Priscilla drew the small whetstone along the edge of her sword before inspecting the blade. The metal had been honed and made lethal, perfect for sliding between the weak points in an opponent's armor and cutting through flesh. She gave the weapon one last pass with the stone, then slid it back into its sheath before setting it down next to her dagger.
These weapons had been with her for a long time, ever since her appointment to the role of Peacekeeper within the Sisterhood. They were as close to her as friends, more than that even, for she had depended on them more so than anyone else before in her life. That seemed to be changing now, whether intended or not, but there was always something to be said for the dependability of cold hard steel.
Soon steel may be all that stands between her and completing her goal. Steel and fire.
Outside of her tent the camp had already awakened prepared for war. She could hear the constant tramp of heavy boots as warriors went this way and that, making their last minute preparations before the next assault began. Grindstones rang out their rough melody of sharpening blades and hammers beat out the ring of metal to mend armor, along with the constant murmur of rowdy northern voices working themselves into a frenzy of battle lust and violence.
They were excited for this, these Vikings. So eager for their chance to die fighting so they could be ushered off to the hall of their pagan gods. Priscilla certainly did not share in their savage thrill, but the plan had been set and had to be carried out. Such was her lot in life these days.
"Rather quiet this morning," she said as she picked up her red leather tunic and slid it over her head, slipping her arms into the sleeves and pulling the rest down her body.
Coal glanced at her from across the tent as he fixed one knee plate around his leg. "Is it? Sounds like an awful lot of commotion out there to me."
Priscilla picked up her leather cuirass next, pulling it on and tying the laces up the front. "No, I meant-" Just then the enraged shouting of Osric Ead rose up once again from the tallest tower of the city, nearly drowning out any other sound near or far. "-that."
Stopped now with the other knee plate halfway up his leg, Coal hung his head an gave a heavy sigh. "Does this pious bastard never shut up? Surely the man just needs to relax with a drink from time to time." He finished up with his armor plates and then pulled on his boots all while Osric continued to preach the Pyre's hate for all to hear, then got up and began putting on his own red and white tunic over the mail shirt he wore.
They had made it out of the tunnel not long before dawn, hoping to catch a few hours sleep before the attack began. After moving dirt all through the night Coal hadn't had the strength left in him to make it to his own tent and ended up passing out in hers. Neither of them even bothered to try and sleep on anything, simply laying down on the ground, already dirty beyond belief after the nights labor. When the sun finally began to shine its light over the horizon, the two of them awoke with just enough time to wash and begin donning their armor. Priscilla felt sluggish and worn out, hardly how she wanted to feel before a battle, but the tunnel was ready whether they were or not. It was now or never.
Sighing to herself, she pulled on her gloves and clasped her sword belt around her waist, making sure her blades hung from her hips just how she liked them for easy reach. "Things will happen quickly once we get inside the walls," she said.
"I know," Coal replied, pulling one metal pauldron up his arm to his shoulder.
"And once we do get in the Pyre will have nowhere to go. They will fight, but it will be chaos. I have no doubt that Erik will ignore all of it and go straight for the vault."
Coal managed to get the pauldron secure, but was fumbling with the second one. "Is that going to be a problem? I imagine he won't be too happy when he finds his most coveted prize missing from the collection."
"No. He will yet find it more difficult to claim his treasure even after the city has been conquered." Stepping over to Coal, she swatted his clumsy hands away and began securing the pauldron herself. "Our focus will be on high priest Osric and the city commander, Kazamir. If both of them fall into Erik's hands, things will become much more difficult for us to manage."
"Both?" Coal asked, eyeing her sideways. "Why both?"
Priscilla kept her eyes on her work. "Let me worry about that. I just need you to help me make sure that both Kazamir and Osric are dead by the end of the battle. Whatever happens the Vikings cannot have them."
Coal was silent for a moment, glancing out of the tent towards the light as she finished up tying the straps of the pauldron to his arm. "We spend all night working in the dirt and sweat to get into a fortress full of insane fire worshipers who want us all dead, and you're still keeping secrets? Somehow I thought we were past that sort of thing now."
Checking that the last strap was good and tight, Priscilla gave the pauldron a good tug to make sure it wouldn't slip off during the fighting. "Whatever gave you that impression?" she said, glaring up at him at last. "Things are difficult enough with what secrets are being kept already. Leave this one to me. You know how I feel about liabilities on my missions." Coal simply looked at her, then gave a small nod. She turned and stepped away from him as he fiddled with the last minor adjustments to his armor.
Picking up her helmet, turning it over and staring into the dark emptiness within, she felt a sudden hollowness in the pit of her stomach. It suddenly hit her how false those last few words had been in recent days, not when she entertained the idea of openly inviting a man's affections just to keep him quiet. Surely she should have dealt with this problem in a different manner by now.
"Coal?" she asked quietly, back turned to him so that she only heard his grunt of acknowledgment in reply. "What should I do about Gunnar?"
It took him a moment before he spoke. "What about him?"
