Living with the Land
Disclaimer: Same as before.
~ ~ ~ ~
Johann fired another shot from his jaeger rifle, splitting the skull of another Shadow Heartless apart. "There's only two of us, I can't possibly hold them all off. My ammunition's running low."
"I've contacted Seabase Alpha, they should be dispatching two teams of militia to your area." Cobra Bubbles said over the radio.
An Artillery Heartless fired again and obliterated part of the roof around Johann. Johann aimed his arquebus at it and squeezed the trigger, blowing a hole through the head of the creature. By now many piles of Heartless lay killed around Spaceship Earth thanks to Johann's marksmanship.
Suddenly he saw flashes of laser fire off to his right. Smiling, though he recognized not the laser weapon, he knew they were friendly forces when they blasted through the ranks of the Heartless.
He stopped smiling when he saw a group of Heartless break off in pursuit of Halb, Miranda and Bonkers.
"Cobra, we've got a big group chasing Miranda and the others." Nani said over the radio link.
~ ~ ~ ~
As Miranda, Halb, and Bonkers ran on, pursued by Heartless they ran inside the Land pavilion. As they ran inside a spherical projectile flew inches away from Miranda's face, halting her in her tracks. Halb extracted his reversed blade sword as another projectile that would have struck Miranda solidly in the head flew towards her. Halb's blade intercepted the projectile sending it flying back the way it came.
A yellow, monkey like Heartless was knocked down. "How many kinds of these things are there?" Miranda asked.
"I am uncertain, milady." Halb replied, "There appear to be infinite varieties of them, but we'd best search out the crest before the Heartless find them."
"HELP!" Bonkers shouted. As they turned, two blue monkey-like Heartless were on top of him.
Suddenly one of the two Powerwilds fell to the ground after the crack of a rifle. Halb saw out of the corner of his eye a man carrying a jaeger rifle, with its .75" projectile bore, running from the Circle of Life Theater. He was too far to pursue, but Halb noticed the scarred face of the man. He shouted, "Fear not fair people of Tilst, ye shalt be avenged..."
"Halb?" Miranda asked. The normally battle toughened and taciturn swordsman was staring off into space. She gently put an arm on his shoulder and he whirled to face her, sword in hand.
"Whoa Halb! It's Miranda, remember..."
"I apologize, milady. It is just that the name of Tilst brings up memories best not remembered nor discussed..." Halb replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
Tilst was the estate of a nobleman of Steinchroe, who had left his sprawling estate to fight the invading armies of Vasserbunde and Parmas. Halb marched at the head of his twenty troops, a small raiding party sent to find out what happened to a smaller scouting unit.
As they marched they came upon a grisly sight. A soldier from their camp lay spread eagled upon the ground, his stomach split open, his jaw opening and closing spastically. Two more dismembered corpses lay nearby.
"Milord, tis a common fate of soldiers separated from their units. These peasants are murderous..." A harquebusier said.
"Tis true," Halb said, eyes narrowing, "You two follow me. The remainder of you, remain where you are. When you hear fighting advance and show no quarter."
As Halb and two other soldiers advanced a band of about sixteen peasants leapt from hiding. Halb drew his sword, and the harquebusier dropped to one knee and fired his weapon, killing a charging peasant armed with a scythe.
The peasants fell upon the third soldier with clubs and tools but before they could carve apart what they thought easy prey more shots sounded. A shot rang out, hitting another of Halb's men in the stomach, wounding him. The soldiers of Halb's unit, far from being cowed by the horrific murder of three of their comrades, were out for blood.
Soon the sounds of fighting gave way to screams and cries for mercy. Of the sixteen peasant attackers, eleven lay killed, many with multiple stab and slash wounds on their bodies. Five bloodied and wounded prisoners remained. Halb raised a hand to stop the killing.
"What village doth thou hail from?" Halb asked a peasant, the one who'd fired the jaeger rifle at one of his men, who would almost certainly die because of the stomach wound.
The peasant spit into his face, only to be kicked in the groin by on of Halb's soldiers. "Thou hath spirit, peasant, but doth thou have a name?"
"Thine soldiers pillaged my estate, Parmas," the peasant said, "My mother and father and grandfather killed by the soldiers of your land. I, Narcissco of Tilst, have sworn revenge against the forces of Parmas."
"Your days of vengeance are ended, Narcissco, for today you shall die." Halb said, laconically, "Remove their shoes."
Barefoot, the five captured peasants were force marched five miles to the village of Tilst where Halb stood upon a cart, saying, "Hear ye, village of Tilst. Mere moments ago men from thy settlement savagely murdered three soldiers of Parmas and wounded two others, one of whom shall die soon from his wounds."
As he spoke, five nooses were prepared on the branches of a stately old oak tree. He tossed the jaeger rifle into the road as he spoke, "We have been reasonable with what we took. We left your village intact after our initial siege. We left a reasonable amount of food in stores. And you repay us with cowardly butchery?" Halb declared, his voice rising, "I was not angry since entering Steinchroe's border until THIS INSTANT!"
