The sun was blocked out by clouds. Arturo flexed his right arm and was surprised to feel no pain. He was fully healed, and in just five weeks! He was thrilled, especially since they had entered Eshil Domain a few days ago.
News had reached Arturo that King Lerin was dead and his son, Talon, was now the king of Azzellia. That had been a shock. Some of the Crystal Syndicate had met the king and even dined with him. That amazed Arturo as he didn’t think a king would want to eat with commoners, let alone mercenaries.
So much was changing that it made Arturo’s head spin at times. After defeating Ribalt, the Crystal Syndicate now viewed Arturo as a legend. Some told him that he didn’t qualify as one, while others argued that he did. He didn’t care what people called him. Titles wouldn’t get him his revenge.
Arturo rode with Gosford, Fenrir, Kellan, Rogoth, Cevelt, and Tarmon. The young power user had been of great help, and Arturo was glad he agreed to serve him. Tarmon hadn’t wasted a second agreeing. Arturo’s only concern was that Tarmon would need to fight without the power and he didn’t know if the rogue power user could do so.
“And that’s why you shouldn’t run with your knife up. How embarrassing would it be to kill yourself by tripping?” Kellan said, making Fenrir and Rogoth holler with laughter.
“Nothing like being chased by someone with a knife to get the blood flowing,” Rogoth said with a lopsided grin.
“Have any of you been chased by someone with a knife?” Fenrir asked innocently. “I have. Was sleeping with this beautiful woman when her husband came home. The first thing he did was grab a knife and try to stab me!”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have slept with someone else’s wife then,” Cevelt said.
“I couldn’t help it. Have you ever had a women gaze at you? Not out of disgust, mind you,” Fenrir said with a giant grin. “How any man can deny a beautiful woman is beyond me.”
“It’ll get you killed one of these days,” Cevelt said.
Fenrir gave him a crooked smile, one that he said the ladies loved. “I could die any day. Never know when going into battle,” he said.
Arturo tuned out the rest of the conversation. He wondered if the rumors of Talon meeting Durran were true. Stories were out of control these days, though this one had some credible sources, according to Veldahar.
The thought of Veldahar made Arturo shake his head. Once Arturo agreed to stay, the commander appeared to be avoiding him. He supposed Veldahar was focused on leading the men and didn’t have time to talk.
Despite the size of the mercenary band, they moved quickly. Traveling from Vandalor to Eshil Domain was going quicker than he’d expected. It was a good thing he was healed, for Arturo wouldn’t have been happy to sit back and watch his comrades fight without him. Locals said the rebels in this area were smart and vicious.
“The meeting went badly from what I heard,” Gosford said, snapping Arturo out of his thoughts.
“What meeting?” Arturo asked.
“Between Talon and Durran,” Gosford said.
“Ah.” Arturo shouldn’t have been surprised. “Kings are as foolish as any other men.”
Gosford chuckled. “Better not let a lord hear you say that. Some of them get upset when you insult royalty.”
That made him think of loyalty. Lords and kings didn’t deserve that. Arturo blamed the king as much as the lords for what had happened to Arindall. Lord Maloi had left Arindall, looking for recruits in the capital, when the attack happened. He wondered what Maloi thought when he came back to the slaughter that happened in his absence. Did he even care?
Traveling these past two years had taught Arturo much. Many nobles were selfish people. Too many lords had tried commanding him about, as if they owned him like a slave. Some were better at hiding their plans than others. One lord tried to sweet talk him, then tried to have him killed when he refused an order to go after a commoner who had stolen some bread. It made him wonder if Maloi had played them all when acting as if he cared. He fingered the handle of his sword. That was the loyalty he needed: his weapon. Nothing else mattered in this world. You fought to survive, another harsh lesson he had to learn.
“Bugger off, Gosford,” Kellan said. “There ain’t no lords here.”
Gosford looked thoughtful as he stared at Tarmon. “Far as we know. This new recruit doesn’t act like a commoner to me.”
“Me?” Tarmon asked.
“Who else am I talking to?”
“I’m no lord,” Tarmon said.
Arturo saw Tarmon whisper to himself; he thought he heard ‘not anymore’. Tarmon was very quiet about his past. If he used to be a lord, how did he lose the position? He would ask the man when the time was right.
“If you say so…” Gosford was about to say something else but went silent as he squinted. “Is that a fire up ahead?”
