Chapter 107: Herbert, Caught Up

When Malherbe brought those two ugly-looking men into the already empty lord's house and found Herbert, the face of this nearly fifty-year-old lord turned extremely ugly in an instant; it was clear he recognized these two fellows.

Sitting at the table now, he looked at the two men who were tied up and fell into a long silence.

Malherbe, standing to the side, looked at his father's gloomy face and guessed that this matter was certainly not simple, fearing it had already implicated someone in his own family; although he had always anticipated this result, his mood inevitably became depressed.

After all, no matter which one it was, they were all family members he had spent the last twenty or thirty years with day and night.

After a long while, Herbert said with a hint of fatigue: "Son, you have done well in this matter. Go and get busy; remember to treat your Elf friends well for me."

Malherbe knew what his father was preparing to do, and that he was unwilling to do it in front of him. He bowed to his father quite tactfully and then said: "I will, Father."

After speaking, he turned and walked toward the door, but behind him came Herbert's voice once again: "Malherbe, do not speak of this matter to anyone else!"

"I know, Father."

Afterward, Malherbe left Herbert's room. This matter was no longer his concern, and Malherbe did not want to be overly involved; after all, he was not yet the lord of Red River Town.

A few days later, among the townspeople who had not yet left, a piece of news circulated that made everyone feel somewhat shocked.

The lord's two sons had accidentally broken their legs while riding horses, and their uncle Theodore would be responsible for sending them both to River Valley City for treatment; until their injuries recovered, these two heirs to the lordship would not be able to return.

Malherbe, who had already set off with a group of townspeople several days prior, did not yet know that he had won the competition at this moment and had become the sole heir to Red River Town. Riding on his horse, he was still thinking about how to negotiate with Allen to obtain the status of a Vassal from this king.

Just as Malherbe was deep in thought, the enemies of the Northern Men, the two Easterling Warlords Baal and Akad, had already approached the forest where Red River Town was located with their soldiers and slaves.

This speed far exceeded Malherbe's estimation, at the very least by four or five days.

Baal, who had his own little schemes, was actually unwilling to act so quickly. He still wanted to beg for more supplies from his leader Ashur before leaving, so his pace of preparation appeared somewhat sluggish, completely unable to keep up with the more loyal Akad.

Akad had already made preparations to depart the day after receiving the order, while Baal was still dawdling, dismantling the camp's structures.

Soon, that same afternoon, Baal was summoned again to Ashur's main camp, and he was greeted directly by a torrent of scolding; the crude and filthy words were even difficult for the barbaric Easterlings to endure.

After finishing his scolding, Ashur did not become any calmer from the venting; instead, his face became even more ferocious, and the scar on his face turned blood-red from anger. Coupled with a look that wanted to kill, the guards who were secretly peeking at the situation inside the carriage quickly averted their gazes.

Ashur's words at this moment were cruel and gloomy as he issued an ultimatum to Baal.

"Baal!

I don't care what your reason is; tomorrow, it is tomorrow—if your tribe has not yet moved, then you will never need to move again. I will have you stay here forever, do you understand?"

Facing the enraged Ashur, Baal, kneeling on the ground, dared not refute him in the slightest. As for the matter of supplies, he did not even dare to mention a single word, only continuously showing weakness to the furious Ashur.

"Yes, yes, yes, my lord, I will set off immediately, immediately."

"Get out!

"

Baal, who scrambled out of Ashur's carriage in a panic, soon learned some things from Ashur's other subordinates.

Just last night, several Elf Cavalry had brazenly snatched Brendon away at the entrance of Ashur's camp, and more than a dozen soldiers guarding the camp gate had died. Of the dozens of elite Cavalry who chased after them, only four returned in the end, and they returned empty-handed with faces full of fear.

Given Ashur's personality, the fact that four battered and bruised corpses were not hanging at the entrance was already a sign of great restraint; now, he was simply venting his anger on Baal.

After learning the sequence of events, Baal was full of relief in his heart. If such powerful Elves had arrived while he was hanging Brendon, he would have lost his own life at the camp gate—wouldn't that have been a very unjust death?

He was indeed lucky; at that time, Holimion was busy scouting the enemy camp's situation and had not yet thought about killing.

