Chapter 45: Fifth Episode: Chapter 9 (1/2)

Chapter 45: Fifth Episode: Chapter 9

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Nine kilometers! It’s not a long ride, however, war had given it a deeper meaning. In the short nine kilometers, if the agony and curses of the knights were woven into a poem, it would probably cast shadows on the epic heroic poems of the history.

Nine kilometers of road was not ideal for night travel. The roads were rugged at best. Even though the silver light from the moon could bring a sense of luminance to the knights, the procession was encumbered and the heavily injured soldiers were in pain. The beasts in the mountains seemed to have occupied the area they used before. As they travelled out of the place, they had heard satisfied roars from beasts as they tore each other apart.

The commander of the mixed army of Narcissus Knights and capital knights, Colonel Kamille Rayen’s only order when they departed was the gag order. He ordered the knights, no matter their health condition, to not utter a sound during the march. Because of that, none of the knights were allowed to groan or to yelp to express their pain.

Knights who couldn’t move were strapped onto their horses’ back, each of them were assigned another knight to take care of them. They always had to wipe the sweat off of their teammates’ head, as well as preparing bandages to wrap the wounds that got torn open.

The speed of the procession was slow. One of the knights started to tell jokes to another, saying if their commander had discovered the second squadron to advance at this speed, they would probably be strapped behind the Raytheon stallion and forced to run for the whole morning.

The knight’s joke was soon cut off. Pain and lost of blood made him forget the gag order. No one was there to punish him, but he still regretted it as soon as he opened his mouth. He was so nervous, he started changing his partner’s bandage again, despite knowing his partner had already passed on. He felt he still needed to do something for the brave sacrificed warrior.

The Princess’ horsemanship was not bad, she had already gotten the Narcissus Knights’ approval when she hopped on her ride, however, there’s nothing in that the Princess took pride in. Alanis’ expression was unnatural, but she was, after all, the Princess of the Empire, she had already put the attempt on her life aside. Her utmost concern right now was Emory’s health. Her other maid was by her side as the poor Emory was fixed onto the stretcher on the horse. The Princess wasn’t sure if Emory was conscious, she hadn’t been making any sound since she got on the horse, but the Princess saw her lips and hands quiver slightly.

The Prince sat on the back of the horse, slipping in and out of consciousness. He was not to be blamed. He’s probably the most unlucky Prince in Titan Empire’s history, he hadn’t even got through his first month after the coronation before someone decided to try for his life! Ola! The teen smiled wryly at himself, as a Prince he’s such a failure!

Young Lady also mounted her horse, her armor was specifically designed for females with its strong bust and iron chains for upper body, and an increased waistline designed like a skirt so it could fit on top of a dress. Sasha liked the armor so much, she used to spread it out on the floor just to perform maintenance on it. Even though she had never thought about wearing it onto the battlefield, as an Andrew, some things were not meant to be avoided or think twice about.

How was Kamille? The Colonel was imagining his higher-ups when he finally meet them. The two old turtle doves would definitely scoff at him with their harshest words. Kamille grinned, he cold even predict what they would say, ”Hey kid! I heard you messed up big time! How was it? Are you going to cry?” This was his brigadier. ”No! This kid wouldn’t cry, he would be busy changing his diapers! Haha!” This was his regimental commander. Kamille was sad, what would his soldiers say to him? In the ten years he had been in the army, he had sent away and received countless warriors, he didn’t know what his soldiers think of him. Even though he knew the second squadron loves him, that’s not the most important thing to him, what’s important is seeing his warriors returning to their homes safely, and greeting them the next day at their farms.

Lady Duchess Celia Andrew Nedgabel hid herself in a large cape, her mask shining silver in the moonlight. None of the knights knew why the Duchess would wear the mask on the march, maybe the Duchess was weeping, or maybe she just didn't want to look at the saddening line of injured soldier behind her.

A unique chirping came out of the woods, it's a type of harrier bird from the Tyler grassland, the kind that the Narcissus Knights usually employ to send letters back home.

Kamille dismounted his horse. The impact of the landing caused his wound to hurt as if it’s going to tear.

”How was it?”

The returning scout dismounted as well and hurriedly approached the colonel. ”I saw them! Sir! We saw them! Everything matches up with what Paladin Sarlat! The only discrepancy was that the enemy probably has more than five hundred people. We need to speed up, the sun will be up in less than two hours!”

Kamille waved his hand, dismissing the scout who remounted his horse and who was prepared to lead the party.

After Paladin Kamille gestured at the captains behind him, the army responded immediately, with the soldier who still could fight mounting their horses. It’s time they leave the injured behind.

