Trapped
Matthias screams in frustration and struggles futilely against the two men restraining him. One of the soldiers rewards him with a sharp hiss and again the knife pushed closer against the skin of his throat in a warning, drawing another trickle of blood. He lets his head drop heavily to the ground with a thump and clenches his teeth in anger, defeat burning bitterly in the back of his throat like bile. He stares up towards the sky, so he will not have to stare at the two soldiers holding him down or the glimpses of Berwald in the corner of his field of vision.
If he could have moved without risk of further injury, he would have knocked his own head repeatedly against the ground, cursing his own stupidity. He should never have been careless enough to think they lost the soldiers while crossing the mountains. Lukas warned him for a reason, and still he let his guard down the moment the sun reached his face and the constant risk of freezing to death decreased. Now here they are, outnumbered and utterly trapped with no apparent route of escape.
"I would not do anything stupid if I was you boy," the soldier says with a nasty smirk. "We might get more coin from returning you to the Capitol alive, but I do not believe that any the posters specified that the rebels needed to be returned unharmed for a full payout." His grin widens. "You just need to be able to answer a few questions and not much else. There is a lot of damage I can do without killing you, and all I have to say in my own defense is that you resisted arrest or were attempting to kill us. Nobody is going to listen the word of a rebel over that of a soldier." A few of the other soldiers laugh darkly and one even spits out a few violent suggestions of what to do to them.
"Enough!" the leader snaps harshly and the group quiets down immediately. He lets go of Berwald's jaw after inspecting his face and pushes his head harshly to the side and downwards, before he stands up to face his men. Another soldier takes his place and points a sword at Berwald in clear warning should he decide to move. "Let us not waste any more time on these two idiots, we still have to capture the rest of them before they realize these two has been away too long and prepare for trouble. How many more were in that group?"
"Pretty sure there are four more," a voice replies, this one deep and raspy with a heavy outskirts accent. Matthias imagines the soldiers must have hired a local hunter to help them track in terrain and surroundings they are not familiar with traversing. "One of them left on a horse, same time as these two left the group, there no telling how long he will stay away and where he went. He's going to be the most difficult to catch, especially if he senses something is off when he returns. The three others are setting up camp further south an hour maybe two away, should be as easy as a simple ambush to catch them. Worked on these two. They have no idea they have been watched and followed and we outnumber them, they have no reason to be on guard."
Berwald's head hangs down, his nose bleeding sluggishly but he turns carefully and gives Matthias a desperate look with his one good eye, silently asking the question of what they are supposed to do now. Matthias can only blink back; any movement causes the knife at his throat to cut deeper. They are both very aware of their hopeless situation. The guard shows Berwald's head further down and force them to break eye contact. He groans in pain and wobbles, on the verge of losing balance.
There is a loud rustling, as some of the soldiers seems to scramble to pull ropes out of their packs. One of them step up to Berwald and grab his arms to tie them together. He is about to tighten the ropes and tie a knot when there is a quiet whistle through the air, a dull thud and the soldier emits a sharp gasp in surprise. He stumbles back a step and clutches at his chest where there now is an arrow sticking out. He looks around, gaping like a fish and does not seem to understand what has just happened. He turns around to stare at his friends as if they can help him figure it out, but they seem just as surprised.
Time seems to stand still for a few moments while nobody have any idea what is going on. Then another arrow whistle through the air and a second later the soldier holding a knife to Matthias' throat screams in pain and clutches his shoulder where the arrow imbedded itself. He drops the knife and Matthias flinches, expecting pain as the blade touches his throat, but it lands on the ground beside him with a clatter, barely scratching his skin. The other soldier crouches down and curses wildly, still trying to pin Matthias down by the legs and stay in cover from the unseen archer at the same time.
"It's an ambush!" The leader shouts and finally the soldiers spring into action, scrambling to get in cover and get their weapons out. "Get down and prepare yourselves for battle. Find the bastards! Kill them if you have to, we do not need all of them alive for a decent reward. The Capitol will be happy to have any rebels out of their way."
The soldiers run around like a horde of headless chickens, searching for cover and getting ready for battle. "Can anyone see the shooter?" one of them screams, hidden behind a boulder, peeking around the side. "How many are there? Where did they even come from?"
In the confusion, Berwald sees an opportunity to act. He slides the untied ropes dawn from his arms and throws himself at the soldier still pinning Matthias to the ground, knocking him over. He roars as he struggles to hold down the soldier, barely avoiding the soldier's knife in the process. The other soldier is too busy screaming in pain, clutching at his injured shoulder and like that, Matthias is free.
