"The war has already made it this far?" The ground crunched under foot of the small troop of soldiers. "It seems it will never end," thought Kratos out loud. "We're soljahs! So long as there is war, we gots our selves a job," said the man nearest the coach. "That doesn't me we should enjoy it!" Kratos exclaimed. "Bah! If ya ga ta do a job, ya mi' as well enjoy it," the man replied. The others nodded and grunted in agreement. Kratos stopped walking and watched his fellow soldiers walk for a moment. He had only recently been assigned to the squad and they barely, if at all, recognized him as Captain. He thought that if the situation were different he might have had to make his authority known but other things took precedence and he couldn't care less what his scape goats thought of him.
He stood and let the men and coach pass by and started following slightly behind. He still wondered exactly how he was going to execute his plans. He looked at the bandage wrapped around his right hand and touched the marble like bulge under it gently, still afraid of what he knew could happen. He slowly walked along behind the coach, completely oblivious to anything but his thoughts. The coach came to a halt without him realizing. He walked into the back of it knocking himself to the ground. He grunted at his absent-mindedness. He stood back up dusting off his cloths and making sure his sword was still secured to his belt. He also took the time to check the leather straps keeping the small round shield attached to his left forearm. He was just about to inquire at the abrupt halt when he heard the scream of a young woman. He dashed around the side of the coach and tried to locate the screamer. There were no young women in view. He did notice however, the twelve members of the squad had gathered in an area just off the road. He started in their direction ignoring the sinking sensation in the pit of his gut.
He pushed his way between the men while yelling, " What the hell is so damn interesting over here?" He didn't really need anyone to answer for the scene spoke for itself. One of the men had a hold of a young girl's wrists and pinned them to her back. Another had a boy pinned to the ground with sword in hand. The girl jerked forward and screamed, "Just leave him alone!" The man holding her yanked her toward him. "Shut up bitch!," he yelled and slapped her, knocking her to the ground. She looked up into Kratos' eyes as if begging for help. He tried to give a trusting look but wasn't sure the message got across because the girl lowered her head and green hair covered her face as she sobbed and stopped struggling. The boy's blonde hair was covered with the ash from the ground and though obviously scared half to death, he neither cursed nor yelled or even sobbed like the girl. All twelve men glared at Kratos as though he were the foulest thing to walk in their sight. "Ah Ca'm," spoke out the man from before whose name Kratos never learned. "We saw these here half-lins tryin to cross the road and decided it was time for a lil enjoyment." The other men grinned and laughed under their breaths. "Care tu par take," he asked saying each syllable slowly and clearly. He grinned at Kratos as if asking him to challenge him.
Kratos felt his stumach turn and replied, " What would make you think I would do that? They don't seem to enjoy or find this amusing. We are on assignment" "Their half-lins, "the soldier interrupted," It don't matter wha they enjoy as long as we do. Even if they die from it, then they was jus born to die from bein our toys." "No one is just born to die as your or anyone's toy," Kratos spat. "The soldier glared and turned back to the boy. "Fine. We will jus have our fun with out ya." Kratos was getting annoyed now. "I suppose I didn't make myself clear enough for rabble like you, " Kratos said harshly, "This is an order from the captain of the squad. All of you will return to your positions in the formation and will march non-stop to our posted location now!" The man stood still facing away from Kratos but spoke,"we aint takin no orders from a ca'm who dun belong." "Then it is with in my rights as leading member of the squad to take the necessary actions to regain order among the group," Kratos replied and drew his sword in his right hand and pointed it at the soldier. He turned to face him to speak now. Jus the words I was wantin to hear. I'll gut you and be the leadin member of my men," he replied, "as it woulda been before you came along."
The soldier drew his sword also, "any last words?" he taunted. Kratos remained silent this time, mentally preparing to attack. The man charged and swung his sword at Kratos' right side. Kratos blocked with sword grasped with both hands and pushed the sword away. The soldier took a step back to reset his footing. Kratos threw his left arm out and caught the soldier in the face with his shield knocking to the ground out cold. "Nothing but talk," Kratos thought to himself. "Anyone else not willing to follow orders I will show no mercy to," he yelled. The other eleven looked at one another and all drew their weapons. Kratos sighed and thought, "one day, someone is not going to call my bluff."