Post by Caimvarin on Mar 16, 2010 10:57:00 GMT -5
The Vanguard- Chapter 4: The not so daily commute...
The carriage was moving much faster than Victor had anticipated, the horses sure knew how to pull!
They had been formally introduced to the other members of the crew other than Odamar, there was an elderly man clad in cloth shirt and trousers called Nial, a young man called Theren who was assigned the manual jobs and two young women, Ella and Ria, who were sat opposite them, exchanging glances and giggling sheepishly.
Harabec was peering out of the hide covers of the carriage watching the world pass by.
The view was quite placid, a gentle breeze rolling over the fields making the grass wave like a celebrating crowd, he looked back down the road they had just travelled and could barely see Yuranthil's white walls in the distance now, “good riddance...” he spoke aloud...
Victor nodded in silent agreement, “So what you headed over Tarquin for this time of the year? Must be something big to risk the shrikes!”
Victor nodded “you could say that, its kind of like life insurance, I don't want to divulge details...”
“Yeah” Harabec nodded “we made a thingy up of royal proportions eheh...” he grinned as he turned back to the group and sat down, scratching the back of his head.
Ella leant in black hair falling over her face “so where are you two from?”
Harabec grinned “oh, you know...around!” he grinned under the collar as he folded his arms.
“I cant stay in one place too long, there's usually consequences of some kind or other” he laughed
Ella and Ria giggled and looked at each other before turning to victor “what's with the mask handsome?”
Victor grinned “well you see...i'm not fond of sunlight” he brought his foot up and rested it over his other knee, and rested his hands on his shin “where are you all from?”
Ria smiled “we all live in Varuna, its far to the north,”
Odamar grinned “its practically the middle of nowhere” he nodded “very small town, its why we are forced to come this far to do business”
“That must suck!” Harabec grinned under the collar “coming all this way to find out most people only want to haggle your stuff down further!”
Odamar shook his head “not really, we deal in the unbarterable product...”
Victor raised an eyebrow “oh?”
Odamar grinned “...Barley, hops and wheat...”
Harabec's eyes widened “Beer!”
Odamar shook his head with a grin “in ingredient form, everyone needs varying amounts of them for their own specific individual brews, by selling it this way I get to make a profit off of anyone if I set them at a low rate, because they need to buy all three products...”
Victor snapped his fingers “you make a net profit! You sly dog!” he laughed, nodding in approval.
“We...we may have a problem...” came they old croaky voice of Nial “left side, take a look”
Harabec stood up and peered out of the tarp
there were five horsemen riding towards the carriage bearing on their side.
“What do you see?” Victor asked trying to peer over his shoulder,
Harabec sighed “five bandits on left side...are there any on the right?”
Odamar looked at him then ran to the right side and peered through the cover, there was nothing but the moving terrain.
“no...”
“Stop the cart or we will burn it down!” came the loud demand from one of the invaders.
Harabec nodded at Odamar, “Nial...stop the cart!!”
there were they sound of horses whinnying before the cart ground to a rough halt.
“Good...now come out of there with all of your gold!” came another demand,
Harabec and Victor looked at each other then to Odamar,
Odamar followed victors gaze to a nearby sack on the top of a barrel,
“no...” he whispered, “its just full of wheat!”
Harabec grinned “that will do fine...give us it, we'll sort this problem out”
Victor nodded “all you need to do is keep your heads down!”
“I will not ask again!”
Odamar nodded and handed Victor the sack.
“Alright!” Harabec shouted “were coming out with your gold!”
As Harabec and Victor climbed out of the cart three figures wearing brown leather outfits and masks brandished swords on horseback, they drew to a halt surrounding Harabec and Victor before dismounting.
“You two look like you're quite helpless!” one of them sneered “tell you what...you give us yer gold and we leave you alone...how's that sound?”
Victor nodded “sounds alright to me...here!” he offered the center figure the sack “we don't have much but...”
The bandit took the sack and sneered at its weight, he opened the sack “is this...some kind of joke?” he said as he let a handful of the grain slide through his fingers before throwing the bag onto the floor.
Victor smiled “its only as serious as your demand!” he shook his head “you see...we only have 51 gold between us...and I believe our lives are worth much more than that!”
“you have a big mouth” one of the other bandits snarled as it glared at victor through the headscarf.
Harabec took a step towards him and grasped the handle of the sword on his back “I have a bigger one,”
“We have one with a little spice!” one laughed, “you think this runt can actually fight?”
