Watching the knights on the other side draw closer and closer,
Sure enough, several knights soon reined in their horses right in front of Redi. "Who are you? Who are those people?"
Redi had sharp eyes. At a glance he spotted the tri-colored griffin emblem of the Andinack Kingdom pinned to the chests of the knights before him—the mark of the royal house. These knights were Royal Knights, men of the
Though
By now the pursuers had drawn close enough to see the knights and nearly a hundred soldiers gathered on Redi's side. The duchy soldiers did not charge forward; instead, they clustered together, blowing shrill whistles and sounding deep horn calls that echoed ceaselessly across the open field as they summoned their comrades.
The mounted knights had already gotten a good look at the gear of the soldiers chasing Redi. It was obvious he had not been lying. One of the knights laughed heartily. "Well, well—we came out to scout the path and were just starting to feel bored. Who would have thought these duchy soldiers would deliver themselves right to our doorstep! Brother, well done. I'll send them all packing for you."
With that, he kicked his spurs into his mount's flanks, and the warhorse shrieked and shot forward, charging straight toward the cluster of duchy soldiers. The other knights beside him spurred their horses to follow, unwilling to be outdone. Five or six riders swept across the snow-covered plain like a gale, spraying countless shards of ice and snow in their wake.
"Hey! Come back—the enemy's main force hasn't arrived yet! There are still three Great Swordmasters behind them!" Redi screamed until his throat was raw, but his voice could not possibly be heard over the thundering hoofbeats. He could only watch as the six Royal Knights plunged straight into the several dozen duchy soldiers huddled together, and began cutting them down without mercy…
Six or seven dozen infantry meeting six knights head-on, with the knights charging first while the foot soldiers had no time to form a defensive formation—it was a nightmare. In the blink of an eye, twenty-odd infantry corpses lay on the ground, and the rest collapsed entirely, scrambling to flee. Their thoughts were not of outrunning knights on horseback, but of outrunning their own comrades—hoping someone else would block the knights long enough for them to escape with their lives.
Redi sprang to his feet and stamped the ground in frustration, waving frantically for the six knights to return. But the knights were in the thick of killing and hadn't the slightest intention of listening to him — perhaps they even took his waving as cheers of celebration…
A figure cloaked in black suddenly appeared in front of one knight's warhorse. The knight paid it no mind, his lance sweeping through an arc aimed straight at the figure's chest. In his mind, these foot soldiers had no way of dodging his thrust — they would soon be skewered on his lance. But a flash of swordlight cut through the air, and the knight suddenly felt his lance go half-light in his hands. Then the neck of the horse beneath him simply fell off, blood gushing from the severed stump and spraying across the knight's face and head. Through that curtain of blood, the knight caught sight of another gleam of light — and then he felt himself flying, rising higher and higher, growing darker and darker…
The death of the first knight was noticed almost at once by the remaining five. They roared and wheeled their horses around, charging at the cloaked figure. But the figure was impossibly agile — amid flashing arcs of swordlight, one knight was sliced clean in half at the waist, while another was unhorsed when his mount's forelegs were severed beneath him, and the blade swept across his throat almost instantly.
The knight who had charged first came back to his senses: "Run — a Great Swordmaster…"
The remaining three knights spurred their horses and fled. The lead knight did not forget to seize the reins of the riderless horse whose master had been cut down, leading it back with him. The black-cloaked Great Swordmaster did not pursue — fending off the charge of five knights had taken its toll on him, and even as the three riders rejoined Redi, he simply stood where he was.
The first knight reached Redi's position, turned to look, and seeing that the Great Swordmaster had not given chase, let out a breath of relief. He fixed Redi with a grim expression and asked, "What did you do that they sent a Great Swordmaster after you?"
Redi managed a bitter smile. "I was shouting for you to come back — didn't you hear any of it? Run. They have two more Great Swordmasters, and they're almost here."
The three knights froze. "Really?"
"Really. Run —" Redi said. "That one was a Great Swordmaster from the Sabagi Duchy. There are two even more dangerous ones behind him."
"Get on your horse. His Majesty is behind us, and he has a Great Swordmaster of his own at his side. Once we regroup with the King, we'll be fine." The lead knight made the call without hesitation. But the most wretched ones were the squad of infantry that had been tagging along with the six knights on their scouting run — they had only just arrived, gasping for breath, and were now forced to turn around immediately and flee for their lives.
"Give me something to eat..." Redi said. He sat on his horse, shivering uncontrollably. He'd been wearing too few clothes, and while running he hadn't felt the cold, but now that he was mounted and the wind hit him, it felt like knives scraping against his skin.
