Two more days passed, and the Duke's army occupying Northfield Town finally stirred. The city gates swung wide open, and first, nearly a hundred scout light cavalry poured out, splitting into groups of ten and thundering off in every direction. Following them were over five hundred armored cavalry, emerging at a walking pace in columns of four. Behind the cavalry came three infantry companies — the first company was sword-and-shield soldiers, the second was spearmen, and the third was longbowmen.
After the three infantry companies came nearly fifty four-wheeled cargo wagons, piled high with all manner of supplies — likely tents and other logistical equipment. Accompanying the convoy was roughly one company of soldiers; apart from two drivers seated at the front, seven or eight more soldiers lounged or sat atop the wagons.
After the convoy passed, another company of lance cavalry followed. What struck
After this lance cavalry company passed through, the gates of Northfield Town closed. A row of soldiers carrying horns appeared on the city walls and began blowing their horns to send off the departing army. A few lance cavalry who had fallen behind wheeled their horses around, apparently shouting some curses, before turning their mounts back and catching up with the column ahead.
The departing army had been marching for about an hour, yet Northfield Town remained with its gates shut tight and guards posted thickly along the walls. Lorist lightly leaped down from the tree and said to Reidy, who was holding the horses and waiting for him, "Let's go. Back to camp."
The two led their horses around to the back of the woods before mounting up. They had barely ridden forward for a moment when six riders burst out from behind the hill ahead. Upon spotting the two of them, the leading rider raised his lance and roared, "Cut our way through!"
More than a dozen riders then emerged from behind the hill. Lorist took one look and smiled. The six fleeing riders ahead were scout light cavalry from the Duke's army — the first batch to leave the city. The dozen or more riders behind them were members of the mercenary company he had hired. Even Lorist hadn't expected these mercenaries to be so bold, still pursuing the scout cavalry relentlessly when they were less than five hundred meters from Northfield Town.
Six javelins flew, and in the span of a few blinks, the six scout light cavalry who had been frantically trying to hack their way to freedom became six corpses on the ground. The pursuing mercenaries reined in their horses, saluting Lorist while eyeing the six bodies on the ground with greedy stares.
"Reidy, go check what those corpses have on them..." Lorist was somewhat puzzled — why were these mercenaries so eager and covetous of a few dead bodies on the ground?
Reidy returned quickly, bringing back six horses, six long swords, and several flail throwing axes, and finally, six bulging money pouches.
Opening one pouch for a look revealed dozens of silver coins, over a dozen imperial "Old Head" gold coins, and even two or three Gelford gold pieces. Lorist suddenly understood. The four great families of Northfield Town were filthy rich, but with their remote location, they had nowhere to spend their money. It was indisputable that every resident had money. Now that the Duke's army had slaughtered the residents and claimed Northfield Town for themselves, these soldiers had looted and plundered, each making a fortune and significantly boosting their wealth. No wonder the soldiers he'd seen departing that morning didn't look too spirited—they couldn't care less about what their superiors thought, they just wanted to get back and enjoy their spoils early. If they died on this expedition, they wouldn't get to enjoy anything at all.
No wonder these mercenaries had pursued the fleeing scout light cavalry so relentlessly. In the eyes of these destitute, penniless mercenaries, those soldiers of the Duke's army must have looked like walking mini-treasury vaults. Lorist chuckled; at that moment, he was filled with confidence in defeating the Duke's army.
"Which mercenary company are you from?" Lorist asked.
"My Lord, we are the Night Bat Mercenary Company," answered the leading mercenary sergeant respectfully. He recognized Lorist—first as their big-paying employer, and second, he'd witnessed the scene of Lorist throwing javelins to kill the six scout light cavalry, and couldn't help but click his tongue in silent amazement. That speed, that force—he admitted to himself he couldn't have caught even one of those javelins.
"Well done. These corpses on the ground are yours to dispose of," Lorist said, turning his horse to leave with Reidy.
Although Reidy had taken the mounts, weapons, and the money pouches, the mercenaries were still very happy. After all, the leather armor, shoes, and other odds and ends on the corpses were worth quite a bit of money. There might even be some unexpected surprises, like necklaces or rings. And then there were those six heads—Lorist had offered a bounty of one imperial "Old Head" gold coin per head.
The camp Lorist was heading for was in a wooded area in a small hill's valley, near the place where he had been ambushed on his way back from his first visit to Northfield Town. He had chosen this spot precisely because he planned to use the terrain to isolate the Duke's expeditionary force from Northfield Town.
