Joachim was about to step forward and engage the enemy troops that were moving in, but they suddenly stopped in their tracks and slowly backed off before turning around fully and running away. Joachim looked behind him to look what made them run, but nothing caught his eye. When he returned to face the enemy fully, it seemed the main enemy force was disengaging as well, taking their losses and going home. A few of the men were being helped by their friends and brothers in arms, their wounds keeping them from walking normally. Joachim considered giving chase, but they were all pretty beat up too, and it wouldn't be useful anyway. [b]„Looks like we won.”[/b] he mumbled to nobody in particular, surprised that everyone was still alive and well. All the horses seemed to be dead however. 

Joachim walked over to the mangled corpse of one of the knights and pulled the helm from his head, to reveal an ugly pig-like face staring back at him. The eyes were staring into the abyss of the sky, something that was always a bit strange to see. But that wasn't what was interesting about this guy, no, it was his identity. [b]„Aemon Howard, the brother-in-law of Aryen Ewain. Seems like the nearby lordships have taken an interest to the queens lands.”[/b] It was a strange ordeal however, with them getting rid of the Ewain insignia on their shields. Was it possible that Aemon had acted on his own accord due to a deal struck with the king? Pure speculation at this point, and Aemon was dead and couldn't clarify. 

[b]„We should head back and inform Gnarl and the Queen.”[/b] Joachim said with the utmost serious voice that he could muster. Looking around, however, Joachim found most of the horses had been slaughtered. It seemed the enemy opted to take out the horses first. There was no doubt that the villagers that survived could point them to some leftover horses. Joachim sheathed his sword as he went to stand straight again, looking at Atl and then the woman behind him. [b]„Woman, can you point us to the nearest horses?”[/b] The woman was still a bit shaken but pointed to the nearby stables, which luckily hadn't caught fire. There seemed to be enough horses in there for everyone that needed one for the journey back. Joachim walked over to the stables, looking at the edge of the village that was by now deserted by the enemy -- they were clearly fleeing at a speedy pace. Once he walked inside he grabbed a horse by it's reins and headed outside, where he'd wait for the rest of his companions.

It seemed that the Ewain family enjoyed either a very strong tie to the king, or that they liked Stags Rest and saw this as an opportunity to wage war to obtain it. And by burning the village and murdering everyone or taking them a prisoner, they'd quickly drain the manpower of the queen.