Now, under Ashur's furious urging, Baal spent only one night gathering all his belongings and joining forces with Akad's troops, setting off in a grand procession.

Among them were over four thousand Easterlings and more than two thousand Northern Men slaves, totaling over six thousand people.

When they arrived at the bridge of the Redwater River, Baal discovered that the soldiers he had left behind to guard it were already starting to stink. Baal had no time to be angry or speculate; he immediately ordered his soldiers to urge the slaves to cut down trees and make simple rafts so that people could be arranged to cross the river and repair the bridge.

The Easterlings' work in repairing the bridge did indeed buy some time for the migration of the residents of Red River Town. Under the urging of the messenger sent by Ashur, Baal and Akad led their tribes across the Redwater River, but instead of stopping to build a camp as Malherbe had thought, they marched directly toward Red River Town.

When Herbert stepped onto the last small boat to leave Red River Town, Baal also arrived near his "dependency," Red River Town, with his elite Cavalry. He wanted to make one last attempt to see if he could trick the gates of Red River Town into opening, which would also prevent his own soldiers from dying due to a siege.

However, the quiet atmosphere in the surroundings made this Rhun Warlord feel that something was not quite right; at this time in the past, there should have been a large number of Northern Men farming in the fields.

This abnormal situation made Baal whip his Rhun Horse continuously, quickly arriving at the open gates of Red River Town. Subsequently, dozens of Cavalry, led by Baal, poured into this human settlement for the first time.

Looking at the desolate Red River Town, Baal roared in frustration: "Search for me! Don't even spare the doghouse!"

A moment later, dozens of Cavalry gathered around Baal again, shouting one after another.

"No one in the south."

"My lord, we didn't even find a dog."

"No one in the east either."

"There is nothing left in the largest house in the town center."

"Lord Baal, I found a chicken in the corner; let's roast it tonight."

The insidious, greedy, hypocritical, and bullying Baal was extremely unwilling at this moment. How could he not know that the people of Red River Town had run away a step ahead of them?

"Why is this happening? I clearly appeased Herbert with kind words before I left; they shouldn't have been able to run so fast, right?"

Baal's brain was spinning wildly at this moment. He wanted to find out where the problem lay. He recalled everything that had happened during this period and suddenly thought of the rescued Brendon.

"Brendon? Brendon!

! It must be this little rabbit who was rescued; after being beaten, he must have heard what that loud-mouthed Ashur said, which led to the people of Red River Town getting the news early and running away. What should I do? What should I do?!"

Although the location of Red River Town was not provided to Ashur by Baal, when his own boss read out the name Red River Town, Baal knew it could not be hidden. He immediately stated that he had some trading ties with the lord of Red River Town, Herbert, and could try to persuade them to have Red River Town submit to the Bartra.

Ashur agreed, but the current situation was that after Baal spoke with the people of Red River Town, the entire town was empty. How was Baal supposed to explain this to Ashur? Should he say that because you, Boss, have such a loud voice, the people of Red River Town ran away so fast?

Wouldn't he be hacked to death?

Thinking of the terrible punishment he might face, Baal's brain continued to spin wildly, and soon he thought of the key point.

"No, it's only been a few days; the town has been moved so cleanly, they shouldn't have gone very far. We can catch up, we can definitely catch up!

"

As if grabbing a straw while drowning, Baal shouted loudly to his confidants: "Go notify Akad and have him bring the Cavalry to catch up here at the fastest speed. The rest of you, follow me in pursuit."

After saying this, Baal took most of the Cavalry and rushed out of Red River Town, chasing westward along the Running River. Soon, he faintly saw the shadows of a few small boats in the water.

That was exactly the group led by Herbert who had just left Red River Town not long ago. The small boats built by humans lacked the blessing of Magic, and relying on human power to row on the river, the speed could certainly not be very fast, not to mention that this slightly calm section of the river was upstream.

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At this moment, Herbert was thinking on the boat about how to negotiate with the King Allen his son spoke of, and what kind of price he would have to pay to obtain a fertile piece of land for his people to live on.

However, the sound of hoofbeats coming from the riverbank directly interrupted his thoughts; Herbert knew that the Easterling Cavalry had caught up.