The ladies were asked to stay. They were not suitable to join the assault, so they were tasked with taking care of the injured. The whole party was divided into two halves in an instant, the mounted knights greeted their comrades, it was the farewell salute of the knights, simple but deep in meaning.

The knights who can still fight handed their swords to the injured. As a ritual, the ones staying would hold the blade-end of the swords. They would remember their comrades’ faces, if the fighters perished on the battlefield, the knights who performed the ritual would take care of his body and his family.

The knights approached their destination with caution, silence fell onto them like a curtain.

Just before dawn, the soldiers congregated at the specified location. Over here, they’d need to do another round of screening. Even though all the wounded soldiers were clutching their weapons, not all of them would be able to join the attack.

The knights with bone fractures were all chosen to be on the offense, they were strapped tightly onto their horses, and their weapons were placed onto their injured hands, some were so badly wounded their hands even warped. No one spoke in this process, they knew their injured comrades would probably fall in this battle, but as a knight, they still remembered their responsibility.

The Law of Narcissus Knights, number twenty seven: Thy lives shall be released upon death, but Knights shall fight ‘til thy swordhand lay limp in the mud. To fight is thy mission, thine only choice ‘twixt birth and death.

A veil of mist slowly descended upon them as moonlight faded. There was no sunlight to warm the damp air, causing tiny droplets to form in the air. The air couldn’t bear the weight of the droplets and formed white fog in the mountain, in the woods, and in the valleys. The wispy whiteness permeated every corner of the area, its nebulous silhouette added to the mysterious environment.

Bunches of sparks still remained on the bonfire in the camp, ash spilled around the ground, wet by the morning mist. The blend of fresh air brought in by the daybreak added to the smell around the camp.

Several guards were huddled up around the wood pile, chatting amongst themselves. Occasionally, one of them would yawn loud enough to echo in this empty clearing. The only movements in this dawn came from their quick, tongue-twisting Italian language. The guards didn’t place their attention on the vacant woods around them, but the gold coins they would soon be getting and the two accidental gains they acquired in the attack that had just passed.

Kaga carried a dagger in his mouth, behind him were six elites hidden in the bushes. The two nearest guards were less than ten meters away, behind the fence.

As a veteran soldier with more than ten years of experience, Kaga had lost count of operations that involved ambushing a camp, however, this operation seemed to carry the most meaning to it. Kaga didn’t want to see Johanne who broke his leg becoming a living target of the enemy marksmen and archers because he was secured on the horse.

He had forgotten many things, but Kaga remembered, there were nine others who followed Kamille into the army. After ten years, the ten people had left only three, Kaga didn’t want to lose any one of them anymore.

One of the guards saw a bloody blade piercing out of his partner’s neck, he tried to look around. In his horrified state, he only saw a ashy-faced knight charging toward him, he wanted to scream, but a cold light flashed on the knight’s hand, becoming his last memory.

Kaga and another Narcissus Knight hurried over and caught the two bodies that were going to tumble and caught them before they did. Just as the other knights were trying to dispose of the two bodies in the bush, it seemed like time had frozen.

A scout had revealed himself from outside the camping area, his upper body was out of his outpost. His mouth was gaping wide as he saw the Narcissus Knights in his camp.

Kaga blanked out, instinctively, he raised his throwing knife before he saw something even more horrifying. A black shadow appeared out of nowhere behind the scout, as the scout was going to yell, he spasmed for a moment before his eyes turned into the color of a dead fish’s eyes.

Kaga’s subordinate was so anxious, they almost attacked. Fortunately, their superior stopped them in the nick of time. The seven knights approached the silhouette. Through the mist, they noticed the scout’s outpost was built on the on the bottom of the decline, normally it wouldn’t be seen if one wasn’t close to it.

”Snowstorm!”

”Kaga!” The King of Assassins had spoken to the knight before, even though the knight didn’t have the ability of a Paladin, he was quite capable in this sort of sneaking around.

Kaga led his knights and mimicked the assassin, sneaking into a tent nearest to the outpost.

One of the knights almost screamed, but his partner managed to cover his mouth.

The situation in the tent was gruesome. Out of the ten beds, nine were occupied by headless bodies, the only mercenary who survived had a brightly colored sock stuffed into his mouth. His eyes were filled with horror.

Nine heads were tied together with a piece of string and were hung from the ceiling of the tent. Kaga and the other knights were partially nauseated. Even though they are soldiers who’d been through many battles, it’s still uncomfortable seeing a ‘chandelier’ made of human heads.

