Battlefield
Matthias was beginning to have some serious doubts about Torleif's 'great' plan as he and Tino were crawling on all four at snail's pace towards the enemy encampment two days after they had found it. Both of them were cloaked in white and with scarves covering the lower half of their faces, the idea was taken from the enemy scout they had faced outside of Aeston so they could blend with the surroundings. From a distance, they would be hard to notice against the snow, but if somebody did, the two of them were as good as dead. Their success were now dependent on Torleif and his people to create a distraction that would keep attention away from the two people creeping closer.
It was not comfortable at all crawling along the frozen ground and in the snow. They had made sure to stay far away from the camp as they search for a way to approach it from a different direction and it left them a lot of ground to cover on all fours. It had only taken a few minutes for their clothing had been soaked through from the snow. The northern wind was merciless and soon after the cold had started to take a real hold of them both.
Crawling in front, Tino halted his movements and allowed Matthias to come up beside him. "We can't get any closer without risking that somebody sees us" Tino whispered nervously and readjusted the mask over his face. The only thing visible was the upper part of his face. The combination of warm, moist breath and freezing wind had created a layer of his on his eyelashes and brows. "We should wait for Torleif to make his move before we do anything else."
Matthias nodded and stared towards the camp. Being so close it seemed much larger and far more threating than it had from a distance. Most of the guards were clad in heavy plate mail and had swords hanging on their belt. Some were marching in lines between the tents, others were sitting down around a fire eating and some were practicing maneuvers against each other. The two rebel's target was the horse enclosure where six guards were standing along the fence.
Matthias could feel his heart beat madly in his chest as if it was trying to smash its way through his ribcage. The axe on his back was heavy an uncomfortable as it kept on tangling up in the cloak. "I just hope this plan works. We are taking a big risk in doing this when a surprise attack could have been almost just as good."
"Torleif would never have asked us to do this if he didn't think we could make back." Tino whispered back. "And so far things look very promising. The horses aren't saddled up, so it doesn't seem like they are expecting anything to happen."
They lay in the snow for several minutes before something finally happened. Tino was the first to notice and tapped Matthias on the shoulder before he pointed towards figures appearing on the horizon and soon after the sound of marching reached them. Some men were on horses, but most of them were on foot. "Here they come. Now we'll find out if this plan works or not."
The marching grew steadily louder as the entire rebel army lined up in the distance. Those on foot were stomping their feet and beat weapons against their shields to create as much noise as possible. One man, Torleif most likely, was on a horse further ahead. He rode back and forth holding a sword in the air and a roar came from the rebels.
It was definitely causing reactions in the camp. People were yelling and rushing about, barking orders and grabbing weapons running towards the edge of the camp facing the horde. There was room enough between the protective poles around the camp and the tents for them to line up in defense.
"So far so good" Matthias whispered hoarsely. "Time for us to move. There are only two guards left to watch the horses. We have to do it now before they figure out they want to saddle up and send out riders against our people."
Tino nodded and began crawling towards the camp again. He was using one hand to reach for the bow strapped to his back and an arrow. The guard at the enclosure was looking towards the rebel army, apparently curious to see what was happening and did not look in the direction of the two rebels sneaking closer.
They came up to the line of protective poles and Tino placed the arrow on the bowstring and drew back. He gave a quick glance to Matthias who was reaching for the axe, making sure they were both ready. It was like an unspoken arrangement between them. They both knew they had to act quickly in order to succeed.
Then he let go.
The arrow swished through the air struck its target, sending the guard down almost without a sound except a surprised gasp.
The two of them got up and ran towards the fences of the horse encampment, zigzagging between the sharpened poles. Matthias swung the axe at the surprised soldier remaining before he managed to get out a single sound of warning to the others. The horses neighed and tossed on their heads nervously from side to side. Tino ran around and cut over the ropes keeping the gates shut. Matthias jumped over the fenced and pulled of his cloak, waived it around like great banner to scare the animals.
