Climbing in Calradia: Part Eleven

The Leonine Knights arrived at Culmarr Castle three days after leaving Suno, the hundred warriors unfolding from their column into a battle-line while Duclos kept riding on for a few paces. A lone Rhodok, an elite soldier if his equipment was any indication, stepped from between the barely-opened castle gates as the Knight approached, crossbowmen beginning to line the battlements behind him.
"I am here for the Lady Isolla. You will surrender her to me."
The Rhodok paused when Duclos spoke, glancing up at the battlements for a second before turning back to face the mercenary commander.
"She isn't here Swadian..." He held up a hand in warning as Duclos spurred his horse to take a menacing step forward. "... but we know where she is!"
"Talk, and talk quickly Rhodok."
"Her camp is about an hour's ride to the south-east, on the slopes of the mountain."
Duclos scowled at the smug expression on the Rhodok soldier's face, certain that some plan was being put into motion around him, before he turned to gaze at his assembled warriors.

That was when everything went wrong. Duclos pitched from his horse, a crossbow bolt sticking from the back of his head. With a great and terrible buzz a volley of crossbow bolts thudded into the horses of the mounted Leonine Knights, pitching their best and most experienced warriors to the ground. Because she had been upon her horse Brigid was among them, clutching the head of her courser while another Knight tried to remove the bolt embedded in the animal's shoulder. He slowly shook his head, drawing a dagger as he moved to stand over the horse and rider.
"It's barbed. Better to put it out of its misery."
She sniffed back tears, stroking the horse, before angling its head to expose the neck.
"Do it quickly then. The Rhodoks have made us all foot-bound and there must be something else coming."
The crossbowman nodded, swiftly piercing the artery in the horse's neck, and Brigid waited until the courser had stopped moving before rising to her feet.

The crossbow volley had stopped after killing the horses, leaving the Knights in a disorganised line in front of Culmarr Castle, but the company hurriedly moved into a tighter formation when the castle gates swung open. A mass of Rhodok infantry emerged from within, spreading out into a line that matched the Knights' previous formation. The man who had dealt with Duclos, who must be the master of Culmarr Castle whilst its lord was aboard, appeared at the centre of the Rhodok line, turning his attention to the north as the ground began to shake as though there were an earthquake. The crossbowmen among the Knights were the first to spot the rapidly approaching cavalry, sweeping down from a mountain pass, and two sets of hideous buzzing noises filled the air, the mercenary crossbowmen loosing a volley at the horse-bound warriors and the Rhodok crossbowmen picking off the mercenary crossbowmen in turn. Brigid saw men and horses crushed by those behind as they fell and she also saw her own comrades collapse with multiple bolts piercing them like pincushions. She saw Charle finally drop, one of the last crossbowmen standing, and then the cavalry hit the scattering Knights.

Dozens were slain by that charge, cut down by slashing swords, thrust spears or just the sheer weight of a horse at high speed. Dodging around the horses through the dust cloud they were throwing up Brigid somehow managed to get to the edge of the Knights' formation, taking a moment to survey the entire battlefield she'd somehow escaped. The enemy cavalry, once through the troop of Swadian mercenaries, smoothly split into two groups and rode the length of the Rhodok line until they sat at the flanks, prepared to charge again if needed. From where she stood Brigid didn't think such a charge would be needed though, the area where the Leonine Knights had been now littered with corpses and the dying. Knots of Knights were also visible among the dead, each group isolated from another but slowly regrouping, and Brigid inwardly cringed as she expected another volley that would finish them off, dreading feeling a crossbow bolt smash into her flesh.

Instead the Rhodok soldiers began marching forward, keeping an orderly but fast-paced line, and every downed Leonine Knight the line came across was stabbed, regardless of whether or not they were already dead. Turning, resolved to go down fighting when the line reached her, Brigid looked at the Knights around her. Three were seriously injured and the fourth, who she was pleased to see was Toban, was missing several pieces of armour, shallow wounds indicating that it had been cut off him during the charge. He was looking towards the rest of the battlefield and Brigid turned in time to see a group of Knights overrun by the Rhodoks. The senior Knight among the handful was Louis, the cavalryman releasing a wounded comrade so he could fight, and Brigid's heart was in her throat as he bought up his sword in a salute. Five of the other Knights stepped up beside him, the Rhodok line enveloping the obstacle, and soon only the clash of steel could be heard, the occasional flash from a raised blade marking where they fought.

The other groups of Leonine Knights had begun withdrawing as the Rhodok line started advancing, trying to merge into a single force once again, and Brigid led her companions towards the larger group. She paused, waving the others on, as a familiar cry of pain rang out from where Louis had been fighting and she was more than tempted to dive into the Rhodoks, to try and rescue Louis and bring him to relative safety. Hearing her name shouted out though bought her back to reality and she ran towards the majority of surviving Knights, slotting into their formation next to Renee. The older woman smiled weakly, wincing in pain when she lifted her left hand in greeting, and Brigid tightened the grip she had on her sabre, glaring at the Rhodoks as another group of Knights was overrun and destroyed.
"Someone must escape."
Brigid glanced at Renee, surprise written on the young woman's face.
"Mistress?"
"The king, and our brothers and sisters still at large, must know what happened here. Someone must escape."
Both took a quick survey of the troops around them, a sinking feeling growing in Brigid's stomach when she noticed that only she and Toban were uninjured enough to be the viable choices.
"I won't leave you Mistress."
"You must. Now go."

Filled with great sorrow Brigid made her way through the group, returning her sabre to its sheath, and crouched low to the ground, trying to avoid the attention of the enemy cavalry. Toban was with her, the hunter's son more adept at concealing himself than she was, and the pair eventually made it to the trees that stretched between the mountains north of Culmarr Castle. Turning just inside the treeline she watched Renee led her group in their final battle. She stayed there, just watching while half-hidden behind a tree, until Renee was the last one standing and finally Brigid fled as a spear burst from between Renee's shoulderblades, missing the swing that removed the sword sister's head from her neck.