Prelude of Death

Third part of my marienburg series, the biggest chapter so far and probably most entertaining one.

Enjoy!

Somewhere, above the tree line a crow landed on top of a pine. His dark feathers lustrous and reflecting the colour of the dusk and the last rays of light disappeared, slowly leaving the dark forest, and in a way, it seemed as if a shadow moved in from the east, the shadow of night. Minutes passed and the crow stood there, its intent obvious, its patience little. Finally, as in a last attempt for glory the blood red rays of the sun flashed, before being utterly conquered by the growing darkness. He cawed, tonight, there would be a feast.

Maya grumbled: she was tired, hungry. It had just started raining. "Not MY idea of an easy job..." she commented to herself while thinking of the Captain's words. She quickly enveloped her guns in waterproof bags, something she had learned from her years in Estalian mercenary companies. "Worse than jumping in front of an opponent, pressing the trigger and missing, is jumping in front of an opponent, pressing the trigger and nothing happening: then its death AND humiliation." was a common Estalian saying, but she was sure that although her companions had never been to Estalia-with the possible exception of one or two- they knew better than to let gunpowder get wet. Her legs hurt with the effort of just crouching in the middle of the woods for hours. Eventually she had decided to sit on a nearby tree root, yet it was too late, and already the pain made its way up her thighs. And now the rain was soaking her; she felt far from the warm bed she had been promised for the evening.

She looked at Maria to her side, who showed no signs of being tired, bored or anything at all, just watchful. For a few moments Maya stared at her, wondering just how this woman, who was comely enough, had chosen the mercenary path instead of whoring, or some other more dignifying job. She herself had her own reasons of course, but still she delved on it until enough time had passed for Maria to look back and cause an awkward silence followed by the barely audible question in the rain: "What?" "Oh, nothing, was just wondering." Maya quickly answered, thanking the lack of light which provided a poor vision or Maria would see her face blush. "Yes, I can see that, you were wondering about something, and I was in it." Maria said, with a tone of voice that demanded a quick answer. "Just wondering about your mercenary life and all..." she said, avoiding the whoring part, which Maya was sure would enrage the Tilean woman to the point of a slap. Maria grinned, obviously amused by something. "Well, I realize that it's not exactly what most people expect a woman to be doing, but as long as it puts food in your plate, you can't really complain. And, I admit that I like the adrenalin." Maya had once heard from Lorenz, that when Maria started talking, you better stuff your ears with cheese because she wouldn't stop anytime soon. And true to her reputation Maria did go on and on about the perils and benefits of the mercenary job. How she had been raised on a Tilean farm by her grandfather who taught her how to fight. Eventually she had left and met Lorenz, who she became friends with and after some years of fighting they had found Clark, who had created the small mercenary group. The story wasn't that interesting to Maya even more due to the fact that it resembled her own story in many ways, yet it did keep boredom away. Then out of curiosity she couldn't help but ask Maria: "Don't you ever feel guilty about all this? Killing people?" It was a question Maya often asked herself and she prayed that her daughter would never learn of how her bread was bought. Maria stopped and turned to face Maya, her dark eyes glinting in the night. She couldn't help but think of all the people for who those eyes had been the last thing they had ever seen. She turned away, unable to face those eyes. "Ah, you ask that question, but you fear it too." Maria's comment came, as cold and vicious as the dagger stuck in her belt. "Yet, I'll answer that question, you're a nice enough person, and I trust you won't be going around telling this to other people." The Tilean continued, which only roused Maya's curiosity even more. "There was one time, 8 years ago would be a guess, when our group had Jakob and Michael instead of you and Marvin. One day, we were starving, literally: the lack of war and conflicts in the past couple of years had allowed for a more constant patrolling of the areas in which we worked and so our jobs were getting harder until the offers just ceased to come. One day, we were at an inn on the side of the road near Nuln when a tall man, covered in a long leather coat and wearing a capotain hat opened the door not too subtle. He spoke in a clear and loud voice, filled with authority, asking for the services of "honest soldiers" with the promise of rewards. Suffice to say that half the inn offered itself. But since we were the only actual group there, we managed to beat our way to the front and the job was ours. We learned that he was a witch hunter and had found a couple living in a cottage near Drachenfels that were had been found guilty of heresy many years ago. He needed our help to seize them. In the middle of the night we burst through the frail door. The man put up a fight, picking up a woodcutter's axe and trying to hit Clark yet he was no match for the captain as he dodged the swing and plunged his own sword through the man's chest. The woman instantly fell to her knees next the body, crying and sobbing. To our surprise a boy appeared from the other room, about 12 or 13 years old was my guess seeing his size. The boy nimbly jumped at the witch hunter, punching and biting. Yet it was useless as he was grabbed and dragged outside by Jakob and Michael, who held him down, while the witch hunter burned a brand into his back, denouncing him as suspicious of heresy. A not so common practice but I'm guessing he just didn't want to kill the boy. He had no such qualms about the mother though as he went back inside and beat her half to death with all of us just looking. Then he proceeded to tie her to a chair and light the cottage on fire. The screams from the woman were enough to freeze your veins. It is useless to say that I deeply regret it but the money from that one job kept us alive for the next months." She sighed and for the first time in the past hour she didn't keep on talking until Maya asked: "What happened to the boy?" "Oh, we never found out, though Jakob said that-..." Maria suddenly stopped and quickly hushed Maya.

