-Maia's P.O.V-
Maia polished her swords with a solemn look on her face and she looked across the large ornate table of Lady Celestine private sanctuary. The meeting between the members of the seven shield alliance as well as their new dark elf allies were set to begin almost an hour ago, but still, key members of the war council had yet to arrive.
Lady Claudia Levantain, Lord commander of the holy templar knights sat patiently looking over field reports of the ongoing conflict. Occasionally she would scribble down a few terse messages on a piece of parchment, before returning her attention back to the literal pile of field reports in front of her. It seemed years of knightly training and discipline shielded her from the wave of annoyance and boredom her fellow princess knights were facing.
Lady Kaguya, Head shrine maiden of the eastern temple, stood conversing with several of her sister shrine maidens near the balcony of the room, while the younger sisters looked nervous and unsure, Kaguya remained as calm and as tranquil as a still pond as she listened intently to her fellow shrine maiden's concerns.
Alicia Arcturus, the Princess Knight of Iris and only daughter of king Eos of Feoh was not controlling herself as well as her companions. Pacing back in forth in aggravation, several times Alicia had to be stopped from leaving, declaring that every second wasted waiting for the war council to begin was another second her kingdom was endangered. Not that Maia blamed the hot-tempered blonde, with the increase in raids and attacks against her lands by Vaults forces, the young woman was pushed to her limits trying to protect her people. Unfortunately for all those present, Lady Prima Fiorire, Alicia's younger cousin and fellow princess knight was not at her side to curb her more biting remarks and temper.
Luu-Luu on the other hand...
"Where is she?, Where is she?, Where is she?, Where is she?, WHERE IS SHE?" The half-ling spoke in a volume one wouldn't expect could come from such a tiny body like hers, as she made her frustrations known sitting in her chair, swinging her tiny legs back and forth.
"Now Luu-Luu," Claudia chided, like a mother disciplining a disobedient child," I'm sure whatever reason Lady Celestine has for her lateness will be explained, but we must be patient"
"I'm tired of being patient through" the half-ling pouted, causing Maia to bite back a laugh. Patience was never a word in the small inventor's vocabulary, especially when she was forced to stay in one place for more than a couple of minutes. Before Claudia could respond the large double doors of the sanctuary opened to reveal the figures of the missing members of their council.
Lady Celestine, the goddess reborn and high queen of Ken, and the dark elf Queen, Olga Discordia walked into the room in near perfect sync with one another. Behind the two elven monarchs, a few steps walked Queen Olga's loyal attendant, the dark elf Chloe, carrying several documents that Maia suspected was the reason for the delay.
"It's good that you decided to join us lady Celestine," the self-proclaimed mercenary queen joked," and here I thought goddesses didn't need to worry about beauty rest"
Luckily the high elf took the barb as it was intended, and an embarrassed smile crossed her face "I apologize for our tardiness, but Lady Olga and I were needed for urgent business. A business that may come to affect the whole of the country." The words were enough to gather all the rooms occupants together at the table and to place their attention on the leaders of the alliance.
"We have just received reports that the village of White Mill, located near the northernmost borders of Feoh was attacked by a force of nearly 1,000 men several hours ago." The dark elf queen spoke with a detachment in her voice that got under Maia's skin.
"What!?" Alicia spoke, rising from her seat in shock, "How can this be? The latest reports from Reoh have no mention of any war party of that size operating in the area"
"it seems the good prime minister is as incompetent with Warcraft as he is with diplomacy, perhaps it would be best to remove the man from his post?" Claudia spoke from her seat, clearly as much a fan of the elder statesmen Beasley as everyone else in the room.
"The man's incompetence borders on treason, but the man's failure at his responsibilities is not what is a concern at the moment," Kaguya said.
"Of course," Alicia said, already turning her attention towards the mission at hand. "We must muster a host of equal number at the least to combat these dogs, if we move quickly we may catch them before-"
"That will not be necessary," Lady Celestine said, cutting off the blonde knight mid-sentence.
