Mount and Blade-

The Warband of Wolves

By Indogma

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

Dugan.

The village of Dugan was a dismal place, and one of the least coveted plots of land in the Khanate. Poverty stricken and surrounded by rock and nearly unusable farmland, the village was a black sheep to any respectable noble. The current Noyan of the village, Hugu Noyan had only accepted the village under the impression that he would receive the vital Asugan Castle as well as the village. Instead the castle was bestowed to his archrival, Charuka Noyan, and Hugu was left with the unwanted village in his hands.

Roland knew none of this, but neither did he care as he slowly crept into the village. He frowned in the dark annoyed at the trek he needed to take to be here. Trying to be as subtle as he could, he had left his horse, tied up on the far edge of the village on the only tree he could find outside the village.

Finally he arrived at Dugan's edge where the mercenary captain stopped to strategically observe the village. The village itself was small and peaceful in the darkness of the night. Many of the builds were two stories tall, and dark, their occupants in bed at this late hour of night. But on the side of the village Roland could see, he noticed the only one story building had flickers of light within it, showing that the dwellers their were awake. It must be where the village's elder holds his supplies, and not a usually place for meetings, unless under special circumstances, like Arwa. Roland was further convinced that the building held Arwa because out side the door Roland could barely make out the shape of a man, standing guard. Pulling out the binoculars he found several months ago, he took a closer look to prove his suspicions true. The man had light Khanate armour on, with a quiver of arrows on his back, but that was all Roland could see as far as weapons, but he suspected the guard had a sword and bow somewhere on his person or nearby.

Roland frowned remembering he had left his shield at camp, thinking it was not needed and it created too much noise and he only brought his bastard sword. If he tried to approach the village, that archer might shoot him down, thinking Roland was a wild beast or an intruder trying to rush the village. He shook his head, but the worry clung on making Roland deicide a forward approach was not a good idea. At least for now.

"I'll have to sneak in," he said to himself. But how? There was a low wall in front of the building, but the archer would see him long before that, and raise an alarm. But to the right of the building, on the other side from where the closest thing to a main street existed, Roland noticed it was dark and empty. Roland could see no guards there, and he could duck behind the hill he was on now and sneak behind it to that side of the village without being seen. Roland nodded to himself, content with that strategy.

Ducking back behind the hill, Roland briskly rushed to the large hill that over looked the dark side of the village. When he reached where the steep hill and the hill he was currently on met, he peered over and decided this was a good place to run into the village.

Slowly, Roland peaked over the hill and began to descend to the village, slowly at first then he quickened his pace letting gravity aid him as he descended the hill. When the slope started to level off, Roland broke into a heavy run until he reached the side of one of the builds and ducked behind the corner. Peeking over the buildings edge, he noticed nothing usual, no alarm or guard peering over to the place where Roland was, making the man sigh with relief. He looked over to the other building again.

Less then thirty feet away was the corner of the small one story building where Arwa was, with a small window showing a bright light proving that Roland was not late; however the side of the building was barricaded by a small garden fence that ran from the corner of the small building all the way to the corner of his current hiding place, it was probably protecting the village elder's personal garden.

Roland considered forgetting the sleuthing around the village and approach the guard in front of the door. Being so close, he would not have to worry about the man drawing his bow, but another weapon well… He shook his head, he had nothing to worry about, he was not here to cause trouble for Arwa or her people, but to warn her and to question her about her daughter. That was all, but, thought Roland worriedly, Arwa might not see it that way.

Roland grimaced, it would be better to be out in the open then caught sneaking around the village like a thief. He shivered, although not from the morning air, his mind flashing back to the first day he was in Calradia, and what might have been his final day here. That might be replicated here if the villagers thought he was some vandal.

Roland nodded to himself, enough sneaking around. He needed to start of on a good foot with Arwa, who knows what she might intend in the future and if she planned to have Haydee apart of those plans. Roland looked at the building, but only saw it as a barrier between him and Arwa. He was not willing to let go of her, or to have her mother use her if that was her intention. He would find out what she wanted with Haydee, and if they intended for her to leave the Wolves… his thoughts stopped. It was Haydee's choice, not his.

Taking a step out of his cover, he froze in place as he heard the sound of hooves from afar. He looked up as group of riders had appeared over the crest of the hill where he first looked over the village, and were galloping to the dark village. He quickly ducked back to the corner and peer at the riders.

There were about ten of them in total, and all of them wore thick cloaks over their bodies and heads disguising them completely. If Roland knew anything from watching movies back from home, it was that people who wore cloaks like that often had nothing good intended.

When the horsemen arrived to the house, Roland could barely see two men approach the riders and help steady the horses. They were expected guests, Roland concluded. But there was no mention of meeting with someone else in the note Roland found. Were these some more of Arwa's men. He doubted it, if so they would be dismounting their horses and turning in for the night. And if Arwa had merely used Dugan as a decoy base, then why had men stationed in it clearly visible to every passer-by? It didn't make sense. Roland sighed, another mystery to discover.

Deciding to revert back into stealth, Roland wanted to move up to the small window on the side of the building he was facing. There he might catch the sound of some of the answers to what was going on.

