Chapter 2 - The last stand of the madmen

"Sir! The vanguard had seen smoke!"

The patrol led by Sir Maisel traveled for another hour and a half before they finally saw signs of the barbarians passing by. Several bodies were laying on the ground some half eaten others only cut, but the youngest ones were tied on the trees as an offering to their sick gods.

Suddenly, Maz, one of the men from the vanguard, came riding back down the trail bearing the face of someone who had the devil in person.

"Sir Maisel!"

The man brought his horse to a halt in front of his lord and saluted. "My lord, we saw smoke and blood splatter everywhere. It was a little further down the trail. A big cloud of black smoke rose above the treetops. By what I saw, I reckon the barbarians are here."

"Which direction?"

"That way, sir Andre."

"One of my men believes that the smoke came from Luman, a small village right on the border."

Before Maisel could ask the soldier how far that village was from them, Andre smoothly filled in the gaps for his friend.

"It's four or five kilometers away from our current position. Though I don't recall how many families live there."

"No more than dozen families, sir."

"This close to the savage lands? It seems a rather bad place to build a home if you ask me."

"They're here for the black stone my lord."

Seeing Maisel's look of confusion, Andre elaborated. "It's a type of stone used primarily by the nobles in the capital or as a matter of fact by anyone willing to pay at least 10 golden eagles(explained at the end of the chapter) on a kilogram of stone. It looks nice and all, but in the end, it's just stone."

"Damn me then. It's a dangerous place to live. However, the times we live are hard, so people are willing to risk it, that's something we all do."

"Do we know if the village has any kind of defenses? Or they were left in the hands of Lady Mira(Goddess of Fate)?"

"There'll be a palisade wall and a defensive ditch from what I remember from some of the fort's reports on all of the close villages, but I reckon the village chief also put a petition for a tower to be built."

"You are right sir Andre. I once met a man from here, and believe me, sir. The people around here are not shy when it comes to protecting themselves. Most of the men will be experienced archers. Even the women and children will know how to use spears or slingshots."

"All right, then boys. We'll head for Luman and see if they need help. Also, Maz, ride back to your squad leader and tell him we're on our way. If you see any enemies, you're to turn back and warn us. No matter what happens to the rest of your squad. Moreover, if nothing forces you to report back, I want you guys to hold your position until the rest of the patrol gets there. We don't need heroes, we need men that are alive, you understand me, soldier?"

"Understood, my lord."

After Maz left once again, Andre turned towards his lord. "Shouldn't we also send someone to inform Sir Weissel?"

"Not yet, my friend. We still don't know what happened to the town, besides, we can always send a scout to report to Lord Weissel if the barbarians are really attacking."

As soon as he explained to his friend his intention, Sir Maisel turned to face his men. He looked at the faces of the men and it was only natural he saw some nervousness, but there was nothing that suggested that his men were caught by fear or panic. Again, the knight found himself pleased with the retinue his lord offered to him in this routine patrol. They were good soldiers. They would do their duty to the bitter end if needed and above all, these men were loyal to House Kaspian.

"No matter what happens or what we encounter, none of you will dismount unless ordered to do so. I want you to be ready to withdraw at all times. If we run into anything more than we can handle, we will pull back immediately. If the village is in trouble, we will help if we can. However, our first duty is to the fort. We are scouts, not an army ready to face the barbarian hordes. Is that understood?"

The men nodded at their lord, all tightly holding the reins of their horses praying to god that nothing bad would happen.

When they reached the village, the fire had already died and only a few pockets were still raging. The smell of smoke was making everyone breathe heavily, along with the odor of burned flesh. The knight slowly approached the gate on horseback, wondering what could have blown open the thick gates that protected the village from the barbarians. The middle of both gates had a hole as big as a horse in them, making everyone pray that the mad troll hadn't sent his horrors to the land of the holy Prussian.

Sadly, nothing and no one was alive in the whole village, or at least nothing was heard. Still, Sir Maisel ordered three men to scout the inside of the village for any survivors. A gesture of respect for the fallen people of Luman, unfortunately, they were too late to help the village, but the least they can do is to try searching for survivors.

Soon one of the men returned signaling the rest of the patrol that no one was alive in the whole village. The first thing the patrol saw when they walked past the gate was the bodies, both human and animal. The barbarians had the people of this town killed alongside their livestock, murdered in the enemy's mad rampage for nothing more than the pure joy of tearing a defenseless human apart. Andre saw that chunks of flesh had been cut from some of the corpses, though whether for use as food or as trophies he could not be sure. The barbarians were known to take trophies, but there were also some stories about cannibals among the mad troll's army. As for what purpose the barbarians attacked this town, no one would know, after all, that's dead and can't raise again.

After god knows how long, the whole patrol left the ruins in a heavy mood. They couldn't find even a soul alive in the whole village, and for many, that was a bad sign. Never had been reported about such atrocities when the barbarians would simply set aflame a village without taking their trophies with them.

