The Mercenaries

"Alright, Lawrence?" Fatty looms out of the fog like an iceburg. "Have an oat cake. It also has mushrooms. Here take two for the road.

"Nice horse. Hah!" He feeds the beast an oat cake.

 

“Wow. He did not even wake up. “

Because it was getting very late, it was time for them to go to their beds as well. Yes. Tomorrow was going to be a long and hard day, so they needed their sleep.

It was 5:30, when Eadgar awoke from his deep slumber. Half awake, he went out of bed and washed his face and body with cold water. Oh, man. That is better. After he had dressed, he took a hearty breakfast in the kitchen. Mmm. Sausages, baked eggs, water and bread. When he had finished his breakfast, he began to do his exercises with his sword.

At 6:55 am, he went to the Federation Office to meet the others there.

“Good morning everyone.”

 

"Eadgar! Oat cakes!" He hands out a few of his trail-rations.

"Say, where's Che? He didn't break his neck last night, did he?"

 

While he had a hearty breakfast, the exercises with the sword have made him hungry again. Therefore, he takes the Oak Cakes.

“Mmm. Taste good.” Eadgar says after he eats one of them.“

"Oh. Don't worry, Che is all right. Snoring like a cat. Before I did my exercises, I went to look at him. Just in case.”

 

Battered and bruised from his fall, Che meets his team mates with a big grin on his face.

"Howdy lads, we ready to do this thing?"

Che proceeded to stretch out, he was feeling tight all morning.

"So anyone know why I was sleeping in a wagon this morning?"

 

"So anyone know why I was sleeping in a wagon this morning?"

“I can tell you that. Did you know that you fell last night from the roof, right on that wagon? Yes, you did. You did not even wake up. We kept you sleeping there, because we did not want to wake you up.”

 

Che shrugged his shoulders and claimed it was just a test. He leaned on a wall and straightening his armour, if you of course you could even call it that.

"So how long until this geezer shows up?"

 

After presenting their contract to Jorunn, Lawrence rejoined the group outside the Federations Office and gave them a quick rundown. The caravan would be assembled and ready at the East Bridge within the hour, and would roll out at 9 o'clock. That didn't leave much time for dilly dally, so they mounted up and set off across town.

- - -

The first day on the job was uneventful. The caravan consisted of three wagons, each carrying a merchant, a laborer and a load of tradegoods. One of the merchants, clearly the most successful of the bunch, was accompanied by a personal bodyguard. Eleven souls in all, plus five horses and three oxen.
The East Road paralleled the shore of Lake Gran for the most part. It was a decent road and they set a good pace, reaching the outskirts of the woodlands that marked the boundary of Granwald province before stopping for the night. The sun was low over Lake Gran when they dismounted and set about making camp.

 

Having presented herself to the guard, Cecile, Sarah made her way towards the cave in which Karls gang had made their headquarters. She had only worked with Karl twice, and thus didn't know him all that well, but she had heard rumors. Karl and his bandits had all once been part of the militia, the rumor said, but had killed an officer and deserted.

When she enters the cave, she immediately spots Karl where he sits on a fur, sharpening his blade. He's a bit scary; it has something to do with his eyes. She greets him and he looks up from his work.

"What's it this time, Sarah?" he says.
"Another caravan, rougly ten people. Easy-peasy for you and your troop."
"I see. And when did they leave Granhaven?"
"Just recently. They should come across your turf in two days or so."
"Good, good. What about security? Are they armed?"
"Well..."
"Out with it."
"There are people from the company with them."
"Sarah..."
"B-but they're probably rookies! I mean, they look like it anyway. And there's only four of them."
"... Good. Great. I was getting restless anyway. You can stay with us 'til it's been taken care of. We'll start with the traps in the morrow. You can go fetch Cecile and the other four and tell them I want a word with them."
"Sure, Karl. Right away."
"And Sarah?"
"Yes, Karl?"
"Good job as usual."
"Thanks, Karl."

