Spring has arrived, bringing a warm and mellow wind from the south. Although it is not as warm as the king city in the south, where you can wear short-sleeved clothes, the north area will soon become warmer.
The snow and ice on the mountains were melting rapidly, and the rivers galloped down the ridges.
On the flat ground below the mountain, the land that had been barren due to the heavy snow in winter turned green at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the green grass shoots emerged from the ground in just a few days, covering the ground.
The increasingly lush green grass makes the warm spring breeze seem to wear a little grassy breath.
Spring in the Northland is beautiful, but over the years, the Aaron Landis of the Northland have no time to appreciate the beauty around them.
Because almost every spring, the Geshus of the north will attack Aaron Landis southward, plundering food and supplies from the north.
In the spring of the Northland, you can't smell the breath of grass and the direction of flowers. On this land, you can only see the wolf smoke of war and smell the breath of blood.
This year, the war in the Northland is even worse than in previous years.
But not because of the Geshus, but because of another invader, Gastade.
On the ground, the sound of horse hooves sounded, urgent and overwhelming, as if the ground shook with the sound of the hooves.
I don't know how many times, the cavalry on both sides launched a charge.
The horses are galloping, and the momentum is like a rainbow.
In this wilderness, the cavalry in black and red leather armor and the cavalry in white armor collided heavily.
The tens of thousands of cavalrymen were quickly entangled together, densely packed, as if dark clouds covered the sky.
The Gastadian cavalry wielded a machete and slashed down at the enemy.
The Aaron Landis cavalry raised the dazzling spear in his hand and stabbed the enemy's chest forward with all his might.
The war horses were neighing, and the horses' hooves were trampling on the young grass, crushing the greenness into the dark mud.
Either the Aaron Landis cavalry fell to the ground with its body split open, or the Gasthard with its chest pierced fell to the ground.
Among the galloping war horses, no one can stand up again, and the moment they fall from the horse, the whole person will be trampled into blood by the running horse's hooves.
On the battlefield where you are dead or I am dead, everyone's face is full of hideousness.
They forgot everything, and the only thing they remembered in their blood-filled minds was to ruthlessly kill all the enemies they saw!
The sound of fighting resounded through the earth, and it continued for a whole day. Until the sun went down, the horns of retreating troops sounded on both sides, and everyone slowly retreated.
The corpses that were left on the ground were piled up on the battlefield, telling the cruelty and tragicness of the war.
The sky was still very bright, and under the bright sunlight, the corpses of countless stumps and broken arms looked even more hideous and terrifying.
Coupled with the fermenting of the warmth of rejuvenation, the corpses piled up here quickly rotted, and the smell fermented and spread in all directions.
Countless flies buzzed around the corpse, and voles burrowed through the corpse.
More and more vultures in the sky were attracted by the rotting corpses. When humans left the battlefield, they fell from the sky and gnawed at the rotting flesh and blood.
The soldiers who were still alive watched from a distance as the corpse of their comrade was eaten by vultures and wild rats, and they couldn't help feeling sad.
Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after, they will also become one of those corpses, devoured by vulture beasts.
However, it was only Gasdard's army whose morale began to drop due to such a mournful mood.
Unlike the Gasdadians who would only drag the surviving soldiers back, the Aaron Landis would send logistical troops to the battlefield after each battle to find comatose survivors and restrain Aaron Land. The corpse of the Dis.
The mercenaries led by Kerry were incorporated into the logistics army.
They would bring back the bodies of their fallen comrades, then dig a pit at the foot of the mountain not far away, and bury the corpses of their comrades in the ground.
When the soldiers of the logistics army were carrying the corpses of their companions, no one in the Gasdad army attacked them, but silently watched them gather the corpses of their companions on the battlefield.
…
It was already the eighth day of the head-to-head confrontation between the Aaron Landis army and the Gasdard army, and the two sides were still evenly matched.
Although each has losses, no one can overwhelm the other.
Although the veteran Kaleni is not good at surprise attacks, he is a stable general. Not only does he arrange his camp to be airtight, but even the battlefield attack is steady and steady.
He is just a muscle, and you can do whatever you want. Anyway, I will stand still, I just ignore you and only fight head-to-head with you.
Kareni's mindless approach made Tyre, who was trying to use various tricks, seductions, provocations, or sneak attacks to no avail, lost his temper, and couldn't help but curse in private. .
Since the last night attack, Cayhors arranged for the more than 100 rangers to take turns in charge of the task of monitoring the enemy's military camp at night.
With the ability of those rangers and their sensitivity to movement, they could lurk very close to the Gasdad camp and monitor their movements.
Because of these rangers, the Gasthards attempted two night raids without success, and even some daring rangers went in at night and killed one or two small Gasthard leaders.
