“To go into battle without knowing anything about the enemy is but mere folly.” - Saying attributed to Xaliburnus the Conqueror, First Emperor of the Elmaiya Empire.

“Reporting, ma’am,” said Rózsa as she shifted back to her usual form from that of a large wildcat. The half-elf remained one of the better scouts in the Free Lances along with her sister Lili, who kept watch nearer the edge of the forest. “We noticed a couple scout detachments of the enemy. They are probably searching for a route through the forests, from the pattern of their search.”

“Understood. Keep a close eye on them but stay out of sight,” replied Nicole with a nod. Ever since her aunt Dacia retired from active duty shortly after the Theodinaz Conflict, Nicole had pretty much been groomed to be the new leader for the scouts of the company, a role she found herself settling into before long. Despite her young age, none of the more senior scouts really minded. Most scouts were loners who were ill-suited for command, and they felt Nicole would do the job better than they would.

Out of the forces arrayed on the field this time, the Free Lances probably had the most comprehensive detachment of scouts. Between Hannah for long-distance general scouting and Soledad’s newly joined cavalry for more regular scouting over good terrain, they had their own old crew of scouts who excelled at working in difficult terrain, especially woodlands, and Fatimah’s group as well on top of that.

While the members of the former Nightstalkers Company were most accustomed to working in cities and villages rather in the wild, most of them were skilled and well-suited for scouting in the wilderness. The small company was unlike most mercenary companies in Alcidea, which tend to focus more on direct combat, and were mostly more covert operatives, sneaks and assassins rather than warriors and brawlers.

The woman herself was perched on a branch not far from where Nicole was seated, in their small, covert forward base in the middle of the forest. The forested terrain made it difficult for more conventional armies to move outside the roads and pathways, which means her scouts pretty much had free reign over the forests.

They were located to the south-west of Fort Kuzi, a rather small fort which had been the frontline for the current conflict, where the defenders from Jonkver had held on against a numerically superior force of Bostvan’s. There were two such forts built in western Jonkver, with fort Kazka to the north and Fort Kuzi to the south, supposedly to serve as a second line of defense should enemies from the east break through the fort city itself, but in practice more a defensive measure against their own fellow nobles further west.

When they heard of the arrival of reinforcements, the invaders from Bostvan’s side had withdrawn to their base, half a day’s march from the fort, to reassert the situation. Nicole had heard that the force of the Centrals that besieged fort Kazka further north was more aggressive, and had directly clashed with the reinforcements from Algenverr. The Silver Eagles and the Spears of Ostvin had both been sent northwards to aid them as well.

The main force of the reinforcements from Dvergarder - led by the Duke’s own eldest daughter and heir along with three senior knight-captains - were camped just behind Fort Kuzi, together with the Janissaries and the Free Lances. Once they arrived, Reinhardt had proactively sent forth their scouts to scour the vicinity, with Soledad’s detachment along with Hannah scouting towards the north-west, where the terrain had more grasslands and plains.

Nicole’s and Fatimah’s detachments were instead tasked to map out the forested region to the south of the main roads, a task they were well suited for. The forest itself was dense enough that moving an army through it would be a chore at best, but just the sort that the Lances themselves preferred, the sort they could set up ambushes from with ease. Last Nicole heard the main force of the Company was also headed their way, to set up camp in the forest as well.

“Report from Arthesh Hassan Al-Khaleed, Shahzade,” said a scout of Fatimah’s as he reported to her around an hour later. The small group from the south still tend to use titles in their language to refer to each other, and rarely mingled with others, but given their exemplary performance, none of the rest thought it to be much of an issue. “We discovered two groups of enemy scouts attempting to make their way through the forest.”

The way the southerners dressed made them look distinct to the rest of the company, with how all of them - men and women alike - were covered from head to toe in their clothing, their faces masked with only their eyes exposed. That said, Nicole had to admit that the striped dark brown fabric they wore for this mission allowed them to blend particularly well with the forest around them.

“And what became of them?” asked Fatimah as the woman leapt down lightly from the branch she used as a seat, a good couple meters above the ground. The southern woman was not much taller than Nicole, likely slighter in build, judging from what she could tell, but clearly just as fit and skilled as her group was.

“They now feed the beasts,” replied the man all too nonchalantly. With the way they dressed, it was hard to tell one of the Nightstalkers from another, since they all dressed the same way and even carried the same weapons - A short, one-handed spear slung over their backs, with a curved dagger and an oddly shaped short sword with a forward-curved blade slung from their belts - to the point that it seemed only the Therians of the Company can tell them apart easily from their scent. “We had also removed the remains deeper into the forest to remove suspicion.”

“Well done,” replied Fatimah with a slight, almost imperceptible nod of her head. Her detachment was sent along with Nicole’s mostly as security, in charge of eliminating enemies they inadvertently ran into, so the scouts could focus on their job. “Relay my praise to Arthesh Al-Khaleed, and keep up the good work.”

The Nightstalker bowed deeply to Fatimah at her words, muttering a phrase in their language that Nicole often heard, probably some sort of ritualized words of parting, she thought. Then the man just seemed to vanish into the woods even while she kept a close eye on him.