Mount and Blade-

The Warband of Wolves

By Indogma

Inspired by the Mount and Blade Series, primarily the game: Mount and Blade: Warband.

The Wolves of Calradia.

Almost three years after Roland left Suno.

The forest between Suno and Uxkhal, was quiet, and uneventful. Not even the sound of a bird was heard in the morning sun. In beside a cave in a deep a secluded area of the forest, a group of bandits laid in the morning sun. They had set up a base camp there, a little dry spot surrounded by swamps and thick forests. It was hard to ride through it, not many people knew of its location, and it was difficult to have a number of soldiers arrive there at a time. It was the perfect hidden form any army, and not many would try to assault it; save a few groups of mercenaries.

Near the edge of the clearing, a group of figures darted from tree to tree moving closer to the clearing. They wore black surcoats with a white wolf embroidered on the front and selves, over suits of chain mail and lightly plated armor. The leader of the group was a young man, Roland.

On his face showed scars and marks that came from nearly three years of wandering and fighting. As he darted from tree to tree with a select group of men behind him, he made sure that he and his men were as quiet. To his right and left is were groups of soldiers armed with bows and crossbows. As they took their positions on the flanks of Roland, Roland readied his men for the assault.

Roland looked over the soon to be ambush site. The camp itself was placed outside of old cave that went deep into the cave. On the direct sides from the cave were steep hills, surrounding the cave and the area outside the cave in a valley.

Seeing that he could use those he signaled to the group of soldiers to the left. He got the attention of the leader of the leader of those soldiers, Deshavi. He signaled to her to take a higher position and wait for his signal to attack. She nodded, and motioned the men to move up to the hill. Roland, them signaled the same signals to the leader of the right group of men, Klethi. She nodded and motioned her men up the hill on the right of Roland's flank. Seeing them take off, Roland then focused on the camp again.

The bandits had not notice their deployment. Instead they had continued to carry on with whatever they were doing before. After making sure that both sides where in position, Roland signaled for the attack to begin. The archers on both sides readied their bows and selected their targets. When all the archers had a target, they released their arrows. A small swarm of arrows came flowing down on the ignorant bandits.

A split second after the arrows hit their mark, the rest of the bandits began to run around in fear, looking for the source of the recent barrage of arrows. Seeing that they were under attack the men began to call out their compatriots from inside the cave. As more men came out of the cave, Roland let the archers release one more volley. After letting there numbers decrease, Roland signaled his men and lead them as they charged into the bandit camp.

Rushing ahead, Roland then targeted the closest bandit that happened to be close to the tree line, one that the archers had missed. His sword drawn, Roland quickly swiped at the bandit before he could block the attack, cutting across his chest, killing the forest bandit instantly. After seeing the bandit's body fall, Roland then looked onward, a bunch of bandits were now running towards them. Roland then thrust his sword into the ground pulled out a crossbow and took aim at the closest bandit. Carefully matching up the sight, he pulled the latch releasing the bolt. As split second later after releasing the bolt, the targeted bandit lurched back in pain. As if someone had punched him through the air. The bolt had pierced the bandit's chest, and the bandit began to stumble and then he fell on his chest dead.

After quickly reloading the crossbow, he holstered the crossbow, grabbed his heater shield from his back, took his sword from in front of him and rushed ahead. Roland was now running with the rest of the men, forming one mass of men rushing towards another that was being thinned out by arrows from Roland's other men. Rushing against the first bandit in his sights, Roland raised his shield against an incoming attack. Blocking the attack, he quickly countered bring his blade directly down of the bandit's head.

As soon of the two masses of men meet, the men on the ridges came rushing down swords drawn hitting the flanks of the bandits. The bandits begun to panic, being hit from all sides was enough to cause panic. Soon the bandits were wedged into a tight cluster where Roland and his troops tightened there hold on the bandits.

It was an unfair fight. Roland's men were better armored—most of them had chain mail and plate armor— they were better armed, more trained and experienced in fighting. The only advantage that the bandits had was that they outnumbered Roland's men at first but now, after the barrage of arrows the two forces were now about even. The remaining battle took less then five minutes to force the remaining bandits to be dispatched or to surrender.

When the heat of battle settled in Roland's mind, his first question was, "any casualties?" Looking around he saw that the same number of uniforms that started the attack, and none of them looked in pain. Then he had the surrendered bandits brought together. They had been searched and all weapons had been removed.

Roland looked at the bandits, most of them were afraid. They probably were still in shock, after being attacked from an unknown force. No doubt they felt safe inside their little cave hideout. Funny how it turned out.