“you better back off patsy, you don't want to stick around to find out the answer to that question!”
Harabec remarked with a sly grin.
“alright..Dakhun is gonna cut you up good!” one of the bandits snarled as he drew his blade, looking straight at Harabec with malice in his eyes.
Victor grinned, he was confident in Harabec, he had never seen a swordsman who had such a natural aptitude for battle. He may not have been the most gifted thinker or talker, but fighting was like his sixth sense...and damn was he stubborn! The fires in his heart would burn all who stood before him that made it past his blades.
“Hey...you want me to show you how to use that thing?” Harabec smirked, nodding towards Dakhun's sword as he pulled his own from his back and held it sternly in his right hand, his left hovering over the handle...
“What about the other one?” another bandit jeered at Victor “can this guy even see with that thing on?”
Victor smiled “oh rest assured I can see you, and you, and you and your friends” he looked at all five of them slowly “but whether you can keep up with me with be a different question” he grinned as he slung the flintlock forwards, holding it tightly.
Harabec smirked, a sharp thinker and sharper shot Victor wasn't the in your face kind, but put even a little distance between him and his target he'd find his mark with deadly accuracy again, and again and again...
he always adopted an open minded attitude to combat, a weapon isn't something you can just hold, given the right stimuli anything can be harnessed...whether it knows it or not!
It wasn't Bec's favourite way of fighting, but even he had to admit sometimes its better to have a plan, something of which Victor was never, ever short of...
The bandits all readied their weapons “doesn't look like their gonna pay us lads! Lets loosen those purse strings a little!”
Victor shrugged with a mocking tone “cant we all just get along?”
Harabec smirked “I'll have to do a little loosening of my own...and i'm not talking about purse strings...”
The head bandit growled before taking a nasty looking hand axe from his waist. Victor wasted no time in sprinting at him, his foot kicked off from the ground as he brought his knees up to his chest,
as the leader raised his arm to attack Victors feet slammed fully into his chest, knocking all air out of his lungs, he raised a soundless yell as victor kicked off into a flip and brought the rifle up,
the world spun through his sights before he took a deep breath and pulled the trigger, a great bang erupted from the end of the cold steel barrel.
Two of the bandits gunned straight for Harabec, he grinned as he sprinted full pelt at his assailants before dropping to his knees and letting the momentum carry him forwards, before they could react Bec threw a swing upwards and broke into a run, hearing the scream behind him he skidded to a halt and turned around to see one of the bandits fall face first on the cold earth, the other readying his weapon for an attack before a slight exhalation slipped through his mouth as the side of his head erupted and he flopped lifelessly against the cart.
“bud-ding!” came the joyous exhaltation from victors mouth from around twenty paces away,
Harabec gave him a quick thumbs up before whipping his sword through the air, fleschettes of blood whipped off onto the floor as the leader stood up,
Victor stuffed another lead ball into the barrel of his rifle, then noticed Dakhun sprinting up behind Harabec “Bec! Get the guy with the heavy duty stuff!”
Harabec looked at the leaders axe and nodded “righto!”
“AAAARGH!!” as he looked back he saw Dakhun running, sword drawn.
Harabec jumped back as Dakhun lunged.
Cold steel flew across his face as Victors gauntlet charged in from the west, he staggered off balance and fell over, rolling with the momentum, Victor fell forwards onto his hands and flipped forwards back onto his feet grinning as he beckoned Dakhun to stand up with his fingers.
The leader took advantage of the temporary disarray Dakhun's little charge had caused, closing the gap between himself and Harabec, who had just started to turn around.
Harabec registered the axe coming down and swung his sword up, there was a loud cling as the metal impacted against each other, both fighters pushing into the deadlock, Harabec looked into the bandits snarling eyes and saw his own reflected, full of the fire of adrenaline he brought a knee up, only to meet the leaders knee, the leader angled his axe slightly and started to push down, Harabec felt the friction give way as the axe head slid down the sword towards the handle, he dropped the sword and brought a fist up, narrowly missing the razor sharp axe head and instead smashing the leader in the face, breaking his nose.
