Luc and I jumped out of the tent. Rain quickly soaked us, and mud overflowed into our leather shoes.
Reaching the largest tent, I rushed in without announcing our presence. Inside, the captain was sitting back in his chair, relaxed, and carefree. “Is there something you need Gregoire, and Luc?”
I was slightly surprised he knew Luc’s name, but I quickly moved on. “Ligothe has found an enemy party.”
“Where exactly?” He turned to his table on which a large map was set without wasting time.
I don’t know why, but I was expecting him to run out with us, to at least lose his usual demeanour, but no.
“On this map?” I asked.
“Yes.” He waved me over.
I couldn’t help but share a look with Luc, maybe the captain wasn’t stoic but crazy. Looking over his shoulder onto the map, there were multiple crosses, lines, arrows, and many other things I didn’t understand.
“Here.” The captain pinned a small red pin into the map. “We’re here. Tell, me, in what direction did he find them."
I didn’t know where North pointed here, so I just pointed to my right.
“That would be East,” said the captain rubbing his chin nonchalantly while glancing at the map.
I couldn’t take it. My anxiety and anxiousness were building up. “Shouldn’t we go out and face them?”
“Face them?” muttered the captain, “and why would we do that? We’re just here for reconnaissance, not direct confrontation. Our job is to locate the potential areas where the enemy are hiding or traversing. Then we send it back to the main command. They will decide whether we pursue this information, or they may choose to send another, more combat focused corps to assault them.” He paused, letting the rain drops reverberate atop the canopy. “But I doubt that will be anytime soon.”
#
Lying in bed, I couldn’t lie and say I wasn’t disappointed.
Lying in bed, I couldn’t lie and say I didn’t want to run out and face those called my enemies.
Lying in bed, I wanted to become a warrior.
Even with a class, I was treated like everyone else, this class, it wasn’t anything special at the end of the day. That’s because my class wasn’t special, it was practically useless since I couldn’t even sell gargoyles.
No money, no strength, no prestige, no honour.
But would I get that if I went out now…
No, probably not.
I closed my eyes.
#
For the next few days, Ligothe encountered a few other enemy parties, and yet again, we did nothing.
The captain would let me point in which direction the enemy had gathered before transferring the information onto a smaller map he’d give the duke’s messengers.
My legs were twitching to run off and fight, but I held it in. But finally, the day came.
On a sunny day, when the wind blew North to South, bringing forth a cool breeze, we were walking through a particularly thick part of the forest when my artifact shook erratically.
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Shit! Well, I wasn’t sure, isn’t this what I wanted. The enemy, they were coming towards us.
Running to the back of the formation, I went up to the captain. “Sir, Ligothe has spotted an enemy attack.”
“Towards us?” The captain held his usual calm demeanor, but there was a certain sharpness to his voice.
“Yes.” I gave myself a second to feel the direction of the artifact’s movement… Left, right… Left, right… It couldn’t be, “We’re being surrounded, left and right.”
The captain sneered. I didn’t know what this meant in this kind of situation, but it was certainly better than panic. At least that’s what I was telling myself. In what world would an ambushed reconnaissance party survive and come out alive.
“We’re a league away from a small break in the forest. It is a small clearing. Left and right, they’re going to ambush us with cavalry. It’s most likely only meant to harass us. They’d need more than thirty mounted men-at-arms to take us on. That wouldn’t do.”
I didn’t know if he was speaking to me, his aids, or himself. But his rationalizing of put us at ease.
“But then again, they might have sent a class holder. Let us not walk into their trap.
Men!” He yelled, “We’re taking the left, there is an ambush waiting for us outside this forest, but it is us who will take advantage. We will assault their left wing before dealing with the right. Let us move.”
This time the cheers were muted. Yes, they still believed in the captain and the duke’s intentions, but life wasn’t cheap, at least not yet.
#
Creeping out of the forest, I glanced to the side in search of the enemy. Ligothe had returned to me earlier and I had him fly over to the leftmost group. They were hiding in a small patch of trees in the clearing. Looking in that direction, I tall black shadows mixed amongst the leaves and branches.
“Over there,” I pointed out their location to the captain and the sight sharpening class holder.
“There are seventeen mounted men-at-arms,” said the latter.
Seeing the shadows as well, the captain nodded, and we returned to the corps. This time he didn’t give a fluff speech.
“There are seventeen mounted men-at-arms, about ten toise out of the forest.” He turned to me and went on to elaborate the plan.
#
Throwing my arm in the air, I let Ligothe fly off. He made off into the sky, emerging out of the forest, he looked like an eagle. Not long after, I saw him dive down into the enemy position.
“He’s in!” I told the corps. We ran off sprinting. We had to make as much ground while Ligothe was distracting the enemies.
The captain led the charge. And as we ran after him, our steps became easier. Not only were we faster, but we also didn’t get tired, and our steps made less noise when striking the earth.
I couldn’t help but focus on the rattling artifact. I had told Ligothe to fly away if things got too dangerous that we would make the run-in time, but—
I could now clearly see the mounted men-at-arms. They were swinging their swords in the air, trying to get the moving shadow that was Ligothe. They were getting close.
Putting all my strength in my step, I tried to go faster, and I should have been able to as almost none here were class holders, but I couldn’t.
Shit. Was this because of the captain’s skill.
How was this run talking so long? Looking ahead, I saw it.
A sword cut Ligothe’s wing.
“We got to run faster!” I yelled at the captain. “He won’t last long.”
But instead of running any faster, the captain gave me a dirty look…
That’s when I saw the pressure on Ligothe ease.
The enemy had heard me.
Most of them turned to face us, while a few kept trying to get Ligothe who was frantically beating his one good wing—We could now see the white of their eyes—At least we had snuck up enough for them not to be able to charge us.
They put away their swords and aimed their spears down to us.
They didn’t seem to have a class holder with them.
“Charge!” One of our men yelled and the others copied. Our steps once quiet, now made the earth tremble, and the various metals we had clasping our armour clattered like the ringing of heaven’s bells.
Getting in a tight, we got in an arrowhead formation and charged straight into the middle of the cavalry line.
One. Two. Three spears cut the necks and joints of rangers.
Our blades cut through the men-at-arms’ saddle laces and horse leather.
Neighing, horses fell, trampling both their riders and our men. Blood and guts sprayed out, blinding us, forcing us to rub the blood out of our eyes; they now burned, and the world had a red tint.
Doing my best, I swung at an incoming spear. Out of luck, or perhaps my training had come in handy, I managed to cut its shaft right below the pointed head.
The mounted men-at-rm threw what was now a pole to the ground and grabbed a mace. It was dark grey, nearly black with splatters of spikes all over. As he swung it around, the swishing of air was all I could hear.
Kicking his horse forward while swinging down his mace, I jumped to the side into a mass of our men.
Trying to back off the engagement, I was blocked from behind by other rangers with their swords raised high. Looking to my right, there were only a few others, same with my left. It took me a few more instants of looking before I realized it.
We had been encircled.