads.
A great number of lightly-equipped men massed close behind the archers and crossbowmen, filling up a good portion of the greater square formation. Very few had any type of body armor, and only a very small fraction of their number even carried shields. Armed with a mixed assortment of weapons, some crude, others of low quality, and only a few of a good make, they were the least equipped element among the Andamooran ranks; the religious, zealous volunteers that had chosen to serve in the armies of Andamoor.
Though from markedly more humble origins than most others within the broader force, they were filled with a fiery motivation, fueled by their deep faith in the Prophet’s Revelations. What they lacked in arms and armor they compensated for in fierce determination. For them, this was not a war of worldly affairs, but rather a holy war.
The very center of the massive square was filled with a great multitude of cavalry, also divided into separate units represented individually by their own unique banners.
Some were heavily armed warriors, whose family legacies connected directly to the former, more opulent rulers of Andamoor, before fragmentation and disunion had invited waves of fundamentalist warriors across the northern seas, to roll back the threats of the southern Eberian kingdoms that embraced the faith of the Western Church. With white turbans wound around their iron helms, and mail hauberks covered in a type of quilted, padded armor, they gripped tall lances made of hard wood, evidencing the manner of heavy, shock tactics that they were well capable of fighting with. Many lances held aloft battle flags and banners that were intricately inscribed with their bright golden weaves, often complimenting the sacred inscriptions worn on colored bands visible on the riders’ upper arms.
In these cavalrymen’s appearances were the echoes of the lavishness woven into their palaces, rich gardens, and grand centers of worship across the former Eberian territory now firmly ruled by Andamoor. Even their horses exhibited a magnificently attired harness, complete with numerous, shining bronze buckles and medallions strung along its length.
Other cavalry were attired very similarly to the veiled spearmen, wearing the litham veil-turbans, and carrying hide shields and bamboo lances, to go along with their straight swords and tapering daggers. Some of these wore a type of armor constructed of sheets of felt, with colored sashes wound around their waists, with others clad in simple, blanket-like garments, wrapped around their long tunics and cotton trousers.
A third throng of cavalry bore elongated lances with hafts of bamboo, as well as long maces and swords. Quilted, padded armor, or jubbahs, protected their bodies, and a similar fashion of soft armor was used on their horses as well. They wore their turbans in a different fashion from the fundamentalist elite, with a length of cloth hanging down in front.
The main cavalry forces were rounded out by a fourth group, a few hundred in number, who were singularly unusual amongst all of the rest. Their mounts were a very sturdy breed of steppe pony, creatures imbued with considerable stamina, as well as a particularly advantageous ability to endure periods of minimal sustenance that would rapidly debilitate larger breeds of warhorses. The stalwart horses’ tails were tied in knots, with a leather collar ornamented with pierced bronze medallions, from which dangled a horsehair neck tassel in a bronze holder.
The warriors astride the ponies carried smoothly recurved composite bows, kept in bowcases hanging off their belts at their side. They also bore maces, single-edged sabers, and small round shields that hung from long guige straps about the neck. The riders were positioned farther forward on their mounts than most cavalrymen, utilizing shorter stirrups to situate themselves at the horse’s shoulders, as opposed to the backs of the animals.
Simple iron helms were hidden beneath silk and felt coverings, with an upturned leather plate at the front, and the brim lined with fur. The riders’ hair hung long down their backs in braided fashions. They wore cuirasses of a lamellar construct that was, in turn, laced into a jacket of felt placed over their colored tunics, and had high, soft leather boots encasing their lower legs and feet.
Riding upon camels and mules, in a condensed disposition near the center and rear of the broad ranks, were a large corps of drummers. The drums themselves were made of stretched hide, spanning various sizes of green and gold cases. The smaller drums were double-ended, sitting horizontal in front of the mounted drummers in such a manner that they could strike them at each end.
Others were enormous constructs, several yards in circumference, which resounded with deep, resonant booms upon being hit. The drummers were dark-skinned men, whose facial features were hidden behind the wrappings of their litham veil-turbans. They kept a tight formation, executing a deep, rhythmic cadence, as the huge ranks of the Andamoorans steadily marched across the plain and toward the field of battle.
Close to the rear of the Andamooran ranks was Abu Yaqub Battuta himself, the exalted, powerful Emir of Andamoor. He was second only in influence to the Great Emir of the Faithful, Yusuf Ibn Tumart, and rode upon a magnificent white stallion. His standard, a particularly ornate, red banner, carried high next to him by a dedicated bearer.
His elite bodyguard, a force that was five hundred strong, and which carried a most fearsome reputation, surrounded him. These ebony-skinned warriors from the Sunlands wore sleeveless padded armor over their mail, sittiing astride exquisite mounts.
Strangest of all to Saxan eyes that day were the mounts of a huge number of warriors, many of the litham-wearing variety, who came to fight not as cavalry, but as infantry. Held in reserve, the warriors sat upon the hump-backed forms of camels, animals utterly foreign to the Saxans, and quite bizarre to their eyes.
As the Saxan defenders looked on, several openings suddenly formed in the wall of spearmen, at the forefront of the square Andamooran formation.
The singular group of horsemen riding the steppe ponies, bearing the curved, composite bows, emerged into the open before the massive Andamooran force. Their mounts moved with a grace that evidenced considerable swiftness and dexterity, breaking into a fluid stream that surged towards the Saxan lines along their right flank.
“The bells of your churches will be the lamps that light our temples!” cried a fierce-looking horse archer, riding at the lead of the forward-most element of the galloping horsemen.
Though the Saxans could not understand the horseman’s foreign tongue, the threat was far from being an undocumented, unknown practice on the part of the Andamoorans. Many who had fought in the long wars between the followers of the Prophet and the followers of Emmanu in Eberia had experienced it fully, in the ebb and flow of churches and temples caught amidst the fierce struggles of that contested land. Church bells that once tolled for the faithful of Emmanu had often ended up as war mementos, converted into lamps in the Temples of the Prophet, which were themselves often constructed right on the sites of the conquered churches.
Nonetheless, the Saxan warriors could recognize the words as being a taunting boast. The mocking horseman, and those following him, remained just out of Saxan bowshot, though some of the angrier men of the levy just behind the shield wall loosed some futile arrows at the haughty leader, before enduring the stern reprimands of nearby thanes or ceorls.
Those Saxans familiar with horses marveled at the unison of motion that seemed to blend rider and steed, as the small force of enemy horse-archers streamed down the length of their lines. The horse-archers readied their bows as they reached the area that marked the end of the front line of Andamooran spearmen. They curled about in a tight arc, and returned back down the Saxan lines.
On the second pass, they notched their arrows, drawing the bowstrings with well-practiced smoothness, and then letting them fly from the saddles of their racing steeds.
With the arrows flying towards the Saxans, the battle on the Plains of Athelney was underway.
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