At noon on the 7th day, the day Jack promised to march and the day Lee would return, Jack stood outside the walls of Lake-Town with his family and commanders.
Ruben and Williams two armies and Gunnar's cavalry had temporarily been combined into one massive army.
5000 common riders, equipped with heavy leather, iron helmets and a vest of chainmail. Swordsmen with one meter long, half a meter wide sturdy shields and long one-handed swords specifically designed to slash from a horseback.
The spearmen riders had the same outfit and shield, but carried 3 long spears, one ready in hand and two spare strapped to their backs.
10.000 common ranked archers with longbows and double quivers with 100 arrows on their backs. A shortsword rested in a light leather belt, fixing their chainmail vest firmly at their waist.
10.000 swordsmen with the same iron helmets, heavy leather and chainmail. Sharp and well crafted swords and a circle formed spike-shield designed to do heavy damage when used to rush and bash the opponent in a melee.
30.000 common spearmen with solid spears and a newly designed 'tower-shield'.
It was 1.5 meters long, 1 meter wide and crafted by dwarven ingenuity to allow the spearmen to lock together for extremely sturdy shieldwalls.
These spearmen where the wall of the army. Hence they had gained thin plate-armour that covered the entire body. Head to toe.
Jack had been giving a choice, and had accepted the gear chances and the loss of mobility and speed for pure defense and survivability value in his troops.
Every single of the 55.000 troops had a sack slung over their shoulders.
It contained a bag with 7 days rations of the new bread and chocolate bars. A blanket, a mass-produced cantina containing a single liter of water and wooden comb and 'scratcher' to rinse their body's of sweat and dirt.
In the side of the army, 40.000 newly summoned civilians with 1000 large wagons with additional supplies in all forms, inclusive 100 small scorpions and stocks of iron bolts, waited for the army to march.
Jack stood with Nisha and Xena, watching William, Ruben and Gunnar move the last platoons from the city gate and march them into the already gathered army, whose metal shone from the sun in the sky.
Xena's voice suddenly sounded;
"They look amazing. A huge upgrade from when they exited the drill-zones!"
Nisha agreed with a smile and grabbed Jack's arm while resting her head slightly on his shoulder.
"Don't loose this time Jack." She simply said.
Jack pulled her in for a quick kiss before he went to give Xena a hug.
He mounted Blackmane before he spoke.
"Nisha, Xena... Don't you worry. I don't intend to loose. I intend to rid these lands from the reptilian pests."
He smiled down at them as they stood together.
"Please send word to Lee, he was expected here today, but I've heard no word from him. I hope nothing bad happened to him, but if he is just late, reprimand him from me. Let him gather the newly summoned trash troops and reinforce me on the field."
"Don't worry father, I'll give that man a proper scolding for being late!" Xena sniggered heartily.
Jack smiled and locked eyes with both of them before turning around and riding to the front of the march-ready army.
--
Cochi stood upon the short walls with 10.000 battle ready trash troops.
1000 horses and their common rank riders stood closely packed inside the walls, ready to ride forth at a moments notice.
The rest of Cochi's army, another 10.000 trash troops, stood in a 3-row line in front of the walls, ready to engage the enemy who had finished assembling and currently came into view over the river-filled grasslands.
'There are simply too many...' Cochi bit his lip while a sudden dread crawling down his spine.
In the horizon, rows upon rows of hissing reptilian troops emerged with long swaying tails and red banners.
Thousands upon thousands of reptilians marched forward, making Cochi's troops on the wall eerily silent as they watched.
'There is way more than the 100.000 that the scouts reported.. There are twice that in trash troops alone. And the rows further back look fiercer and some of them even have some mail armour in their gear...'
But what came into view next, after the sea of reptilian forces, directly made Cochi's heart and hope plummet in his chest.
"Beasts of war!" He silently gasped, making the nearby trash troops jolt and flicker.
If Cochi was loosing hope, the trash troops fared even worse. Many of them even, for the first time since being summoned, glimpsed the scene of them fleeing instead of facing what doom assembled before them.
But just as this ripple of fear went through the ranks, as the massive army assembled before them, a sudden and lonely trumpet sounded behind them.
"The Lord has arrived!!" A cheerfull lookout yelled loudly from the walls behind Cochi.
He quickly ran to the other wall while his troops morale had climbed from the edge of despair to the very opposite spike of proud, strong and cheerful shouts and praise!
He looked over the wall and immediately understood why, as a smile crept into his face.
Fifty five large platoons of longbow archers, swordsmen with round spike-shields and heavy spear infantry with large tower-shields came marching towards him.
'This is completely different than the reptilian army. My lord is truly on a different level! The reptilians looks like a rugged mass while the army before me looks like an army from legends...'