Sarah leaves the cave and goes towards Cecile, a smile upon her face. That caravan didn't stand a chance, and easy money was good money.

 

"Well lads, we're into the woods now, time to be ready, eh?"

He squints at his companions in turn.

"Eadgar needs to scout the trail from now, reporting back every hour. That means twice the marching, so the rest can take the night watch. Che, you take first shift, til 8, then I'll take watch til 2, and you take over til dawn, Lawrence. Everyone got it?"

Fatty prepares some leftover gumbo over the fire, surprisingly tasty but mysterious. He takes the time to sharpen all the weapons in the group but goes straight to sleep early, ready for the miserable graveyard shift.

Fatty's second rule of soldierin': Sleep whenever you can.

 

It is starting to get a bit wee colder, when Eadgar begins to start to scout the area. Because, you will never know what is out there. He is responsible for the safety for the merchants and his fellow mercenaries. So he had to secure the direct area. It would not surprise him, that those outlaws are watching their every move now.

At first hand everything looks very peaceful, but he knows better. Because of his gut feelings he lies tripwires and kind of alarms around the camp, to prevent someone to sneak behind their backs.

After he finishes the job, he goes back to the camp and tells 'fatty' about the area. He also tells him, that he placed tripwires and alarms to prevent people to sneak attack them. Just in case.

 

"Nice work, now sleep! That's an order, soldier. You're on extra rations too, 'cause I'm counting on you to run twenty miles for every ten we march from tomorrow.

"Have a swig o' scrumpy, soldier."

The next day, a routine of scouting and reporting is established, with a fireside debriefing at every meal about the terrain ahead and the likely places for an ambush.

 

Che began his watch, he paced up and down the campsite. Everyone was sound asleep as far as he could tell, hopefully his watch would be uneventful. He took this time to take a seat and whittle a flute that he had been working on for the past week. His lack of skill was evident as he hadn't progressed much however this did not stop him from trying. Patience is a virtue and Che demonstrated he had plenty of it. Whistling as he whittled away he made sure he wasn't too loud as to wake any of his team mates. He thought it was quite strange that everyone went to bed early in all honesty, his shift only being till 8pm.

As time passed Che studied the caravan crew, there was only one female, a shame really. He remembered their very brief conversation during the day. He remembered her name was Caity, she was small in stature, almost sickly wkith bright orange hair. She found him annoying she had said, something to do with his fun nature and carefree attitude.

 

Fatty is unsurprised to find Che whistling under a tree when he ought to have been vigilant... that's why he gave the lad the least important shift.

A few caravaneers were still up and about when Fatty's bladder-clock had woken him at 7:45... another soldierin' trick. Enough time to give Che a lecturette on shape, shadow, shine and SILENCE... the four S's of keeping watch... before taking over.

Fatty keeps time in his head with an old drinking song, moving around the camp every third repetition... about twenty minutes. He keeps his bulk hidden in shadow and makes sure he keeps his night vision as he skirts the campfires.

After four hours he has circled the camp twice, quietly enough to tiptoe past the same hedgehog twice.

"Lawrence! Yer up, mate!" Fatty whispers at 2am. "Nothin' to report, but one hedgehog Nor-nor-west o' here. Hah!" He gives Lawrence a few more oat cakes and falls directly asleep.

 

"These oat cakes are awful..." Lawrence thought, as he gobbled them down anyway.

He was sitting with his back to a tree on the outskirts of the camp. It was nearly dawn, the sky was beginning to lighten. He stood up, brushed the crumbs from his chest, picked up his staff and held it over his head in both hands, stretching stiff muscles. He leaned to the left and heard his joints popping, the to the right. Once he felt sufficiently limber he twirled the staff, tossed it spinning into the air and caught it by one end, then swung it sword-like in a cross-wise slash. It made the expected whooosh as it made its arc, but met resistance on the follow-through, accompanied by a meaty THACK! and a muffled scream.

