The Road to Hell
…
Chapter 11: Small Soldiers
I entered the tavern, and the warmth of the interior, no doubt brought on by the crackling firepit in the middle of the room, was a welcome change to the cold outside. I looked around for Legate Jamal and found him speaking with the tavern keeper.
I approached the Alik'r warrior and superior officer and waited patiently for him to finish speaking with the tavern owner. The dark skinned man then noticed me standing him and grinned. "Little recruit, what can I do for you?" he asked.
"Those Forsworn that attacked us on the road outside Dragon Bridge," I began tentatively. "Do we have a plan for them?" I asked.
Jamal raised a heavy eyebrow at me and replied, "The Forsworn are the Reach's problem, little recruit, who do you ask?" He narrowed his dark eyes at me.
I thought of what to say quickly and I said to the Legate, "Well, since the Forsworn were so bold to attack a merchant caravan that was being escorted by the Imperial Legion, this makes it not just the Reach's problem, but also the Empires." I let the word hang there and looked at the Legate to gauge his reaction. Jamal had a contemplative expression on his face as he seemed to regard what I said to him.
Seeing my opportunity, I added, "And since the attack was so close to an Imperial outpost, one manned by the Penitus Oculatus no less, I think it would do some good to send a scouting party to track down any nearby Forsworn camps and remove the threat to the region."
Jamal nodded slowly at this and replied, "Even if that were a good idea, little recruit, we do not know the Forsworn came from."
"Do you have a map?" I asked.
The Legate then called over his sergeants and had them produce a map. The parchment was spread out on the table. I looked over the map and remembered the spot the Merchant had shown me where the Forsworn camp was located.
"Here," I said to the Legate and sergeants. "This is where the Forsworn camp is located," I told them as I tapped the spot on the map with my finger.
The female sergeant looked at me in disbelief and asked, "And you know this how?" A sceptical look was in her eyes.
"A merchant passing through here had a run-in with them and told me where there camp was," I half-lied. It was not a complete lie, but who knew how these people would react to someone like the Merchant?
"And you are sure of this, little recruit?" Jamal asked me sternly.
"As sure as I can be without seeing the camp for myself," I replied evenly looking at the older man.
Jamal stared at me for a long moment before he nodded. "Very well, little recruit, since you so sure this Forsworn camp is there, then I give you some good men to find this camp and wipe it out," he said.
"Me?" I squawked out.
"Yes. You," the Legate told me. "You know where this camp is said to be, so you lead this mission," he said.
I guess I should've seen this coming. I heaved a sigh and nodded. "Who do I take with me?" I asked.
Legate Jamal ordered the sergeants to gather the men and within minutes, all the Legionnaires, Rolly, Asher and Beskha were gathered around the table.
"Legionaries, little recruit has come into information telling us where a Forsworn camp is located," Jamal announced to the men. "I have decided to give little recruit the mission of finding and wiping out the Forsworn camp. I ask any man brave enough to go with little recruit," he then said. "Who will go on this mission?" he asked.
Unsurprisingly, Rolly stepped forward. "I promised Lord Jon that I would make sure that you survive in this land, my prince," he said looking at me seriously. "I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror if I did not go on this quest with you," he declared.
"Very well. Consider yourself recruited on this," I said to him. "Anyone else?" I asked looking at everyone else.
Asher and Beskha then stepped forth, "Consider your next volunteers," the former pit fighter said for them both.
I nodded at them as they stood beside me. Then two Legionnaires stepped forth. "We lost some of our friends in the ambush from the Forsworn," said the first legionary. "I'll be damned if I don't do anything to avenge my comrades," he added determinedly.
"And what is your name?" I asked him.
"Beorn, and this is my sworn brother Erdrick," the legionary replied indicating himself and his fellow legionary who nodded at me. "I'm a good swordsman, and Erdrick's a good shot with a bow. If you would have us, then we're your men," he said.
"Anyone who's good with a sword or bow is enough for me," I said to Beorn as he & Erdrick moved to stand the others.
