Neither Victory nor Defeat

Before the Duchy Army's flanks had begun to move, the Northern Alliance Army had already overrun the duchy's forward camp and was advancing toward its central command camp.

The unit's battle flag bore the Iron Birch Family crest, marking it as one of the family's own forces. Its red-and-black stripes identified it as the Iron Birch Second Legion, commanded by Count Colt's younger brother, Viscount Haines.

Viscount Haines sat astride a towering warhorse, his gaze fixed on the small camp before him, now ravaged by battle.

Though the camp was small, it had become a living hell. Severed limbs littered the ground amid splashes of blood, while torn banners and broken weapons spoke of the brutal fighting that had taken place there.

The thick stench of blood turned Haines's stomach. Even his beloved horse kept snorting uneasily.

"Damn it! Why did this squad of Imperial Guard Legion soldiers fight so stubbornly? All their allies had fallen back, yet they gritted their teeth and kept fighting us. How did they hold out to the last man?"

Viscount Haines spoke through clenched teeth. To take a camp held by just one squad, the Second Legion had committed an entire battalion.

In his drive for speed, the Second Legion had suffered more than twice the casualties it had inflicted. Most of the bodies on this tiny battlefield wore Iron Birch Territory uniforms.

Unease stirred in Haines's heart. After attacking the forward camp, he had discovered that its layout bore no resemblance to the intelligence previously sent back by Northern Alliance Army spies.

Several small camps had been added to the duchy's forward camp. Their layouts were much the same: walls within walls, trenches between them, and sharpened stakes planted along the trench bottoms. More than half his casualties had come from breaching those