"Soldier of Parmas, thy forces have been reasonable..." A boy of fourteen years said, "But canst thou spare my brother, Narcissco. He is but all I have in this world."
"Nay, boy, I cannot do so. For your brother orchestrated this assault against soldiers of Parmas and must repay their blood with his own!" Halb replied.
"Morerro!" Narciscco shouted, through cracked and bloodied teeth thanks to the rough handling of the soldiers of Parmas, "Leave now, begone child..."
"Brother, I shall take up arms for you! Revenge!" Morerro shouted and fired his brother's jaeger rifle which Halb had cast into the road and heard only a click.
"Foolish boy!" a soldier said, "Would you think our lord would be foolish to give you a loaded weapon."
The soldier drew a short bladed and slashed downward, slicing open the right cheek of Morerro's face. Haken, a thick bodied man, and a foul tempered one as well, a veteran of many campaigns, raised his sword again.
"Stay thy sword Haken!" Halb ordered sharply, "Let this boy see what happens to those who perform cowardly acts.
Halb nodded and the table that was used as support for the five men and boys was pulled away. Narcissco and his four comrades jerked and twitched as though dancing a traditional peasant dance as they hung with ropes around their necks...
Two years later, after the final clash of the Seventy Years War, the Butcher of Steinchroe, the fierce warrior reversed his sword. He became simply Halb of Parmas, disappeared into the mists of history, to appear years later having taken a vow to never take life again.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Tilst." Halb replied, as if playing a recording of his own buried memories, "Were any town to truly convey the destruction of the war, Tilst did. On the road to Ziegsturhl, this town had suffered the indignities of marauding armies for the entirety of war. She changed hands five times in as many years, as the forces of Parmas and Steinchroe fought over her bridge across the Westerwald River."
"What did he mean when he said people of Tilst?" Miranda asked.
"The armies that ran roughshod over Tilst did so violently. She wound up supplying recruits to one army or the other, whichever seemed to have the upper hand." Halb replied, "When the armies of Parmas ravaged her it was in vengeance for the deeds her peasants had committed upon stragglers of our columns."
"Halb..." Miranda began.
"We reaped a terrible vengeance upon one such band." Halb said, "We ambushed one group, and their shouts of defiance turned to shouts of mercy as they begged to be spared of our blades. No quarter was given as we slew eleven of their band and hanged the five survivors so that their deaths would serve as an example."
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC (Sorry this is so short, but I've been busy. How do you think Miranda should react to the final admission that Halb of Parmas is truly the infamous Butcher of Steinchroe...What kind of a person is she?)
Disclaimer: Same as before.
~ ~ ~ ~
Johann fired another shot from his jaeger rifle, splitting the skull of another Shadow Heartless apart. "There's only two of us, I can't possibly hold them all off. My ammunition's running low."
"I've contacted Seabase Alpha, they should be dispatching two teams of militia to your area." Cobra Bubbles said over the radio.
An Artillery Heartless fired again and obliterated part of the roof around Johann. Johann aimed his arquebus at it and squeezed the trigger, blowing a hole through the head of the creature. By now many piles of Heartless lay killed around Spaceship Earth thanks to Johann's marksmanship.
Suddenly he saw flashes of laser fire off to his right. Smiling, though he recognized not the laser weapon, he knew they were friendly forces when they blasted through the ranks of the Heartless.
He stopped smiling when he saw a group of Heartless break off in pursuit of Halb, Miranda and Bonkers.
"Cobra, we've got a big group chasing Miranda and the others." Nani said over the radio link.
~ ~ ~ ~
As Miranda, Halb, and Bonkers ran on, pursued by Heartless they ran inside the Land pavilion. As they ran inside a spherical projectile flew inches away from Miranda's face, halting her in her tracks. Halb extracted his reversed blade sword as another projectile that would have struck Miranda solidly in the head flew towards her. Halb's blade intercepted the projectile sending it flying back the way it came.
A yellow, monkey like Heartless was knocked down. "How many kinds of these things are there?" Miranda asked.
"I am uncertain, milady." Halb replied, "There appear to be infinite varieties of them, but we'd best search out the crest before the Heartless find them."
"HELP!" Bonkers shouted. As they turned, two blue monkey-like Heartless were on top of him.
Suddenly one of the two Powerwilds fell to the ground after the crack of a rifle. Halb saw out of the corner of his eye a man carrying a jaeger rifle, with its .75" projectile bore, running from the Circle of Life Theater. He was too far to pursue, but Halb noticed the scarred face of the man. He shouted, "Fear not fair people of Tilst, ye shalt be avenged..."
"Halb?" Miranda asked. The normally battle toughened and taciturn swordsman was staring off into space. She gently put an arm on his shoulder and he whirled to face her, sword in hand.
"Whoa Halb! It's Miranda, remember..."
"I apologize, milady. It is just that the name of Tilst brings up memories best not remembered nor discussed..." Halb replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
Tilst was the estate of a nobleman of Steinchroe, who had left his sprawling estate to fight the invading armies of Vasserbunde and Parmas. Halb marched at the head of his twenty troops, a small raiding party sent to find out what happened to a smaller scouting unit.
