[b]Chapter 18: The king's men[/b]

The king took a deep breath and turned around to walk out of the room. He descended the stairs again and beckoned over his two remaining knights, which swiftly scurried over to their monarch. "Sword.", he concisely commanded. Sir Richard procured the king's sword and extended it with the hilt first, presumably he had found it out on the street when they stumbled upon the royal. Leofric grasped his weapon and eyed it over briefly. Despite a prolonged use, the blade remained in pristine condition. Leofric and his knights had their weapons crafted from a metal commonly known as Skysteel in the Northlands. Skysteel was extremely durable and tough, but also rare and was only found in the mines located in the peaks of the northernmost mountains in the kingdom, where the metal received its name from.

Leofric clenched his left hand and looked up. "Our reinforcements are here. Sir Arthur is descending the northern hills with a vast army as we speak. We'll hold the manor until he has retaken the town. This will be the first place our lads will come looking.", he leered to both knights in turn, waiting for their response. They both nodded. Leofric shuffled past the two knights to find Hal, whom he suspected was occupied somewhere in a vacant room with forging an escape plan of sorts. A sudden shout caused him to stop and turn around. One of the soldiers that kept watch by one of the windows next to the manor entrance took a few steps back and pointed somewhere on the outside. "They're coming! The bastards are actually coming this way! They've found us!"

Leofric hurried over to the nearest window and glanced outside. Across the plaza he could see a large group of Raylian soldiers approaching, and he swiftly counted up to at least thirty of them. A few of them pointed towards the manor and shortly after the enemy troop set off into a jog. Leofric sighed and stepped away from the window, his right hand reaching for the grip of his sword. "Rally to me! We've got a fight on our hands!"
Around the manor his men sprung to attention and rushed over to form up infront of the entrance with raised shields, at least those that still had them. A door to one of the side-rooms opened up and from it came Captain Hal running out who swiftly joined up with the rest. Sir Richard and Sir Rodges walked off to the sides and took up places by a window each on either side of the entrance door, their hawkish eyes staring out at the approaching enemy with ruthless determination. Hal appeared at Leofric's side and extended a spare shield, though he dismissed it with a hand gesture. The officer shrugged a shoulder and grabbed the shield for himself before barging past the formed up soldiers to take the front.

Leofric eyeballed the few men he had left. They had formed up in ranks of four, and the narrow entrance would serve to their advantage. They just had to keep the Raylians from flooding in too many at once. He could now hear voices from the enemy outside, and something hard suddenly hit the door. Leofric's men had naturally locked the door behind them, but it was no gate by any means. The Raylians would have it off the hinges within moments. Something hit the door again, judging by its force it must have been a ram, makeshift or otherwise. Leofric took another breath and braced himself.


  


  
The town was within clear view now, and what he saw fueled his resentment. A steady stream of enemy soldiers rushed in through the massive gap in the wall and much of the town still stood smoking. Arthur's lips formed into a thin line in silent bitterness and his left hand tightened its grip around the reins of his partially armored destrier. Voices reached his ears from the town as the Raylians spotted them and begun to form up outside the broken walls. Arthur guessed that most of their men were inside Lowburg at this point, as the ranks forming consisted of a meagre few hundred men. He turned his eyes away from the enemy and looked at his own advancing down the hillside, near five thousand of them, with the majority sitting on horseback, and behind him waited the other half of the "Liberation Army" as some of the men had taken to calling themselves.

Trumpets and battle-drums sounded through the air as the first half of the army reached the bottom of the hills and its archers unleashed volley upon volley at the outnumbered Raylians. After having sufficiently weakened the enemy the trumpets culminated in rapid succession, signalling the charge. The first few ranks broke off and stormed ahead with a mighty warcry, causing some of the lesser courageous Raylians to turn tail and run. Meanwhile, the one and a half thousand horsemen on the right flank wheeled in and spurred their four-legged companions into a vicious charge, simultaneously clashing into the side of the Raylian force as the infantrymen barged into their front, resulting in a swift but bloody end to the Raylian resistance.

Arthur turned around in his saddle and made a gesture with his hand, ushering the remaining five thousand men onwards. "Take back the town! Find the king!", and then urged his destrier down the hill, followed by a contingent of knights. The horsemen spread out and circled around Lowburg to mop up whatever Raylian soldiers remained outside, while Arthur and his knights and led the four thousand infantrymen into the town itself. The soldiers branched off into the various streets of Lowburg and sound of battle quickly picked up. Arthur rode for the manor and encountered barely any resistance on the way, whatever Raylian that happened to stand in their way was quickly cut down on the move.

Finally he reached the plaza before the manor and held in his horse, followed suit by the other knights. The manor sat silent, its front door breached. Arthur frowned deeply and swung a leg over the saddle to dismount while gesturing for the other knights to do the same. He ordered five of his men to remain with the horses while he gathered the others and marched off towards the manor.

"Let's go. For all our sake I hope the king is still alive."