Fighting Back
"The village is not far off. It's just over that hill over there" Tino said quietly and pointed out the direction for the other two, almost seeming worried that someone could hear them, even if they were on a road that was rarely traveled and they had not seen a single person since they left Dalahurst.
The hill he was talking about wasn't all that tall, but it stretched on for kilometers in both directions before them. "There are no trees and barely a few bushes on the top and a lot of shelter for us" Tino continued. "So if we want to get close to the village without being noticed by anyone, we will have to leave the horses behind here and climb up there by foot."
The three of them jumped of their horses and tied the reigns to a lone tree standing by the small path they had traveled by. The let most of their equipment stay behind, the only thing they brought along were their weapons. Matthias brought his axe, Berwald the sword and Tino his bow and hunting knife.
Since he had the most knowledge about how to move in the landscape and stay hidden, Tino took the lead. They climbed up the hill, stumbling over loose rocks and sand that threatened to send them sliding down again. When they drew near the top, they crouched down and started crawling through the tall grass, careful to stay low.
It turned out that the small hill almost worked to separate two worlds. On the side where they had climbed up, there was barely sign of life. The land was dry and only supported a few trees spread far apart and small bushes. But the opposite side was far steeper and in the shadow laid a village and the landscape around it was green and lush.
Matthias and Berwald could barely hold back a gasp of wonder at the sight.
Tino chuckled at them. "They built the village here so that the hill would provide them with shelter from the wind. It gives them longer and warmer summers, so their crops have a longer time to ripen and provide a larger yield and it makes the winter storms less harsh"
"But it makes them incredible vulnerable for an attack" Matthias whispered back. "Soldiers can easily surround the place and there is no room for the villagers to escape. The hill is too steep on their side to make it a possible escape route. Archers will have plenty of time to take them out before they can ever make it over."
"Matthias is right" Berwald added. "It doesn't look like soldiers have been here yet, but the village's location makes it an excellent target for them. I think we might have made the right choice of coming here."
"So what do we do now?" Tino asked. "Should we go down and warn the villagers immediately? We still don't know for sure that this is the right place. The villagers might think we are crazy since we don't exactly have any proof that the king has turned crazy."
Matthias pondered the question. Lukas had said the soldiers would be in Dale after two weeks or so. The three of them had used five days on horseback to get here, Torleif and the fighting villagers would use probably five more to reach them. So that left them four days after their forces were gathered until the soldiers would launch an attack. That would mean there was plenty of time for them to prepare.
"The more prepared the villagers are, the better our chances will be" he said. "We have to take the risk that they won't believe us. We don't know how long it might take the soldiers to get here. For all we know, they can arrive before our people can make it here and then the village would have to fight alone. We should tell them and start making some plans for defense."
"You got a point there" Tino said, "It would be foolish of us not to say anything. So why don't we go down there and tell them and them one of us can ride back to Torleif and give him a report on where we stand. One of us can stay and help the villagers with preparing the village and then I can ride out scouting for the soldiers and give us a better idea of when they are coming?"
"We just have to hope the villagers will believe us and take the warning seriously" Berwald muttered. "Had I not been in the square in Griven and seen what the soldiers did first handily, then I might have a hard time believing they would ever make an attack on their own people."
"We'll convince them" Matthias said confidently. "That's our only option. Without waiting for any more comments in their discussion, he turned back and rushed down the hill they had climbed up before so dust and sand flew in a cloud around him.
It took them a great deal of persuasion to convince the village chieftain that an army was most likely coming their way. Like they had suspected, the man found it hard to believe that the king would turn on his own people and attack them. But the more they talked, the greener his face turned and he looked like he was about to be sick.
"So what are we supposed to do now?" The man asked weakly and with a look of horror on his face. "We are no fighters, just farmers. How are we supposed to protect ourselves against an entire group of trained soldiers?"
"By using the element of surprise against them" Matthias said enthusiastically. "We have armed men and women from two villages that are prepared to fight and they are on their way right now under the command of our chieftain Torleif. The soldiers are expecting to fight against unarmed farmers from your town alone. And we should also have the time to make a few extra surprises for them, before they get here. We will give them way more than they bargained for."
