Chapter 58: Invasion.
While Lee didn't care about the empire, he shared the farmer's sentiment. It would be tragic if the two armies clashed, no matter what the reasons were. This time the emperor's arrival was a blessing.
Lee didn't know, but the regular soldiers in the valley also heaved a sigh of relief. While most of them followed their generals for years, and would fight to the death on command, the cause of the confrontation, the treacherous assassination of Mark Hardwood, didn't make any sense. And no matter how angry and despaired the old Hardwood was, even he intuitively knew it.
That was the reason for the lengthy negotiations, and that was the reason why the emperor managed to arrive on time, along with his cavalry regiment, and symbolically split the armies, ending the confrontation.
Neither side was going to attack the cavalry since all of them were the part of the imperial army, especially with the emperor present.
What the armies below didn't notice, but what didn't escape the eyes of the onlookers, were the strange ripples on one of the hills, right across the one Lee and the two old farmers were standing on. At first it seemed as if the view in front of them was a vertical reflection of a water surface and someone threw a rock in it.
And then another at the exact same spot, and then another. And then a long vertical tear appeared, splitting the top of the hill in halves at first, and widened right after that, transforming into a dark-purple square-shaped hole.
At that moment everyone in the valley noticed the phenomenon, and speechlessly stared at it. But before any heated discussions began, a swarm of people rushed out from the hole and directly charged at the army below.
A quick thought this is how you attack! passed though Lees mind, but he immediately clenched his fists at the following sigh. From the distance he couldn't see what the invaders looked like, but when the wave hit the imperial army, pillars of fire shot to the sky, erasing lives of hundreds of soldiers in an instant.
"Heavens!" The farmer's wife exclaimed, while the old man slapped himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.