Roland then addressed his troops, "Good job Wolves! We have them now!" All of the troops gave a cheer. "Search inside the cave, see what they have taken. If they have any prisoners bring them out." Roland then selected two wolves, "Get on those ridges and keep and eye out for any more bandits." Roland watched them as the two quickly scaled the ledge, and began to keep watch.

"Oi, captain!" came a voice from behind him. It was Klethi, a short haired red headed young woman. She had her short sword drawn, and was keep watch over the captured bandits. "What do you want do with these blokes?" Then she gave an excited smile, "can we kill them?"

Roland was not fazed by her eagerness. Klethi had been a former assassin before joining the wolves, so death held very little meaning to her—other then a payment was on the way. "Not just yet, lets decide as soon as the prisoners come out, if there is any."

"What do you plan to do to us?" Asked one of the bandits fearful for his life.

Roland bent over the bandit and smiled, "Well now I guess that depends on your behavior. Isn't there a saying? A 'finger for finger'? Or something like that. Anyway, how we find the prisoners is the way we treat our prisoners. Deshavi, what happens to them when the prisoners are found in good shape."

"They are allowed to live," replied the dark skinned women coldly. "And what happens if the prisoners are found raped and/or murdered." "Then we return the favor." "That's right," smiled Roland. The he eyed up the bandit that asked, "We won't rape you but murder you all if any of those two things happened." After saying that, several wolves came out leading about ten people from the cave. "Ten peasants sir. Three farmers and seven women." "Any harm done to them?" The wolf shook his head, "No sir, they are in good shape."

Klethi gave a disappointed sigh, "You guys got lucky." Then she sheathed her sword.

Roland then walked to the prisoners, "Are you all ok?"

"Yes sire," said one removing his hat, "we are in your debt, sire."

"Don't sire me," said Roland, "I'm no noble, so don't sire me ok?" The framer seemed embarrassed. Roland then tried to cheer him up, "where are you from?"

The question caught the farmer of guard. "Me and my wife sire… we are from Burglen." Roland smiled, "ahh Burglen. They had wonderful cabbages, last time I was there." The farmer's face brighten, clearly mentioning the village had made Roland seem more welcoming. "Well, you are free to leave at any time, good man. We can escort you to Uxkhal if you'd like, that is our destination." The farmer smiled, "Thank you sir, God bless you sir!"

Roland then turned to Deshavi, "Gather everything that these brigades took, if they belonged to the framers return it. If not, bring it back with us." She nodded and had two other wolves follow her. As soon as all of their loot was accounted for, the Wolves escorted the former bandits and their former prisoners out of the bandits former hideout.

Less then a mile a way, the Wolves found their horses. They mounted them and continued to the edge of the forest. As soon the group cleared the forest, the wolves rode to another camp of men. When they entered into the camp, the farmers and the bandits saw the same color surcoats as the as there liberators, and the captors for the bandits. Which made them think it was the rest of the troop of the Wolves.

Roland role into camp first, and a young man with long brown hair walked out to greet. "Welcome back captain!" said the young man, "hunting go well?"

"It was fine," replied Roland. "Caught a few bandits, and freed some farmers."

"Sounds like a good hunt," replied the man. "Any wounded?" Roland shook his head, "Nope, we caught the bandits by surprise, so they gave us little trouble, how were things here Alayen?" "Quiet sir." "Very well, get these prisoners to Katrin, see if see cannot get them anything to eat and drink. We will camp here for tonight." Alayen nodded and led the prisoners into the center of the camp.

As Roland walked toward his tent, he saw a sparring match and decided to watch it. Standing with a crowd of people he saw that it was Ymira. She was giving pointers to a new recruit, a sword sister that joined a week ago. As they exchanged blows, Roland noticed that the recruit was improving, less then a week ago she had barely been able to hold her own in a spar, now she could fight.

Roland had made it a policy for his mercenaries to have daily sparring and training, even archery training. That way, the wolves were ready for a fight and could use almost any weapon. Drawing his attention away from the spar, he noticed the onlookers. One of them was another blonde, Matheld. She was a strong Nordic woman, and one of the leaders of the sword sisters. She was watching with little interest. It was a well-known fact that the two blondes, Ymira and Matheld did not get along in the least. Perhaps she was watching the spar hoping Ymira would get hurt, Roland thought.