Although Malherbe had made certain speculations about the Easterlings' movements during the previous family meeting, he had ultimately sworn that there would definitely be enough time.

But Herbert, whose life experience was far richer than Malherbe's, naturally understood the principle that the world is unpredictable; no matter how well a plan is made, accidents will always give you a surprise or a shock.

Therefore, Herbert, the lord of Red River Town, took his few dozen Longbowmen and traveled at the very back of the fleet in five small boats.

This was to prevent any unexpected situations, as their fleet, loaded with townspeople and supplies, was only a few dozen miles ahead.

Most of the townspeople had already left one after another several days ago, taking all of Red River Town's livestock with them; at this moment, besides the Easterlings, who else could the hoofbeats coming from the east be?

"Enemy attack, prepare for battle."

Herbert shouted, picked up the massive Fir Bow at his side, and stared intently at Baal and the others who were gradually approaching from a distance; the archers on the surrounding small boats also made the same movements as Herbert.

"Lads, row toward the south bank first; don't just foolishly stay in the middle of the river. We are holding Cedar Longbows, and the enemy's shooting range is nowhere near ours."

Following Herbert's order, the small boats gradually moved away from the center of the river and drew closer to the south bank. At this moment, Baal, who was leading the Cavalry in pursuit, naturally saw this scene; he reined in his horse and stopped on the north bank, preparing to say something to Herbert so he could trick them into coming back.

"Fire."

Looking at Baal and the others stopped on the bank, Herbert gave the order to fire without the slightest hesitation. He had long found Baal an eyesore; if it weren't for the sake of his clansmen having a relatively stable life, who would be willing to greet their sworn enemy with a smiling face for so many years?

Now that the masks had been torn off, Herbert felt there was nothing left to talk about with Baal; taking the initiative to launch an attack to attract the attention of these Easterling Cavalry was the most important thing to do right now.

Otherwise, if he let these guys continue to chase toward the west, it wouldn't be long before they saw the defenseless residents of Red River Town.

It was just that the effect of this volley of arrows was very poor, killing only a few Easterling Cavalry who were lingering on the bank. After all, there was a distance of several dozen meters between the two sides, and coupled with the fact that the small boats were moving, the Longbowmen, shooting while swaying, had their accuracy drop significantly; they were not professional naval forces, after all, and had no experience shooting on boats.

However, the Rune Horse between Baal's legs was directly struck in the head by this volley of arrows, and it subsequently collapsed and died without any warning, dragging the shocked Baal down to the ground with it.

He truly had not expected that the Northman who had greeted him with a smile in the past would actually launch an attack on him without saying a single word at this moment.

Quickly climbing up from the ground, Baal had recovered from his shock, and he shouted loudly: "Fire, fire for me."

After shouting, he vaulted onto a Rune Horse that had lost its Rider and shouted loudly at Herbert on the boat: "I will definitely catch you, torture your family in front of you, and enslave your clansmen."

Herbert, several dozen meters away, watched the enemy arrows falling into the water one after another and knew that the small short bows in the hands of the Easterlings simply could not shoot accurately at such a distance.

At this moment, facing Baal's clamoring, he did not care in the slightest; instead, he drew the Fir Bow in his hand once more and aimed at Baal and the others.

This time, the Easterling Cavalry certainly would not obediently wait on the bank to be shot; seeing that their bows were at a disadvantage in terms of range, they quickly whipped their horses and disappeared from Herbert's sight, no longer giving the Longbowmen a chance to shoot.

However, they did not go far; instead, led by Baal, they followed the boats in the river closely from not far off the bank. Because the width of the river was not constant, Baal knew that there was an extremely narrow and turbulent section of the river not far ahead, and he prepared to make Herbert pay there.

Herbert, who had traveled back and forth on the Running River several times, naturally knew this. Not only did he not have his men speed up the rowing, but he actually slowed down even more; his main purpose was to use himself as bait to entangle the Easterling Cavalry, rather than to flee under the Easterlings' pursuit.

Just like that, the two groups stood in a standoff on two different paths, neither able to do anything to the other.

Half a day later, more hoofbeats came from the east; it was Akad arriving with more Easterling Cavalry.