Saving the Kingdom with the Knight's Squire

Chapter 4

Rohea and Maes packed their belongings and headed towards Yaklo. They decided that they had had enough excitement for one night that they would not be able to rest, so they might as well cover more ground towards Yaklo.

It took them less than a week before Yaklo was in sight. More precisely, the large number of soldiers camped outside Yaklo were visible. Rohea could tell that the soldiers had been stationed at Yaklo for quite some time, as the campsites looked like they had been erected for weeks.

Rohea rode straight towards the camps, with Maes riding closely behind. The soldiers standing guard at the edge of the camp looked bored, but immediately perked up and stood up straight once he saw Rohea approaching.

"Sir Rohea!" the guard called out. "You're here at last!"

Rohea nodded and replied, "What is your current status?"

"We have been here at Yaklo for some time, and Lieutenant Baiffer has been organizing scouting parties towards the enemy."

"Where is Lieutenant Baiffer?" Rohea asked.

The guard soldier gave Rohea the directions towards the middle of the camp. Rohea and Maes rode quickly, and soon arrived at the command post.

Rohea dismounted and walked calmly inside. Lieutenant Baiffer and two other soldiers were bent over a hand-drawn map. The three soldiers noticed Rohea's entry and looked up.

"Sir Rohea," Baiffer said. "You're back!"

"Indeed, what is our current status?" Rohea asked.

"The enemy is a week's march from Yaklo."

"They're so near?" Rohea exclaimed.

"They have been making steady progress towards us," Baiffer explained. "I have been dispatching scouts daily, and every day the enemy marches closer."

"What of the soldiers at the front lines?" Rohea asked.

"Only a fraction of their forces remain. Each day, the enemy engages them and they pull back further. They desperately need our help," Baiffer stated.

"Why didn't you send troops to support them?"

"Your orders were to wait at Yaklo, Sir Rohea," Baiffer answered, sounding frustrated. "I informed the soldiers at the front lines of our orders, and so they have been steadily pulling back towards us. They seek only to slow the enemy's progress towards Yaklo, not to stop them."

Rohea sighed. "I pray that my delay in arrival will not cause us to lose the war. What has happened to the soldiers who succumbed to the mages' sleeping spells?" Rohea asked.

"We have put them together in one tent. It is the strangest thing," Baiffer said. "They do not eat or drink, and yet they are still alive, somehow. It must be the magic."

"Hmm," Rohea said. "No matter, my squire Maes here will wake them up."

Baiffer looked at Maes and said, "Maes? What can she do that we cannot?"

Rohea explained, "Maes is not only a squire, she is also a healer."

Baiffer gasped. "A healer! She would be most useful here once the battle begins."

Maes blushed and bowed her head down.

"Come, lead us to where the sleeping soldiers are," Rohea ordered.

Baiffer led Rohea and Maes to a small tent on the outskirts of the camp. The solitary tent was placed a distance away from everything else, as if the other soldiers were afraid of catching whatever the sleeping soldiers had.