Unlike the Aaron Landis, who had good morale, the atmosphere in Gasdad's army gradually became unstable.
Among the 140,000 troops of Gasdad, there were only 60,000 troops belonging to the Gasdad's main formation, and the rest were soldiers from other countries, such as Canal, Hida, Aaron Landis, etc. Formed mixed army.
These people have been treated differently.
Because of their fear of the Gasthards, and having nowhere to go as betrayal descendants, they had been able to endure it before.
But now, due to lack of food and grass, the soldiers' food has begun to be reduced, from the original three meals a day to two meals a day.
In fact, this is barely acceptable, but the key point is that not only did the soldiers of the army who had surrendered from other countries become two meals, but even the meals for each meal were cut in half, which was worse than the soldiers of the Gasdade Front. Many are barely able to feed themselves every day.
They were starving and had to be the vanguard in every battle, and were forced to rush to the front line.
Therefore, the casualties of the mixed army are naturally much greater than that of the army of the Gasdad.
As a result, even though the soldiers of the mixed army, who took their lives in front of the soldiers of the Gastadian army but were not hungry, were still in awe of the Gastadians, their dissatisfaction was growing day by day.
In addition, there was a panic that began to spread in the army, only to be suppressed by force.
Not only the soldiers, but also the generals of other countries who were not Gasthards gradually became emotional.
Contradictions gradually began to breed in the army of Gasdad.
In the camp, a middle-aged General Gastade was frowning and reporting to Tyr, who was sitting in the upper position, about the food and forage in the camp.
Although there was a little worry in his eyes, he still seemed very calm and reported to Tyr calmly.
"His Royal Highness, our food and grass can only last for ten more days at most. Even if the soldiers' rations are cut again, they can only last for a few more days."
"At the same time, if the rations continue to be cut, it will be difficult to maintain the physical strength and combat effectiveness of the soldiers."
After the general finished speaking, suddenly a person who was obviously not a general hurried in.
He didn't have the composure of the middle-aged general, with a flustered expression on his face, he saluted Tyr nervously.
"How's it going?"
Tyre looked at him and asked.
The man approached, lowered his voice, and said what only a few people here could barely hear.
"I can't control it..."
With just one word, the middle-aged general's expression changed abruptly.
The man continued to whisper: "His Royal Highness, please make your plans early."
Tyr sat on the chair, the yellow fire reflected on his silver-white armor, and the fine silver threads scattered in the corners of his long and narrow eyes.
The handsome face was as cold as frost, and the thin lip line was extremely sharp, giving people a colder feeling.
Gently, little by little, the fingers of his right hand tapped the armrest of the seat.
The knuckles of the fingers look like they are carved from bone.
There seemed to be a deep mist churning in the depths of his pupils, which settled down little by little, immersed in the deepest depths.
His eyes seemed to have a violent wind and snow raging, revealing ruthlessness.
Tyre didn't speak, but obviously he made a decision at this moment.
No one knows yet what decision he made.
But at this moment, if someone met his gaze, he would definitely feel cold all over his body.
The man must have felt that he saw the so-called hell in a man's eyes.
"Starting tomorrow, stop reducing rations and return to the usual supply."
"At the same time, pass my order, get ready, and withdraw the entire army to the country of Kanal."
After a little pause, he said,
"Let... stay behind."
…
…
It was late at night, and after visiting the wounded soldiers, Garlan returned to his camp accompanied by the follower Tarr.
"Speaking of which, Your Highness, I'm a little curious. Why did you guess that the Gasdads would come to the North?"
"Because to the east is the desert."
"what?"
"It's very hot in the desert. It's not bad in winter. It will get very hot as soon as spring starts, even hotter than the royal city."
"??"
"Tyr's purpose is different from that of the Yithians and the Geshus. It's not to grab a handful and leave. He wants to occupy Aaron Landis, which is a long time, so he has to let Gasth Dade's soldiers were able to maintain combat effectiveness for a long time."
"???"
The little fat man was dumbfounded.
"Prince, I don't understand."
"Tal, what will happen if you go to the desert for a run against the sun now?"
"… will die."
You will die of dehydration.
Don't say run a circle, don't even want to move.
"You grew up in the royal city like this, not to mention those Gasdadians."
"???"
So, prince, is there any connection between what you said later and what you said earlier about the reason why the Gasdadians came to the North
Tar was still confused.
Looking at Tar's chubby face with a dazed look, Garlan smiled and didn't continue to explain. He just waved his hand and let the little fat man full of question marks go back to rest, while he got into the tent.
Um? Sinyas isn't there
Because of the attack on the camp that night, everyone was nervous about his safety, and then unanimously decided to let Sinyas sleep with him in a tent to protect him at night.
Garlan walked into the tent, took off his cloak, and hung it on the wooden frame on the side.