"Huh" the reactions were the same throughout the room, in any other situation Maia would have laughed at the confused open mouth stare Kaguya wore on her face but decided against it since she must have worn a similar expression on her own face.
"Wh-what do you mean?"Alicia's voice broke the tension as she asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "We cannot allow a force of that size to march on settlements without retribution."
"And I agree, But as I said before, it will not be necessary. The attacking force was soundly defeated outside the gates of the village and the remnants of the host are in full retreat."
The awkward silence startled Maia in a way she didn't expect. The Kuroinu mercenary company was the largest army of sellswords on the continent, and some of the best-trained soldier's money could buy. She would know, she fought beside them for years as one of Vaults lieutenants before branching out and forming her own company, the Erinye Company. The men of the Kuroinu may be honor-less bastards but they were smart, they were skilled, and they were dangerous. Able to decimate hordes of orcs and monsters and defeat armies twice their number in open conflict through sheer skill and grit. And they failed to conquer a village with less than one hundred people living in it.
"Yep," Maia thought to herself dully "Know I've heard everything"
The look on Lady Claudia's face showed she held similar thoughts." How could a single village muster enough manpower to defend themselves from an attack, let alone win the battle?"
"How do we know such a battle even took place," the shrine maiden asked.
Both the high and dark elf turned to the Miko, but it was Celestine who spoke," Lady Olga and I have used the magic at our disposal to see the validity of these reports. While scrying has never been my strongest skill, Lady Olga is considered quite the authority in that school of magic."
The dark elf spoke with the same air of unattachment as before but there was a lingering sense of curiosity as well approval under her words "I have seen the bodies, of the dead and of the imprisoned. It seems like the dogs have suffered their first colossal failure of this war"
"I still don't understand," Alicia spoke "It just seems too hard to believe, how do we know this isn't a trap? A way to lull us into a false sense of security?"
"Yeah!" Luu-Luu responded, "this could be a trick by vault to confuse us!"
"No," Maia spoke, seemingly the only one of who took the news at face value. " There's no way Vault would willingly lie about something like this even if it's to set a trap."
"And how,"Alicia asked, disbelief radiating off of her eyes with each passing word" Do you know that?"
Maia sighed to herself, as she remembered her days as a black dog mercenary, and the close relationship she had with its leader. "I know Vault better than anyone here, I've marched with him, I drank with him, I've fought with him, and I've killed with him."
She paused of a moment biting back the painful memories that flooded her mind, as well as the lingering feelings she still had for the man who had become the most dangerous enemy the unified kingdoms have ever faced.
"Vault is only proud of three things in life" she continued, "and all of them are tied to how he wants others to view him. His skills with a sword, his skills with women, and his skills at leading an army. His ego won't allow anyone to say a bad word about his prowess as a fighter, a lover, or his leadership"
The other women were quiet for a moment as they processed Maia's words, surprisingly it was the dark queen herself who broke the silence.
"So, the army is Vault's, what do you humans call it?" she said as she turned to look straight at Maia," His Great big swinging dick? and Vault wouldn't allow any falsehood spread about his army because he sees them as an extension of his own ego?"
"Yeah, something like that." Maia said, sheathing her newly polished blades back to her belt." Any attack against his army is an attack against his manhood, and that's the one thing Vault can't stand."
The high elf nodded her head at the mercenary's words before addressing the group at large. "The message also requested an armed escort to Feoh for the prisoners. It seems the writer of this message wishes for the men to pay for their crimes and for justice to be served."
"I Volunteer," Alica spoke, "These men threatened my lands and my people, I am duty bound to see they are punished for their crimes."
"Splendid" lady Celestine answered, "Lady Alicia and her honored knights will make up the bulk of the escort," The high elf then her attention turned to the mercenary queen of Ansur. "Lady Maia?"
"Yes your grace" Maia said, sounding much more sure of herself then she did previously.
