Beside the carriage, I saw Soim. He was almost standing, his body hovering above his plainrunner’s saddle as he thrust at the faces of foot soldiers trying to stop the carriage’s advance. In no time at all, he’d skewered three of them, keeping the way forward clear.
That’s some show he’s putting on. I wouldn’t want to get in that old man’s way.
Three carriages made it safely through the gate while the way was clear. When I heard a gunshot and saw a flash of light from the carriage farthest back, I knew it had to be Caph.
Once the last carriage had made it past the besieging forces, the infantry left the positions they’d been holding and followed behind it. As they took up new positions around the carriages, Soim let himself drop behind in the hopes of sowing confusion among the pursuing enemy. In doing so, he ensured we broke away cleanly from the residence.
“Hey! Cavalry captain!” I yelled.
“Sir?”
“Send out a detachment to scout the road ahead! Keep everyone else close together! If the enemy pursues and looks likely to attack our infantry from behind, turn around and scatter them with another charge!”
“Understood!” he responded loud and clear before beginning the task assigned to him.
Fortunately, the enemy seemed to lose interest in us as we moved away from the residence, allowing our entire party to escape safely.
I knew that members of the royal guard were patrolling the streets with flaming torches in hand like town guards, but none of them came for us. If this kept up, we’d soon be completely clear of the royal capital.
Before long, scouts returned to report what they’d seen up ahead. “There’s a barricade blocking off the city’s southern exit. They shot arrows at us from a distance.”
It seemed we wouldn’t escape without problems after all.
“How big is the force defending it?” I asked.
“About a hundred strong. They’re behind a wall made from logs with their bows at the ready.”
“They can’t stop us with a barricade. What are they thinking...?”
The witches were proving completely clueless on the battlefield. They’d shown competence when organizing a conspiracy, but combat wasn’t their strong point. Likewise, the second order must’ve been completely lacking in relevant experience since tasks like eradicating bandits were generally left to the royal guard’s first order.
“Cavalry captain, I’ll lead the entire cavalry to it. Infantry captain, continue to move forward at a steady pace and then charge in after we’ve begun our attack.”
“What...?”
“There’s no time to explain. Those are your orders. Cavalry, follow me!”
The cavalry kept up as I increased my plainrunner’s speed.
Every mounted knight had been trained at the Knight Academy, which meant they’d lived in the royal capital for at least ten years, but they might not have visited this area. For me, however, these streets were familiar. I used to visit regularly in search of raw materials for use in papermaking since many drapers operated here.
The capital wasn’t enclosed by city walls. Most of the roads in and out of the city weren’t suitable for carriages because they were only wide enough for two people to pass each other. The lack of a well defined boundary between the city and its surroundings meant that these minor roads formed countless exit points. The enemy might block all the major roads, but that could only stop our carriages. We’d need to attack their barricade, but nothing was forcing us to attack it head-on.
As expected, we were able to travel single file down a familiar road, easily taking us outside of the royal capital. From there, I could see the rear of their barricade just fifty meters away. The burning bonfires turned it into a well-lit target.
“Now, we’ll clear the path,” I said calmly. I couldn’t yell my orders, but my intentions became clear when I increased my speed.
A few paces behind the barricade, a man, who I guessed was their commander, stood with his arms folded and his gaze locked on the road in front of him. I got to within three meters of him before he finally noticed me approaching from behind. His eyes went wide when he saw our cavalry come charging out of the darkness.
“You can’t— Ugh!”
By the time his hand found the sword at his waist, my spear had already pierced his chest. When I felt the impact, I swung my spear to the side, casting off his corpse.
As I continued forward without slowing, the archers hastily threw down their bows and reached for spears. I cut down two of them in an instant. The rest of the cavalry caught up and made short work of the other soldiers defending the barricade. After just a few moments, their defensive position was a bloodbath strewn with corpses that were trampled beneath our birds. We’d suffered no losses.
Our infantry had begun their charge on the other side of the barrier, but we’d finished the fight before they could reach us.
“All troops, dismount! Dismantle the barricade!”
I stopped my plainrunner by the roadside and climbed down so I could help clear away the barrier. The infantry could’ve easily done the work while we remained on our birds, but every second counted. The soldiers we’d just fought hadn’t been a threat, but I worried about the enemy cavalry that might be dispatched after us once news of our escape spread. If possible, I wanted our infantry and our carriages to continue without having to stop.
As infantry soldiers arrived, they joined our efforts to pull apart the logs that made up the makeshift wall.
I looked back at the city streets. I hadn’t seen Soim since we’d cleared the residence. He’d charged at the enemy to give our infantry a chance to escape, but I doubted he’d died there and then. He might, however, have been caught by pursuers that had come later.
The cavalry captain beside me spoke as he was shifting logs off the road. “The soldiers on this barricade went down just as easily as the ones surrounding the residence. If they’re all so weak, we could’ve stormed the royal castle tonight.” Our swift victory just now had put him in high spirits.
“Don’t be a fool. There are over five thousand soldiers positioned around the castle. I know because I saw them from above. There might be twice as many more inside the castle itself. It’s beyond us.”
“I wasn’t aware. My apologies, sir. Please forgive me for speaking out of turn.” With a log still in his arms, the cavalry captain bowed.
“All we can do is pray that they handle the bodies of my deceased mother and father with respect... Though I’ll show them no mercy either way.”
“Next time, we fight for vengeance.”
“Yes, but stay focused. We might have to deal with a large cavalry force sent after us.”
As we wasted our breath on this conversation, we continued to shift the logs until the road was clear enough for the carriages to pass.