The first hour or so of the battle proved quite uneventful for Manfred as he and his comrades in the third company found places to conceal themselves both inside and around the swordsmanship academy. Captain Sloan had ordered they strive their best to make their presence entirely unknown, so that in the unfortunate event Innutuk defeated all the Monteraynian forces, they would encounter a terrible surprise upon entering the academy.

That being so, Manfred and five other men sat and waited under cover of a stone barrier on the west side of the property. A cluster of bushes stood in the path between their position and the academy, meaning that if need be, they could sneak their way through and take out passing Innutukians under the green concealment. With their quintet comprised of two archers, a spearman, a man wielding a pole-axe, and Manfred with his longsword, they formed a well-rounded team that complimented one another well.

Occasionally, Manfred peeked out from behind the stone wall to check on the status of the battle. For the longest time, the Monteraynian ranks held, even if progressively disorganized. But by and by, the Innutukian strike teams who tried to flank Captain Sloan's forces got closer to the academy. They always got struck down to the last man, but every time a new team attempted the run, their success increased. Manfred's grip on his sword tightened as time passed.

Finally, the largest Innutukian strike force of all emerged, and the sight of them caused Manfred's heart to deflate. Not merely for their greater numbers; he'd come to expect that. But what pained Manfred was the sight of a familiar face leading the charge—Andre Feliz.

Andre was flanked by a pair of spearmen on either side, with several more behind to take the place of any who fell. Dozens of archers galloped behind them, the tail of the strike force comprised of an array of Innutukian warriors wielding a variety of weapons.

Manfred turned to the man nearest him, the one balancing a pole-axe on his knees. "They're coming. Nobody can stop them in time."

The man turned to see, and upon sighting the mighty force, he gulped visibly. "My goodness, that's a lot of 'em. Archers, see if you can trim down their numbers some."

With a vigorous nod, the blond twins who held bows nocked arrows and loosed them on the incoming Innutukians. Manfred watched the projectiles fly with heavy dread weighing his heart down. Manfred didn't want Andre to get hit, but then again, he was a knight now. He had his mission. If it came down to it, would he be able to perform his duty? Manfred wasn't sure he wanted to know.

One arrow missed. The other bounced off the armor covering a horse's shoulder. All the archers had accomplished was catching Andre's attention. He glanced back at his own archers and directed their attention to where he wanted them to shoot.

Dozens of arrows rained on the quintet of hiding Monteraynians. With short breaths, Manfred scuttled out of harm's way. A sharp cry drew his attention briefly back to the fact his spearman comrade had taken a hit to the leg. The archer twins scurried to find new spots to fire from.

The Innutukian strike force drew closer. While their bowmen prepared for another round, the two Monteraynians fired a pair more of their own. One arrow raced toward Andre's heart, and Manfred tensed. With one efficient stroke of his sword, Andre sliced the projectile's shaft in half, knocking it aside in the process. Manfred felt relief, but wasn't sure how right he was to feel that way.

The second arrow hit its target, but only in the leg. A roar of Innutukian agony rewarded the Monteraynian archer's efforts somewhat, but not nearly the result he'd sought. The enemy thundered on.

Manfred gasped when Andre's horse leapt over the stone wall, landing on the other side with a thud and racing toward the academy. All the others followed, casting shadows over the Monteraynians as their horses cleared the barrier. Many pairs of hooves flew right over their heads. Manfred and his companions cowered in fear of being trampled.

Once the last horseman had cleared, the Monteraynians sprung to action, only to halt when the dozen in the rear of the Innutukian strike force spun back around while their comrades continued toward the academy, including Andre.

Manfred and the others spun to retreat back to the stone wall. His heart leapt at the rhythmic beating of hooves on earth behind them, drawing closer and louder with each passing second. Then a scream pierced the air. He glanced back to see a bloody pulp of a man who had been their spearman. With an arrow in his leg, he'd been unable to keep up.

The remaining Monteraynians scaled the wall and immediately curled up on the ground behind it. Once again, the armored horses passed overhead. Each passing hoof could drop slightly sooner and crush them, a fear that made each man press himself against the wall all the more.

Finally, the last of the twelve had crossed, and now they spun around in the clearing a few yards off. Manfred and the three others rose to their feet. The archer twins fired once more, one hitting the armor on a horse's snout, the other getting a fatal hit in on a horseman's neck. He toppled off his horse with a dying scream.

