There was no telling when the battle was going to happen, so after they got their weapons, Zaos decided to call the recruits outside and tell them in which places they would be before the real thing started. Before saying anything, Zaos looked at them and noticed that they were quite nervous, but they still wanted to fight. That was more than he could ask for.

"My name is Zaos, and I am the Captain of the Bloody Knights," Zaos said. "I am not much older than any of you, but the commander gave me the order and the privilege to be your commander. We don't have much time here, so I would like to cut to the chase: which one of you doesn't want to follow my commands no matter what?"

  The recruits frowned because they thought that they didn't have a choice in the matter. The idea of the following who was someone just a few years older seemed madness, but many of them changed their minds when they saw Zaos' soldiers behind him. They sure looked tough, and the vast majority was older than him. Not to mention, there wasn't any sign of dissatisfaction among them. Zaos nodded to himself in satisfaction when he saw the recruits that were ready to fight, despite the many deserters, it seemed that those young ones despite their lack of training could become a fearsome force.

"I will ask again, which one of you don't want to follow my command? You can step forward without having to suffer any punishment. After all, we are tasked with one of the most difficult orders in this battlefield," Zaos said. "My unit already killed two of the enemies' commanders, but the other two will be hard to kill, so it will be understandable if you want to step aside now."

  Zaos waited for a while, but not a single soul decided to step forward. In the end, it was a bit too late to change their minds. Although most of the recruits thought that Zaos's reputation was exaggerated since he was a noble, he wouldn't be the first noble that will have the power to command them… if they survive that battle.

"All right, this is what each one of you will do…" Zaos said and then began his explanation.

----- -----

  While they still had all the advantages on their side, Luvon and Camus decided to use their best cards without reservation since there was no telling what might happen now that Zaos was on the side, and he bought some time for the soldiers in the western base to recover. The siege weapons will only arrive in the morning, but they decided to attack two hours after midnight. Most of their mercenaries rested after dinner for a couple of hours. Still, the soldiers inside the base were forced to alert. So, they had the power to decide the rhythm of the battle.

  The mercenaries found some soldiers on the field and caught many of them by surprise. Thanks to their horses as well, even with just a few hundred riders, they cut through the soldiers' lines like they were made of butter. The idea was to attack several of those small attacks and make the soldiers get tense. Still, something of the night, but something strange happened even before the reinforcements inside the base could come. The enemies' horsemen began to fall dead, and no one could understand why. Thanks to the darkness of the night, even the soldiers couldn't see the battlefield well. Brien had planned to light up the battlefield with fire arrows, but the enemies hadn't gotten close to the base yet.

  After a while, the captain of that unit realized that his mercenaries had arrows in their heads… he couldn't see any soldier on the side of the battlefield. So, it was evident that they were hidden in the darkness, still, to think that they could have that precision without even seeing their bows and arrows…

"Retreat!" The mercenary captain shouted.

  It wasn't much, but the captain had killed more enemies than mercenaries that he had lost. Besides, he had the important task of passing the information of what happened. Once he found Luvon and Camus, he told them what happened.

"You say that suddenly, a small unit of elite snipers flanked your group and forced you to retreat?" Luvon frowned. "Snipers, in the darkness?"

"Yes, sir," The mercenary captain said.

  Luvon and Camus wondered how the enemy could have decent archers that could be used even at night. While they lost a lot of men to some archers in Toules town, it was because they were using the walls in their favor.

"Sir, if I have the backup of another unit, I can wipe them out," The captain's mercenary said. "They won't be a problem again, I assure you."

  Camus rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Using that type of confident hot-headed mercenary was too easy. Still, should he let the captain attack again? The first strike should have put the soldiers in the base on alert. While that was the plan, to begin with, Camus couldn't help but hesitate. The enemy couldn't see their approach until the sound of the wind revealed the position of their horses, but the inverse could also be said. Not to mention, he heard reports that Zaos and his unit were outside the base, and they were the only ones that could have attacked.

"All right, you can take two units with you and wipe out the snipers," Camus said. "Don't think of retreating again unless you kill all of them."

"Yes, sir!" The mercenary said.

  After the captain left, Camus looked at Luvon, and then he nodded. The more experienced mercenary gave the order to one of his mercenaries to follow those units behind and focus on watching the whole battle. It was a risky plan, but they had to make sacrifices because they didn't like the idea that the enemy was using some strange tactics on them.