Chapter 761: Mountain Beast Cavalry

Arrow volleys shriek down in dense waves, pinning scores of enemies dead along their line of advance.

Another volley blankets the area every twenty seconds.

The ground is soon carpeted with fallen Northern Mountain Raiders, yet the crossbow units keep firing into the same killing ground.

It is the enemy's main avenue of advance. The dead and wounded underfoot slow every charge that follows.

Fresh troops keep surging forward, packing the raiders ever more tightly into the same narrow area.

For the crossbowmen, it is the perfect target.

More than ten minutes later, only a lucky handful make it through the overlapping barrier of direct and arcing fire to reach the formation.

Before they can touch the shields, war spears punch through their necks and leave them dead before the line.

Peace Haven's formation has not taken a single hit. The Northern Mountain Raiders, meanwhile, have already lost more than two thousand men.

More than two thousand dead and wounded lie before each warband. Together, they amount to an entire enemy warband wiped out.

Agnico frowns. "Is this really how the Northern Mountain Raiders fight? How many men can they afford to throw away?"

"If they keep charging like this, at least another ten thousand will have to die before they can even reach my formation."

Windson, the kingdom's military intelligence officer, gives a bitter smile. "My lord, you will understand soon enough. They are trying to wear down our stamina."

"Once the battle lines fully engage, they will immediately show you how ferocious they can be."

"Their beast cavalry is also on its way. Their javelin attacks are particularly vicious."

Agnico laughs. "Windson, you don't need to call me 'my lord.' We hold equal standing. You are His Majesty Arius's intelligence adjutant, a position above even a legion commander."

Windson laughs as well. "You jest, my lord. I once served in your legion before I was transferred to the Military Intelligence Office."

"Even now, serving His Majesty in the Vorry army, I still consider you my superior!"

Agnico smiles and shakes his head, but does not pursue the subject.

Arius had Windson transferred into his service after the Battle of Cellarwine City.

Windson gathered the exposed intelligence operatives and built the Royal Military Intelligence Department around them.

After only two years, it has grown strong enough to rival Vorry's traditional intelligence organization, the Silent Ones.

Windson is formally deputy director of the Royal Intelligence Department. In practice, he runs it.

The nominal director is a royal family member appointed by Arius. He does virtually nothing beyond collecting his pay and enjoying the position.

Their conversation is cut short when the Northern Mountain Raiders' beast cavalry comes thundering toward them.

Their mounts resemble enormous wild boars, each about the size of a cow.

They have thick limbs ending not in hooves, but in padded claws.

Each beast has a boar's head, a mouth filled with fangs, and two protruding front teeth like ivory tusks.

The riders carry enormous war blades, while several thick javelins hang from saddle harnesses on either side of their mounts.

The shafts appear to be wooden, while the heads are made from something resembling obsidian and designed to pierce armor.

The javelins are not bundled together or laid flat against the beasts' flanks.

Instead, the points flare outward in a fan like a peacock's tail.

The purpose is obvious: when the cavalry crashes into an enemy formation, the spread of spearheads can tear through infantry.

The force numbers roughly three thousand and is rapidly closing on the army formation.

The cavalry battalions roaming the battlefield receive their orders one after another and move to intercept.

Windson warns Agnico, "My lord, this won't work! We already discussed this. Our horses will be frightened by those beasts."

"In a head-on clash, our mounts will panic easily and throw the cavalry into chaos."

Agnico smiles and shakes his head. "No. Peace Haven's horses are different!"

Dikern, commander of the Second Cavalry Battalion of the First Mixed Legion, accelerates with his men while easing them onto a new course.

His deputy keeps pace beside him. "We're drifting off course. At this angle, we'll only pass them by."

"We need to readjust and strike their flank. If we wait any longer, it will be too late."

Dikern disagrees. "Can't you see all those spikes covering them? We won't gain anything by charging into their flank."

His deputy protests, "But this could compromise the entire operation! If we disobey, the men of the First Warband could suffer terrible losses!"

Dikern's voice hardens. "We have to find this cavalry's weakness. The Vorry army has never gained an advantage against them. Units like this have battered them again and again."

"This is our chance to gather real intelligence. We cannot keep relying on old experience."

"I have an idea, and I need to test it. If it works, beast-cavalry units will never trouble us again."

His deputy hesitates. "But the order..."

Dikern cuts him off. "I'm the commanding officer. I will take responsibility! The men of the First Warband won't be broken that easily!"

With that, Dikern orders the standard-bearer beside him, "Pass the order! Contract the formation to four columns!"

"Stay close to me and charge at full speed!"

"Load the heavy crossbows! Execute the layer-stripping tactic!"

The other cavalry battalions see what Dikern is doing. They adjust their deployments and clear the route his men will need after the pass.

Watching from afar, Agnico frowns. "What is the Second Cavalry Battalion doing? Didn't they receive the order?"

"Pass the order!"

"Have the First Garrison Warband's ballistae change direction and prepare to intercept the enemy cavalry at any moment!"

By then, Dikern's battalion is already skimming past the edge of the beast cavalry's charge.

Barely twenty meters separate the two forces.

The beast-cavalry commander brandishes his war blade and laughs wildly, certain that Dikern has lost his nerve.

Dikern suddenly raises his heavy crossbow from behind his lowered visor and looses a bolt at the enemy commander.

The shot misses the rider. He is about to laugh again when the beast beneath him starts to thrash.

He looks down and sees a crossbow bolt buried deep in the beast's eye.

Dikern is a Battle Knight. Even though the two forces pass each other in an instant, it is more than enough time for him to place a bolt precisely into the mount's eye.

A storm of bolts follows, streaking from the Second Cavalry Battalion into the beast cavalry.

The opposing momentum makes every bolt faster and more vicious.

Not every rider matches Dikern's marksmanship, but mounted archery is a core part of cavalry training, and all of them are at least competent shots.

Large numbers of bolts punch into the mounts or the raider riders.

Mounts and riders tumble together, ripping the enemy formation apart.

Furious, the beast-cavalry commander wheels his force around to pursue the audacious human riders.

For more than six months, the beast cavalry had seemed unstoppable. Human horses usually panicked the instant they drew near.

Only the human cavalry in blood-red armor had ever dared meet them head-on.