"The Barbarians are attacking!""Form up! Form up! Get in front of the hole in the wall and hold them back!"
"Are you mad? There are only six of us!"
Qin Feng groaned as he saw the soldiers running around like headless chickens. Was this the standard of the Third Army? He had seen young children who could do better than that!
"Sergeants! Form up the soldiers in front of the wall! Three men deep with shields and spears at ready! Prepare to face the enemy!"
Qin Feng whirled to look at Li Changhai. The Second Ducal Prince still looked dusty from the wave of dirt that swept over the area earlier. And his Prince"s head-dress was a little skewed on top of his head. But his face was stern and his command was issued in a steady voice.
So it was no surprise that the men started to form up, just as he said.
Well, the fact that he had two of the Marquis" Bodyguards standing on either side of him, glaring at all of the other soldiers might have helped. Nevertheless, Qin Feng was impressed that he had stepped forward like that.
There were a few of the men who were obviously wounded and unable to fight. So Li Changhai sent them around, to help pick up those that were unconscious, or drag them out of the way. He even managed to send some of those who could still walk off to the armory, to bring more weapons and such.
Qin Feng didn"t know if they would be back in time to meet with the enemy, but the orders that the Prince gave out seemed to calm the rest of the soldiers down.
Li Changhai, on the other hand, had his eyes fixed on the scene that was taking place outside of the gap in the camp"s walls:
There was a horde of Barbarians approaching, with their weapons raised in the air and their screams resounding in Qin Feng"s ears. From their red faces, marked with strange symbols and marks in some sort of bluish dye, it was clear that they were determined to commit violence on the soldiers within.
"If they get inside here, the camp walls would be useless," growled the Prince at his side. His eyes, however, were still focused on the Barbarian warriors as they were before.
Which was enough to hint to Qin Feng that the man beside him was likely to be speaking to himself. If he was even aware that he had said anything.
Then, without another word, the Second Ducal Prince started to run to the broken wall, adroitly avoiding the piles of timber and shattered brick as he made his way towards the enemy. The burly pair that had been commanded to watch over him merely exchanged a glance, before they moved, taking up their positions on either side of the Prince.
And leaving Qin Feng to curse under his breath.
Wasn"t he supposed to stay behind the line, and command the troops from the rear? That was what commanders were supposed to do, wasn"t it? What was he doing, charging to the fore like that?
But since Li Changhai was rushing to meet the Barbarians along with his Bodyguard, what else could he do but to follow after him? But Qin Feng kept his eyes on the people around him, rather than just focusing on the enemy as he ran. He would have to help look after this idiot Ducal Prince, it seemed, to make sure that he didn"t get himself into too much trouble.
Which was probably why he wasn"t paying attention, when the Barbarians collided with the first line of soldiers strung out in front of the gap. By the time that he turned back, the Second Ducal Prince was already sprawled on his back! His two Bodyguards however, were standing over him, and weaving a tight net with their spears above him, keeping him from harm.
Neither of them stopped what they were doing, leaving Qin Feng the only one free to haul the Prince back up onto his feet.
Qin Feng cursed as soon as he saw that the Second Ducal Prince had lost his weapon. That Li Changhai was clearly not practiced in using a sword! He had even dropped it! In a battle, no less! It was clear that he wasn"t at a level where could hold his own against that many Barbarians!
So he jumped forward, and quickly slashed at the neck of the burly bearded Barbarian in front of him, before he could lift his axe again. And jerked the Prince back from the fray by the collar before the rest of the enemy around them could react.
"You clearly have not been using a sword. Not against an axe, at least. How about other weapons? Have you practiced with any others?"
For a moment, Li Changhai looked as though he was in shock, and was unable to answer him. Or rather, it seemed he could not quite understand the question. Then he blinked and nodded at the younger man:
"I have ... trained with a spear and polearms before. Some time ago."
Qin Feng decided that it was good enough and quickly pulled a glaive out of his spatial ring. It was the one that the Barbarian youth, the leader with the scar on his chest, had wielded against him, back in the woods. It seemed the Ducal Prince would have to make do with that for a while, at least.
"There! Use that! Stick to defense if you are not too familiar with it. Leave the killing to those who know what they are doing!"
He was, of course, referring to the pair of large men who were supposed to be watching over the Prince. They looked fully occupied at the moment, fending off the crowd of Barbarians that had just arrived to replace those that had fallen. Li Changhai seemed to steady himself once he saw that. And quickly shouted a command that Qin Feng could make no sense of.
Which was enough to send the soldiers around the two of them into a frenzy, thrusting the weapons in their hands at the charging Barbarians in an almost reckless manner.
Something that he was forced to do as well, since he was positioned right next to the Prince. Trust that idiot Li Changhai to rush into the spot where the fighting was the hottest, Qin Feng muttered to himself under his breath, as he lifted his sword and thrust at the enemies again and again.
Luckily, Lei Kongwei had kept the weapon sharp, and the Barbarians were not clad in any proper armor. That allowed all of Qin Feng"s attacks to slip easily into their torsos and slice their necks smoothly.
Then the crowd seemed to clear. And he had the chance to look down, to see the ten to twelve Barbarians that had fallen by his hand. They looked no different from the group that had died in the woods.
A scream from the Second Ducal Prince drew his attention back to the soldiers around him once again. And Qin Feng"s eyes went wide when he saw that someone new had joined the fight:
He looked much older than most of the Barbarians around him, although it was clear from the way that he was attacking the soldiers that he was on their side. The hair on his head and his beard were heavily peppered with grey, and he wore a robe of deep purple that looked nothing like the rough furs of his allies. He used no weapons, but his fists were covered with gloves of some silver metal.
And more to the point was the fact that he had one of them around the throat of one of the thickly muscled Bodyguards who were protecting the Second Ducal Prince!
Even as Qin Feng looked on in surprise, his gauntlet-covered hand twisted, and snapped the neck of the large Bodyguard! Who barely had the chance to give off a grunt of pain, before the claw-like fingers of the newcomer yanked, tearing the big man"s throat out, and sending his bright red blood spraying all over the chaos before the gap in the wall!
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