“Pulling off an orderly retreat is about as hard as winning a battle beautifully.” - Saying attributed to Xaliburnus the Conqueror, First Emperor of the Elmaiya Empire.
“I’d say it looks like a good time for us to beat a retreat, Your Grace. They’re pulling their troops back from the main battle. They could take us down piecemeal before the rest of the forces we came to help caught up with them,” said Reinhardt as he took a chance to check the situation of the battlefield from the top of the hill the enemy mage cadre died on. “What would you say?”
“Lend me the spyglass for a bit?” asked the young Duchess. Reinhardt wordlessly passed her the spyglass and waited as she took a look at the battlefield for herself. After a moment of thought, the young Duchess returned the spyglass to him and nodded. “I concur, Captain, let us retreat then. Are the siege engines taken care of?”
“As you can see,” said Reinhardt while he pointed at the burning forms of the siege engines. The closest few had already burned down to rubble and ashes, and only the further ones kept their shape still. In the distance he spotted the bulky forms of Mischka and her detachment as they pulled a fighting retreat back towards where their main force was. “I doubt they’d be able to make any patchwork ones out of what’s left of those.”
This time around, Reinhardt had Mischka’s group carry extra jars of combustible oils just for burning down those siege engines. They had no lack of it since such oils were used to fuel the more mundane lanterns in the army encampment, and the young Duchess had easily agreed to the request as well.
“Make it so, then, Captain,” said the young Duchess with a nod as they both ran down the hill and regrouped with their forces. Reinhardt followed the command with several shrill whistles into the enchanted command whistle he used, and was satisfied to see his people react promptly to the signals. “Good work today.”
Once everyone had regrouped, they traced their path back out from the encampment, which was a relatively easy task, as most of their forces had stretched thin to secure the way out. Before too long they had regathered themselves outside the walls of the encampment, where everyone did a quick count of their people even while the knights mounted their horses.
They had lost around one people in twenty, while more than one in ten sported injuries, but considering the amount of damage they’ve done to the enemy encampment, it was overall a good raid. Reinhardt had gathered his smaller group and headed towards where the rest of the forces from the South kept the Central forces at bay, while the young Duchess had other plans.
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“Lend me Soledad for a bit. I’m going to take my knights and strike their flanks so our troops can break contact, then we pull a general retreat,” she had said before they parted. At the same time, the young Duchess also tasked Reinhardt to help lead the retreat towards the east, where their allies from Algenverr and the forces of Fort Kazka were located.
It was an arrangement Reinhardt had agreed on. Soledad and her group was relatively fresh as they had guarded the area near the entrance they made into the encampment, whereas the rest of the group that came with him were somewhat fatigued after the sprint they performed to reach the encampment alongside the cavalry.
While Reinhardt brought Lars back to the rear of the army fighting on the southern flank, where the Company’s archers and slingers were located, guarded by the rest of the mercenaries that had not joined the charge at the encampment, The cavalry under the young Duchess’ lead rushed towards the battle lines.
They struck the fighting Central faction’s troops from the side, and quickly threw their formation into chaos in their passing. Since by then the signal for an orderly retreat had been given, the soldiers freed from their opponents quickly took advantage of the chaos to break free from those they fought against and withdrew in an orderly manner.
“Lars, go and help coordinate the retreat with the others,” said Reinhardt as soon as they reached the rest of the Company. While they were somewhat tired from the run, they were in good enough shape to fight some more, while some even carried the injured and the few prisoners they captured along with them. “I’ll lead the retreat from this side. We’ll evacuate the wounded and those we rescued first.”
“Understood, Cap,” replied Lars with a salute as he left to coordinate with the other commanders. In their assault of the encampment, the mercenaries had also found captives in one of the tents they passed. There were not many of them, barely half a dozen, likely people with high enough standing to be ransomed by the looks of them, so they simply carried them away as well.
Those captives sported various kinds of injuries, though their wounds were treated quite well, and they didn’t seem to be mistreated during their captivity. One of them, a young woman with the characteristic brown skin of the northern regions who had bandages wrapped over her forehead and left eye, seemed to be the one in charge between them, and she approached Reinhardt once they started to retreat.
“Many thanks for the rescue, Sir,” said the young woman.
“It’s just part of the work we’re paid to do, though I’ll admit it was more a coincidence that the tent you’re kept in happened to be right next to the path we took,” replied Reinhardt nonchalantly. The withdrawal had proceeded smoothly so far, as the Central forces chose not to pursue, as they were wary of being caught in a pincer attack from the east and south. The young Duchess and her cavalry had also joined them in retreat, after they fought their way through enemy lines and back out, though they were still a bit behind them at the moment. “You are?”
“Miriam Levan-Tovmund, Sir. I shall convey this debt of kindness to my Uncle the Duke,” replied the young woman with a nod and a smile. Reinhardt had expected her to be a noble, but not one so closely related to the Duke himself. Then again, the border duchies do seem to have that habit of training their progeny as knights and leading from the front. “I am certain that he will remunerate your services generously.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear,” replied Reinhardt with a spreading smile on his miens.