Matthias rolls up in a crouch and punches the injured soldier in the face as hard as he can so he flops over unconscious on the grass. He fumbles around for the sword the now unconscious soldier kept sheathed at his hip and almost cries in relief when his shaking fingers curls around it's handle and he can pull it free of its sheath. He cuts loose the ropes from the bola still wrapped around his legs and kicks them off so he can stand up.
Berwald is still struggling to keep the soldier and the knife at an arm's length, rolling around in the grass and Matthias cannot see an opening without injuring Berwald in the process.
"Ber! Move! Now!" he yells and stands ready to act immediately.
Berwald throws himself backwards and Matthias leaps forward, putting most of his weight behind the blade as he thrust it forward. The soldier gasps in surprise, staring at the sword piercing his chest and his eyes closes as he drops back onto the ground. Matthias pulls back and watches as blood drips to the ground from the sword. He turns around to get an overview of the battlefield and reaches for the axe in his belt.
Another cut off shriek tells them another soldier went down by an arrow from the hidden shooter. The odds are quickly turning more in favor of the rebels and the soldiers are scrambling to regain their advantage after the loss of so many men in less than a minute.
"Behind you!" Berwald yells.
Matthias turns just in time to block an incoming blow from one of the soldiers with the handle of his axe. Berwald is scrambling on the ground to get a weapon on his own from the soldier they just killed and stands up moments later with a sword of his own.
The leader is yelling commands, red in the face from fury and wildly gesturing with his sword. "Don't let the prisoner escape! Take them down and find that damned shooter!"
In fear of their own leader, the remaining soldiers step out from their meager covers to create a small circle around the two rebels to block their possible routes of escape and keep them trapped in the clearing. Matthias notices one of the men slinking away into the trees. He is dressed different from the soldiers in dark rags and simple clothing and he assumes it must be the guide, now trying to stop the shooter from picking them off one after one.
The leader takes menacing steps forward, pointing his blade at the rebels in clear challenge.
Matthias stands there with his shoddy axe normally meant for chopping wood in one hand and the bloody sword in his other. Berwald steps closer to him and they stand there back to back, carefully circling and waiting for one of the soldiers to make the first move. The soldiers look anxious; probably worried about an arrow suddenly striking them out from nowhere and wait for the right opportunity to strike.
The leader is the first to attack, lunging forward and with all his might and a loud roar. Matthias is barely able to block the assault in time and the wooden handle of his axe groans in distress, already damaged by his earlier block. When they separate and the leader swings his sword again, Matthias ducks and swing his sword at the leader in return, but the experienced soldier jumps away with ease and laughs cruelly.
Berwald bumps into his back, parrying and attack of his own, nearly pushing them both off balance. The leader grins viciously at their struggle. Another arrow exits the forest but goes way over their heads and is no danger to anyone. "Seems like my man reached yours," the leader taunts. "You boys want to make a bet of which one is going to win? Then it is going to be real fun, seeing how two simple farmers are going to hold up against a group of trained soldiers when your shooter is taken out of the game."
Matthias breathes heavily. With the axe raised high he lunges forward directly towards the leader who grins as he lazily prepares to block him again. In the last second, Matthias changes direction and swings at the soldier to the side of him instead. The soldier clumsily manages to raise his sword in defense. He curses wildly and tries to step back out of reach, but Matthias uses the sword I his other hand to aim a strike at his unprotected side, making a nasty gash in the soldier's leather armor.
That move leaves Matthias' back open and the leader lunges at him, but Matthias ducks quickly to avoid his blade. He kicks backwards to keep the leader at a distance for a little while longer while he clenches his teeth and presses his advance against the soldier who is desperately stumbling backwards to recover himself, but his blocks are clumsy and Matthias swings at him with both weapons in rapid succession. He jumps aside when the leader swings at him again and the man almost barrels right into his own soldier, absolutely seething in rage. Matthias uses the opportunity to swing both his weapons at the poor soldier and he has no way of avoiding both attacks and crumbles dead to the ground.
Now there is only the leader focusing on Matthias and he cast a glance around to make sure they have the situation under control. On the opposite side of the battlefield, Berwald grunts in effort keeping both the soldiers at a good distance and dealing out strikes, one of them is bleeding and moving slow. A dull thud then followed by a louder one and two soldiers are reduced to one when one fall over with an arrow in his back. Berwald who was beginning to lag, beaten and exhausted seems invigorated and fights back harder against the last one.
"Seems you guy lost against ours," Matthias breathes out tauntingly.
The leader of the soldiers roars in anger, seemingly aware that this is turning out to be a battle he cannot win, but he is determined to take somebody down with him. He swings wildly in rage, all previous grace and technique gone in favor of pure savagery.
Matthias blocks the incoming strikes and his teeth clack together from the force of them. Sweat is pouring down his back and his arms shake and he fears he is going to stumble, but the leader is careless and pushes forwards without caring much for his steps, just swinging wildly, leaving his side open. Matthias presses his advantage for all it is worth. He stabs out with the swords and it imbeds in the leader's stomach.
