Night Attack [Part 02]

"My lord, I think we should immediately start the second phase. If we delay the second phase longer the enemy might gather in enough numbers and try a risky breakout." Nathen agreed.

Alfred nodded and accepted Nathen's suggestion.

"System, send the eagles out. Also tell them to kill everyone other than our men. There is no need for survivors." Alfred said in his mind.

[Done Host. The system has delivered the message.]

"Good now, only thing that is left to do is wait. Other than that, there is nothing we could do." Alfred said in his mind.

[Well if the host is really bored the system can sung some songs. Recently the system been listening to the songs that are stored in hosts memory and the system is enjoying them quite a bit. So, host are you interested in listening to the system's songs?] The system ranted in Alfred's mind.

"System not now." Alfred said with bit of irritation in his voice. "This is not the time neither the place for this kind of thing. So, keep your mouth shut and let me concentrate."

[Host the system was just trying to help. There no reason to be angry at the system. For the hosts connivences the system will try to stay silent.] With that the system stopped talking.

Alfred was speechless. Somehow after listening to the systems last words, Alfred felt that he was at fault. After giving it a thought for a moment, Alfred shook his head and concentrated on the matters at hand. He has much bigger fish to fry then contemplate about the systems feelings.

He ones again brought his attention towards the main battlefield and noticed that the eagles have already taken action. With Clive taking the lead, the eagles flew towards the area which was brightly illuminated by the dazzling fire that encircled the enemy men.

Lighting the fire was a very important step in Alfred plan. Not only it trapped the enemy inside a certain area, it also respected the enemy movements by confining them inside the fire's radius. Aside from that, the fire illuminates the area with bright light and enables the eagle to see in the night.

After all, the eagle's greatest weakness was the inability to see in the darkness, which was also Alfred's biggest concern. With all the levies and semi trained serfs he had, there was no one expect for his knights and eagles strong enough to fight against the troops the two families had sent disguised as bandits.

For Alfred, between using knights or the eagles, the only viable option was using the eagles. He could not divert the knights from the Everwinter fortress. If he did that the fortress will be breached in matter of seconds and would roam freely causing destruction in the northern lands.

With their vision restored, soon the eagles reached the decoy camp and started to circle them in preparation of there attack. Currently the enemies on the ground were in a panicked condition and were running around in a disorganised fashion, continuously trying to find a way to escape the fire.

Looking the chaos below, Clive and other eagles dived down at ones, and using their sharp claws and strong beaks, started to slaughter the bandits like they were chicken being killed by a butcher.

Although Alfred could not see the exact situation from and distance, he could certainly hear the miserable screams very clearly. For him the scrams felt so horrifying that, he could not imagine what kind of bloody the situation it was down there. But he did not tell the eagles to return. At this moment he could not afford to back down. So, in the Alfred, just forcibly steeled his nerves and kept watching as his eagles killed enemies left and right.

...

Just as Alfred was watching the massacre from a distance, Kyle and Albert were starting to panic, as the situation for there men turn for the worst with every passing moment.

"Kyle, what Is going on here? Didn't you say that we are going to kill those damn serfs? Why is it that our men are getting slaughtered in stand? What's happing to us? Tell me, you trash. Why are you silent now?" Albert asked in succession.

He was both in panicking and confused. He was panicking because of the sudden reversal of situation and confused because he did not see the trace of the enemy at all. Albert was scared.

Kyle too was not much better. Standing silently next to Albert, Kyle trying to best to make sense of the situation. He had no idea what was happening. On one moment everything was fine and his men were proceeding according to the plan. On the next moment, he sees small sparks of fire emerging out of nowhere in the sky and up on reaching the ground, the sparks transform the surrounding into fiery hell.

All of a sudden Kyle was horrified to find out that he had walked into a trap.

"Goddammit, I was fooled." Kyle said in frustration.

"What do you mean, you were fooled? Do you think we have been set up and ambushed by enemy? Didn't you say you had everything under control?" Albert said as he tried his best to compose himself.

"Shut up, you idiot. I do not need you tell me what I already know. While you are at it do me a favor, keep your mouth shut and let me think. There are still ways we can salvage this situation. Just give me a minute."

Alfred wanted to fire back, but looking at the situation he did not speak further and gave Kyle the silence he asked for.

Kyle on the other hand, was trying his best to make sense of what was going on. He clearly knew that this a premeditated trap. At least by someone who knew about there location. He first suspected Alfred, but quickly dismissed him.

Kyle had the false confidence that Alfred did not know about their location. Even if he did, Kyle knew Alfred was not the type why played tricks. So, he quickly dismissed Alfred. Next, he tried to think who might be behind this attack and came up with several suspects.

Just as he was going to analyse the situation deeply, he suddenly started hearing the miserable scrams of men from inside the fire pit. The agonizing scrams of his men, was continuously sending chills down his spine. All of a sudden, Kyle's brain stopped working and he started to panic.

Not only he was panicking, he was afraid. He was Afraid that he would lose his life in this god forsaken place where it would difficult for someone to even find his corpse. He was afraid that he would die just for a certain amount gold coin. Although he appeared a very tough and refined person from outside, he knew was nothing but a coward inside.

"F*ck it. I would like to live for another day than die here. in some random forest. Albert, I don't know what do you want to do, but for me the choice is clear. I would turn my back today and live another day."

"You coward. How can you..." Albert protested.

"Well I don't want to lose my life just for few gold coins. Think about this. If we run now all we will lose will be some men and at most the ransom which we did not have yet. But if we stick around, we will be definitely be killed by whatever or whoever is killing our men. Only by staying alive we can earn what we might loose today." Kyle explained.

"But." Albert was little hesitating. He had lost far too much and have nothing to show in return. He was sure that if he returned now, he would be surely humiliated by both his father and elder brother. Not only that, he also might lose place his family and be exiled.

As Albert continued to think more about the consequences of his loss, his back was getting cold. The more he thought about the grim consequences, the more scared he was getting from returning back. At one point he even thought of using his remaining man to mount a rescue attempt for the man that were trapped by fire.

But looking at Kyle who was preparing his remaining man for the retreat, he saw no chance of that happening. In the end he greeted his teeth and decided to finally retreat with Kyle.

"Fine you win. We will do as you say. But know that whomever is behind todays ambush, he will certainly pay one day, even if it is Alfred. After we return, I will not rest until our scores are settled." Albert said gashing his teeth in anger.

"Good choice. The one behind this will certainly pay in time. Not just he is messing with both of us, he is messing will both of our families. After I return, I will make sure to find out, who it was to dare to plot such a craven attack against us. And whoever that is, not only that I'll make sure he pays for today with his life, also his dear ones suffer with him." Kyle promised.

Albert on the other hand, just nodded his head, not believing in Kyle for keeping his word. 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.