Chapter 124: Ambush (1/2)

Bjorn let out a groan as he quickly grabbed the spear shaft before it could go too far into his chest. His feet slipped backwards in the snow as bodies fell to the ground around him. With a heavy grunt, he tugged at the weapon to remove it before lunging forward with his axe! The enemy raised his hands to cover his face as he yelled, but Bjorn sliced straight through his wrist and buried the blade in his skull.

'Damn!' Bjorn groaned as he sunk to his knees and attempted to hold his wound closed with his free hand. Warm blood flowed over his fingers as he stared at it with blurry eyes. He gazed around at the battlefield with a determined expression. It was the fourth time they had been ambushed so far on their way to the next settlement.

Troops kept appearing from seemingly nowhere, which led him to lead a vanguard for the main army. 'Harik should have heard the fighting by now... We just need to hold on until he surrounds them.' Bjorn felt his arms getting weak as a crimson puddle appeared in the snow. He tried to stand up, but his legs would not listen to him. Instead, he fell backwards into the cold embrace of the snow.

The boots of the warriors around him gradually moved away as the fighting forced a change in their position. A cough escaped from his pale lips as thoughts of the afterlife started to surface in his mind. As his mind began to shut down, the last thing his blurry vision saw was the silhouette of something massive and furry.

Nobody on the battlefield noticed the giant wolf dragging Bjorn into the forest by the leg of his pants. A deep groove was left in the snow as the only sign that something had moved that way. As Harik led his force around the edges of the battlefield, he studied the strange marks in the snow when he came across them.

'Damn wolves are starting to get bold. Dragging off bodies before the battles are even over now!' Naturally, he did not know that Bjorn was the one who had just been dragged away. 'This beast is a monster! The size of those prints is much larger than they should be!'

He could not help but make a mental note to hunt down such a dangerous beast once the fighting was done. There was no telling if it would make its way towards Eraldsfen if it were left alone. Harik shook his head as he waved his sword to signal the warriors to keep moving. In the cover of the forest, Harik's rebels slowly completed their encirclement and were poised to spring their own ambush on these enemies.

The sound of blades clashing was intense as their encirclement slowly closed in. Once Harik was certain that the enemies could not escape, he blew on the horn he was carrying to signal the attack! Cheers erupted from the warriors in the vanguard as their reinforcements appeared. Meanwhile, their enemies cried out in anger at having been surrounded like that.

Fresh snow fell as Harik parried a sword before forcing the tip of his own through his assailant's throat. He did not waste time on finishing him off. Instead, he withdrew the blade and left the man to drown in his own blood while choking. A roar escaped from Harik as he drove his shoulder into the next warrior to turn and face him. His blade slashed down as he hacked at the man's shoulder and severed the arm it was attached to.

Harik was not in the mood to be careful about this, he only wanted the battle to end as quickly as possible. For the sole reason of preserving as many of his warriors' lives as possible. Meanwhile, Ania forced her way to the front of the vanguard. She was on the side of the encirclement that was meant to relieve them and take over the fighting.

Her eyes dashed back and forth as she tried to locate Bjorn, but he was nowhere to be seen. A tinge of worry appeared in her mind as she called for the vanguard's retreat as her fresh warriors took their places. The effect it had became apparent immediately as the enemy warriors began to lose ground. Except, they had no way out, with Harik's men behind them and other warriors pushing in from the sides of their formation.