Revenge

Chapter 14: The March

We marched through Verethin territories to cross a river, to do so we had to navigate our army through the cities in northern Verethin. On our way we went through their capital, which was in such bad shape the town guard could barely keep back rioters, we saw lords without armies, groups of roaming anarchists, even a band of deserters wandered the streets, looking for any town guards. Since we are allies with the official Verethin government, we tried to help pacify the town a bit on our travels, but we only made things worse. Our intrusion caused unrest among the citizens, those loyal to Verethin thought we might be trying to take the city. Those unloyal saw us as help to the Verethinians, and tried to stop us, raid us, or even poison and steal from our supplies. Along the route, the army had stopped at various known rebellion controlled areas to clear out the place. Since there wasn't much resistance, we only usually sent a couple dozen men. Jarl Thorald sent Me, Aesa, Ulfar, and Tykir in along with some other soldiers we didn't know too well. We were ordered to kill any armed resistance, or those in our way.

We approached a dark, large house. It was 3 stories from the looks of it, and not in good shape, like most of the city. Ulfar and I went in first, Aesa and Tykir close behind. We entered a large, two story hall in the center of the house when some armed, ragged looking men put up some resistance. Three of them charged me at once, and I blocked two at the same time, kicked a third, and Ulfar tackled one of them to the ground and embedded and axe in his face. I cut one of their hands off and slashed the other's chest. Aesa did a good job of hiding Tykir from view. Afterall, Aesa was about a whole foot taller. We cleared the rest of the house with ease, until we came across an entrance to a basement. It was pitch black, so we sent in some soldiers with large shields, with torchbearers behind them. They went down the stairs, and there were 5 men with crossbows aimed at their heads. None of them made it back up the stairs. Aesa thought of a pretty good plan

"They need light to see what to fire at, so what if we through a torch down there to adjust their eyes, and then have someone in a different room, adjusted to the darkness. Then, sneak someone in once the torch dies out."

Everyone approved of the plan, and they nominated me for this task. I suppose I was light on my feet. Aesa's plan was in action, and finally someone stumbled into my room to get me. I stepped down, and could see a few of them instantly. I silently navigated around and thrust my sword at one of their faces. One of them heard the noise of me, and shot. Luckily, he missed. I silently walked to the next, but he saw me as I got close, I lunged to him and cut his hand off, and near instantly after with my other sword, I drove my sword through his stomach. Another one shot at me, and I could tell they were starting to adjust too, because this time it hit my leg. I couldn't help but yell in pain, which promptly caused the other remaining crossbowmen to shoot at me. Another one fired and hit my side, and the other missed. I ran out of the room as fast as I could with a bolt in my leg and side.

"Damnit Aesa! They fuckin' shot me! Your plan didn't work!"

"Well, probably your fault."

Ulfar guided me out of the building, helping my limp. Once again, I met Harrison in the infirmary. Armies move slow, so the tents were usually up. Especially when we were constantly stopping to help the Verethinians.

"You're going to hate me for this" Harrison muttered with his hand on the bolt embedded in my side, now caked with blood. He pulled it out, and I shouted in pain.

"You were right."

"Still got one more."

"Definitely right."

It took 1 week to be back in action. As soon as I was okay, Jarl Thorald sent me on another, similar, mission. As we approached the run down house, I saw a short figure in a dark blue cloak stalk us, and when I yelled at him to leave, he just showed up somewhere different. This time Ulfar and Aesa took lead, I was with Tykir in the back. Nothing significant happened, but I couldn't get that cloaked figure out of my head.