A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 2095: The King’s First Foray - Part 6

When his horse’s front legs came crashing down again, Edward’s sword came crashing with it, finding an arm of one of the spearmen, using the most of the blade’s length, evoking a scream with the wound.

His hand curled their way around the reins, and he brought his horse back to calm. He rounded it on another man. The spear came for him with a sharp thrust, and he parried it easily to the side, closing the gap, bringing his sword down through the man’s helmet, calling forth blood to rise through the gash in his helmet.

The other two men now were of no consequence. The pair joined each other, and began to hesitantly back away. Edward felt a strange rage, for the wound that they had dealt his horse. He gnashed his teeth, and pushed the beast forward – it was of the same mind as him, wishing to see those men punished.

When the spear points came, Edward parried both thrusts with a single sweep of his horse. Heavy it was, too heavy for a followup attack. His horse took care of that. The beast barrelled them over, and trampled one of the men with its hooves, leaving the other creature for Edward to deal with himself.

The final man slain, and Edward looked around him, covered in blood, his adrenaline spiking, and his breathing coming heavily. He could not remember the last time he had fought a man. He’d certainly never fought in such a large contingent of men before. The best the Order of Claudia could afford to yield were small groups of swordsmen.

It was different to all he knew. There was a thinness in the air. A scent of terror. His personal struggle became embroiled in this large scale struggle, twirling around to form a magnificent storm. As he had battled with his five foes, his comrades had done the same with the enemies around them. What was left was a good number of corpses, and only a few soldiers still yet standing. With cold eyes, King Patrick saw the last of the job finished.

"HA! It’s done, Sir, it’s done!" Came a loud shout from Edward’s left, as a fellow knight slapped him on the shoulder. A nobleman Edward knew him to be, from the way he spoke, and from the quality of his armour – though that was all he knew about him. He hadn’t spoken to many of the men in the Winged Unit.

"A glorious victory," Edward said, seeing the blood and the dents on his fellow man’s armour, and a cut on his face, knowing him to have fought hard. The spirit of comradery came over him strong enough to possess him. He could not have loved the comrade to the left of him more, for he had a feeling that, more than anyone else in the world, that man in that moment understood exactly what he was feeling.

"King Patrick is a wonder," the knight said, as the two of them watched the last few men be put down. When they looked up towards the walls, they could see the soldiers that they had sent up there beginning to filter back down, all of them covered in blood, and wearing the same intoxicated overwhelming smiles that Edward found himself wearing.

"He is," Edward said. "Taking a fort like this, it shouldn’t feel this easy."

"That’s what a good leader does," the knight told him. "Makes his men feel their strongest."

"Then King Patrick is a good leader." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The knight snorted. "That goes without saying, friend! I feel as if I’m fighting for the First King! Where did my tiredness go! Ha! I could find ten more battles like this."

He went rushing off after that comment, a ball of energy. There seemed not the slightest bit of deceit in his words. Edward earlier had found himself beginning to long for a nap. That was a feeling long forgotten. His eyes were wide. He felt as if he would not need to sleep for days.

King Patrick found him, staring listlessly at all that was happening around him. He watched as Lady Blackthorn and her three hundred came back. He saw the civilians cowering behind their houses, and shouting "WE SURRENDER! WE SURRENDER!". The Battle of Durem, as quick as it was, did already seem to be done.

"Well, Edward?" King Patrick said. "Did you make the right choice?"

A stern nod was all Edward could say in reply for the strength of the emotion going through his chest.

In time, the entire two thousand strong force of King Patrick was gathered. He had them lined up in formation, just inside the gate that they had seen conquered. The civilian population watched nervously at the display.

"Gar," he asked. "How many casualties in taking the wall?"

Gar titled his head, played with his fingers, looked mightily confused, then said, "none.".

King Patrick nodded, as if it was the answer that he was expecting.

"Captain Blackthorn, how many casualties in securing the rest of the city?" King Patrick asked.

Lady Blackthorn’s reply was immediate. "None."

Again, King Patrick nodded. "In securing the gate, we too received no casualties," he asserted.

Edward looked around, finding that hard to believe. In a battle, there were always some casualties. But a quick look at the square that they stood in, such a thing was easy to tell. Everyone stood in orderly lines, and there was not a single gap anywhere to be seen. Nor could one see any corpses on the floor that did not wear Wyndon surcoats.

"This is your first victory, men of the Winged Unit. It will be by no means your last, nor your grandness. Our might, as we have demonstrated, shall continue to be overwhelming."

He turned from them then, and shared some quiet words with Lady Blackthorn. Edward was left in formation, along with everyone else, though he felt an unreasonable urge to be part of the conversation they were serving. He was more than a simple footsoldier, he knew that. If he was to serve King Patrick, then he would have the man rely on him.