“Yeah,” Cevelt said and unsheathed his sword. “Looks like the rebels in this area have been active.”
“Calm yourself,” Arturo said and examined the trees. If the enemy were nearby, they would be hidden among them. “Stay alert. This is a good spot for an ambush.”
A horse came galloping toward Arturo’s group carrying Melvin, one of the higher-ups in the Crystal Syndicate. Gosford groaned behind him. He hated the officer for some reason.
“Arturo,” Melvin said as he stopped his horse.
“What do you need?” Arturo asked. An officer didn’t come by just to chat. Melvin was used to Arturo’s bluntness.
“Veldahar wants your group to check out the fire. The rest of us will be scouring the area,” Melvin said.
“You suspect a trap and want us to go first?” Gosford asked.
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Melvin fixed his gaze upon Gosford. “Veldahar’s orders, not mine,” he said, then galloped off.
“I bet he volunteered us,” Gosford said.
“I doubt it. Veldahar believes we’re the most capable squad,” Arturo said. “Either way, let’s move forward. Rogoth, tell the others we’re moving toward the fire.”
“Yes, captain,” Rogoth said. The man always acted properly in serious situations.
“The rest of you, follow me.”
Arturo spurred his horse and hooves pounded the ground. He glanced at the tree line again, wondering when arrows would start raining down on them. It would be a silly way to die. Killing a legend and then being struck down by an arrow. That was one thing he had learned; no matter how skilled of a fighter, an arrow could kill you just as easily as any other man.
The stench of death hung in the air. Arturo wrinkled his nose as he saw burned carriages and corpses on the ground. There were no survivors. Guessing by their fancy clothing they had been plenty of guards with a few nobles. A group of people riding through a dangerous area and paying the price for it.
The strong survive. Going into a dangerous area like this is asking for death, Arturo thought. Oddly, he felt angry upon seeing the bodies. There were children, men, and women among the dead, along with twenty or so guards.
Cevelt hopped off his horse and stuck two fingers in the dirt where blood had been spilt. “This is fresh,” he said.
Arturo and his men surveyed the area. He was convinced the commander wanted to spring the rebel trap and he was being used as bait. If the rebels were hiding, they wouldn’t miss an opportunity like this to strike.
“I think there are rebels here. Most likely, their scouts know about the Crystal Syndicate,” Arturo said. His fingers itched to grab his sword. He felt like he was being watched. “Tarmon, go to Veldahar and tell him what we found. I expect we’ll get attacked once he gets over here.”
“On it,” Tarmon said and rushed toward his horse.
“What do you think, Gosford?” Arturo asked. He watched Tarmon gallop away.
“I think you’re right. They’ll strike once Veldahar gets close.”
Both of them were wrong. Arturo heard movement and saw something shine in the forest. “We’re under attack!” he yelled as a flurry of arrows came whistling out of the forest.
Gosford hollered a warning and ducked behind a carriage as arrows pelted the area.
Several of Arturo’s men screamed as arrows pierced them. Arturo deflected a couple of arrows and noticed a group of swordsmen watching them. They didn’t look heavily armed; they wore no armor, just swords.
“Arturo! We need to rush that forest or they’ll slaughter us!” Gosford yelled.
He didn’t need to be told twice. Another wave of arrows was loosed and more of his men were struck. From a glance, Arturo thought most would survive. Only a couple had been struck in a vital area. “Follow me!” he yelled and charged toward the nearest tree line with a few hundred soldiers following along.
Arrows whistled through the air and Arturo grimaced as one pierced his left thigh. He hadn’t been fast enough to block it. Ignoring the pain, he swung his sword and cleaved through one of the rebels.
Rebels were falling like flies. The archers panicked as Arturo and his men got close and the archers fired blindly. Pikemen moved forward to intercept the horses and were taken down by the Crystal Syndicate’s archers.
Raising his sword, Arturo went to kill another rebel when two arrows penetrated his horse’s throat. He was flung forward off his horse and slammed on his back. For a moment, he didn’t know what was happening as screams faded and the rebels he’d been about to kill were nowhere in sight.
A number of rebels were fighting Gosford and some others. Arturo shook his head to regain his focus. Gosford and Rogoth were cutting through the enemy, keeping any rebels from catching Arturo off guard. He owed them a few drinks after this battle.