Dakhun stood back up rubbing his jaw “cheap trick” he grunted as he sprinted again at victor, sword trailing behind him, victor clenched the fist of the gauntlet and smiled “...no...THIS is a cheap trick!” he uttered as he waited for dakhun to swing the blade, as he brought it up Victor backhanded it away and punched him in the gut, there was a small metallic click before three small bangs, “Dakhun yelled in agony and disbelief as three small balls were blasted through his back,
Victor kicked him down to the floor and blew the three now smoking holes on the back of his fist “boom!” he grinned as the black smoke snaked away in the light wind.
Harabec exhaled deeply as the leader got back up “alright...you disarmed me, I rearranged your face...that's even...” he reached up and took his spear off his back and swept the air with it
“...I hate being even!”
“You talk too much!” the leader grimaced, wiping some blood from his face as he brought the axe back up, “I get that a lot...” Harabec grinned as he spun the spear in deadly patterns around his body,
the leader straightened up “I'm gonna shut you up for good!!”
Harabec smiled childishly “I get that a lot too!” he watched the bandit break into a fast charge “but the funny thing is they never follow through!...” he burst into his own charge.
The leader yelled as he dived forwards, Harabec stuck the spear into the ground and leaped up, bringing both feet up into the leader's face, blood spraying into the air from his nose, “ooh...what are the odds?” Bec grinned as the leader fell back screaming dropping the axe, Harabec pulled the spear free and carried on running before stabbing into the leaders stomach as he laid on the ground, “Alley oop!” Bec joked as he vaulted over the afflicted bandit leader before landing on his feet and pulling the spear free from its fleshy stand...
Victor walked over “you and your show boating!”
Harabec looked at Victors gauntlet with feigned disgust “you and your stupid toys”
they both grinned and bumped fists laughing “it was pretty funny though” Bec voiced looking at the limp form of Dakhun,
Victor nodded “worked like a charm...and that was probably the most square punch ive seen landed on someone's mush before! I'm impressed!” he watched harabec sheath the spear and pick up his sword “that makes five...” Harabec grinned
“Huh?” Victor looked at him with an eyebrow raised
“Only five people have ever disarmed me with my sword....he was the fifth...” Harabec grinned
“anyways, lets get back to Odamar, tell him the roads clear...”
“I can bloody see that from here!” came an exlamation from the caravan “get back in here!! if they have friends they'll definitely be looking for us now!!”
The two shrugged at each other before stepping back into the caravan, as Victor peered out, he could see the smallest segment of red in the sky in the distance... “It's getting late...we should get a move on...”
Odamar nodded “yeah...you two get some sleep, i'll wake you when we get there, or if something else comes up...”
Harabec nodded as he sat back down with a big sigh “well...i guess a power nap can't hurt...”
Victor sat opposite and hung his head back, folding his arms “yeah...what else could go wrong huh?...”
The carriage was moving much faster than Victor had anticipated, the horses sure knew how to pull!
They had been formally introduced to the other members of the crew other than Odamar, there was an elderly man clad in cloth shirt and trousers called Nial, a young man called Theren who was assigned the manual jobs and two young women, Ella and Ria, who were sat opposite them, exchanging glances and giggling sheepishly.
Harabec was peering out of the hide covers of the carriage watching the world pass by.
The view was quite placid, a gentle breeze rolling over the fields making the grass wave like a celebrating crowd, he looked back down the road they had just travelled and could barely see Yuranthil's white walls in the distance now, “good riddance...” he spoke aloud...
Victor nodded in silent agreement, “So what you headed over Tarquin for this time of the year? Must be something big to risk the shrikes!”
Victor nodded “you could say that, its kind of like life insurance, I don't want to divulge details...”
“Yeah” Harabec nodded “we made a thingy up of royal proportions eheh...” he grinned as he turned back to the group and sat down, scratching the back of his head.
Ella leant in black hair falling over her face “so where are you two from?”
Harabec grinned “oh, you know...around!” he grinned under the collar as he folded his arms.
“I cant stay in one place too long, there's usually consequences of some kind or other” he laughed
Ella and Ria giggled and looked at each other before turning to victor “what's with the mask handsome?”
Victor grinned “well you see...i'm not fond of sunlight” he brought his foot up and rested it over his other knee, and rested his hands on his shin “where are you all from?”
Ria smiled “we all live in Varuna, its far to the north,”
Odamar grinned “its practically the middle of nowhere” he nodded “very small town, its why we are forced to come this far to do business”
“That must suck!” Harabec grinned under the collar “coming all this way to find out most people only want to haggle your stuff down further!”
Odamar shook his head “not really, we deal in the unbarterable product...”