Seeing his friend lost in dark thoughts and pointless possible situations related to the fall of the village, Sir Maisel still on horseback walked next to Andre.

"What's keeping you so lost my friend?"

"Whoever was with the barbarians, it didn't take them long to get past the gate. Not even a siege machine could have made such a huge hole in the gate."

"That's strange, I admit, but we still don't have any clue. May the gods protect us if the mad troll aimed his spawns at our lands."

"My lord, even I a non-experienced soldier, would have expected to see more men killed near the gate or on the walls. From how I see the place, it looks as though the enemy broke in and slaughtered the villagers as these people made a last stand here, in the center of the village. Children, women, and men fought side by side, my lord. Poor bastards, they didn't have stood a chance. May Ordeus watch over their souls."

Just as the two were about to walk further away from the gate, one of the soldiers was riding near the tree line when unseen archers unleashed a volley of arrows from the trees. Most of them missed their mark, but more than enough transformed the soldier and his companion into pincushions. The horse screamed, tumbling its rider to the earth as it collapsed and succumb to its wounds.

Seeing the man collapsing on the ground still struggling to push the dead horse off his body, Sir Maisel was about to rush towards the man and help him when Andre caught his arm.

"You can't, my lord! We can't save him! Quickly, we have to retreat! By the gods! Look! In the trees!"

Looking at the forest, Maisel saw tens maybe even hundreds of barbarians slowly emerging from within the tree line making a line just outside of the forest surrounding the patrol from almost all sides. Thankfully the savages were quite away from them, but they would soon be encircled, without any chance of making it out alive. Before all of them perish, Sir Maisel chooses one of the youngest soldiers his retinue had before sending him towards the fort with a clear message: The barbarians had invaded the northwest.

Once the lucky bastard successfully broke through the encirclement, Sir Maisel looked at his men before he shouted with all his might.

"Men! For on me! Here we stand today !"

The patrol didn't stand a clear chance, all of them knew that, but as they formed a line of men on horses, Maisel could only think of two choices, charge and die or stay and die.

"Men !" The knight raised his sword in the air. " For Prussian! For our families! Charge !"

Caught by surprise, the barbarians' ranks shatter as the ones at the front were either turned into a human paste by the heavy horses or cut by the men that were on top of those horses.

Andre felt a shock run up his arm as he brought his sword down on the head of yet another invader. He struck out again, and again, his sword rising and falling in a bloody arc of destruction as he cut for god know what time into the blob. He heard the barbarians screaming, shouting, and shrieking as they were cut down by their blades or trampled beneath iron-rimmed hooves. In the middle of the battle, it was almost impossible to judge the rest of the patrol's progress, but he caught glimpses of his lord and Maz on either side of him, following his lead as they carved their way relentlessly through the enemy ranks. More than half of the soldiers that were in his patrol and their horses succumb to the sheer numbers of enemies, but even with those losses, more than fifty barbarians should have died by now, a result worthy of praise.

Just as they thought they could break through the encirclement, a deep and primal roar scared the horses and barbarians alike.

As if the time itself stopped an enormous shape came into the open from the forest. It took a moment for the knight to see it clearly, but as the creature emerged from the deep of the forest, Maisel realized how bloody the war would be now that these things were brought here.

The creature was a troll, a monstrosity that could turn a strong man into a paste with just a fist. Maisel had never seen one before, none of his men did, but there was no way anything could be mistaken for such a thing. The unholy creature stood twice as tall as a horse. It was black with some tint of grey in color, covered in thick meaty muscles, the creature towered over anything alive now to them. It carried a huge tree, but one glance at its claws and fangs made the knight wonder why would this abomination even need a weapon.

The charge came to an abrupt stop when the troll smashed anything in his path both allies and enemies alike. The men were friends, and most were dead, but instead of letting fear take over him, Maisel challenged the creature. The trolls just finish biting one of the men in half when he felt a burning gaze on his back. Sir Maisel, the young were charging towards the creature followed side by side by the remaining four soldiers, Maz, Andre, Octy, and Liam.

When the troll saw them his mouth widen in a hungry smile before he let out a roar. Before either one of them could react, the troll smashed the tree into Octy and Liam sending the two men and their horses into the forest. Andre managed to sneak past the tree and slashed toward the hand of the troll to no avail. Its thick skin made the iron swords useless. The young squire didn't even know how he died.

Sir Maisel let out a cry when he saw his friend dying in such a way before he two felt something amiss. From behind him, another monstrosity emerged, grabbing the knight off his horse. The last thing Sir Maisel saw before he left this world was the sharp, dark, and pointy teeth of the creature.

And with the death of the Young Knight, the barbarians claimed victory over Luman, the future fortress of the Mad Troll.

Scribes describe the battle as the last stand of the madmen. Twenty soldiers fought bravely against more than five thousand barbarians stopping them from advancing and even taking with them in death more than seventy-nine enemies.

(Currency used in the book: 100 Bronze Marks = 1 Silver Talon)

(100 Silver Talons = 1 Golden Eagle)

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