Chapter Thirteen
Ulrich stood up straight and looked around the ravine, five horribly mutated corpses lay where they fell. The creatures were clearly infected by the ruinous powers of the chaos gods, extra limbs, claws, and mutations, showing every sign of corruption from discoloured skin through boils to rotting flesh. Yet, his mind ignored most of the scene, instead concentrating on the fact that they seemed to know him, or of him at least. He assumed they were a band of robbers, one of many roaming this land, who just happened upon Ulrich's and his grandfather's lodge, but now he was not so sure anymore. Suddenly he realised something.
"One more! There was one more by the river." he snapped at Wilhelm jumping up to the edge of the ravine. But he could not see anyone else pursuing them.
"We must go back and find him!" he said quickly gathering up his belongings and preparing to set out again.
"Relax, there are plenty of them in these forests, one more will not make a difference, I've had enough for one day, it was lucky you happened to be passing that way or that would have been the end of me." replied Wilhelm still cleaning his sabre.
"There was nothing lucky about me being there, I was following them. They had killed my grandfather a couple of days ago, I will kill every single one." he paused thoughtfully. "But first I will find out why, why did they seek out my grandfather? Why did they want to kill him? Why did those two here know me?"
Wilhelm looked doubtful. "Seek out? I don't know you, and I am sorry to hear about your grandfather, but I doubt these creatures plan much. They are outcasts from mankind; I have heard of their kind, they live in the forest praying on the weak and defenceless."
"No. They." he pointed to the bear man. "The last two, recognised my face, they…hated me." Ulrich spoke slowly as if trying to understand and convince himself.
Wilhelm put the sabre in its sheath and picked up his pistol putting it behind his belt. Then looked at Ulrich again.
"These creatures are full of hate, they hated you because you are still human, I doubt they are anything more than vagabonds…"
"But they spoke Imperial." interrupted Ulrich incredulously.
"Many such creatures from the empire escape northwards hoping to have an easier life in the vast wilds of Kislev." Wilhelm raised his hand to head off Ulrich's reply.
"I do not think there is anything more to them, but I am in your debt. I'll be glad to help, let's go back and look for the last one. But first if you could spare some gunpowder I wouldn't mind loading my pistol."
Ulrich gave Wilhelm some gunpowder, noting the finely made expensive looking pistol the other man used. They both reloaded, and Ulrich loaded his rifle as well, then they headed back up the valley. Though they both tried to push hard, they were tired now and it took a quarter of an hour before they finally reached the spot from which Ulrich first saw the mutants earlier in the day. From the ridge they could not see their quarry. Only the bodies of the two mutants Ulrich had shot. They climbed down to the edge of the river, on the way making sure both mutants are dead. By the river Ulrich managed to find the tracks of the last mutant, he must have thought the better of taking part in the fight and headed for the other side of the river. However, when they crossed, they could not find his tracks again. It took them nearly two hours of walking up and down the banks of the river before they finally found his tracks, nearly a mile to the west, leaving the river and heading south through the forest.
They followed the tracks in silence; Wilhelm knew little of tracking so he left it to Ulrich. The mutant clearly had some experience hiding his tracks; he chose well-beaten paths used by animals and areas of the forest where his feet left almost no trace. With snow still melting the ground was soft, and it was not possible to hide one's tracks entirely, but he managed to make it harder for the two men to follow him and their progress was slower than his.
By nightfall, they had still not come closer to catching up with the mutant. They were clearly at least three hours behind him and the tracking was nearly impossible now, after the third time they had to double back due to a mistake in following the faint track it was Ulrich that broke the silence.
"Enough, I can no longer see the tracks and neither of us is in any shape to keep going anyway. The country ahead is much the same for a few days walk in every direction, he will not find help, and we need to rest."
Wilhelm remained silent, he knew it was a hard decision for Ulrich to make and he was impressed with the self-control and reason of the other man. During the day he had the chance to appreciate his skill with a firearm and his tracking ability. Though he himself often engaged in hunting in his southern homeland he had not the skill to follow the track of the mutant. Ulrich spoke again. "You know who I am, a simple tracker and hunter, looking for revenge on those who had wronged him. Yet I know nothing about you save your name, title and that you belonged to one of the Imperial armies fighting in the north."