Then a female Legionary hefting a battle axe stepped out. "Seems like you could use some help on this," she said. "I'm Cara and I'm damn good with an axe and a good track," she added.
"And we could use someone who knows how to swing an axe and can track," I said with a nod of my head. I then looked at the Legate and added, "It seems we're set. When do we set out?"
"Be ready in ten minutes. You lead this mission, little recruit," Legate Jamal ordered me with a nod of his head. I nodded back and looked at my assembled squad.
"Alright. I've never done this sort of thing before, so we'd better get to know each other so that we can work together well enough to not get killed," I said to them. "Grab what you need for a fight. Be ready in a few minutes, those Forsworn aren't going to kill themselves," I added.
As my squad prepared what they needed, I looked over what armaments I had. I still had my shortsword, shield and shepherd's sling. Rolly moved to speak with me and asked me, "Are you ready for this, my prince?"
"I have to be," I said somberly in response as I folded up the map to have a frame of reference as to where I was. "Let's hope we get out of this alive," I added grimly.
"Well, I'll stand by your side, my prince, like I said I would," Rolly promised laying a hand on my shoulder. I gave a small smile to the former blacksmith who grinned at me in response.
And within five minutes, my squad was assembled outside. I stood in front of them and looked them over trying not to look weak and unsure. "Alright," I began and cursed silently as my voice quavered a little as I spoke the word. "Our orders are simple. We find the Forsworn and wipe them out. Leave no survivors. We can't afford to show them mercy," I said and my voice cracked a little which got some sniggers from the squad. I glared at them briefly.
"If anyone has any second thoughts, now is the time to back out now," I offered a way out and no-one made to leave. I nodded gratefully and I looked at Cara and said to her, "Legionnaire Cara, you said you were a tracker?" The female Legionary nodded proudly.
"Then you lead us from the front," I told her. "I know the general location of the Forsworn camp, but we need the quickest route there which I do not know," I admitted. I stepped over towards and unfolded the map. "This is where the camp is said to be located," I said to her. "You know the quickest path there?" I asked.
Cara looked at the map and the spot I pointed to and she nodded. "I know a few paths we can use to get there, undetected too," she said.
"Good," I said in approval. "You take point and we'll follow your lead," I added. I then looked at the rest of the squad and I shouted, "Are you all ready to make those fur wearing bastards die?!"
"Yes, sir!" they all shouted in unison.
"Then let's make the ground run red with their blood!" I declared as I felt fire surge in my belly. "Single file! On the double! Quick, march!" I ordered.
With Cara leading from the front and I & everyone else in single file behind her, we marched in near perfect lockstep and we soon left the settlement of Dragon's Bridge.
…
After near an hour of marching through the wilderness, we came up to the waterfalls. I could spy across the chasm the village of Dragon Bridge. Cara had done as she said; she took on the quickest route. She soon halted and I raised a fist for everyone to halt. I spoke to the female legionnaire quietly, "What is it?" I asked.
"We're coming up to the location the camp is," Cara whispered to me and she scanned the treetops and pointed, "There! See the smoke?" she asked me and sure enough I saw a smoke column rising steadily above the treeline.
"Good work," I congratulated Cara who smiled bashfully at me. "Alright, gather round. Time to do some reconnaissance," I said to everyone and they all gathered near me.
"Now we know Forsworn are in the area, but we don't know how many," I whispered to them. "We need to scout out how many there are and then plan how to eliminate them," I then said. "Any suggestions?" I asked looking at everyone in the squad.
"Beorn and I can go in and scout out how man there are," Erdrick offered.
"I'll go with you," Beskha said quickly.
"Alright. You three go in, stay out of sight and see how many there are," I told them. "I want to know how many there are; patrol patterns, alarms, traps, the works. Disable the alarms and traps if you can and take out any stray Forsworn if you think you can get away with it," I also said.
"Consider it done," Beorn replied as he, Erdrick and Beksha crossed the water ford and disappeared into the brush.
