Night Attack [Part 03]

After taking a deep breath, he looked one last time towards the direction in which his men were slaughtered, and he turned around. For now, him priority was saving his life.

He and Kyle along with his few remaining men, made there way towards the exit of the forest.

...

On the other side, as the forest In front of him burned, Alfred and his entourage stood quietly atop a hill and listened to the screams of their enemies before they were killed by the eagles. No one spoke or tried anything to break the silence, and everyone kept quiet. Especially Alfred.

Being a man of different era, Alfred was not a ruthless man. On the contrary, he was quite merciful. But it did not mean he was going to sit back and watch when someone tried to harm his family and friends just for the sake of greed.

Alfred wanted this to be a lesson. Both for himself and his enemies. He wanted to this be a reminder to him in his future that as well as his enemies, he should and would not show mercy if someone to cross his bottom line.

As Alfred was still lost in his thoughts, a hooded figure slowly made his way out of the nearest forest and made his way towards Nathen. Nathen who was still vigilant as ever, also noticed the hooded man appearance but did not take any action.

Soon the hooded man reached near Nathen, and whispered something in his Nathen's ears. Nathen was surprised after hearing what the hooded man had to say and looked at the hooded man in suspsion. The hooded man naturally understand what Nathen was thinking and handed his few pieces of animal skins Nathen.

Nathen on his part, received the animal skins from the hooded man and took a look at the content. After reading it for a short while, Nathen Nodded to the hooded man indicating that he understood and dismissed him. The hooded man on his part, did not liger around, saluted Nathen and left.

"What happened, Nathen?" Alfred asked suddenly as the hooded man left.

"My lord, the scouts have sent an urgent report from the forest. It looks like few rats were able to slip from our trap and are trying to run away from us. What should we do my lord?" Nathen reported to Alfred.

"How many?" Alfred asked.

"The scouts count their number to be no more than fifty. They are all riding together and are trying flee as a group from the west point of the forest."

"Anything special about them?" Alfred's interest was aroused.

"Well from the information the scouts have gathered it appears, the leaders or the group are among them. My lord, should we intercept them?" Nathen asked.

Alfred closed his eyes for a moment. He was pondering about his next step.

"Redhead, what do you think?' Alfred asked suddenly.

"My lord, the fight will be surely be hard. Although we outnumber the enemy three to one, the enemy has highly trained elite man with them, while ours are poorly trained serfs whose fighting strength is little better than mobs. That is our biggest problem."

Alfred frowned. "So, we should just let them go?" Alfred asked in a neutral tone.

Redhead shook his head.

"I have no intension to let go of such golden opportunity. In fact, my lord, I say that we set up an ambush on the road." Redhead sad as he pointed at a certain place at the map. "My lord, this is a very good opportunity for us to return what they did to us. Although they have better men than us, we have element of surprise on our side. Which is vital. As long as we do not pitch our men in direct battle and have them harass the enemy from the forest, we can minimise our casualties. Besides, the men may be elite, but I and Lord Nathen are full fledge Knights. I think together we could take fifty or so elite troops by ourselves. So, my lord I say it's better for us to attack."

Alfred smiled after hearing what redhead had to say. He smiled a little and nodded his head.

"Prepare the men to move. If we are going to do this, we need to be fast. And not only catch up to them as soon as possible, we need to catch them where they least expect us. Redhead, you are in charge for this mission. I give full command of our men and freedom to do what is needed. You have my full support. Are you up to the job?" Alfred said.

Redhead nodded resolutely.

"Good. Nathen, you will act with Redhead for the duration of mission, try your best to fulfil what he wants. I want to see that this mission is completed without much hindrance and hopeful with low body count."

"As you wish my lord." Nathen resolutely said.

...

As Alfred made his preparations for an impromptu ambush, on the west side of the forest of twilight several tens of horses were galloping in the dead of the night.

"Kyle, are you sure we are going in the correct direction?" Albert loudly asked while riding his horse as fast as he could.

"Shut up you idiot wuss. Can't you keep that mouth of yours shut, so that we can have peace for a second? Don't you think someone would have noticed if we were going in the wrong direction? Stop asking silly questions like a child." Kyle said irritably.

Listening to Kyle demeaning tone, Albert got angry. Finally, unable to keep his calm, Albert fired back.

"Hay, you are one to talk about childish action. Was it not your childish actions, that got men from both families killed? Was it not your childish actions, for which we are fleeing like defeated and dishonourable bandits, leaving our riches behind? Was it not your childish actions, that got us into so much trouble that we were nearly killed? Humph, some adult you are. I say, if we keep following you blindly like this, we might as well get killed in another enemy raid." Albert complained.

"Shut up." Kyle yelled back. "Hay, if you think you can so any better, be my guest in leading us? We are all waiting to be rescued by the glorious young master Albert, the great whoremonger of the north."

"Humph." Albert harrumphed and did not say anything.

"Thought so. So, shut up and follow my lead. We need to get out of this forest as soon as possible and find some place safe to rest for the remaining night."

"What do you mean someplace safe. We have no food, no water and no supplies to spend the night outside. We need to ride back to my father's territory as fast as possible. Only then we would have a truly safe harbour, to rest and recuperate. Then we can slowly sort out matters. Until them it is not safe for us to stop anywhere." Albert said his mind.

"You are truly an idiot, aren't you? It's precisely because of we have nothing we need to stop and get prepared. There is no way in hell we will be able to stay alive for a whole week without any food or water. Besides, the horses need rest too and so do our men. Its been a tough night for all us. Only by taking a little rest we would have the energy to move forward."

Albert blush. He realized that this time he did make a foolish remark.

Just as the quarrel was dying down, the racing cavalry came to a sudden halt.

"What happened?" Kyle asked the nearest men.

The man inquired for a bit and come back what he found out.

"Young master, it seems someone has blocked our way forward." The man said anxiously.

After listening to the man, Kyle's face instantly became pale, as if all blood was sucked out of it. Right now, only two wards were on his mind, enemy ambush.

"Goddamn it, we were tricked again. Retreat." He yelled loudly.

Everyone understood how precarious their situation was. They quickly turned their horses around and were just about to run, when suddenly a voice made them shiver.

"Not so fast."

....

Alfred was watching for a safe distance, as the bandits from the two family fell into his ambush. He could not believe that this impromptu ambush succussed. For him, all Alfred did was block the expected route which he believed the enemy was going to take and asked Nathen to take some spearmen and block the rear.

He did not know either the enemy was unlucky or he was lucky, either way the enemy was trapped and his plan went without a hitch. But Alfred did not celebrate. He knows he had to end the enemy before the enemy launches a counterattack.

On Alfred's order, the archers and serfs which were carrying slingshots, open fired one the stunned enemy. Under such furious hail of stones and arrows, the bandits quickly dismounted their horses in an effort to save their lives. But it was only when Nathen and Redhead took action simultaneously and started killing left and right did, they finally break down and surrender.

(A/N- Sorry for all the delayed updates. I am sick. Luckily not COVID-19. But had to take rest none the same. So, hope all understand and cooperate. Will start updating daily soon.)