Chapter 11: Chapter 10

A man wearing a bored expression stood at the hilltop and spoke with the people around him, “The forest is quiet. Lord Aramel will soon return and we will be able to continue our mission.” 

“Yes, let him have those peasants’ heads. That fool spent a fortune to be named cavalry commander, and his crowning achievement will be running down some farmers.” Dalv replied in a satisfied tone.

“Still my lord Dalv, why did you not follow him into the forest? We might get some slaves out of it.” (man)

Dalv gave his answer in a business man like manner, “Slaves I can buy, a bunch of villagers are not really worth a lot. Besides, most of them would die of exhaustion before we reach the estate.” 

Time slowly passed and Dalv was getting tired of waiting for Aramel’s forces to return. “You there, mount up and go see where the hell are they!” (Dalv)

A knight quickly mounted his charger and rushed down the road, leaving a dust cloud behind him.

Dalv looked over his shoulder and yelled, “Hey tamers, can’t you feel the presence of your minions?”

“Lord Dalv, our familiars are too far away for either of us to tell you such information. We are acolytes in the order, only the higher ups can sense and control familiars from greater distances.” As he said these words the acolyte lowered his head and slightly trembled. After all the man before him was a noble, he could end his life in an instant if he so chose.

“Well, no matter, your beasts will serve us well in the future, just make sure to keep them under your control. Got it?” (Dalv)

“Yes, even though our full control is limited to a short distance, the familiars are fiercely loyal and will return to us as soon as their task is complete.” (acolyte)

Dalv was bored, so he decided to pass the time by questioning the tamers about their abilities, “Is there any danger of them attacking one of our own people if they go too far away from you?”

“No, my lord, each one of them has a keen sense of smell. They already know our men and their scent.” (acolyte)

“Good, good. We would not want any accidents to happen.” Dalv said these words doing his best to sound satisfied, but inside his mind he was disappointed. ‘It would be nice for the beasts to eat a few of Aramel’s people, well an enemy soldier might get a lucky shot and kill one or two of them.’

The distance to the entrance of the forest was about three hundred meters, Dalv was getting anxious as his man was not returning even after an hour. His spirit was lifted once he spotted a rider coming slowly out of the forest, but immediately it got worse. ‘Why is that idiot moving so slowly? I said I wanted to know what was happening fast.’

Just as he was wondering why the man was so slow, one of his men fell down. There was a barbed arrowhead sticking out of his skull.

“What?? Quickly assume defensive formation, shields to the front fast!” (Dalv)

‘What is going on here, to shoot a man at such a distance is no small feat. I must stay low behind the shields.’ As he was thinking about what to do, several more men fell down with the same type of arrows taking their lives.

A knight did his best to speed the men up and put an end to the confusion. “Move it you bastards, you want to end your lives on this hill in the middle of nowhere?!” 

“Baron Stein, Baron Coldwell take your positions on the flanks, I will hold the center. Archers to the rear, wait for them to come into range, don’t waste your arrows.” (knight)

“Baron Cars I leave the protection of lord Dalv to you!” As he said these words the knight fell down, another well placed arrow pierced his neck, after attempting to catch his breath a few times the man closed his eyes, never to open them again. This came as a huge shock to the men around him, he was, after all, the second in command among the men count Dalv brought. A well known knight with a good amount of battles under his belt.

“Move it, don’t let his final words be wasted. Move!” Baron Cars assumed command and did his best to prepare the men for the fight that was fast approaching.

As the defenders took their positions and put up their shields, the arrows stopped taking their lives. There was no point in wasting ammunition on a shield wall.

“Good, now those cowards will have to come to us. They have no chance of flanking us as there is a plain between us and the forest. We will see if they make such an attempt and react in time.” (Dalv)

“Still my lord, their archers were too good for levied men. There might be a high level force present here.”

“It is possible, there is a low probability that some adventuring party got involved in this, but even if their level was high there is no chance that Aramel would lose to a few men. There are more of them in that forest and soon we will meet them.” (Dalv)

‘Well, we have the high ground and there is no hope for them to surprise us. Let us wait and see what that rider will propose.’ With these words Dalv calmed his mind. After all he had a quality group under his command and Aramel must have been captured or killed so he would not interfere with his commands.

 

***

 

The rider slowly moved towards the enemy and, about half way between the forest and the hill he stabbed the banner into the ground. From the hill a single rider came down. He slowly approached the meeting place, slightly trembling due to the weight of the situation.

“Greetings, I am duke Alfred Sigurdson.” Alfred introduced himself with a slight bow.

“Duke? I am Count Dalv von Kruger of the kingdom of Alba, the leader of these men.” Dalv was stunned, he knew who held power in this territory, his presence meant that he, and his soldiers were going to face the elites of the Sigurds. That was no small feat, even for the best of the kingdom.