The sunrays sparked in the platemail from the spearmen and iron helmets of the entire army. Together with the perfect synchronized marching and orderly rows, this army seemed vastly superior to the badly armoured reptilians.
'And there are tens of thousands of civilians and supplies as well! Hope is not lost, it has sprung directly to the top!'
Cochi hurried down to the gate as Jack arrived before it.
"My lord! You are coming in the nick of time! The hordes have already assembled on the other side!" Cochi grabbed Highmanes reins as Jack dismounted.
"I am already aware of the situation Cochi! Hurry and get your front troops back behind the walls. Empty the walls and form up with the army!"
Jack was in a hurry and didn't linger while he ran up to the top of the walls.
Cochi quickly wondered why the lord would abandon the walls, but quickly fulfilled the command and rushed every to join the army.
Upon the walls, Jack watched the reptilian army.
'You truly are powerful Sha'ri... You've even tamed some tri-horns and created some kind of battlewagon... But it won't help you!'
Jack gazed around the area. The reptilians formed their lines about one kilometres ahead.
'This space will suffice...'
Jack then quickly expanded the wall about 150 meters in both sides, facing the enemy army.
He upgraded all walls to stone and continued to use the new castle blueprint.
[Blueprint: Castle. Trash rank]
[The castle consists of a thick 2-story central building with a single tower. The castle building is 20 meters long, 20 meters wide and 7 meters tall. The single attached tower is 10 meters tall and can be equipped with a siege engine. The only entrance is a wide iron gate. This is the small-wooden version and can be upgraded. Cost: 250.000 wood. 25.000 stone. 10.000 iron. 15.000 gold coin]
He quickly placed one castle at the edges of the newly expanded walls, before he continued to upgrade them.
[Castle upgrade, common rank]
[The castle is now entirely made of dense stone. 50 square meters, 3 floors and 10 meters high with 3 large siege towers. The castle has been expanded with a greathall and many quarters for troops. Upgrade cost: 50.000 wood. 500.000 stone. 25.000 iron. 45.000 gold coins]
Jack upgraded both, but didn't stop there.
[Castle upgrade, uncommon rank]
[The castle is now a proper stronghold. 30 meter high, thick and dense stonewalls in the outer edge of the main building. The castle itself has 8 very large stone towers capable of carrying multiple siege engines. Countless arrowholes. A grand hall, treasury, army bunks and everything needed in a castle. The main building is 20 meters high and 150 square meters. Between the main castle building and it's impressive walls, is a 50 meter long yard all around. The main building have heavy iron gates, while the exterior wall has a single massive wooden gate with a very strong portcullis of hardened iron that can be dropped on choise. Cost: 2.500.000 stone. 750.000 wood. 150.000 iron. 1.000.000 gold coins]
Jack upgraded both with a snicker when he saw the cost.
'Similar to the siege engine blueprint, I'll take this price in resources as the cost it takes to advance to the next level of warfare'.
Jack still had millions of resources and limited time, so he didn't dwell further on the matter.
Cochi's originally small 'fort' now extended further with 150 meters of the common 6 meter high stone walls and a very large and impressive proper castle in both sides.
Jack ended by enclosing another 100 meters of ground from both castles ends and towards his army behind him, in another large stone wall with a single gate.
He now controlled an area of about 700 meters in length, facing the reptilian army, and 300 meters in width.
"Move the civilians and resource wagons inside! Mount the 100 scorpions and man all the walls and castles!"
Jack barked this order to the civilians and Cochi, who quickly understood that his 20.000 trash troops were the ones to man the walls and hastily placed scorpions.
The castles siege towers would be bare in this battle, there simple wasn't enough time to equip and utilize them.
The smaller scorpions were better suited along the 6 meter high stone walls, closer to the battle that would undoubtedly soon begin.
Jack left Cochi to manage the defence of the wall and castles.
He mounted Blackmane and went outside the gate to join his commanders and the well-equipped army.
"Ruben! Take your half to the north side! Don't let any reptilian come between that castle and the river!"
Ruben quickly gathered 5000 archers, 5000 swordsmen and 15.000 spearmen to form a formation between the north side castle and the river.
"William! Take the other half and make sure noone flanks from between the south castle the Bloodfall Mountains!"
William quickly nodded and went to form battle lines on that side.
'Now it's your move Sha'ri! You have to come straight at me, sacrifice your troops against my heavily fortified stone walls, or face an impenetrable wall of heavy shield in either side!'
Jack mentally prepared himself for battle.
'Even if you realise just how many casualties you'll sustain from a direct assault... Moving your army north, is blocked by the river. And moving further south towards the mountains to bypass my fortifications will take days, and be very easy to see and counter.'
Jack let himself smile, 'so what will it be Sha'ri? What is your play?'