"Like what?" the chieftain asked sharply.
"I might have a few ideas" Berwald supplied. "The hill that protects this village from winds puts it in a poor position for an escape in the middle of an attack, but we can also use it as weapon."
The chieftain's sparkled with a glimpse of hope.
"We have to trick the soldiers to go to the middle of the town square for it to work though. And we have to make sure that all of our people are out of harm's way. " Berwald said. "But if we do that then we can send rocks over the edge of the hill and they will head for the square. If it doesn't harm any, it will surely cause chaos and we can launch an attack of our own."
"That sounds kind of dangerous" Tino stuttered nervously. "We don't have any control over the boulders once they go over the edge."
"We can build some walls going down the hill that can direct the rocks more towards the village centre. It will be hard work to put that up in time, but it might be worth it if it can disrupt our enemies." Berwald said thoughtfully. "We just need enough lumber and we can pull it off if we have enough time."
"But how will we trick them all into the village square?" The chieftain asked.
"It might be as easy as to do nothing." Matthias said. "The soldiers know where the village square is. If they see nothing on their way into the town they will suspect something is wrong and they will seek out the centre of town where people are most likely to be and that way trap themselves."
"It's a bit of a long shot" the chieftain muttered. "But I don't see any other options. But this will only work if your people come here on time, and we don't know if we can make all the preparations you talk about in time."
"Well there is one way to find out" Tino said lightly. "I will ride out and search for the soldiers. When I find them I will return here and we will know how far away they are and just how much time we have. And there is no use in protesting Berwald" he added quickly and the smith's apprentice who had just been about to protest, shut his mouth promptly. "I am the best choice for a scout and you know it, and you are the one best suited to help the villagers build that funnel for the boulders."
"I guess that makes me the one that will ride back to Torleif and report." Matthias concluded.
The chieftain nodded and agreed with their plan. He gathered up two fresh horses for the riders. Tino set of in the direction he believed the soldiers would most likely come from, he had already plotted out how to search for them and not miss them along the way. Matthias headed back in the direction he had come from while Berwald stayed behind with the villagers.
Matthias returned just about as the sun came over the horizon on the third morning. The villagers had made preparations and put out guards just outside of town. They were taking no chances and so a group of armed guards led him to the village square.
Berwald was one of the first to meet him. He came trudging over from the foot of the hill where he had been working. He was more or less covered in mud and looked utterly exhausted. Matthias cast a glance up the slope and saw that the villagers had been working hard since he left. They had improvised in a channel that would guide any rocks in one specific direction if they were rolled off the top of the hill.
"Wow" Matthias was almost speechless. "You guys have really been working since I left. Has Tino come back yet?"
Berwald shook his head and dried some of the mud from his hands on his pants. "No, he hasn't returned yet. Should mean he hasn't found the soldiers yet. At least I hope that's what it means. I hope that he's alright."
"From what I saw the first time we met, he seems more than capable to handle himself." Matthias chuckled en elbowed Berwald in the side. "Don't worry. He'll be back when he's found the soldiers and know when they will arrive. I found Torleif and the gang on one of the smaller roads leading here. They will be here in two days or so. If Tino is not back yet, it should mean we have enough time to prepare the village before our people arrive."
The chieftain had walked up to them and listened in on their conversation, now he stepped forward. "That's good to hear. While we wait you can help us with the preparations. There's still a lot of work to do on our trap. The guiding walls are almost done, Berwald has been a wonderful help in making plans. We still need to prepare some big rocks to push over the side and secure the houses closest to the square."
Matthias nodded and then followed Berwald over to where the villagers were working on the trap. "I thought you were trading to be a smith" Matthias said mockingly as Berwald led the way for them. "And here you are, making traps."
"Doesn't mean I don't have any other skills" Berwald grumbled back, not at all amused by Matthias' comments. "We still have more to do. If we want to make this trap effective, then we have to prevent them soldiers from being able to get quickly out of harm's way."
