As the sun set in the west, Talburg was bustling with activity, both inside and out.
After Art reached an agreement with Baron Geoffrey to withdraw and surrender, Baron Geoffrey immediately ordered his camp to be dismantled and a path cleared.
He had already spent too much time and energy in front of Talburg, and military orders from Teblen constantly urged him to move west or north. He was confident he could take Talburg in a few days' attack, but Baron Geoffrey, fearing the repercussions, worried that the scoundrel in Talburg would harm his only son. Furthermore, a forced assault on Talburg would indeed result in significant losses of valuable Soldiers, and even if Talburg were captured, he would only acquire ruins. Since the fellow in the fort knew that holding out meant certain defeat and was willing to abandon the city and flee, Baron Geoffrey naturally wouldn't refuse his surrender terms. He was certain to plunder double the money and supplies taken by those fellows from Glarus County.
At this time, a small number of Baron Geoffrey's Soldiers and the majority of his peasant Soldiers, laborers, and craftsmen had already retreated ten miles with siege equipment and a large amount of supplies to a temporary camp. He himself, however, personally led all his cavalry (knights) and the main force of his Soldiers to remain outside Talburg to continue monitoring the defenders inside. He was also concerned that the defenders in Talburg might take advantage of his withdrawal to suddenly send troops to ambush his army.
Through the news obtained from Lady Geoffrey, who had come out of Talburg, Baron Geoffrey was considerably relieved to learn that although Soldiers were still stationed on Talburg's outer wall, the people inside Talburg were indeed packing supplies into carts, preparing to evacuate.
As dusk approached, after essentially confirming that there would be no unusual movements inside Talburg, Baron Geoffrey left a few sentinels to continue monitoring Talburg, then slowly led the main body of his army eastward to the temporary camp ten miles away.
Tomorrow at noon, Baron Geoffrey's army will come to receive a complete Talburg…
… … … …
In the arrow tower on Talburg's outer wall, Art, who had observed outside the fort all afternoon, saw that it was getting late and the bulk of the enemy forces were retreating. The opportunity for his conspiracy to be put into action had arrived. He immediately turned and descended the outer wall, coming before the seventeen officers and Soldiers standing neatly at the base of the back wall.
“Bas, Kazak, prepare to move. Angus and his men have already found the enemy’s temporary camp. We will take a detour to reach the enemy camp. We must reach the enemy camp as quickly as possible, before the main enemy force.”
“Remember, our primary objective is to burn the enemy’s siege equipment and kill as many craftsmen in the enemy camp as possible, but those two Master Craftsmen in charge of making the siege equipment must be left alive for me. Secondly, we are to burn the grain and supplies and injure the enemy Soldiers and laborers. Remember, without my order, no one is to get bogged down in battle. After a successful sneak attack, return to Talburg by the original route. Odo and Batu will be waiting for us in Talburg.”
“Understood?”
“Understood!” the crowd replied in unison.
“Depart!”
At a single command, a dozen elite Soldiers, wearing armor under black cloaks and capes, with white strips tied to their left arms, broadswords, battle axes, and pole hammers hanging from their waists, and ceramic pots of lamp oil tied to their backs, climbed the back wall, slid down the fort wall on ropes, and disappeared into the boundless night and dense forest…
… … … …
After walking in the dark for half a mile eastward along the north side of the ridge, the group participating in the night raid met Angus, who was waiting there.
“Sergeant, how is it?” Art immediately asked Angus the most urgent question.
“Lord Art, the enemy camp is located in a small hollow by the road about nine miles to the east. They haven't built a fortified camp, and most of the camp consists of laborers, peasants, and craftsmen. There are only a dozen Soldiers. The trebuchets, battering rams, and scaling ladders are all in the camp. Roan and his three men are still concealed, monitoring outside the enemy camp,” Angus answered Art's question concisely and clearly.
“Sergeant, it’s too dark for us to see the way. Have the markers along the way been set up?”
“After confirming the enemy camp's location, I ran back and forth twice, finding the shortest path. I set up markers along the way and left a brother at a fork in the road near the main path to stand guard.” Angus considered that the night raid army couldn't light fires for illumination and worried about getting lost in the darkness. Therefore, he not only marked the convenient path leading to the enemy camp but also sent people to meet and stand guard along the way.
