Chapter 203

The weather was overcast, a solemn atmosphere circulating among the troops.

Mei Yi led the soldiers across a farm and hill, through dense birch forests, over village lanes blanketed in yellow leaves, and after crossing a stream, she saw the enemy army waiting for her.

The enemy's front and both flanks were infantry in formation, three ranks deep, all wielding spears and shields, standing ready; ten paces behind the infantry were bowmen with strung strings, about three to four hundred; Lady Dustin stood in the center, mounted on a black horse, her cavalry guard tightly protecting her.

The enemy totaled about twenty-five hundred men, and their cavalry alone outnumbered her entire force.

"This lady deliberately chose this battlefield," said Lord Glover, pointing to the opposing open field where various flags fluttered, his tone neutral.

The battlefield was a barren hill overgrown with weeds, slightly undulating, occupying higher ground—undoubtedly a carefully selected spot; moreover, compared to the farm and woods they had just passed, this place would undoubtedly better exploit their numerical advantage.

"We are all cavalry; there's no need to face them here. We can cut straight through to the northeast and then head north to escape them," said Sir Bolton, whom Mei Yi had entrusted with commanding the southern cavalry that had defected, as he first offered her this suggestion: "If they dare to pursue, we can turn back and crush them."

The enemy ranks were still slightly adjusting, evidently hastily formed; seeing this, Mei Yi felt a twinge of regret for not having set out earlier, or for not having quickened the march along the way… or perhaps she shouldn't have halted to regroup.

She had not spotted Lady Dustin sooner not because she forgot to use bird-watching, but because after crossing the watershed from the creek area, the sky held no suitable bird—a strange place—and she also did not want to expend energy controlling a distant bird.

"Although these southern mercenaries aren't very reliable, this time I agree with his approach," said Lord Glover, stroking his horse's mane to calm the nervous mount. "The enemy has numerical superiority and holds the terrain; if we engage them here, when their reinforcements arrive we will…"

"I have never led infantry," Mei Yi also stroked her horse's neck, gently soothing it. "Sir, why have they placed infantry in the front as a defensive formation? Do they not intend to attack, or do they think I will attack?"

"Given Your Highness's record, they will naturally think that way. If we stand here neither advancing nor retreating, they will surely recall that this is Dustin's territory, so their infantry and archers will push forward, gradually driving us into the farm and hills; if we withdraw, their cavalry will spring into action."

"If they dare to attack, why bother fortifying here?" Sir Conger rode forward on his horse and lifted the iron helm from his head.

The helm's crest bore a rearing warhorse; after holding Long Creek City, to reward his valor at the Battle of Grassford, Mei Yi gave him the armor belonging to Roger Ryswell.

"Your Highness, the best course now is to leave the battlefield at once," said Sir Martell in a low voice. "If we turn northeast, there is a road to Wolfsden; we can return to Winterfell from there. This is not a good place to fight."

"Quite right, Your Highness; we can no longer return to the creek lands, for Lady Dustin will not let us cross the bridge in peace," said Sir Cley Cerwyn, his hand on the reins resting on his horse's neck, continually soothing it. "After withdrawing northeast, we can harass with cavalry to delay their maneuvering. If your plan works, we can wait until the three heirs have divided the Barrowlands among themselves, at which point the enemy will naturally…"

"Lady Dustin has ruled the Barrowlands for over ten years; the fact that no Dustin heir has stepped forward to claim the Barrowlands in all that time already proves her ability, although this relies on the assistance of the Ryswell family…"

"Your Highness?"

"Please hear me out," Mei Yi raised her hand to stop him. "The precondition for the three heirs to smoothly take control of the Barrowlands is that Barbara Ryswell be utterly powerless there; that is why I am striking at the Ryswells."

Gray clouds still blanketed the sky, but Mei Yi keenly sensed the weather shifting, as if the surrounding pressure were dropping; through the mastiff she also felt a hint of unease she could not articulate.

"Look at the enemy's banners—aside from Dustin's great flag, the viscounts' banners appear in considerable numbers," she told the surrounding officers and the youths nearby. "The Barrowlands have dozens of viscount families, and essentially all of them are present here."

In the enemy ranks fluttered several banners she could recognize: the wagon banner of the Wheatlands' Cerwyns, the king's-mound king's-skull banner of the Karstarks, the purple-pine banner of the Purple Pines Spicers, the warrior's-war-armor banner of the Warrior's Knoll Prests, and the three black wolf-heads of White Harbor's Starks.

There were others as well, whose names she could not recall nor did she know their circumstances, but undoubtedly they were minor houses loyal to the Dustin family.

"Your Highness?" Martell called, slightly uneasy.

"If we do not strike this lady, the plan to take a third of the Barrowlands will fail! Moreover, I cannot allow this army to go to the creek lands, or else Long Creek City will never be secure!" The west-then-east strategy would thus be impossible.

"But our forces are insufficient."

Mei Yi turned, took the direwolf banner from George Kasey's hand, and with one arm slightly turned the staff, the direwolf banner unfurled in the wind. "You forgot, I still have a direwolf."

"Your Highness?"

"This woman has committed unforgivable crimes against my house and my father; now that I have encountered her, I will show no mercy!" Mei Yi dropped the reins, drew her passion— "No further words needed. Henceforth the order: all troops follow me forward, smash the enemy's center from the left wing with full force! I shall lead the vanguard, then the Long Creek City cavalry regiment, the southern cavalry regiment, and Sir Martell shall command the White Harbor cavalry to trail and block any possible infantry envelopment! Until her center is broken, the assault will not cease!"

Glover spurred his horse, turned its head, rode around Mei Yi's cavalry guard camp, and loudly proclaimed the order just given.

Sir Martell, Sir Cerwyn, and Sir Bolton swiftly returned to their respective cavalry regiments.

Mei Yi drove her horse with her legs; the horse stepped forward slowly, the Stark direwolf banner moving with her, fully unfurled, as if flying through the air.

The guard cavalry regiment followed closely behind her; the nearest were five youths, whose breathing she could almost hear at her side.

Her cavalry slowly turned northeast, attempting to skirt the tightly defended infantry and archers' firing range.

At that moment the enemy's left-wing cavalry began to move, preparing to intercept laterally; under their commander's direction, the infantry started to shift toward Mei Yi's cavalry, to block any possible advance.

But they were too slow; to keep the formation orderly, this turning speed could not be increased, and if any disorder arose, Martell and Cerwyn would surely not miss the chance to strike.

After pulling a certain distance away from the infantry's small square formation, Mei Yi began to change direction, increase her speed, and follow behind the mastiff whose hair flew in the wind.

The mastiff sprinted headlong into the direction of the enemy cavalry's advance.

Wherever it passed, horses neighed and collapsed; the cavalry behind were thrown from their mounts. The mastiff, like a black shadow, kept leaping up, dragging enemies still on their horses to the ground and tearing off their arms.

Such is the power of striking first.

The command banner of Dustin's center fluttered; the reserve cavalry units behind it now shifted direction. Dustin's great flag, following the center under the protection of the guard horsemen, withdrew to the right wing.

At this moment Mei Yi raised the direwolf banner high, spurred her horse with all her strength, and began to charge fiercely into the oncoming enemy cavalry formation.