"So you mean we have to block all the smaller roads and hopefully find a way to lock them up in the square after they arrive?" Matthias asked.
"That means we need a distraction to keep the soldiers in the square and keep their attention away from the rest of us when we block of any possible escape route behind them."
"Leave that to me" Matthias said cheekily. "I'll keep them occupied."
The two of them went to work with the trap, gathering large rocks and haul them all the way up to the hilltop, ready to be pushed over the edge when the right time came. They slipped in the thick mud that had been created by the villagers moving in the dirt over and over again and it made their work much more difficult and a true nightmare. The sun beating down on them was no help and they were soon drenched in sweat. And still they kept on working.
They were still hard at work when the guards alarmed them about a new arrival. Berwald squinted towards the village center where a horse and a rider were being led along by armed guards. "Can you see who it is?" he asked.
"It looks like Tino is back" Matthias answered excitably. "Come on, let's go down there and see what news he has." Without any further ado he almost threw himself down the steep hill so he could get to the village square as fast as possible. Berwald followed close behind, but with more care. "Did you find them?" he yelled loudly, interrupting whatever Tino and the chieftain was talking about and Berwald groaned in annoyance behind him.
Tino turned towards them and nodded, his brows were furrowed in worry. "They are still almost six days march away if my estimations are correct, but they are definitely heading this way. An army almost 200 men strong and heavily armed. With a force that big, they surely intend to destroy the village and not leave anything behind."
The chieftain looked pale and horrified, he was obviously not a man meant to face a danger like that. Matthias patted the man on his shoulder. "Good thing we have made preparations to give them a proper welcome then" he said confidently.
Tino then looked up at the hillside and his eyes widened in admiration. Matthias noticed and smirked at him. "It was Berwald's idea to build it" he added lightly.
Tino stared admiringly at the man and Berwald gained just the tiniest shade of red in his cheeks at being praised and avoided looking directly at the young hunter. "There is still a lot of work we need to do on it" he muttered.
Six days passed by in a dash. The villagers from both Griven and Dalahurst arrived two days after Matthias had returned and the village of Dale was full of people that were getting ready for battle.
Tino had arrived back from another scouting trip an hour earlier and made them aware that the soldiers were just a few kilometers away. So now, Matthias and his friends were lying flat on their stomachs on one of the rooftops. They were hiding under a layer of grass and branches so they could blend in with the grass of the roofing so they could stay hidden. Matthias could hear the slow steady breathing from Berwald on one side and the slightly quicker one belonging to Tino on the other.
They could hear the soldiers long before they could see them. They were marching and talking. They were making jokes and telling stories and then they could hear the uncertainty in their voices as they realized that there was not a single person in sight and they started to wonder what was going on around them.
"What is going on?" he heard one of them ask. "Where is everyone?"
Matthias crawled closer to the edge of the roof so he could get a closer look at what was happening. The main part of the group was already in the middle of the village square, looking around, trying to figure out where the villagers were. One of the soldiers stepped forward, his cloak were of better make and carried the royal sigil, revealing he was the commanding officer for the group. "The bastards are hiding somewhere. Search the houses; there is no way they can have just left their homes!"
That was what the rebels had been waiting for. The soldiers were about as gathered as they would ever be, right in the path of the funnel they had built. Matthias stood up on the roof and sent grass flying in all directions. "Welcome sirs!" he yelled and all the soldiers turned to look at him in surprise. "I believe you are looking for the good people of this village."
Still lying on his stomach and hidden in the grass beside him, Tino was pulling back the string on his bow, holding it taunt and ready to send off a deadly shot in a heartbeats should it be necessary. Matthias knew that on several of the other roofs, more archers were silently aiming arrows towards the soldiers.
The soldiers all their attention aimed at Matthias on the roof. Behind them the main road was being blocked off by a cart. The commander snarled in his direction and raised a finger threateningly at him. "Get down here you coward. Where are the rest of your people hiding?"
"I can assure you they are here" Matthias yelled back in a taunting tone. "We have been waiting for you and prepared a bit of a surprise to give you all a proper welcome to the town and make your visit memorable. We like to treat our guest properly and let the king know exactly what we think of your kind."