"?
"It's just ahead — you'll be able to see it in about half an hour. We've set up a camp on an earthen mound," the knight answered.
"How many Great Swordmasters does His Majesty have with him? What level?"
"One — Great Swordmaster Manster, First Rank. But we also have two Gold Knights, and we've brought a full battalion, over a thousand men..."
"That won't be enough. His Majesty needs to relocate immediately as well. There are three Great Swordmasters hunting me, along with a lot of duchy soldiers — probably one to two thousand of them. If they catch up, you won't be able to hold them off," Redi said earnestly.
"Brother, I'm curious — what exactly did you do to make them go to such lengths to hunt you down? Three Great Swordmasters, one to two thousand soldiers... my god, even the worst criminals of the old Empire never got this kind of treatment..." The first knight said, "Forget it. If you don't want to talk about it, don't bother. I don't feel like listening to you boast anyway. You can tell our King — he'll definitely be interested. As for whether we should pull out or not, that'll be His Majesty's call."
"Why would you come out here in the middle of winter? Right — were you just saying you were scouting a route?" Redi recalled the knights' earlier complaints. He quickly pieced it together: the Second Prince had come here to find a route around the castle fortress on the island in the middle of the lake, hoping to launch a surprise attack on the four central duchies...
No wonder these knights weren't worried about the three Great Swordmasters chasing him. What interested them was the fact that if he'd managed to escape all the way here, he must know the route through the White Egret Lake marshlands. Bring him to the Second Prince, and they'd be spared the grim task of scouting through the swamps in the bitter cold.
Unfortunately, Redi didn't know the route through the White Egret Lake marshlands either. That he'd made it this far could only be called divine luck — luck so extraordinary it was staggering. He'd survived the greater dangers through a combination of his own quick wits and adaptability, and a willingness to take desperate risks at the edge of death. He'd crossed several large swamps by bracing himself with a branch, while his pursuers had been forced to take long detours — and that was the reason Redi had always been able to keep his distance from those chasing him.
Sure enough, upon arriving at the campsite, the Second Prince immediately recognized Redi. "Aren't you Redi? Locke's eldest disciple — what happened to make you look like this?"
Redi didn't stand on ceremony. He gave a knight's salute. "Your Highness, I need a bath and a change of clothes, plus a hot meal before I can tell you everything that happened on the road..."
After bathing and changing into warm fur-lined clothes, Redi was brought to the Second Prince's large tent. The Second Prince gestured at the table loaded with food. "You can eat while you talk. My knights tell me you said three Great Swordmasters have been hunting you down. I'm curious — what exactly did you do?"
Redi grabbed a large slab of roasted meat and wolfed it down, then gulped a big cup of fruit wine. "Your Highness, I was traveling through the four central duchies when I stumbled upon Fisablen Grand Duke secretly dispatching an envoy to form an alliance with the four central duchies. I killed that envoy — he was the Grand Duke's own nephew. That's why they've been chasing me ever since. It's been nearly two months now..."
"Two months?" The Second Prince was taken aback. "That can't be right. If it happened two months ago, my scouts should have picked up some trace of it, but none of them reported anything to me..."
Redi kept stuffing food into his mouth. "Your Highness, I'm not lying to you. Perhaps the Handela and Sabaji duchies both covered up the envoy's death, but you could have your scouts look into whether these two duchies issued a wanted notice about two months ago — the person on it is me."
"Fine. You killed their envoy, so they're furious and won't let you go. They've been hunting you this long because they need to deliver your head to the Fisablen family as an explanation. Now that you've reached this place, you're safe. The Great Swordmasters from Sabaji and Handela duchies are nothing I concern myself with." The Second Prince waved his hand magnanimously. "But Redi, I'm very interested in how you made it through the White Egret Lake marshlands. I'd like you to tell me the route you took..."
Redi shook his head. "Your Highness, it's no use. You simply cannot lead an army through the White Egret Lake marshlands to launch a surprise attack on the four central duchies. It took me over a month to flee from Handela duchy to Sabaji duchy, and then I escaped into the White Egret Lake marshlands. After that, it took me another twenty-some days to reach here. I'm not familiar with this terrain either — I just ran in the direction of White Egret Lake, going around swamps when I could, finding ways to cross them when I couldn't. Most of making it through alive was just luck...