Half an hour of waiting later, they returned their faces stained with dirt and mud. "How many are there?" I asked them getting right to the point.
"Over fifteen," Beksha replied as she wiped the blade of her sword. "We disabled as many of the traps and alarms as we could, we even took out a few of their guards," she boasted.
"Was there anyone leading them?" I then asked.
"Aye, a Briarheart," Erdrick replied. Just as the Merchant said, I thought.
"Good work," I said to the three of them. "Alright, we go in and take them out one at a time as quietly as possible until their numbers are thin enough for all of us to handle," I laid out the plant. "Anything to add?" I looked at my squad members who all shook their heads.
"Alright. Let's do this!"
Spreading out in a circle, we approached the camp silently as we could. The Forsworn camp was few tents surrounding a campfire. In the main tent, I saw the Briarheart entering his tent to do who knows what. I soon approached a Forsworn who lazily chewing on a leg of mutton fresh from the spit. Creeping behind him, I lunged, wrapping my elbow around his throat and covering his mouth and nose with a free hand. The man thrashed and it was a struggle to maintain my hold on him. Gradually, his struggling slowly ceased and he fell silent. With a grimace on my face, I quickly cut his throat with the blade of my sword, blood gushing out of the wound and staining my hand.
I spied out of the corner of my eye Asher burying his hatchet into the back of a Forsworn's skull and I saw Rolly break one's neck with a flick of his wrists.
Dragging the body into the bushes, I waited for one Forsworn, a woman this time, walk around. She appeared to notice her comrade was gone and spotted the trail of blood leading int the bushes. My breath caught in my throat as I realized I hadn't done anything about the blood. Cursing my shortsightedness, I backed away further into the bushes and circled around going behind the tents as the female Forsworn now cautious drew a stone axe and looked for her comrade. Stealthily as I could I crept up behind but something crunched under my foot alerting the Forsworn who turned her head to look behind. Throwing caution to the wind, I dashed across and thrust my sword into her belly.
A bad decision as she yelled out in pain. This alerted her comrades. Seeing no choice but to go loud, I bellowed out, "Attack! Give no quarter!"
Following my cry for battle, my squad members leapt out of hiding and engaged the Forsworn who were surprised by the sudden ambush. Wrenching my shortsword free, I spun around and ducked a wild swing from an axe by a male Forsworn who was practically foaming at the mouth, shouting, "This land belongs to the Forsworn!"
"See a lawyer for that!" I muttered as I swung my blade at the man who stepped back. Seeing his exposed legs, I chambered a kick to his knee. A crunch of bone was heard as my booted foot collided with it and the limb buckled as it failed to support the weight on it. The Forsworn fell to his knee screaming in pain. "Sorry about this," I mumbled numbly as I jabbed my sword into his neck, severing a major artery which sprayed out crimson life fluid like a sprinkler. I groaned as the blood splashed onto my face, nearly blinding me. Quickly, I wiped my face to clear my sight only to see two Forsworn rushing towards.
Holding up my shield, I blocked the first Forsworn's sword as he tried to hack at me and I slashed with my sword at the other man, keeping him back. The Forsworn whose attacked I blocked then tried to hew my shield to splinters. Shockwaves reverberated through my shield and into my arm. Each strike made my teeth chatter and rattle and the strikes were hard and fast. I couldn't keep up my shield for long, otherwise it would be hacked to splinter.
The other Forsworn had disappeared and that worried me greatly. For all I knew he could be working to stab in the back from behind, literally. With a yell, I charged at the Forsworn hacking at my shield. I stabbed my shortsword into the man's exposed ribs and was reward with a gout of blood quickly followed by a howl of pain. I must've struck a vital organ, though my knowledge of human anatomy was sketchy at best. Pushing the mortally wounded man off my sword, I suddenly my head be struck by something hard. My vision going blurry, I stumbled and looked up in time to see the Forsworn who'd disappeared leap at with a bone club screaming at the top of his lungs. My sight cleared up quickly and I thanked my lucky stars that my helmet had taken the brunt of the blow. Tumbling onto my back, I shot my legs at the flying Forsworn.