Ulrich said the word "belonged" with a heavier accent suggesting he would like to find out more about this. Deserters were not well respected in these parts, though they were met often enough as the harsh northern climate broke the will of many Imperial soldiers. "The pistoliers." Seeing no recognition on Ulrich's face Wilhelm continued to explain.
"The Pistoliers are a light mounted unit, we usually fight on the wings of the main army or behind the front lines hurrying the enemy supply lines. Indeed this was my task until a few days ago. You need not worry, I am no deserter. Though it was my poor leadership that led to my current predicament. If I had better control of my men they would all still live and I would not be running through the forest in this state." he paused for a bit with a pained look on his face.
"I allowed part of my regiment to charge into a trap, by the time we chased them down to turn them around it was too late. There were heavy losses, during the charge I was knocked down and my horse was killed. I was knocked out briefly, when I came to a couple hundred beastmen were separating me from the remainder of my regiment retreating in the distance. There was nothing I could do, it would be too many beastmen for my company to break through and they had seen me fall, so probably assumed I was dead anyway. I saved myself through a cowardly escape through the forest. I am not sure what is left of my company, but with the plains crawling with beastmen, I decided the only way to get back to Imperial lines was to head south east around the enemy forces and back to the west when I had cleared them. Wouldn't have made it if it weren't for your help this morning."
"How did they catch you?" asked Ulrich after a pause from Wilhelm.
"I had been walking for five, or maybe six, days. Not daring to start a fire, with no food and very little rest. It had been too much, last night I was not intending to stop by the river, I stopped to drink and rested against a rock for a second. When I came to, the mutants were already closing in around me." his face lit up a little.
"Excellent shot by the way, I would not have thought anyone could hit a target as small as a human head from two hundred paces. Where did you learn how to shoot like that?"
Ulrich looked at Wilhelm for a mo ment, and gave him a mischievous smile. "Actually I was aiming for his back, and I didn't think I could hit that either…" Wilhelm looked at him astonished; a look of outrage crossed his face.
" But, that means you could have hit me just as easily…well all is well that ends well I suppose. You gave me the break I needed and for that I will be forever grateful.
Chapter Fourteen
They shared some of the dried meat and bread from Ulrich's pack. Then Ulrich took the first watch waking Wilhelm only after midnight. When he awoke again it was still dark, though the sky in the east had already taken up a dark blue hue. Wilhelm was just finishing to pack their things and was now stamping out the fire.
"Good morning friend, we can start out soon." Wilhelm said while making sure the last sparks were out.
"Take out some more food from my pack." replied Ulrich sitting up. "We have a few more moments before it is light enough to pick up the tracks again."
Soon they were back on the trail, it zigzagged through the forest picking harder ground. A couple of hours after sunrise they reached the spot where their quarry had rested for the night. There were no signs of fire, only a small area of flattened ground covered with twigs, partially concealed by fresh pine branches in a thicket of bushes.
"It's good we stopped last night; we could have easily missed him here if we tried to track with only torch light."
"Yes, but now we have all day to catch up to him, he should only be three hours ahead or so. And he seems to have given up on hiding his tracks, rather he set off directly to the south this morning." replied Wilhelm pointing at the ground where a clear trail set off away from the camp. – Is there anything there he is hoping to reach? Hills, marshes, or perhaps a thicker forest, where beastmen are known to roam?" he asked.
"No." replied Ulrich slowly, deep in thought. "The terrain can be rough but nothing worse than here, and the main beastmen herds have not crossed into our lands yet this year. There is only Moraveny, a small Grad, and a few villages, but no one will help a mutant, rather he would be killed on sight."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Replied Wilhelm. "He didn't look like the others, this I remember about him, he looked…if anything, like a man from the Empire, at least he was dressed like it, and no visible mutations on him."
"Then we need to hurry." Ulrich replied with some urgency. "If he finds a boat or a horse, he could get away from us quickly and I will NOT loose him."
They marched mostly in silence keeping a hard pace all day, not stopping to rest even as they ate and drunk. Ulrich spent the day wondering what a man from the Empire may have against his Grandfather. Was this simply a coincidence or was there some trouble from the old country he never knew about which followed his family out to Kislev now? He dismissed the thought, it had been many years since his Grandfather moved to Kislev, and it was unlikely he could have enemies who looked for him for 20 years and across a thousand miles. As the evening crept in on them they still had not sighted the enemy, despite their best efforts it was quickly getting too dark to follow the tracks again. When the last of the light faded the men stood on the trail, Ulrich deep in thought, Wilhelm waiting for his decision.
