The Ranger, whose name was Dearn, rode slowly behind the procession of carts and horses which contained the eight prisoners. He was a witness to their crimes, having been present when they had fled the castle at Fenway, killing guards and watchmen as they did so. And of course he had stopped them entering the Fens when they tried to make their way to the Araluan coast.
Now he was trailing at the end of a column of soldiers and knights who were to guard the prisoners. It would be like this until they reached Castle Araluen, where they would finally be able to have a decent rest until the next morning - the best time to deal with eight traitorous knights.
His job, for now, was to watch the column and make sure nothing was amiss. He would also act as a rear guard, scanning the area behind the column and making sure nobody that might be concealed in the trees would try to ambush them from behind. As a Ranger, he specialized in unseen movement and would be the best out of anyone in the column at spotting those hidden in the shadows.
As it turned out, some in the Kingdom must have favored the traitors, though these newcomers were not the most subtle of allies. Just after they had set out on their second day of traveling toward Araluen, Dearn's Ranger horse warned him that they were being trailed, although distantly. He subtly passed the message to the guards ahead of him, who sent it along the column. He thought the incoming might be subtle about their ways, but they were anything but. Within an hour the hoofbeats were audible and soon enough they could be felt in the ground. The horses, however, were not in sight. The column halted and the guards bunched around the carts defensively, the prisoners boxed in by other carts so they could not escape even if they managed to breach the locks on their own cart.
Soon enough, the horses were coming round a bend on the path. They were large and muscular, and their riders likewise. They carried swords and axes both, and some were armed with low-powered bows which Dearn doubted would trouble the column much. A dozen knights had come along to guard the column, and half of them were now posted alongside Dearn, weapons ready.
"Keep them engaged, but don't bring too many men out that we leave any side of the column unguarded," Dearn warned. "The prisoners will take any opportunity to escape. We need to defend the column, but it's not worth it if they all escape in the process."
They grumbled assent and drew their swords. As the hostile horsemen came closer, it became obvious they hadn't been trained to raid a column, especially one this heavily guarded. Nor were they the greatest of cavalrymen; wobbling on their horses as the weight of their armor and swords in their hands unbalanced them. They came into the range of Dearn's longbow and he calculated how he'd fire the shot he'd need to take down the frontmost horseman. It took him hardly a second and he compensated for that, firing a bit lower.
The arrow slammed straight into the head horseman's chest, and he tumbled out of the saddle, dragging his horse down with him. Chaos ensued as the fallen man and his horse tripped and knocked down even more men. The column had a small force of fifteen archers, who Dearn now turned to, signalling for them to begin firing. Their arrows rained down, hitting more horsemen, until there was a shout from the other side of the defensive ring and the sound of steel on steel rang out.
"Stay here," Dearn told the half-dozen knights, wheeling his horse around. "Keep the archers firing!"
He rushed around to the other side of the ring, where he found a pitched battle had erupted. He cursed himself for being so foolish as to not have checked the area ahead of the column for enemies, as now a group of swordsmen were engaged with the knights and soldiers posted on this side of the defensive ring. Dearn loosed several arrows in quick succession at the new swordsmen pouring out of the treeline, until they got the idea and stopped coming - or there were none left. He hoped for the latter. He saw two of the knights were locked in pitched duels with some of the more skilled swordsmen, while the other four were attempting to order the panicked soldiers into organized ranks.
"Attention!" Dearn yelled at no one in particular, and for a startling moment, the scene fell quiet. Then the knights took the opportunity to strike down their respective opponents and order the soldiers into ranks to combat those remaining.
Dearn nodded, reassured that the knights could hold off the swordsmen for the time being, and decided to check on the prisoners. He leaped off of his horse, not for the first time thankful that they were trained to stay composed during times of combat. He snatched onto the edge of the carts gathered around the prison cart, and scrambled onto the top. He peered at the prison cart, where the eight prisoners were forced to stand uncomfortably.
"Having fun?" Dearn called down.
"I ask you the same," one sneered back.
"Plenty," he replied. "Just remember, I'll be right here if you feel like breaking out."
He turned to look at the situation at the back of the column. The archers were still making a mess of the cavalry's approach, but they'd gained a good thirty meters since he'd last checked, just a few minutes before.
"Knights!" Dearn called down to the group. "Half of you to the other side, we have infantry incoming!"
Without question, three of the knights split off, running toward the fight that had broken out on the front side of the column. Dearn didn't bother to watch; he began firing at the horsemen who were steadily making their way toward the column, but he knew he didn't have enough arrows for it and he couldn't immobilize all of the horsemen even if he did; even with the support of the archers.
He knew that the three knights and the dozen soldiers that stood at arms in front of the archers wouldn't be able to hold off the horsemen either; let alone bring them down. They would need more men, but the bulk of the defense was currently engaged in a savage fight with the swordsmen who had ambushed them at the front of the column. He risked a glance back over at them; from his vantage point on top of the carts he could see all sides of the column, as to keep an eye on the entirety of the defense and keep watch for any more hostile forces that might move in from the treeline. He saw the fight was thinning to the front of the column as the knights, their numbers bolstered to nine, organized the soldiers and engaged the two dozen or so remaining swordsmen.
"Oi!" Dearn yelled. "When you're done with them, half of you over here! We have cavalry on the charge!"
He was about to turn away, but then added, "And make sure to keep this side defended, for God's sake, just in case there's more of them!"
Several of the knights signalled an affirmative and Dearn turned back, alarmed to see that the cavalry were closing in and that it would be only a few minutes until the knights would be forced to engage them.
"Keep the archers clear!" he ordered. "But don't put yourself in excessive danger. The carts will make effective cover if you need it, but the closer they get to the prisoners the worse!"
"Is the fight not going too well, Ranger?" one of the prisoners snarled up at him.
"I could still put a hole through that hand of yours," he retorted sharply.
He continued firing on the cavalry with the archers, and now he saw the horsemen armed with bows were raising and firing on Dearn, prioritizing him over the infantry below. They assumed he would be an easy target, standing high on the carts, and he was costing them precious troops with his bow. He ducked to avoid the first few, then dodged across carts for the next volley. None were particularly accurate, but he wasn't going to take the risk of staying still for too long. All the while, he continued firing, until on one occasion he reached for an arrow and found his quiver bare.
He scowled and glanced over at the front side of the column, where the knights and soldiers were finishing off the last few enemies.
"Hurry up, they're almost on us!" Dearn called. "Watch for arrows on your way in!"
Several arrows had lodged into the carts and Dearn now wrenched them from the timber, inspecting them as he avoided more volleys of the things. They couldn't compare to his Ranger arrows, but they would do for this occasion. He nocked the first to his bowstring and fired experimentally, but found the shot went too far. It was lighter than the arrows he was accustomed to, he noted, nocking a second arrow. He fired again, compensating for the lighter projectile, and the arrow hit home, sending a horseman tumbling from his saddle.