Arturo shook his head again and got up. Ignoring the aching in his body, he rushed a nearby rebel and split him in half with a single strike. He turned just in time to see an axe coming his way and blocked the blow. Then he beheaded the man. More rebels came from all directions and his men were dwindling. “Everyone, on me!” he roared as he slew two more of the enemy.
The ground was littered with bodies. Most were rebels but some were his men. A horn blew in the distance and the rebels turned toward the sound. That turned out to be fatal for many, as Arturo and the others continued their assault.
Like a glorious hero, Veldahar charged in, his shining armor leading the Crystal Syndicate as they crashed into the enemy, sending many of the rebels to the ground. They thrust spears into the chests of many rebels and took down the enemy by the dozen with arrows.
The rebels yelled to get together until an arrow struck their leader in the throat.
“We need to retreat,” Veldahar said once he got close to Arturo.
“Retreat?” Arturo asked. The rebels were already retreating!
“Yes,” Veldahar looked grim as he spoke. “We ran into quite the trap. Half of our forces are engaging the enemy as we speak. I barely broke out with this lot to help you out. Thousands of rebels are swarming us, with more on the way.”
He didn’t get a chance to say anything as the rebels reformed and began attacking again. “We lost most of our horses,” Arturo said.
“We’ll cover you the best we can,” Veldahar replied.
Arturo nodded and ran toward the others. “Gosford, gather the survivors. We need to retreat.”
“Retreat?” Gosford was as surprised as Arturo had been. “Why?”
“Just do it,” Arturo growled. There wasn’t time to give him the details. He dodged a sword strike and brought his blade down. His opponent tried to block but the sword shattered and Arturo cut through the man’s shoulder, down to his left thigh.
Something wet ran down his left leg. Arturo panicked before realizing it was blood from the arrow wound he’d taken earlier. I can deal with that later, he thought, and engaged more of the enemy.
Before long, the survivors rallied to him. A little over half of the fifty men with him were still alive. Part of him wanted to yell at Veldahar, except the ambush had been planned well. Would the mercenaries have been better off if they’d stuck together?
Arturo led the way toward the road. The enemy were taunting them. Veldahar and his group were doing a good job holding the rebels back. The eager rebels who ran forward were cut down by horse riders or shot by arrows.
Arturo saw thousands of rebels engaging the Crystal Syndicate and the enemy was making ground. Why had the Azzellian commander told them to meet here? This was a disaster!
The Crystal Syndicate was outnumbered. Losses weren’t too bad, yet. That would change if they couldn’t escape the enemy. Arturo was about to engage when another horn went off. No, multiple horns were going off in all directions.
“What now?” Cevelt asked.
“Look,” Kellan said, pointing to one of the hills.
There was a large group of horse riders and ground troops gathering from multiple directions. One group was where the Crystal Syndicate had come from, while the other group was from the other side of the fire. Each side had a few riders hoisting a flag with a red eagle and green, red and blue stripes behind. It was the Azzellian troops.
The rebels saw the enemy forces and their looks of glee turned to fear as the riders of Azzellia came charging toward them at full force. Arturo had never seen so many soldiers in one area. At least ten thousand horse riders rode into the enemy forces and the rebels were slaughtered like lambs.
The Crystal Syndicate helped push back the rebels, and soon the enemy were throwing down their weapons and begging for their lives. Some of the rebels fought until the bitter end. Arturo didn’t blame the ones that kept fighting. From what he’d heard, King Harold was a ruthless man and the rebels would not be given any mercy.
Once the fighting had stopped, Arturo put away his sword and surveyed the battlefield. Thousands of bodies littered the area, many not yet dead. Some were begging for mercy and were given it as someone finished them off. Others weren’t so lucky and lay writhing on the ground until they bled out.
Healers were going over the wounded, trying to save the ones they could. Any that couldn’t be saved were marked with a red cross, while the ones that could be saved were put on wagons. Anyone who needed immediate attention was given it on the spot.
Then came the leader of the Azzellia forces, a man with piercing blue eyes and cropped blond hair, exuding natural authority.
“You did well,” the man said. “Without your assistance, we wouldn’t have been able to wipe out this group of rebels.”
Veldahar urged his horse forward to meet the commander. “Are you Corvin Malice?” he asked. There was a look of fury in his eyes that nobody could miss.
“I am,” Corvin said.