"Do we know anything about the enemy?"

"Nothing that's useful to you Ser Elvaughn. My father's vassal got raided and apparently it came from the south instead of the east. They were reported to be extremely disciplined and wore banners with three circles overlapping each other." The Count's heir, Erdin, answered.

"Disciplined. Heavy armour. Anything else? How about their weaponry?" He muttered a brainstorm.

"S-Sir Elvaughn! Umm... We were attacked by them and they seem to have heavy crossbows that could shoot for more than two-hundred-fifty yards!"

The knight looked at Seirun's teacher and nodded gravely. Two-hundred-fifty yards. That's not good. It seems the enemy we have here has connections to engineering guilds. Fortunately, that's not my job. My job is to kill the Duke's enemy in plain sight. That's it.

"Baron Hensfield, do they fight well?"

"Yes Ser. They did. They managed to slaughter near two dozen with only three of their's dying. They also wouldn't talk. No matter how much persuasion we've applied. They've refused to budge."

Melee is a disadvantage. Range is a disadvantage. Cavalry? We may stand a chance against theirs. The only advantage we have is numbers.

The knight instinctively put his right hand underneath his chin and hummed in thought. All of the sudden his eyes widened in euphoria as if Allure has given him the gift of knowledge.

"I'll be bait."

Everyone in the commander's tent looked at him in utter confusion. Whereas, Seirun stared at him; mix of admiration and concern.

Harbert took a quick sip of his watered down ale and climbed on top of his horse. He surveyed the other side and had to squint to see them. The green coloured Duke's army nearly blended with the green-brown hue of the flat plains. He noticed the lack of shields on the opposite side and smirked. Looks like they'll be coming to us! Armoth really has given blessings to us today. It's a shame nearly three quarters haven't converted yet. I guess that's kinda our fault. Beth Insisted we pretend to be one of the many branches of Francia Doctrines, and I agreed. We wouldn't have this much manpower without the help of those heretics.

He looked back at his own army and saw brown cladded soldiers standing straight and forming in orderly squadrons. The sunlight reflected from their chainmail and the bits of steel plate they welded on themselves. The heavy cavalry force sat upon a slight hill and looked intimidating. Each one of the soldiers exuded an aura of dread and fear despite their slight peasant appearance. Full steel plated armour adorned each one and wore barbute helms. Their horses similarly cladded with slight gaps in their joints.

"Captain we're ready to advance. The men are in high spirits and ready to fight for Armoth."

"I hope none of them drank last night. And remember to shut your mouth about Armoth. We may be heard and those Francians may burn us." Just like those damn Allurions! The only difference between them is if they believe in a 'Divine Social Order' or not. Such silliness and futility. Only Armoth is the only God that can make the sun rise. For a fee of course, which he'll get in the thousands after we win!

The sharp rebuke made the squadron commander swallow in fear and nearly took a step back. "They may have feasted yesterday. But none dare drink."

"Good. Good.

"Anything else commander?"

"Captain, we may have a tiny bit of problem." The squadron commander took a heavy breath and continued. "Our men have their tunics full of gold, silvers and coppers. And an assortment of other things, that they've taken from the sacrificed. The footmen may be a lot slower than we're used to."

"That's not a problem. They'll have to come to us. So, signal the crossbowmen to advance first."

A rythmic stomping resounded as the brown army marched on. Two prongs of heavy cavalry covered the left and the right flanks, numbering five-hundred each.

The crossbowmen stopped their marching and cranked their arrows, two-hundred-fifty yards from the opposite archers. They loosed and several groans of pain were heard.

Harbert watched in irritation at the levy halberdiers. They had shields after all! They look poorly made and was probably made on the spot. He huffed in indignation. They probably got that piece of information from that lost foragers group. Damn greedy, glory hounds! Where the hell did they even go!?

The one sided slaughter carried on until the archers fired back in retaliation. A hundred-fifty yards away. Both sides endured their losses with hesitating bravery as they see their comrade in arms getting arrows lodged into their necks. Sometimes blocking the windpipe creating an unnerving gurgling noise as they futilely try to heave their last breath.

