Chapter 12: Chapter 11

Grendir mounted his stallion and ordered his men to leave the forest. The troops that were lying in wait, hidden by the trees, began moving as soon as they received the command. At first they moved slowly, but as soon as the last man came out of the tree line a column was formed.

All of the knights that Alfred brought with him had their own mounts, the same was true for a part of the rangers and all of the silver shields. The ones who were without a horse were riding double with the knights who shed a part of their armor to decrease the strain on the chargers.

The distance they had to travel was not that large as the enemy could not move far in the dark, especially in unfamiliar territory. This gave Alfred's men confidence that they would catch up to the enemy fairly soon.

As they moved past the hill and towards the back of the enemy column, they were joined by Alfred and the assault force.

“My lord, I see you got yourself a fine charger.” Grendir smiled while gesturing towards Alfred's new horse.

“We got quite a few of these, move them along our column and give them to the people riding doubles. If there are any spare just leave them here, we will pick them up later.” (Alfred)

“As you command.” (knight)

Alfred nodded and looked back as the horses were divided among his men and then turned towards Oliver, “Commander Oliver, I will leave the trapping of the rats in your capable hands.”

Oliver responded with enthusiasm in his voice, “Leave it to me, I will do my best to end them fast.”

 

***

 

About an hour after they started the chase they sighted the back of the enemy column, to be exact, it was Grendir who, as all elves, had a keen sight even in the darkest of nights.

“We are near them now, I can see the back of their column. Lord Oliver, they are about a kilometer in front of us.” (Grendir)

“All right, now, Oliver move to a good position and cut them off, after that do your best to end the tamers, if you spot them” Alfred repeated Oliver's orders once more.

As they were getting ready to execute their plan the peaceful night was disturbed by a howl. The monsters still moving with the tamers sensed the presence of their enemy. The element of surprise was now lost.

“Oliver!” (Alfred)

Oliver raised his staff and several fireballs flew out into the sky. They rose into the night sky and at about 50 meters they started exploding. One after another, in twenty second intervals the fireballs exploded and illuminated the fields between the two armies.

The enemy was scrambling to form a line but it was taking time. Unfortunately for them, time was not on their side. A horn was blown and Alfred’s army started charging. To charge in night time was madness, but not if you had a mid rank mage with you. Oliver’s magic gave the illusion of a bright sun being born in the sky every few moments.

Alfred rode in front of his men and yelled his final orders, before the night's work began, “Archers focus on the ones still not in position! Knights wedge formation!”

With this order the charge began. Archers moved to the sides, among them was Oliver, who continued to shoot fireballs at regular intervals. The knights rushed forward as a tidal wave. The enemy did their best to get ready for the impact, their archers were late and only managed to fire off a single volley, it was mostly neutralized by wind magic shot out by Oliver.

At the same time the circling horse archers got into a position where they could see the flanks of the enemy force. Oliver started muttering a long chant while still maintaining his fire magic spell.

The knights continued their charge, the ground was shaking as if an earthquake was devastating the land. The charge was led, as always, by Alfred who was the tip of the spear. The enemy received the charge with all they had, but regular soldiers with low to mid levels had little hope of stopping knights charging at full speed. The defender's line shattered and the ruthless attackers cut down everyone in their way.

In all the madness and confusion of the battlefield a familiar voice was heard, “Forward, I want their commanders’ heads!” Alfred gave his men a new target to go after.

The charging force responded with loud cheers and continued to plow through the enemy. After they saw what happened to the first few lines Albion’s soldiers started deserting, causing even more confusion. The wedge formation broke through the enemy lines and exited on the other side. What was left behind them was a trail of death. Now, before them stood only archers and tamers.

“Move those beasts. Stop their advance, archers fire those damn arrows.” Baron Cars knew he would die here if he did not stop this advance.

With his order the soldiers started moving, but not for long.

The ground shook and small cracks appeared from beneath their feet. Oliver had finished his chant and now was the time of reckoning. From the cracks molten rocks started to pour out, the area was not large, but just enough to cover the entire enemy back line.

Screams echoed among the enemy lines, there was no escape once their feet were caught in the lava. The few that did manage to get away were the people who noticed the cracks and were at the edges of the group.

Alfred was waiting for this moment and quickly responded. “Split, left side follow me, right side is yours Ulv!” 

With these words the well trained men split the formation and circled back towards the enemy lines which were mostly broken by now. The confused men did not know what to do, some decided to stand their ground, most started running away. There were even those who were staring into the abyss that was approaching, frozen in fear.

The second charge was even more effective as the enemy, whose formation was virtually non-existent, was getting thinned out even more by elven marksmen from the flanks. This was the final straw. Any remaining courage and sanity the invaders had was lost. Their lines completely broke and they started running in all directions.

The only ones still doing their best were the two tamers, who managed to escape the lava with quick thinking and ruthless tactics. They mounted their familiars and used their own comrades as stepping stones. Their target was Oliver, he was a single mage surrounded by archers, they had no armored men so they should be an easier target then the knights charging at full speed.

An elf ranger spotted the enemy and spoke to Oliver in a calm tone, “They are coming, commander Oliver shall we take care of them?”