With his own momentum carrying him as well my legs launching into him, the Forsworn went sailing head over arse and fell onto the ground headfirst. There was a sickening crunch as something clearly broke. Sluggishly, I got to my feet and looked around, my sight still a little unclear. I then saw the Briarheart fighting Beskha with a pair of axes made of green stone. Orchish axes perhaps?
Remembering the Merchant's request, I charged forward, my gait awkward as I ran past dead Forsworn soldiers. Just in time too, as the Briarheart knocked Beskha flat on her back and turned around for me to stab him in the throat. Whether that was skill or plain dumb luck, I would never know and I wasn't about to question it now. The Briarheart gurgled and choked up scarlet as he grabbed the blade of my sword with his bare hands and tried to push it out. Gritting in my teeth, I forced my blade further in until the man's arms went limp and he fell over dead, dragging me with him.
Stumbling, I fell over onto my back and looked up at the sky. "Egg! Egg, are you alright?!" an almost distant voice called out to me and I saw Rolly enter my vision, a distraught look on his face.
"Rolly?" I mumbled in response. Suddenly something was put to my lips and I tasted some bitter-sweet liquid pass into my throat. I choked and tried to spit it out because of the taste.
"Drink, you damn fool!" a voice ordered and I was too dazed to do anything but do as I was told. Then a wonderful cooling sensation came over me and my sight focused and became sharper then a sudden warmth filled me up.
"My prince?" a voice asked me as I was lifted to sitting position.
"Rolly?" I said and I saw Rolly looking at me with a relieved smile on his craggy face.
"Thank the Seven!" he gushed out. "Are you alright?" he asked me. "You were injured!" he admonished me.
"Yes, I was," I replied. "I'm fine, now," I then said as I planted my hands into the earth to push myself up. "Did we get them all?" I asked.
"We did," Cara said to me as she walked up wiping the blade of her battle axe with a cloth. "It was the Briarheart we were having trouble with, until you came along," she added.
"The Briarheart," I intoned as I looked for his corpse and saw it a foot away from me. I then stepped over to the corpse of the Forsworn supersoldier and pulled out my knife.
"What are you doing?" Rolly asked me looking aghast.
"The merchant who told me about the Forsworn camp. He offered me a reward if I killed the Briarheart and brought him its herb," I explained as I began to cut away the stitches that held the orange and yellow herb in place of a human heart. Once the stitches were cut away, with fumbling fingers, I then pulled the briarheart herb out. Blood stained my fingers. "One briarheart herb," I stated as I put it away in my satchel.
"What kind of merchant would want something as grisly as that?" Beskha asked as she had a look of disgust on her scarred countenance.
"Briarhearts have unique alchemical properties," Beorn said to her. "Some mages and alchemists pay good money for such things to use in their potion making," he explained.
"Huh, learn something new everyday," Beskha quipped.
Then I heard Asher shout. "Hey! We got a prisoner here! In the tent!" he hollered. We then entered the tent to see a beautiful young woman, her hands lashed to a pole. She was dressed in white furs and bleached sealskin boots. Her hair was shades of dark golden honey and her cheekbones were perfect arches on her gorgeous face as her blue-grey eyes glared at us. A cloth gag was wrapped around her mouth preventing her from talking but she growled lowly like a trapped animal. On the surface, this woman resembled Candice Swanepoel, which made think of the dimensional theory idea that some scientists talked about when discussing the multiverse theory.
"A pretty one," Asher joked. "Think she was these bastards' entertainment?" he wondered.
I gave Asher a withering glare and knelt down in front of the prisoner and spoke softly. "Are you alright?" I asked her gently. She did not nod or shake, just looked at me. "Here, let me get rid of that gag and those bindings," I said to her kindly as I kept my movement slow so as not to spook her. I cut away the hessian ropes that tied her hands to the pole before removing the gag from her mouth. I backed away slightly and spoke to her. "What's your name?" I asked her softly.
