Hello everyone. Here is chapter 10. I hope that you will enjoy it. :)
While Albert and Alfred were leading their respective armies north, Swain and his men are busy facing the northern Earls that have come to stop him from progressing even deeper into Albert's kingdom and this clearly was the message that they gave to Swain as they blocked his way.
The northern Earls and their four thousand me army are on the other side of a big ditch that separated them from Swain and his army with the two armies shouting at each other as they waited for the tide to drop in order to fight each other in an very important battle.
The two Earls have put their army into a shield-wall formation as they attempted to block any attempts by Swain and his men to get past them and onto the grand prize of Albert's throne with two Earls standing in front of their army while their men continued to shout at the enemy army.
Swain's army is also in the same shield-wall formation and they responded to the shouts of the two Earl's army by shouting back as the two sides exchanged insults with each other while they waited as the tide slowly dropped, though, the two armies still had to wait for a chance to fight.
Eventually the tide has dropped enough for Swain's army to charge forward and collide with the two Earl's army shieldwall with both sides giving it their all and both sides suffered casualties with many wounded or dead soldiers laying around on the ground as the fight continued to go on.
Unfortunely for the two Earls, they and their men were drawn into the fight as Swain and his small group of loyal soldiers sneaked their way around the bend in the ditch as they ended up attacking their enemy from the rear which, in turn, caused the battle to be a major blood-bath as Swain got the upper hand.
Soon enough the two Earls were forced to accept defeat as they and what's left of their army began to retreat while Swain, along with his men, began to cheer in delight of their victory over their enemies as Swain, once again, kidnapped the women as well as the children before sending them to his kingdom.
"This is a good start, men" said Swain as his men cheered. "Now, let's force Albert to come to us, even more".
His men cheered in delight as they went to more villages where they continued to capture women and children before sending them to Swain's kingdom while killing the men in the process as well as setting the villages on fire in order to give Albert more of a reason to come to them, much to Swain's happiness.
Nearly every village was empty except for the dead bodies of the men that had tried to stand against Swain and failed as more villages suffered the same fate with the women and children captured while the men were killed as Swain, along with his army, continued to make their mark on their enemy's kingdom.
The news had spread like wildfire as everyone in the villages, that are clearly in Swain and his army's path, started to panic as the women grabbed their children while trying to make a run for it as they knew that they need to take that chance as long as they still have it.
The two defeated Earls, that have escaped with their life, were at the forefront of the evacuations as they knew what Swain is capable of while knowing that they have experienced this for themselves as they continued to help the innocent civilians escape the marching army.
Swain and his men also ravaged the countryside as well as burning many of the crops, though, they took some breaks in order to eat their food as well as having a drink while waiting for Albert to show up, though, they thought that the journey would take a week or two.
It looked like as if all hope is lost, though, they had no idea that Leofric has rode to another kingdom to ask for help in defeating Swain and his army with the response being a happy one as Leofric rode back and he announced that back-up is coming as they needed to hold on.
That kingdom belonged to King Eduardo and his wife, Queen Crystal, with an army being led by a male Spix Macaw called Rick as they marched to help Albert as well as Alfred in fending off the mighty Swain and his army as well as driving them back into the sea.
Albert and Alfred, meanwhile, are busy force-marching their respective armies to go forward in the direction of Swain and his men with the effort causing their own men to become tired as well as exhausted, though, they kept on going while Albert had no idea that an affair was taking place behind his back.