The disfigured captain squinted his one good eye, once more, and leaned forward whilst spurring his horse to go slightly forward. He saw a giant leading the enemy's middle flank. He was clad in heavy steel plate armour and wielded a long broadsword that shone brightly.

Harbert shooked his head violently and tried to focus once more. That's the Hero! Ser Elvaughn! If we could kill him now then... He quickly contemplated and gave the order.

"Order the crossbowmen to position themselves at our flanks.

"The infantry is to charge when we're roughly a hundred yards away.

"And order both the heavy cavalry to soften their front lines and head back at all cost. Permit them to loose their steed's armour if they so wish. If they need speed they shall have it. We'll win this battle anyway."

The messanger bowed and rapidly waved red flags in unique patterns. The orders were sent down the command chain in an agonisingly slow way.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Harbert gritted his teeth in impatience. He waited. We'll have to quickly kill him!

Alex tried to squash down the fear building up inside of him. He tried to control his breathing. He tried to stop his hands shaking. How the hell did it come to this! Its the brat's fault! I shouldn't have told him about my exploits!

The Baron tried to ease his emotions at once and was completely failing.

That brat told Ser Elvaughn everything I did at that raid and Erdin was there to reinforce him! In fact I should've lied at Erdin and piled my exploits unto someone else! 

I don't know what to think! Should I be glad that the Hero of Almagh was impressed of me? Should I scream in terror? I think I'll try to scream in terror. The Hero was so impressed that he sees it fit for me to command nearly five-hundred horsemen! 

He tried to reassure himself. Calm down Alex. At least your on a horse! You can quickly flee if the battle goes awry! NO! That's too cowardly! I just need to win my bit and hopefully that should sway the battle in our favour. Hopefully. Maybe even take something from this. You know? Paint this battle when I get home. Yes that sounds nice. Finish those expensive sake too!

"Baron Hensfield! Reporting!" He was suddenly taken back to reality.

"What!"

"A trumpet is sounding us to intercept their cavalry my lord!"

Shit! Already? Shit. Concentrate. If we intercept them no doubt we'd get massacred. If we don't then the levies get massacred. It's a shame the only obvious choice is a no go. Damn! Allure save me! Orders are orders and now order the damn thing!

Alex curled his fists into his steed's rein and straightened his head. Think! Maybe those horse archers can do something. Slow their speed or something similar! Can they even get through those armour. Well it's worth a try.

"Horse archers! You all have the honour at fighting them first. Shoot their horses!"

"It will be done my lord!" They sped away towards the rumbling armoured beasts and knocked their bows whilst galloping.

Will I get lucky again? Maybe. Maybe not. Can they actually slow them down?

He saw with great satisfaction that a few dozens were dismounted from their horses. Bits of arrows penetrated their poor steed's eyes, knees and gaps within their armour. Furious neighing haunted the battlefield. Unfortunately, the enemy did not slow down and stampeded their downed comrades without a hint of hesitation. They ignored the horse archers and sped away towards the levy halbediers.

Shit. Maybe we should strike them from the sides? That'll at least blunt their momentum. But... But what happens after? We retreat and charge again? That'll do!

"Signal the horse archers to pusue them and hit them from their flanks and rear!"

A discordant cacophany of trumpets were sent and a reply from them were soon received.

Baron Hensfield saw the hundred archers wheel about and started to rain arrows relentlessly at them. And yet they continued. 

The bait is working a little too well. Shit.

"Everyone! On me!" The Baron galloped in an angle towards the enemy, and was followed by four-hundred fully armoured men at arms belonging to several baronies and counts. A messy but colourful display of their different banners followed the Hensfield's crest causing the Baron to unknowingly smirk as he briefly glanced behind him.

The distance between the two cavalry forces shortened quickly and the Leidorf's force rapidly slammed into the side of the raiders.

Alex kicked and whipped his blinded horse to a desperate gallop and was reward with a pleasing thud, as he saw his would be adversary get knocked down and was soon trampled by his soldiers.

Horses neighed in mortifying pain as some of them were toppled and stepped over. The Leidorf's force continued to break through the ranks of heavily armoured raiders like knife through butter.

