Hammerschlag presents: A Very Merry Christmas Special 2017 Episode 5: A Mother Hen and Her Servants Five.
I hope I got all these characters right… it's been a while since I've played Thracia 776.
Eyvel was furious. Having Orsin and Halvan at each other's throats was bad enough, but now that she accepted Dagdar, Marty and Tanya into the fold, life was only getting crazier. The Fiana Freeblades had been together in its current form for all of a day, and Eyvel didn't think she'd last another. In battle, they worked well together, but when there was nothing to do…
"Awful quiet day today," Marty shrugged.
"By 'quiet' I presume you mean 'boring'," Tanya replied.
"No he doesn't, kid," Orsin rolled his eyes, "when Marty says somethin', ya take it at face-value."
"Do I look like a kid to you, Orsin?!"
"Yes."
"Alright kids, that's enough," Eyvel tried to calm everyone down, looking to Dagdar to help control his child.
"Tanya, if you want to prove your adulthood, you gotta fight for it," the former bandit leader said much to the aging swordswoman's chagrin.
"Like this little idiot could lay a finger on me…" Orsin chuckled.
"If I may be the voice of reason," Halvan cut in, "we have far better uses of our time than fighting amongst ourselves!"
"Thank you, Halvan. Now–"
"Not really. There are no bandits, there are no theives, there are no murderers. Today is, like Marty said, nice and quiet, which means honorable duels take priority!" Dagdar nodded at his daughter, who took out a practice sword from her pack. Tanya was by trade an archer, so had little formal training in melee combat. Nevertheless she felt she was nimble enough to combat Orsin's might. Not only was he substantially larger than she was, but he wielded a heavy axe that weighed him down far more than anything she carried. These facts were lost upon the axeman, who drew a practice sword of his own and leveled it at archer's head.
"Damn it…" Eyvel put a hand over her face as she realized how powerless she was during peacetime. Orsin lunged at Tanya, who dodged the blow with relative ease. The axeman gave her little time to recover as he jumped forward with a second stroke. Tanya followed up by thrusting at what she presumed was a blind spot. What she did not realize was that Orsin, despite his size, was quite fast and parried the blow using only one arm. He took his other hand to grab Tanya's arm, then used his body weight to throw her to the floor. The archer rolled away and got back on her feet, assuming a plow stance in preparation for whatever move the axeman might throw at her.
I never thought I'd find myself wishing for a bandit attack… Eyvel closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them, it seemed her prayers had been answered as she saw a group of marauders descending from the mountains.
"So much for the quiet," Marty sighed.
"Well everyone, we finally have a job to do, so let's get to it!" Eyvel smiled and her subordinates drew their weapons in affirmation.
That was harder to write than I thought it would be, but still not THE hardest this season.
Writing tunes: English drinking songs