Nors at the Gates

"The Nors here are not that many." That is the first thing that comes out of Emile's mouth after they have arrived at the north gate of the camp.

"But every one of them are mounted on horse." Sir Markus remarks. The enemies might be several hundred only and are lightly armed with spears, axes and swords and wearing only furs and thick clothing good for the winter climate, but these men are built for fighting wars and conflicts.

"It would be hard and tricky to defeat the enemy if all of them are mounted if they can just flee if they deem necessary."

"What do you think, my lord?" Sir John asks his liege, all the Arignon knights and their liege, Lord Constance are also at the north gates, fully armed and mounted on their horses also.

"The enemy can easily flee when we are much heavier than them, it seems that they came here to taunt the legion... to make the legion's men weary and maybe complacent."

'It seems that the Nors are planning for a long conflict with the legions, they might avoid an open pitch battle with the legion.'

Lord Constance is calmly observing the troops of the eighth legion and the small Nors warband standing far from each other. The eighth legion assembles all the imperial knights and the thousand calvary diovori of the eighth legion outside of the camp, all are fully armed with their armors, the imperial knights on their full-plate armors while the legion's calvary are chainmail armors, and various weapons like maces, swords, spears, and lances.

A sizable infantry and archers of the legion are also preparing and on standby waiting inside the camp for any orders. The cannon crews are also on attention at their cannons locking the cannon's sight on the enemy forces outside.

The most eye-catching are Grand Prince Alexander VIII and his personal knight retinues following him, all are wearing their full plate-armor with red capes, cover from head to toe, all are armed with heavy lances and even their horses are protected by mail armors, making their group look intimidating and powerful.

On the opposite side, the Nors are only a few hundred men at their ranks compare to the Aquintanian forces they are facing. They are lightly armored except for the few that are wearing chainmail armor in their ranks and are covered with thick animal furs or thick clothing to give warmth from this cold climate. Compared to the Aquintanian, the Nors are less armed than them.

"War! War! War! War! War!"

"Death! Death! Death! Death! Death!"

"Death to the invaders!"

"Fight us!"

"Die!"

But everyone in their ranks is in high spirits and shouting their war cries to intimidate the enemy. Curses and belittling their opponents can be heard from the Nors lines to the Aquintanian camp lines, which is the distance is not small but not also that wide, only for less than a few hundred meters. The Nors is motivated to fight as they are in their lands compared to the legionnaires who are just sent here for imperial glory and expansion.

Grand Prince Alexander VIII approaches where Constance and his knights are, and in a distance, Princess Tessia and three female knights are also coming to where they are only lightly armed suitable for their size.

"We greet Your Imperial Highness."

'This is troubling... This would make us stand out in the camp.'

Constance becomes troubled as he and his knights' presence soon becomes more apparent as the legionnaires and knights notice that the Grand Prince has approached them. Whispers and mumblings can be heard around as most of the men didn't know their identities and their roles for the Grand Prince to approach them personally with his imperial knight retinues and bodyguards.

"These hairy bastards really come here again." Grand Prince Alexander VIII sneers seeing the Nors in front of the northern camp gate.

"Again?"

"Yes, this is already the third day these barbarians assembling and taunting us for a battle... and if we attack them, they will just flee. The Nors were once just brutes, but now are just cunts for what they are doing."

Constance now knows that the enemies this time are under the command of someone who is a capable and strong commander. Making the Nors follow the order for a retreat even without fighting is someone of a feat itself, as the Nors are known as fearsome warriors and would rather fight and die than flee on the battlefield.

"Do you know who is the one commanding them Your Imperial Highness?"

"No... but from what the scouts and spies tell us, there is someone named Owl-Breaker who arrives from the Northern Nors Peninsula and might be the one who is leading these band of Nors warriors."

"Owl-Breaker..."

The name Owl-Breaker is surely a pseudonym or moniker of the person that is now leading the Nors army standing in front of them. That person is a threat and a cunning commander even for Constance to face.

The Nors men are just few, but all are mounted. If the legion and knights charge to attack them, they can just flee easily as they are much faster than the heavier legion's calvary and imperial knights. If the legion would not take action, the Nors would be free to do anything in their own device and it would undermine the position and prestige of the empire.

If the artillery groups tried to fire on the Nors, they could just move away and go to a different side of the plan, moving the cannons to a different location would be tiring and wear the artillery crews.

Coming here every day and taunting the legion would also take a toll to the morale and minds of the men, such cunning plan with almost no weakness and counter is hard to fight against. What is scarier is the man behind it is this capable of leading a small group of men, it would be a tiring battle for the one would fight such commander.

Constance can only be sorry to the Grand Prince, but he can't say it to him as he might insult the Grand Prince and the statement might bite him back. It is better to be just silent in this manner.

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