The Battle of Saddle Lake

The night was filled with terrors. Both were left to rot on the field, with both sides fearing that they would use the opportunity to attack the men, trying to recover the bodies. Wounded Equestrian soldiers were still being found alive in the field and marshes. General Hurricane instructed a company to split into small teams to recover the wounded. In the Equestrian encampment, the mages and physicians have been working endlessly to heal the wounds of the soldiers.

On one table, Princess Twilight with an assistant healing mage and an assistant physician were tending to the wounds of a wounded soldier. The soldier kept on screaming, being freshly drawn from the battle. He was shot with several arrows with the mud, trying to enter the wounds. Princess Twilight and her table were trying to strip him of his armor, but he was moving too much from the pain.

Princess Twilight looked at two soldiers who were staring at the wounded, "You two!" she called out. "Help us with this man!"

The soldiers ran to her table. They held his limbs, as the rest try to cut the straps, holding his armor. They removed in the armor, and saw that his entire chest was covered in mud. Not a sight of blood was seen. Princess Twilight feared that his wounds have already been infected and instructed her assistant to wash the mud off. The soldier kept on screaming.

"Cant' we give him anything?" the assistant mage asked.

"We can't give him anything to relieve pain," the Physician answered, cleaning off the wounds. "If he gets to comfortable on the anesthetics, it might lower his blood and stop his heart."

The table was working hastily to clean the wounds, so they can pull the arrows out. The physician told everyone to hold the soldier tight while he tries to remove the arrows. As he attempted to remove one of the arrows in his abdominal area, blood suddenly started to squirt out of his body onto everyone around him. The soldier began to choke and spit out his own blood. Princess Twilight and her assistant were trying to cast a spell to fix the blood flow, but the soldier succumbed to his injuries. The Physician looked into the eyes of the young man, hoping to see any life in them.

"He's dead," said the Physician. "You two, get his body out of here and put him with the others."

On the other side of the camp, Sir Blueblood and Sir Pansy were sitting around a fire, keeping themselves warm in their bloodied armor. The men were starring down into their cups, with their eyes wandering into the wine. Prince Armor and Sir Seed saw the two, as they were helping unload the wounded onto the stretchers.

"What do you think is wrong with them?" Sir Seed asked.

"It's Sir Pansy's first time in battle. I heard the right flank suffered heavy casualties," Prince Armor answered.

Prince Armor tapped the armor of Sir Seed and nodded his head to walk to the two. The two crusaders approached the two knights, trying to speak to them.

"What happened?" Prince Armor asked.

Sir Blueblood looked at the prince, with a worried expression in his eyes, "I nearly died in the marshes. My horse was caught and I nearly killed by their archers."

Prince Armor tapped the shoulder of the young cavalry man, "Hey, at least you made it out alive. So many were unfortunate."

Prince Armor turned his eyes to Sir Pansy, "How about you Sir Pansy."

Sir Pansy didn't respond. He was staring into his cup, until Sir Seed walked up to him and touched his back. Sir Pansy was shook and looked at the two crusaders, not noticing their presence earlier.

"I never thought that killing someone would be so," Sir Pansy hesitated to continue his statement. "So satisfying."

Sir Seed sat beside the young knight, "It will be at first. But the more you do it, the more you start to question yourself. The prince and I in the last two crusading expeditions were wondering on how our actions might be to other people and how it might affect us. But since we live the life of a soldier, we have no other choice than to continue this killing."

"Sir Pansy why don't you go to my sister. She might be able to comfort you," said Prince Armor.

Sir Pansy stood and dropped his cup. He looked at the three men, who were looking at him, before he left. Sir Seed picked up his cup and poured ale into it to drink. Prince Armor firmly held the shoulder of Sir Blueblood, giving him the notion that he did a great job in battle that day.

On top of the hill by the command tent, several officers were entering the tent to report to King Heart and Lord Clover the status of their units and their progress in battle. Outside, Captain Platinum and Lieutenant Dash were standing by a fire, overlooking the entire camp. They could see the bright lights of that shines from the tents, but could hear the screeching of dying men and the moans of those wounded.

"The squad that guarded the prince took heavy casualties today," said Sir Platinum. He looks at Lieutenant Dash. She gave no sign of life from her eyes as they were trained on searching those trying to walk up the hill, thinking that there would be an assassination attempt on the king. "Do you want to take a squad and guard Prince Armor?"

Lieutenant Dash looked at her captain, "Doesn't the prince prefer his own crusaders to guard him?"

Captain Platinum smiles at the young lieutenant, "That's true, but he trusts you more than anyone in the Royal Guard. Besides, didn't the both of you had a history in the past?"

"That was before he joined the crusaders, and I the guard," Lieutenant Dash added.

"You joined because he left," Captain Platinum added. "He trusts you more than he trusts me to guard him, and besides I was the one who lost Princess Luna."

"She was under my watch," said Lieutenant Dash.

Captain Dash looked at the command tent. Four guards were guarding the tent, since the Equestrians withdrew from the field, "But I was the one who assigned the guards. They weren't the best, but I trusted them, and they died."

Lieutenant Dash took a big breath that she slowly exhaled. She looked at the head of the encampment, and saw the banners of the Mark Crusaders. She looked back at her captain to accept his offer, "I'll take the remnants of the squadron and my men. We'll protect the prince for you."

Captain Dash smiled at his second-in-command, "Thank you lieutenant. You're a better guard than any of us."

As the Equestrians were suffering from their losses, the Chaos army were silently cheering. The soldiers claimed victory since they held their positions, while the Equestrians fled. King Discord ordered his soldiers to recover the wounded as soon as the Equestrians gathered the majority of theirs. He feared that Lord Clover would launch a surprise attack to take advantage of the entire situation.

King Discord summoned his two strongest mages and his highest ranking generals to his command tent. Princess Luna sat on his left, and Sorcerer Meadowbrook sat on his right. The generals came into the tent with dirt all over their armor. But no signs of blood were on their face, signifying that they were mainly commanding their forces from a distance. Lord Cookie entered the tent and attracted the attention of everyone within the tent.

"My lord," said King Discord. "Thank you for joining us. Please take a seat."

"Yes your majesty," Lord Cookie sat by the nearest chair he could find around the table.

"The reports aren't that impressive," said General Grogar. "We suffered more casualties than the Equestrians. Mostly from my command."

"It was necessary to break the Equestrian cavalry, general," said King Discord, staring into the eyes of his head general. "Anyway, we must act fast before their scouts or spies find out the movements of our troops."

King Discord began to tell the small council that he intends to flank the Equestrians from around the lake. He hopes that an attack from their rear would result in Lord Clover to send most of their reserves and General Hurricane to fight them, leaving their front to be defended by the Royal Division who have suffered significant losses. He plans to have the king surrounded and distracted by concentrating on his front and rear, while he tries to flank left with a cavalry company.

"General Grogar, you will take five thousand men," King Discord instructed. "You will get some of my reserves and your men as well who have fought today along with Meadowbrook and his guard company. You will also take Lord Cookie and his army."

All the officers in the tent looked at the king to see if he was serious.

"Your majesty?" said General Shimmer confusingly.

"Lord Cookie will accompany General Grogar and Meadowbrook with his four hundred rebels," King Discord added. "Let's hope that the Equestrians might feel uncomfortable that they are about to fight their own people."

"Thank you your majesty," said Lord Cookie.

King Discord looks at General Grogar, "Leave before dawn. If your lucky enough, you could arrive by noon and surprise before they even notice you."

"What would the signal be?" General Grogar asked.

"Your attack," said King Discord.