Author's Notes: Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews I am glad that people are enjoying my writing. As always I own nothing but what springs form my imagination.
Karl rode out of the city gates shortly after they opened. He was still quite tired from his night's activities and would have liked a day or two to rest but Marx thought it would be better if he left at once. Doubtless word was already spreading among the city's remaining Lahmians, if it had not already done so. While they themselves could not do anything till after sundown they had many servants and spies who would not be hampered by the sun and it would not do for Karl to be seen, so off he went.
While his abrupt departure and lack of sleep did little to improve Karl's temper he found he could not stay grumpy for long. He had the open road, a horse, which Marx had let him keep, and money in his purse, also from Marx. Indeed Marx had been quite generous in his payment and Karl would not lack for money for some time, if he could just find a place where he could spend it before everything tried to kill him or he was compelled to leave in a hurry.
He had lingered in the city long enough to acquire fresh supplies so there was no problem there. Marx had not said when he would be needing Karl again and in any event he had shown that he could find Karl when the time came. For now, all Karl had to do was pick a direction and start riding.
He briefly considered returning to Altdorf and seeing if he could visit Claire but in the end dismissed the idea. He wasn't even sure if students could receive visitors and he did not want to risk being exposed. While Marx had explained that not every magic user could see what he was with witch sight he was fairly certain that in an entire collage there would be one or two that could. He shuddered at the image in his mind of him fleeing through the city streets of the capital with a host of wizards hot on his heels hurling fire balls at him.
That caused a second and even more depressing thought. What if after her studies Claire developed the ability to detect that he was not human? He could all too easily imagine her opinion of him deteriorating with depressing speed. No, he finally decided, he did not want to go to Altdorf.
Instead he went east towards Averheim, capital of the province of Averland. For the better part of two weeks he rode. He could have made better time if he had chosen to but he was in no hurry; so he rode at a leisurely pace. As he rode through the province the forests which, except for when he had been in the cities, had been a near constant his whole life gave way to rolling plains and hills. He saw men driving great herds of cattle and in the distance he saw mountains for the first time in his life.
On the eleventh day around noon as he was looking for a good spot to stop for lunch he heard a commotion up ahead of him. As a hill blocked his way he spurred the horse and rode to its top. From there he looked down on a scene of battle.
A group of wagons were pulled together to form a square and a number of short figures had taken refuge inside the square. With them were two men, one was obviously a knight but the other wore no armor, they were dismounted and fought inside the improvised fortifications as well. They were being assailed on all sides by a swarm of green-skinned Orcs.
As Karl watched the brutes swarmed at the wagons, from a nearby hill several dozen smaller creatures, which Karl recognized as goblins from old Brome's stories, fired a barrage of arrows at the defenders to cover their larger cousins advance. While most fell wide of their mark some fell among the defenders; most of these were deflected by armor or shields but Karl saw one or two figures fall. The defenders responded in kind and Karl saw crossbow bolts fired and heard the crack of black powder weapons. Their fire was more effective and a number of the on rushing Orcs fell.
Many remained, however, and these crashed into the defenders. The two sides dissolved into a whirling confused mass as the attackers tried to push in and the defenders tried to push them out. For a time the outcome seemed uncertain; then the attackers fell back in confusion. Though the assault had been repelled the cost had been high. A number of defenders lay on the ground, some moving about and crying out in pain but a number obviously dead.
Nor had the Orcs given up. They had fallen back but not very far. Already Karl could see their leader, or at least the biggest and meanest looking one, bellowing at the rest and forcing them back into something that vaguely resembled a formation. To Karl it seemed that if something were not done the attackers must eventually break through. When that happened the defenders would be doomed.
He considered his options; he knew that taking on the whole Orc war band by himself would be suicide. He stood a slightly better chance if he performed the change but that would likely result in the defenders attacking him as well. Looking at the situation he decided he had but one course of action.
He turned and rode back the way he had come; once he was at the bottom of the hill he rode in the direction of the archers, ensuring that he kept the hills between himself and them. When he heard the sounds of the Orcs working themselves up for another charge he rode his horse up the hill. As he had hoped he was staring right at the backs of the goblin archers; they were on a smaller hill a few hundred feet ahead of him with a small dip in between. As soon as the Orcs charged he spurred his horse into a gallop.
With all the noise generated by the battle, in addition to their own screeches, the goblins did not even hear him until he was almost on top of them. He barreled into them. Several were trampled under his horse's hooves and several more were knocked down.
For his own part Karl was wildly swinging his sword at anything that was within reach. Unfortunately his swordsmanship, not particularly good at the best of times, was even worse on horseback and most of his blows hit nothing but empty air. Fortunately, it did not matter, the goblins were skittish creatures and the courage was easily shaken. Karl's sudden appearance; along with his ferocity and the wild, high pitch screaming of his terrified horse, caused the goblins to panic and scattered.
With the archers dealt with; he turned and charged the Orcs. As before the enemy did not notice him until he was on them. As several turned to face him he stood high in his stirrups and turned to look over his shoulder. "WE GOT THEM RIGHT HERE BOYS! HERE THEY ARE! HERE THEY ARE!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. This caused a number of the Orcs to turn and look in his direction.
Obviously they did not see anyone else but did see the goblins scattering and concluded that Karl was part of a larger force. A number panicked and began to shout in fear and break away from the fight and began to bolt away. Their panic spread to other attackers and some of them fled as well.
