SOMALINZE: THE GREAT RIVERS

ABOU: WARRIORS AND THEIR BATTLES 1&2

The war from above could be said to be beautiful. Even in the light of the setting sun. The colors were a collage of uniform, fire and blood.

The colors of the gendrian army was the color of the sea. Their armor was almost impenetrable and it's design was like that of the first kings before the invasion.

The ucheki were brutal and fought savagely, their formation was division. They wore little armor allowing them faster movement. Their colors were the greens of the fields.

GENDRI

The formation of the gendrian army was a thousand infantry men. Four hundred horsemen, twenty tree elephants, a thousand archers and four hundred spearmen. They also had a special battalion assigned to protect the leadership and brains of the battle. This battalion was seven hundred strong.

Gendri had built, High Stone towers, days before the battle, set on each flank of their position. Though Protected heavily by the horsemen. It also served as a protective barrier during retreat.
But retreat was only an option if the commander was dead and the battle was lost.

Other than that, it was believed the towers housed weapons. And to the ucheki, what was most peculiar was that at the top of these towers was a small room, an open chamber of sorts. The front of the chamber had fixed bronze bars. And a torch burning by each side. It was clear, through the bars.

There were three occupants in each room. Two warriors stood with a young man behind them. A shields man, the first soldier. Covered their position from arrows and other aerial attacks. The second soldier was a swords woman. She defended their position from all ground attacks. These soldiers seemed to be protecting the men behind them. As ucheki spies that succeeded in climbing the tower painfully discovered.

The gendrian warriors wore strong armor, over their chest, the front of their arms, their thighs and the front of their legs. They wound bronze beads around their stomach. Each bronze plate widely separate from the next. The rest of their body was free without any covering.

Their head was covered by bronze beaded helmets. The beads wound concentrically around a thin conical iron frame.

Their chest plates had an insignia. It was also on their flags. It was the antlers of a deer wrapped around a ball of fire.

The leadership of the gendrian army comprised of the 'ónòwú', Ali údi. He was the highest commander of the army, given that power by the 'ézé' himself. The 'é gwím', the war commanders of the gendrian army.

UCHEKU

The ucheki army had no formation and were quite mischievous in battle. They used not only swords, but traditional scythes, daggers and spiked whips rumoured to be enchanted by their Èzémuo, a dark sorcerer, to burn hotter than the smith's fire.

Other than that. They had, one thousand five hundred infantry men, eight hundred horsemen, one hundred tree elephants, two hundred archers and four hundred spearmen.

The ucheki soldiers wore almost no armor at all, except from the bronze beads wound around their ankles. Other than that they only wore a traditional warriors barkcloth around waist and extending down to their knees.

The rest of their body was without clothing, but adorned with black wark marks. The ucheki soldiers also had an insignia, on their chests. Though part of the war marks, it stood out boldly. It was an eagle burning, and the eagle eating the flames.

The leadership of the ucheki army comprised of the 'ézé of 'úmùchéku as the overall commander. The 'akuogbaraoha'. They were the generals of the armies.

THE BATTLE

The battle, now into it's fourth hour, wasn't easing up, it became fiercer and fiercer. Meanwhile the gendrians had formed a barricade before each flank to cover the stone towers. This was because the ucheki's kept focusing their attack on the gendrian flanks, forcing the gendrians to barricade and to concentrate all their fighting in the center.

The uchekis pushed violently towards their position. They had the advantage of numbers and speed. The gendrian had the formation and a lot of skilled archers.

The uchekis pushed forward, spreading from the center towards the flanks but the gendrians could not defend. They couldn't because of the forests elephants. They were powerful beasts of a lost age, a second cousin of the mammoth, preserved for hundreds of years by special clans. They were used to till large fields, years past.
In battle, they were ferocious. Their tusks could sweep off whole wagons in one swoop. Their steps shook the grounds. They were the highest power in battle.

And the ucheki's had a lot more elephanrs than gendri. The few the gendrians had were spread too thin to counter the ucheki's advance.

Only a long arrow fired from A four branched bow from a higher level could Pierce a forest elephants hide.

The elephants stomped on their forces and scattered their formation. As a last resort. The gendrians had to mobilize most of their archers from the field to higher ground to take out the beasts. They took out them out one by one. But before the archers could reach safe ground, the elephants had done a lot of damage.

To slow the beasts down. brave gendrian warriors charged head on. sacrificing their lives to pierce the beasts once. over and over again. until it died. Almost a hundred warriors died slaying thirty one of these elephants.

The carnage showed no end. The soldiers grew weaker. But their spirits weren't dead yet. A young infantry man of ucheku led a single charge against the barricade of the left flank. By now the ucheki's had pushed deeper. He climbed on an elephant, and when he saw a path. He charged towards the barricade.

The gendrians stood their ground. As the elephant came closer. A huge arrow flew through the air and pierced the beast. It came from the highlands.

The young warrior looked up at the dark contour of the hills in fear. He quickly bent low as another arrow flew just above his back, the archers were aiming for him. His staggering elephant continued on. Another arrow struck the elephant and it fell, just at the edge of the barricade. It fell on the soldiers trying to break away and broke through. As it did the warrior charged in, heading for the towers.