98 (IN) Chapter 20 - Retreating With The Reserve

As the barbarians descended and the moment Byran woke him up, the first thing Duke did was to secretly alert his lieutenants and officers whose tents were set up next to his and his entourage, in case something unexpected like this ambush happened...

Due to the close proximity of the officer's tents with each other, information was swiftly and quietly relayed to everyone as each one of those officers immediately ran towards the few number of men they led to pass on the quiet warning.

Bran ran to warn his sleeping regiment, Byran woke up the other old Knights, Rudon was tasked to wake up his Hunter regiment, and finally, Duke left it to Galleo and Caleb to wake up Derek's Guild Caravan, who woke other Merchant Caravans in turn.

Duke himself went to warn the other camps who had allied with him during the march.

Because of the silent domino effect that the way they conveyed the warning had, all 200 soldiers managed to swiftly and quietly form rank without the Barbarians up the middle sections noticing.

Giving Duke the chance to run up to Maurice's camp to warn them of the ambushing barbarians attacking the middle sections of their camp line.

Duke managed to convince much of the reserve force to follow him with the bulk of the hired Mercenary troops agreeing to follow his lead, thanks to the backing of Maurice, leader of the well-known Golden Shield.

The first order Duke had given the lieutenants after forming up was to form up a defensive line, even if disordered, just to minimize the casualties from the barbarians attacking their position, while also slowly backing away from the ambush point.

Though retreat was cowardly, Duke had surmised that an ambush of this level would inevitably defeat their extremely vulnerable camp, opting instead to retreat and follow the reserve's main objective, which was to protect the Supply Caravans...

And surprisingly, Duke's immature plan somehow worked thanks to a combination of favorable factors like the lack of enemy presence attacking the reserve, as most of the attacking barbarians were focused at the front and the middle sections of the line. And also the extreme lack of light in that forest, the dual-edged weapon that had enabled the ambush in the first place now helped Duke and his troops to escape unseen.

Duke counted everyone, his 200 main troops, the Merchant Caravans, and the bulk of the Mercenary troops that somehow came under his command.

Duke now had everybody under him at a safe distance away from the battle, but that did not mean he was about to betray and abandon the other Veterans and Nobles currently fighting... And so Duke waited in hopes that the tide of battle would change.

And much to Duke's surprise, under the skillful command of Alexei the Lord Commander, the battle's flow did change in their favor, even if it was just for a short time, thanks to the Winged Hussar's debilitating charge, and the steadfast bulwark the Veteran Knight Orders made with the help of the Golden Denari's crazed hunger for battle (Money!), and the healing of the Church's Holy Knights.

Sadly, their side's victory was just not meant to be after seeing the middle section getting mauled and squashed under the great hooves and paws of the Northmen's Beast Riders.

"Milord, the battle is lost... We must flee now!" Byran urged, shamed in his once again failure and incompetence as a Knight... Byran wanted to show Duke his fearless valor during this campaign. Sadly the heavens just did not allow for the old man's sincere request.

"If we don't go now, the enemy would surely catch us... Make a decision now Duke..." Galleo chimed in, giving his opinion on the matter. And he was not wrong, for the enemy had already known of the Reserve's retreat as a report from one of the fast Wolf Riders came up to Ulfskad:

"Ulfskad-Konungaz! The enemy's supplies are escaping!"

(Konungaz/Konungir - A title within the Normen peoples that means King in their native tongue. Ulfskad is called Konungir since he is one of the Normen Norse Kings under the one High-King, the Kjarr-nungir, Frodr Guldhring)

"Hmm? Ha, what bold little food sacks... No matter, after this battle we can easily capture them without resistance!" Ulfskad laughed at their immature trick. The reason why there was so little enemy attacking the reserve/supplies was due to the fact that when the vanguard and middle sections are defeated, it was just a matter of time before the weak reserve was caught.

And if completely demoralized from seeing the vanguard and middle sections getting completely obliterated, then the reserve might even voluntarily surrender, giving more loot and even slaves for the winning side. Another reason to attack the supplies was to prevent looting. Most attacking soldiers become greedy when seeing the raided loot, and might disregard attacking the enemy just to loot their treasures. So in the end, there was really no escape for the reserve when the main army lost.

And too Duke knew this all too well. He knew they had no choice but to escape now if they really wanted a chance to survive...

But as Duke was about to abandon the main Army, a saving grace fell upon his hands when one of his Hunters reported:

"A Tarasque! Milord! The enemy has lured a Tarasque towards the direction of the vanguards at the front, milord! A fully grown one, our main forces are doomed!" The hunter screamed.

Yes, Ulfskad knew not to underestimate the sturdy Brunic Knight's Bulwark that had even kept their united Northman Horde at bay whilst besieging Konigsberg.

And so to lessen the sacrifices of their veteran Berserkers and Beast Riders, Ulfskad decided it would be best if he could lure in a catastrophic beast of Nature to finish off the Knight's Bulwark, weakening itself in the process. And when the beast was weakened, they could either capture it for taming or finish it off in order to sell its precious hide and priceless bones.

One thing Ulfskad failed to take into consideration, however, was the fat Count currently scheming up a plan even more cunning than his shrewd little tactic... An oversight he would come to regret for the rest of his whole, arguably short life.