“When you’re fighting in the thick of battle, often you’re so engrossed in the battle itself that you’d ignore even your own injuries and the like. It was only after the fighting was over, when you returned to your camp to rest and recuperate, that the aches and pain caught up to you with a vengeance. That was never a fun experience.” - Akesha Mila, retired career soldier.

Shortly after Elfriede’s group returned into the folds of the Free Lances, horns were sounded to signal the main force of the army to put an end to the day’s hostilities. Reinhardt could see why. It was already rather late in the afternoon and everyone fighting was already tired. The enemy army had already pulled back and made for their camps, with the strike made by the mercenaries likely the last one for the day.

The cavalry forces of the Coalition kept a wary eye at the retreating enemy cavalry, who had spent the day riding, skirmishing, and slashing at the flanks of the Coalition formation. They caused some casualties but failed to affect the battle in the long run, other than forcing the coalition to use some of their own cavalry to drive them away every so often.

In contrast, the dwarven cavalry forces had extracted a bloody toll on the enemy army, with the enemy flanks bloodied quite thoroughly. The repeated passes did cost them a few casualties of their own, as mistakes happened when people tire, but it was a more than worthwhile exchange all considered. The dwarves themselves had withdrawn back to their camps first in order to care for their tired mounts.

Fighting for most of the daylight hours took a toll on the endurance of even the sturdiest of mounts, after all.

As the two sides retreated – the dwarves stopped chasing after a while – they also dragged their dead with them. Neither side was interested in letting the corpses rot and fester while being trampled by the fighting men the next day, as that would have likely led to a plague or worse. That and given the relatively inconclusive nature of the battles thus far, neither side was willing to “gift” the opposing side a wealth of arms, armor, and other equipment still attached to the dead.

Since the Free Lances had been at the forefront of the fighting that day, they were amongst the last ones to head back, the mercenaries having taken a few casualties themselves from the attempted pincer attack, but they also earned the head of someone suspected to be a general in return. Elfriede’s group had done their task and returned safely as expected.

Stolen novel; please report.

While they were uncertain of the identity of the head – Elfriede only had the opportunity to kill the man and then take his head with her, leaving his headless corpse behind – the helmet he wore implied that he likely had some rank, as it was of fine quality. At the very least, the man would be some sort of higher ranking commander, given the quality of the helmet in question.

“Think Sal got that archer?” Elfriede asked as the Free Lances walked back along with the rest of the army.

“Would have to ask her later to be sure. I think I saw where one of the arrows came from and it was deeper in than where you went today, so if she took him down, they likely brought his body back,” replied Reinhardt after a moment of thought. “I didn’t receive a warning about our commanders being sniped to relay, though, so at the very least she kept him busy enough to not do that.”

“I didn’t hear their arrows clashing for a good while now, so there’s probably some conclusion to their duel at least,” noted Elfriede with a nod of her head.

“You could hear that during the battle?” asked Reinhardt with some surprise. He knew that since Elfriede was blind her hearing was particularly acute – for a human – but had not expected it to be that acute to the point of being able to tell a specific noise in the din of an ongoing battle.

“Not easily, but that particular noise that metal makes when they hit each other so hard to the point of shattering is not common either. I can pick it up vaguely over the general noise,” replied Elfriede. “Sal and the other archer kept having their arrows meet in mid-air, often head to head, so I heard it every so often while they dueled.”

“Where was she shooting from, anyway? I was not paying attention to the back earlier. I kept my perception angled to the front and above in case we got one of the arrows aimed our way,” she asked in turn.

“Sal went to that tree up the hill over that way,” answered Reinhardt as he pointed with one finger. Elfriede might not be able to perceive the tree since it was too far away for her to sense, or even the hill, but she could at least tell the general direction from the way he pointed. “She probably stayed on top to snipe afterwards I guess? Maybe waiting for us to get back before she’d hop down.”

As they walked closer to the hill and there was still no sign of movement – or of Salicia, for that matter – though, Reinhardt started to get a bad premonition about things. The bad premonition only intensified when they got closer and he smelled a faint scent of blood. That should not have been the case. There was no fighting that day within a good hundred paces of that hill.

Worried, Reinhardt went up the hill along with Elfriede and a few others. They couldn’t quite see up the tree Salicia went up due to the branches and leaves that covered things from sight, so it was Elfriede who first noticed it once she got close enough to the tree.

“Oh, goddammit Sal…” she muttered sadly.

A few steps later the others finally got close enough to notice Salicia’s body slumped against the tree, still on the branch she went on, the arrow sticking out of her chest.