This location was midway between Maple Forest Manor and Northfield Town, at a large bend where neither side could see what was happening—blocked by hills on one side and dense woods on the other. Even if Lorist ambushed messengers here and was discovered, reinforcements from either side would need at least ten to twenty minutes on horseback to arrive, giving Lorist and his men plenty of time to retreat safely.
Vaasdma approached. Lorist dismounted, saw the mercenary company's area in the camp was empty, and asked, "They've all gone out?"
"They went after the Duke's army's scouts."
"Money really does move people's hearts. I've repeatedly ordered these mercenary groups to take the initiative to attack, but they always make excuses and drag their feet, all planning to hang back and pick up scraps. The moment they saw money, they swarmed out." Lorist sighed.
"My Lord, mercenaries are inherently untrustworthy. They're all the type who fear death and forget loyalty the moment they see profit. We shouldn't have hired them." As a knight, Vaasdma had a natural bias against mercenaries.
Lorist shook his head. "The gap between our forces and the Duke's army is too vast. With these mercenaries, at least we can bolster our presence. Granted, they'd be nothing but a rabble in a head-on formation, but they're quite useful for dealing with enemy scouts and light cavalry. Their experience and individual combat skills are far superior to our household soldiers. Right now, it's the only way we can hope to contend with this expeditionary force."
"Did Paulbins follow them?" Lorist asked.
"Yes, My Lord. He'll keep watch on the Duke's army until they finish setting up camp before returning," Vaasdma said.
"They've finally come out—it's been five days. As long as they leave their position, we can look for an opening. I wonder how long this war will drag on before it's over." Lorist returned to the main tent and sat down.
"My Lord, we will definitely defeat the Duke's army," Vaasdma said.
…
Duke
On the first day, they departed from Northfield Town at nine in the morning and marched for over two hours before reaching the castle of Maple Forest Manor. After lunch, they began setting up camp and dispatched a
That night, only fourteen scout light cavalry returned. They reported to Chevani, the Golden Knight commanding the army, that they had been pursued and attacked by the Norton Family's light cavalry. Knight Chevani's brows knotted tightly — he couldn't figure out where the Norton Family had obtained so many light cavalry that they could swallow over eighty of his scout riders. It was only when one of the returning horsemen reported that their pursuers, though wearing the Norton Family's leather armor, behaved much like mercenaries that Knight Chevani finally understood. It had to be the Norton Family's young new head who had hired mercenaries to fight against him. Having stolen Viscount Kemais's hundred thousand gold Forde in private savings, he naturally had the money to hire mercenaries.
On the second day, Knight Chevani divided his forces into two columns. One consisted of a squadron of leather-armored cavalry, led by over a dozen Silver Knights, to sweep the surrounding area and root out the mercenaries hired by the Norton Family. The other he commanded personally, launching the assault on Maple Forest Manor.
The leather-armored cavalry squadron searched the entire morning without finding a thing. This was mainly because their numbers were so great that no mercenary company would be foolish enough to run into them — they all hid and watched from a safe distance. As a result, the squadron settled into a mountain gully by a stream to rest for two hours at midday. When they reassembled, they discovered that over a dozen soldiers were missing; judging by the traces left behind, they had been abducted. The leading Silver Knight was furious and mustered the cavalry to follow the tracks, but was nearly lured into the Black Mud Swamp. Had the other Silver Knights not stayed alert, the consequences would have been truly unimaginable.
The assault on Maple Forest Castle was equally fruitless. Knight Chevani ordered three carriage-mounted crossbows to be brought out — weapons seized at Northfield Town. Even Knight Chevani hadn't expected to capture three such devastating weapons in such a remote town in the Northland, so he had brought them along as siege support. But before they could even be deployed, Josk on the castle wall destroyed one with a single arrow. The other two crossbows were pulled back quickly enough, narrowly avoiding the fate of being destroyed before the siege had even begun.
Knight Chevani was furious and ordered a squadron of longbowmen to rain arrows on the castle. However, the defenders above were well prepared — they had erected wooden shields and built overhead shelters. Josk even used the cover of the wooden shields to exchange fire with the longbowmen below. After a full day of shooting, he didn't have a scratch on him, while fifty-three of the longbowmen below lay dead.
During the five days holed up in Northfield Town, Knight Chevani had not been idle in his siege preparations — he had already had people construct several pieces of siege equipment in advance. These included two portable drawbridges and a compact battering ram, all disassembled into small pieces and transported over on cargo wagons the day before. They had been fully assembled before the morning's assault. The so-called portable drawbridges were essentially two large flatbed carts, each carrying a long wooden platform. By pushing the flatbeds to the edge of the moat and then raising and lowering the platforms onto the far bank, they formed two bridges across the water. The soldiers could then push the battering ram across and smash open the gates.