Looking around he also saw Bunduk, a seasoned former soldier. He was watching as well. He often watched and gave tips and bits of wisdom to the fighters. "Excuse me captain, sir!" Came a serious voice from behind him. Roland looked, it was Artimenner, the company's "Steward" and siege equipment expert. Although the wolves never really required siege equipment, Artimenner was one of the most learned men that Roland had met in his travels, and it was a relief to talk about things he had learned in school with someone who would understand them. "There is a noble here sir. He wishes to discuss possible employment."

Roland gave annoyed sigh, this sort of thing was becoming a common occurrence. Nobles now were aware of the Wolves and wanted them as their own personal army. Roland had turned them down, but it just increased their desire for them. The kings of Calradia had even offered Roland fiefs in return for his service. Though tempted he also turned them down, he didn't want to be tied down to a piece of land. "Tell him I will meet him shortly, and send him to my tent."

"Already have sir," replied Artimenner.

"Good, I'll get the three here, get the rest of the eleven." The "eleven" referred to the people who had authority other then Roland. In short they where like his lieutenants. Then he cut though the crowd and interrupted the fight, "Ymira, Bunduk, Matheld, we have a noble to please." The three stopped what they were doing and followed Roland to his tent.

Entering the tent, Roland saw the noble standing in the tent with his steward behind him. He was a young noble with short red hair and a narrow face. The noble looked full of himself, no doubt the son of a rich noble. "I'm Roland of the Wolves," he said extending his hand. The noble look not amused and unfriendly, "Boyar Harish, of the Kingdom of Vaegirs."

"You've come a long ways just to see me." "Quite," Harish said coldly, "I am here to offer you 3000 daners to have you and your men swear loyalty to me."

Roland was unimpressed, 3000 daners was a week upkeep for the Wolves. "What makes you think that 3000 is enough to afford us?"

The noble scoffed, "because it is your duty. A peasant is bound to help a noble should he be asked." At this point, Roland had enough, he had heard some bigot claims, but this was the most skewed opinion he had heard in a while. "Why don't you ask me to lick your boots as well."

"I'm not sure I like your tone," replied the noble.

"And I don't like yours!" Replied Roland, "You think that anyone not noble is less then a person, no more then dirt. I hate nobles that think like that, and I will never follow one!" And with that he stormed out of the tent.

Boyar Harish followed Roland at his heels, "Now, see here…" As he came out of the tent he found himself surrounded by eleven other than Roland. Looking at the figures, his face became surprised as he saw the women wearing the wolves surcoat. "What is this? You allow women in your ranks!"

"The Wolves allow anyone who want to take a blade and fight," said Matheld holding a Nordic ax to her shoulder, stepping threateningly toward the noble. "I'm sure we could take on any man your threw at us."

The noble had had enough, Roland's attitude was insufferable to him but him allowing women into his ranks, it was taboo. The noble then ordered his steward to get his horse. "I've had enough. Clearly you are not interested in service." And as soon as the steward returned with his horse, the noble got on and rode off.

When the noble had left the sight of the camp, one of the eleven stepped forward, "What an ass." The source was the out spoken Klethi. "Yeah he was," Replied Roland. Slowly the rest of the eleven dispersed into the camp, save one. Jeremus, he was the troop's surgeon and one of the very first Wolves.

"The Veagirs must be desperate, coming all the way down here in person to try to recruit us." "Must be." "The rumor around the campfire is that the Nords have taken Curaw. That leaves them only Reyvadin and Rivacheg for major cities." "They lost Khudan?" Jeremus gave a "really" look and added, "Like I said, the only major cities…" Roland then got the joke.

"Yeah, aha…it's best if we don't get involved." Said Roland.

"Seems like that's getting harder with every day."

"Isn't that the truth," and with that Roland went back into his tent.

Inside his tent Roland took out a piece of parchment, an inkwell and quill began to figure the week's budget, it was a common occurrence for him. He began to ledger and tally all the expenses and how much this week. It was always red, he never really had a weekly pay under one thousand daners. Despite that though Roland was rather wealthy. At first he had little money, it was touch and go staying within a budget. Then after about the first year, he had gained knowledge about some of the trade routes. After that he had gained massive amounts of money. Presently he had bought a dozen of iron ingot bars from Curaw, now he was planning to sell them soon, hopefully at a good price.

He stopped writing when he heard the flap of his tent open. Looking up he saw on one the eleven, Haydee. She was from the Sarranid Sultanate, she had short black hair and dark brown skin. But her most noticeable feature was a scar over her right eye. The eye was fine according for Jeremus, but she had been unable to open it after she got it. Roland thought it was physiological. But as to what he could not tell.

