The Broken Kingdom

Chapter 17

Alex tapped her foot impatiently outside of the bar, with Connor at her side. Goat had gone in to buy 5 bottles of mead and 4 of beer, but he hadn't returned in 10 minutes and neither Alex or Connor had the patience to deal with it. They were planning to grab the bottles of liquor and head back to their camp, pack the bedrolls up into their individual packs, and leave. They were leaving on a mission to take out some beasts, this time in stead of Breadin it was rouge vampires. You had to be careful with them, a couple bites and you could be either dead or a vampire like them. But unlike their werewolf cousins, they prefer to fight with magic instead of teeth and claws. Alex's patience had thinned, Connor smiled to himself, if Goat didn't come in the next minute he'd be hearing about this all week.

"Connor stay out her I'm getting that idiot!" Alex sighed.

Connor gave a simple nod and watched Alex trample into the building. Goat was sitting on a bar stool with a mug of rum mixed with some type of berry and a little honey. He was smiling and laughing, chatting with the bartender and some of the local farmers Connor had met. Alex gritted her teeth and jabbed Goat in the back. He swung around to face whoever had poked him, and got a guilty smile as soon as he saw it was Alex.

"Goat we've got to go NOW."

Goat didn't put up a fight he followed straight after Alex, and they marched home. Chance had a neutral face, though impatience was written all over it. She didn't ask questions, but telling by Alex and Connor's mildly annoyed faces she caught on quick. They all packed individually, bed rolls first, than clothes, after that was shields, daggers, and swords. Connor was the only one in the group who had a dagger, though he never used it. The rest used other weapons, Chance's favorite was a bow, though she was good with shorter swords too. Goat used a sword and shield, and didn't know much about anything else. Alex used a rapier, two occasionally, double wielding was a hard thing to do, and to Alex's benefit she knew a little on how to do it. Connor's personal sword was a blade that was sharp on either side, and had a purplish tint to it. The grip was black, and the guard was too. The guard curved down the slightest, for looks. It had a jewel in between the guard and the blade, black again. The jewel was lined with a little silver, that traveled farther up the blade and made the shape of a shrunken. He had saw it at a market stall, it belonged to an old man who used to be an adventurer. Connor looked around their camp, it seemed perfect, now more of just tents and an unused firepit. He threw his pack onto his back, and stood around waiting for his friends to finish their packing.

----------------------

Alex led the group, like usual, she had pulled out her map and marked where their destination was. Fairly far, a day's journey there and another back. They'd have to scout out the camp before striking, if it was over 20 they usually thinned it down to 20. Fighting vampires was a first for all of them, for many days everyone had heard tales of the vampires saving people, and killing werewolves. Though one day some snapped and gave in to the hunger, and others followed in their footsteps. It had already been 3 hours that they'd been walking, and time was flying by.

"Can we stop yet? Its been hours, and my feet are sore," Goat complained.

"Deal with it, maybe and hour or so left. We've got to make time, If we want to scout the camp too," Alex sighed.

----------------------

They finally stopped and set up camp, though it was cold a fire would alarm the vampires from smoke, and ruin any chance they had of a sneak attack. All the snow had mostly melted away, leaving patched of wet grass. Connor chose the side facing away from the vampire camp, for no particular reason. Goat found a nearby river, and filled a bucket of water they'd taken, whilst Connor was grabbing dead wood and sticks to prop up the tents and such. They had successfully made a working camp by dusk, with the perk of scouting, while Goat and Connor had been working on the camp Alex and Chance had scouted and counted around 17. It would be a hard fight, and not come without injury, but Connor was sure they could make it. The night sailed by, and dawn crept up on them. Goat was always the first one up, his body just automatically started earlier than the rest. He ate some of the cooked meat they'd packed, than woke the rest up. The day would be hard, filled with challenges of taking out a few without the other vampires noticing, than the plan was either wait another day or another 2. It'd be a quick battle, they hoped anyway. Connor yawned and wiped away some sweat that gathered on his forehead, he sat up, and seeing that the others had already awoken he did too. He ate his share of the meat, than waited for Alex to speak of their jobs for the day.

"Connor and I will be taking out any vampires that come near east side, Goat I trust you can handle counting exact numbers of the vampires, than come find me and Connor, we'll trade jobs with you and Chance. And Chance, you can take out any west side, make sure to only take the ones you can handle," Alex ordered.

Connor's favorite company for talking and drinking may be Goat, but he liked working with Alex, she didn't like delays or dilly dallying. Something they both shared. Connor followed Alex into the east side of the vampire camp, watching their moves and who they'd send out. They were surprisingly unorganized and didn't get it done very quick, but it was done eventually. A patrol of 3 were coming to east side, with 3 others to the west. Connor and Alex followed behind the vampires, until they got out of screaming length. She gave Connor a nod and they charged out. Connor unsheathed his blade and swung it at the first, but he had quickly prepared and used a spell to block the attack. Connor regained he balance and anticipated the Vampire's next move. It circled around Connor, like a wolf to a rabbit. Connor had enough and charged towards the beast, faking it out, Connor dodged to the left and slashed it's side. Now there was 1 left, with both Connor and Alex finished the first 2. The vampire tried to fight back, but he was ended quickly. Connor and Alex made it back to the camp and waited around for the others to return.