Closing the Net

Night grabbed the soldier by the shoulder and shouted as he asked.

"What does the insignia look like?"

" I think it was a wolf sire."

"How many of them are there?"

"About fifty I think."

Hearing the soldier's answers Night knew that they had messed up and badly at that, he did not know how they did it but now he had to think of a way to escape from here.

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Some time ago, at the top of the cliff.

Oswin had been observing the battle since it had started, only waiting for the agreed-upon signal to move into action.

They had been here for days as of now, they had set off a day before the marquess did, being smuggled bit by bit disguised as guards for merchants heading north. All in an attempt to conceal their movements.

This was their real plan all along; the public exit, taking the pass, faking ineptness, these were all just diversions to hide the real trump card.

Lord Ulric centered his plan around this pass, he knew that he would be an excellent target yet he still spiced it up for the bandits with the mysterious and valuable cargo just in case.

Whether it was for greed or other nefarious purposes, the marquess tried to give the bandits as many reasons to attack him as possible, even the pass was chosen to seem like the perfect place for them to ambush him, what they did not know was that this was his ambush site, not theirs.

He had sent a hundred guards well in advance to the pass so that they could climb the cliffs and encamp on their tops, so when the bandits came and swept the location for any anomalies they would find nothing since no one would suspect that an entire hundred man strong company of soldiers had taken residence on top.

Of course, every plan had its flaw as none were perfect, but taking a few calculated risks was acceptable if the reward was worth it.

So after Oswin saw the red flag being waved by Marek, he instructed his men to start their descent. They had chosen this time of the day, specifically when the cliffs started to darken as the sun rays found it hard to illuminate them to implement their plan.

This was so that they would be less likely to be detected by the bandits below as they used their ropes and cautiously went about the treacherous descent.

They had chosen the best climbers amongst the guards for this mission, still, it was no less dangerous since the very vegetation that helped hide them, had now become an obstacle that can lead to their deaths.

The hundred men were to be split into two groups of fifty guards and deploy near the entrances of the passes on opposite sides, thereby cutting the enemy path of retreat and closing the net on them.

If William were to be here, the best thing he could compare them to would be paratroopers, with ropes instead of the parachutes of course, or even more outlandishly ODST's.

After making it down they quickly went into formation and advanced onto the bandits from behind, cutting them off completely.

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On the front where the battle was still raging, everyone could see that the bandits could no longer push with the same vigor and energy they had at the beginning, after suffering many more casualties than the guards did and still achieving nothing of significance.

The guards on the other hand were still holding on without much difficulty, they had suffered some losses sure, but the fact that Lord Ulric was with them on the front giving orders and encouraging them to hold, as well as their pride in their status and what it means to be a personal guard, meant that they would fight on to the end.

Soon chaos started to spread amongst the bandit"s ranks as men that were needed on the front started to be diverted back towards the pass's entrance.

This happened on both Talos and Olivias sides, who after being informed of what had happened to their only paths of retreat, panicked and started positioning some men at their backs while thinking of what to do, all while keeping this from their men in the hopes of preventing the spread of panic amongst them.

This did not work unfortunately for them; as the men on the front lines saw more and more of those who were supposed to either switch with them or support them from the back leave, they started to panic as well thinking that they were retreating and leaving them as sacrificial lambs to hold the line long enough for them to flee.

The final straw that broke their self-discipline was when, they saw their Commanders, either Olivia or Talos depending on the side leave the front as well. This was probably done oversee the troops holding the marquis's soldiers at the back, but those at the front did not know and so started to falter.

Marquess Ulric seeing that opportunity, gave his command.

"MEN!!!! You had held the line long enough, now we drive them back, run them down with you swords, let us pay them back for their insolence. FORWAAARD!!!"

At his command, the well-disciplined personal guards stopped simply defending and now pushed the enemies back one step at a time, like two knives piercing in opposite directions they went through their foes without mercy.

This action completely collapse the bandit's cohesion and discipline, under these successive blows they simply broke and routed towards the pass's exits.

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Talos was trying to stabilize his front, now surrounded from the front and the back, he saw little hope of winning, the only thing he could think of was a breakthrough to escape this trap.

Unfortunately for him, he saw little success so far even after continuously moving troops away from the encirclement.

"COME ON MEN PUT YOUR BACKS INTO IT, PUSH THEM BACK!!!!" he tried to motivate his men as much as he could to prompt them to make a breakthrough but to no avail, they were tired and demoralized, facing the fresh contingency of guards who had far better training.

The same thing was happening on the other side where Olivia was struggling to open a path of retreat for herself, but she was met with nothing but frustration, disappointment and failure.

While these two were trying to deal with the rear, the bandits that had been broken came crashing down on their backs, followed by the guards that they were supposed to be trapping in the middle of the pass.

Facing this final blow the bandits lost all will to fight, seeing this the marquess went to each front promising the lives of all those who lay down their arms.

Hearing this the bandits threw their weapons down in surrender, with no more bloodshed needed.

Lord Ulric did this for two reasons, the first was that he wanted to capture the bandits, specifically their leaders; the other was that he knew that if these men were cornered with no way out for themselves, they would fight like beasts to the end and by doing so inflict unnecessary losses to his very valuable men.

So with that, the battle came to an end, with the marquis being the victor, ending the threat of the bandits for the foreseeable future.