116Raiders Clashed
Southern Albion
Inside his personal tent, Wales was currently looking at the map on a table. On the maps he drew three green squares to indicate the location of his army and two allied armies. He also made two circles with the green square that indicate the location of his army as the center. The circles were to marked the area where his troops acquired some of their supplies through foraging.
Wales let out a sigh and picked up a cup of wine on the table. He grimaced when his tongue touched the liquid and let him taste the diluted drink. While this wasn't the first time he drinks a diluted wine, this one was even more diluted than the ones he normally drank.
Then again, he couldn't afford to get drunk, especially considering his current location. At the moment, his army was encamping near the border between lands owned by two nobles. Crossed that, which was not even ten miles away, and he would enter the territory of a noble who already declared his allegiance with the Reconquista.
His thought was interrupted when he heard a commotion from the outside. Wales put down his cup and walked out of his tent. He saw that the commotion was created by the men who helped the cavalrymen disembark from their mounts and escorted them to the infirmary. His face turned sour as he approached the nearest soldier.
"What's happening here, soldier?" Asked Wales.
"Y-Your Highness!" Said the soldier surprised before he and other soldiers who noticed the prince gave a bow of respect. "These men were sent earlier to collect firewood and water, sir. They told us that they encountered hostile foraging party and clashed with them."
Wales put his hand on his chin as his brain digested the newly-acquired information. He was near the border of hostile territory. Since his foraging party encountered enemy's, that meant a Reconquista was not far away from his.
The reason Wales' army camping near the border was because he has an intention of invading hostile territory. It took no brainer to realize that the Reconquista intended to do the same thing.
Wales started to think about the condition of his army. There were his personal bodyguards which were composed of some of the best mages Albion could offer. There were also several companies of the Kingdom's standing army. However, at the very least half of his men were green. In fact, this might be the first time they ever hold a weapon in their hands. Then there was the little fact that he didn't have field experience.
The prince turned around and walked back into his tent. Once inside, he immediately grabbed two pieces of paper and a quill. He then wrote the message that he wanted to send on them.
Hopefully, the two allied armies could arrive before the Reconquista find him.
Northern Albion
On the road towards a city, a small band of Royalist forces were escorting supply wagons carrying food acquisitioned from the nearby villages. Most of the forces were composed of spearmen with the rest being dragoons and crossbowmen.
With the news of Northern Albionese rising up against the Royalists and the Reconquista and both were too preoccupied with each other, there was not much that either can do against them at the moment. Plus, if the rumor about them somehow managed to get their hands on some cannons, then the Northerners had a significant advantage.
Thus, the local commanders of both sides decided to concentrate their respective forces at walled settlements. That meant leaving many villages and towns undefended. But those settlements were not defensible in the first place, what with the enemy can simply sit down and bombard them from far away.
Of course, just because they more or less handle those settlements on silver platter, didn't mean the Royalists and the Reconquista have to make things easy for the Northerners. Both made the same decision of taking as many supplies as they can from the settlements that they abandoned. While they couldn't take all of them without the local population rioting, they only need to take enough so that when the Northerners decide to acquisitioned some supplies from their newly-acquired settlements, they wouldn't get a lot of them.
Suddenly, the entire convoy stopped when the foremost spearman got hit by an arrow coming from a forest at the east. Upon seeing that, the dragoons split up and the spearmen were forming shield walls. The crossbowmen and the wagon drivers hid behind the walls.
A volley of arrows flew towards the Royalist forces. Few fell from the attack but most stood their ground. Then, from the forest, came Reconquista swordsmen and dragoons. As they charged towards the convoy, the crossbowmen behind them reloaded their weapons.
The Royalist spearmen made some gaps among the shield walls, giving their crossbowmen a clear way to shot the approaching Reconquista forces. And fire their crossbows they did. Some of the enemy swordsmen managed to block the arrows with their shields while others didn't. The dragoons didn't have any protection against the arrows and thus could only hope that the shots miss their targets. One unlucky horse got hit by an arrow at the chest and fell. Its fall caused the two other horses behind it to tripped, sending their riders flying.