Oliver thought about it for a moment and gave his answer, “No, those two are mine. They got away from my spell so it is my fault.”

As he finished these words Oliver took a deep breath and redirected his fireballs. He shot several balls of scorching fire towards the charging enemy in quick succession.

One of the acolytes was enraged as their forces were being annihilated by the enemy so he bellowed and bared his fangs towards Oliver, “Damn you mage, I will have your head at least.”

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Before he could fulfill his promise a fireball struck just in front of him and he was sent flying. Tumbling on the ground he thanked his lucky stars that the fireball was slightly off target, only to be struck directly by another one in the next moment. What was left of the acolyte was a scorched spot on the grassland. The second one lost his courage and began running away, but he was hit by an arrow that pierced his heart.

“I am sorry Commander, my hand slipped” (elf)

“All is good, let us start cleaning out the rest of the enemy. Listen up, as ordered, no enemy gets out of this territory alive!” (Oliver)

The brutal night went on, Oliver’s fire illuminated the way and most of the enemy soldiers were run down by the forces of the East.

Once he saw that the battle was mostly finished Alfred turned to his men, “We got most of them. Form smaller parties and hunt down the rest. Send the news back to our camp.”

“As you wish my lord!” (knight)

“Oliver, how are you feeling? Last night must have taken a heavy toll on your body.” (Alfred)

Oliver shrugged his shoulders, “My lord, I have grown old indeed, but this much is not enough to tire me out. My mana reserve is quite low though, I might need a few days to recover.” 

“Take a potion, don’t push yourself.” (Alfred)

“No need, I will use one if we get in trouble.” (Oliver)

Alfred nodded, there was still work to be done after all. The soldiers that got away needed to be captured or eliminated as soon as possible, to prevent any damages to the territory.

“Ulv, Grendir I leave command of the forces to Oliver. I will lead the first hunting party towards the Qarazat village. Ulv your silver shields will escort the villagers and the soldiers to the village, hunting down any enemy soldiers in your way. Oliver, the reinforcements should start coming in, use them as you see fit. If there are no changes we will start rebuilding the village immediately.” (Alfred)

Ulv raised his hand and, after getting a nod from Alfred, spoke, “My lord, if another strike force happens to move towards Qarazat you will be in danger, allow me to lead the first party.”

“No, I am the one responsible for this territory and I will not hide behind my men. Also, I have been living as a family man for more than 2 years now, this body needs to shed off the rust.” (Alfred)

“Yes, my lord.” Ulv struck his fist on the breastplate. He had always respected his lord because he was the first man to enter every battlefield and the last man to leave it. He was not like many other nobles, who he fought alongside, Alfred was a true warrior and it was Ulv’s greatest joy to fight beside him.

“Lord Alfred, once you finish this task you should hurry home, the lady and young lord must be anxious. Also there will be a lot of administrative work to do, and your presence will make the work go along much smoother. The Royal court will probably send someone to confirm the post battle circumstances.” (Oliver)

“I know, pointless talks and meaningless flattery.” As Alfred said these words he looked tired. The battles which he just fought in were nothing compared to the few days of reports and talks with the nobles from the capital.

 

***

 

Alfred and his men rode swiftly across the plain and found the village burned down. There were only the burned remains of houses and barns. The well was not poisoned, which was a silver lining. The men started clearing out the area, there was anger on their faces. The attackers destroyed their people's homes, the hopes and dreams of their countrymen were now nothing more than ashes.

“Don’t look so angry, we can rebuild a thousand villages, but people are not replaceable. What matters is that all of our countrymen are safe. Now we must double our efforts, the people will need to restart their lives, don’t let this be the first sight they see of their home.” (Alfred)

With a loud cheer the men moved with enthusiasm. Soon the village was cleared out and a temporary camp was erected. From this camp the people will, with the help of the government , rebuild their home.

Two days later the villagers returned to what was once their home. Some cried tears of joy, others were lost, all they had created was gone. Their one hope was their lord and his promise.

Alfred had given orders to the newly arrived forces and left with a small group of men. He had to return home and deal with the aftermath of this enemy incursion.

 

***

 

Alfred rode like a madman, the closer he got to home, the less pain he felt. The final night he, with the help of an elf scout, rode non-stop to reach his home before his son and wife woke up.

‘How many mornings has Henry woken up without me to greet him? Son, daddy will make it up to you I promise. Eleonora, how many sleepless nights have you spent thinking about what might happen to me?’ (Alfred)

Alfred's eyes welled up with tears, he quickly wiped them away so the people around him would not notice.

“There was some dust in my eyes.” (Alfred)

The elf was dumbfounded, this was a man who led charges and fought in the middle of the most brutal battles he has ever seen, and now he was tearing up as he was approaching his family home.

He nodded, “Yes sir, there is much dust in the air this morning.” The elf understood his feelings, after all every man in this unit, every soldier who marched into battle had someone waiting for him back home.

Soon, beyond the hill they saw the roof of the mansion. The flags were flying high. As he saw these flags Alfred made a sigh of relief. His family's emblem was there, as it was for centuries now. His heart started beating harder than ever, he moved his horse and went over the hill.

Before him stood his home, finally he had returned.

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