Although it was spring, the night was still a little cold, so Tarr had to let him put on a cape when he went out just now.
Is Sinyas going out
As he thought, he sat down and picked up the cup on the table.
… and milk again.
Garland snorted in his heart.
And it's still warm. It feels warm when you hold it in your hands, and the warmth is transmitted to the palm of your hand through the cup.
The faint smell of milk made the young man narrow his eyes in a pleasant way.
He raised the milk to his mouth, and suddenly remembered that when he came in just now, the guard in front of the tent reported to him that Kaihos had come, and he seemed a little anxious.
I don't know if there is any urgent need to find him...
and many more.
Just as his lips were about to touch the milk, Garlan's hand paused lightly.
wrong.
Who gave him hot milk
Xinyas was careless, and would not consider such a thing at all.
Tarr was by his side the whole time.
And Kaihos... The guard said that Kaihos came in more than an hour. If it was him, it would be impossible for the milk to be still warm.
There are other people in the camp!
This judgment made Gallan's chest tighten, and his mind quickly turned.
Was it an assassin sent by the Gasthards
Poisoned in milk
Is that person still in the tent now
To be able to touch his tightly guarded tent without a trace, that person's ability must not be underestimated.
The light of the fire swayed on his cheeks, and the boy's hand just paused slightly, then continued to raise it again, opened his lips, and took a shallow sip of milk.
After taking this sip, he didn't seem to like the taste of milk very much, frowned, and put the glass back on the table.
He stretched out, with a laid-back look.
"A little hungry."
He muttered to himself, stood up, and walked towards the entrance of the tent, as if he wanted to ask the guards outside to get him some food.
Probably because he was tired all day, his movements looked lazy, not in a hurry, and walked forward at a leisurely pace.
…
Pretending to take a sip of milk, Garlan seemed to be walking forward lazily at the moment, with no expression on his face, but in fact his chest was already tight.
His ears were raised high, listening intently to any movement in the tent.
He seemed to hang his eyes lazily, but the corner of his eyes swept around indistinctly.
After a few steps, you can reach the door.
Garlan's body has been slowly tense, ready to go.
Just one more step and he rushes out—
Seeing that he has reached the door, the last step is about to fall.
Suddenly, a hand suddenly stretched out from behind him.
A strong arm hugged him tightly, and the other hand tightly covered his mouth.
Garlan's pupils suddenly dilated.
He has already estimated very high the ability of this assassin who can sneak into his tent under heavy siege, but now he feels that he still underestimates the terribleness of the person behind him.
He struggled violently instinctively.
But the arm that held him was terribly strong, like a pincer, making his upper body immobile.
Just when Garlan was shocked and angry, suddenly, a familiar voice came from his ear.
"Don't call."
The extremely familiar voice made Garlan suddenly stunned.
During the period of time he was stunned, the man who hugged him from behind pulled him so easily from the door back to the deepest part of the tent.
In the deepest part of the tent, there was a small space separated by a thick curtain, which could cover up some movement to some extent. That was where Garlan rested at night.
"How will you be here?"
Looking up at the familiar and handsome face in front of him in amazement, Garlan's mind was still a little empty, and he asked subconsciously.
Heimos should be in the royal city by now.
"Wangcheng is very safe now, safer than you are here."
Heimos replied.
Golden red eyes swept across Garlan from top to bottom, focused, deep, and extremely careful, as if a traveler who had been walking in the desert for too long and never touched a bit of water finally saw a pool of clear water .
It's like a child who has finally found a lost beloved, checking over and over again whether there are any scars on the beloved.
"But that also..."
Before Garlan could finish speaking, Heimos suddenly made a move, grabbed his hand, and threw him onto the bed next to him.
Before the two sentences were finished, Garlan was caught off guard by Heimos.
He didn't expect Huymos to make a move at all, he didn't react at all.
He was lying face down on the bed, Heimos' left hand pressed hard on his shoulder.
Then, there was a screeching sound.
A sudden chill came from behind.
Garlan's whole body was suddenly bad, and he even forgot to struggle for a while.
With one hand, he pressed Garlan on the bed, and Heimos tore the clothes on Garlan's back.
The boy's white back was exposed to the air.
The warm yellow light reflected on the slender and beautiful butterfly bones, and the milk-like skin glowed slightly.
No scars.
The skin on the boy's back was smooth, white and tender, and there was no trace of being penetrated by a sharp arrow in his back that he had dreamed of in his dream. Heimos's heart, which had been raised so high, finally let go at this moment.
He breathed a sigh of relief, and naturally, the hand that held Garlan also relaxed.
The next second, Garlan, who felt that his strength was getting lighter, turned around abruptly, ignoring his torn clothes.
Bang it.
The boy whose golden pupils almost burst into flames kicked the defenseless black knight off the bed.