Rise of the Horde

Chapter 214: Chapter 21

Baron Husani stood his ground with his decision and remain as firm as a rock upon it no matter how many times his fellow Lord tried to convince him to continue with the orders given to them. Lord Masud kept on stressing upon the prestige, fame, and fortune that they will be bestowed upon if they will be successful with the task at hand to which Baron Husani just snorted as he continued on giving orders to those under him to break camp and start their journey back.

Seeing that his attempts were futile, Lord Masud unsheathed his blade and pointed it toward Lord Husani. “You give me no choice! As a noble of Ereia, I find your actions and words harmful to our kingdom and is an act of treason by so many means. I! As a noble bestowed with the rank of a Baron arrests you on behalf of the Royal Family.” Baron Masud stated as he held his blade firmly with his hands with displeasure and disappointment plastered all over his face.

The actions and words of his fellow Lord made Baron Husani break into laughter as he held his stomach in due to how preposterous his fellow Lord was doing and saying right now. “You!? Arrests me!? For Treason!?” he questioned as he pointed his finger right at the face of Baron Masud.

“Look around you! Open your eyes wide and look! Do you still see any resemblance of an army with the people that we are leading? Comparing the numbers of those who were with us when we set out and now, see the problem! Our numbers have been whittled down a lot already, our supplies are almost entirely gone and more importantly, the morale of the soldiers is at the bottom of the abyss that not even words of assurance and promises of wealth and prestige can lift it! Have you gone blind due to the many nights that you spent rolling around with your slut that you can’t see the truth! The defeat of this army is inevitable!” Baron Husani raged on as he spewed saliva from his mouth which unceremoniously showered his fellow noble with no regard for his nobility nor thus he see the blade that was pointed at him at the moment.

“Are you done with all your nonsense?” Baron Masud asked as his face twitched in displeasure. And right on cue, soldiers loyal to him started surrounding the Lord Husani with their weapons pointed at them. He soon sheathed his blade as he walked forward towards those who were under his fellow Baron with full confidence. Lord Masud knew that he had more of his own men still around after the many disastrous defeats that Baron Husani suffered to seek vengeance for the slight that had been done to him by their enemies. The soldiers of both nobles were at a standoff while the rest of the soldiers who were mixed with them stared at the spectacle that was ongoing with confused expressions as they don’t know what was going on. The only thing in their mind was how to survive as they didn’t care about who was leading them as long as they can live to see another day.

“By the power bestowed upon me by the King of Ereia, I hereby confirm that Baron Husani conspired with our enemies and tried to sabotage this expedition that was tasked to us by none but the Prince himself. His Highness personally gave us the command and I am shocked and confused as much as you are for the truth that we have been with a traitor for so long. If you stand with the traitor, the punishment will be death and it will be done swiftly while those who surrender will be given leniency and be given the chance to redeem themselves through their efforts in the continuation of this campaign.” Baron Masud spoke out with a loud voice with full confidence as his most loyal guards finished off the personal guards of Baron Husani since they were clearly outnumbered and taken by surprise by the sudden accusations as they aren’t in their full gear.

“This is madness!” Baron Husani shouted as his hands were bounded by ropes while he gritted his teeth to endure the pain from the wound that he suffered on his right shoulder which took away most of his fighting prowess.

.....

“Madness? Maybe yes... But unlike you who are blessed and have more prestige in the Royal Court because of the wealth of your family that has been amassed by your ancestors, I have been left with just a few. Maybe after this expedition is done, I might be bestowed with your territory and your corpse would be long rotten feasted upon by the maggots as I basked in all the glory that will be showered upon me.” Baron Masud smiled as he finished his words.

Upon hearing the words of his fellow noble, Baron Husani can’t help it but show a look of pity at his fellow Baron . As Lord Masud became suspicious of the look that Lord Husani gave him, sounds of fighting echoed from all over the place as soldiers wearing white bands on their arms or weapons stormed through the blockade that was established by the soldiers of Baron Masud.

As the new faction from the camp of the Ereians emerged, a new standoff was then set as a huge ball of flesh made his way to the front of the newly arrived faction as they made their presence known to all those who were present. Besides the obviously huge flesh of a person stood a very opposite image of him as he was tall and thin and with his skin complexion, he really does look like a burnt bamboo.

“We should also be allowed to decide what we want to do with our lives. You, nobles get the best of everything after this nonsense but what do we the normal soldiers get, almost nothing but we were the ones risking our lives the most. And most of all you get all the food, I mean look at me! I have slimmed down a lot because you are hogging all the supplies for yourselves even if you obviously don’t need them.” Badz words were certainly true as he spoke on behalf of all the normal soldiers but his last words somewhat threw off those present as his words which sounded all serious and showed compassion for those soldiers like him quickly turned into a joke or more so like just a rant.

Siroh beside him coughed out as to break the awkwardness of the situation as he stared directly at the two nobles and whatever remained of their soldiers. Baron Masud still had enough soldiers to quell the rebellion that he had on his hands but he knew that his personal army will suffer a huge blow if he engages the newly sprouted rebels and by the looks of their numbers, they slightly have the upper hand. His personal soldiers might have the edge over the rebels when it came down to fighting prowess but with their sheer number alone, they will deal a lot of casualties, and judging by the look of the soldiers who remained neutral during the conflict, they leaned more on to the side of the rebels.

Heaving a sigh of helplessness, Baron Masud focused his gaze upon the two almost perfect opposites standing in front of the rebelling soldiers who were most likely the leaders. “State your terms! But I will not tolerate anything that is beyond possible nor give what is more than necessary,” he spoke with a tone of defeat.

The huge ball of flesh jumped up in glee after the Baron spoke his words. They can now make their demands as long as it isn’t over the line then the Baron would have to agree for them to have a truce or else a bloody fight will ensue. Badz was about to speak when Siroh quickly covered his mouth and told him that he will be the one to negotiate. “But I have thought of my terms already.” Badz protested to which Siroh just shook his head.

“Let me guess, it has something to do with food or along the line of food supplies only, right?” Siroh stared down at him with all seriousness to which Badz just responded with a sheepish smile as he scratched the back of his head as his comrade hit the nail on the head. But after a few moments, he finally realized the blunder that he almost committed.

“See, that’s why I should do the talking. And I can squeeze out more benefits from them. Go and rally the rest of our comrades and seek the others who still haven’t made a decision.” Siroh whispered his last words to his comrade as he walked toward the Barons with full confidence. He knew by the look on the face of Baron Masud that he can’t afford to deal with a rebellion with how the state of things is. His great ambition will be his downfall he thought inside his head.

“Why don’t we do this the proper way,” he suggested as he eyed the soldiers of the Baron who were still on the edge after the event that just transpired.

“Very well...Tell your fellow rebels to stand down and let’s talk this out” Baron Masud replied as he ordered his soldiers to stand down and prepare a proper setup for the negotiation to take place.

“We will be waiting...” Siroh departed with these words as he turned around and made his way back to his allies.

“That’s it!” Badz questioned with suspicion with how fast the negotiation happened.

“Not at all... I asked them to conduct the negotiation properly. Let’s wait for them to prepare things up first and perhaps you could eat to your heart’s content upon the negotiation table.” Siroh replied as he smiled confidently.