"How much did he offer?" She asked curiously.

"3000," Roland said smiling. She scoffed, "That low? Hmph, dumb nobles." The statement bared more weight coming from her—being former nobility. She was the niece to Sultan Hakim, and one of the potential claimants to the throne of the Sultanate.

"I doubt you just came in here to ask that, what's on your mind?"

"It's about some of the prisoners you rescued earlier, some of them want to join the wolves. Most of them are the women you saved." Roland was not surprised, some of the sword sisters were rescued from bandits in some way. "How many?" "From the prisoners, three. All of them are widows thanks to the bandits. In addition, one of the bandits wants to join as well." Roland gave a look of surprised, he had never had a former enemy offer to join the wolves. Putting the pen down he folded his hands, taking an authoritarian position of power, "What do you think of him?"

Haydee took a long pause, "He seems to be a good man, he says he was a farmer that the bandits recruited after being taken prisoner. Some of the prisoners even say he talked the rest down from killing them." Roland nodded, a point if the former bandit's favor, "Personally what did you think of him?"

Sighing deeply, Haydee folded her arms, "I think we can trust him," then she added reaffirming herself, "without a doubt."

Roland smiled, noticing how cute she was when she seemed confidante. "Alright, I'll take your word on that. Send each one of the prisoners to Ymira, Matheld and Alayen. Send the bandit," he grinned widely, "to Deshavi. If he is really sorry about being a bandit, she'll be able to tell." Haydee nodded, all of the Wolves knew of Deshavi's past. She had "seen both sides of a bandit's ax," as the others had put it. She was a bandit's captive before joining the wolves. She was a "slave," to put in a soft word, until one bandit took more than a fancy to her. She says that he truly did love her, and he was the only bandit she ever respected.

"Anything else?" She shook her head, "that's it." As she turned around to leave the tent she remembered what else she wanted to say, "By the way good job out there, Captain." As with that she opened the flap and left the tent.

Returning to his work, he was able to finish the figure and have a ruff estimated of what he was going to pay. Putting the parchment away and taking out a book he began to read. It was one of the few things he did to remind him of home. Although it was like reading an unabridged Shakespeare play, he found it a way to pass the time, and in the past few years the text had became easier to understand.

As he was deep into the story, outside the tent came voices. Roland could tell that they were shouting at each other. At first, they where at a distance, then they progressively grew louder. Roland put the book away, expecting the source to approach his tent. As expected the voices then became at their peak, just outside of Roland's tent. Once again he had to play parent, a role he now was used to since founding the Wolves.

The flap opened and Klethi and Artimenner were now red in the face and spewing gibberish at each other. "Stop it!" Roland yelled over the two of them. "What is this about? This better not be another saddle incident, like before." About a year ago, these two had another altercation. A group a saddles where mixed up, and Artimenner accused Klethi of stealing his saddle. Klethi countered with the same accusation, the two went on for weeks, until another Wolf admitted to mixing them up. The two, despite this revelation, never apologized officially to each other.

Artimenner started, "This wretch has been rummaging through my belongings!" Roland's eyed shifted to Klethi, this was not an unusual claim. She was a kleptomaniac, with a special interest in shiny jewelry. She had been caught a few times but Roland convinced her to return all of the stolen property. After that items went missing but were found back in their original place the next day. Klethi admitted doing it, but only to "keep her skills sharp" as she explained. Roland allowed her to continue as long as she returned the items.

"Is this true?" Roland asked evenly. Klethi shrugged, "yes, captain. But, he's a witch!" She stated as if it was more important then Artimenner's claim. Roland's eyes shifted between the two, "I'm sorry, what?" "He's a witch! He's always mumbling to himself! And I found strange drawings in his satchel, runes I think!" Roland had a hunch as to what the drawing were, but wanted to confirm it, "Show me these drawings."

Artimenner was reluctant at first, but seeing no other way, he plopped the parchments on the table. Roland's hunch was correct they were siege equipment designs. Sighing deeply, Roland turned to Klethi and tried to explain what they were. At first she didn't believe him, then slowly she recognized the shapes. After Roland's assurance that Artimenner was not a witch, Klethi grew as red as her hair. In her unique way she ended the fight with, "Well, just letting you know I have my eye on you…" she said with false conviction. With that she turned and left the tent quickly.

Roland and Artimenner stood in his tent for a brief pause after she left. Roland then handed the designs back to Artimenner. He seemed angry, but not at Roland. Roland would not hear the end of this for a while. And with that Artimenner stormed out of the tent.

