Chapter 32: Chapter 32: From One Fight to Another

With Baron Monrow dead, the remaining men in the mansion decided to give up. There was no real point in fighting on anyway. Braydon was glad for it, he would not need to lose more men before his next battle. Now all that he had to do here was round up the rest of his men, and find out how many of the garrison were left to use. They would be his troops now, though they would not be taking part in the battle to come. Braydon did not want to treat any of his men poorly, he would be stupid if he did. There were not many men that he could truly call his, most of this army would pack up and leave once the battles were over. Not that he could afford to keep so many mercenaries.

“Alright, stop gawking! You have one hour to rest before we move on to Grolosar make sure to use it wisely. And that does not mean looting, it means wrapping wounds and getting any sleep you can.” Rhydian shouted at the mercenaries who were milling about after Braydon’s duel. They were on a tight schedule, it would be midday soon. And according to Nela’s plan they wanted to be in position before either Baron Abel or Walker won their battle.

Braydon came over to Rhydian and Gerald, sheathing his sword after wiping it on the clothes of the dead Baron. Gerald looked rather impressed at how easy he had made it look. Rhydian on the other hand had a disapproving look on his face, and Braydon knew why.

“That was too risky.” Rhydian chastised.

“But it worked.” 

“And what would you have done if he was even slightly better in a fight? He’d have had your leg off in an instant. Don’t go copying Gerald’s risky tactics, it is hard enough for me to keep you alive as it is.” Rhydian shut down Braydon’s weak defence instantly.

“My tactics aren’t risky, they are effective.” Gerald tried to protest.

“And how many times did Braydon have to save your arse when one of your ‘effective tactics’ failed in the past several hours?” Rhydian’s counter left Gerald with no response either. He was right, Gerald had needed saving from his risks as much as Braydon had needed saving from his lust for battle. 

“Now get some rest, you’ll need it if you want to take part in this afternoon’s battle.” Rhydian finished scolding the young men and sent them off to get some rest. He still had new troops to reorganise into a garrison and had to supplement them with Braydon’s existing troops too. Things would go alright once everything settled down but right now it was a lot of work, that Corban was quite frankly more suited to dealing with than him. 

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Baron Walker was not having a very good time. Not two days ago had he received reports of several hundred men waltzing across his land, and now he was having to fight off an all out attack from Baron Abel’s men. It was his fortune that he had started preparing his men for battle immediately after an army marched through his land, otherwise Abel’s all out attack would have blindsided his unprepared forces. A guard ran up to report to him, from the battlefield.

“There is no sign of Baron Abel himself, Sire.” 

“Of course that fat ass hasn’t come personally. He can hardly fit through a door, let alone march with an army.” Baron Walker looked down upon the lavish lifestyle of his contemporary. In contrast, he was a fairly handsome man with a large moustache that he liked to keep well kept. He was also in much better shape than Baron Abel and had thus joined the battlefield. He doubted that Abel had even picked up a sword in his life.

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“I would say that he had the good manners to attack after we have eaten, but he probably found his food more important than ordering his troops to move out.” What Baron Walker did not know was that this was the time that had been agreed upon by Braydon and Baron Abel.

“Anything else to report?” 

“No, Sire.”

“Then let us take part in the fighting, I do not want to lose to a man who is not even here.” Baron Walker announced as he made his way to the front, giving his men a boost to morale. The unspoken part was that his forces needed it, they were relatively even with Baron Abel’s troops. Baron Walker was not about to leave his battle to chance, he wanted to make sure that it was not his men who broke rank first.

The battle raged on for two more hours before, one by one, Abel’s men started to flee the field. Of course when the first man crumbles the rest are not long behind him. Abel’s knight, who commanded his forces, tried to rally the men but it was no use. It was a full route. He decided to turn around and go back with what little forces he had remaining.

 Baron Walker was not in a position to follow, he had lost about as many men, just that they were standing strong. Following with such heavy losses was not possible, his men had gone from just over 200 ready for battle to below 150. Baron Walker saw this happening and told his men not to follow. He had won the battle and could follow it up after his army had rested, there was no way that Abel would be able to gather his men before he had marched his army to his front gate.

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“Send half of the men to round up those who are fleeing the field. Let’s get as many of them as we can.” Braydon ordered when they saw men coming one by one from the distance. His army had gotten to Grolosar not long earlier. He had sent a scout to find the battlefield and was now waiting for the two forces to exhaust each other. It appeared that somebody had won. And from the direction the troops were running it had not been Baron Abel.

“As for the rest of us, let’s go and give Baron Walker a nice surprise.” Although they would likely not have any counter attack from the winning Baron like they hoped, capturing one was the next best option. Braydon hoped that he could at least achieve this.

As his army marched towards the battlefield, Baron Walker’s troops came into view. He was sure he could see their faces fall, even if they could not be made out well at such a distance. That did not slow his army’s forward march, however, only bringing a slight smile to his face.

“Surprise.” Braydon muttered under his breath. He was just one battle away from controlling the entirety of the former Viscounty of Kirton. It would put him in a much better position to rival his brother. He could not help but be happy, he had made the first big move. ‘How will George react to this?’

"I can't wait."