Prelude of Death

Fourth part of my marienburg series, second to last, more detailed, but a bit smaller than the others. Though still a crucial part in the story.

Hope you like it!

Dawn. Somewhere close a dog barked, but like everything in the city, begging was of no use and taking was the only way to survive. Such thoughts did not matter to him now. All that mattered was the piece of paper in his hand, with an address scribbled on it. He stopped at a crossing and looked up. The rays of light were just becoming visible, reflecting off the golden rooftops of the buildings of the Marienburg finest and creating an amazing spectacle to those who cared to watch. Then he heard another noise and quickly looked around for its source. It was a different sound, not like barking, and only at the last moment did he realize it was a low growling coming somewhere behind him. To any observer, the movement the man made would have made them think the blade came out of nowhere, but experienced fighters would know better. Then the fragile truce which had seemingly been put on the former night was over, and once again blood ran on the streets of Marienburg.

Marienburg was behind them, not too far, but far enough. Maya felt uncomfortable in her saddle, and was constantly trying to find a better position. Problems which she saw her partners did not have, or simply ignored. Eventually, after several minutes of struggle, she resigned, and practically slumped in the saddle. She didn't quite like travel, though she didn't mind seeing new things, and even enjoyed it. A trait which she knew her daughter had inherited. Maya treasured the memories of her, and it would sometimes seem to her as if it was the only thing getting her trough the job. Thinking about her daughter and how from the time she could walk she became a danger, walking around the house, touching and grabbing everything, eager to discover a new world. Suddenly, a yell from ahead made her instinctively pull the reins. It might just as well have been a cannonball for the violence with which she snapped back to reality, which required her attention to an old man crossing the road.

She breathed in hard, the fresh country air helping her recall the whereabouts and her present status. Maya looked ahead again, and once again saw the road going on and on, the white bricks which composed it shining in response to the sunny day it presently was, until the road disappeared behind the beginning of a forest about half a dozen miles away. Her lungs hurt as she sighed, the pollution of the air in Marienburg had taken its toll on her, especially due to her southern origins, where the Estalians were proud of their open spaces and whose cities did not even get close to Marienburg's size, the most populated city in the Old World. The dust that was lifted from the carriages some miles away from the city was annoying enough though it could not be compared to that within the city, and she dared not remember the water that ran in the canals.

They were making slow progress, Maya noticed, due to the amount of carriages going in and out of the city, an amount that was normal in the morning and afternoon, times when the gates opened and closed. To her though the actually normal amount of traffic could be deemed as the most amount of people moving in one road only she had seen in her life. Here she saw two carriage owners arguing and shouting in a language she did not recognize but would guess Bretonnian. By the side of the road she saw multitudes of peasants and horseless people just passing trough, with occasional groups of beggars just standing or sitting down, their thin and frail bodies seeming even more so at the hot sun's care.

Her companions seemed unmoved or affected by anything of what was going around, and in that moment Maya was glad she had lived in Vizeaya for some time, which had given her familiarity with the environment in the cities. Though the same as the first time she entered Marienburg, it was taking all her might not to panic and run away in any direction which looked free of human traffic.

After these thoughts passed through her mind, it seemed as the world had gone silent, and she looked around to find herself and her companions already many miles ahead of the crowd of travelers and carriages which they had struggled to, and finally they had only open road ahead of them. "Pick up the pace people! We need to get by the Jolly Raft tonight or there goes our job!" Clark shouted at our group, his voice commanding as ever, and not one bit of hesitation. "And why should it?" Maya asked herself. "He's been doing this for his whole life." And then she gripped her reins tighter and off they went, Maya behind all of them, Marvin right ahead, then Lorenz, with Maria just a few feet to the left, Rickard in front of them both, and Clark at the head of the group.

Time went by, first minutes, then hours, and still there was no sign of change in the landscape. Still the rode went on and on, with green hills in the distance, the only differences were that there was now a forest on their right, and several patches of wood on their left. The sun had moved in the skies, and thankfully in Maya's opinion, it no longer shone down on them mercilessly, but rather helped them sustain the wind coming from the south, which was only worse with the fact that they were riding. But not for long would it be so, she noticed, for night was approaching, rapidly, and the sky was becoming darker, the clouds that had appeared during the day shone with a bright shade of red.

Again her thoughts were blank, and she forced herself to think of her daughter, but for some reason was not able to. Time seemed to go slowly for her, but she blamed it on her anxiety for this whole travel. She heard the wind blowing on the trees, now becoming abundant around them, and it reminded her of home. This made her look up, just in time to see an explosion of red light, the sun's last rays desperately trying to survive the arriving darkness, but were quickly dispatched. And in that moment, she heard a crow caw.

The darkness of the night surrounded them, and with it came a change in the party. One thing was to travel miles and miles by day in the plains, another was to travel miles and miles by night surrounded by a forest. Despite the wind she was able to hear the grumbling of her companions, the impatience and dissatisfaction at their delay. And for a moment she thought they were going to stop and turn around, going for the closest Inn, but as often happens with destiny, in the moment she was about to voice this Marvin yelled. "There! There are lights over there!" were his words while he pointed in a direction, and sure enough there were lights.