Alfred tilted his head and opened his mouth “Well Count Kruger, why are you fine gentlemen sitting atop my hill?”

“We can drop the act, we will leave this place and not attack your people on our way out, in exchange you will not pursue us. Is that agreeable?” (Dalv)

“That sounds interesting, but you did destroy a village in my domain. If I let you walk out it would mean anyone can just raid my people with no consequences.” (Alfred)

“Then, I assume you have a proposition?” (Dalv)

“Surrender, I promise none of you will die and you will all be treated as prisoners until you can pay the ransom. Is this acceptable?” (Alfred)

‘There is no way my brother pays for my release, let alone the Kingdom, I would be a disgrace to them, to say the least. No, there is no way I can surrender here.’ Dalv was racking his brain trying to find a way out. Then, as fear was creeping deeper and deeper into his soul an idea was born. ‘Kill the duke’ as sweet as nectar these words filled the count’s mind. ‘Yes, I am a decent fighter, and he is alone, I might take his head and get out of here while his men are in shock.’

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Not wanting to waste any more time, Dalv decided to act. “You are a wise and fair man Duke, let us shake our hands and seal this deal.” As he approached Alfred, he was looking for an opening, and as soon as he was close enough he leapt towards his enemy drawing his dagger.

“Die Alfred…” (Dalv)

Before he could even reach the Duke, his body was hit by a dozen arrows. His body fell to the ground failing to reach its target. Alfred looked back and gave a small nod to the men over a hundred meters away. He knew that the watchful eyes of Grendir and his men would not allow any danger to befall him.

Alfred quickly turned his horse around and ran towards his own side while arrows flew at him from atop the hill. He managed to reach the forest which was well out of range for regular archers and dismounted.

Oliver sighed, “I guess they do not intend to surrender, do they?”

“No, it would appear they do not.” (Alfred)

“How shall we proceed, my lord? Their position is atop a hill and they seem to outnumber us by a few hundred men.” (Oliver)

“We will wait for the sun to set, then we will begin our operations.” (Alfred)

“As you wish my lord.” Oliver bowed and shifted his gaze towards the hill.

 

***

 

The men who came from Albion expected to fight against villagers and a few soldiers guarding them. They never expected to meet the famous Duke and his elites in such a place, at least not without a huge army on their side. The element of surprise was not on their side, one of their leaders was dead and another was probably captured. The command structure was broken between three barons who started arguing over leadership before count Dlav’s body went cold.

The only bright side was that they still had a favorable position and the enemy appeared to be hesitant to charge at them. Most believed that the Duke did not bring enough men for an attack on their position to work.

Soon the sun set and the barons decided on the division of power among themselves. They set up night watches and gave their men some time to rest.

“Listen up, we will rest for a few hours, then, under the cover of the night we will move out of here and head straight for our lands. Light the fires high, they must keep the impression that we are still inside the camp, we will only take the food we can carry, same with water.” (baron Cars)

“Keep your eyes open, if you see anyone leave that forest to scout our flanks immediately inform us.” (baron Coldwell)

“Yes!” With these words the soldiers and knights relaxed. The situation was not great, but at least they would get a head start.

 

***

 

As the night took over from the evening so did the Duke’s army prepare to move.

“Those cowards will either dig holes and stay there, if they go stupid from fear, or they will make a run for it like the cowards they are. Either way, tonight they pay for coming into our land.” (Ulv)

The forces assembled here quietly nodded, there was no need to raise the morale by shouting, it might even serve the enemy as a warning.

“They are moving, it would appear they will leave only a small force of knights atop the hill.” (Grendir)

“Good, Grendir it is time for us to go to work. I will lead a group to take the hill, the rest of you wait for my signal, once we take the hill the hunt is on.” (Alfred)

 

Alfred and a mix of elves, knights and dwarfs painted their faces with mud, put on black cloaks and crept slowly towards the hill, the enemy did their best to spot anyone leaving the forest, but it meant little in a cloudy, pitch black night. Soon the attack force was near the top of the hill. Alfred gave the signal and the rangers took their positions. Once an owl-like sound was heard several well placed arrows took the lives of the men keeping watch. The group then moved towards the hilltop. Soldiers were there, standing around the fires or sleeping, conserving their strength for the long journey they would soon have to take. Sadly for them it was not the journey home.

Alfred crept behind one of the fires and once again gave the owl-like signal. At that moment arrows pierced the necks of soldiers sitting around the fires, the few that survived were cut down by Alfred and his elites.

“The hill is ours men, now send the signal down to Grendir, he and the men are probably getting restless.” (Alfred)

"I'm on it!" Ulv grabbed a torch and ran towards the forest, once he was slightly below the top of the hill, invisible to the side the enemy retreated from, he started waving.

 

Standing a few meters inside the forest Grendir saw the signal and his eyes turned sharp. "Now is the time to finish this operation, tonight those rats will be exterminated."

 

 

 

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