The soldiers were cheering, for their victory was assured.
A short while ago they sortied under the berserk spell, rendering them invulnerable to pain and dread of the battlefield. Many wounded died after the spell has faded, and many more were standing on top of the slain monster. The last signs of its live were gone, and the soldiers celebrated.
However, some felt uneasy all of a sudden.
It all started with a couple of horsemen riding out on top of the nearby ridge.
A couple turned into a dozen, and then into the light cavalry charging ahead of several formations of knights. While the heavy cavalry was still walking, the skirmishers began throwing javelins and shooting arrows at the infantry.
Spears to the front, and the wall of shields was formed. Archers began shooting arrows at the circling light cavalry.
Handling a bunch of skirmishers would be possible. Heck, even a handful of knights would be possible for this amount of troops.
But not an entire tide of them!
No matter how much of a lion a man is in his heart, seeing armored cavalry walk over the ridge, pouring like a mighty river, would make even the bravest tremble. The infantry started wavering, now that their minds were no longer in an enraging haze. However, running away was not an option either. Should they run, the cavalry will charge, should they stand here, the cavalry may charge. They would be slaughtered either way, but for now the soldiers remained rooted in place.
A minute later the knights started galloping, and the light cavalry rushed out of their way.
The ground shook under the hooves of heavy cavalry, and the shaking only increased as the cavalry approached.
‘SMASH’
Like a hammer falling on an anvil, the infantry absorbed the impact. To their greatest regret in the afterlife, the infantrymen were a piece of metal in between the two. The knights mercilessly impaled and cut the foot soldiers, and at the frontlines was slashing left and right a man in bright red armor, suitable for the future king.
The battle went on, as the ground became painted in crimson. Horses and men were walking on bodies. The ones who were on foot were pushed back further and further, until they retreated to the foot of the hill, where was so much blood, that its flow reached their knees.
The warlord shouted: ‘Charge!’, and the glorious knights fearlessly pierced the middle of the remaining shield wall. The feeble formation crumbled, and the troops started running for their lives under the knights’ onslaught, and the skirmishers’ harassment.
However, the brave riders were dying too, impaled on the spears, or cut by the swords after falling off their mounts. But those poor souls were few in comparison with those who were fighting on their feet.
The Bayern cavalry continued chasing after the fleeting infantry all the way until the fortress’ mangonels began throwing rocks from the safety of the walls.
Songs will be sung of that day, when through mere casualties of 700 brave warriors the kingdom defeated almost 3000 of its enemies, burying the enemy’s lingering hope of winning the battle for the capital.
But a very much different kind of songs would be sung the same day later. The kind of songs that would ring in the duke’s ears with the young maiden’s voice, in a weird mixture of Russian and English swearing…
Two cloaked persons slipped through a crowd, and with a lot of effort made it to the shady back steets of the market district.
Today the military administration is conducting a raid to exterminate the marginals of this area. The ones who are smuggling weapons for the rebels.
Currently, the scale of the rebellion is so miniscule that there is no need for large patrols. But it would not be so for long.
The cloaks walked down the deserted back street, enjoying a rare moment of silence. Only the echoes of the bustling street were coming from the other side of the buildings.
That is until the pair in cloaks noticed a woman with a little boy coming out from one of the buildings.
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The kid held a piece of a pie, and curiously looked at two persons.
Unlike the silly child, his mother felt uneasy from the cold gazes of the two suspicious strangers. She cautiously waved to them, and surprisingly, the strangers nodded in response.
It appeared that the strangers continued on their way, allowing the woman to be relieved.
At the same time, on the other end of the back street.
Two soldiers were patrolling in search of any signs of rebels and criminals.
They couldn’t notice a short black tube sticking out of a pile of garbage in a corner.
A finger slowly pulled the trigger, until a small clap was heard.
Pom
The tube jerked to a side, and another clap followed.
Pom
Before the soldiers could yell, they were killed.
‘Rapier squad, the scene is set.’
At the short phrase, the two people in cloaks suddenly turned back towards the mother and child.
Before either of them could yell, the woman was cut with a sword.
“MAMA!!!” The squalling child did not have to grieve for long, as another sword fell on his head.
Two corpses were left as is, while the operatives leisurely walked down the back street with the blood trail following them.
They walked all the way to the end of the street and dropped the bloodied swords by the killed soldiers.
‘Took you sweet time? I was worried somebody would come by.’ There were two more operatives, they held the clean swords that were pulled out of the dead ones’ scabbards.
‘But nothing happened, right?’ One of the operatives chuckled.
The weapons of murder were thrown by the bodies’ hands, and after the team that stood by the corpses gave their ‘go ahead’, Rapier 1 pulled out a handgun and aimed into the sky.
“JUSTICE!!!” (R1)
BANG BANG