This isn't good! It's going too well! This may be good for the levies but not us! The Baron realising his mistake called to rally towards his position and was lucky for a trumpeteer to be near him. The men at arms rallied towards the sound, sometimes fighting desperately towards it.

The raiders shocked at being blind sided were quick to recover and soon fought back.

A vicious melee ensued as they thrust, slashed and pulled each other down. The raiders took advantage of the Leidorf's weakness and started to stab their unarmoured horses.  

The men at arms struggled to stop their injured horses rearing back. Some managed and remained on their horse. Some were unfortunate as the riders fell to the ground where they were stepped on. Some were lucky to have a quick death, as the mass of horses stepped on their heads crushing it in grey goo. Some were cursed and had their chests broken with their ribcage splintering and piercing their lungs. They bleed inside and drowned in their own blood. 

The Baron waited a bit more for more of his soldiers to rally towards him. We need more men to breakthrough!

It's time! "Men on me!" He waited slightly for the trumpets to blare.

He charged at the unlucky raider and he thrust his short sword straight through his neck. Should've been wearing a gorget!

A mass of men followed him and exited the meat pit.

"Order the remaining men to retreat towards the forest!" 

Alex looked around annoyed that his order wasn't relayed. He searched around frantically for a trumpeteer.

"Does anyone here know how to sound a retreat with a trumpet?"

The soldiers near him eyed him with a depressed resignation and promptly waved their heads.

Of course they don't! They were trained to kill not blow on some metal pipe! How do we rescue more from that... Hell's pit without sending more lives to Allure's Garden? Shit! I'll cut the loses here and now!

With a shiver, he stammered out an order, "M-Men! We retreat towards the forest now! We've done all we could! Now is the time to regroup." And attack them again when we've trapped them. He still squirmed in guilt thinking to those people he abandoned for the sake of Ser Elvaughn's plan. 

Some of the men glared at him with expressions of mutiny. One of them broke out of order and steadied his horse in front of his cowardly leader. "They're still men trapped right there! We could save them!" He pleaded with an edge on his voice.

Alex shook back and hurled his body backwards. He calmed down whilst awkwardly adjusting his seat on his saddle. His hands trembled and he gulped loudly. Damn it! Why does this keep happening to me! The looks this fool is giving me reminds me of that horseman! Alex recalled to the previous raid. He's definetly going to disobey me and put more lives at risk! How can I prevent this? Do I knock him out? Do I just kill him here and save the dozens of soldiers he'll probably lead to that death pit? No... How?! Let's try to be blunt... Can that work? Well it bloody has to!

Baron Hensfield steadied his breathing, clicking his tongue in controlled fury and he curtly glared at the man. "They're dead. There's not a trumpeteer in sight to signal the sound of retreat. Going back there is to find cold, mangled husks of our fallen comrade in arms."

"You don't know-"

"I do know it! Look back and think for yourself! Can you really come back from there alive with another living comrade?"

"I-I..."

"Your silence is encouraging! Now let's retreat to the forest. We'll mourn later."

I won't mourn. I'll just be haunted with guilt. May Allure have mercy on me and the men I just killed!

The red haired lady with a fertile chest sat back at a hill and looked on towards the battlefield. She shifted in her position as the tied up lady began to thrash behind her. 

"Oh poor thing. You need not be worried. Your sacrifice will give us victory and you'll lavish in eternal paradise with Armoth!"

Beth cut up her heart and brought it out and displayed it towards the sun. 'May this virgin please you Armoth! May you give our men the spirit of the jaguar to vanquish your foes. '

The Armoth priestess stared back at the battlefield and was pleasantly shocked.

Leidorf green went scurrying away from the battle lines and fled backwards. Only to be met with a huge and densely populated forests, trapping them in three sides. Their fleeing backs were ruthlessly pursued by Armoth's men. They stabbed, slashed and beheaded them.

They trapped themselves! We've won! Praise be Armoth! She gazed at the still beating heart with zealous eyes and kissed it. This beating heart is what has given us victory!