The beautiful Candice lookalike glared at me with those blue-grey eyes before replying, "Val, sister of Dalla."
Val, sister of Dalla? There was only one Val that I knew of; the wildling princess Beyond The Wall and object of many men's desire, even tempting mopey Lord Jon 'You-know-nothing' Snow to break his vow of celibacy and take her as a wife.
But I thought about it for a second. Given that Lynesse Hightower was also in Skyrim, as I and my companions were, I supposed that some other characters from George's prose had found themselves here as well.
"Sister of Dalla? Mance Rayder's wife?" I asked before I could stop my tongue from talking.
"You know who this is?!" Rolly looked at me in bewilderment. I gave a weak smile, wondering what I could possibly say to explain this to him.
"Mance Rayder? The King-Beyond-the-Wall?" Asher asked, his voice hard as he clenched his hatchet.
"Calm down," Beorn said to everyone placatingly. "This woman was a prisoner of these Forsworn. The best thing we can do is help her to the nearest town which is Dragon Bridge," he stated calmly.
"Yes. That would be best," Erdrick said in agreement.
I nodded in agreement before looking at Val and said to her, "We'll take you to Dragon Bridge. You'll be safe there."
"What if I don't want to go with you?" Val spat coldly.
"Fine. Run if you like," I replied. "But look at this way; you appear to be in a land you do not know with no immediate friends or family to help you. You could do much worse than come with us," I said patiently.
Val frowned before she nodded.
"Alright. Let's go," I then helped Val to her feet, but she shrugged off my assistance and pridefully walked out of the tent. As fierce and independent as she was in the books, certainly no dainty princess who would be carried out bridal style. I admit I admired such women.
But I didn't have time for that as we prepared to move out. After we piled the bodies of the Forsworn and their camp onto the fire, we stood back and watched the flames begin to consume the corpses and the tents.
I sighed tiredly before saying, "C'mon. The Legate must be wondering what's taking us so long."
We then began to march back to Dragon Bridge, following the route we took to get here. Strangely enough, Val saw fit to walk beside me, although I had no idea why.
…
We soon reached Dragon Bridge by early dusk and the wind began to pick up, bringing with an almost biting chill. The tavern seemed to beckon us in with its warmth and we soon spotted Legate Jamal sitting out front, sharpening his scimitar with an oilstone, the gritty rasping sound of two solid items grinding against one another rising in the air.
The Legate saw us and he also saw Val who had stuck by my side the entire time we marched here. "Little recruit. Mission accomplished?" he asked as he stood up and looked at me.
"Yes, sir. No casualties, but we took some injuries," I answered standing to attention, weary as I was from the fight and the march back.
"Good. We were starting to worry," Jamal said as he then looked at Val who stared back at him coldly. "And who is this, little recruit?" the Alik'r asked as he looked Val up and down.
"A hostage we found kept prisoner by the Forsworn," I replied. "We decided to bring her with us to Dragon Bridge and get her some food, not to mention ourselves some food as well," I said as I looked at the Legate significantly.
"I see. Then she is your responsibility, little recruit," the Legate told me sternly. "Get inside and get warm. We'll be staying the night before heading back to Solitude in the morning," he said as he sheathed his sword and headed into the tavern. I nodded tiredly and looked at my squad.
"Get yourselves some food and find out where you're all sleeping. I'm going to see the Merchant," I told them.
"What about her?" Rolly asked indicating Val who was looking around with a cautious furtive gaze.
"I'll keep an eye on her," I promised.
Rolly then grinned at me and said, "Gonna take her somewhere nice and quiet?" A lecherous look was in his eyes and I realized what he meant.
Forcing myself not to blush, I gave a small shove to the larger man and told him to get inside the tavern. He laughed and headed inside with everyone else.
I then looked at Val and coughed to her attention. She then fixed me with a curious gaze in her eyes. "I have someone I need to see," I told her awkwardly. "If you want to go inside and get warm, feel free. I won't be long," I said to her.