A moment passed, followed by another, while around them the forest seemingly stopped breathing together with them. Until the sound of an owl echoed through the forest: Rickard's sign that the convoy was here. Suddenly, at the end of the road visible to them, a light came into view and then another one until at least half a dozen lights lit a carriage with several soldiers carrying lamps. Their progress was slow with all the rain making the path muddy. Just for the best for the mercenaries yet rain also meant that they could only loose one shot as it was useless to try and recharge during rain. The carriage meanwhile was slowly moving towards the two of them. Maya remembered the plan: Maria and Maya would stay on this side of the road with Rickard farther down while Clark would be in the position opposite to them both, Lorenz would be with Marvin, both opposite to Rickard. Marvin would fire first, calling the attention of the guards to him and allowing for the other groups to move in silently in their rear. All seemed to be going according to plan as the carriage moved ever slowly towards the ambush until Maria and Maya heard a cough to their right.

There, barely 20 feet away from them, was a soldier: this one didn't have a lamp, which together with the rain and darkness accounted for how he managed to get so near. He was moving ever closer to the forest but clearly wasn't aware of them. Yet if he got any closer, he would soon stumble on one of the women. The two of them held their breath as they unsheathed their daggers and took out their pistols, still covered in their waterproof bags. Luckily the man stopped just before he got within 10 feet, and proceeded to lower his trousers and relief himself. But in one of fate's cruel jokes Maya slipped from her now wet root and fell backwards. Even with the rain this was enough for the man to hear and he quickly lifted his trousers. He cocked his head towards the noise, trying to listen. He was close then and as he got even closer, Maria had hid herself behind a bush catlike. There was no way out for Maya since she was still on her back on the ground. Luckily enough the man -who was now only 5 feet away- still didn't see her. The man looked around and asked: "Who's there?" To which there was no reply as Maya prayed for him not to look down. What seemed like an eternity passed and at last with a grumble, he was about to turn away when her hand snapped a twig and this time, he did look down.

His eyes grew with astonishment and his lips quickly opened to utter a sentence of warning when Maria lunged forward, slashing the dagger at his throat. Once again the gods were cruel as she missed, leaving only a small cut on the side of his neck. Maria lost her balance, falling on the other side of Maya. The man quickly backed up and shouted words unclear to Maya. She started to point her gun at him while she was sure that these were not the words that would help him, for his shout was still unfinished as her response reached him: a swift response, with weight behind it, precisely 100 grams of metal and gunpowder. Maya grit her teeth trying hard not to curse aloud as the soldier's body fell back. Everything seemed to be spiralling out of control and chaos reigned around her as she saw on the other side of the road that guns roared and men drew swords.

The two of them quickly moved from the forest to the road, Maria's guns firing and hitting one of the men near the carriage on the chest while the rest moved towards them. The plan had literally been reversed with the soldiers now moving towards the two of them instead of towards Lorenz and Marvin. Ten soldiers were all there seemed to be, twelve if they counted the two Maria and Maya had dispatched. Eight as two men were dispatched by the gunfire from the mercenaries. But, no more fires were made as the two of them clashed with a group of four men and the rest was in their turn charged by Clark and Rickard with Lorenz and Marvin coming behind the carriage, unaware that there were two men on horses charging toward them.

Marvin heard the familiar sound of hooves and ducked just in time as a sword slashed just above his head, while Lorenz wasn't so lucky, only managing to dodge enough for the sword to hit his shoulder, luckily his leather armour protected him from the clumsy strike and they both moved to counter the threat. Clark moved fast, quickly closing the distance between him and two soldiers, he dispatched one without any difficulty at all by simply slashing him across the chest, the same couldn't be said about the other: he lunged at the Captain, yet he had expected this and he dodged, managing to save his own but not managing to save his coat which was ripped open by the sword. Clark quickly rose, pivoting on his right foot, turned around and stabbed his sword through the man's back.

