A melee in the dead of night was extremely dangerous, but the enemy mercenaries numbered only 20, while we had more than 100. It was easy work to gang up in teams of two or three and cut the mercenaries down one by one.
Caught off guard by the sudden ambush, the mercenaries resisted desperately, but they fell one after another to our merciless blades. Their captain found himself at a crossroads.
Surrender and rely on the mercenary code, or flee. He chose neither. Instead, he attacked Count Heinlein, who stood there trembling.
It seemed he planned to kill the count and run. Not a chance.
I stepped in at just the right moment to take the count alive.
Clang!
I knocked aside the captain's sword with my halberd just as he was about to run the greedy, scheming old count palatine through. The captain staggered back several steps. Thanks to that, the count clung to life a little longer.