"I think I'd prefer to stay with you, little recruit," the wildling replied as she folded her arms over her full bosom.
Pursing my lips, I said, "Do what you want." I then turned on my heel and prepared to find the Merchant and soon after, Val was walking beside me. I glanced at her, but did not stop her from walking with me.
"So, who is this merchant?" Val asked me. "Are you going to rob him?"
"No," I said bluntly and I soon heard the familiar sound of the Merchant.
"Stranger! You're back," the man chuckled good naturedly. "And with company as well!" he remarked as he looked at Val with an amused look in his eyes. Val stiffened up and stood closer to me.
I dug the briarheart herb out from my satchel and said, "One Briarheart Forsworn dispatched, as per your request." I then put the yellow and orange herb on the table in front of the Merchant who laughed coarsely as he swept the herb into his palm and pocketed.
"Job well done, stranger," he congratulated me. "And as promised, your reward," he said as he pulled out a purse that jingled and clinked with coin, along with three violet-pink gemstones.
"Spinels?" I asked as I recognized the trade item from Resident Evil 4.
"Indeed, Stranger," the Merchant confirmed to me. "There are some things money can't buy," he told me. "Would you care to look? See if anything takes your fancy?" he offered as he lifted out a display case of items.
There were some interesting items the Merchant had on offer, Each of them had a price tag of spinels in certain quantities. A couple of the items on sale were weapons, some of which I recognized as mods from the game version of Skyrim such as the Knight's sword by Billyro, but that one cost five spinels which I didn't have. I only had three spinels given to me as a reward for the task I'd carried out.
As tempted as I was to use my reward to purchase something, I decided to exercise some restraint and said to the Merchant, "Maybe next time when I have more spinels to trade with."
"Of course. Perhaps you wish to purchase something?" the Merchant suggested as he brought out a catalogue and flipped it open to a table of contents. I browsed through the weapons section and I was once again tempted by the weapons that were on other, but I didn't have enough funds to spend. So I shook my head at the Merchant who nodded in understanding.
"Come back anytime, I'm always ready to make a sale."
Turning around, Val and I then left the Merchant at his stall. "That… Merchant was strange," the wildling said to me. "Something is not right with him," she added vocally.
"He hasn't led me astray yet," I replied as we neared the tavern. Stopping at the door, I looked at Val and said to her, "Look, this isn't the land you know, so can I have your word that you won't start trouble?" I looked at her.
Val glared at me for a long time and I stared back at her hard. It was a contest of wills to see who would look away first. Then finally, Val nodded at me and said, "So long as everyone else doesn't trouble me."
That was about as good as I would get from her, I thought to myself as I pushed open the door and let Val enter first, my ingrained instinct of being polite kicked in. Val brushed past and for a moment, I swear I felt her hand brush my chest as she walked by me. I shook my head and entered the tavern, closing the door behind me and entering the warmth of the tavern.
…
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: There! Chapter 11 of this is done and dusted! I hope you all enjoyed it and the sudden appearance by Val the Wildling Princess in this chapter. I like Val, I find her an interesting character who many are infatuated with and she even has Jon Snow interested in her.
So with the introduction of Val in this chapter, I have to ask; what other Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice & Fire characters do you want to see be put in this story next? If you have a suggestion and better yet, an idea of how to introduce them, feel free to leave your ideas in a review or PM them to me.
And in other news, I've got the idea of an Elder Scrolls/Black Cat (Marvel Comics Spider-Man) crossover on the brain; the basic plot is that the Dragonborn and Felicia Hardy AKA Black Cat end up on another world together and join forces to survive and maybe learn something from one another. With that in mind, I've set up a poll on my profile of what the setting should be and so far, Witcher and Goblin Slayer have taken the top spot. There are other choices, so if you want to see another choice take the top spot, then you know what to do.
And apart from that, I haven't got too much more to say, so I'll leave this here and catch you all in the next one.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.