CHAPTER 16: AN UNEXPECTED SITUATION

"The enemy army was just spotted, and they are closing in on us. It wouldn’t be long before they reach here," Zac explained with a look of unrest on his face.

"You are our guest, try to find a safe place and hide. Neither I nor anyone else would want you getting hurt in our battle," he said, and then went on his way after patting Allen twice on the back.

Just as I thought... this is going to get messy, Allen thought to himself.

At some distance from Allen, inside the tent that currently served as the command-and-control center for this outpost, stood three people around a table in the center.

On one side was Lishia Morrissy, the head commander of this outpost, who was accompanied by Luna Revoltstar and Eunice Revoltstar.

All of them had their eyes fixed on a map that lay on the table. It was the map of their surroundings.

On it, two places were marked with big crosses. One was their current location, and the other was the outpost of the opposing army.

"I don’t understand. Why are they taking such a rash decision?" Luna questioned, expressing her concerns. "Their attack on me clearly failed so they should have waited a few days before doing anything."

"That is exactly the point, my dear sister," Eunice said.

"What do you mean?" Luna asked, looking at her sister for answers.

"What you said is true, and attacking at this time is indeed an illogical choice. However, our enemy who had been extremely calculating till now has made that illogical choice. I would say it’s safe to assume that there is some reason why they couldn’t delay this any longer," Eunice explained.

"What must that be?" Luna wondered.

"That I don’t know. And it’s not the right time to wonder about it either. We can think about why this happened once we have won this battle and are on our way home," Eunice said.

"What is your opinion, Lishia?" she asked, looking at Lishia who held her chin and was looking carefully at the map with her eyes narrowed.

"I agree, let’s keep the talks for later," she replied nonchalantly. "Eunice," she called.

"Yes?"

"Instruct your troops to split into three divisions. Two will defend each side of the base to avoid a flank while the third unit will go on the frontlines. Also, there should be no mages on the defensive. Send them all to the frontlines."

"Understood," Eunice replied firmly.

"Luna."

"What is it?"

"Tell your knights to advance to the frontlines and work with the others to pierce through the enemy’s vanguard. Only your personal guards should remain on the base, other than that, send everyone," Lishia commanded.

"Understood," Luna responded.

"The troops on the frontline will use this formation: the knights will be in the front, followed by archers and pure mages. For the defensive sides, use a basic shield," Lishia instructed.

"Eunice, you will go with your troops to the frontline. Wait there and command them from the back until you feel you are needed. Luna, you will stay here with your guards. Do not engage in any battle until I tell you to. Is everything clear to the two of you?"

"Yeah," Eunice said while Luna nodded along.

"Go on then. Glory to Luminara," Lishia said, hitting her chest with her right hand for a salute.

"Glory to Luminara!" both Eunice and Luna repeated before going out of the tent.

"It’s a good thing we already had a basic defensive line deployed on the frontlines. It’ll give us enough time to properly plan and respond," Luna whispered to Eunice.

"Yeah. That’s all thanks to our beloved little Lishia. Now I regret a little when I opposed that decision of hers, thinking that it’ll exhaust our troops for no reason," Eunice responded with a slight smile on her face.

With the two gone, Lishia remained alone in the room. Her position had still not shifted. She still held her chin while looking at the map with her narrowed eyes.

Her mind was racing. New strategies formed and were simulated before she made the decision of whether they were usable or not. She was trying her best to get to the best possible solution to deal with this situation.

"What in the world are you trying to do, Randolf?" she mumbled to herself, biting the nail of her thumb.

While she had expected and prepared in advance for this situation, it would be a lie to say she wasn’t bewildered by this. She had been here engaging in a battle of wits with Randolf for more than a month now. Even though they had never seen each other, she thought he was not the type of man to make such a rash decision.

After all, at this rate it was pretty much certain that he was going to lose.

As she stood inside the camp, coming up with theories and plans to deal with the situation, things were continuing to unfold on the battlefield.

Outside the walls of the outpost was Eunice who sat on a horse behind layers and layers of troops. She was in full armor and carried her sword on her back.

She looked out into the horizon and could see the enemy troops approaching.

Since they were already visible with the naked eye, it wouldn’t be long before the arrows start raining. They could even already be in the air. Hence Eunice wasted no time.

"Listen to me my dear soldiers! You can see the enemy right in front of us! It is the same enemy who has made our people suffer so much! It is the same enemy who has made our mothers and sisters cry!

"It is the same enemy who has forced you to leave your wife and children alone and come to this godforsaken battlefield!

"Now that they are in front of you, within the reach of your swords, arrows, and spells. What are you going to do?! Are you just going to stand here?" she announced, her voice, enchanted by magic, reached the ears of every single soldier present there no matter how far they were.

"No! We will not!" they replied loudly.

"Then what are you going to do?!" she asked.

"Kill them! Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!" the troops chanted in unison.

"That is right my dear soldiers! We are going to give them hell and make them pay for every single bit of suffering they caused. Go forward my dear soldiers!

"Show them that we do not fall! Show them that we do not give up! Show them that we are not scared like them! Show them that we are not the slaves of those highlanders!

"Glory to Luminara!" she exclaimed loudly.

"Glory to Luminara!" the troops responded, all of them bursting out into war cries of sheer determination.