"The horse doesn't like me."
"You have said that every day since you got on a horse. Don't you think it's obvious we can SEE that the horse doesn't like you?" Schuldich gave Farfello an incredulous look. "Besides, what horse would like a knife-wielding fire-obsessed psycho like you?" Farfello growled.
"Stop it. We need to start out, and fast. We're as close to the village as we'll ever get without being noticed." Nagi trotted up between the two of them on his dark-furred horse and looked out over the hills, hair whipping in his face. His eyes were narrow with determination. "I'm going to take the first group around to destroy the bridge, alright? Remember – Schuldich follows from the front when he hears the sounds of a battle, and Farfello, you come through the forest when Schuldich gives the signal." Both men nodded, although Schuldich thought it was a little out of place that Nagi was giving HIM orders.
Nagi obviously read his mind and scowled.
"If you haven't noticed, I am the smart one here. If you had, perhaps, been a little more diligent in your assignments and battles, you might have gotten a higher status." Schuldich clutched his horses' reins. Nagi hardly looked at him. "And if you were something more than a fighter and practiced other skills, maybe Crawford would let you match my rank."
"We ARE matched in rank, you little brat!" snarled Schuldich. He reached for his sword. He almost made it, but the combined forces of Nagi and Farfello holding him back from doing it with their minds stopped him.
"Just get your forces ready. Ok?" Nagi started off, leaving a seething Schuldich and a watchful Farfello behind.
"'I am the smart one', indeed…stupid little – "
"Soldiers." The one word from Farfello snapped Schuldich out of his mood, and he was happy again – at least on the outside. Oh well, he'd get some of the rage out when he charged headfirst into the little town. He rode over the soldiers and glared at them all.
"We wait until we hear the sounds of a fight starting. Then we move in. The first little shit to move in before that loses a certain part of him that usually means a lot to a man. Got it?" The soldiers all nodded, several gulps from younger ones heard. Schuldich was well known for carrying out his threats.
They moved slowly, Schuldich leading on his black horse. Internally he sweated. This armor was hot. It was black, almost full body, and his tunic was black under it. His helmet, thankfully, was thin and light, and didn't cover a whole lot of his head, so he could get some breeze up there. But everywhere else was generally flaming hot. Damn summer.
He arrived at the hill where they were supposed to be within minutes. He squinted at the town not too far ahead, and thought he saw large movement of black shadow. Damn Nagi! Damn Nagi's ability to move his troops like that! And damn HIM for being unable to do the same thing!
The sounds of a battle started while he was waiting, and suddenly he heard the snapping and cracking of the bridge plunging into the water. He pulled his sword out and charged, his soldiers following. They stormed across the grass. Nothing was left alive behind them. With Schuldich in the lead, his sword out, his horse galloping, a fraction of the army rushing imperiously around and behind him, it was a menacing sight, indeed.
They met with the village's guards at the entrance. Schuldich came to an almost sudden stop to fight, while his small army attacked anybody with a sword. Schuldich was considered the best fighter in the entire army, next to Crawford, and here he displayed his skills madly. He could manuver his horse and take out whoever was around him, AND catch sight of his comrades to make sure he wasn't killing off his own soldiers or missing any signals.
Farfello sat on his black horse in the forest, being bored, occasionally scratching himself with a nearby thorn bush. Suddenly, he saw a bright flashing light, and Schuldich on his horse, reflecting the sun's rays off his sword. Farfello whipped his horse into action, and his soldiers, startled by his actions, followed after, stumbling and trying to keep their senses together.
The village was surrounded, the people were terrified. Schuldich and Nagi rode the town center.
"This village," Schuldich crowed, "Is now under the command of Lord Crawford! You will accept him as your ruler or suffer the consequences of death!" While he did this, Nagi kept a watchful eye out for any escapees who might have run off to inform Aya of the attack. He glared as he thought he saw something silvery white slide into the forest.
"Schuldich…" The red haired man glanced over, saw the movement, smirked, and nodded. He set off at an amazing speed and started off toward the movement. Nagi then turned his horse to face the church. It was a small church, but a church none the less.
Farfello was standing in front of it, laughing insanely, his soldiers scattered around it, wondering if they should put out the blaze that was now enveloping the stone building. The older ones were quite sure that they shouldn't, because they'd seen this happen before. Farfello always torched the churches he passed. He took extreme joy in doing so, because he was sure it hurt God.