As they marched they came upon a grisly sight. A soldier from their camp lay spread eagled upon the ground, his stomach split open, his jaw opening and closing spastically. Two more dismembered corpses lay nearby.
"Milord, tis a common fate of soldiers separated from their units. These peasants are murderous..." A harquebusier said.
"Tis true," Halb said, eyes narrowing, "You two follow me. The remainder of you, remain where you are. When you hear fighting advance and show no quarter."
As Halb and two other soldiers advanced a band of about sixteen peasants leapt from hiding. Halb drew his sword, and the harquebusier dropped to one knee and fired his weapon, killing a charging peasant armed with a scythe.
The peasants fell upon the third soldier with clubs and tools but before they could carve apart what they thought easy prey more shots sounded. A shot rang out, hitting another of Halb's men in the stomach, wounding him. The soldiers of Halb's unit, far from being cowed by the horrific murder of three of their comrades, were out for blood.
Soon the sounds of fighting gave way to screams and cries for mercy. Of the sixteen peasant attackers, eleven lay killed, many with multiple stab and slash wounds on their bodies. Five bloodied and wounded prisoners remained. Halb raised a hand to stop the killing.
"What village doth thou hail from?" Halb asked a peasant, the one who'd fired the jaeger rifle at one of his men, who would almost certainly die because of the stomach wound.
The peasant spit into his face, only to be kicked in the groin by on of Halb's soldiers. "Thou hath spirit, peasant, but doth thou have a name?"
"Thine soldiers pillaged my estate, Parmas," the peasant said, "My mother and father and grandfather killed by the soldiers of your land. I, Narcissco of Tilst, have sworn revenge against the forces of Parmas."
"Your days of vengeance are ended, Narcissco, for today you shall die." Halb said, laconically, "Remove their shoes."
Barefoot, the five captured peasants were force marched five miles to the village of Tilst where Halb stood upon a cart, saying, "Hear ye, village of Tilst. Mere moments ago men from thy settlement savagely murdered three soldiers of Parmas and wounded two others, one of whom shall die soon from his wounds."
As he spoke, five nooses were prepared on the branches of a stately old oak tree. He tossed the jaeger rifle into the road as he spoke, "We have been reasonable with what we took. We left your village intact after our initial siege. We left a reasonable amount of food in stores. And you repay us with cowardly butchery?" Halb declared, his voice rising, "I was not angry since entering Steinchroe's border until THIS INSTANT!"
"Soldier of Parmas, thy forces have been reasonable..." A boy of fourteen years said, "But canst thou spare my brother, Narcissco. He is but all I have in this world."
"Nay, boy, I cannot do so. For your brother orchestrated this assault against soldiers of Parmas and must repay their blood with his own!" Halb replied.
"Morerro!" Narciscco shouted, through cracked and bloodied teeth thanks to the rough handling of the soldiers of Parmas, "Leave now, begone child..."
"Brother, I shall take up arms for you! Revenge!" Morerro shouted and fired his brother's jaeger rifle which Halb had cast into the road and heard only a click.
"Foolish boy!" a soldier said, "Would you think our lord would be foolish to give you a loaded weapon."
The soldier drew a short bladed and slashed downward, slicing open the right cheek of Morerro's face. Haken, a thick bodied man, and a foul tempered one as well, a veteran of many campaigns, raised his sword again.
"Stay thy sword Haken!" Halb ordered sharply, "Let this boy see what happens to those who perform cowardly acts.
Halb nodded and the table that was used as support for the five men and boys was pulled away. Narcissco and his four comrades jerked and twitched as though dancing a traditional peasant dance as they hung with ropes around their necks...
Two years later, after the final clash of the Seventy Years War, the Butcher of Steinchroe, the fierce warrior reversed his sword. He became simply Halb of Parmas, disappeared into the mists of history, to appear years later having taken a vow to never take life again.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Tilst." Halb replied, as if playing a recording of his own buried memories, "Were any town to truly convey the destruction of the war, Tilst did. On the road to Ziegsturhl, this town had suffered the indignities of marauding armies for the entirety of war. She changed hands five times in as many years, as the forces of Parmas and Steinchroe fought over her bridge across the Westerwald River."
"What did he mean when he said people of Tilst?" Miranda asked.
"The armies that ran roughshod over Tilst did so violently. She wound up supplying recruits to one army or the other, whichever seemed to have the upper hand." Halb replied, "When the armies of Parmas ravaged her it was in vengeance for the deeds her peasants had committed upon stragglers of our columns."
"Halb..." Miranda began.
"We reaped a terrible vengeance upon one such band." Halb said, "We ambushed one group, and their shouts of defiance turned to shouts of mercy as they begged to be spared of our blades. No quarter was given as we slew eleven of their band and hanged the five survivors so that their deaths would serve as an example."
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC (Sorry this is so short, but I've been busy. How do you think Miranda should react to the final admission that Halb of Parmas is truly the infamous Butcher of Steinchroe...What kind of a person is she?)