"Some wrongdoers would often just compound and escalate their wrongdoing just to keep getting away with whatever they had earned or enjoyed from it. They never realized that doing so just meant digging an even bigger hole for themselves when the day of reckoning finally arrived." - Banson Ascali, retired Levain Chief of Justice, from a speech made at his retirement ceremony.
Aideen had become reasonably familiar with Solenia's escort detail over the past week where she had been escorting the woman discreetly. The twenty five of them - one knight-captain and four teams of six knights each - were all loyal retainers of her father, the Duke of Dvergarder.
They were competent, if most of them are a bit on the green side, being younger knights of Solenia's own age. The girl herself was friends with many of them, as they had been fellow trainees during her training years and often sparring mates as well.
It was much less of a master and subordinate relationship that Aideen had expected, and there was more genuine friendship and fondness between Solenia and the younger knights. The Duke's daughter basically saw herself as one of them - which she might well be in the end, given her status as youngest child and lowest on the succession ladder - and the knights were fond of her thanks to that sentiment.
One of the knight teams and the captain were middle-aged veteran knights from her father's generation instead. Despite their gratefulness to Aideen for the healing she did, they remained somewhat vigilant around her, a caution she highly approved of.
From the small talk she overheard amongst the younger knights, the knight captain, one middle-aged woman who mostly went by Dame Graciela, was the personal knight of the Duchess, and an old friend of hers since young. She was also ranked quite high in the duchy's knighthood, and her presence showed how much Solenia's parents cared for the girl.
Good thing Ginnie noticed something wrong and didn't go for the kill during the trials.
When they halted and Dame Graciela pointed out the dust clouds - coming from three directions at once - Aideen couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. The directions they came from neatly triangulated the convoy, so that even if they tried to escape, two of the three groups could easily give chase. Clearly a premeditated attack.
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"Bianca, Tasha, both of you help the lady with her armor, just in case," said the older knight-captain with a serious look. "Everyone else, dismount and set up a defensive formation! Have the carriages set up in a circle as barricades!"
Aideen watched as the three carriages - one where she and Solenia had been on, and two for the girl's maid retinue - formed a loose circle, while the horses were untethered and brought inside. While the knights were all trained in mounted combat, it was not the most ideal for defensive purposes.
Two of the younger female knights helped Solenia put on her suit of plate mail. Other than the knight-captain herself, the rest of the knights were not as well-geared. They wore a breastplate over a long chain coif, which still gave them plenty of protection, all considered.
Even the maids had drawn daggers from beneath their skirts, even if they looked far more nervous than the knights. It had not surprised Aideen much that the maids of a Duke's daughter were prepared to fight if needed as well. It sounded like the sort of thing she would have expected instead.
"Ma'am, could I ask you to stay by the lady, please? I fear we might have need of your services when this mess is done," added the old knight-captain to Aideen politely. She had not exactly told them of her background, or her being unliving, so both Solenia and her retinue only thought she was a young, skilled healer. "And try to keep her from running headlong into trouble if you can, I beg of you."
Aideen nodded, as she acquiesced to the request for the time being. In the meantime, she went back to the center of the circle, where the horses and the maids were, and where a nervous Solenia tried to calm them down.
The two young knights that had helped her into her armor had since run off to join the rest. The knights had guarded the three openings between the carriages, a squad of the youngsters with two of the veterans on each.
Four of them knelt down in line, while another four stood behind them, each man or woman with a heavy crossbow in hand. They likely intended to use them to soften up the attackers first before they had to go into melee, which was reasonable.
The knight-captain herself remained mounted, and directed the rest of the knights to their defense. The way she poised herself, Aideen thought she was likely using herself as a reactionary element, to support whichever side needed help the most.
For what they were worth, the makeshift preparation Solenia's retinue made was commendable, yet Aideen was uncertain if it would be enough. From the size of the dust cloud, the attackers likely outnumbered them by a fair bit, pessimistic odds even for trained knights, much less a unit of mostly young, inexperienced ones.
Either way, it was not like she needed to conceal what she was or her capabilities. Aideen had long thought to herself that the moment the situation seemed like it would go out of control, she would join in and lend her weight to the defense.
Even if she was not asked to keep the girl safe - and Aideen had found Solenia to be a rather nice girl, if somewhat naive and sheltered - Aideen would have done so anyway. It had not taken a genius to figure out who might have bothered to set up an oversized premeditated assault so close to the dwarven border at this point.
And Aideen had no intention of letting those behind the assault have it their way. Not if she could help it.