The horses barely moved, only a few were scared enough to start running towards the opening in the fences. Tino glanced towards the enemies lined up no more than a hundred meter away from them, panic clear in his eyes. "Hurry!" He hissed through clenched teeth. "They'll see us!"
Matthias fastened the axe on his back again, coiled up the cloak, and then whipped it against the closest horse. It reared in terror and set up to get away from him. Tino ran along the fence waiving his own cloak trying to steer the horses towards the enclosure opening. Matthias slapped a few other horses and they finally panicked enough to gallop away from them through the camp. They trampled over the tents, tearing them down and then there came and angry shout from the soldiers.
"Run!" Matthias yelled at Tino. He grasped on to the mane of a horse before it could escape them and pulled himself up on the frightened animal. He made it turn towards the fence, kicked his heels sharply in its side, and forced it to jump. A group of soldiers was running towards them weapons raised, but the panicked horses slowed them down.
Tino was sprinting away from camp and Matthias rode up beside him before he halted the horse long enough to help the hunter climb up behind him and then gave it another kick to set it of galloping again. "Get us out of here," Tino yelled in alarm, clutching on to Matthias' clothing. They had to duck as an arrow whistled right past them.
Behind them, more soldiers had broken their ranks to catch the panicking animals before they tore down the camp and escaped completely. On the other side of the field, a trumpet sounded, the signal for Torleif's troops to attack and they had to return to their posts. The king's soldier had nowhere to go. Before them were an army of furious people seeking revenge, behind them their camp was more or less turned chaos by the panicking horses and it made a possible escape difficult.
The rebel army stormed forwards. Torleif and the other riders took the lead. Hooves were drumming against the frozen ground and a cloud of snow whirled up around them. They were ready to trample down anyone that dared stand in their path. Behind them the foot soldiers were running like mad men to catch up, just as eager to get a piece of the action, all of them roaring like a flock of wild animals.
Matthias and Tino on their horse approached the charging rebels from the side. Matthias rode in a circular motion to turn the animal around, ride up beside the other riders, and match speed with them. Tino had taken his bow out again and had and arrow aimed towards the lines of metal plated soldiers ahead.
"Whatever happens, do not stop!" Torleif roared over the thunder of hooves and the rush of wind. "Let's give these soldiers a taste of their own medicine. For freedom!"
The yell echoed among the rushing soldiers. "Freedom!"
The soldiers had managed to pull off a somewhat proper line of defense, even with the chaos that had broken out in their camp. The first line had spears with the butt end firmly planted in the ground and the sharp end pointing upwards ready to skewer whatever came at them. The second line were archers, bows ready and just waiting for them to get within shooting distance.
Tino was the first to shoot however. It hit a man in the throat where there was a small gap in the armor and he fell. A shower of arrows were returned in and instant, whistling angrily as they searched for a mark.
Matthias ducked and clutched around the horses neck to not loose balance. Beside him, one horse with an arrow sticking out of its leg. The rider screamed in panic as he fell over its neck. He landed in the snow with a sickening sound of bones cracking from the impact. Men and horses fell on all sides and left open gaps in their charge, but none slowed down.
Then came the line of spiked poles. There was hardly any room for a horse and rider to make it between them and many ended up impaled and left a gruesome sight for those that came behind. The line of spears came up and more horses fell victims. The soldiers were well trained and strong and took down several other horses. Nevertheless, men were weaker than woods and the horses that made it over the spears crashed into the line of defense causing serious damage. Riders swung their swords and the soldiers had little room to return blows.
Torleif and were first to plow his way through the first line of men and disappeared among the crowd. Matthias and Tino were close behind; Matthias dug his heels into the poor animal's side, forcing it forwards. Their job was to break the soldier's line, making it easier for those on foot when they came.
They made it through the line of spears and archers, but then horse went down from a sword slashing at its feet.
Matthias tumbled to the ground, instinctually grasping for the axe at his back. Other horses stormed past them, crashing through the defenders and leaving the two of them room to get their bearings straight.
