Without hesitation, the company rode forward with all haste. Frits felt an arrow narrowly miss his head as he looked back. Northfolk soldiers were streaming out of the forest in large numbers. The drums flared up again as they yelled and surged forward with unceasing ferocity.
“Ride, Ride!” Brenen shouted as the Hailgaladrians rode forth. A few of the riders fell to the arrows. The pursuing soldiers quickly engulfed them and snuffed them out.
We will outrun them, Frits thought with hope in his heart.
That hope was quickly dashed when a number of soldiers jumped up from the long grass in front of them. They had long spears that downed more riders and caused the others to change course.
After a time of more northfolk entering the fray, the company was boxed in. There was at least a hundred enemies all around. They closed ranks on the Hailgaladrian horses. Frits assessed his companions, in all, there were sixteen left standing. Brenen let his high horn ring out into the endless fields of Aeros.
As it blew, the northfolk were frightened and staggered back as if waiting for an answering call. When no answer came, the northfolk closed in, but kept their distance. It seemed that they were waiting on something, or someone.
Within moments, a weerwolven came barreling through the northfolk lines. It circled the riders once, slowly assessing each of them one by one. The creatures black fur blew in the wind. In the light of day, the creature was all the more terrifying. Large teeth barred as it snarled. It had blue eyes that glowed faintly and bore the blue gem on its chest.
“What is that?” one of the soldiers whispered under his breath.
“A weerwolven, at least that is what they told us at Frostwatch,” Frits murmured back. “These things attacked the town in force.”
Once the weerwolven had assessed his enemies, it stopped and black smoke enveloped it to reveal the slender man. Eva remembered him from the woodsmen village. Frits shuddered as he remembered his cunning voice by the messenger’s cabin.
“My are you hard to find,” the man started as he stared his piercing, blue eyes at Eva. “And you are hard to kill.”
Eva and Frits remained silent. They had no words for him, only stares in return.
Finally, Brenen spoke, “As a representative of the royal army of Hailgalad, I order you to depart from this land. If you remain here as an armed host, it will lead to your demise.”
The man laughed a soft and melodious laugh. “What a small force you have to deliver you to the city. Do you know the only true authority in every corner of this world? It is not some decree or drawn lines on a map. The true authority is power. We have the power now, Hailgaladrians. You will feel the hammer fall hard and swift on your people. You will know the pain that we have known.”
“If you come to our lands seeking conflict, it is conflict you will find. Whatever you bring upon our people, your will receive doubled in return,” Brenen said defiantly. “Let us pass and maybe we will let our superiors know of this act of goodwill. It may save your lives in the end.”
“I cannot let those two go,” the man pointed at Eva and Frits. “And I assume they have spoken with you, so I cannot let any of you go. Not as we are so close to our goal.”
“What happened to the woodsmen village? Those people, what did you do to them,” Frits blurted out. He knew this was not the time, but he wished desperately to know their fate.
The man smiled, “We come as liberators, but those that work against us will face justice. We knew they helped you to find some back trail to take. Any royal messenger would have just taken the road and fallen into our hands, but they helped you. Do not worry, they received their justice.”
Frits’ blood boiled and it felt that all his wounds and pain melted away. He drew his sword and stared at the man. “You will not see your home again. I will make sure of that.”
“Very well,” the man said. “I wished to take you alive. I have truly been impressed by your tenacity these days. The unrelenting push toward your goal, your mission. I suppose the smarter thing to do is to just kill you here.”
The man motioned his hand and with that the northfolk closed in with a steady march. Three of the Hailgaladrian troops broke ranks, and their horses charge in various directions. They cut down of the few of the soldiers, but they were eventually dragged down by the mass of northfolk.
Brenen, Eva, Frits, and the others held fast as they looked around. It seemed to be hopeless as no holes opened in their lines.
Eva sighed and drew her sword. “There is no running, but we can make it a fight to our last.”
All the other soldiers yelled and drew their swords. They formed up and charged forward with relentless fervor. The riders pushed through the soldiers, but where quickly overwhelmed. Eva and Frits swung at the northfolk from Taunten as he tried to push on. It was little use as the Hailgaladrian soldiers were being cut down.
Frits looked around and felt so hopeless. He was pulled down from Taunten and slammed into the ground. He fought of countless hands grabbing at him. Just as Frits felt that he had given everything to keep his adversaries at bay, a high horn rang.
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***
To accompany the horn, as if out of a dream, Frits heard the powerful voices of his people.
Glorious day to serve our king,
Glorious day indeed.
Glorious day for arms to ring,
Glorious day indeed.
Shake your swords,
Splinter your shields.
Fight on the fords,
Fight in the fields.