"I would like for you and your mercenaries to accompany Alicia and her knights, your knowledge would be invaluable if any of the survivors have any information of Vaults plans"
"Of course, your ladyship can consider it done" she answered before turning her attention toward the Queens attendant. She had yet to say anything since walking in with her queen, which was rather strange for the opinionated elf, whose sarcastic wit could be as sharp as a knife when she wanted. She had simply stood behind her queen, eyes firmly set on the paper in her hands rereading it for untold times.
"How many prisoners should we expect to find?" Maia asked, seeing how many of her mercenaries were needed for the mission.
"Several dozen, it seems while some managed to flee the battle after it proved to be a loss, most perished in the fighting" the dark elf Chloe spoke, reading directly from the previously mentioned parchment.
"When we arrive who should we speak too? Who's in charge of the village?" Alica said to the dark elf, in a tone of voice that the dark queens attendant didn't appreciate. Even a month after the two factions put their differences aside to deal with a common enemy, members on both sides, seemed to be at each other's throats for any reason they could find. This couldn't be truer for the two women in front of Maia now, who could find fault in almost everything the other did or said.
"If I had to guess, the man who wrote the message seemed to be in charge," Chloe said in a tone of voice one would use if talking to a child, as she handed Maia the slip of parchment, completely bypassing the blonde princess knight to do so.
Ignoring the two young blonde women as they continued their rather undignified antics in front of their respective monarchs, Maia read over the parchment in front of her with interest.
Hmmm... Steve Rogers huh?
-Hick's P.O.V-
His mount trod uneasily on the muddy ground, the strain of keeping its feet palpable as its hooves slid on the wet uneven surface.
Biting back a curse the rider urged his horse on, ignoring his mounts brays of protest. Gripping the reins tightly he forced the animal to obey his commands and make its way up the steep earthy bank. Mud sprayed onto his face as the horse proceeded to climb, its strong legs and feet churning the dirt and throwing into the air around him, hitting his arms and chest.
The rider felt his face set with determination as he pushed the horse on. With a mighty heave, the animal crested the ridge. He allowed the beast to rest for a moment as its breath came in ragged gasps. The rider patted the animal's flanks as he looked about him. They were now on the flat open ground with the expanse of the of the northern plains as far as the eyes could see. He urged his horse forward once more.
"Hicks?!" A cry came up from the rear.
The Kuroinu commander turned his head to regard one of his remaining commanders left who had ridden up behind him. The man's clothing was filthy, covered in dirt and blood from the battle and their subsequent retreat.
Vylarr was the bastard son of a whore and a minor noble from Ken who had enough pull within the government to not only get his son a commission in a private army but to erase the "incidents" that made Ken to dangerous for young Vylarr to stay for much longer. You would know this within five minutes of meeting the man because the only time he stopped speaking about his noble blood or how he was going to get what was his was when he was sleeping or too drunk to even fuck a woman.
At least he's not talking about that half-sister he's got in Ken...
"Make it quick." He said by way of greeting to the soldier.
The man looked downcast before his leaders penetrating gaze. His eyes flitted towards the ground before rising to look at his commander. He licked his lips nervously.
"Hicks, the men are exhausted. We have been riding nonstop throughout the night. Might we not take rest for a moment?"
Hicks didn't immediately reply. He looked over the man's shoulder to see the first line of soldiers coming over the rise and following in his wake. Each and every one of those fortunate enough to escape mirrored the man before him. Bloodied, bruised, broken, shuffling forward to the best of their abilities despite the wounds to both their bodies and pride.
"Not that I can blame them," Hicks thought with anger, "we were pushed back and embarrassed by farmers with pitchforks and stolen weapons"
"I need to report to Lord Vault as soon as possible, besides I don't like being out in the open like this, we're sitting ducks."
The captain nodded in agreement but "But..." but paused when Hicks stare deepened, for a moment the conversation stopped before the man pressed on, "The horses are close to collapse. If we go much further they are going to die on us. We could just let them rest for a moment and then continue on."
Hicks glanced at the man's face. The soldier looked beyond weary, fatigue seemed to have taken hold of every part of his body. A further glance towards his small group of men showed the same tiredness.