A moment later, Angus led a group of black-clad figures, running swiftly through the dark, dense forest…
When the main force of Baron Geoffrey's army had just traveled less than half the distance, a dozen dark figures had already appeared in the dense forest on the north side of the enemy's temporary camp, nine miles east of Talburg.
“My Lord, I finally see you again!” Roan emerged from the dense forest and weeds, embracing Art tightly.
Art patted Roan's shoulder. In the darkness, he couldn't make out Roan's face, but from Roan's strong and powerful arms, he could feel that a most excellent warrior was growing.
“Roan, you’ve worked hard these past few days. After tonight, you can return to Talburg to rest. But now, you must fight one more battle with me.” As he spoke, he had Bas tie white cloth strips onto the left arms of Angus and Roan and their five companions.
Angus, who had gone to the top of the small hill to observe the enemy camp, stealthily returned. He reached Art, and whispered, “Lord Art, the enemy hasn't noticed anything yet. The enemy camp is still somewhat chaotic, and the enemy patrols are very sparse. The siege equipment is in the open area on the northernmost side of the camp, and the craftsmen are gathered in a tent on the right side of the camp.”
Art glanced around at Angus, Bas, Kazak, and Roan, who were gathered around him, and commanded, “Sergeant, take Bas and ten Soldiers to be responsible for killing the craftsmen in the enemy camp. Roan, Kazak, lead the remaining men with me to destroy the enemy’s siege equipment. After completing the mission, reassemble here. We will retreat to Talburg by the original route. If the enemy resists stubbornly, we will not get bogged down in battle; we will withdraw quickly.”
Everyone responded in low voices.
Dozens of ceramic pots filled with lamp oil were concentrated on the Soldiers of the small team led by Art, who were responsible for burning the siege equipment. Then, everyone quietly drew their weapons from their waists, climbed the hill, and, guided by the faint firelight from the enemy camp, crept forward…
… … … …
In the temporary camp of the Swabia army, everyone’s tightly strung nerves had finally relaxed after many days, because this morning, the defenders in Talburg had finally succumbed to the pressure and proactively opened the city gates to surrender.
When Baron Geoffrey's order to dismantle the camp came down, everyone in the camp quickly and efficiently packed up their tents and dismantled the fences. They couldn't wait to leave this cursed place.
At this moment, Baron Geoffrey and the main body of his army had not yet returned to the camp, and the people in the camp lacked supervision. They were either taking out old grain and wheat to build fires and cook fragrant, thick porridge, or pulling out peas and wooden cups to gamble, with stakes of only a few onions or a piece of smoked meat. What everyone particularly enjoyed was the relaxed post-battle atmosphere of no longer having to forcefully attack the castle.
The happiest were the craftsmen who made heavy trebuchets and shield-topped battering rams and other siege equipment. Although they were conscripted, Baron Geoffrey had never treated them unfairly. Ample food was supplied first, and the heaviest and most tiring work was done by convicts and peasants. In fact, today, Baron Geoffrey, in his joy, even awarded ten fenny to each of the dozens of craftsmen who participated in making the siege equipment, because these craftsmen were credited with the primary achievement of taking Talburg without losing a single Soldier.
Now, this group of rewarded craftsmen were all gathered in a tent specially assigned to craftsmen, drinking light beer and gambling with peas. From the alcohol-filled tent, the occasional boast of a craftsman about his superior skill in carpentry (blacksmithing) could be heard.
And just as the craftsmen were in high spirits, little did they know that a group of deadly dark figures had quietly crept near the tent…
On the north side of the camp, a heavy counterweight trebuchet, a shield-topped battering ram, six grappling hook scaling ladders, and four wooden-topped giant shields were placed in an open area. Four Swabia Soldiers sat around a bonfire near the siege equipment, chatting, with several rye bread loaves and a wild rabbit roasting over the fire.
In the darkness not far behind the bonfire, two patrolling Swabia Soldiers had already become two corpses with their throats slit, lying on the ground, hissing and spewing blood.
Art and Roan wiped their bloody daggers on the corpses and returned them to their sheaths at their waists. Then, they mimicked a bird call behind them, and several dark figures suddenly appeared.