The air was full of whirling snow and dust. Matthias felt adrenalin course through his veins. The front lines had become a site for massacre. The riders had caused massive damage and now the first men on foot had managed to catch up with them hacking away at the remaining soldier. Plowing their way forward to help the others in their assault. Dead men and horses littered the ground.
The rebels had gained the upper hand by creating a large wedge in the middle of the soldier's army and the defenders had difficulties keeping up. Their lines were in disarrange and they were desperately trying to back up in order to get some room to maneuver better. However, behind them were the ruined tents and broken wagons in the way after the horses' great escape.
Matthias stormed forwards, following the path the riders had cut through the defenders, axe raised before him and gut down soldiers that were still standing. Tino lurked right behind and fired of several arrow as they moved.
They finally caught a glimpse of Torleif further ahead and headed towards him. He had a cut on his forehead from either a fall or a blade and blood stained his clothes. None of their horses was nowhere around and Matthias wondered if any of them had survived the assault at all.
Torleif was about to be overwhelmed and Matthias reached him just in time to block an incoming blow aimed at their leaders side. Torleif whirled around and the relief on his face was not to mistake with anything else. "Thank you lad" He yelled and whirled around to bury his sword in another attacker. The steel screamed against the metal plate that caved in under the force. "We have to get our men up here and fill these gaps or we will get slaughtered one by one!"
"But we can't just fight them from within" Tino yelled back and fired another arrow that send a man down right before Matthias' feet. "Then there will be too many men just waiting for others to fall before they can take up their places."
Torleif swung again. "I told our people to attack from all sides to prevent the soldiers from organizing. I sent Brynjar and Berwald in charge of separate groups to attack on the flanks. We have to trust them to do the job."
They heard desperate screams to their side and turned to see a group of their own men franticly trying to back away from something. Torleif cast a glance to Matthias, silently ordering him in that direction and Matthias ran. He jumped over bodies of horses and men, rebels and soldiers alike.
"Stand your ground!" He yelled towards the rebels. He ran up among them, swinging the axe towards a soldier. The swing was blocked and the metal sang against metal and the forced pushed him back. Another swing and the axe buried itself in the man's neck in the gap in the armor. The battle in this part of the ground seemed to have slowed down; the men were just waiting for something to happen.
The rebels were still hesitant to continue their attack even with his encouragement. Matthias decided to look around to find out what had scared the rebels so much and felt heart skip a few beats. Behind a few rows of soldiers were one man that was standing alone. The men kept a distance and opened up a clear path towards the rebels.
It was Lukas.
Matthias knew they would have to bump into each other at one point or another, but had been dreading it. His attitude was so different from any of their previous encounters Matthias could hardly recognize him. There was nothing of the playful smirk visible or the sudden anger that would sometimes shine through. His face was void of any emotion and he held one longsword in each hand, both dripping with blood. He marched forward with confidence of a man that feared nothing.
Even if he was shorter than most of the men under his command people seemed to feel uneasy in his presence, like they knew there was something different about him and so kept their distance. Where the soldiers wore full plate mail, he only wore the chest piece and the rest of his clothing were made of boiled leather, allowing him to move much more freely.
One of the rebels were muttering prayers, his eyes were round in fear and his arms shaking.
Matthias remembered Lukas' words on the cliffs two days past but still stepped protectively in front of the rebels, his friends. He refused to believe that Lukas would so mindlessly murder him and all the others after having used so much effort in to stop the rebels from failing miserably long ago.
Lukas raised the blades and headed right for him.
Matthias barely managed to block the two incoming blows that came at him in rapid succession.
The commander cocked his head to the side and stared him, seeming almost curious that his victim was still unscathed. He circled around Mathias, analyzing his movement, searching for an opening, like a wild animal stalking prey.
Matthias lashed out at him, but Lukas blocked it effortlessly. No man could best him at the games of war. In the blink of an eye, Lukas was a whirlwind of steel, blades searching for a target. One of them slashed Matthias's arm open and he yelped in pain. The next blow came in with such force it knocked him backwards when it hit against his axe.
The rebels finally seemed to wake up when they saw the young boy, knocked over and one of them run towards the commander with a furious cry. Lukas dodged, stepped gracefully around and run one of the blades right through the man's back.