"We cannot follow tracks in the dark, but if we assume he is heading straight for the Grad now, we could keep heading south and either catch him on the way or cut him off in the morning." Ulrich finally said.
"If we loose him?" Asked Wilhelm. "We have to risk it, if he walks all night he will reach the Grad by noon the following day. He'll have no problem buying a horse or hiring a boat to take him downstream and then we may never catch up. I cannot let that happen, I need to know why they killed my grandfather."
The two men set off again, no longer trying to follow the tracks but now heading directly to the south. They were able to keep their direction easily navigating with the help of the stars and the two moons. They travelled in silence again, through a landscape bathed in red light from the blood moon. Here and there clearings in the forest let in more of the bloody light, looking like ancient temples to evil gods of chaos who once ruled these lands and were seeking to do so again.
At sunrise they entered a small steep sided valley, their feet plodding on step by step, mechanically. Here and there snow still clang to the deep shadows of the northern slope, but grass and spring flowers littered the bottom of the southern slope. The valley led west where, at its bottom, laid a village with some land cleared around it. Pasture run some way up the slopes and small vegetable gardens and groves of flowering fruit trees surrounded the dozen or so houses. They turned west to follow the valley, which joined onto the Shoik River valley where the Grad lay. But as they got closer to the village they could see something was not right. No smoke rose from the houses, no people or animals stirred anywhere in sight and the whole village was silent. No dogs barked as they approached.
"This is odd, maybe I was wrong about the beastmen not yet crossing into our lands this spring." said Ulrich looking into the window of one of the houses.
"No, this is not the work of the beasts. I have seen the villages they had been through, nothing would be left untouched." replied Wilhelm
"Oh, the beastmen had not been here yet, that is for sure. But the farmers left, and took everything with them, normally even when they head to the market a few of the old people and animals will stay, this is different. They must have heard of a heard of beastmen nearby, they will have gone to the Grad for protection. We don't need to worry about him getting any help here, let's get to the Grad, it is only a few hours ahead now."
Reinvigorated by the daylight and warmth, the men spoke as they headed down the valley, Wilhelm was curious to find out more about this part of the world. Ulrich explained that although the forests were teaming with danger here, the main armies of chaos rarely came this far east, even if they invaded Kislev. There was almost nothing for them here save a few small villages and trapper lodges. There wasn't enough food to feed the marching armies and there wasn't enough loot to keep them interested. Chaos armies regularly attacked the borders of Kislev, but true to their name they were not well organised. It was only the most powerful leaders that could keep a large army together and they usually marched only under the blood moon. If it waned before the army had some major successes infighting between different factions within the army usually tore them apart. The bulk of the chaos armies consisted of badly disciplined and unreliable troops. Unlike the demons of the chaos gods and the heavily armoured Chaos warriors the rest of the armies fought for loot not for their love of the gods. Beastmen tribes would stand only as long as they could see victory, if this was not forthcoming their herds would melt back into the forests. Norskan berserkers had only a limited time before they had to return to their northern lands to their families and crops waiting to be harvested. The horse riding marauders from the northern wastes were as likely to join Kislevite armies as they were to fight on the chaos side if there was a profit in it. So the chaos armies came and went like tides, sometimes their attack was longer and more ferocious than could be expected other times they suddenly melted away even though they were deep in Kislevite territory with no army capable of stopping them in sight. In other years still, the Chaos warriors and the demons of the different gods suddenly fell into disagreement, fighting each other with such ferocity that hardly any of them made it back to the north. These were the best years for Kislev because the forces of chaos would need years to rebuild their strength.
On the edge of this ocean of chaos and madness the kingdom of Kislev stood for centuries, enduring the storm. The people in Kislev were tough and disciplined when it came to war, but they also knew when it was better to withdraw and fight again another day. Unlike the Imperial wars with Tilea or Bretonnia that Wilhelm had learned of from his tutors, here in the north there were no rules, no mercy or civility. If you made a mistake here you died.
"It is strange for the beasts to come this far east." Continued his tale Ulrich. "Something must have changed their course recently."
