Ghis (closed)

"I will fight them all long before you even know it's happening. My grandfather will probably know before either of us and quietly take care of it himself. You have other things to focus on right now. I'll worry about what's waiting for us back home for now. You can join me when we finish with Alba."

Kate looked over at him, her green gaze unreadable for a moment before she cracked a small grin. "Did you just take over the kingdom? Are you invoking your right as Lord Protector? I don't think that's how it works exactly, but I will try my hardest not to think of things back in Edinburgh while we are tracking Alba down."

"I haven't taken over, but I will if need be," Kell warned with a small smile of his own.

The small army continued on toward the River Tweed crossing for a full day, and it was the next morning after two hours' march that they found the large stone bridge that would lead to Foulden. As regiments were allowed to cross one by one so not to overload the structure with crowding, a horseman came galloping from the direction of Foulden. Kell, beside Kate as they awaited the reformation of the army, looked out toward the new arrival. "... It's Ashien."

Ashien came barreling past the regiments toward Kate, his horse snorting and panting as he pulled up, turning in circles and shaking its head after the long run. Ashien dismounted to let it recover, removing his helmet. "Kate. Foulden's got Alba trapped, and his army is about to lay siege to the gates to get him out."

"Does he have the troops he needs for that?" Kate asked, readying to send some of her own men as fast as possible to help with the siege. "Take as many as you need and send them that direction. Once the rest reform, we will head that way as well."

"Foulden can stand for a while with their defenses, but I need cavalry and archers most to attack from behind. And I need a fresh horse." Ashien turned to look over the gathering forces, and Kell dismounted from his horse.

"Take mine, I'll get the word around," Kell told him before handing him the reins and hurrying off toward a few gathered officers. Soon, the infantry had stepped back and allowed the cavalry and archers to cross first, and Ashien gathered a few regiments of each and got horses for the archers to hurry their travel.

"When you arrive, if we haven't cleared the south gate, focus there," Ashien instructed Kate. "They might be at some of the others, but last I was there, they were focusing in the south."

"We will end this as quickly as possible." Kate said with a nod at her uncle as he told her where to focus her forces. "It's time that we bring him in like the dog that he is."

"Agreed. He's caused enough concern and damage on both sides of the border to warrant a very public execution, if not worse." Ashien climbed up on Kell's horse and gave Kate a nod. "I'll see you there, love." He rode off toward a banner-carrier and borrowed their flag, rallying the gathering forces to himself before they all charged off northward. The rest of the army completed the crossing and got in order before the major force began its march anew, Kell now riding Ashien's horse so it could cool down from its constant galloping.

Kate demanded that her troops ride hard. She knew she was pushing them beyond what they were probably ready for, but it was important to get this finished as quickly as possible. She would deal with the complaints from their commanders later, when this was all laid to rest.

The army made good time across the tree-dotted hills toward Foulden, though Kate's officers had to make her slow down or else the men would be too exhausted to fight on arrival. As Foulden itself came into view beyond a stand of trees, so too did a mercenary army of well over five-hundred men, far more than Kate had previously been told. And in the middle of it all, Ashien's force was surrounded.

"They must've been hidden," Kell growled, "and lured Ashien into attacking thinking there were only a couple hundred."

"Get the archers ready. We'll rain arrows upon them until we thin out their ranks." Kate said, looking over at Kell. "Tell them to aim for those on the outsides first to preserve our men trapped in the center. Get the horsemen ready as well."

Kell nodded, quickly shelling out orders to his runners and nearby officers until a shield wall moved forward with archers behind. The enemy was still unaware of the coming English and Scottish force, or else they hadn't had time to react yet. Lines and lines of English longbowmen took aim, the warriors deadly to even knights and heavily-armored shock troops. Kell directed them personally into position and as it seemed the enemy's flank was turning to face them, he roared the order to fire and the air was filled with the sound of strings snapping forward, and hundreds of arrows flying high into the air in an arc before raining down on the mercenary army. It was a deadly strike, dropping lines of unprepared men in a half-circle and thinning the division between Ashien's surrounded cavalry and Kate's army.

"Again!" Kell roared, his fur bristling with adrenaline as their enemies began to raise shields and a wide line began to form up to advance on Kate's forces. "Fire at will! Cavalry, form up to charge and rally back! We need to break their shield wall!"

Kate watched the battle from the back of her horse, listening to Kell gave orders to each of the different groups on her behalf. Kell was full of energy, his black fur standing on end as they all sought to get the upper hand in the situation.

"Flank on the left. Find Alba alive if possible." Kate said in a calm voice, keeping her cool as she let others fight this battle. "If he slips away again, I will have someone's head."

"Yes, ma'am," an officer behind her responded, racing to gather his own battalion of cavalry and footmen for the flanking as Kell's men formed the central strike force. As their enemies finally formed up with shields, Kell galloped down the cavalry line.

"Lances at the ready!" He roared, lifting a blade high to signal those who might not be able to hear him. He wouldn't charge with them, as he wasn't a heavily-armored lancer, but he had a handful of leaders at the front. "Captains! On my mark!" Officers echoed the orders through the ranks until Kell reached the end of the cavalry line and his blade swept in an arc toward the enemy. "Charge!"

