On the way one of my bards came to my army. He was out of breath. He said “Herch hired a new mercenary force, Black bears. They have 250 men and they are right in front of us.” I said to him “Tell me more about them.” He said “They are known for their horsemen 100 of them are horsemen, they are a rather expensive force, Herch probably took all the loans he can for hiring them.” I felt bad. I didn’t have a good counter against cavalry. My only option was hiding behind spear walls and using arrows to lure them in, but if they had bought cavalry and numbers on their side. I decided to leave Gloria to her destiny, run away and start to wage a guerilla war. But my plans cut short. The Bard was late. Hundred horseman with lances at hand on flat terrain just charged to goblins from their flank. They were in disarray. I ordered my troops to run toward the nearest hill. We run like crazy. Gezek was crying in anguish but I had nothing to do. He used the shadow step all around. Taking down horsemen left and right but they were many. Goblins were most vulnerable with their tiny size against horses in this flat terrain. Soon the critters just scattered. And Gezek was against someone with abilities. He electrified his sword and used it in inhuman speed. Soon outnumbered Gezek was no more. I was happy he was dead, in the end even if I won I needed to deal with him eventually. Probably he thinks about me the same way. But this problem was over. Maybe my end is near too.

On the hill top I looked at the gathering army. They lost around 20 men which made them 230 men. They had guys with powers too. They mostly had leather armor and weapons similar quality to my men. But they were both much more experienced and twice as numerous as us. I looked down. I felt desperate. First I held a white handkerchief and I was going to try to buy them out. If that doesn’t work I would try a break for it. And run away. I said to myself ‘You think you are so mighty. And now you see your place, you peasant.’ I tried something I can’t pull off. Herch had many resources and the game was over for me.

A terrifying guy with black hair, beard and wearing a west made out of black bear hide come out. He was the guy who killed Gezek. He said to me “I am Brad of the black bears the leader. introduce yourself” I said “I am Hank, the sword of god Altus ”He smirked “Not many is idiotic enough to lie about working for a god. But you did that kid. I know for a fact you are not working for Altus, and I also know for a fact the only reason Altus didn’t curse you is that he enjoys the thousands of new worshipers you bring to him. Not just your man but all of the villagers around started to worship him. How I know this you might ask, I am a priest of Altus.” I felt defeated once again. I said “I have money, if you let us go I pay you.” He said “We have a reputation boy, if we were a kind of band who changed sides for some money nobody trusted us. Also the Herch guy was extremely desperate. He paid us a ridiculous amount already.” I said “How? How someone as useless as him finds this much money, lenders must know he can’t pay back.” Brad scratched his beard and said “Truth to be told not my problem. First time in my entire life I got paid this much. And he paid all of it beforehand.” I returned to the hilltop.

Brad knew what he was doing. He encircled the small hill. Splitting his man half and half so they waited us out for in turns. I asked my men, we had ten days’ worth of food with us. He wasn’t stupid enough to assault on a hill. So he was going to wait for us until we ran out of food. Also his man carried large shields when waiting us out so irritating them with arrows wasn’t an option too.

I decided to wait. Maybe, just maybe Gloria might win the battle. And that would have saved us.