Chapter 19: One Mess, Two Roads, Sand Thieves
In a few moments, the Kent coalition forces had already surrounded the Deadhead Valley, and even the upper ends of the surrounding higher hills were firmly occupied by warriors with torches.
"Sue Lord Sù Rosser, Sir Hasis and Sir Robben, and lead the men of the headquarters to rush into the valley at once! Others, etc., followed up with me. Lord Herring stayed outside the valley and kept a close guard! Viscount Salk looked at the guillotine valley in the darkness ahead and ordered in a loud voice.
"Yes, sir!" Immediately, the herald conveyed the viscount's order.
"Hart, let's go!" Lord Rosser, who received the order to attack, roared, then jerked the reins and rushed out first.
"Yes, Father!" As Rosser's eldest son, Hart, who was only twenty years old, was already a fifth-level knight and stepped into the ranks of middle-level warriors.
As Lord Rosser's father and son and their cavalry were activated, Sir Hasis and Sir Robben's men and horses followed closely behind, rushing into the mouth of the Valley of the Deadheads.
"Hamilton, why is this place called Guillotine Valley?" Seeing a fire dragon in the distance rushing towards him with teeth and claws, Moriarty asked the knight beside him in a low voice.
"It's because ......"
"It's because hundreds of heads once 'clanged' here." Hamilton had just spoken, when suddenly Viscount Salk on the other side had spoken.
After speaking, without waiting for Moriarty to speak again, the viscount kicked the spur and rode forward slowly.
And as the viscount advanced, the entire team of the aristocratic coalition army also mobilized together, following the smoke and dust raised by Rosser and other horses, and slowly entered the valley.
Seeing that it was no longer possible to gossip, Moriarty did not have a deep chat with Hamilton and rode up together.
By the time Viscount Salk and Moriarty and the others really entered the Guillotine Valley, the three noble forward generals such as Lord Rosser had already swept the Guillotine Valley carefully. But there was nothing left but the broken and mutilated corpses and the scattered pieces on the ground.
"Lord Rosser, how's it going?" Viscount Salk sat on his mount, his sharp eyes slowly scanning the valley through the observation hole in the black iron armor.
"Report to the Viscount that no thieves have been found in the Valley of the Guillotine, nor have Sir Royanta been seen. Nothing but fifty stripped corpses. "As an old and spicy soldier, Lord Rosser's words are simple, clear, and coherent.
"Yes, that's to be expected." The Viscount nodded at Rosser and said in a deep voice.
"Lord Rosser, are you saying that there are only fifty stripped corpses left in the valley?" At this time, Moriarty asked from the back left of the viscount.
"Yes, Sir Ensberg." Rosser replied in the affirmative, without any disdain for Moriarty's young age and lack of seniority.
"No missing weapons, flags, or dead horses?" Moriarty frowned and asked again.
"Not at all, even the bones of the horses that died in battle were mostly dismembered and taken away. The hateful thieves were like a swarm of locusts, taking away what a qiē was able to take. For this, the corpses of our fighters were even desecrated by Yan zhòng. This time, Sir Hasis on the other side replied.
"Can you see where the thieves are going?" Viscount Salk looked around the valley again, only to see one after another Chiro's corpses being carried out from all over the place by the soldiers. Apparently, some of them were the family guards of the Royanta family, while others were the corpses of thieves covered in dirt and with hideous faces.
"It's a gang of habitual bandits, and when they retreated, they moved cleanly, leaving almost no traces." Lord Rosser shook his head regretfully.
"Oh my God, behold, this is the Knight of McMara!" Suddenly, a nobleman on the other side of the crowd shouted. …,
Moriarty immediately followed the direction of the voice and stared at it, and saw a tall corpse with a severed hand and foot, and the entire head almost attached to the skin of the body, carefully lifted out of the pile by the coalition soldiers, and laid flat on the ground. And like the other corpses, this corpse is also unobscuredly exposed.
"Is he?" Moriarty did not recognize the body.
"He is McMara, a seventh-level knight who is a vassal of the Royanta family, and he is very powerful. He... It's a pity..."Although the relationship between Ensberg and Royanta was not good, Moriarty could clearly feel the anger growing in Hamilton's tone.
For knights, it is a matter of duty to fight and die for the king, and there is no need for too much sadness or sighing. However, compared to life, the dignity of a knight cannot be trampled on and desecrated at will, regardless of life or death. And the fact that the thieves killed McMara and then stripped him of his body was the real reason for the anger of the nobles present, especially Hamilton and others, who were also knights.
"Lord Viscount, go after it!"
"Yes, you can't just let that herd of animals go unpunished."
"I'm going to hang all those thieves with my own hands!"
With a clean felt cloth lightly draped over Macmara's corpse, some of the young noble warriors could no longer bear to gather around Viscount Salk, and swarmed to ask for battle.