Lawrence looked to his right and saw an unfamiliar man falling to the ground, spitting up teeth, and dropping a short sword from his upraised hand. He stood there for a shocked moment, then screamed, "ALAAAAAAAARM!!!"

 

It was getting late. Nearly 6 am. However, Eadgar was already awake for a long time. Yes. He knew that Che is a good and a capable soldier, but he still wants to make sure that everyone was safe. Therefore, he wandered through the woods to double-check the area and his traps and alarms. After some hours checking them, he suddenly heard a scream.

"ALAAAAAAAARM!!!"

How in the world did they get past his traps? He thought and ran quickly to investigate. When Eadgar came there, he saw an unfamiliar man lying on the ground.

“He is probably not alone; I hope that that the traps will weaken or take out the others, before they come any closer.”

Then a couple of his traps went off.

Edit: Fixed grammar and stuff.

 

Fatty goes from snoring on his back to shouting on his feet in less than a second.

The caravans are already parked defensively, with the merchants sleeping underneath, but Fatty bellows like a wounded bull anyway, on general principles.

He hauls Che to his feet with one hand, and draws a stubby short sword with the other.

He stands beside Che, guarding the caravans as well as the younger mercenary. From the undergrowth, the sounds of confusion and combat follow Lawrence and Eadgar.

 

"Blaaaashee fudging...... Huh, whats going on?" Che mumbled after being pulled out of a deep sleep. Noticing everyone in alert and Fatty ready with his sword Che stumbled and fumbled to gather his sword and shield. In a defensive stance he scanned his surroundings.

"Hey Fatty whats going on?"

 

As Eadgar moved silently into the wood line, Lawrence ducked back behind the tree he had so recently been reclining on. He took a moment to appraise the situation, peering into the shadows and looking for any additional attackers. He thought he could make out some movement nearby.
He heard the twang of a bowstring, followed by a heavy Thunk as a bolt struck the tree and stuck quivering in a thick limb. Crossbow. The marksman would be reloading now.

Lawrence took a deep breath, then lunged for the dropped short sword. His hand found the hilt, and without stopping to aim he hurled the sword toward the bush where he suspected his assailant was hiding. It flew wide of the mark, but had the desired effect. There was another twang, and the bolt whistled ineffectually into the branches above. Having disrupted his opponent's attack, Lawrence then charged, staff held spear-like before him. He zeroed in on the marksman's location, and reached him just as his sword was clearing its sheath. The marksman managed to deflect the staff, but Lawrence followed through with his shoulder and sent the man sprawling.
Unfortunately, Lawrence also lost his footing and landed hard, knocking the wind from his lungs. He rolled onto his back, gasping for air, and saw that his assailant was already regaining his feet and recovering his sword. Just when Lawrence was beginning to think this was going to end badly, Eadgar appeared dashing from the shadows and slashing with his sword.

The marksman died quickly and messily. There was a great deal of blood.

 

It was chaos all around, bandits coming from all directions, Che and fatty stood there gazing over the surroundings. Suddenly from his right side Che noticed a man with a large two-handed sword charge at him. Without even thinking Che lifted his shield to deflect the swing, the assailant pulled the sword over his head ready to swing again when Che instinctively stepped forward and slammed his shield into the bandit. One, two, three times the shield smashed the bandit who had lost his balance, seeing an opening Che thrust his sword straight into the chest of the man. Shaken up after his first kill he froze and thought what had he done.

Che turned to Fatty who looked to have his own hands full, thinking back on his training he remembered one fundamental step to a solid defense.

"Fatty" He yelled, "back to back!"

Closing the gap between fatty and himself, he turned his back to Fatty's, this would allow both of them to focus on any enemies in front of them. Another bandit holding two short swords attacked Che, all he could do was block with his shield and occasionally swing his sword however the assailant proved to be too quick for Che's counterattacks. Che was outclassed and he had no idea what to do.