The Dark Queen of White 1.14

14.

Gareth reined in his horse and turned to look back at the carriage calling the Princess, on her way to the Courts of King Thaddeus. The Princess traveled with caravan of five wagons; covered with tarpaulin on the rear section. King Bannion had requisition for the castle guards to escort her, but she had selected the Huntsmen; her personal selection of hunters and scouts to do the task. Since her ascension to the throne beside her brother, Princess Clarity had asked Alan to form a new division of guards named the Huntsmen from the experienced forest hunters and scouts. They are then to trained new recruits in the art of tracking and hunting, among the skills required. In the first season of recruitment, they had twenty five volunteers, and in the next season, the number swelled to a hundred with fifty new recruits. Since then, the Huntsmen have grown to three hundred strong, and had been assigned to patrol the borders of the lands. That day, fifty of the best was doing the escort of the Princess to the King Thaddeus' land.

"Don't be overly concerned, Gareth." Alan Bates riding besides the other consoled him. "I have huntsmen on both sides, and they would alert us of any traps."

"It’s not the traps of Man I am concerned with; it’s the trap of witches." Gareth replied while his eyes roved the tree line. "Have you called on Michael?"

"Yes, Michael is on the trail. His pack would sense any witches spell." Just as Alan completed the sentence, the howls of the wolves were heard.

"It’s a trap ahead1" Gareth called out to the huntsmen. They immediately formed a cordon around the carriage, while two of the rear wagons rode up to parked beside the carriage. More huntsmen with bow and arrows dismounted from it, but the unique one on the wagon, was the totem that resembled the carvings of wolves in a protected cordon.

Gareth rode hard to the carriage and looked into the small window by the side. He saw the smiling face of the Princess.

"We would be fine." It was the Princess who told him. He was to reply when he heard the call from the front. He rode towards it and saw the column of army carrying the banner of King Thaddeus. A knight from the new column rode up, and asked for the leader.

"I am Sir Gilard of Durn. I bear the message from King Thaddeus." The knight handed over the scroll to Gareth, who took and read it. He then rode to the Princess and passed it to her.

"I would speak to the knight. Bring him to me." Princess Clarity asked for the knight to see her. Sir Gilard rode up to her carriage and was invited to her carriage. They spoke for a while and then Sir Gilard mounted his horse to ride back. He left instruction that the entourage of Princess Clarity to camped at the nearby village.

It was a small village with a few houses and one single tavern. Sir Gilard left his column of one hundred guards at the boundary of the village, while the entourage of the Princess camped inside.

"We kept imprisoned by the King, and for how long depend on the message passed by the knight." Princess Clarity held onto the hands of Gareth while they are alone in the tavern' guest chamber. He leaned to hold her in his arms, but she declined.

"No, Gareth. We are not alone here." Princess Clarity pushed him away.

"The men outside this chamber or the spirits that roamed here?" Gareth questioned her. She had been avoiding him since they camped there for two nights. She saw the pain in his eyes, but held her distance.

"The spirit servants of Queen Morgana are battling the Master now. Yes, she is distracting the Master so that she could hit us with her other allies."

"Who? The army of hers on King Thaddeus' land? That would be an act of war." Gareth replied.

"No, not the army of Man, but an army of paid mercenaries." Princess Clarity told him. It was also then, the call for battle was heard. Alan barged in and told the Princess of the attack.

"The army of King Thaddeus is hit by some army. They are losing and the attackers are massing to hit us next."

Gareth rushed out with Alan, and rode to the edge of the village. There he saw the massed enemies; having defeated the other army was then lined up for the attack on the village. He counted the size of the army was about five hundred; an assortment of pike men and swordsmen, and were all mounted on horsebacks.

"Get the huntsmen in their position. We are to fight them here." Gareth gave the order and ran to assist in pulling the wagon that they overturned it to formed a barricade. More items were brought out and made into some forms of barricades, where the huntsmen took their position. They took their bow and placed the quiver of arrows near them.

"Fire at will. Aim well, and may the best survived." Alan told the huntsmen. They are experienced hunters and above all, guards too. They need no leaders to tell them how to fight; they are capable of doing so on their own terms. The opposing army started trotting the horses towards the village.

A hundred and fifty paces and then shortened to a hundred paces.

Some of the huntsmen rained their arrows from above. The opposing army raised their shields to protect themselves from the arrows.

Some of the arrows hit the army and the move, also exposed the enemies to the some of the huntsmen. The later then moved their aims to level at the horsemen horses.

Arrows began flying through the distance by those huntsmen.

The opposing armies rode on despite the few had fallen although protected with their shields.

The horses were exposed then.

More arrows began flying through the distance by the huntsmen.

The horses were collapsing when hit by the arrows, throwing their riders off. Some never got up, while some rose up to be trampled by the rear riders.

The collision of the riders and horses, were slowing the advances. 

Then the sound of retreat came.

The opposing army was pulling back to the tree line.

On the field between the village and the tree line, were a hundred over guards and horses, dead or wounded, staggering for safety to the forest or anywhere that would avoid the flying arrows.

The huntsmen cheered on their small victory.

That was short lived.

From the tree line, came a new army.

They appeared as a black mass that was moving towards the village.

Then the call of alarm was raised.

"Rodents!'

"Rats!'

The huntsmen could fight bears and even lions, but never a rodent. Those were elusive creatures that moved with stealth, and was too small to fight with arrows.

"Damned you, Morgana." Gareth shouted to the advancing dark mass.

"Burn the barricades. It would stop the rodents." Alan gave the command. He had dealt with the disease carriers before, in the many sieges and plagues. He seen the survivors used fire to chase these creatures. The defenders of the village rushed to the fire places to grab the woods that were lighted. But not all of them made it, for the rodents were swift on their legs and soon overrun the barricades before it was burned.

Gareth himself armed with two sticks of wood lighted at the end waved it at the rodents. He was rushing to the tavern to protect the Princess. Upon reaching there, he saw the tavern was barricaded with the windows and doors shut. There were some huntsmen there, armed with the sticks of fire, but they were cordoned by the rodents. He looked to the right and saw the wagon containing the totem was swamped by the rodents. He rushed to the wagon and set it alight. The flames flickered on the wagon planks and then spread to the totem. The flames burned at the wooden material that was carved to make the totem, while the rodents ran off from it.

The totem was totally lighted up and the flames flickered up high above the totem to the skies. It rose up high and then the rodents were seen withdrawing in a wider circle. The totem with its flaming trunk soon came alive as if it was a burning trunk with its own movement. It fell off the wagon side and rolled towards the rodent like a log, with its flame burning or chasing the rodents off. It appeared to rolled in random directions but later it was seen to be create a wide perimeter around the tavern.

Gareth reached the tavern door and knocked on it. He called out for the Princess. It was opened from inside and the Princess stepped out.

"Are the rodents defeated?"

"I think so. There appeared to be retreating." Gareth replied. "But I could be wrong. They are still here." \

Suddenly from then skies above them, the screams of the winged predators were heard. They were eagles, owls, and hawk all swooping down to snatch the rodents for their meals. That scared off the rodents which fled back to the sanctum of the forest.

"Did you call on it?" Gareth asked the Princess.