Smoked out of the mountains

After a couple of weeks, Amala and Pema reached the mountains where the army had camped and hidden. The pathways were snowy, and the allied force was well hidden. Pema and Amala were thirsty and hungry and immediately went to eat and drink in the mess tent.

"Thank the divine you are alright," Rufus said as he ran to meet his friends.

"Yeah, but starving," Amala said as she stuffed her mouth with food.

"How did you survive?" Doreen asked her.

"Eat first, Answer then," Amala mumbled.

~~

After they had eaten, Pema let loose a large burp in relief.

"You can talk now?" Doreen said while tapping with her finger.

"Yes, but you won't like what we saw," Amala said.

Amala explained that during their ride to the mountains, they spotted the imperial army not far from the mountain range where they had hidden. A massive army being led by the emperor personally.

"We were planning on this, but we would have landed the Guiscards and Haraldrar at the rear and attacked them from two fronts. We counted on king Raymond to disguise and help us conceal our navy and army. Still, since he betrayed us, we have lost a lot," Doreen explained.

As they discussed their next plan, scouts rode fast to their camp.

"THE ENEMY IS UPON US!"

A small army had found their army inside the mountain range and had ambushed their rear.

"You must have been followed," Joan yelled.

"Not likely," Doreen continued.

It was the Dukija people, the nation that had been subjugated by the empire.

They had fought against the empire and the emperor for a long time. They were skilled warriors in mountainous warfare. Their nation was at the southern tip of the eastern continent and was primarily mountainous terrain.

Their people still fought for their independence, but many nobles decided to instead submit to the emperor. The emperor sent them out to smoke out the allied army from the mountains and into the plains, where their much larger army could destroy them.

"Finally, some action!" yelled Edward and rushed off with the knights of the black sun.

"Are you literally glad the enemy attacked us?" Doreen yelled.

"The men were getting restless and needed an outlet and were about to fight each other," Joan yelled.

"Yesterday, I had to break a fight because otherwise, they would have gotten otherwise snow under their foreskins for wrestling in the snow," Edward commented.

"Your creativity with word makes you out to be a poet," Yosef pointed out.

Yosef went to the front line and summoned his puppets to fight the Dukija. His instruments could not be killed and could take a lot of blows, but the Dukija soon realized what was happening. They started to run around, forcing Yosef to order his puppets to follow them.

As the puppets chased, the divine wires that Yosef used to control the puppets got entangled in rocks.

"Heeeeeey!, You were not supposed to do that!" Yosef yelled.

The Dukija soldiers rushed in to attack Yosef but were stopped by Joan.

"Keep your mind in this fight. We are at war, and your jokes are not needed," Joan yelled.

"They lighten the mood nicely. You should try it sometimes. It seems you are a bit stressed," Yosef answered.

The Dukija soldiers were skilfully moving and jumping around the rocks and cliffs. They outflanked units by jumping from ledges on top of them and plunging short swords into the necks of the allied soldiers.

"Move the grey skins into the front!" Doreen ordered.

The Dukija warriors were well-armored and jumped from another ledge to another with relative ease. They wielded swords and small shields on their backs, protecting them from any missile fire from the rear.

Though the allied army was larger, they needed help mobilizing their force. As the dukija warriors ran through the allied soldiers, they were suddenly counterattacked. The grey skins and the much more experienced mountain warriors battled the dukija soldiers. Their curved blades and much bigger frames allowed them to push back the Dukija soldiers and the other allied men to retreat and rearrange.

The Dukija soldiers started to fall back, as they didn't want to fight a more major host for too long. As they began to flee, through a small gap, a divine sphere was thrown into the side of the mountain, causing rocks to fall down and close the breach.

The soldiers stared up and saw Rufus and Haley flying in the air.

"You know we can't afford to take prisoners? We need to ration our food, and we can't give to some prisoners," Haley asked her.

"I know...." Rufus said.

"Do you want me to take care of this?" Haley asked her.

"No. I am the one who leads this army, and I should also hold most of the responsibility during such occasions. Anyways, I can grant them a quick death."

Rufus created many divine spheres around him. He sent them flying at the surviving soldiers, destroying them instantly.

The two siblings landed back on the ground.

"We must now pack our stuff and move out of the mountain. In a worst-case scenario, we will be surrounded here easily and be unable to flee," Doreen suggested.

"Where do you think we should strike then? Should we already fight the main imperial army?" Haley questioned.

"I recommend not yet. We should bait them to a place we choose," Doreen explained.

"So where should we head then?"

"Why not attack their capital?" Edward suggested.

"That is utterly stupid? It's a massive city and the largest in the world. If we would attack it, sieging it would take weeks, and the main army could catch up to us," Doreen pointed out.

"No, wait. Edward is right. We just have to make it look like we are moving toward it. This will pressure the emperor to move faster and try and stop us, and he will not have time to realize that we have chosen the perfect plain for battle," Rufus said.

"So we would bait the imperial army to force march to us and fight them when they are tired and desperate?" Haley said.

"In a perfect scenario, we could also ambush them," Doreen continued.

"Let's get moving then," Rufus ordered his men.