However, Maple Forest Manor occupied extremely rugged terrain. Apart from the castle wall facing the assault head-on, the walls on both sides sat above steep slopes, making it utterly impossible to deploy forces for a multi-pronged attack. The defenders only needed to hold the frontal castle. Knight Chevani directed his soldiers to launch three attacks on the castle gates, but after suffering over two hundred casualties with nothing to show for it, both portable drawbridges and the battering ram were doused with fire oil by the Norton Family's defenders and burned to ashes.
On the third day, Knight Chevani did not continue the siege. Instead, he dispatched a large number of soldiers to fell trees, preparing to fashion new siege equipment. That afternoon, he received reports that the soldiers cutting timber had come under attack, with dozens of casualties. Left with no other choice, Knight Chevani personally led a squadron of leather-armored cavalry to guard the soldiers as they cut timber and hauled it back to camp.
The camp was struck by a night raid, and over a hundred more were killed or wounded. The attackers were few in number and had only come to harass them. What was most infuriating was that the timber they had worked so hard to procure that afternoon — left in a corner of the camp — was doused with fire oil and reduced to several enormous bonfires.
Knight Chevani was a resolute and dutiful knight who had promised his lord Duke Lukins that he would bring the Norton Family to submission, and he would not be defeated by the difficulties before him. He believed that the ambush on the timber-cutting soldiers and the night raid were nothing more than the Norton Family grasping at straws. This clearly proved that the Norton Family had no strength to confront his army head-on, and could only resort to these underhanded tricks to eke out what little time they had left.
So on the morning of the fourth day, Knight Chevani once again led his soldiers out to fell trees for the entire day. After returning to camp, he rearranged the sentries before finally resting easy.
However, he had barely lain down for a moment when he heard soldiers outside shouting something about a "night raid." He hurriedly donned his armor again and stepped out of his tent, only to nearly choke with fury. This was supposed to be a night raid? From the distant castle, a faint glow of firelight flashed, and an arrow arced across nearly a thousand meters before thudding into the ground with a soft "whoosh." Every soldier in the camp craned their necks to watch the sky, guessing where the next fire arrow would land.
Josk was mainly bored. The Duke's army had stopped assaulting the city these past two days, leaving him with energy to burn and nowhere to put it. Last night, Lorist's night raid on the camp and the burning of the timber had given him an idea. He had tried it before — with
After Josk finished his volley, Knight Chevani lay back down but found himself utterly unable to sleep. A knot of frustration sat in his chest, making everything feel like it was going wrong.
On the fifth day, the Duke's army still did not launch an assault. Knight Chevani, sporting two dark circles under his eyes, supervised the soldiers as they constructed siege equipment. That night, Josk once again loosed ten fire arrows at the same hour.
On the sixth day, construction of the siege equipment continued. Since the Northland Legion was a proper military formation, they looked down on crude ladder-bridges and refused to use them. What they were building was a siege tower with a drawbridge — a tall wooden tower topped with a hinged bridge that could be lowered directly onto the castle's upper battlements. Soldiers would first climb the wooden tower and then cross the drawbridge to attack the defenders stationed on the castle roof. Beneath the tower were four large wooden wheels, allowing it to be pushed toward the enemy castle.
Knight Chevani planned to build four siege towers, since the castle's front wall could only accommodate four abreast. He was confident that at least one tower would reach the castle, and when that happened, he would lead the charge himself — the first to storm the ramparts and settle scores with that golden-archer marksman.
That night at the same hour, Josk sent another ten fire arrows raining down on the camp.
On the seventh day, all four siege towers were completed. That evening, every soldier craned their neck to watch the ten fire arrows land before finally going to rest with peace of mind.
On the eighth day, Knight Chevani prepared to let the soldiers rest properly for a day, gathering their strength before the siege began tomorrow.
That night at the same hour, every soldier craned their neck to watch the sky.
One fire arrow, two fire arrows… four fire arrows… The sixth fire arrow… The seventh fire arrow came…
Josk suddenly found it all rather pointless. The enemy camp already had four tall siege towers standing ready — tomorrow morning they'd be attacking. Why was he still bothering to lob fire arrows at the enemy camp? Getting some sleep was what actually mattered. So he slapped the dust off his hands and went to bed.
The soldiers in the camp all stared blankly at the sky, muttering anxiously: "There are still three fire arrows — why haven't they been shot yet? When will they come?" They waited like this for more than two hours…
…