CHAPTER 298 No Way Out
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CHAPTER 298 No Way Out
297 AC
POV THIRD PERSON
Harold had no strength left to stand; he could hear the voices of the enemy soldiers approaching. He leaned against a rock next to him and sat on the ground. He turned his attention towards the castle. The fight in front of the castle gate continued, but after looking a little more carefully, he noticed something. The arrows of the soldiers on the castle always missed the enemy soldiers. This was very strange.
At that moment, five soldiers came out of the bushes. Harold was taking his last breaths. The soldier with the spear in his hand approached him and said, "Do you think it worked?" A soldier with a bow in his hand said, "I think it worked. Look at him running. He will inform his lord as the siege is still ongoing."
At this moment, Harold realized that this was a trap. They were being pulled into a trap. But how? How did they know they were coming? He and his group had never seen a scout group until they arrived here. As he was thinking this, he took his last breath, knowing their army was walking into a trap.
...
Similar things were happening all around the Newkeep. Aermir's men keep killing most of the scout members and let a few manage to run back. Aermir had killed most of them so it wouldn't look suspicious. To the enemy, it would look like they have tight security around the siege.
Only 5 of the 30 members of the scout groups had managed to reach the rendezvous point. Without waiting, they rode their horses toward their army.
....
House Lynderly and Coldwater forces were a few hours away from Newkeep and were waiting for the scouts. Joran Lynderly, the eldest son of lord Lynderly, had come himself since his second brother was a teen, and his father was at the shore of the Bite holding Drasil forces at bay.
He still couldn't comprehend how the mountain army could be here when all of Vale was chasing them down south. He was having really bad feelings about this. He wasn't able to reach his father and the 14-15 thousand men at the Bite. His father's forces were around three days from Newkeep, but they had no idea that mountain men were sieging the castle. Even if they did, they most likely could not come back anymore since Drasil's army could mount an invasion if they left the coastline undefended.
...
Lord Jon Lynderly was one of the commanders charged with the mission to keep an eye on the Littlesister, where the army of Drasil was being mustered. Their latest intelligence showed them that Drasil had 10,000 men after combining with 5,000 Templar forces. Jon was feeling nervous since the sightings of Drasil's scouting ships were getting more frequent.
He threw his goblet in anger. They were the Vale, valiant knights of the Valley, and they had to act on edge because of this measly Northern upstart lord. On top of the 10 thousand men army, they had to deal with that accursed Druid and the mountain men army. His men were growing restless from the constant threat of an invasion, and most of them were afraid because of the Druid's power. He couldn't blame them. Anyone who witnessed that kind of power would be fearful, and they only had 5 thousand real soldiers. The rest of the army was made out of levies.
They had heard what he did in the Sisters. He and other lords had to use all of their scouts. They had to use their scouts to keep the coastline of The Bite under control all the way to the Fingers. They couldn't leave even a small opening for those bastards since they were as slippery as snakes and were able to enter from the smallest of holes in Sister's defenses.
...
Joran Lynderly and Cedric Coldwater, Lord Coldwater's middle child, were riding their horses in the middle of their army when the surviving scout arrived and informed them. Cedric turned to him and said, "If the castle didn't fall yet, we might be able to pincer them."
Joran looked thoughtful and said, "Even if we hurry, we still have an hour to go. Do you really think we should hurry? We will be exhausted."
Cedric's eyes were shining with determination as he nodded his head. "Yes, but they would be exhausted too. Most likely, they had been fighting since the morning. We could be there under an hour if we march there at full speed. In the best-case scenario, we will pincer them with the defending force; in the worst case, they would have taken over the castle, and we will hit them when they are fully exhausted and wounded. They might know we are coming, but they won't have time to fix the castle gate."
Joran considered what Cedric said, and he was mostly right. Even if the castle was invaded, they would still have the advantage. They both agreed and started a full-speed march.
...
When they reached the castle, several hundred men were entering it, but you could still clearly hear the fighting sound of steel clashing, shouts, and pain-filled screams from the distance. The smoke was limited to the gates and their surroundings. Joran wanted to make some attack plans, but Cedric didn't even stop for a second and ordered Coldwater forces to attack.
All of Coldwater's men started charging towards the open gate, and Johan followed after him. By the time they reached the gate, there were no soldiers left outside. Cedric and his men charged wave after wave. When they reached inside, there weren't any soldiers to stop their advances into the town.
In the distance, they could see a big army waiting for them around the town square, but Cedric was conscious of the alleyways. Men could be waiting to surround and attack them from all sides. Joran had reached them, too, and he sent some of his men to those alleyways as they advanced closer to the enemy army. It looked like the defenders were beaten, and the enemy was getting ready to fight them.
Cedric didn't want to give them more time to get ready and ordered for a charge. The bad feeling that Jorah was having was getting worse by the second. He looked toward the roofs and ordered, "I want eyes on every rooftop. Just as he was giving that order, a horn was blown, and archers emerged from every rooftop. Jorah's eyes grew as he shouted, "Shields!"
Arrows started to rain down from the rooftops. Archers poured out like an endless wave from the battlement towers and filled the ramparts. The Vale forces were surrounded from every direction. The information they got from the scouts was wrong. There were too many of them.
Joran and Cedric's forces were around 3-4 thousand, and the intelligence report said there were around 3 thousand mountain men, but there were at least two times that.
At that moment, Joran knew they had lost, but he was not going to despair and surrender. He was going to fight to the last man and at least cut down their number as much as possible. The only way for them to come out on top was for his father to get his messages and help them. They had to hold on and hope for reinforcement.
Cedric clashed with the mountain men with confidence. He believed the numbers were equal and they had the upper hand since the enemy would be more exhausted and unprepared, but after fighting with them for a few minutes, he realized they were not exhausted and were fully prepared.
When he saw the archers emerge from the rooftops and battlements, he realized they had walked into a trap. His men were dying left and right. At that moment, he saw a two-meter man charge through his men like they were made out of paper. He threw one of his twin great axes, killing many, then he grabbed a man and threw him like a sack, downing three more of his men.
As he approached, his axe crushed many of them to a paste. Arrows, spears, swords, or shields did not stop that man's charge. Cedric was not a small man—around 1.9m—but when that man stood in front of him. This was not the power of a man; he was a demon.
Cedric felt so small, like a child, and the last thing he saw was a giant axe coming down toward his head. He tried to block with his shield, but the force of the strike had broken his arm and his neck, instantly killing him. After their commander's death, Coldwater men were routed and wanted to leave, but the portcullis was down, and there was no way of leaving the castle without taking over the gatehouse.