So few, there can't be anymore more than thirty or so men left.
The thought sent a surge of anger through him. I left the encampment with almost one thousand men, now I have a few dozen with me. An entire fucking army has been reduced to the size of a foraging party. He looked over the group of men. All because of one damn man.
Hicks was put in charge of the encampment by Vault himself, to help control the region outside Feoh before the army marched on the city itself. So "control" Hicks did, he raped, he killed, he pillaged, and he burned to his heart's content all the while receiving messages from allies in Feoh, notably the prime minister of Feoh himself, High Lord Beasley. The old man had given him any information he needed in order to terrorize the countryside, everything from the cities manpower to its patrol movements, to even secret passages in and out of the city.
For three weeks he controlled this entire valley while that blonde bitch played knight with her whore guards trying to catch him, much too focused on the enemies outside her gates and too naive to even assume she had enemies in her own city. When Vault gave the word, the city would be theirs and everything and everyone within its walls would be there's to use as they pleased, and Hicks couldn't wait to rape that smug look off of Alicia Arcturas face.
Then that damn war party vanished five days ago and everything went to hell.
A raiding party not reporting back when they should have wasn't unheard of, especially when his men found themselves "distracted" with the female locals. But when a second war party vanishes after being sent to check on the first? Either that village had some grade A ass or they ran into something that didn't appreciate them being there. By the time Hicks realized what was happening nearly 80 men were missing.
So Hicks did the logical thing, he took half of the men under his command and personally charged towards whoever was killing his raiders to show them what happens to those who fuck with the kuroinu.
"Should've matched us off a cliff" he thought bitterly to himself "would have had the same effect and I could have at least stayed in bed."
He looked again at Vylarr to find the man looking expectantly at him. Hicks examined the land ahead. Off, way in the distance, he could see the faint outline of the White River, Which meant they were still several hours away from the encampment, Which meant it would be dark before he even had a chance to send a message off to Vault at the black fortress about...whatever that man was
Whats a few moments of rest going to do?
Hicks turned to the captain of his guard. "We will be at the white river's edge in the next hour or so. We'll rest there, but if we don't get to camp by nightfall we're all dead men".
He waved the man off before spurring his horse forward, eager to get to their destination as soon as possible. I have no interest in spending another god forsaken night in the saddle. As he rode Hicks glanced down at his hand, pulling back the damaged leather of his glove and scrutinizing the wound he had taken the day before.
The bleeding stopped at least even if it feels like my whole hand is on fire. Still, it could have been worse, That big bastard might have torn his whole arm off if he had the time. The next time that man is in front of me, I'm going to drive a sword through his perfect face.
As the group neared the river bank, Morgo, the lone surviving orc from their war party collapsed from both exhaustion and blood loss, giving no-indication, he would ever rise again. The once proud Orc chief had been the victor of a dozen battles, the slayer of a hundred men, and the defiler of a thousand women. Seeing such a proud specimen beaten into submission after watching his entire clan meet their deaths at the hand of their prey was a hard fact to swallow, the fact that most of them met their deaths at the hands of the same man made it worse.
His other men weren't much better, many dropped to their knees the second they reached the riverbanks, some had the dignity not to fall flat on their faces from weariness but they were the minority.
Hicks himself almost fell off his own horse but he managed to land on his feet with effort as he trudged himself towards the water, cleaning the blood and gore off his hands and bare chest gingerly, avoiding his sore and broken ribs.
Gonna need to break in at least two of those bitches we stole from that fishing village to get over the shit show we're in. Hell, the older one might do all the work if I can convince her I won't touch her little sister if she does what I say.
"Vylarr" Hicks barked, getting his subordinate's attention," Get over here and wash some of the guts off my horse, if I'm gonna be stuck riding for another half day, I'm sure as shit not gonna do it smelling more blood then I have to.
The captain scurried forward with the horse behind him. He opened his mouth to reply to his superior's command-
Before a crossbow bolt tore through the man's check and burst through the other side of his head. For a grotesque moment, the man stood staring in shock and disbelief as parts of his ruined face fell in pieces to the ground and then he pitched forward wordlessly to the floor, losing his grip on the reins Hick's stallion as he did so.