The soldiers and three Great Swordmasters who were chasing me were all led by native hunters who live in the White Egret Lake marshlands. They had lots of hunting dogs, which is why I could never shake them. And the whole time they were on foot — they didn't bring pack horses or mounts at all. That proves cavalry can't pass through the White Egret Lake marshlands. Your Highness, sending light infantry through the marshes to launch a surprise attack on the four central duchies wouldn't be a gamble — it would be a death sentence..."
Redi wasn't wrong. The provinces of the four central duchies weren't like Fedriga, the old royal capital of the former Redelis Kingdom — where once you crossed the Cloud-Severed Mountains and the Great Snow Mountains, you'd be right outside the capital gates, barely eighty li away, reachable on foot in a single night. Capture it and you'd have a solid defensive foothold. Here, even if the Second Prince led tens of thousands of infantry through the White Egret Lake marshlands, there would be no significant towns worth capturing. He'd only be giving away his position, and when the four central duchies gathered their cavalry for a major battle, those tens of thousands of infantry would have no way to withstand a knightly charge...
"Would it be possible after some more time passes? For instance, it's winter now — in another month or so the marshes will freeze solid enough. Could cavalry and supply wagons pass through then?" The Second Prince still wasn't quite ready to give up.
"Find some of the hunters who live in the White Egret Lake marshlands. They might know the answer."
"Uh... well about that..." The Second Prince hemmed and hawed for a long while before saying sheepishly that there were simply no native inhabitants to be found in the White Egret Lake marshlands on the Andinaq Kingdom's side. There was nowhere to even ask. That was precisely why he had sent his knights and soldiers ahead to scout the route in the first place.
"Oh, right — didn't you say the soldiers from those duchies who were chasing you had native hunters from the marshlands guiding them, and they even brought hunting dogs? Why don't I send someone to capture a few of them for questioning? That would clear things up." The Second Prince recalled what Redi had said earlier and thought it was a fine idea.
Redi let out a long sigh. "Your Highness, I believe you should prioritize your own safety right now. The best course of action is to retreat immediately. The Great Swordmasters from Sabaji and Handela duchies aren't all that impressive — I could handle over a hundred exchanges against any one of them in single combat without breaking a sweat. But Fissabron, the Grand Duke, sent his old flame along as well. Great Swordmaster Cinty has come too. That old woman is a strange one — she was already a second-rank Great Swordmaster several years ago, and I couldn't even take a single move from her..."
"Your Highness, you are the ruler of a nation, bearing the weight of the kingdom's rise and fall. Right now you've led barely a thousand men deep into dangerous territory. I'm worried that if that old woman discovers you're here, she'll turn her target on you. To put it bluntly, these thousand-odd men have no way of stopping a surprise assault from three Great Swordmasters. If something were to happen to you, the kingdom would be finished..."
A shadow flickered in the command tent, and a stern-faced old man appeared. Redi wasn't startled — this had to be Manster, the first-rank Great Swordmaster serving as the Second Prince's bodyguard. When Redi had entered the tent earlier, he had noticed a very faint sound of breathing besides the Second Prince's.
Great Swordmaster Manster stared blankly at Redi, gazing at him so intently that Redi began to feel bewildered. After a long pause, the old man finally spoke. "You said you fought Great Swordmaster Cinty and couldn't even take a single move?"
Redi nodded.
The old man flew into a rage. "Nonsense! If you truly couldn't take a single move, you'd be dead already. How could you possibly have escaped from her?!"
Redi stripped off his shirt in one motion: "I'm making things up? Old man, open your eyes and look closely — chest, shoulder, and this one on my thigh, all three are what that old hag left me with in that first exchange. After that, I jumped into the river and only then managed to escape…"
Great Swordmaster Manster studied the three scars on Redi's body carefully, then finally sighed and turned to the Second Prince. "Your Highness, I suggest we withdraw for now. If it's truly Great Swordmaster Cinty who has come, I'm not confident I can guarantee your safety…"
The Second Prince asked curiously, "Great Swordmaster Manster, aren't you about to advance to second rank? Do you really consider yourself no match for that Great Swordmaster Cinty?"
The old man nodded. "Your Highness, I am only just now preparing to advance to second rank, while Great Swordmaster Cinty has been a second-rank Great Swordmaster for twenty years. From these three wounds on this knight's body, I can tell that Cinti's swordsmanship has only improved further. To be frank, I doubt I could withstand ten of her strikes. For Your Highness's safety, it would be best to return to the main camp first…"
Just as he finished speaking, a mournful warning horn sounded from outside the great tent — an indication that enemies had been spotted…(To be continued.)