Karl ignored these and focused on those still fighting. He pushed into them, striking left and right, here they were so tightly packed together all his blows hit. With the number of assailants pressing them greatly reduced the defenders rallied and pushed them back.
Karl suddenly found himself up against the carts, without realizing it he had pushed clear through the attackers. Nearby he saw the Orc leader clashing with one of the defenders. Now that he was close enough he saw that the majority of the defenders were Dwarfs, the mountain folk and ancient allies of the Empire. He saw the Orc leader knock the Dwarf to the ground, the latter losing his grip on his axe. The Dwarf struggled with a pistol thrust into his belt but the weapon was caught and he could not draw it.
Grinning, the Orc raised its large cleaver. Desperate to intervene, Karl swung wildly at the Orc, by good fortune his blow landed on the brute's wrist, severing it completely. With a bellow of pain the Orc grabbed the bleeding stump with its remaining hand. Taking advantage of the opening, the Dwarf finally freed his pistol and shot the Orc in the head. Seeing their leader fall; the rest scattered and fled.
The defenders cheered and jeered at the fleeing Orcs but offered no pursuit. With the battle over Karl took a closer look at those he had helped rescue. Most of them were indeed Dwarfs, noticeably shorter than men but far broader and burlier. Though they were all armed he saw that few wore armor.
He also looked at the two men with them. One, the knight, was a young man; Karl put him at not much over twenty, with olive skin and black hair. His armor, though at the moment covered in blood, was of high quality. Curiously, it seemed to be made of brass. On his shield was the emblem of a sun with a face in the middle.
The other man was far older. His skin was paler and his hair, what little of it remained, was beginning to go white. He wore a long brown robe that almost made him look like a monk; on the front was a smaller piece of cloth stitched to the robe. On it an owl was embroidered.
"Well my good man," said the older man; "It seems we owe you a debt of gratitude for your timely intervention. If you hadn't intervened when you did those vile brutes would have had us. Allow me to introduce myself; I am Otto Werner, Verenean Investigator, on rout to Averheim. This good knight, here he indicated the other man, is Sir Leonard Mettellas of Tilean; a member of the Order of the Blazing Sun. I met him on the road and, since we're traveling in the same direction we agreed to travel together.
"Finally; this," he said indicating a Dwarf approaching them; "Is Thorick Ironbeard; merchant from Karak Angazhar and head of this caravan, who kindly allowed us to travel with them."
"For a 'slight' fee." Muttered Mettellas under his breath, if Ironbeard heard him he gave no notice, choosing instead to study Karl as Karl introduced himself.
Like all his kind Ironbeard was short and broad. While his clothing was unassuming, mostly grays and blacks, they were well cut and well-tailored. Like his name his beard, which fell down past his belt, was an iron gray color. "That was well done." He said in a deep gravelly voice; "But that little stunt you pulled could easily have gotten you killed."
Karl could only ruefully nod in agreement, "Indeed; now that I think about it, it does seem rather stupid, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. It seems Sigmar and Ulric favor the bold."
"Perhaps," said Sir Mettellas, with a bit of a smirk; "But Myrmidia favors the intelligent."
Before Karl could say anything, not that he really could say anything, Werner stepped in. "While we are grateful for your aid, I must confess I am rather curious what brings you here. By your accent I would say you are not from around here."
Karl nodded; glad to have changed the subject. "I am not from here. I have just come from Nuln. I was travelling to Averheim when I came upon you fight with the Orcs."
"Well; that was fortuitous," said Ironbeard. He paused and seemed to be considering something. "If you want, you can continue with us. It would be in your best interest to do so, those Orcs have scattered for now but they'll rally eventually and I doubt they'll fall for the same trick twice."
Karl thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement. "I thank you Master Dwarf for your generosity and I gladly accept,"
With seeing to the wounded and all the damage they travelled no further that. That night, as the all sat around the fires, Mettellas approached Karl. "I wanted to apologize if I gave offence, none was intended. You men of the Empire are a bit too touchy at times.'
Karl nodded his acceptance. "No offence taken Sir Knight."
The answer seemed to please Mettellas. "That's good; now, for the reason I came over. In the battle today you showed promise as a swordsman but you seem to lack training. If you would like, I would be more than willing to offer you some lessons to make up for my regrettable lack of manners."
Karl smiled and nodded his agreement, quite pleased with the offer. Earlier he had thought the man behaved just like Wilhelmina and was pleased to see had been wrong. Besides, he was himself aware that he lacked training with the blade and was pleased to have someone willing to teach him. Especially, he thought, if I ever run into that Isabella creature again. So thinking, he got up and followed Sir Mettellas towards an open area to begin.
Author's Notes: Hello everyone, I hope you'll are doing well and liked this last chapter. For a little lore: Myrmidia-goddess of war and strategy is regarded in the Empire with some suspicion as she is from Tilea, which is basically Renaissance Italy. The Knights of the Blazing Sun are an order dedicated to her. Has some rivalry and animosity with Sigmar and Ulric who are also war gods. Her followers see their followers as ignorant muscle heads at times. Averland-southern-most province of the Empire. Verenean Investigator-an investigator dedicated to Verena the goddess of wisdom and justice. They prefer to gather evidence than to simply torture confessions from suspects. Well that's all for now. For this next adventure I am planning on it being more of a mystery as going from one fight to the next might get repetitive. Please let me know what you think and kep praying for Shawn and all who need it. Bye for now and may Jesus bless you all.