Lowering himself until he was walking on all fours, he allowed his head to sneak past the two wooden logs that made up the wooden fence, then an arm, followed by another. Now with his top half of his body completely in the garden, he guided one leg carefully over the lower log. When his limb had cleared the wooden barrier, he allowed the other leg to follow, turning all attention away from the house and to the final leg. When he gently placed his last foot into the soft dirt of the garden, he slowly let himself up on to his two feet.

This was the dangerous part. The garden was full of loose plants and vines. One misplaced step could create that one too loud rustle that would draw the entire village to him, including the guards. Roland sized up the distance he had to cross. Ten feet, not very far normally, but this was not normal. Breathing in as quietly as he could manage, he looked to the ground for place to put his foot for the first step. The gardener of this small collection of plants would not last very long on earth in his profession, thought Roland comically annoyed. There were no clear rows, and it seemed that the seeds were planted by a drunkard and just left to grow.

Finding a place large enough for his first step, Roland slowly lifted his foot up and lightly padded it on the spot. Not a sound was made, which made Roland happy with himself for a few seconds. But then the realization that he had about seven more steps to go brought him back to reality. Planning his next move like he was playing a game of vert, Roland saw a spot his next step could go, and like before, he lifted his leg and slowly placed it on the next place.

Again and again Roland repeated this, aware that as he was getting closer to the window, the more define a pair of voices became. He could make out what was a man's voice and a woman's, but could not make sense of what they where saying. Unfortunately he was too focused on the voices to notice where his foot was about to land.

*crunch*

Roland froze all of his body except his head, which swung down to look at his feet. He had stepped on the side of a cabbage, breaking off a quarter of the leaves on the head. Roland tensed, the noise itself was not very loud, but here it might as well be an avalanche in the still of the night.

Letting his eyes peer over to where the men were, he expected all of them to be rushing around the corner, the sound alarming them to Roland's presence. But not a sound or body gave curious cry or peek. After a moment, Roland sighed, and now plotted his next two moves.

Two more steps was all that it took for the young mercenary to reach the far wall and under the high window. Now in the shadow of the building Roland his eyes rest on the small window on the side of the building. It was less then a foot wide and across, too small to squeeze through and too high up for Roland to look into; leaving only the voices he could barely make out. The man's voice was harsh and curt yet, familiar in someway. The other voice was a woman's and it was smooth and calm, and yet lower then most, with a feeling of wisdom and power that seemed to flow from it; like a cold wind from a noisily breeze.

"What do you mean you invited her?!" Said the male voice loud with anger.

Then came a woman's voice, calm yet firm enough for Roland to barely make out what she was saying. "—invited her because she is one of few that I know I can trust."

"She will recognize me! My identity at court will be ruined if she so much as says one word to the wrong person! How dare you go against what we agreed on."

The lady responded coolly, "Nizar delivered the letter only tonight, Emir… She was asleep according to him, and had to leave because he had been uncovered—" Her voice became quieter and Roland could tell what was being said.

"Who is this, Nizar?"

A man who joined us a week ago, he's been very reliable and trustworthy."

"What makes you think—"

"He saved my life… That is enough…"

The man snorted. "And what about her, do you trust her?"

"She is my daughter—" her voice trailed off again. If their was any doubt as to who the female voice belonged to they where cast aside. This was the meeting place that Haydee was supposed to go to.

The man's voice was calmer now but no less loud, "Is she coming tonight?"

"I do not know, Emir. She could come tonight or she could come some other time. I will feel better thought knowing she is way from that monster."

There was a bite in the woman's words. "Monster" she had said, as if she meant to say, "bastard".

The man started again. "How many men do you have here?"

Then another man's voice cut in, "The Khan has promised us an army if we ask for it."

"Promised do not make men magically appear," replied the other man.

"He has promised."

"That means nothing to me…"

"Are you doubting Lady Arwa's influence at court?" The man asked threateningly

"That is enough, Baheshtur." Arwa replied sharply. "I have fifteen men of my own, and the Khan—"

Suddenly Roland felt a hand clasped around his mouth, and someone's arm force itself tightly around his neck cutting off all airflow. He struggled to break free, but the figure had taken Roland by surprise, and was now in control of the situation.

"Shh! Shh, shh." Came a voice from behind, "Easy my friend. You have gotten far enough… no sense in making it worse for yourself."

Slowly Roland felt his limps start to go numb, and he knew he was one step away from passing out. He tried to struggle harder, but the man still held Roland firmly. Then his legs gave, and Roland began to stagger as the man lowered his body to the ground. As he felt the cool earth touch his face, his vision went dark, but he was able to catch one other thing the man behind him say, "I am sorry, Roland…"

Then the darkness took over the rest of his senses, and everything went black.

End Notes-

Sorry for the sort chapter, everybody. Anyway I hoped everyone had a great Valentines Day.

Overall things are pretty good with me, I auditioned for a YouTube, animated series called Chasm Crossing and had a lot of fun doing it. So if you are curious as to how I sound, look up Indogma and it will get you to the right place.

Cheers!

Indogma