"Get that commander!" one of the rebels screamed and several of them rushed towards him at once. For some reason the king's soldiers stepped back and did nothing to aid their commander.
It was a dance of steel and Lukas mastered it perfectly. One after another, he either knocked down or killed his attackers.
Matthias noticed something was wrong where he lay on the ground. The air seemed to thicken all around them. It became warmer and it was almost difficult to breathe, something that was strange when the wind howled at them. He pushed himself up from the ground to his knees and saw the red flare in Lukas' eyes and a red mist by his fingertips.
"Get away from him!" Matthias tried to scream at the rebels, but none of them heard it.
There was a loud crack like a whip and three men flew backwards as the commander threw out one arm at them. Matthias grasped on to his axe luckily still lying beside him, figuring he might have a chance to knock the Vette, or whatever it was Lukas was, down before he could do the same thing again.
He never had the chance however, Lukas turned in his direction again. Matthias never even made it three steps forward before there was a massive force pushing against him. The sudden heat was almost unbearable and he flew backwards into the chaos of broken tents and dead horses and fighters. He hit the ground and skidded over the snow and dirt. Then everything went black.
Matthias woke up to his head throbbing. All sorts of sounds were jumbled together, a horrible mix of metal clashing against metal and horrible screams. Screams of mortally wounded and terrified men and women in agonizing pain. There was also the crackle, like from a fire; it grew in strength until it was more like a threatening roar from flames that wanted to devour everything in its path.
There was so much pain there was no telling where it came from. His scull felt as if it was about to crack open and there was a throbbing in his arm where he had been cut earlier. The more surprising pain was on his chest, a sharp burning sensation that kept getting stronger.
He tried opening his eyes but hat to close them again because a white and red light was too sharp and blinding and turned everything into a blur again. He wished he could just keep them shut and sleep for days, but the strange pain on his chest kept growing stronger like whatever it was would burn right through the skin and he couldn't bear it.
He shot up despite the protest from his body and clawed at his clothing to get rid of whatever it was. His fingers grasped around a small object on a chain. When it burned at the touch, he instinctually tore off the chain and hurled the item away.
The burning on his chest finally faded and he forced his eyes open and blinked rapidly to get used to the light and get the world back into focus. His hand had gained an angry red color and when he brought the other arm down his shirt and found that the skin under was warm and sore to the touch. Both were signs that it had probably burned the skin there as well. The white clothes he wore had turned black and red from blood and soot. One sleeve had burned off, yet the arm was unscathed. The ground around was bare, the snow melted and the grass under burned. Dead bodies covered a large portion of the burned area. Some of them burned down to blackened bones. Others were howling in agony from their injuries.
The blackened path led the way towards where rebels and soldiers were still fighting. There was no telling how he had been out, but he figured it had to be a while. Tears were stinging in his eyes at the sight of his people injured and burned beside him when he was almost unharmed. The sounds of steel against steel and screaming were bouncing around his head.
Matthias looked towards the direction of where he had thrown the chain and finally realized what it was. The crystal Lukas had given him two days past. The Garnet that could supposedly protect against magic.
Was that how he had survived? He wondered. Was he supposed to have shared fate with the blackened bodies lying next to him?
He forced himself off the ground, ignoring the protests of his body and the throbbing of his head. The world started spinning again and he had to kneel and had to crawl over to the garnet crystal on the ground, unwilling to leave it behind. It was glowing in a deep blood red color. The snow around it had melted but now it was cool to the touch.
Matthias grasped it and put it in his pocket. The sounds of battles drew him back again. There were less people fighting than earlier. There was only one real group of soldiers remaining. The rebels on the flanks were just taking care of the last survivors. He saw Tino and Berwald. The latter was wielding the great sword fiercely holding soldiers back.
