XXVII

                                    

                                          
Armies under red and white flags lined up at the walls of North Hill in the hours around noon. Their pennants flew from afar and the soldiers gave out loud shouts cheering them on to the impending battle. At the same time, at the side of a hill exuberantly covered with spring purple crocuses, the rebel leaders were thinking and panicking about how to fend off a crushing attack from two sides.
            The situation was worse than hopeless. Before Magnar could get his men into battle formations, Jarl Thea and Jarl Olaf decided to send a messenger to Jarl Knut, who manned the hill with his men. A few people walking with a white flag as a sign of their willingness to talk to the "sunny leader" were fired upon warningly by archers. It was clear by then that Knut did not intend to negotiate with the rebels. After all, he had every right to do so, because the ruler of the sunny castle had gathered under his banners one and a half thousand men, who, combined with two thousand of Magnar's soldiers waiting on the other side of the crocus valley, together possessed an overwhelming force. 
            Two and a half thousand rebels surrounded by three and a half thousand allied enemy troops would be slaughtered to the ground. Rainer did not know of a case in which any army with far fewer soldiers would be able to come out of the encirclement winning the battle. He didn't know, because such a case probably never existed and never will.
            Although the rebels cut off communication between Knut and Magnar, the former Jarl did not have to get along with the sinister fox at all. From this beautiful hill, adorned with fairy-tale crocuses, he had an ideal position to observe the maneuvers of the two sides in the conflict. 
            - We won't go through the forest either. - Announced Thea chiseling with a branch in the remnants of the snow, on which a plan of the area was drawn up. - As soon as we move in that direction, Knut will send us to the sand with the archers.
            - Let's attack Magnar from the flank and try to break through towards South Port. - Olaf suggested while wiping his forehead of sweat.
- Magnar will drive us away. - Said a completely shattered Rainer. - Even with an extra thousand soldiers we would not defeat his forces. They are too well armed and trained. We could only win through the element of surprise....
            Agape carefully and nervously walked around the rebel leaders with her hands shaking from nerves. What completely did not surprise Rainer was the fact that the woman wore deer antlers on her head and put white makeup on her face. It turns out that even someone of Agape's character is panicky about death and does everything to survive. After all, if she was taken for a druid there was less danger of one of the soldiers piercing her insides.
            - So maybe you should attack Knut's weaker forces? - Suggested the doe, biting her nails nervously. - You have the advantage. You will defeat him and escape over the hill.
            - We would have to have at least twice as large an army to successfully defeat the enemy occupying the hill. - Replied Rainer rather unemotionally, who was now crouching near the ground and playing with his fingers with the crocus he had picked earlier.
            - So what? - Asked the doe in a panic. - Is it over?
            - Not while we are alive. - Olaf replied rather optimistically.
            - Not much of a consolation. - Thea spoke up with a heavy voice.
            - Let's face it. - Said Rainer suddenly, without lifting his gaze. - You trusted me and I let you down. I led you straight to the funeral pyre.