Michael was in a foul mood after letting the Imperial Knights escape. Catching cavalry that was determined to flee was like trying to catch the wind. At least most of the dragoons who'd participated in the ambush had surrendered.
Surrendering at the slightest disadvantage was a bad habit of mercenaries, but resisting to the bitter end while being relentlessly pursued by the duchy army was decidedly un-mercenary behavior.
And by surrendering, they'd bought time for the Imperial Knights to escape, so they'd fulfilled their obligation to their employer. Michael was so furious he wanted to kill them all, but that wasn't an option in practice.
If he executed all the surrendered mercenaries, no mercenary in Europe would ever contract with Beren again. And those mercenaries, contracted by enemy nations, would freely plunder Beren to their hearts' content.
That was the price of breaking the unwritten rules.