"What are you yelling about? What a system! Don't give me silence yet! "There was no need for the viscount to speak, Lord Rosser had already roared and drunk these completely hot-headed noble sons away.
Seeing Lord Rosser's anger, and then aiming at the cold gaze from Viscount Salk behind him, the crowd that was churning like boiling water just now suddenly fell silent.
"Humph! This place is a battlefield, and if anyone dares to talk nonsense again, military law will be conducted. Glancing coldly at the young nobles who had begun to retreat, the viscount snorted lightly, and his words were full of the sound of gold and iron clashing.
"Yes, Lord Viscount!" Under the huge pressure of the old man, no one dared to trespass anymore, and they all bowed down and quickly retreated.
"What do you think now, Heim?" Retracting his gaze, Viscount Salk turned his head to look at Lord Rosser.
"Viscount, to tell you the truth, we have lost track of the thieves. If there is to be an immediate pursuit, we will have to divide our forces. Lord Rosser looked at the darkness in the distance and said.
"Yes." The Viscount nodded.
"From the Valley of the Broken Head, there are only three roads that are suitable for fast traffic. One is our way of coming, to Windsor Castle. In order not to collide with us head-on, the thieves will definitely not choose this path. Lord Rosser continued.
"Not bad." The Viscount agreed.
"And the other two roads, one to the southeast and one to the southwest. So, if we are to continue to pursue these thieves, we must split our team into two and attack separately. Lord Rotherer said.
"However, in this way, our forces are scattered. In the event of an encounter with those thieves, we will not have an overwhelming advantage, and the casualties will likely be heavy. At this time, Sir Robben, who had not spoken for a long time, said worriedly.
"Definitely. Judging from the situation in Guillotine Valley, this group of thieves is very powerful, otherwise they would never have been able to kill the knight of McMara so easily. Sir Hashers, one of the strikers, also said that he was the first to discover McMara's body and examined it carefully: "I have checked, and the fatal wounds of McMara's knight are three stab wounds to the left hand, left leg and neck. Among them, the hands and legs were cut off with a knife, and the armor was broken, but the incision on his neck seemed to be the perpetrator's deliberate retraction, and the line was deliberately left without all being cut off. ”
"Hmph, sand thief!" Hearing this, Viscount Salk suddenly snorted coldly. …,
"Viscount, you mean?" Hearing the old man suddenly spit out the word "sand thief", the other nobles, including Sir Hashide and Sir Robben, were startled.
"Decades have passed, and I didn't expect to encounter these bed bugs that like to roll in the sand again in the county today." On the other hand, Lord Rosser had a similar expression to the Viscount, with a murderous aura in his indifference.
"Sand pirates are indigenous warriors who live in the vast desert in the southeast of the continent. These people make a living of plundering and are thirsty for killing. He is accustomed to using a scimitar and a small shield, and is good at riding and has a strong attack. Beside Moriarty, Hamilton explained in a deep voice.
"I remember that thirty years ago, the eastern and southern counties of the kingdom, including our Kent county, jointly sent troops into the desert to strangle the sand bandits." Moriarty nodded, then remembered a certain piece of writing he had seen in his father's study.
"Yes, but the joint operation was not very effective. The harsh climate of the desert is very intriguing to the kingdom's army, but the traces of the main force of the sand pirates are always erratic. So, after a few tentative engagements, the coalition forces withdrew. Hamilton seemed familiar with the battle.
"Lord Viscount, are you saying that these thieves who have invaded our county to do evil are all sand thieves?" At this time, a nobleman asked nervously.
Sand pirates are known to be extremely mobile. If a group of sand thieves of dozens of people did enter Kent, it would be more difficult to deal with than ordinary thieves of hundreds of people, and the damage it would cause would be much more terrifying.
"It's not a group of sand thieves, at most it's just one or two lone sand thieves. Otherwise, Luo Yanta's guards would have been cut into a pile of pieces of meat long ago, how could they still have a whole corpse like now. Lord Rosser shook his head, as if dissatisfied with the inexplicable panic of his own camp.
"A few sand thieves won't make the difference." The viscount also said lightly.
"However, Ser Hashas said that the knight of McMara was killed by the sand thieves." Although it seems that neither Viscount Salk nor Lord Rosser is interested in the existence of the sand pirates, there are still nobles who are cautious to step forward.
"That's because the thieves relied on their numerical superiority to stumble the McMara Knights, so that a certain sand thief got a chance to take advantage of it. As you can see, at least more than ten thieves have died under the sword of the McMara Knight. Seeing that this somewhat cowardly question was about to anger the old man again, Moriarty suddenly spoke.
"Yes! Yes! When Moriarty said this, the questioner who also reacted immediately echoed and retreated, while secretly giving Moriarty a grateful look.
"Humph!" Seeing Moriarty speak, Viscount Salk didn't say anything more, but waved his hand and let the small nobles around him retreat. At the same time, the herald summoned Lord Herring.