The sun rose up once more, a bright day it was, the people's morals collapsed under the pressure of what happened, yet their feet stayed strong, they knew that emotions wont bring them nothing but empty stomachs and broken plates, determination filled the air, as the walk continued, their resolve only grew stronger
Ron suddenly decided to stop the march, took a desert hawk, and sent it flying, as everybody sat down for a rest, Ron walked to set next to the foreigners
"What is the purpose of sending that hawk?" Torden asked
"You see, once we start to get to the main parts of the desert, safety is nothing more than a myth "Ron replied
"And what does that bird have to do with your safety? why not just send a scout?" Lord Torden asked
"Hawks are faster, stealthier, and basically our symbol" Ron answered
"wont the bandits know who sent it?, I mean you just said it is your symbol, so..." Torden asked still confused about this system
"Well, logically a large scale army wont be able to keep up with a hawks speed unnoticed by us" replied Ron
The hawk returned in no time, the message had some weird symbol on it, Rob simply said "Clear" before we set march
it wasn't long till we reached the location, A village with broken towers and hallow walls, a ghost town
"Is everything okay? Torden asked out of worry
"Oh, Does the condition of it scares you? Do not worry about it, we are used to such, this are just temporary camps anyways" said Ron, Torden understood that he wished not to go into details
As they got closer to the camp, the people of this land seemed worried, no guards, scouts, as if life perished
They went through the fallen gate, the carriage stopped, the air was uncomfortable to Torden who decided to step out, just to see a disgusting sight, blood covering the corpses, bodies scattered like dead flies
Ron shouted " It is a trap!!!"
But it was too late, the yellowness of the grounds became darker, horse shadows surrounded the camp, Ron looked towards the mountains of sand noticing them
"Ambush!!" shouted Ron at the top of his lunges
Everyone went into defence form,
"This is not going to work, we are surrounded already "Torden said
" We can still hold out grounds inside the village, we have that advantage at the very least" said Ron
"No" replied Torden " we lost control over it the moment we stepped in"
Ron was confused, from inside the houses broke out the rest of the bandit group, but it was stupid of them to do so
"Now it is our chance, What ever is left of the houses may work as a shield" Torden said
"Scatter in groups through out the village, use the sturdiest of the walls as protection" shouted Ron at his group of men
By the time the riders group managed to reach the walls the majority of Ron's me have long since disappeared, who ever couldn't do so is now nothing but a corpse
The enemy line chose to try and break through the houses, failure after another, they suffered severe injuries
A sound of a horn, a screeching one was heard through out the village, the bandits fled the village, they circled it from the outside making it into a cage
"Do they think this can work as a siege? With their low numbers?"
"They lost the only advantage they had" said Lord Torden just to hear another scream from the horn
Behind the sand hills came forth the real force they had, Black sheep heads were drawn on their banners, they had 4 rams in total each coming from a corner
"This is no normal plunder; this is a straight up war declaration from the black sheep" said Ron
"We can't win a battle of his calibre with what we have" said Lord Torden, he knew the walls wouldn't stand a chance
"We can't, but we can buy time, they must have been noticed by some scouts with these numbers, all we need is time and we might survive" said Ron, he wore a mask if confidence in front his men
From behind the bandit lines stepped a man with a sheep's skull for a helmet
"We wish you no harm more then what you suffered, if you are just to hand over the high born within your walls, you shall be left untouched, alongside whatever you held, food, water, or weaponry" he said
Torden was nervous, he stared around him in fear, but to his surprise, none even glanced his way, no whispers, no sudden movements, only hands tight on what ever handles they had
Ron looked at him and said "what? You think of us as traitors? Your death will only bring us more loss then whatever ours would
"Help is on the way, slaughter every sheep before they take the credit" Ron said
These men were not afraid, no stress, no regrets, they seemed calm and sturdy, awaiting the orders
"Then death it is" said the men with the sheep skull, they marched with their heavy weaponry towards the village's walls
The falling bricks turned the shields these men believed unbreakable into their very grave, many were crushed under the pressure, friend or foe,
The house plan was abandoned as it became a free for all
Torden managed to strike down someone from their horse, he rushed towards one of the rams seeing his side focusing on it, and with help they managed to burn it, another was crushed under the pressure a fallen tower
Torden began to smile, he felt big, strong, smart, everything he couldn't wish to feel back home, the black sheep commander had his target clear, charging towards Torden he struck him down from his horse, Torden covered in blood he did not distinguish from his own was barley able to stand up
The black sheep skull man charged on top of his horse once more, just to have another colliding with him
Ron used his horse as a weapon buying time for Torden to regain conscious
He dragged Torden with him towards the nearest roof that haven't fell yet, as they entered trying to close it off, shadows of men covered them, not many could enter the house at once, but just enough to be a threat
Strike after strike, Torden saw his knights escorts fall while trying to cave a path in hopes of getting him out, they fought the numbers that wouldn't end, although it was mostly fair 1 on 1 fights, but doing it for a long period managed to get the better of them
He looked at Ron, sword shattered from the continuous pressure sword shatter to pieces, while a skull broke his skull open, Ron's death wasn't meaningless, the numbers inside went low enough for Torden to handle, the rest from the outside seemed busy enough
"There is still hop" Torden whispered to himself before he heard another horn scream, it was more of a hard whistle, new banners with hawk head were surrounded the camp, Torden was alone, staring out the window he saw one of them he use a hawk's skull
The new men came towards his house, he was tired, eyes did not ever glance at Ron's body, they stared the new men who faced them
"He had such a bright future" said the man looking down on Ron's body
He looked up at Torden, covered in blood, mud, his armour bend inside from the amount of strikes it we through
"No need to fret my lord, we are here to help"
Said the man
Torden fell cold on the ground as people rushed to help him.
He woke up the next day as his injuries were stitched, he over heard a conversation of the man that told him to rest last time in the house talk
"So, you couldn't find him? The desert is not our region to track him down," said the man
He cane inside handing Torden a box, " here are the journals"
"And??" said a guard in a cell questioning Torden while another held down a pen and a paper
By their back a knight with a big shield stood like a mountain, he had a little Sigel of gold and silver with a shield sign over it attached to his chest plate
"We gave them their part of the deal" replied Torden
"Thanks for your hard work we will be sure to tell his highness about your achievements" said the guard before sending Torden away in a carriage across a green fields