“The Die is Cast, and Fate foretold,

Only God knows, what the Future holds,

One can Struggle, against Destiny Rage,

Yet All shall play their role on Stage.” - “The Die is Cast”, poem by pre-historic philosopher and shaman Undrus of the Glenhallow Tribe.

In just about any mercenary contract that involved combat, it was almost certain that extra bounty clauses would be added, targeting either officers or nobles, or items of strategic importance. The bounties given to the Free Lances for their capture of many nobles in Theodinaz was an example of this clause at work, but it was naturally not limited to just people.

Siege engines, food stores, stables, and other items of military significance also tend to have bounties attached to them, with some less scrupulous employers placing bounties on villages to be sacked and the like as well. How detailed such bounties might get depended entirely on the mercenary commander and their employer’s negotiations, and their familiarity with such contracts.

Duke Sandoval Utghwes of Dvergarder proved to be an employer who was very familiar with such clauses and had listed a very comprehensive list of things applicable for bounty claims in the contracts he signed. Amongst them, siege engines were even divided into several categories each with their own bounties.

Large siege engines like the trebuchet used by the Bostvans were in the highest category, worth a good fifteen gold a piece, and there were a good dozen of them on the field. Totaled and put together, it made for a very generous sum indeed.

The trebuchets had already begun to work. Reinhardt noticed from his perch atop a large tree branch that their ammunition seemed to be magically produced by a couple of earth mages, who gouged out chunks of soil and compacted them to a rock-hard consistency. Probably the only way they could get ammunition, since large rocks were very rare in the plains near the fort.

Those transmuted rocks were apparently porous, as he saw how the Bostvans soaked them with oil and set them alight just before they hurled them with the siege engines. They struck against the walls of Fort Kuzi - often shattering on impact - and the makeshift earthen ramparts both, with far greater effect on the latter. Some of the rocks even struck behind the ramparts and likely killed some soldiers directly.

Reinhardt had not struck right away. Instead, he waited for a while more. After a couple hours of combat, the footsoldiers of the Bostvans were mostly engaged in earnest with the defense lines, while their backlines, where their squares of archers and siege engines fired away, was lightly defended. With how the frontlines were brawling in melee, they were confident that the defenders would not be able to send out a foray to strike at their rear.

They had not accounted for the Free Lances in the woods at their flank.

Over the last couple of hours, Reinhardt had quietly positioned his Company closer to the forest’s edge, still far enough in that those outside were unlikely to notice their presence, but close enough to quickly close the distance to the Bostvan’s backline. Most of the company, a full six hundred or so, including Soledad’s cavalry, were prepared for a charge, while their one hundred and fifty archers under Salicia’s lead were standing on platforms or perched on large branches higher up on the trees.

Finally, Reinhardt decided that it was time. The last “fresh” batch of footsoldiers near the southern end of the Bostvan’s formation had just been rotated to the frontlines, and he chose to strike when they were halfway there.

The Free Lances made no noise as they skulked through the forest as quietly as they could, until one of them noticed an enemy soldier pointing their way while gesticulating to his comrades. At that point, Reinhardt blew a whistle, and many things happened all at once.

Mercenary shieldbearers of all races - what was left from Mischka’s group of shieldbearers from Theodinaz, now reinforced by new recruits that passed the size qualifications like Zyd and others - rushed out from the forest with a surprising burst of speed, given their prodigious size. At the same time, a rain of arrows flew from the forest as the archers fired away at best speed.

Within the minute it took for the mercenaries to cross the remaining distance from the moment of their discovery, Salicia sniped out a dozen commanders who tried to turn their soldiers to face the incoming threat in a more orderly manner. Their sudden demise threw those same soldiers into disarray, as some turned while others stood confused.

Needless to say, confused soldiers in haphazard formation stood no chance whatsoever when struck by the moving shieldwall that had so much force behind them it would have blown even cavalrymen away. The core of shieldbearers led the charge as they simply pushed away everything before them, while other mercenaries covered their flanks as they charged.

The Free Lances broke through and shattered the defending footsoldiers without much difficulty and soon passed through their formation. Several squares of Bostvan archers - easily several times their numbers - and the siege engines lay before them.

One of the archer commanders, the one whose square of archers were the nearest to the Free Lances, noticed their approach, and had just shouted to gain the attention of his men when an arrow pierced through his right ear and out from the other side, killing the man instantly. All his archers saw when they turned to face him was the sight of their commander toppling over from his horse, with an arrow through his head the way children often used gag arrows to joke around.

They were completely unprepared when the majority of the mercenaries pivoted and turned their way, Soledad’s Cavalry leading the charge. The cavalrymen had not charged into the archer formation and risked getting bogged down, but instead struck a slashing attack against the southern side of the formation, which was followed by the mercenary foot soldiers as they barreled into and through the archer formation. The archers were poorly suited for close combat and collapsed like a house of cards before the onslaught.

At the same time, a smaller detachment, led by Reinhardt himself along with many of the elites of the company, rushed towards the siege engines, even as the soldiers that operated them and the mages stationed there turned to meet their charge.