Book 3: Chapter 62: A Field of Corpses
The sounds of battle clamored over the soft but steady footfalls of the Duchess’s three scrivas. Carina tightened her grip on the elemental wolf’s slick snow-white hair as they rounded the bend in the road. Lumi’s claws dug into the hardened dirt surface, jostling the ice witch against his neck as they both took in the two sides of the battlefield.
The Crown Prince’s carriage stood directly before them, surrounded by the twenty royal knights' double-layer shield wall. In the field to the carriage’s right, a grizzly scene of dismembered corpses stretched from the road to the forest tree line and beyond. To the left in the southern field, the towering figure of Beaumont in his blood-spattered armor and purple cloak stood out clearly as he single-handedly cut his way through the ranks of two hundred mercenaries.
‘What is he thinking?!’
The Duchess turned Lumi toward the left field, a row of dual-fanged spears appearing in the air above her as she directed them toward the nearest line of enemy forces with a wave of her hand. The two unforgiven quickly gave chase, tackling the enemy soldiers and ripping off their heads with unhinged savagery. Whatever bravery the Shadow Army had been clinging to until that moment shattered when they turned to find the ice witch and her snarling elementals at their back.
The desperate cry of a bugle sounding a retreat was all it took for the remaining ranks of soldiers to turn tail and run, many of them throwing down their shields, swords, and weapons, either to appear less threatening or lighten the weight on their feet. Unfortunately for the men around Captain Beaumont, this achieved neither as the Marquess’s dragon sword swiped through the back line of fleeing men, cleaving them in two, while a powerful wave of magic cut through the forest, decapitating and dismembering those that had reached its seeming safety.
The green pines, fur, birch, and oak trees within three yards of Beaumont’s attack trembled and toppled with thunderous groans as they yielded before the powerful knight’s fury.
‘What the hell is he if not a witch?’ Carina wondered in silent awe as the Marquess turned, his attention directed towards a group of maybe forty mercenaries who raced toward the river bank, throwing themselves into the strong current as they swam desperately toward the opposite shore.
The ice witch almost felt sorry for the poor mortals, as it appeared not all of them knew how to swim. Those that couldn’t stay above the surface panicked as they grabbed onto their comrades, dragging each other beneath the water as the rain-flooded currents carried them away.