There were two hundred men-at-arms, five knights and fifty archers in this expeditionary force. They marched toward the south of the village. A verdant mountain could be seen and the caves were etched on them. Reitz was leading the march. The bandit raids had been a nuisance and he let his va.s.sals handle most of them but they could not completely eradicate them. He chose to personally lead his men to finish once and for all. The bandits had been plaguing him before Ezra was born, he could not deal with them then because he was summoned by the tribunal.

"These are some pretty smart bandits they attacked just as I was summoned for inquiry and they were pretty coordinated too. Something feels really off. They chose to attack when the domain was without me and my va.s.sals had a hard time with dealing with these bandits. Normally these thugs are small fry. They attacked all at locations where the n.o.bles could not reach them immediately." He thought this as he marched.

"The caves are up ahead Milord, what would be our strategy? Do we engage directly Sire?" Asked Sir Allister.

"We should send some scouting force," Reitz replied.

"I suggest that we send the local guard first since they know the area well. I shall accompany them to gauge the enemies' strength" Captain Ashen suggested.

"So be it." Said as Reitz agreed.

"As you command my liege"

After an hour the village guard accompanied by Sir Allister scouted the area came back and reported that they found some of the bandits hiding in a cave and thus they reported back.

"Report"

"We inspected the caves and we found the bandits at the south west cave. The caves are deep yet wide and some of them lead to the Badlands. The bandits we saw were most probably sentries. We did not sense any knight level bandits. End of report your Lords.h.i.+p. "

"Okay let us send fifty men over, the main force will stay outside. Half of you will engage while ten will fall back and report the back happenings inside the cave." Reitz directed the army.

"Yes milord."

The plan was to surround the cave and send a preliminary force over to fight the bandits if there was a situation the main force would send back up. All proceeded as planned so far. The preliminary detachment was led by two knights. Spellcasters were invaluable in battle. Knights were durable and were trained in quick cast methods to shock the opposition. Even though knights had somewhat a limited number of spells in their roster they had excellent body strength due to their magical prowess and training and stamina some of them were so strong that they were stronger than n.o.ble spellcasters. Common folk could only shudder in fear at knights. Facing a group of common bandits was no problem for the preliminary force that engaged the bandits.

"Doesn't this seem too easy Sir Allister?" asked Reitz.

"What do you mean milord?" Sir Allister replied.

"Something does not make sense, there were thirty bandits that attacked the village and two of them seemed to be knight level according to the boy, Caspian. But the scouts reported no knight level bandits. This was proven by the easily routed enemy as the vanguard had reported." Explained Reitz.

"The boy was could not probably accurately detect the magic capacity milord, or he was lying," Sir Allister responded.

"It is unlikely that he was," Reitz said this with a.s.suredness.

"Those particular bandit captains most probably left th-" Sir Allister responded but he was cut off mid-sentence.

"Or that this isn't the force that attacked the village," Reitz interjected.

Just as the detachment that went into the cave was returning there was a sudden tremor.

"What is that!" Reitz asked

"Earth elementalists!" were the cries from the frontline.

The cave closed abruptly and there was an earthquake in the surrounding area. The forces inside were likely crushed by the force of the closing cave.

"It's a trap! The bandits posted here were most likely cannon fodde-" just as Reitz was about to finish his sentence a huge boulder came cras.h.i.+ng down flattening ten soldiers and injuring plenty more.

"Rally we are under attack" Sir Allister called the men to arms

They could not see from where the attack was coming from clearly this was done by a formidable mage, most likely of n.o.ble birth. Earth elementalists were known for their cast range. Just the setting of the trap alone n.o.bility ranked mages were needed this confirmed the cries.

"F*ck"

"I have three knights with me and I'm the only n.o.ble among the ranks. The ones inside the cave are most probably dead. We are in a difficult position. "Reitz thought.

"Retreat! Rally to me!" Reitz issued the command and used magic to amplify his shout.

Just as they were about to flee. Four masked bandits blocked their position.

"Charge!" Reitz commanded.

As the frontline was approaching the position of the four masked men, a huge wall erupted from the ground. And stones the size of a man's fist burst forth in rapid fire from the wall. The frontline was decimated in seconds. There was no knight leading the charge that could protect the front line with defensive spells. The knight that was supposed to do this task was inside the cave.

"These b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are also n.o.ble rank mages! How many powerful mages do they have?" Reitz exclaimed to his horror. He had no time to ponder why these bandits were such formidable magic users.

"Archers ready your positions aim and fire beyond the earthen barricade!" Sir Allister commanded.

"I need to get to the front so I can protect it. At this rate, we will suffer huge losses. Make way I shall enter the fray" Commanded Reitz.

"I cannot allow that my liege. Our duty is to protect you." Sir Allister said.

"Your duty is to follow my orders knight!" Shouted Reitz angrily

"We need to escort you out, Milord." Sir Allister Insisted.

"Your brethren are being murdered and your concern is to flee?" Snapped Reitz incredulously.

"We need to secure your life milord. Think of your son, Sire" Sir Allister answered

"We have a fighting chance if I cast a defensive spell, but this position is too far away. I can stand my groun-"

Four more figures dashed to their location evading the guards. Their right side was flanked by two mages that made the force focus their attention on them. The majority did not see the four men slipped.

The four quickly disposed of the other guards killing them behind their backs

"These wenches!" Reitz swore under his breath. "Battle formations Blackfyre Guard!"

The guards charged forward to the four men. The guards were equipped with equipment that could deter the magic field of the opponent. These were the elite Guards who were on their way toward knighthood.

While this was happening Reitz was preparing to engage with the two knights beside him.

"Forward!" Reitz shouted.

The three dashed forward with their superior speed. Just as Reitz was about to cast his magic to kill the bandit, he felt a sharp pain in his side. There was a dagger sticking out and blood was dripping to the ground. He looked at the a.s.sailant and to his horror, he gasped. The knight beside him was the one who stabbed him.

"Sir Allister! Why?"