Chapter 77

"Hmm?"

Count William, with a grave and unwavering expression, spoke thus: "A man's experience must needs be forged through the passage of time, lest it have any true worth. He is but a youth in his tender years, clever though he may be—how much can he truly know? What wisdom hath he gained from the trials of life, from the subtle deceits of the world? Perchance he hath read a few tomes, learned a touch about setting ambushes, and now he fancies he can use his wits to deceive. But beyond that, to command armies in battle—he is far too green!"

"Is he for to ambush me?" William mocked aloud, his voice laced with disdain. "He doth fail to consider how few men he hath at his disposal. I know well the size of Leo's forces. At most, he can muster but two hundred soldiers, and even then, the number that can be gathered in a pinch doth scarcely exceed a hundred and fifty—most of them old, weak, or infirm! Even if, by some miracle, he did manage to surprise me, it would be no more than a fleeting shock, and I would lose but a few men. But now, I have over five hundred! More than thrice his number! No matter how clever he may be, can he conjure hundreds of soldiers from thin air? Can he transform his old, sickly forces into battle-hardened soldiers in an instant?"

He scoffed. "Why, from last night until this day, hath there appeared but a small band of ten? If I mistake not, that is the only fighting force he possesseth—his only useful company."

"Since that is the case, if he doth seek to ambush me, why may I not set a trap of mine own?" Count William's eyes gleamed dangerously as he spoke the final words.

"Indeed..." Edward, still lost in thought over William's words, was interrupted as William turned sharply to his two most trusted knights, giving them a stern command: "Lanrite, Hark, thou two shalt take a hundred men each and proceed to flank from both sides. Encircle the valley yonder, five miles hence. Let them taste the bitterness of their own snare!"

"Understood." Both knights nodded in unison, ready to carry out their orders. As one departed, he asked, "My lord, how large should our encirclement be?"

"No need for aught too large." William waved his hand dismissively. "As Edward hath said, the valley is no more than a hundred paces wide and two hundred paces long. Form a circle of about three or four hundred paces in diameter. Any larger, and we risk allowing the ambushers, hidden upon the valley's high ground, to escape."

"Understood, my lord." The knights nodded once more and, with a firm command, set off to encircle the valley from both sides.

Meanwhile, William ordered the remaining forces to slow their pace, awaiting the completion of the knights' task before closing in for the final encirclement.

"Ha! Think they can lure me into their snare? They must be in haste... but I am not!" William's mocking tone drifted as he watched Tuku's group linger in the distance.

The journey, which should have taken no more than ten minutes, now stretched into twenty as William's forces slowly advanced under his command.

As the knights finally succeeded in bringing their forces into the valley, William couldn't contain his anticipation. His hand gripped the hilt of his sword at his waist, prepared for the battle to come. As soon as the ambushers emerged from the high ground, he would give the signal to the knights on the flanks, surrounding the enemy in a pincer movement. Those who dared oppose him would be annihilated!

With such confident thoughts, William steeled himself for the coming clash. But as he watched Tuku's group proceed unhindered through the valley, vanishing from sight at the far end, a stunned silence fell over him.

"What is this?" William muttered in confusion.

According to his plan, Tuku's group was supposed to halt at the valley's end, turn their horses around, and join with the ambushers positioned on the valley's high ground to face him. But what he saw... was an unexpected turn of events.

He halted his forces in the middle of the valley, eyes searching the valley's entrance, now empty, and scanned the high ground to both sides—no ambushers, no sounds. Only the wind and the soldiers' labored breathing filled the air.

"What's going on?" William murmured to himself, feeling a sense of confusion rise. Where had he gone wrong? What had happened here?

"Could it be there was no ambush at all?" William thought, his mind racing with possibilities. "Could it be that the small team from before wasn't meant to lure me into an ambush at all? Could it all have been a mistake? A miscalculation on my part?"

His face shifted from frustration to puzzlement. The seconds seemed to stretch into eternity as he waited in the eerie stillness of the valley.

Finally, unable to wait any longer, he turned to a soldier and barked an order: "Signal for Lanrite and Hark to come and regroup!"

"Yes, my lord!" The soldier hastily readied his crossbow, loading a bolt and sending it skyward. As the bolt whistled through the air, a small wooden whistle attached to it emitted a shrill, cutting sound.

"Whoosh!"

At the sound, the knights flanking the valley moved cautiously, making their way towards the valley's high ground. Minutes passed before they finally reached the edge, eyes scanning the horizon for any sign of the enemy.

When they saw the empty valley below, they froze in shock—there was no enemy, no ambush.

William, too, was stunned. He couldn't understand how there could be no ambush. He had expected the enemy to halt at the far end of the valley, and then turn to attack.

Looking up to the high ground on either side, he called out to the knights positioned there, "Lanrite, hark! Hast thou found any trace of the enemy?"

"Er... no, my lord," both knights answered in unison, shaking their heads.

William's brow furrowed. "How might this be? According to mine own reasoning, that small band was plainly intended to lure me in, which doth imply that an ambush should be here! And yet, if there be an ambush... why can I not find it?"

He stood lost in thought, trying to piece together the puzzle, but something about the situation just didn't add up.

And what William could not comprehend was simple: the ambush was not positioned where he had assumed. It was not near the valley's high ground, nor was it within his encirclement. No, it lay six hundred meters away, hidden upon a secluded hill.

Yes, six hundred meters away on a distant hill!