Hicks' head snapped around as suddenly mounted men appeared on both sides of his group. Green boys, farmers, untrained peasants wearing armor stolen from his own men circled what remained of his fighting force, crossbows and bows at the ready. No one dared to move, either too tired and beaten down or too fearful for their lives.
The husbands, sons, brothers, and fathers of the women who the Kuroinu threatened with enslavement and a lifetime of rape and torture held the kuroinu at their mercy, like meek little sheep catching a wolf by surprise and holding it at knifepoint. Hicks grimaced, as he moved to grab one of his sheathed daggers, fully intending to take as many of these worthless weaklings out as possible before one of them could fire single a shot at him.
THUNG
Searing pain enveloped his entire body as Hicks crumpled to the ground, the lower half of his body feeling like it was shattered into hundreds of pieces. He landed hard on his back sapping the air from his lungs as his body fought desperately for breath. With each pained inhale, blood and bile were exhaled as his body twitched in the mud. From his downed position, Hicks could see the outline of the man who had been the cause of his rapid downfall.
"I wouldn't get up if I were you," the big man said, grabbing the enchanted shield as it flew over his head "It took a while to convince these men not to kill you outright, I don't know if they'll listen to me if you start waving those blades around"
He walked towards hicks, the boys, and farmers who followed him parting to make a clear path for him. Despite being the only man not riding a horse, the blue-clothed warrior seemed to tower over every man present.
"Men?" Hicks spat, like the word was distasteful to his lips, "These aren't men, they're sheep. Weak little cowards who only fight when they have someone to follow. If you weren't here, they'd be cowering in their homes while REAL MEN" Hicks raised his voice, clearly indicating himself and his comrades, alive or otherwise, "Took what we wanted."
"Well I am here" the man's voice was like steel, unbending and unrelenting. "So what does that mean for men like you?" Even if Hicks didn't see the man in front of him beat orcs to death with his bare hands, he would know a man with that kind of steel in his voice was not the type of man to anger.
"You're going to kill us aren't you?" A man cried. A heavy-set young man who had recently joined their ranks in order to take revenge on a woman who spurned his affections. The same woman whose husband and young son were slaughtered in front of her by her former admirer and the same woman who was left chained to a bedpost back at the camp.
The man turned his gaze towards the man who cried out, who wept harder and louder at the eyes staring at him.
"It's a line I try not to cross if I can help it," the man said as he reached towards hicks still sheathed blades, grabbing them and throwing them towards one of the mounted men. "But when push comes to shove, I'll cross that line any day of the week to prevent men like you from harming innocent people"
He let his words sink in for a moment, allowing the unspoken threat wash over every man who found themselves on the wrong side of the warriors' anger, "But no, I'm not going to kill you. The people you've harmed have the right to your lives, besides you're more useful to me alive then you are dead"
"And how's that?" Hicks sat up feeling his broken ribs stab him from the inside. Oh god, it hurt, even more, to talk then it did to breathe, like a thousand needles stabbing him at once.
"Simple." The man said, gesturing to the armed men surrounding him, "You're going to take us to your encampment."
That's it. Happy holidays to all my readers. Not gonna lie, I wanted to update this yesterday but after work, I literally passed out the second I got to my apartment. I hope you guys enjoyed it though.
Also to the guy sending me private messages insulting me, learn to spell. I think it's cute you apparently hate me so much you sent me 12 PM in five days about how much of a "Moran" I am but be a bit more original if you're gonna try and troll me.
Next chapter I'll have Steve's POV which will explain a little bit of why and how he got here, then the story can actually progress forward.
Please leave a review if you guys like it, please leave a review if you guys hate it, please leave a review if you guys hate me. Just please leave a review, I have a fragile ego and your words of praise and or your salty rage of displeasure are the only reasons I haven't put myself out of the misery that is this mortal existence.
That and orange soda and the new Legend of Zelda.