The soldier lunges back in return, still with the sword buried in his gut and Matthias is just a little bit slow to avoid the attack entirely. The blade leaves a stinging path across his upper arm and tears through his winter jacket and flesh, but the soldier is quickly losing what little fight he has left. Mathias Swings the axe and gets the soldier across the throat this time. Blood spurts and hits him in the face but his enemy finally stops moving. The sword clang to the ground, he gurgles incomprehensibly, but no words cross his lips, only blood, and he finally falls over dead.
Matthias kicks the body of the leader aside and rushes to Berwald's aid. Together they easily finish off the last soldier who has no chance against the two them.
They both stand there, breathing loudly as silence settles upon them now that the battle is over. Matthias wipes a hand across his face and it comes back covered in blood from the soldiers. He groans in disgust and starts wiping harder. He just wants to lay right down on the ground and maybe sleep for half an eternity before he wants to move again. He is exhausted, but Berwald is staring towards the forest. "Who is that archer?" he says urgently and starts marching towards the trees. "We got to find him and see if he is okay and thank him."
Together they pick up the pace and run towards the trees in the direction the arrows seemed to come from, Matthias a little more hesitant. He is not sure he wants them to find the person helping them from the sidelines. A few meters into the bushes, they find the body of the scout that snuck after the archer. The body lies twisted unnaturally on the ground. It looks like somebody broke either his neck or back by brute force alone, but they barely have time to cast a glance at it before there is a rustle of leaves to their side that draws their attention.
Berwald moves quickly towards the sound "Hey!" He yells. "Wait! We want to talk to you!" Matthias barely catches a glimpse of the figure, and can only see that is someone short, cloaked, and quickly moving further into the trees. Berwald must have seen the same thing, for he yells "Tino?" but his voice is wavering and unsure. He yells louder.
"Ber, I don't think that is Tino," Matthias whispers loudly, putting a hand on Berwald's shoulder to pull him back. "If it was, he would have come out to meet us. It could be anybody and we have no idea what they want, we should be careful."
"Then who else could it be?" Berwald snaps back sharply, easily braking out of Matthias grip with a shrug of his shoulders to move forward, knocking aside branches in his way. "There are tracks on the ground. If it's not Tino I want to know who."
They follow the tracks for about a minute, but in a small clearing between the trees, the tracks suddenly stop and the two of them stand there in confusion. Berwald lean down to study the ground and stares up in the canopy squinting as if the leaves carry any answers. He mutters quietly to himself.
Matthias walks around the small clearing to see if the tracks continue further in the wood and carelessly tossed aside in the branches he finds and abandoned quiver and bow. The quality I a lot better than anything possessed by any of the rebels. He holds them up for Berwald to see. "These are not Tino's."
Berwald curses quietly. "No matter who it is, where could he have gone, the tracks just stop? And why would he leave his gear and not show his face? We were at the soldier's mercy we owe him at least a thanks, he shouldn't be afraid of us."
Matthias looks closer at the equipment. The bow is smooth and elegantly curved, not a single nick or scratch from extended use. The quiver is full of pristine arrows and between the white feathers of the fletching, there is a small blue one and the disappearing footprints makes a lot more sense. He stands up to look up into the canopy himself, but he suspects he is looking at something far different from Berwald, but he can see no trace of anything.
Berwald start rifling through the leaves around the small clearing to see if he can find any other clues for himself.
"Maybe we should just let the archer be?" Matthias suggests quietly. "It is obvious he doesn't want to be followed, maybe we should just respect his wishes and be grateful for the help that we got. He could easily have left us and let the soldiers take us." His list of favors owed to Lukas is growing steadily longer, as is his list of secrets. He twirls the blue feather around his fingers and sends a thought of thanks before he tucks it into a pocket in his tunic when Berwald is not looking. "It could have just been a hunter from one of the nearby villages and not wanting to get into trouble, but I'll admit that doesn't explain the leftover equipment. No hunter would have left their gear and especially not of that quality." He feigns ignorance and adds a few questions of his own so Berwald will not have reason to question him.
Berwald drags a hand through his hair in frustration. "This doesn't make any sense! He must have followed us to know that we were in trouble and known when to intervene. He clearly went through a lot of trouble to save us, and then he just disappears and in thin air nonetheless, that is not normal. If it was a villager, why would he not want us to see him?"
"I don't know" Matthias replies, just as frustrated. "I am just grateful that somebody saved us from those guys. Seriously, I thought we were done for. Are you even okay? They beat the shit out of you."
"I'm fine," Berwald grumbles. "But the others are not gonna like hearing about this."