The thunder of hooves was deafening as around two-hundred lancers took off across the open field, lances held high until they got close to drop down and smash through the enemy shields. With no pikemen to speak of, all the enemy had were their shields and scattered spike defenses that were easily avoided. Kell drew his own horse back as the line took off, trailed by waves of footmen to back them up after the charge shattered the enemy vanguard. The sounds of armor and hooves echoed all around even as they drew further away, and Kate saw firsthand the unbridled destruction a good cavalry regiment could cause as they smashed through lines and lines of mercenaries, some making it all the way into the center to rally with Ashien's group. With a clear hole torn in the mercenary ranks, the English and Scottish footmen rushed in and shield-bearers began pushing the opening further and further. Within minutes, Ashien's group was trickling out, retreating out of exhaustion and wounds, and within twenty, the center was secure and the mercenaries were being held, even pushed back in places, stuck between the army and the wall of Foulden.

Several horses came Kate and Kell's way, all officers with wounded men slung over their saddles. One, marked as an English cavalry lieutenant, came riding with Ashien on the saddle behind him. Kate's uncle was wounded, a spear gouge in his left thigh and a leather strap tied around it with bandages to staunch the blood flow, but he was awake and alert, though clenching his jaw and cradling his shield arm to his stomach.

Two soldiers helped Ashien down and supported him as Ashien faced Kate with a grim smile. "Thank you, love... They were smarter than I gave them credit for... Or just very lucky."

"Whatever they are, it won't last long." Kate promised her uncle as he came off the saddle and was barely able to stand on his own. "And you won't last long either without seeing a doctor. I will escort you personally if I need to."

She was serious when it came to her family's health. She would hold Ashien down herself if she needed to in order for him to be treated.

"This time, love... I won't argue with you. After Inverness fell and your mother saved us, I learned not to be so stubborn, if only for Dylan's sake, and now for my children." Ashien gave her a kind smile, but before he was escorted away, he reminded her amidst the chaos, "I'm proud of you, little Kitten. Your mother will be too when she hears about the great good you're doing. And Brogan.... Well, you're all he talks about lately. His little girl, protecting her people and enacting justice. I half expect him to write a book about you." With one more smile, he was escorted away to a triage tent for treatment.

Kate watched him go with schooled features, but she could feel pride welling in her chest. She knew that she still had a task to take care of and wouldn't allow it to detour her.

"Status!" Kate called out to her aide, glancing over at her squire as he stood at the ready in case she needed her weapons. "Do we know where Alba is?"

Michael was boldly facing forward at the ready, watching the battle with a stoicism and determination of a man three times his age, taking scout reports for Kate and standing ready to bring her anything he needed. "No, ma'am," he answered quickly. "But Lord Ashien's brigade is certain Alba's still somewhere inside the city and the Lord of Foulden is pursuing him with the entire available city guard while our forces fight the mercenaries. If Alba escapes, our scouts are all around the walls. He will be seen, if not caught immediately, and he will be alone except for bodyguards."

Kate made it over to her horse, glancing from her squire towards the city itself. "Perhaps we should join the hunt. More eyes, fresh from a fight, might see something that the others have missed."

Pulling herself into the saddle, she looked over at Michael and then behind her should for Qira. "Shall we?"

Michael nodded, climbing up on his own horse. Qira, close behind despite still recovering from his injuries, nodded as well from the back of his own horse. "Lead on," he murmured in Erygonian. "He'll flee north or east to find a ship if he's smart."

"We will simply have to make sure that he doesn't make it that far." Kate said as if things were so cut and dry as that. "Or make it difficult for him to do that. If he reaches the sea, he will be as good as gone and no amount of chase will bring him back."

"Either way, he will no longer be a thorn in Scotland's side," Qira muttered. "But plenty of people would prefer his head on a pike in service to justice."

The three set out with a small guard, appearing to be a scouting party rather than the Scottish Queen's royal guard, circling around to the northeast for a vantage point atop a hill. They crossed paths with several other scouts who reported only fleeing merchants and civilians, but no one matching a description of Alba or any of his known guardsmen.

"He's too clever to disguise himself as a merchant or a citizen." Kate said, looking over at Qira. "Another scout, however. That might be what we are overlooking."

"Maybe. If he could get hold of an Invernessian uniform, he could be anywhere." Qira turned to her small retinue and sent off one of the guards back to the frontline, telling him to relay this realization to the officers and have them look over their own regiments for soldiers they didn't recognize.

They were just reaching the top of the northeastern hill when a great bell began to ring inside Foulden, coming from the tower of a small cathedral. Normally such bells were used to sound the dawn, call folk to mass, or warn of fire. The signal being given was that of emergency, when the ringer took a hammer to double the tolling.

Qira pulled his horse to a halt to listen and look over Foulden, seeing no major smoke rising or any evidence that the gate had fallen. "He's still in the city," Qira decided. "And he's done something."

Kate turned her horse around at the sound of the tolling, looking over the town as Qira mentioned that he was still there. She didn't think about it at all as she spurred her horse on, riding hard for the town to see what the commotion was about.

The guard was close on her heels, charging toward the east gate. It wasn't being attacked, but it was heavily guarded and closed. Archers atop the walls drew their bows, but hesitated as one of Kate's men revealed their banner, letting it unfurl in the gallop up the hill.

The gate and portcullis opened just far enough for an officer to emerge and face them. "Halt!" He called, "Identify yourselves!"