"What did you say!?" Luther grabbed the soldier by the collar.

"Centurion Mark is dead sir!" The soldier's eyes were filled with dread as he looked at Luther. His body was shaking

"Dead! Along with the rest of the Century. I was there. The Castonians ambushed us. Only the fifteen of us survived"

The soldier looked down. His eyes were wide open, but trembling. Luther could see that he was still in shock.

Luther let go of the Soldier's collar. Mark's Century had been annihilated. A hundred men, gone. "Dammit!" he cursed loudly. He then looked at the soldier. "How many Castonians?"

"Nearly five hundred sir" the soldier answered

Luther was shocked. Five hundred! How were they able to get so many cavalry? Castonians were crazy about their infantry and only used cavalry to scout and send messages. How come a significant portion of their forces were composed of cavalry?

The enemy commander was a tough opponent. Luther had already lost nearly two Centuries worth of men but the enemies were yet to suffer casualties. If he can't destroy them, then his military career would be over. His uncle would surely castigate him. He would send him back to Tulosa. Luther needs to achieve something in order to have a reason for his cohort's casualties. But he can't afford to be careless. His opponent was cunning.

"If I'm not mistaken, a century of knights will catch up to us soon" he looked at his squire "How long until they arrive?"

"The century of Knights under Centurion Stan?" The squire asked him to confirm. Luther nodded "About an hour sir. The rest of the cavalry cohorts will arrive a few hours after that. The infantry are still a day behind."

Luther pondered for a while. He should wait for Centurion Stan. Stan's century will be useful. He's a Prefect so Centurion Stan would follow his orders. The Tulosans had 600 cavalry and who knows how many were still hiding. With the Knights' help, he should be able to defeat the Castonians. But he must strike before the rest of the Cavalry arrives or else the other Prefects would snatch away his victory.

"Recall Centurion Lyn." He commanded one of the soldiers. "Also send a messenger to Centurion Stan and tell him to hurry"

The messengers rode away to deliver Luther's orders. After about an hour, Centurion Lyn and Centurion Stan arrived almost simultaneously.

"Your messenger told me of what happened" Stan went closer to Luther "You should have known that it was a trap"

"Are you forgetting something, Centurion?" Luther emphasized the word 'Centurion'. Centurion Stan needs to know the difference between their ranks.

"Sir" Stan gritted his teeth, clearly annoyed. But Luther doesn't mind. He can't control other people's feelings, only their actions.

"That's better Centurion" Luther mocked. "And don't you dare question my actions. The destruction of Centurion Mark's Century wasn't my fault. It was his foolishness that killed him."

"And now you want to attack again. The enemy commander would again trick you. It's better to wait for the rest of the cavalry detachment. You have no talent in leading." Stan sneered. This time, Luther was not able to hold his temper. He slapped Centurion Stan in the face. Since the Centurion was wearing a mail coif, Luther's hand hit the metal. The slap did more damage to his hand compared to the Centurion's face.

Luther retracted his hand and bit his lips. His hand was in pain. Despite this, he tried to act tough and reprimanded the Centurion. "I told you Centurion, don't mock me. Prepare your men. We will attack soon"

He turned and mounted his horse. Below him, the Centurion was still glaring. Luther felt victorious.

The Whistler Cohort and Stan's Century, a total of about nine hundred men, rode towards the shallow down south. It took them less than an hour to reach the shallow. On the other side, the Castonians were waiting. There were about three hundred of them. That meant, the other three hundred were still hiding somewhere.

They intend to use the same trick, Luther thought. The Castonians would again lure them into the trees and ambush them from behind. But Luther was not afraid. The Whistlers were fast and would just chase the Castonians if they dared to flank them. The Castonian plan was to use hit-and-run tactics. While they might succeed in the 'hit' part, they can't run. The Whistlers were faster. Their trick worked on Centurion Mark because the fool was outnumbered and was not able to give chase. Now, he outnumbered his enemy. Many of the Whistlers will die today, but the reward would surely be worth their sacrifices. Furthermore, the presence of the Knights gave him assurance.

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They completed their crossing without difficulties. Just as Luther thought, the Castonians don't have enough caltrops. After they finished their crossing, Luther immediately ordered a chase.

After the Tulosans charged, the Castonians retreated. Luther doesn't care whether this retreat was fake or real. They will catch them anyway. Nine hundred Tulosans chased the Castonians.

Chasing was actually a little hard because of the trees. If one was not careful, he could hit his head on a tree. Despite this, the Tulosans endured. They can almost grab the Castonians. But Luther now felt a little worried. He was wrong.

