Fredrick’s army were scattered throughout the forest for more a flexible and large area of operations, but it also meant it would be harder in sending in reinforcements if one were to be attacked, especially if the attack was on nighttime, misunderstanding and friendly fire would be rampant.

At one of their bases, a small group of knights camped, hiding, resting and eating, preparing themselves for the second round that was about to come tomorrow, it was better to fight on a full stomach many said. And they let guard down as their king, Fredrick, calculated that their enemy won’t send in a wave in the middle of the night, he was a brilliant strategist so they trusted his choice.

“Eat up! Today’s dish… carrot soup!”

The knights ate their rations, sitting beside each other and resting, not knowing the threat that was about to come from above them.

“What do you think? Will we be heroes once we die.”

A young knight asked an older knight, to which the older knight laughed.

“Hahahah, did you become a knight just to be a praised as a hero?”

The older knight asked the young one, to which he hesitated but responded with an honest answer.

“Yes, being the son of a farming family, I want to at least give a name for myself, or my family.”

The Older knight stopped and started talking in a more serious tone, first he sighed and looked back at the young knight.

“Look, if you want to make a name for yourself then return home… in battle no one will know or remember your name to even erect a statue or tell your tale, that is, if you return home now, tell the stories, your experience in a battle that would decide the fate of an entire kingdom and its people.”

The young knight, went silent and continued in eating his carrot soup, obviously lost in his thought.

“Hey, you there, send this letter to the commander behind us.”

The older knight commanded another knight ang gave him a letter, obviously meaning to relay a command.

“Yes, Yes understood.”

The knight soon ran to the other positions, leaving only a handful of knights on their position. To which most laid their guard down and rested.

“Sir, I’ll be right back, I need to hit the bush first.”

The younger knight asked his senior, to which he nodded in his head, permitting him to do his thing, the young knight then left the group and headed to a tree quite far away from the camp.

In his head, he hummed a song that his father had sang him before, ‘the hero returns home’. A song that was engraved on the young knight’s heart. He took his call of nature and looked at the dark forest, to which he noticed something strange at the nearby grassy ground, after finishing his call of nature he walked closer to the object and inspected it, as he got closer he immediately stumbled on the ground.

In his mind he thought, that it was just a branch but when he looked at the ‘branch’ more closely, it wasn’t a branch but an arm, a bloodied and sliced arm.

“Wha-“

In shock he pushed himself backward to where he stumbled on another object that blocked his path, he looked back closely and to his shock it wasn’t a rock but a body of a fallen knight, their comrade to be exact, due to his shock he immediately ran towards his camp and to warn his comrades who were still resting.

As he ran through the dark forest, little did he know he was being followed atop the trees, as a man in a dark cloak with daggers strapped on his waist and chest, via a belt, followed him, preparing to attack him, he took a dagger from his strap on his chest, and held it on his hand.

The man then jumped on the young knight forcing him to be pinned on the ground, the man, a ‘silent killer’ didn’t talked or his breathing was heard, he only wanted to kill the young knight, silently and quickly, but the young knight fought back, he stopped the dagger that was about to pierce his neck by pushing it onto the ground, that when the young knight released his grip on the man’s dagger, the dagger, instead of piercing the young knight’s neck, pierced the ground.

The young knight, proceeded to punch the man’s face repeatedly, until he finally got the advantage, the young knight took the dagger from the man’s waist strap, and stabbed his chest repeatedly, the man’s blood splattered on the young knight’s light armor, to which the young knight almost puked.

The young knight had killed a dozen enemy knights, but when killing somebody that didn’t wear the enemy armor or armed with a sword was just like killing somebody that wasn’t even part of the war.

With this on his thoughts he stopped his puking, and took a few daggers on the man’s chest and waist strap and ran to his camp. As he ran to his camp, they were still resting and eating, he immediately reported to them what happened, with the blood on his armor as proof.

As the knights heard the news, they stood up and took their swords, to where their enemies engaged them before reaching their swords, the group of black attired men was seen in front of their faces and attacked them with haste, the young knight didn’t escape and was also engaged in combat, but thanks to the daggers he took from the man he killed earlier, he was armed. He then stabbed the black attired man at his torso and immediately took another dagger, stabbing another enemy on his heel making him fall on the ground where he, with a powerful downwards slash, deeply lacerated the enemy’s neck.

He then yelled.

“Enemies! Enemies! We’re being attacked! We need reinforcements!”

His voice echoed through the densely packed forest, reaching more of his allied camps and immediately prepared themselves, for the midnight skirmish that was already happening. As others heard his cry for help, other voices then screamed and shouted in different parts of the dense forest, saying the same thing.

“They were being attacked.”

***

Their voices were heard throughout the forest, making other camps send in reinforcements and becoming more vigilant.

“Your highness, the enemy, they attacked us.”

A knight commander reported to Fredrick who was at the far back of the army, to which he placed his hand at his mouth, covering the lower part of his face.

He had no choice but to abandon the forest, it was obvious that the attack had been happening since earlier, there just wasn’t anyone who reported it.

“Order the retreat, the night still isn’t over, tell every single unit to exit the forest and regroup at the other side.”

Fredrick ordered the knight commander to which he bowed and left the command tent. Leaving Fredrick alone inside the tent, thinking about his mistake and miscalculation.

***

Meanwhile, at the other end of the forest, Julian had already prepared his forces, they formed their ranks and were prepared to pushed through forest. Julian led the charge as he was at the front and center of his army.

On horseback, he looked at his soldiers, and raised his hand, which clenched itself into a fist, but this time he didn’t wear his decorated glove, meaning he was prepared to get dirty on what was about to happen.

“Today! Is the day we will crush the traitors once and for all!”

He then pulled his horse’s reins and looked at the forest, before shouting.

“Charge! Don’t let a single one of those traitor’s bodies return to their homes, this forest is the place where they will be buried!”

To which his army replied with a yell and started their march to the forest, in a massive line they were to kill anybody as long as they pledged allegiance to Fredrick’s faction.

Julian, also insulted Fredrick’s faction calling them 'traitors', as he had now controlled the entire kingdom by this time and Fredrick’s faction were nothing more than a rebellion against his newly controlled kingdom.

“Haaa, Victory tastes good… right brother?”