Maria holstered one of the guns to grab her cutlass but all the while not slowing down. Men were moving fast towards her and she barely had time to deflect a blow with her machete. She ducked under the slash from the second soldier and stabbed him with her bayonet attached to her pistol. Maria quickly grabbed the dying man and lifted him in front of her as the second blow from the first soldier reached them, bursting through the man's back. She quickly released the body and grabbed the swords handle, preventing the soldier from drawing it clear. He quickly tried to unsheathe his dagger but not in time to save him from the descending machete which buried itself into his face.

Rickard swirled his hammer above his head, his huge impressive physique making for an imposing figure. One would believe him to be a priest of Sigmar if his head was shaven. The two men were faster but his reach was farther and a skull exploded as the hammer hit the unfortunate one direct on, the contents of his head splashing on the ground. The other man ducked a swing and slashed forward, but Rickard was expecting this, he was big, powerful, and slow, but by no means stupid, and a decade of fighting had thought him to get as close as possible to his enemy, without leaving any openings. As he backed up just enough for the slash to go without harming him, he proceeded to throw himself forward while dropping his hammer, quickly grabbing the man's wrist with one hand and his neck with the other arm. A quick twist and a cracking sound were enough to tell him the man wouldn't get up anymore.

Marvin turned around and with marksmanship threw a dagger at the man who had just tried to behead him. The dagger perfectly made its way through the air until it hit the man exactly in the back of the spine. He fell motionless from the horse which galloped away as quickly as possible. Lorenz, not possessing any weapons he could use at that distance simply ran towards the other man, who had turned the horse and was now charging again towards him. At the speed the horse was going towards him, it was amazing that he could even see the blade. He dodged to the left, letting the blade swing past his head and quickly swirled his body, slashing his sabre at the man's leg. With a scream, the soldier fell from his horse to the ground and quickly Lorenz jumped on top of him, delivering a blow of mercy.

Maya sidestepped a sword and just barely blocked another with her dagger. She was between two soldiers, and with only a gun and a dagger. She quickly pushed past the two and turned around, slashing the air around her with both weapons. One of the soldiers fell to the ground as a victim of her gun's handle, but the other quickly turned and kicked her vulnerable chest, sending her and her weapons sprawling across the ground. The man stepped on her, prepared to slash downwards on her when by instinct she kicked in the middle of his legs. The blow went off target, but managed to throw him off balance. Quickly regaining balance, he managed to keep her pinned down. He grit his teeth as he once again prepared to strike down, but he did not complete this move as surprisingly enough a blade cleanly passed through the middle of his chest, and he fell to the side. She looked up directly into Captain Clark's eyes. She did not know what she saw there but he was definitely not happy with her though as she accepted his help up.

She looked around and saw that the battle was over, the soldiers lying on the ground, not one of them only injured but all dead or mortally wounded. Her comrades though were all fine with the exception of fatigue and a bruise in Lorenz's shoulder. They were now moving towards the carriage to claim their goal: a book from their client's request and all else would be bonus. The carriage driver was nowhere to be seen, most likely fled during the fight was their assumption. Yet they made sure nobody had left the carriage itself.

Captain Clark signalled the others to stay near the carriage as he proceeded to open the door saying: "All right sir, if you would please just surrender your package -I believe you know what I speak of-, we will let you go your own way. No harm done unless you wish to end up as your dozen friends here outside, which I'm sure you don't-...." But he was cut short as the door burst open, hit his face and sent him to the ground. Maria who had been standing at his side quickly crouched to see to him, a mistake on her part. A man from inside quickly jumped to the ground, he was wearing clothes that denounced his wealth and stature, yet there was nothing of the fact lazy merchant they expected him to be, and to their surprise he drew a gun covered in a waterproof bag and pointed it down at Clark while he seized Maria by her hair and yanked her head back, Maya and Marvin were the only ones which still had loaded guns, and quickly they pointed them at the man. "NOBODY GODDAMN MOVE OR I'LL BLOW THEIR BRAINS OUT!" he shouted, alternating his gun between Maria and Clark, obviously undecided on his target. None of the mercenaries moved, they had never been in a situation like this and had been completely caught off-guard. The rain poured down on them: it was the only sound around them as each of them just stood there, waiting for the man's words. He moved his eyes back and forth, looking at each of them like a caged beast looks at its captors. For an instant his eyes locked with Marvin's and his mouth opened: no words came. Instead the back of his skull exploded, painting the carriage behind him in a gory red. They all looked at Marvin, the barrel of his gun smoking, while he looked back at them and with an indignant tone and a shrug he asked: "What?" Nobody was sure if they wanted to strangle him or thank him. Clark just rose to his feet and said: "We'll talk about it later, now on to business." He said, again climbing the steps up the carriage and proceeding inside. They heard him shuffle trough the cabin while they each traded looks obviously referring to Marvin until to their surprise they heard the Captain smash one of the wooden walls with his fist. "It's not here, it's NOT HERE! WHERE IN THE HELL IS IT?!"

Somewhere, a crow cawed.