Returning to his book Roland became lost in the pages, loosing all tract of time, his daze within the book was interrupted by the flap of the tent opening. Snapping his head out of the book to see it was Ymira, the young proper merchant girl. In her hands she held a sandwich and a flagon of liquid. Seeing the sandwich, Roland's stomach growled in joy, and he realized he had not eaten all day. "I thought you might want to eat, captain." Putting the book down, he motioned her to put it on the small table, "Thanks. I forgot to eat at all this morning." He began to feast into the sandwich, one of the few things he was able to adopt from home. At first none of the men, especially Katrin knew what to do with it. However pretty soon everyone loved it. It was an easy way for all the men to have a little of every thing, meat, cheese, cabbage and bread.

"What was the fight about?" Inquired Ymira. Finishing off his bite Roland said, "Oh that? It was one of Klethi and Artimenner's quarrels again. I swear, those two are at each others throats'." He was tempted to add, "like you and Matheld," but decided against it. "Yeah, they do…" she said agreeing.

As Roland took another bite, noticed Ymira was fidgeting, she wanted to say something but was unsure whether to or not. "Something's on your mind, Ymira?" The girl's face began to tense, "Sir, I-I have a problem… and I don't know who I can turn to…" "Ymira," Roland said softy, "you can tell me." Ymira hesitated, then sighing deeply she let of her dilemma. "It's my father sir." Roland then stopped eating the sandwich and listen more attentively, "He has found out I'm a Wolf sir! He's send me a letter demanding I return to Jelkala at once to marry the same man I ran away from."

Ymira's father was the post prominent merchant in the Kingdom of Rhodoks. When she was only seventeen she was set to be married to one of the most powerful merchants in the Sultanate. However the night before the wedding, she had escaped her father's house and ran the whole night until she arrived at Veluca. After that, she was recruited by the Wolves and has not looked back.

"Has he made any type of threats?" "Not yet, it just says that all will be forgiven if I return by the end of the month." "And if you don't?" "He doesn't say, sir." Roland then tried to imagine what he would do in her father's shoes. He doubted that he would let his daughter stay with the Wolves, when he could marry her off to make a very lucrative deal with another merchant. "What have you decided to do, Ymira?"

"Sir, my place is here. I am a wolf. And I gave up following my father's will the night I ran. I am yours, sir." Roland nodded, there was not a shred of doubt in her voice or face. "With loyalty like that, I bet I could take Calradia." "If you wish it," said Ymira. "Easy there," laughed Roland, "I was joking."

"What do you plan to do?" Asked Ymira. Roland then put his hands on her shoulders, "First, you're going to get some sleep. Second, you're not going to reply at all to you father. Let him think you did not get his letter. Make him send another letter if he has to. In the meantime we will far away from him in the next couple of months."

"Far away?" Asked Ymira with a confused look.

"Yes, I heard a lot of rumors that the sea raiders and tulga bandits have become unbearable lately. Especially between Rivacheg and Wercheg. I think it's time for another season of sea raider hunting up there, don't you agree?" Ymira nodded, sea raiders were heavy armored, true, but the wolves were capable of dealing with them, and often the wolves sold the chain mail that they often wore for a good profit.

"Good so don't worry about it. The wolves look out for each other, we won't let him get you, ok?" Ymira nodded, Roland always made her feel better. "Now go get some rest. Spread the word we leave at first light." Saluting him she exited the tent and went to her duties.

Roland then finished off his sandwich and sipped at the flagon. It contained water, because he didn't like ale at all. Finishing off his meal, he decided to turn in early. As he laid down on his sleeping cot, he remembered— it almost was the three-year anniversary of winding up here. He chuckled a little, reflecting on his first thoughts on Calradia, and what he thought now. Brushing that aside, he rolled over in his roll, and fell asleep.

-End Notes-

A bit longer then the prologue, but I wanted to for the readers to get a feel of the wolves' camp. I hope I accomplished that.

For everyone's information, I pick a select few of companions that Roland probably get a long with or see a need for hiring. That dose not mean that I am not going to exclude them from this story. I may add them not as companions but rather as people they meet, but I don't know as of yet. As you could tell I added another companion, Haydee. I wanted a character that was directly connected to the nobility somewhere, so I just added a new character; I hope I didn't upset anyone.

Also, the Wolves are not really one specific type of unit, they are just a jack-of-all-trades soldier. I would have been very difficult to include their nationalities some how but I didn't see a way of doing it that flowed with the story.

Anyway enjoy,

Cheers

Indogma.