When the men trotted closer, the Monteraynian with the pole-axe swung. His hammer knocked one horse's snout aside, which didn't bide well for the animal's rider. In the process of fleeing the scene, the horse crushed its rider's leg between its own side and that of another armored equestrian. Wailing out, he tried regaining control to no avail.

Manfred had no time to watch for the man's final fate, as the Innutukians were already upon him and his comrades. As the Monteraynians still stood against the stone wall, their foes dared not advance too quickly so as not to trip their horses. After one more volley of arrows, the archer twins unsheathed shortswords and engaged.

Manfred deflected blow after blow from the mounted warriors who rained cudgel strokes down on him without relenting. Their weapons threw far greater heft his way, but Manfred remained nimble in both weapon and body, and in a matter of a few minutes, he'd dispatched his first two opponents with choice strikes of his longsword.

He glanced to his right briefly and observed the twins had taken one Innutukian down together, and their fourth comrade had beheaded one of his own. Their six remaining foes appeared to have realized their horses weren't helping them with nowhere to safely advance, so they dismounted and engaged on foot.

Manfred's new opponent bashed repeatedly at his longsword with a double-sided axe. Though his well-drilled defense held under the pressure of the heavy weapon, his sword's blade quickly showed signs of stress. Sparks flew upon further poundings from the axe, and bits of Manfred's blade chipped away. The sword flexed in his hands, but in an imbalanced manner.

With one more powerful strike, Manfred's foe shattered his longsword blade. Gasping and stumbling away to avoid a certain death, Manfred glanced about for anything to defend himself with.

His pole-axe wielding comrade called his name, so Manfred's head darted to the right, just in time to see the hefty weapon flying toward his hand. He caught it with a raised eyebrow and put a hand to his mouth when his countryman got ran through with a spear. He'd sacrificed himself so Manfred could have a chance.

Manfred strove not to waste his chance. With a thrust of the spike, he forced his opponent to retreat. In the second he had left, he spun around and beheaded the man who'd murdered his generous comrade. Then he returned his attention to his own foe and dislocated his jaw with a hammer stroke. He pressed forward with the attack, slicing through a leather strap holding the man's breastplate on, and shattering his collarbone in the process. Though Manfred could have let the man slowly die right there, he decided to put him out of his misery with a slit of the throat. A bloody death, but extremely quick.

When Manfred whirled about, he realized only one of his teammates remained, and he fared not so well. The remaining blond twin attempted holding four Innutukians at bay with one shortsword, a difficult feat Manfred marveled he'd managed for even a moment. Nonetheless, he charged in and crippled the nearest Innutukian unawares. Next, a spike through the neck of another.

A hard thump against the bony front of his leg drew a cry to Manfred's lips. He spun around and narrowed his eyes a the man he'd disabled. Still able to swing a club from the ground, the Innutukian hadn't surrendered to his fate. Manfred merely stepped over his next blow and slew him with the axe head.

Manfred's remaining comrade managed a stab in the exposed thigh of one of his two remaining attackers. Roaring in agony, the man only redoubled his efforts and bashed the Monteraynian unconscious. The other Innutukian sealed the deal with a stab to the heart of the prostrated man. Then they both spun to face Manfred.

Hooking the shaft of his opponent's spear in the curve of his axe blade, Manfred wrested it from his grasp and subsequently swatted away an incoming staff attack from the other. While the first Innutukian scrambled to retrieve his spear again, Manfred moved in on the staff wielder. An unpredictable pattern of high and low thrusts confused the man and allowed Manfred to manipulate his movement how he wished.

However, the spearman reclaimed his weapon too quickly and rushed in from Manfred's side. A wild, reflexive swing of the pole-axe knocked the spear point aside just in time. Manfred's return strike with the hammer head only dented the spearman's breastplate, but he did stumble back a ways. Then a blunt impact on his rib reminded Manfred of the staff wielder's presence.

He spun and thrusted into the Innutukian's injured thigh, deepening the wound and causing a guttural scream to fill the air. While the man was still disabled, Manfred rushed in and finished the kill. The spearman's dashing footsteps rustled through the grass behind Manfred, so he whirled and knocked him out with a heavy blow.

After taking a quick moment to catch his breath, Manfred glanced up at the academy he'd failed so miserably at defending. He berated himself for not doing better, but ultimately, there was only one course of action to remedy his failing. He scaled the stone barrier again and hurried to the entrance.