"Praag." Said Wilhelm, his face paling a little.
"Could they have broken into the city? When I left the siege of Praag the Imperial forces were still stuck in a dug-in encampment to the south. We had no way of aiding the city and our bombardment of the enemy army seemed to make little difference to them. Perhaps it has happened then. And if the city had fallen the forces commanded by General Schwarz were in great danger themselves."
"Chaos is powerful but the walls of Praag are strong as well." Replied Ulrich. "In all the history of Kislev they had only been breached once or twice. And if this had been the case, the chaos army would be marching straight south to plunder the rich farmland around the capital and further onto Imperial lands. No, I would not think the city had fallen yet."
Their conversation was cut short as Ulrich, who was in front, suddenly came across deep tracks in the muddy soil of the road they had been walking. The tracks came from the forest and joined the road here. Ulrich bent down to examine them, they bore the same heavy iron shod boot shape they had been following for the previous two days. Their quarry had been here, but he was still ahead of them. Ulrich cursed as he stood up straight and looked towards the small hill of the Moraveny Grad visible to the west. He could make out no shape on the plain between where they stood and the town, of course it would be difficult to see someone who was that far away, but it meant they were too late to cut off their prey or to catch up with him before he reached the town.
They reached Moraveny before noon. They had a good view of the Grad from the road, which in the last stage followed the riverbank before it swung right to enter the lower town. The Grad itself was built on a low outcrop of solid rock that stuck out into the Shoik River. The fortifications were simple but looked impressive nevertheless, a massive rampart of soil and clay was built all around atop outcrop. Three wooden towers were built into it, two on the landward side, where the high town connected to the fortifications of the lower town and one more towards the river, to monitor the shipping. From the river side the drop onto the rocks below the ramparts was too steep and narrow to make any siege attempts sensible. On the landward side the ramparts were protected with additional ditches and fields of sharpened stakes. A deep moat was dug between these ramparts of the upper Grad and a second set of ramparts protecting the main settlement, which lay on the north side of the valley. The lower fortifications encompassed a much larger area below the rock outcrop. The ramparts were built in the same manner as the upper Grad though they were not as tall and had no towers built into them, save one over the main gate into the town.
"They are preparing for a siege of the grad" Ulrich said as they got closer.
"Looks like they had suffered some damage already." Wilhelm was pointing to the smouldering remains of several buildings on the outside of the town.
"No, those were wintering huts built by trappers or some of the herders. They usually stay here for the winter and head for the hills in the spring. We have visited the market a few times." He pointed out an empty square area between the smouldering ruins. "Normally most of the farmers, herders, trappers and traders would gather in and around the Grad for a spring and autumn market. But now they have burned it to clear the field of fire from the ramparts."
The town was full, people were still coming in but already the streets were filled with people, carts and livestock. Children and dogs were running all over getting underfoot. The noise was deafening after the silence of the empty valley around the town. Everywhere they looked, farmers were tending to their animals, building temporary fences against the inside of the ramparts. Others were haggling for space in the townhouses or erecting tents and shelters in the street against the walls of the buildings.
"How are we ever going to find anyone here?" asked Wilhelm
"He needs a horse or a boat. Given the coming siege, if he wants to go back south the dock is his best bet."
They headed for the dock. It was lodged on a small landing squeezed in between the Upper and the lower fortifications. As they came through the small gate leading to it they were surprised to see the landing almost empty. A few bags of grain were still on the dock, and two men were loading them onto a cart, otherwise the rest of the dock was empty. No trading ships or even small boats to be seen anywhere. Ulrich went over to the two men and exchanged a few quick words with them while Wilhelm stood back.
"We are in luck." the Kislevite said as he returned to Wilhelm.
"The last trading barges left before sunrise this morning. The commander of the city didn't want them to be used by the enemy to cross the river so they were ordered to return downriver, not that any of the traders wanted to stay." he said with a smile.
"But our luck doesn't end there, the horses had be driven across the river to pastures further south, some sold to the gathering Kislevite armies and the rest to be kept away from the enemy. Now there is no way out other than on foot. And the beastmen herd has been seen only a day's walk to the northwest. So he is stuck right here with us." Ulrich finished with a wide smile, and perhaps, more joy than the occasion called for.