Kyle and Albert

As the morning sun rose the next day, Alfred stated his journey southward, with only two of the serf groups, numbering three hundred serfs and fifty archers. Along side them, Alfred brought five giant eagles, two level two wind eagle, two level one giant eagle and the level three storm eagle, Clive.

Alfred had prepared for long hours for this march. Not only he had made sure to just bring all necessary material for the upcoming fight, he had made sure to plan their every move and slept only when it was very when it was late in the night. It was not until Agnes, barged into the meeting and dragged him to the bed he had time to fall asleep.

Still, Alfred forced himself to wake up early in the morning and got ready for the march on time. This time only Nathen and Redhead joined him for the attack. Others including Rudolf and the clown four had stayed behind to hold the fort in their absence.

It was one of the decisions Alfred had to make before he left. At lest someone had to stay behind and to guard the fortress. And who was better than Rudolf in this regard among them. He had the braws and the experience. And he was already the leading the defense from the start. So, he was the natural selection.

As for him, he only brought Nathen and Redhead with him. For Alfred, bringing two of his strongest knights was actually a big comprise forced on by his subordinates. He had no intention to bring any of knights at all. He thought it would be better and safe for his knights to stay back in the fort together.

Alfred's original plan was to lead the attack alone and planned to take the pseudo bandits by surprise. But just as he proposed it, it was unilaterally rejected by everyone and a heated debate started between him and his knights for nearly an hour. It was only when a compromise was reached about Nathen and Redhead personally joining him on the attack that Alfred back down.

It was not just about who would accompany him, through out the meeting, Alfred and his trusty knights talked about subjects like troop distribution, amount of supplies and the logistics, attack plan and many related subjects were discussed.

Soon after an overnight of perpetrations, Alfred was ready sat out next early morning with nearly three hundred and fifty men at his disposal. Man power was never the biggest problem for Alfred. He knew he could make do with less than half the men he had. The biggest problem was transportation of logistics.

The winter path posed the same problem to him as it to the bandits. The transportation of food and materials. Due to the snow blocking the all the paths the transportation of food and materials was near impossible without clearing the roads first. Not just in medieval time, logistics in winter was a constant problem for armies of his previous life till the modern wars.

And even in modern times, the winter logistics stopped becoming a problem because of airplanes. It was only with the advent of the air transportation the logistics for winter wars were able to be easier to move and it was made possible fight wars in winter. Even then it was very much difficult to continue wars winter because of adverse weather condition.

So then, Alfred had a wild idea. Although it was difficult for him transport his logistics through the snowy roads, he did have a certain kind of air transportation. Alfred's plan was to use the two of the level one eagles to carry the food and the materials that he needed in the upcoming fight.

As this expedition will be over in three to four days, Alfred was confident enough that eagles will be able to be able to carry the weight and following with them in the journey.

...

"Nathan, how long till the we reach the nearest resting point?" Alfred asked as he noticed the fading daylight.

"Not too long now, my lord." Nathen replied while riding the horse. "At our current speed we should be able to make it to the periphery of forest of twilight and setup camp before the sun sets."

"Good. Make sure that we arrive in time. It will be good for us to set up camp before the moons comes up. The serfs should be tired from the day's march." Alfred said as he too rode on back of a horse.

"My lord, I agree with what you said. The serfs should indeed be tired from a day's march in this harsh climate. Its batter that we camp up as early as possible and rest." Nathan said as he relayed some orders to his aid.

Just as Alfred and Nathan were starting to discuss matter of setting camp, Redhead's spoke from side.

"My lord, sorry for me to interrupt, but I still have some doubts about tonight's Attack plant." Redhead said with hesitation.

Alfred was surprised at Redhead's sudden question. "Tell me, did find something wrong about the plan that I proposed yesterday?" Alfred asked with curiosity.

"My lord, its not much, but I think that the serfs are not suitable to execute your plan. I think we should have brought more levies in stand of serfs with us. These serfs are not trained enough to fight against the elite troops of two family.

Even if lords plan is to catch them by surprise and have double their numbers, it will be difficult truly contained against the better trained troops of enemy we are going to face. In my opinion the serfs are not strong enough to fight against the such well trained a enemy forces." Redhead told his worries to Alfred.

"Redhead, you and I both know the situation in fortress. This being the peak period for beast waves, it was just not possible to bring any levies with us. They are needed to defend the fortress walls from the winter beasts than be with us currently.

Besides, I don't the serfs to fight directly against the bandits. I know how useless they would be if I pitch them directly against the elite troops of the two families who are posing as bandits. Don't worry I know what I am doing. These serfs are here just to provide support and attack from a distance than directly facing the enemy." Alfred explained.

...

Somewhere deep in the forest of twilight, inside a cave, two people were sitting near a campfire and were busily warming themselves.

"Albert, how many days it has been that we have been stuck in this wretched place? Didn't you say it would be an easy job and we will able to return home withing a week?" One of them asked.

"Shut up, Kyle. You know very well why we are stuck here. If it wasn't for your greedy nature we would have returned home already and be sitting near a warm fire place, with wine and beauty in each of our hands. In stand of that we are stuck here in some dark corner, hiding from that bast*rd Alfred." The other one replied in harsh tone.

"Don't blame everything on me, Albert. It's not like you don't want your half of the spoils after we get our hands on that sweet ransom we will demand in exchange for the loot and hostages that we have captured. If you are not interested in it any more, you could just return back to you father's territory. I will be very much happy also take your share and not give you a dime." The man named Kyle said.

"How dare you even think of taking my share, you greedy crook? Don't you think I would complain to your father after we return back to the territory that you, a noble hair to the Monroe family is a nothing but a petty thief in the dark? Not only it will bring shame only to you, it will also bring shame to you family. I will see then how your father will punish you for tarnishing your family name. I am sure it will be a grand spectacle for every noble scion to watch." Albert mocked Kyle.

"Shut up you uneducated monkey. How dare you call me a crook? If I am a crook, someone uncouth and greedy might as you might well be a saint. As for the matter of my father knowing, don't you think that he might have already found out where we are given our week long absence from home?

If I am guessing correctly, he already knows where I am and what I am doing. His not doing anything is same as tacitly agreeing to what I am doing. Looks like he too was irked by that idiot Alfred's action of not paying his due when we asked nicely. Now he wants us to teach that fool a lesson that he would never forget.

And don't forget we are in this together. If you rat me out ill return the favor two fold. Not only ill expose that you were my accomplice but also your other dirty secrets to every one to see. Not only that, I might even fabricate other false charges, but all make sure that you will never be able to show your face in any social gatherings."