Glorious day to serve our queen,
Glorious day indeed.
Glorious day with grasses green,
Glorious day indeed.
Shake your swords,
Splinter your shields.
Fight on the fords,
Fight in the fields.
There was a clang of metal and shouts nearby. The northfolk moved off of Frits and looked to form a line. Frits struggled to his feet as his side throbbed in pain. Eva, who was also thrown from Taunten came alongside Frits and looked out into the field. Another scouting party of soldiers in brilliant, shining armor joined the fray.
“We may make it out of this yet,” Eva said hopefully.
Before they could react, the two heard a growl and the hairy beast leapt onto Frits and Eva. To Frits’ horror, the weerwolven grabbed Eva’s arm and swung her around violently. It whipped her into a tree and let her body fall in a heap. The creature turned to Frits and bared his teeth. Anger rushed to Frits’ head and blocked out all his pain.
He gripped his sword and clenched his teeth, “Come on, let’s finish this.”
He urged forward and the creature leapt back at him. Frits’ dropped down and thrust his sword forward. The blade was caught in its thick hide as it was yanked form his hands.
It let out a howl and clawed at the blade, but it was in too deep. Instead, he charged Frits again. Frits scrambled on the ground for anything to defend himself. He grabbed a large rock and used it to send a blow to the wolf's head. The beast’s teeth caught his injured shoulder and Frits let out a shout.
The creatures turned to attack Frits, but someone stepped in his way. It was Brenen. His sword was held high as he thrusted it into the beast. It pawed at him, slashing his head. At that time, two northfolk tackled him to the ground.
Frits was exhausted. His body was broken, his mind was fogged. His mission was lost to him. All he had left was the fight in front of him. Brenen fought in a scrum with the two northfolk soldiers. The creature stood and watched the scene. He noticed Frits moving and walked towards him slowly, as if to savor the moment. All around them, the din of battle raged on. Frits did not know who had the upper hand. It did not matter. All that mattered was him and the beast.
Frits mustered his final strength and lunged and the wolf. He wiggled under its snout and wrapped his arms around the animal’s thick neck. He felt helpless as he was thrashed back and forth. All he could do was hold on.
His fingers were slipping as another body was hurled into the fray. It lunged toward the blue gem of the weerwolven. It was Eva giving her last to break the weerwolven’s power. She trusted her armored shoulder into the gem and there was a surge of power. Eva, Frits, and the weerwolven were all thrown back in a storm of black smoke.
Frits instinctively scrambled back up and picked up a short blade from the ground. The slender man stood up as well. He looked terribly injured and bloodied, but had not fallen yet. Before the northfolk captain could react, Frits tackled him to the ground and ran his blade into him.
The northfolk captain was delivered a mortal wound. He laid there staring at the man who had been his prey on the northern forest road.
Through his last breaths, he uttered, “Against the darkness that comes, you will not survive. Your kingdom will burn."
***
Frits staggered back and went down to one knee. Exhaustion enveloped his body, but it was not over yet. The weerwolven was vanquished, but the mission remained. He looked over to see Eva shoving the last northfolk off of Brenen. He was hurt, but ready to continue on. Eva held her arm and swayed.
“Are you alright?” Frits asked, still out of breath.
“Are any of us?” she responded. “I am alive, that is all that matters.”
Taunten came running to them as the soldiers clashed with one another all around them. A northfolk solider charged them and Brenen quickly dispatched them.
“You need to leave,” he yelled to them over the din.
Eva turned to Frits, “You need to leave.”
Frits looked puzzled as he tried to breathe through his pain. “What do you mean? We are going together.”
“You will be quicker as a lone rider. You need to leave now. I will stay with the soldiers here,” she said defiantly.
Frits shook his head, “I am not leaving you.”
Eva smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. “You are the royal messenger. This was your mission to lead, it shall be yours to finish. We will see each other again.”
She pulled out her small, wooden pendent in the shape of an owl and handed it to Frits. She closed his hand around it and gave him a smile, “I expect to have this back, but you need it more than I do.”
Frits fought every instinct to stand his ground with his people, but he knew she was right. Someone had to go. He nodded and put the pendent around his neck. She then helped him onto Taunten.
He gave his horse a pat, finally coming to it. Thank you for sticking around.
“Areandel be with you,” Eva said as she put her right fist over her heart and bowed. Frits returned the gesture and snapped his horses reigns. Taunten surged forth, through the battlefield. He wanted to look back, but he knew he could not bear watching his companion stand without him. Not again.
He rode forward, darting back and forth as soldiers clashed. Clouds of dust whipped up and stung his eyes as he push on. As they continued south, Frits just hoped that no one would oppose him, he had no weapons and no way to defend himself.