The Halaima Pass had transformed since Stella's last visit.
The men seemed restless. And, well, they were much fewer in numbers, too.
With the Royal Garrison gone, the Rogue Rejects, and Konrad's militia had to take over the defense. They were much less organised and equipped, but seemed like a motivated bunch.
And at the very least, they didn't have to fight the king's men before they left.
That would have been a disaster.
Since they went against the highest orders, it wasn't out of the question. Their only saving grace was that the king feared Konrad after that apocalyptic duel.
He'd let the nomads pass, but didn't want an internal conflict with his strongest duke.
And he had no idea that both Konrad and Maple were gone. Yet.
At least that was Stella's guess. She was familiar with deception and this kind of power play.
And for the rest, she had Helena take care of it.
The princess wanted to fight, but she was more useful negotiating than on the battlefield.
Not that Stella had any idea how to set up her men or what they even needed here.
The main force still carried spears, forming a shield wall at the narrowest part of the road.
She had nothing to do with that; it was still Bor's doing.
Barricades around the barracks and at the bottleneck, but only temporary stuff.
Again, the men-at-arms did that on their own.
And they had to.
They needed all the advantage they could get against the superior nomadic forces.
They had fewer men to cover the pass, but what they lacked in spears, they made up for in archers. Tribesmen, the Church used to have a hard time with, but now, under her command.
At least in theory.
"Lady Stella, the enemy is approaching," Bor reported. She'd rather he drop that Lady part, but he took that from Eyna. Not the sneer, though, he was still not fond of her at all.
He didn't try to hide it, either.
"Are our men ready?" Stella asked, climbing the uneven stairs of the barracks.
"Ready as they can be," the tribesman nodded, tapping his chest. "We have two hundred bows on the ridge behind cover, and eighty spears in the way."
Sounded great on paper, but the nomads had many more.
And that was only their vanguard.
"You sure you want to take command?" Bor asked as they reached the top of the building.
"What other choice do I have?" Stella turned the question around with a sigh.
She felt a surge of confidence back in the office, and even the voices encouraged her.
But now? Standing over the battlefield?
She had no idea what she was doing.
"Well, I'm here, My Lady," the lieutenant noted, almost spitting the last part. "I have led these men before. Couldn't interrogate them as well as you, but—"
"Save your digging for the enemy," Welf interrupted, appearing behind them.
The redheaded blacksmith was swimming in his own sweat, pausing for breath.
While he leaned forward to rest on his knees, another towering figure appeared by his side.
"The reports were accurate," he said, panting. "They're approaching on foot. In two minutes, we should be able to see them, too. Spearmen and archers. About a thousand. It'll be ugly."
Archers. And they, too, had those superior nomadic bows.
How well could their shield wall hold against them? And their own archers?
"What did you mean by behind cover?" Stella turned to Bor again. She ignored his earlier suggestion for now. The tribes had every reason to hate her, after all. "Will they be safe?"
"Safe?" the man scoffed. "As safe as you can be on a battlefield."
"We got this," Welf claimed, straightening his back, shooting a glare at his peer. "We have fought with worse odds before. Not without Konrad, but—"
He let his voice trail off, but Stella no longer paid attention.
That knight by his side was no tribesman.
And even after the blacksmith stood upright, he was still almost a head taller than him.
It wasn't the first time she saw him, but his name—
"If you need help with formations or commands, Kade is your man," the redhead said. "He learned everything from Count Rolalt Del, and he's not hopeless with the blade, either."
Now, she didn't have to ask. The towering man bowed, his heavy armor clinking.
His face remained impassive, but for some reason—
This scared her more than the tribes' open hostility.
It seemed like Konrad had some powerful men at his disposal, too, on top of his harem.
"Kade Enpe," the knight introduced himself as well. "At your service, Lady Stella Nord."
"Right," she said with a sharp nod, getting chills from his empty voice.
So official, so cold. Was he even human?
The voices started buzzing inside her head, but this was not the time to get distracted.
"Will there be reinforcements?" she asked, scanning the distance as the first nomadic formation finally appeared. "I mean for them. I know that this is all we have already."
Welf sighed. She put him in charge of scouting.
"It's hard to sneak past them here, and I'm still waiting for some reports, but—yes. A lot more will be coming," he claimed. "So far, their formations are piecemeal, so there's that."
"Without Maou Midori, they don't have a unified leadership," Bor added.
Not that they did. In theory, Stella took command, but she had no idea what she was doing.
And the tribesmen knew this—or disliked her anyway. If she brought Eyna with her—
No, she wasn't a strategist, either.
And she had more issues with the men she actually brought along.
"Where is Nimrod Erwinsson?" she asked, not wanting to deal with him at all. Not after their duel, she didn't even remember. But it broke the poor bastard almost beyond repair.
"In Gabrielle's carriage," Welf reported. "I passed him on my way here, and he was—"
"Our Konrad replacement was not as excited about this battle as we had hoped," Bor claimed in a fake official tone. "None of his replacements seems to be any good."
That damned lieutenant would have died if he couldn't dig at her at least once every minute.
Stella sighed, her eyes following the enemy formation.
"As long as he doesn't say anything stupid, we should be fine. He's here, looking like his twin. That's all we need," she said. "His powers won't be necessary."
If it came down to it, she could've syphoned every nomad's lifeforce away in one fell swoop.
The fact that she could do it terrified her more than anything.
But after that, she'd have to face both their spellcasters and the Church's retaliation.
As long as they could win without Stella doing her worst, she'd rather not go that far.
"Good, you're confident," Welf noted with a somewhat forced smile. "I'm sure Liliske wasn't talking out of her ass when she put you in charge. You've got this."
No, he misunderstood—
But, well, if they thought she was capable, that was already half the battle.
And the other half?
With the nomads drawing their bows and charging in with a warcry, it was about to begin.