Seeing their counterparts, the Royalist dragoons galloped towards the Reconquista's. They took out their pistols and shot them as they approached the enemy dragoons. Their opponents were more than willing to give them the same treatment. When they were close, dragoons of both sides drew their swords and crashed into a brutal melee.
The Royalist crossbowmen managed to fire another volley of arrows before the spearmen had to close the gaps. As that happened, the Reconquista swordsmen suddenly stopped and ducked, giving clear sight for their crossbowmen. After a volley of arrows, the swordsmen stood up and formed their own shield walls. Slowly, the distance between the walls decreased until there was a distance no longer. Shields pushing each other, blades tried to pass through the gaps, and men held their ground.
"Hold the ground! Hold the ground!"
While the Royalists and the Reconquista were busty with each other, unbeknownst to them, from the west came cavalry of another side; the Pistoliers of the Empire of Man. The sounds of the dragoon's horses masked their presence. It was only when the Pistoliers were 50 feet away that the Royalist crossbowmen realized that there were more people coming.
"Cavalry! On our rear!"
Upon hearing the warning, the crossbowmen and several spearmen diverted their attention to their rear. Seeing that they've been spotted, the Pistoliers opened fire at the Royalist soldiers. Not being bothered by their fallen comrades, the crossbowmen returned fire at the riders. While those happened, the spearmen formed shield walls to protect the wagons. However, since most of them were busy engaging the Reconquista forces, there weren't enough of them to cover all of the wagon.
Just as expected, the Pistoliers rode back to where they came from when they were few feet away from the walls. While doing so, they didn't forget to shoot their second pistol at the spearmen. However, some of them didn't have a pistol. Rather, their hands were holding a torch.
When they were close, rather than shooting at the spearmen, the Pistoliers with torches threw them at the wagons, igniting the fabric used to cover the cargo inside. Seeing the wagons on fire, several crossbowmen and the wagon drivers attempted to put out the fire. The fire though caused the horses that pulled the wagons to panic. In their panic, the horses distracted the Royalist soldiers and some even kicked those who attempted to put out the fire.
The fire also distracted the Reconquista forces, as their intention was to capture the supplies rather than destroying them. Those who managed to pass through the shield walls admits the chaos were also attempting to put out the fire.
"Calm down! Calm down, will you?!" Exclaimed a soldier as he tried to grabbed a horse reins to no avail.
"There's water inside! Someone grabs them!" Stated another soldier.
As the fire spread, the Pistoliers began to rode away from the battle. Some of the Royalist dragoons tried to chase them, but were cut down by the shots from retreating Empire cavalry.
Rosenburg, Albion
Rosenburg was the capital city of the southernmost province of area designated as Northern Albion by the Kingdom. It was currently being held by the Royalists, though there have been attempts by the Reconquista to take the city. So far, they were limited to raiding the countryside, which were easily repelled by the local Royalist forces.
However, another danger was closing in. Danger would require more than local troops repel.
Atop of the city wall, the Lord Mayor of Rosenburg, Sir Alexander Clerk, was looking at the scenery of nature surrounding the city as an aide gave him a report.
"So, there's no choice but to hold up in the city?" Said the Mayor while keeping his eyes on the scenery.
"I am afraid not, My Lord." Stated the aide. "Not only they have more infantry and cavalry then us, but the Northerners bring with themselves artillery as well. The city wall will be the only thing between us and the cannonballs."
The Lord Mayor let out a heavy sigh before taking out a handkerchief to wipe out cold sweat on his forehead. If the information that he received was correct, then holding up inside Rosenburg and wait for the relieve force to rescue them was the only choice.
Well, choice that didn't involve most of them becoming speck of blood in the ground, at least.
