Horse hooves slammed into the ground, the beast moving at top speed. On its back rode a hussar. The sounds of gunshots rang out in the distance.

This made the cavalryman try to urge his animal on faster.

The night air whipped at his face. He felt the saddle buck up and down under his legs. His horse took heavy breaths as it got increasingly tired from its exertion.

Soon, the hussar reached a checkpoint where others were waiting with a fresh horse. The man jumped off his animal, giving it a chance to rest, before getting on another. He rode this one just as hard and fast.

Up in the air, the moon still hung high when the hussar reached Castle Concord. He rushed up to the gate where some of the mercenaries hired to guard the wedding noticed him. One of them looked down from the walls before calling out.

"Who goes there?"

"A hussar in service to Lady Eris Haps..." he realized the wedding would be done by now and corrected himself. "...Lady Eris Concord. I was one of the men she hired to guard the border passes."

The mercenary on the walls nodded.

"She told us about you lot. What news do you bring?" he asked.

"An army's marching here, trying to ambush us in the night! The others are holding them off, but they can only do so much!"

The mercenary on the walls cursed.

"Damnations! And while Marshal Staufer's here, too?" he shook his head. "I'll tell the lords right away!"

He rushed off to the solar as fast as he could. There, Count Concord was reading a book. The nobleman was trembling with bits of excitement from the wedding, unable to get to sleep. His attention turned to the mercenary when he entered the room.

"Your Excellency, there's an army coming this way!"

With a slight sigh, Count Concord stood up.

"I dislike it when a Hapsburg is right about anything," he closed the book shut hard. "Well, I suppose she is a Concord now, but she is a Hapsburg by blood."

The calm attitude the nobleman showed calmed the mercenary down. Seeing his superior not panicking like this sent reassurance flowing through his body.

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"What are your orders, Your Excellency?" the mercenary asked.

"Wake up the heavy cavalry, no one else. I will not have the bride and groom or our wedding guests' sleep be disrupted by something as minute as this," Count Concord answered.

He started walking to his quarters.

"I will show these pitiful invaders why I am the Lord of House Concord despite the many attempts on my life. If they intend to take Concord land, they will get six feet of it."

In less than 20 minutes, Count Concord was in full armor in front of his castle. Pistols were strapped to his belt and chest with a trumpet accompanying them. A large contingent of heavy cavalry was with him. Glancing at the sky, the noble noted that it was still far from dawn.

He then glanced at the men before him, turning to them. Count Concord did as single ride up and down the ranks as he spoke.

"Speeches are not something I am familiar with, and you lot are mercenaries anyway," Count Concord said. "So, I will only say this: I'm paying you double today."

With that, a great cheer came up from the ranks of the cuirassiers. Count Concord started riding with the others behind him. In the twenty minutes before he arrived there, the noble did a few calculations.

If the army hadn't been detected before they even reached the hussars, it must have been a small force for stealth. After finding men waiting for them, their morale would already be weak.

Count Concord also gathered information from the hussar before he departed. The enemy was coming in from the East. That meant it was ideal to attack them before dawn.

Even with his calculations, chances are that the heavy cavalry Count Concord gathered wouldn't be enough to kill all the enemies. However, he didn't need to kill them all.

As Count Concord travelled on, he heard the sound of gunshots in the distance. His cavalry had moved at a trot rather than going at maximum speed so their horses wouldn't get too tired. Despite hearing battle ahead, the mercenaries were disciplined enough to keep their calm pace.

The sight of violence came into the count's vision eventually. Up ahead was a pike formation with a screen of hussars and arquebusiers within their ranks. Already, the infantry had formed up, and Count Concord could see Eris' hussars skirmishing with the enemy light cavalry. Many dead men and horses were on the ground; the count doubted that the invaders had taken the majority of losses.

Still, the fact that the infantry had been held in place by the hussars was an encouraging sight.

Count Concord pulled out the trumpet and blew into it. Everyone could hear it over the gunfire, and its noise signaled to his heavy cavalry that now was the time to speed up.

They moved from a trot to a gallop, drawing their pistols in the process. The heavy cavalry charged right towards the enemy infantry. While they weren't close enough for their pistols to do any real damage, Count Concord blew the trumpet again, and the mercenaries drew and fired their weapons.

Their sounds of gunshots combined with the thunder of hooves, the blasting of the trumpets, and the sudden arrival of heavy cavalry to create a devastating effect to the enemies' morale.

Despite being armed with pikes and numerous enough to hold off the cavalry charge, the already shaken infantry broke and fled. The arquebusiers followed them. Seeing their comrades fleeing, the enemy hussars soon did the same.

Yet, Count Concord was not done yet.

He and his men fired into the backs of the fleeing infantry, shooting close enough that they put their pistols right on the backplates. Blood stained the ground.

When they ran out of pistols to shoot, the cavalry drew their swords and charged forward with them. The battle turned into a massacre. And the wedding guests slept unaware of the combat unfolding.

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