"We have to tell them something" Matthias reasons. "They are going to take one look at you and realize something big went down."
Berwald's touches the skin around his swollen eye and winces then he gestures to Matthias' arm and torn clothing. "It's not like you look a whole lot better and we're both covered in blood. Do you think there are more of them, the soldiers I mean?"
Matthias shakes his head slowly and thoughtfully. "I don't think so. These guys sounded like they have broken up from the main forces. They wanted to take us directly to the capitol for a reward and not to the rest of their company and commander and they seemed pretty badly prepared."
Berwald casts a last glance around the clearing but lets out a long breath in defeat. "I suppose there is nothing else to do, we're no trackers. If Tino was here he might have been able to track this guy."
Matthias cannot help but smirk at that statement. "I'm sure he can, he is very skilled after all."
Berwald glares at him, the gaze not appearing half as menacing with the massive swelling around his eye and he shakes his head at Matthias' weak attempt at teasing.
Matthias sighs and decides it is best to let the subject drop. "Let's just head back. See if we can check out the soldiers a bit closer, maybe they are carrying orders or something useful. And we still have to get firewood back to the others." He groans loudly. "I'm exhausted! I just wanna lie down and sleep for a week."
They slowly trudge their way back to the where the battle took place. They avoid the dead scout on their way, not really wanting to have to look any closer at the unpleasant sight. Back at the clearing where they collected firewood the reality of what just happened really begins setting in. Eight bodies lie spread out on the ground, most of them pierced by arrows. The soldier Matthias only knocked out seems to have bled out some time after the battle and is just as dead as the others are. Blood is starting to congeal and soak into the ground. A daring crow has already settled down to peck at one of the unfortunate soldiers.
Matthias grimaces and forces back the reflex to gag and a shiver runs through his entire body. Berwald's face is stony and unreadable. I silent agreement they walk up to the body of the leader and roll it on its back. Matthias is the one to crouch down and rifle through the man's pockets. He finds a few silver coins, a spare button, a knife and a small hipflask, he shakes is and find it holding a few more sips. He takes two swigs himself and offers the flask to Berwald who downs the rest of it and hurls the flask towards the woods.
They move on to the backpacks they find just on the edges of the clearing where the soldiers must have dropped them just before they attacked. For the most part, they contain basic equipment, much like their own, but the soldiers were better prepared for longer journeys and have proper rations packed. They find dried meats, some hard cheese, and a few dried pieces of flat bread. They pile up whatever they deem useful and that cannot be identifiable as belonging to the royal army so they can bring it back to the rest of the group. Furthest down in one of the packs there are some rolled up pieces of paper tied together with a piece of string, haggard looking after spending a lot of time at the bottom of a backpack.
Matthias rolls them out, he cannot read any of the text, but the picture tells him all he need to know. He is staring down at the face of Torleif. Much less haggard than the one he has gotten used to in the last few months, but easily recognizable. He tosses the first sheet aside and stares down at his own face. He cannot hold back a strangled sound at the back of his throat. Berwald walks up to him and stares over his shoulder. He breathes out heavily through his nose. It is strange to look down at what he used to look like just a few months ago. His hair is short and spiky, eyes bright and face bare of any scruff or beard. He has not had a chance to look at himself in the mirror lately, but he knows that is not what he looks like anymore. His hair has grown much longer and it falls down over his face and has to tie it back to keep it from getting in the way. There is also lot of scruff on his face now, but not thick enough to call a proper beard.
Berwald puts a heavy hand on his shoulder in silent support and Matthias appreciates the gesture. He flips over to the next sheet and he is not surprised to see Berwald next. Now that he is not staring at himself, it is easier to see that the drawing is not complete in likeness to them. There are a few details wrong, like the shape of the nose and jaw, but close enough that if they had kept up with their appearance while wandering about in the wilderness, anybody that had seen the poster will probably recognize them.
He flips a few more pages to see whom else the soldiers has managed to get a look at and deem worthy of a poster. There is one of Brynjar, but his face is over in black charcoal and Matthias tears it to pieces and tosses it aside. He can recognize a few more faces, Tino being one of them. Before he has time to turn that page over, Berwald takes that sheet away from him, folds it carefully and tucks it into a pocket.
"The others need to see these," Matthias says carefully. "The soldiers were right, we might look a bit haggard, but we are still recognizable. I don't think getting into the capitol is going to be as easy as I first thought." The crow caws at them from its perch atop one of the dead soldiers, almost mocking them.
"We'll figure something out" Berwald grunts.
Above them, a cloud drifts past the sun and the temperature plummets. Matthias starts shivering properly. He gets up and carefully tucks the scrolls into one of the bags with the stuff they decided to bring back to camp. "Let's get out of here."