For some reason that remark annoyed her. Asking for guidance was not something she was used to doing, and having her question danced around was a sure way to spark her ire. "I would ask you not to play coy with me," she hissed. "He is a problem. What he knows could destroy us. You saw me at the Great Forge. You saw I had the knife in my hand." She turned and looked at him fully now, staring him down so that there was no hiding from it now, though she knew deep down it was her who was afraid. "I should have killed him then. It was a mistake not to."
Coal said nothing at first as he looked at her, letting the hateful words of Osric Ead fill the silence between them before he finally spoke. "I'm very glad you didn't. Trust me when I say this, but killing a man like him would do the world no good at all."
Priscilla laughed. She didn't know why, it wasn't even a particularly happy laugh. She could feel the wetness stinging the corners of her eyes coming with the pain of that pathetic noise escaping chest. "So you are a fool then, just like him. A true drengr to the end." She sniffed, took in a short breath and slipped her helmet on over her head, letting the world fall into shadow around her through the slits in the visor. "It needs to happen. Today, during the attack. What we are about to do is borderline insane, even by Viking standards. No one will notice one more corpse added to the pile. Even the brother of a jarl."
The confusion was written clear on Coal's face. He wasn't even trying to hide if from her, nor was he trying to hide the hurt he felt as well. "But why?"
"Because we have a plan!" she snapped angrily. "Because this is about survival! If we succeed at our mission, if we give Beaufort what they are after then we can save everyone. Our legion, our people and ourselves. Gunnar is a Viking. In the end it will come down between us and them. He is a great warrior, and dealing with him now will benefit us later when the next fight begins."
Outside the scornful ramblings of the mad priest seemed to match the turmoil raging within Priscilla in that moment, but Coal seemed as calm as ever. He looked at her for a moment, head tilting back a bit as a knowing grin tugged at the corner of his lips. "I don't think you actually believe that."
"Do not tell me what I think. What I think does not matter."
"That is the Sisterhood talking, and you know it." He took a step closer, shaking his head. "Everything they taught you, it isn't as secret as you ladies would like to think. Be cold, be calculating, be ruthless. Thats the Peacekeeper way. Survive at all costs, even when you have to kill someone you care for to do it. Its all horseshit."
Priscilla crossed her arms over her chest, not enjoying how deep that last remark cut. She was glad that she was wearing her helmet because she couldn't look Coal in the eye. "Spare me your noble insights. If I ever wanted guidance on how to best improve my life I should think to look elsewhere than a man who landed himself in fucking prison."
As usual whenever her temper was up, the words escaped her before they could be stopped. Coal didn't seem to mind though. "You want to know what kind of lessons I learned in prison. Not only that, but being conscripted into the mighty service of the Lord-Warden?" He gave her one last smile before he slipped on his own helmet, hiding those handsome features and white scar behind cold metal and the rim of his steel cap. Stepping towards her, he took hold of her hood and pulled it up over her own helmet as if he had done it a hundred times before, and let each of his hands rest on her shoulders as he looked down at her. "I've learned that life is pretty damn hard to survive all on your own. Thankfully that's not something either of us have to worry about now."
Priscilla didn't know what to say. In her training she had been taught to be silent and to listen, for in silence she could find the power to bring down entire armies. Right now though, she just simply listened.
"We can't do this on our own," Coal went on. "We can't save our legion without them fighting at our side. We can't capture this city without Herleif or Gunnar and all the rest. Erik and Ivar I could do without, but beggars can't be choosers I suppose. One thing I know for certain though, we can't do this without each other."
Priscilla remained quiet, feeling an odd sense of unease grip her as the truth of his words became clear. She hadn't felt so admonished since her days training with the Sisterhood of Peace, and that had often come with a swift whipping with the rod as well. "When did it become your job to make the motivational speeches?"
"No fucking idea. When I'm told to march I march, and when I'm told to fight I fight. When I'm told to sail across the sea to the frozen north to help out some crazy Peacekeeper and her mad scheme, well I guess I start to wonder about everything I've done to get myself stuck in such a shit situation. But I know that I am exactly where I need to be."
Priscilla dipped her head for a moment, not knowing what to say. Instead she just put a hand to Coal's arm and squeezed. "He is beginning to grow on me, I suppose," she said tentatively, still a bit unsure about saying such a thing out loud. She couldn't deny it though, there was a small flutter of excitement that ran through her when she did. The feeling was promptly subdued though, as was her training.
"I've noticed," said Coal, giving her shoulders one last pat before parting, "War makes us do strange and crazy things when we start to think about the end. Not all of it is bad though." He stepped away and picked up his own weapons, slinging the shield over one shoulder and draping his flail over the other. "Now enough this sentimental drivel. We have some cultists to surprise."
She nodded and Coal led the way out of the tent into the daylight beyond. Before she followed, she put a hand to a pouch on her belt, the one still holding the formulae for the Divine Pyre's weapon, the key to saving herself and her fellow soldiers. The key to their survival. She wondered briefly then what life would be like if she did in fact survive, and who she might spend it with. That kind of possibility had never quite entered her mind before.
That was only if she survived, and there would be much more fighting before that could ever be considered. It seemed as if she would not be alone though, and that was a start. Making sure her weapons were secure on her belt, she walked out after Coal prepared to join her legion for the days attack.
It would be nice to silence that insufferable priest once and for all.