Matthias stood up and stumbled towards the fight. Tino was looking around and shock flooded his face when their eyes met. He mouthed Matthias's name in disbelief and began sprinting towards him. "We thought you were dead for sure." His clothes bloodstained just like all the others and his quiver was almost empty indicating he had done a fair share of fighting after they separated. The bow hang at his back and he had taken a sword in his hand but dropped it in order to clutch Matthias' arm. "Nobody should have survived that fire." Tino stared towards the blackened path Matthias had come from.
Tino gave support and helped him get further away from the path of scorched ground. There was a crowd of rebels watching the last fighting, standing ready to attack themselves should they need to. Tino bullied away through the crowd and pulled Matthias with him.
There were a few soldiers still standing. They must have been the greatest fighters and kept the rebels at a distance Matthias tried to push his way further ahead to get a better view but Tino held him back.
There in between the masses were the king's commander, still swinging the two blades in a whirlwind. Matthias felt his gut twist uncomfortably, uncertain of what to feel. There was relief that he was not dead, even if Lukas had just tried to kill him. The battle had made its mark on him. The light plate mail covering his chest was scratched and battered and was covered in gore and mud and one of his sleeves were slashed and discolored with blood.
Matthias' eyes met Lukas'. The commander forced back the two men hacking at him and created an opening for himself, he seemed to head right towards Matthias.
He didn't get far however. The soldiers on his side was finally defeated, Torleif was one of the few rebels that stepped forwards towards to meet the commander. They were cautious. Many of their men had already fell for the commander's blades and magic tricks and they stayed back, trying to figure out a way to bring him down without losing more people.
Matthias wanted to say something, to stop the battle, but he didn't know what. Nothing he could say or do would make the revels stop. Lukas took a few steps closer. His eyes were unreadable and cold and then Tino reacted. Fast as the wind, the hunter grasped his bow and fired of an arrow.
The king's commander was quick, but not quick enough. The arrow hit him in the shoulder. The second arrow came a second later and hit him in the thigh and he growled quietly in pain. He stumbled and fell down on one knee as one leg gave out under him.
Tino stepped up with another arrow already on the string ready to make the kill shot. Now it was Matthias' turn to hold the other male back from the commander. He didn't want anything to happen. "Don't kill him" He managed to croak out, voice hoarse from smoke and dust and withheld emotions.
Tino looked back, fury flashed in his eyes. "He showed none of us any mercy!" he argued angrily. "He deserves none from us."
Torleif stepped forward and the aimed his blade towards Lukas' throat. Face red in anger and hands shaking slightly.
The commander looked completely unfazed, stared dead ahead and dropped the swords before he held his hands up in surrender. That only seemed to anger Torleif even further. "You have no idea of how badly I want to kill you right here and right now!" the veteran growled with barely withheld anger that threatened to break his control. "But you are only one link in a longer chain and can be the key to the rest."
Lukas changed his gaze from Matthias' direction to send an emotionless stare towards Torleif. "This victory may be yours commander Torleif of Griven, but you have no idea of what you have gotten your people into."
"How do you know my name?" Torleif demanding heatedly, He rested the blade towards Lukas' neck just hard enough to draw blood, but the commander didn't even flinch and made no sound to reply. "Take him away Torleif roared towards Berwald and Brynjar on the opposite side. "Chain that thing up and keep him under constant guard. We will interrogate him first and when we have cleared up this place and given our people a proper funeral, we will execute him. We will show our people that we can win this."
Brynjar strode forward with a spear in his arms. He smashed the blunt end towards the commander's head with a powerful swing and it send him crashing to the ground. Then he aimed a few strong kick at him for good measure and spat at the royal emblem on his cloak. Berwald stepped up and the two of them took a hold of one arm each to haul him up.
Berwald gave Tino and Matthias as he walked past with the prisoner. There was a look on confusion when he looked at Matthias, just barely visible, but Matthias had known him long enough to recognize it, and wondered what Berwald was thinking.
Matthias clutched on to Tino for support. He was feeling sick. His entire body ached and his head spun worse than ever. His stomach churned uncomfortably as he watched the beat and bloodied prisoner they dragged past him. They had just won a great victory, yet to him it felt like a defeat and he was terrified of what would happen next.
