We didn’t make it all the way to the edge of the forest before Marci sent back images of the other Kingsworn. They were riding back towards us hard and would make contact in a few minutes. One of the soldiers must have had a way to communicate with them before they died. I checked in with Van, he was just bored. Guard duty didn’t suit the young forest ape well.
“The soldiers have turned and are on the way back to us, riding hard.” I announced to the group behind me.
We quickly decided to plant a few more bombs in the road and try the same strategy as the last time. There was no time to dig so I just hid them as well as I could in the shrubbery that grew around the roads edges. It wouldn’t fool anyone looking for them but we had no reason to believe that the soldiers would know about the bombs yet. We stood in the middle of the road a few dozen back and waited for the soldiers.
Within a minute the dust cloud was visible against the clear blue sky of the afternoon. The soldiers came into view a few seconds later, horses running ragged. The soldier in the lead called for a halt when we were spotted and they grouped up and dismounted. It was an intimidating sight to see them fully armed for battle and prepared, gone was the arrogance from the earlier group.
One of the soldiers slinked around through the fields and came up near the first bomb, too far for the detonation to kill. He closed his eyes for a few moments before moving back to discuss with the others. He must have a way to detect the bombs, the explosions wouldn’t catch them off guard this time. We needed a new plan. Before I could think of what to do the lead soldier walked forwards and removed his helmet.
“I don’t know how you managed to defeat the rest of my men, pig-headed as they could be, they were good soldiers. Turn yourselves over to my custody now and you will receive a fair trial in Etes. Do not fall for the rumors from war mongering fools, the King still rules with justice.” He said. He looked to be around thirty years old, he had the typical brown eyes and ashy blonde hair of the Eter aristocracy.
As he was speaking I felt the familiar tingle of someone using Identify on me. I triggered every explosion I could as fast as I could to try to disrupt the skill. The last thing I needed was to be Identified and have that relayed back to Etes. The blasts released a powerful shockwave that knocked down a few of the townspeople standing near me. A cloud of dust and debris blocked the view of the soldiers temporarily.
“They tried to use Identify, I don’t know if it worked. The element of surprise is gone, we need to end this quickly. I don’t know if they have a way to contact Etes but the last thing you all want to happen is the King to find out I was here.” I spoke and readied for combat. I unbundled my bow and held an arrow at the ready for the first sign of movement.
Marci sent me images of her view, she couldn’t see through the dust cloud either. I sent her to get Van and have him stash Nadia’s body and come from behind. We needed our full strength for this, there might be a strong level advantage but these were professional soldiers.
A soldier's head popped into view and I released it before I could lose sight of it. The arrow clanged against his armor and he gave an answering roar. The soldiers charged out of the dust cloud fully mounted and coming directly at us.
“Scatter!” I yelled and dashed off the road.
I grabbed a standard bomb and threw it at the approaching horsemen and detonated it in the air before the first one. There was an explosion of gore as the horse was ripped apart and the rider thrown off to the dirt. One down, five to go. The rest were too close to the townspeople to risk another explosion so I looked for an opportunity with my bow. I managed to sink two arrows into the flank of one of the horses riding down on Risco before one of the others turned to charge at me.
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I got one arrow in its chest and it reared up and almost bucked its rider off. The rider regained control and directed it directly at me, to close for another arrow. I dodged out of its way to the right and rolled to try to get some space, a burning shock of pain ripping against my side. The soldier had thrown his spear and it had gouged through my armor. I chugged a potion and readied for another charge.
The horse was barreling back down towards me, I grabbed a popper out of my inventory and tossed it at the horse's head and watched its blind panic when it went off. The horse did buck the soldier this time and he landed heavily in the dirt. No time for mercy I dashed over and stabbed him in the neck with my spear. Bile rose in my throat at the act but I couldn’t linger here.
The rest of the fight was going poorly for the people of Gleice. Two of the townsmen were down, one with a spear standing out of his chest. Risco was in a melee engagement with a swordsman that was also being attacked by Marci. She was diving in and out of his range and blocking his view, allowing Risco to score some easy hits with his old sword. They would have to handle him on their own.
The last three townsmen from Gleice were trapped between the last two soldiers. They had dismounted and were advancing, the townsmen had lost their weapons. I loosed two arrows at them in rapid succession and managed to hold their attention long enough for the townsmen to fall back and regroup. One versus two wasn’t great odds so hopefully they would be back in the fight soon. I met them with my spear and backed defensively, we had the numbers now we just needed time.
Only one of them stayed with me, the other backing off to finish the unarmed townsmen. I blocked his first two advances, the pain in my side getting worse. I triggered Empower on Marci and then used Clone Companion and commanded it to attack the soldiers before he could get to the townsmen. I heard a shriek in response as Marci began attacking more aggressively with her enhanced stats.
The soldier facing me was skilled with his sword. He was getting close to scoring a hit on me, I sorely needed more practice with my spear against armored opponents. I palmed a popper out of my inventory and dropped it behind my back, hoping the soldier wouldn’t notice. I backed away slowly while deflecting his blows, his foot stepped on the popper and detonated it. The soldier looked down at the noise and jumped, I stabbed with my spear and caught him just under his sword arm. He batted the spear away with his other arm but he was injured now. He tried to hold the weight of the sword but couldn’t and switched over to his other arm.
The tone of the fight had changed now, I advanced with quick probing strikes trying to find an opening. I had tunnel vision and didn’t even notice Marci as she dove in and scratched with her talons through the guards helmet. He cried out in agony and dropped his sword, arms going to his face. I finished him with a stab through the neck and turned to see the battle was over.
The two townsmen that I had seen earlier were the only casualties. Risco and Marci had defeated their opponent, clone Marci had kept the other busy until they killed him too. The three unarmed townsmen were alive, just injured. We checked all of the soldiers and confirmed their deaths.
Just after checking the last corpse I heard a shout from one of the townsmen. Van had made it just in time to miss the fight and he was definitely annoyed. I realized he was still carrying Nadia as he dumped her unceremoniously to the ground, he pounded his chest once in annoyance. I calmed the townsmen down and explained that this was my companion and he meant no harm, well to us.
Risco started to speak but closed his mouth and just shook his head. I was about to offer more of an explanation to the beleaguered townsmen when I heard a cough. Nadia had rolled over to her side and was coughing. “Ow” she moaned and flopped on her back. Risco rushed over to her side and I tossed him a health potion.
“What happened? Risco? Is that you?” She whispered in a weak voice.
“It’s me, I’m here. Your friends saved us from a group of Kingsworn, we just finished the last of them. You just rest, we’ll get you back to the Inn.” He responded in a soft voice and bent low and picked her up. He turned to me and nodded as we all started back down the road towards Gleice. We had managed to keep control of two of the horses in all the chaos, that would be a massive boon. Our prisoner was still unconscious and shackled, I had Van grab him and carry him.