However, Sir Clerk doubted that a relieve force would come in time. From the letters that he had received up to this day, the Royalists would focus on destroying the Reconquista first before crushing the rebellion by the Northerners. Until then, the Royalists forces at the North have to hold the rebels.
All of that considered, it was very unlikely for him to be able to hold Rosenburg. The city would fall either by assault or by starvation. He might be able to hold until Summer, but he doubted the Reconquista would be destroyed when the season arrive.
Then, there were rumors on how the Northerners treated the nobles and mages that they captured. They would tied them at the stakes before burning them alive, all while chanting death to the witches. Even if the rumors were false, he still had no intention of being captured as those peasants obviously had no idea how to treat a noble prisoner.
Of course, running away was not an option. Rosenburg will fall into chaos and riots will occurred all over the city, causing a lot of death and destruction. Plus, the Lord Mayor would be branded as a coward.
Letting out another sigh, Sir Clerk began to walk towards his residence to prepare for the upcoming siege. On his way back, he couldn't help but wonder, how the Northerners managed to gain cannons?
Southern Albion
"Your Highness, forgive my transgression, but your idea is not a wise one to do!"
"I myself agree with you, Edmund. But this is something that I will do."
"But, Your Highness…"
"But nothing!"
After sending the letters to the allied armies, Wales sent a group of scouts to check the condition of the Reconquista forces. It didn't take them long to return to the camp. There was a reason for that; a Reconquista army was on their way to Wales' army's camp.
His first order upon hearing the report was for his army to pack up and dismantle the camp. However, he then realized that there wasn't enough time to pack everything. There would be things that had to be left behind for there to be any hope of retreating without suffering casualty. Things that would weakened his forces while at the same time strengthening the enemy.
Wales also remembered that he passed through many villages on his way to his current location. By retreating, he would give the Reconquista forces free rein on the countryside. From the tales that his brother told him, it would involve burning and plundering. A lot of them.
As the Prince of Albion, he could not let that happen.
Wales returned to his tent, he looked at the map of the surrounding area and managed to find a good position. It was a nearby hill not even a hundred yard away from the camp. If he could occupy the hill, he would have the upper ground and the Reconquista will have to fight an uphill battle.
But then, there was another problem. If he wants to occupied the hill before the Reconquista arrived at the hill, Wales couldn't bring his entire army as many of them were still packing. "Many" being the important word.
Which was how Wales ended up in this conversation with his advisors. They tried to convince him to abandon the idea, even outside his tent, where others could hear them.
"Your Highness, according to the report from the scouts, your army is more or less equals to that of Reconquista. And yet you're going to face them with not even half of your men!" Stated one of his advisors.
"I know that. However, the Reconquista army will have been marching all day when they arrived and we will have the geographic superiority. An uphill battle won't be an easy one for the aggressor." Retorted Wales.
"But with the amount of men that you bring with you, Your Highness, the Reconquista could simply brute their way through with numbers. And if they see you, it will give them a huge morale boost as they will try to capture you." Stated another advisor.
"I already have a solution for that."
Before anyone could said anything else, a soldier brought Wales his horse. After mounting the horse, the Prince turned his attention towards his advisors.
"Sorry gentlemen, but my mind is set. If you really care about me, then come to the battlefield with me." Said Wales before he rode his horse away.
As they saw the Prince rode away, the advisors looked at each other before grumbling and went off to prepare themselves. As they walked, two of them have a conversation with each other.
"What do you think of Your Highness?"
"He's a good man, that is without a doubt."
"Indeed. And that is unfortunate."
"Of course. It is hard for a good man to be a king."
Answers to some reviews:
The Last Of Rights: Perhaps. Though could you tell me who Imperial Rangers are? I tried to search about them, but to no avail.
ATP: Can't do that. Mathilda is a mage, thief, and spy. Not an exactly promising wife for the Imperial nobles.
As for her sister, well…
thatguy1796: Yeah, I know about my grammar problem. I am trying my best to fix it. Not sure how good I am at fixing it though, to be honest.
And done.
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