Chapter 254: The Smooth Rendezvous

For the Easterlings who were escorting the captives, this attack appeared extremely suddenly. The Easterling captain who was shot dead by Allen at the very beginning probably didn't understand until the end of his life why he was attacked by the enemy at this time and in this position.

This was truly too sudden, and the scouts he sent out didn't send back any news at all.

For the Twilight Knights, this battle ended too quickly, and there was no sense of combat pleasure at all. After clearing the eyes around the team, while approaching the enemy team rapidly, the Twilight Knights, under Allen's leadership, only launched two extremely precise volleys of arrows, which had already killed all the mobile forces of the other side.

Afterward, the Twilight Knights, who drew their Noldor Rune Swords and enchanted shields, directly crushed the Easterling infantry who had barely gathered together during the high-speed charge.

They, who were few in number, broke the enemy's delusion of wanting to continue to resist with an unstoppable momentum. Then, the entire battle quickly entered the boring pursuit stage. This was just a one-sided slaughter.

If there were people watching the battle on the side, they would be extremely surprised to find that these Easterling soldiers who were escorting the Dwarves were killed by Allen and the eleven personal guards he led by more than half in the time of one encounter.

This was destructive power sufficient to deter any small-scale battle.

And those Easterlings who luckily survived, after a brief bewilderment, realized what kind of terrifying thing they had encountered. The fear that was enough to make people collapse instantly occupied their hearts, letting the living people make normal or abnormal moves.

Some people, in a state of extreme fear, directly threw down their weapons, shouting loudly and running wildly on the wilderness, without considering at all that their two legs couldn't run faster than four legs.

And some people clenched their strange-shaped iron spears more tightly, shouting words that didn't make sense, provoking the silver-armored knights patrolling around, and then were shot and killed by an arrow that flew over rapidly, following their captain to leave Arda.

More were those who knelt on the ground and gave up resistance. These people, although very afraid, still barely retained their reason and adopted the method that could best leave their lives.

And the most surprised, besides the two Easterling warhorses that were pulling the chariot and suddenly lost their masters, were probably the Dwarves who were wearing hand shackles and foot shackles and were starved to only skin and bones.

The suddenly appearing Elven knights didn't attack them, but these Dwarves still maintained sufficient vigilance. Those who were extremely bold didn't care about the tense situation around them, picked up the weapons scattered by the Easterlings, and handed them to their companions to protect themselves.

The Blacklocks living in the East hadn't had too much contact with the Elves of the West, but in their tribe, there were also rumors of tense relations between Elves and Dwarves. On this point, I'm afraid they had to thank Thorin. This guy probably didn't say many good things about Elves during that special period.

"Which one is Dayev?" Allen, who had just returned from the side of the chariot, asked loudly looking at the nervous Dwarves. And Dayev was Tiehaer's cousin, just like the relationship between Dain and Thorin.

"I am." As the existence with the highest status among this group of Dwarves, Dayev still barely maintained the most basic decency. Although the most valuable ornament on his body was that pair of iron shackles that bound him, Dayev's beard still maintained a smooth state, unlike other Dwarves who were messy, just like a weed bush growing on their faces.

It was just that Dayev's face, which was still clean under his beard, had a look of surprise, because the shout he heard just now seemed to be standard Dwarvish, which made him a bit unable to grasp what kind of person this tall, sturdy, and powerful cavalryman before him was.

It was just that a bunch of keys that suddenly flew over let Dayev put down all the doubts in his heart. He acted extremely rapidly to catch it, because this represented the freedom he had lost for several years, and it was also the thing that he and his kin wanted to obtain most at this moment.

"Your leader Tiehaer has now become my subordinate, and exchanged for your freedom at the price of allegiance. This is the thing he gave you."

As he spoke, Allen took out a wooden barrel and threw it over. Inside it was the letter written by Tiehaer himself. The Dwarven characters had a taste of rock, and there were various changes in the hardness. In any case, he didn't recognize a single word.