That’s right, the human head chandelier were hung in the tent like chandeliers. The Narcissus Knights checked the faces of those people, which was the only thing they could accept. At least those people died without a speck of horror on them.

Snowstorm pointed at himself before the surviving mercenary on the bed. He took out a knife, ignoring the captive who thrashed about. The Narcissus Knights didn’t know what he meant, they’ve suddenly forgotten their mission. They saw the Prince’s bodyguard stabbed the captive from behind his neck with a fruit knife, dark red blood dripped out of the wound, onto the assassin’s clothes, and flowed down to the ground. The mercenary immediately stopped, his life force drained.

”Remember this action, I ask all of you to complete this in all the tents silently, however, there are more than five hundred people here, so it’s impossible to kill them all. I want all of you to slice at least two heads off in every tent with whatever way you like, but not too much, strong bloody smell can induce nightmares to the asleep, if they woke up from their nightmares, the nightmares would turn their pitchforks on you.” The King of Assassins didn’t stop his hands while speaking, he used his fruit knife to carve off the mercenary’s head, spilling his blood with a disgusting squirt.

”What’s after? Hang them up on the beam like you did?” A knight voiced his question.

”No, haven’t you realized? Use your imagination, you can place their heads wherever you want, just make sure it’ll be a surprise for them.”

The seven knights, including Kaga nodded simultaneously, they knew what they needed to do. When they launched their assault with their mount, these guys would surely rush out of their tents just to find mounds of surprises, maybe they wouldn’t even have time to wear their pants! Kaga and the knights knew what to do.

***************

In the area of the woods with the thickest fog, trees were obscured even at a dozen meters away. The sky slowly turned a greyish-white color. Small creatures approached the tall horses with caution, they had never seen big, friendly animals like this.

Kamille waited anxiously. One hour! Kaga and his squad had left one whole hour ago! Dammit! The Paladin looked around, everything seemed to still be buried under a whitish lake water.

A sound suddenly appeared, approaching from far from the bushes. Kamille raised his hand, the bowman squad on his left aimed their arrows at the direction the sound came from.

It was a bloodied man, he stopped behind a tree, the bowmen captured his silhouette, a dozen bowmen with more experience had even pulled their bowstring, ready to strike.

”Bobcat!”

”Tiger!” Kamille motioned the bowmen to disengage and approached the man alone. In just a moment, the squad leader walked out of the woods, smiling while looking at the team in front of him.

This was the two teams remaining in the Second Squadron of the Fifth Corps, Fourteenth Cavalry Brigade of the Narcissus Knights, there were about a hundred fully armored knights standing in the morning fog, waiting. Even though they could not see the scenery in front of them, they knew it was almost time for them to attack.

Kamille steered his horse toward the bowmen, he waved both his hands lightly, and the fifty archers automatically split into two teams, moving speedily to the left and right sides respectively. The Paladin worked his way to the sword-wielding knights, the two hulking men who was leading the teams brandished their weapons as a hundred warriors clanged their own against their shields, scaring the little animals away. The Paladin pointed at the bush on the left of the enemy camp with his head, prompting the leading men to move there slowly.

The quiet woods returned to its peaceful silence after a brief moment of busyness. The Paladin stood in front of the cavalry and let his mask cover his face, which was followed by countless identical movements behind him.

The knights had lost their identity, as well as their fear. Their eyes were beaming with bloodlust, and their damaged masks were covered with a layer of dew within moments.

Kamille exhaled lightly, his breath forming white fog through the air outlet that leads to outside of his mask.

***************

Toot… toot… Honk!

”Wake-up horn?” The mercenaries were confused, isn’t that a military signal? The first mercenaries to wake up realized something was wrong! Why is his tent filled with the smell of blood!

Screams rang one after another from different tents, the quiet camp soon descended into chaos soon after the horn blared. The mercenaries were surprised with the sight of their comrades’ decapitated head. Some of them against their own chests, some were pierced through and left on top of spears, some were left floating in a bloodied water barrel, and some were placed neatly in one corner.

”What happened?”

Who’s sounding the horns?”

”Sir… sir…”

The mercenaries run around in the camp as if they were fleeing from a disaster. Most of them were carrying their weapons, muttering the name of God.

”Tooooot…” Honks blasted out from the woods around them once more. The mercenaries temporarily cleared their fear enough to identify their situation. They looked around, the depressing honks fleeted about in the air above them. ”We… we’re surrounded!”

”Sir!”

The mercenaries automatically cleared a path for their commander who stumbled out from his tent in the middle. Something was definitely wrong! The mercenaries looked at their commander, noticing that he was muttering something under his breath!