One of the soldiers fired of an arrow in his direction, but Matthias dodged it easily. "That's not a very nice way to treat anyone" Matthias laughed mockingly. The commander's face turned red in anger and the other soldiers were drawing their weapons.
"Release the boulders!" Matthias screamed at the top of his lungs.
The soldiers realized they were in trouble when they heard the deep rumble coming from the hill and looked up, only to me met by the sight of several large rocks thundering down the hillside and directly towards them.
The soldiers in the square instinctively started backing away from the hill, desperate to get away from certain death as the ground shook underneath their feet. They started running back the same way they had come, only to find it blocked of and to realize that they were trapped.
They were screaming in panic as they tried their best to get out of the way. All order was gone. The soldiers were showing away their own comrades in desperate attempts to get away from the boulders, but it only led to further devastation.
The boulders showed no mercy and crashed into the village square. Several of the soldiers were crushed under their weight and the rest were completely at a loss of what to do and stumbling around in confusion and shock.
"Archers!" Matthias ordered and all around him on the roofs people cast aside the leaves and branches that had kept them hidden. They sent out a hailstorm of arrows against the group already in chaos.
The square had turned to a bloodbath within minutes. The few soldiers that survived the first waves of attack were looking for ways to get up on the roofs so they could get rid of the shooters and some of them were trying to break down doors on the houses.
Then the rest of the villagers finally engaged in battle. Matthias and Berwald drew their weapons and jumped of the roof where they had been waiting for the right moment to strike. Matthias could feel his heart beating like mad at the thought of making the soldiers pay for the grief they had been planning to spread.
Matthias used the speed from his jump to make a powerful downwards slash and had the axe imbed itself deeply in an enemy soldier that had been unlucky enough to stand right below the roof. Berwald disappeared to one of the sides, with the sword ready for strike.
After his speech on the roof, Matthias had turned into the main target for the soldiers. A group of soldiers had turned their attention towards him and with an angry roar they came rushing at him. Their anger and desperation made them careless.
He knocked one of them over with the butt end of the axe and made another quick slash to end his life. A third one came at him, but he never made it any closer as an arrow imbedded itself in the man's chest. Matthias looked around and noticed Tino on the roof and giving him a sure nod. He had fired the shot. And Matthias mouthed thanks at him before he turned his focus towards the battle again.
The commander had survived the rolling boulders and was now making his way over the square and right for him with murder in his eyes and the cloak flapping behind him. Matthias sidestepped the first slash and blocked the next one.
The commander hacked angrily at him and his strength almost knocked Matthias over. And he was being forced backwards towards one of the walls as the commander hacked angrily at him. He was losing his upper hand and realized he had to do something quickly or the soldier would get the better of him.
There was another soldier about to join the commander. But as the man came rushing at him, out of nowhere Berwald came running and crashed right into the man so they both tumbled over on the ground and further away. Matthias made a mental note to thank Berwald when the battle was over.
Around them, the villagers had swarmed the battlefield and slaughtered most of the surviving soldiers. Matthias cast the commander a confident smirk when he managed to block of yet another one of the incoming slashes. It seemed to catch the man by surprise and he hesitated in his next assault.
That was all Matthias needed to gain the upper hand. He made a low sweep with the axe and it knocked the commander's legs out from under him. The man fell heavily to the ground with a groan. Matthias lifted the axe high and with all his strength smashed it down at the commander's chest. It smashed through the plated mail and the man's sword fell to the ground with a soft clang.
Matthias looked around for more enemies to kill, but realized most of them were already dead. The villagers had everything under control and were taking care of the remaining soldiers.
Berwald came walking over and dried and dried some sweat of his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt. Tino jumped of the roof and landed gracefully right beside them.
"We actually did it" Tino yelled excitedly and ran about in the village square, taking in the sight of their victory. "We defeated the soldiers."
"This is just the beginning" Matthias said confidently and recovered the axe from the dead commander. "There are more villages to be saved and we will bring this battle all the way to the king."