Dayev, who opened the shackles and took out the letter, didn't respond to Allen's words. For the kindness of saving his life, he naturally felt grateful. It was just that for Dwarves, pledging allegiance to a human was truly too bizarre. Even the songs circulating in the ancient period had never had such stories.

It was just that the content in the letter made Dayev's face increasingly surprised. Although Tiehaer, under the cover of many kin, rushed to the Lonely Mountain, the subsequent encounters were not particularly smooth. This series of changes was enough to make people sigh.

But what made Dayev gratified was that in the long and humiliating wait, his efforts hadn't been in vain. Most of the existing kin finally waited for the rescue. It was just that compared to what he originally thought, the person who came should be the Dwarves of Durin who recaptured the Lonely Mountain.

After all, his grandfather, his uncle, and his father had personally participated in the war to conquer the Orcs. The person who came should be the Dwarves of Durin, not Elves and humans.

However, Dayev wouldn't hate Thorin, who was the King of Durin, because of this. In the letter, Tiehaer said that Thorin took good care of him and promised to rescue the captured kin at a suitable time. After all, according to the current population of the Lonely Mountain, they didn't have the strength to launch a large-scale attack on Rune.

The places where Easterlings lived were mostly wilderness without cover. In the face of chariots, cavalry, hunting dogs, and a large number of infantry, Dwarves indeed didn't have an advantage. Ultimately, it was because the warriors who could be sent out were too few, and Dwarves weren't good at blitzkrieg, easily being dragged down by Easterlings who heard the news and rushed over.

By then, whether to save people or send heads would become an unknown. Thorin still saw this extremely clearly.

And before this, Thorin also suggested Tiehaer imitate his move of recapturing the Lonely Mountain to form an expedition team to rescue his kin, and was willing to provide him with a job to earn expenses. Then, didn't this change to Allen coming?

As for why Thorin didn't directly provide the wealth to form the expedition team, that was because Tiehaer refused. This young Dwarven leader also understood very clearly in his heart that once he accepted the wealth given by Thorin, then the Lonely Mountain would likely not send troops to rescue his kin.

Exchanging a favor for an appropriate help was a matter of course. It was just that this favor finally exchanged for Tiehaer's life. Although Allen hadn't thought about killing him, Thorin and Tiehaer both understood in their hearts that they were already even with each other.

Looking at the letter that was not long but quite complicated, Dayev could be considered to have barely sorted out the reason for this. He looked at Allen, who was calm and composed on his horse, and his rough right hand clenched into a fist, hammering his chest three times with "bang," "bang," "bang."

This was the etiquette of Dwarves expressing allegiance. Unlike humans, they generally wouldn't kneel to the object they pledged allegiance to. In Dwarven culture, kneeling only represented begging for forgiveness and didn't have any other meaning.

"Respected lord, everything my cousin Tiehaer said will be realized. From now on, we will work for you until we are recalled to the Halls of Mandos."

"I promise to provide you with suitable accommodation, promise to provide you with sufficient food, promise to provide you with a job you love, until the contract between us ends."

Allen responded to Dayev, who expressed allegiance, with a loud and powerful voice, and then took out a bag of food from behind his cloak. After flipping off his horse, he placed it beside the Dwarves together with several water bags. This scene made Dayev, who had been observing Allen, jump his eyelids again.

Before, he hadn't noticed that there were so many things on that horse, but Dayev didn't ask, because they were Aule's creations after all, and naturally understood some extraordinary powers.

The food Allen took out wasn't too much, with fruits, sausages, and dried meat. For the dozens of Dwarves at the scene, it was at most enough to pad their stomachs. The distance to being full was still far. But given the current situation, it was already enough.

Now wasn't a good time to hold a banquet. The Twilight Knights who were chasing the Easterling soldiers were still killing. Allen needed the Dwarves who had regained freedom to take care of the kneeling captives after recovering their strength. And he himself left a sentence, "Dayev, take good care of your kin," and then flipped onto the "Pursuit" again.

Allen was preparing to collect those Easterling warhorses running everywhere, as well as a chariot that was enough to carry many people. When they retreated later, they still needed some help. If allocated properly, it was always faster than walking.