“Charge!!!” Art let out a soft cry, drew the knight’s sword from his waist, and, along with eight or nine dark figures, charged towards the bonfire…
“Ah~~~ Devils! Devils!!”
The eight or nine black specters that suddenly appeared in the dark terrified the enemy Soldiers by the bonfire, making them collapse to the ground and retreat repeatedly. Two enemy Soldiers, slightly bolder, had just managed to get up but hadn't even had time to grab the short spears beside them before they were instantly cut down by the attacking specters. The two enemy Soldiers still retreating were also pinned to the ground by the black specters and stabbed several bloody holes.
“Pour the lamp oil, burn it for me!!” Art took the lead, removing a ceramic pot of lamp oil from his waist, opening its leather seal, and continuously pouring the lamp oil onto the heavy trebuchet. The Soldiers around him also took off their ceramic pots and poured lamp oil onto the siege equipment in the open area. Seeing that all dozen or so pots of lamp oil had been poured onto the siege equipment, Roan pulled out several burning pieces of firewood from the bonfire and handed them to the nearby Soldiers to ignite the lamp oil ~
These siege engines, primarily made of wood, quickly ignited with the help of the lamp oil, and soon, a raging inferno rose in the enemy camp's open area.
Other Soldiers, peasant Soldiers, and laborers in the enemy camp, seeing the fire, rushed to extinguish it, but unexpectedly, before they could get close to the inferno, they encountered a group of black-clad specters charging at them…
… … … …
In the enemy camp's craftsmen's tent, the attackers virtually wiped out all the craftsmen inside. Of course, the two Master Craftsmen were spared and became prisoners of the night raiders.
Angus and Bas, leading ten Soldiers, encountered a few scattered enemy Soldiers outside the craftsmen's tent. The enemy Soldiers reacted quickly, immediately drawing their weapons to fight the attackers, but the attackers were more numerous and better equipped. In a short while, the few enemy Soldiers became corpses. Then, a dozen black specters rushed into the craftsmen's tent. After finding the two Master Craftsmen who were clearly dressed differently, the others were slaughtered. A dozen craftsmen and seven or eight apprentice craftsmen in the tent had barely understood what was happening when they were met with a flurry of sword slashes. A dozen craftsmen died tragically in the tent, their blood soaking through the tent…
After burning the siege equipment and killing the craftsmen in the camp, the black-clad figures, seeing the favorable situation, did not retreat immediately. Instead, they took advantage of the chaos to ignite the enemy camp's grain and supplies and extensively slaughtered the Soldiers, peasant Soldiers, and laboring farmers who were running around in the enemy camp, until someone realized it was a night raid and then led the escape into the hills and dense forests surrounding the camp or frantically fled eastward.
When the number of people still standing in the camp gradually decreased, the twenty-odd black specters stopped the slaughter, dragging a few of their own Soldiers wounded in the melee and the two captured Master Craftsmen back into the darkness ~
The raging flames burning in the east dyed the entire sky red. When Baron Geoffrey, carrying a torch and leading twenty-odd cavalry (knights) and dozens of Soldiers along the winding wagon path, saw the fiery red sky to the east, an uncontrollable panic suddenly arose in his heart. He abandoned the infantry behind him and, with his cavalry, mercilessly kicked and spurred their warhorses.
After traveling less than two miles in the dark, a rider on a warhorse charged towards him, and in the darkness, the rider's and Baron Geoffrey's two warhorses nearly collided.
“My Lord, enemy attack! Enemy attack!!” The rider, clutching a sword wound in his abdomen, rolled off his warhorse.
Geoffrey jumped off his horse, took the torch handed to him by a cavalryman behind him, and shone it on the fallen rider's face. A chill ran through him, for this rider was his direct knight whom he had sent to manage the temporary camp.
Baron Geoffrey rushed back to the camp, clutching a last shred of hope, only to see the grain, supplies, tents, and wagons turned into kindling in the raging fire, and the painstakingly built siege equipment all engulfed in a sea of flames…
“Devils! Bastards!! I will kill you all!! Ah~~~~~~~”
Baron Geoffrey's anguished cry, mixed with fury, resounded through the night sky.
