The Dagos army scouts tailing them certainly thought that they were sneaky, Dominic decided.
They didn’t realize that the Cygnia scouts had magitech scopes to see in the dark. So, the invaders were still crouched low to the ground, blades at the ready, as they approached the village.
{Two hundred metres. One seventy-five. Begin bombardment.} Commander Dax ordered.
The mortar rounds made a sizzling whistle as they launched, the same as a flare or a firework. But nobody was waiting to see where they landed before they loaded more rounds and continued the bombardment.
Dozens of explosions rippled across the field over the next thirty seconds, with some landing less than half the distance to the enemy, from launchers that were set at an angle instead of flat.
But the effect was everything that they could have hoped for.
When the explosions started, they lit up the battlefield at the enemy’s position, allowing the riflemen to begin firing. They also made the enemy stand and charge their position, making themselves larger targets.
Rifles fired, and soldiers fell. But Dominic didn’t see the enemy Commander on the battlefield.
"Stay out of sight. Don’t let them confirm whether there is even a single female in the convoy. The Commander isn’t here, and he will run when he realizes that they have lost." Dominic whispered to Alexis as he drew his pistol and waited for the Dagos soldiers to get close enough for him to join the battle.
Then Dominic wrapped his cloak over himself and pulled the hood up. He could see much better in the dark than anyone else he had met.
Far better than even his parents.
So, he went hunting for the enemy’s Commander.
In the chaos of the battle, one black cloaked figure sneaking out of the far side of the village didn’t attract any attention, and it didn’t take Dominic long to find the vehicle convoy they had left a little over a kilometre away, on the far side of a hill.
No wonder the scouts had spotted them.
They were all morons.
But the Commander was definitely there, standing in front of the headlights of his truck and looking at a document of some sort.
Dominic counted four other men with him, most likely the drivers of the trucks, as they weren’t gathered near him to give advice. That gave him an easy opportunity. He might not be a skilled sniper, but the trucks still gurgled and hissed as they vented steam at idle, and the fires in the burners crackled softly as the coal burned.
If this was the best that Dagos had to offer, they were never going to catch the Princess.
Dominic crawled through the long grass, and then followed a low hedge beside the road until he was within twenty metres of the trucks.
Dominic made a warding gesture for good luck, a habit from his childhood, then he rushed out of the bushes, and within five paces of the Dagos Noble.
His left hand flickered back and forth, repeatedly cocking the pistol as he fired. Then he reloaded and put six more rounds into the downed Noble before reloading a second time and turning on the drivers.
They seemed so shocked to see someone in their midst that they weren’t even charging, just looking around with their swords in their hands.
Dominic fired from the other side of the trucks, taking the four men down before he realized the issue.
He was standing on the other side of the headlights of the vehicle closest to them, so none of the drivers could see a thing past the bright light. A rookie mistake, and not one that Dominic would have expected from professional soldiers.
So, he fired a round into each of the four vehicle cargo areas and then waited to see if there was any movement.
Carefully, he opened the doors, expecting an ambush at any moment. The vehicles were empty except for crates and backpacks, the standard supplies of a travelling convoy.
Dominic pulled a crate from the lead vehicle and swung it open, revealing brightly coloured clothing, fit for a high Noble. There was a small bag of Dagos gold coins in the chest, and a badge of office that Dominic didn’t recognize.
It wasn’t from Cygnia, though.
He threw the whole chest in his storage cube, then everything else that looked like it might hold valuables.
After that, he went through the pockets of the dead drivers, liberating them of their coin purses. The final touch was to steal the hat and boots from the Noble, as his jacket was ruined with bullet holes.
It would look to the world like he had been ambushed by bandits.
After all, what self-respecting soldier would steal a dead man’s boots? They were nice boots, though.
The battle was ending, and the mortars had stopped. The let Dominic return down the road where the attackers had approached. Body after body, he looted the Dagos Noble’s guards dry before returning to the Natural Sons.
"Finish looting all the bodies clean. Let the next group to come along clean up the mess. It’s not going to be a secret for long that these guardsmen ran afoul of bandits while rushing about like fools in the dark. Use the mana pistols to double-check that there are no survivors.
No need to waste ammunition." Dominic instructed.
Mana Pistols were much quieter than the rifles, and nobody wanted to be reminded of the grim business of ensuring that there were no more spies following them.
"Sir, we found something that you might find interesting." One of the soldiers informed Dominic, but he handed the paper directly to Alexis.
Alexis sighed as she read the letter. "It’s a letter from Prince Kaizon to an unnamed retainer. They’re supposed to eliminate the Regiment and bring me alive to the Prince if I’m with them. It doesn’t go into details, but it sounds like there are multiple teams.
Each of them must be following a team that left the city, searching for me."
"So, he’s determined to get to you. Do we know where Josephine is?" Dominic asked.
Alexis smiled. "She’s commanding the Cygnia City guard. She’s still in the Palace and will be quite visible. That’s a danger of its own, but it will be much harder to abduct her, assuming he wants us both alive."