“Do not let pride lead you astray,

For while it might promise glory,

And words woven as a bard’s story,

More than one had found their end that way.” - Poem by Nialem Baghery, poet from Posuin, circa 402 VA.

“You look rather confident and relaxed, for the stakes on hand, Captain Edelstein,” commented Ze’phane the next day.

It was nearing noon, and two dozen youths representing councilor de Kars and the Free Lances were already assembled at different ends of an area of the ruins between the sixth and seventh wall of Levain. Reinhardt – along with many others from the Free Lances – were watching from atop the seventh wall, where Ze’phane and some of the militia leaders had joined them.

Across from them, the councilors were gathered atop the sixth wall where they waited for the designated time, along with other officers from the militia. The rest of the walls’ walkways were quite crowded as many of the militiamen not on duty also came to watch the spectacle. There were at least a few thousand of them on the walkways, more than enough witnesses to ensure that the result of the duel was not something either side could back out from.

“Why should I be worried?” asked Reinhardt back at the half-orc.

“Well, it is your own daughter down there about to fight, no? In a fight with no holds barred, no less,” replied Ze’phane with some surprise on her features. “Are you not worried about her well-being?”

“One thing you must consider, Miss Ze’phane,” said Reinhardt calmly. “Is that in this situation, Erycea is acting as a platoon leader and representative of my mercenary company, not as my daughter. The girl had worked all her life to gain such a position at her age, through her own hard work and effort. It’s the least I can do to trust her to do the job I have assigned to her.”

“Besides, this fight is one that has been horribly stacked to our favor, anyway,” he added with a toothy smirk on his face. “Have you taken a look at the team Erycea brought with her?”

The two teams were at the moment situated at their “base” camps on opposite sides of the crudely defined duel area, which encompassed a section of the ruins between the walls. While the walls had a slight curvature to it, the two base camps’ location were known to both parties, due to the tall flag that was set in each. On the council’s suggestion, the duel adopted an approach closer to a tactical exercise.

Whichever team captured their opponent’s flag or wiped out the opposition first would be the winner.

Erycea had brought most of her platoon’s core members with her, with only Vlad and Ayrie absent, as they were past the age limitations and thus ineligible to join the fight. Instead, she brought three other members she trusted from amongst the younger ones. Her whole group looked like a mish-mash of disparate outfits and equipment at a glance, only unified by the white-on-black depiction of the Free Lances’ emblem they wore on a strip of cloth tied to their left upper arm.

In contrast, the group of twelve young knights councilor de Kars had gathered looked almost as if they were all cut from the same cloth, with identical armor – chainmail over gambeson along with plates that covered their chests, forearms, and shins – topped with a skullcap. The only one that had a difference was the youth Reinhardt thought was likely their leader, who had several plumes decorating the top of his cap.

Moments later, the sun reached the highest spot in the sky, and the militia officer in charge of signaling the start of the duel – a fire mage who used to be a blacksmith before the civil war erupted – gave the signal in a brilliant burst of fire that erupted in mid-air between the two sides.

Both sides started moving right afterwards, and the difference was quite clear right from the start.

Erycea’s group immediately split into four groups, with three of them immediately concealing themselves near the flag itself, in preparation to ambush whoever made their way there. Tasha and Vera dropped to all fours and split off to the sides. Despite their prodigious size – the twins were already nearly two and a half meters tall these days – they were capable of moving in deceptively sneaky and quiet manners, and their sharp noses allowed them to scout ahead of the team in a way that few others can.

As for Erycea herself, she took Gustav, Aurora, Rhiannon, Llewelyn, Valeria, and Beth with her as they headed straight for the enemy base, albeit at a measured pace, making sure that they did not outrun their own scouts. They made use of the cover provided by the ruined buildings as they moved stealthily through the area, keeping their eyes and ears open for unexpected foes.

Their wariness was superfluous in this case, however, as while Erycea’s team had set off the moment the signal was given, their opponents were still giving instructions to the team at that moment, and they only sent out eight of their members – in two teams of eight – minutes later. By the time they set off, Erycea’s team had already reached the middle of the ruins and began to set up ambushes.

She had split her nine people into three groups of three instead. She herself, along with Valeria and Gustav, continued to head towards the enemy’s base. As for the rest, Tasha was with Rhiannon and Llewelyn on one side, while Vera had Aurora and Beth with her on the opposite side. Reinhardt had given her the task to win this duel in a dominating fashion, and she planned to do just that.

Completely wiping out the opposition without giving them a chance to fight back all with fewer people should do the trick.

To that purpose, she had Tasha and Vera prepare ambushes for the teams that their enemy would likely send towards their base. If the team was too large, then the two would gather and launch an ambush together, but if they found the numbers manageable, then each was to take out whoever they ran into on their own, all while Erycea’s own group headed for the enemy base to take out the defenders there.