Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king

Chapter 263: From the English war-book

Chapter 263: From the English war-book

The village was a blazing inferno, its thatched roofs crackling and collapsing under roaring flames. Smoke billowed into the sky, turning day into a choking twilight. Villagers screamed as they fled, their cries piercing the air, a symphony of terror and despair. Children clung to their mothers, while the old and frail stumbled, their attempts to escape thwarted by the chaos around them causing them to fall.

Riders thundered through the streets, their torches flaring as they set fire to every building in sight, sparing only the central warehouse. The flames painted their armored figures in a hellish glow, their laughter echoing cruelly over the destruction.

"Run, little rats!" one rider shouted, his grin wide as he slapped the flat of his blade against the back of a fleeing villager, sending the man tumbling forward.

Another leaned from his saddle, grabbing a young woman by the arm and hoisting her onto his horse despite her struggles. His comrades cheered and whooped, spurring their horses forward to continue the rampage.

Carts overturned, spilling their contents onto the muddy ground, where they were trampled under hooves. Riders smashed barrels for sport, wine and grain spilling out like blood.

For the past several days, the army had swept through the lands under the prince's domain, leaving behind a trail of ash and ruin. Villages, granaries, and outposts fell like brittle reeds before a storm, their resistance either nonexistent or easily crushed. The campaign was relentless, methodical, and without mercy—a scorched-earth strategy to cripple the prince's northern reach.