"This hurts God!" he howled as the flames attacked everything in and around the church. "This most definitely hurts God. Hahaaa!!!!" Nagi sighed. Why did the man have to do this every time they passed a village…? Oh well…if it kept him from killing everybody in sight to hurt God…
Schuldich chased after the white-clad person, who was racing into the forest. It was simple. Catch the guy and kill him. Maybe have a little fun with him. A grin spread across Schuldich's features, and within moments he had overtaken the man on the road and knocked him over with one hand. The white cloaked one stumbled and hit the ground, then whirled to face Schuldich, who had reined his horse around and come to a stop.
"What's this?" he asked playfully. "A messenger, running to tell KING Aya that he's just lost a village to LORD Crawford?" The man glared at Schuldich.
"Yes, I was! And I will fight you to the death!" He drew a longsword from his side. Schuldich snorted, dismounted his horse, and pulled out one of the only three ever created Schwartz swords; a sword made of pure black obsidian on the hilt, and engraved with unique designs for each of Crawford's three Knights of the Realm. The blade was made of a metal that not even Crawford knew what it was, but whatever it was, it was STRONG. There were no designs carved into it purely for the face that it was so unbreakable. But it was black. And the man in the white cloaked paled when he saw the sword.
Schuldich snickered at the look.
"You…you are…"
"One of the three Knights of LORD Crawford's Realm. Schuldich, to be exact." He waved his sword in a menacing way. "You still want to fight to the death?"
The man hesitated, then charged. Schuldich raised one eyebrow and parried the attack without any effort. He did this several times, all the while throwing insults and random comments into the fight.
"Is that all you've got?" he asked when the man stopped attacking for a few moments to regain his breath.
"This...I will kill you….I will not let you live!" Schuldich rested his sword's tip on the ground like a staff.
"I've heard that a lot. That, and 'Why don't you just die and go to hell?!'. Don't you people have any other threats to throw at me?" The man pulled his sword up over his shoulder for another attack. Schuldich sighed. Now he was getting bored. This man was no fun.
He stopped the man from moving by freezing him with his mind, then plucked the sword from the man's grasp with his mind. The man was shocked to see his sword fly from his hands and embed itself in a tree. When Schuldich released him, he backed off.
"What? Scared now? Or did you forget that we three and LORD Crawford have special powers?" He smirked and tapped his head lightly. The man fell back a few steps, obviously planning on stealing Schuldich's horse and making a run for it. He moved faster than Schuldich had expected, but was stopped fast by Schuldich's mind.
"Ah ah ah….are you trying to get away?" he murmured. The man fought desperately to free himself, but Schuldich had a firm grip on him. He sauntered over to the man, and put his sword right at the messenger's neck. "I wonder what would happen if I stuck this in your throat, hm?" He grinned at the man's whimpers. "Oh wait. I already know what."
"You'd die, right?" The man snarled, summoning up the last of his courage.
"One day, Lord Aya will bring an end to your reign of terror!" Schuldich glowered.
"One day, I am going to corner him in his castle, and LORD Crawford will kill him." Schuldich slit the messenger's throat and waited for the man to collapse, bleeding, onto the ground. Then he remounted his horse and trotted back to the village.
Nagi was there, waiting for him. Most of the guards had obviously gone back to the campsite they had set up on the halfway point. Farfello was happily dancing around the firey ruins of the church, chanting, "God is suffering! This hurts God!"
"Did you kill him?"
"Yeah. It was a messenger. Doesn't really matter, though…I'll bet that the news get to Aya sooner or later…" Schuldich leaned back boredly in his saddle, and Nagi leaned forward.
"We should get back to the castle as soon as possible. Lord Crawford will want to hear of this. And try to be a bit more decent with him, will you?" Schuldich just looked at Nagi with a grin on his face. Nagi glared. "I MEAN it. And - ! Farfello! Don't torch yourself!"
"But this hurts God even MORE!!!" cried the psycho, running out of the flaming church, which shortly after collapsed. Nagi put out the fire mentally and heaved Farfello onto his horse. The horse looked thoroughly startled, and especially pissed at having the weird guy on his back, but Nagi's glare kept it from hurling the man off his back.
"Alright. Let's go." Schuldich led the way out, Nagi followed, and Farfello's horse dragged the man along. They followed the beaten tracks where they army had dissipated to, with a few other soldiers behind them.