He thought that the Castonians would flank them and shoot arrows from behind. He thought that half of the Castonians were waiting behind the trees. But the chase had been going on for a few minutes now and the rest of the Castonians were still missing. Now he was really worried. Where are the rest?

The Castonians then did something dreadful. They scattered caltrops behind. There were so many caltrops that it was impossible for a horse to not step on one. Most of the horses at the front stepped on the caltrops and halted. This caused a chain reaction that temporarily stopped the Tulosan advance. But that wasn't the end of it. Arrows started raining from above.

Luther knew that the Castonians would use this method again. But the problem is, where are they? Luther can't see the Castonians. If they only showed themselves, the only thing left to do was to chase and destroy them. The Castonians were still missing, yet arrows were raining.

"Above! They are on the trees!" One of the soldiers shouted.

Luther looked up and saw hundreds of Castonians firing arrows from the trees. His heart skipped a beat. He was too focused on the flanking army that he forgot about the trees. Their situation is bad, no, it was deadly. The Castonians could just fire arrows without worrying about being chased. Speed? The Whistlers' speed can't help them climb the trees. They had fallen into a trap.

The Castonians on horseback turned and also fired arrows at them. After a while, dozens of Whistlers lie dead and hundreds were injured. Luther tried to rally his men, but the Whistlers already panicked. Some soldiers started to rout. Luther closed his eyes and made a decision. This decision would ruin him, but it was better than being killed. He ordered a retreat. They can't do anything anyway. They can't attack the Castonians on top of the trees. They also can't attack the Castonians on horseback because the bastards would just run away.

"Retreat!" Luther shouted but his voice was lost among the cries. He didn't need to command them though because the Whistlers were already routing.

Now the hunter became the hunted, the predator turned into the prey. The Castonians on horseback continued to fire arrows at them until they reached the other side of the river. By then, only five hundred of them remained. The Knights also retreated. They fared better compared to the Whistlers, but they were still in bad shape. Those who lost their horses were picked by the Castonians one by one.

Luther wanted to scream. He wanted to scream so loud. But he was too exhausted to do so. He lost half of his army. Half! And the Castonians probably lost none. He failed. Being defeated was painful. His life was over, his political ambitions gone. He will become a laughingstock. He looked to the other side of the river. The enemy commander bested him.

"You've won." He silently said.

*****************************************************************************************

Erik won. Hundreds of Tulosans lie dead on the forest ground. No one died on his side, but some people were injured. The caltrops they scattered on their retreat earlier injured some of the horses while chasing the Tulosans. Some of the soldiers also fell from the trees. The old bodies of the veterans were not suitable for doing strenuous work.

But this was just the third phase of his plan. There was actually a fourth phase. It doesn't require fighting, but it was the most important part of his plan.

"Sir, Prince Timothy and the rest of the army had left the forest" the soldier reported

"Do it then" he commanded "We also need to retreat"

Erik looked to the direction of the Tulosans. He must thank the enemy commander for being cooperative. The fourth phase of his plan begins now.

The solution to their problem was actually easy. Timothy went to the forest for a reason and Erik understood this reason. Also the weather these past days enabled them to go through with this plan. But for this plan to work, they must first put enough distance between them and the Tulosans. That was why Timothy sent a guerilla detachment. Erik formulated four phases to make this plan happen.

First phase – Hinder the crossing of the vanguard. They would surprise the enemies with traps hidden underwater.

Second phase- The enemy commander would send a small detachment to find other crossing points. They need to destroy this detachment but leave some witnesses alive. The enemies don't know that they have 600 horsemen so they will be cocky.

Third phase- Destroy the rest of the vanguard. They enemy commander by now would use the superior speed of their horses to chase them. Unfortunately, they can't chase them if they were up in the trees.

Fourth Phase – Burn the forest.

Burning the forest was the core of their plan. If the first three phases were successful, that meant Erik bought enough time for Timothy to leave the forest safely. The infantry need to leave the forest first before Erik could burn the trees. Even if the first three phases were unsuccessful, then that means they just have to sacrifice the cavalry detachment.  Their main purpose was to delay the Tulosans and the burning forest would probably buy them a few days at least.

After a while, a fire engulfed a huge portion of the forest. The searing heat scorched the earth. Erik led the cavalry detachment out of the forest and behind him was a wall of fire, consuming everything like a hungry beast. Erik smiled. The Demon Squire with a burning forest in the background. How fitting, he thought.