They slowed down their pace, and after a couple hundred feet another road appeared, leading away from the main one and into the woods. Though as they made their way trough they were able to see that just ahead there was a clearing and beyond the wooden palisade of a town. As they approached a wooden gate, which was pretty much a section of the palisade with a large wooden door. Looking above they saw two sentinels, both holding torches, and at the moment they saw their party one of them turned around and shouted something, which Maya noticed was in Reikspiel, which meant they were now in Empire territory.

From behind the palisade came several different sounds and noises, one was the running of several people it seemed, and quickly the palisade above showed about two dozen men, standing with spears and guns. The other sound was one Maya hadn't heard the whole day, the sound of water. For it seemed this was one of the settlements built by the shore of the river Reik, and lived with the trade between Marienburg and Altdorf.

The men above seemed nervous, and as the party approached a voice was heard ordering the man to point their weapons. With several rifles and pistols pointed at them, they continued making their way to the gate, slower now, and Maya kept her hand close to her pistol, knowing she would never be able to use her rifle quickly enough. It seemed as if at any moment someone would fire, but such moment did not come. Clark rose his hand, signaling the party to stop, and then he dismounted, and approached the gate alone.

A small window opened in the large wooden doors, and Clark approached it. The talk between him and the gatekeeper was brief, and ended normally. With Clark handing over a small pouch which surprisingly enough sounded like it had money inside. "I'll be coming back in a couple of hours. Don't hold your breath though." He said to them as the door creaked and opened, letting him inside. With a loud bang it closed, and there they were, at night, cold, hungry, bored, and with two dozen nervous peasants pointing their guns at them. "This is going to be a long wait..." Was the only thought on Maya's mind as she dismounted and lay against one of the nearby lonely trees between the palisade and the forest.

Time went by once again, and the moon appeared in the skies, adding some light to that given by the two torches on the palisade. Suddenly Maya woke up, realizing she had fallen asleep. She looked around herself, and saw that everything was still in its place. The horses were still there, having some well deserved rest. Her group of companions was all gathered 20 or so feet from her around a small campfire. The fire crackled and danced as she approached the small circle as Lorenz was just finishing. "...so that will be pretty much what I'll do when I finish this job, what about you Maria?" "Ah," she started saying in an unusually friendly tone. "..Ill finally settle down and buy that small little farm I've always wanted. Just down the road from where I grew up and used to play. Then I'll find myself a nice enough and honest man and I'd call it an even score with life." Silence arrived as she finished stating her honest and simple wish; one all of them wanted deep down, and for some reason Maya had an ominous feeling about all of them. Luckily, Rickard broke the silence with his rough voice enquiring Marvin. "What about you Marv? What you reckon you'll do?" and everyone looked at him. The way he became nervous was palpable, and he could but utter. "Uh...Well I..." "AH! I bet he'll spend his whole share on the first whore house eh? That's Marv for you!" Rickard said, which released most of the tension in those moments and made us all laugh. All but Marvin himself, whose cheeks you could see were turned red even at that light. "What about you Maya? What you think you'll do? Go back to your daughter?" Maria enquired, to which I opened my mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the sudden open of the gates.

Captain Clark came towards them, his pace quick and somewhat nervous, which was also in his voice. "Everybody, leave the horses and all besides the guns and blades, we're going by foot from here." Everyone proceeded to get their weapons, while curiosity took the best of Maya. "Is it very far?" The Captain never replied.

He was tired, very tired, and right before his shift was suppose to end he was called to investigate a report. "A report about a dead dog..." Were his thoughts, while he mumbled and cursed whoever thought he should have been the one to send over to investigate. It seemed to him as if being a Sergeant of the Black Caps offered no real compensations. And yet, he could not help but wonder. There was nothing unusual about the death of a canine, though it was strange when this death occurred at the doors of a house which had been in the Black Cap records many times before, with suspicions of espionage for the empire. It had even been put forth that this house served as a point where spies left names of important Marienburgers for the Empire to kill. But such theory had never been proven.

Finally, he reached the place. It was Paleisbuurt, one of the richest sections of the city, and yet the dog had the look of any regular street animal. He sighed, and turned to one of the Black Caps standing nearby. "When did you find this?" "About an hour ago sir, one of the passerby's noticed the blood on the sidewalk." He answered in the nervous manner only cadets did. "And did anybody move him?" "No sir, it is as we found him." "Good, you can leave now." He said, not in a discussion tone, in a commanding tone. It seemed strange to him that the animal had bled this much he thought, as he kneeled besides it and checked the wound. Then, he touched something familiar, and kneeling down a bit more reached with his hands inside it and with some resistance he tore out something hard, something which had stuck to the bone of the dog. He lifted the small object and wiped the blood with his glove. It was a blade, with the initials RV on it. "Interesting" he thought to himself, reminded of something. Suddenly, he heard a crow, and looked up, but quickly dismissed it. "There are no crows in Marienburg." were Gustav's thoughts.