Loccy stopped before three tiers of shield-walls blocking the evacuation road across the western ridge.
One hundred and twenty elite palace guards in polished mail coats formed an impenetrable phalanx across the highway.
Their tall shields were anchored into the bedrock with expanding iron spikes, blocking the valley evacuation corridor completely.
Behind the overlapping protective rims, seventy enchanted pikes bristled like the quills of an enraged, deadly porcupine.
"Hold the line and impale any peasant who steps into the clearing!" the phalanx commander bellowed from the center file.
"The duke promised fifty gold pieces for the head of every rebel squad leader!"
"Show these filthy commoners what real imperial military discipline looks like!" another noble lieutenant shouted with arrogant laughter.
"They won a few skirmishes in the mud, but our shield-wall has stood unbroken for three centuries!"
