Balthazar watched as two scouts went on ahead. They could handle themselves. In the meantime, the warlock had decided that his best option was to ride with the prince in the vanguard-- not because he planned to fight in the thick of it (though that would likely naturally occur as a result of doing so), but because the faster the army could link up with the city's defenders, the better. While he still very much able to fight in a battle like that if he had to, he knew that the fight to come would be won with attrition, and not a great melee.

And so, he walked towards his horse, a black courser that was both swift and valiant. It was not bred for war, but it would not flee at the sound of swords clashing or cannons firing, which was all a rider could ask for. Strapping the weighted cane to one of the saddlebags, the man followed behind Prince Leonidas and his squad at a decent pace-- he would need a hand on the reins for this. They would be seeing combat soon, and he needed focus and stability to cast his spells. He half-considered simply letting the cavalry fight, but Mana was muscle like any other, and the failure to use it meant that it would wither away and weaken eventually; something he could not allow.

It was only a matter of time until they met the enemy, and so they did. Fifteen Goblin Wolfriders harassing a caravan on the road. These were an interesting variant on cavalry; unlike horses, these wolves were often bred to fight alongside their masters. Even if the rider was dead, the mount could continue to wreak havoc. Although a single wolf would not be able to do much on their own, such beasts often hunt in packs, and in conjunction with their masters. Much like goblins, these wolves are much dangerous in greater numbers.

...but even in numbers, a weakling is a weakling still.

The warlock tugged on the reins on his horse to curtail its acceleration, before breaking off to the side. He would let the prince, his retainers, and the other cavalry take the front while he flanked the goblins. He muttered a short incantation, causing the grimoire chained to his side to float upwards to chest-level. Guided by an unseen force, the tome opened up and flipped to one of the spellbook's earlier pages. At this point, Balthazar could recite this spell by memory alone, but if he wanted to cast it quickly, he'd need a reference.

And that was something this grimoire could provide.

He touched the page with his free hand, creating a dark magic circle in the air in front of him. The warlock uttered the spell's incantation, gesticulating with that same hand. When the spell was ready, he loosed it with a grunt. With a flick of his finger, he fired off a ray of inky black energy centered at the heart of one of the Goblins. The dark magic pierced through the creature's chest with impunity, causing the being to collapse nearly instantaneously.

But he was not done yet.

With that same spell, the man focused the ray into a single, piercing point, before flicking his hand in the direction of an adjacent Goblin Wolfrider. This caused the magic circle in the air to change its orientation somewhat, which in turn caused the beam to cut through the wolf's throat. Now dead, the beast stopped moving, which would fling his rider forward, were he not saddled. Instead, the mount tumbled through the air, crushing its master under the weight of its body. That one would not be an issue any longer.

The spell now complete, Balthazar clasped his hands together, causing the tome in front of him to rapidly flip to a new page, this one an entry on curses. He stared at the Wolfrider he presumed to be the leader-- one that was dressed in the armor made of human and animal bones and was riding atop the largest of the wolves. The warlock uttered a dark incantation with malicious intent, and then suddenly, the Goblin leader's movements seemed to be much more sluggish, as if he were moving underwater.

The warlock did not kill this one-- not directly. He simply waited for someone else to follow up on his spell. With the leader's movements slowed, slaying him would not be a particularly difficult task.