And Fatis's support, I'm afraid, would have to wait for a while before arriving. Allen summoned him just to deal with unexpected situations, not to attack this slave escort team. Just over a hundred ordinary Easterling miscellaneous soldiers, if it weren't for worrying about accidentally hurting the Dwarves, killing them would just be a few chain lightnings.

The roars and shouts gradually subsided on this land. What remained were only the hoofbeats that had already calmed down and the noise that gradually became clear. Dwarves were indeed a resilient and magical race. The Blacklocks who had just escaped from the life of imprisonment were immediately happy because of the relatively delicious food.

What made them even happier was that what was in the water bag wasn't clear water, but thick and mellow beer. In their view, this was already a moment worth celebrating.

It was just that compared to his own brainless kin, Dayev's mood had a trace of sorrow in addition to joy. Because not all of his kin were present.

In the tribe where the Dwarves left, there were still some Blacklocks. Although they weren't in the same tribe as Dayev, they helped each other when they were enslaved, and still established a relatively deep friendship.

So Dayev, who had regained freedom, wanted to help them, but didn't know how to open his mouth to his new human leader, so he could only silently follow Allen's order, letting his kin barely mount the human warhorses and advance toward the west.

And those Easterlings who surrendered, Allen didn't execute them either, but used a rope to tie all the prisoners of war together, letting them run behind the horse's buttocks.

Facts proved that when humans faced threats that endangered their lives, although they wouldn't break through their own limits to possess the explosive speed of horses, their endurance ability was still relatively excellent, especially these Easterlings who were usually happy to hunt. As long as the speed was reduced to a certain degree, they could run at a constant speed for a long time.

Just like this, eleven Twilight Knights dispersed across the entire wilderness, guarding against the situation around them. Although most areas of Middle-earth were sparsely populated, and the places where Easterlings lived were even more so, the vigilance against accidents was never something superfluous.

And Allen, leading twenty-plus warhorses, a chariot full of Dwarves, and that long string of Easterling prisoners of war following behind the team, advanced toward the Red River at a speed that was barely acceptable.

Until two or three hours later, a bird with blue and grey colors crossed the sky, and the rumbling hoofbeats followed. A torrent composed of silver and green appeared in the team's field of vision, and the number of people was seven or eight hundred.

Silver were the heavy cavalry wearing full plate armor. Nowadays, they had replaced their mounts with those having the bloodline of purebred Gatu warbeasts. Their excellent endurance was enough to carry the fully armed knights on long-distance treks. Of course, the premise was that the warhorses couldn't be armored.

And the green ones were knight attendants wearing surcoat chainmail, with the emblem representing Allen drawn on the surcoat—the green-bottomed crown three-star flag. The bloodline of the warhorses they rode was mixed and thin. Some had the bloodline of Elven horses, and some had the bloodline of Gatu warbeasts, but they were also far more excellent than ordinary horses.

For them, who were proficient in horsemanship, long-distance raids of three or four hours didn't need one person, three horses at all. It was just that according to Allen's order, they still brought spare horses, which made the entire team look even more huge. At first glance, it seemed like there were nearly two thousand people.

However, the situation at hand was a bit beyond Allen's estimation. He could tell at a glance that Fatis had brought all the knights and attendants who had received training.

Allen's initial idea was just to let Fatis bring a cavalry team to support. Having one or two hundred people would be completely enough, and there was no need for so many at all.

Seeing the mighty subordinates, Allen waved his hand to let the team behind him stop, while he himself knocked on his somewhat messy head, having other ideas in his heart.

The occurrence of such a thing actually couldn't blame Fatis. This was because the order Allen gave was a bit vague. If he had said directly that he wanted one or two hundred people, this situation wouldn't have happened. It was just that given the situation at the time, most of Allen's thoughts were on the matter of rescuing the Dwarves.

If he was blackmailed by Baal or forced to kill Baal, and talked about this matter later, Allen himself would laugh at himself. So when he gave the order, it was slightly lacking in thought.

However, this situation couldn't be counted as a bad thing. Since they had come, they always had to do something before leaving. ===== CHAPTER 255 =====