Victor raised an eyebrow “oh?”
Odamar grinned “...Barley, hops and wheat...”
Harabec's eyes widened “Beer!”
Odamar shook his head with a grin “in ingredient form, everyone needs varying amounts of them for their own specific individual brews, by selling it this way I get to make a profit off of anyone if I set them at a low rate, because they need to buy all three products...”
Victor snapped his fingers “you make a net profit! You sly dog!” he laughed, nodding in approval.
“We...we may have a problem...” came they old croaky voice of Nial “left side, take a look”
Harabec stood up and peered out of the tarp
there were five horsemen riding towards the carriage bearing on their side.
“What do you see?” Victor asked trying to peer over his shoulder,
Harabec sighed “five bandits on left side...are there any on the right?”
Odamar looked at him then ran to the right side and peered through the cover, there was nothing but the moving terrain.
“no...”
“Stop the cart or we will burn it down!” came the loud demand from one of the invaders.
Harabec nodded at Odamar, “Nial...stop the cart!!”
there were they sound of horses whinnying before the cart ground to a rough halt.
“Good...now come out of there with all of your gold!” came another demand,
Harabec and Victor looked at each other then to Odamar,
Odamar followed victors gaze to a nearby sack on the top of a barrel,
“no...” he whispered, “its just full of wheat!”
Harabec grinned “that will do fine...give us it, we'll sort this problem out”
Victor nodded “all you need to do is keep your heads down!”
“I will not ask again!”
Odamar nodded and handed Victor the sack.
“Alright!” Harabec shouted “were coming out with your gold!”
As Harabec and Victor climbed out of the cart three figures wearing brown leather outfits and masks brandished swords on horseback, they drew to a halt surrounding Harabec and Victor before dismounting.
“You two look like you're quite helpless!” one of them sneered “tell you what...you give us yer gold and we leave you alone...how's that sound?”
Victor nodded “sounds alright to me...here!” he offered the center figure the sack “we don't have much but...”
The bandit took the sack and sneered at its weight, he opened the sack “is this...some kind of joke?” he said as he let a handful of the grain slide through his fingers before throwing the bag onto the floor.
Victor smiled “its only as serious as your demand!” he shook his head “you see...we only have 51 gold between us...and I believe our lives are worth much more than that!”
“you have a big mouth” one of the other bandits snarled as it glared at victor through the headscarf.
Harabec took a step towards him and grasped the handle of the sword on his back “I have a bigger one,”
“We have one with a little spice!” one laughed, “you think this runt can actually fight?”
“you better back off patsy, you don't want to stick around to find out the answer to that question!”
Harabec remarked with a sly grin.
“alright..Dakhun is gonna cut you up good!” one of the bandits snarled as he drew his blade, looking straight at Harabec with malice in his eyes.
Victor grinned, he was confident in Harabec, he had never seen a swordsman who had such a natural aptitude for battle. He may not have been the most gifted thinker or talker, but fighting was like his sixth sense...and damn was he stubborn! The fires in his heart would burn all who stood before him that made it past his blades.
“Hey...you want me to show you how to use that thing?” Harabec smirked, nodding towards Dakhun's sword as he pulled his own from his back and held it sternly in his right hand, his left hovering over the handle...
“What about the other one?” another bandit jeered at Victor “can this guy even see with that thing on?”
Victor smiled “oh rest assured I can see you, and you, and you and your friends” he looked at all five of them slowly “but whether you can keep up with me with be a different question” he grinned as he slung the flintlock forwards, holding it tightly.
Harabec smirked, a sharp thinker and sharper shot Victor wasn't the in your face kind, but put even a little distance between him and his target he'd find his mark with deadly accuracy again, and again and again...
he always adopted an open minded attitude to combat, a weapon isn't something you can just hold, given the right stimuli anything can be harnessed...whether it knows it or not!
It wasn't Bec's favourite way of fighting, but even he had to admit sometimes its better to have a plan, something of which Victor was never, ever short of...
The bandits all readied their weapons “doesn't look like their gonna pay us lads! Lets loosen those purse strings a little!”
Victor shrugged with a mocking tone “cant we all just get along?”
Harabec smirked “I'll have to do a little loosening of my own...and i'm not talking about purse strings...”
The head bandit growled before taking a nasty looking hand axe from his waist. Victor wasted no time in sprinting at him, his foot kicked off from the ground as he brought his knees up to his chest,
as the leader raised his arm to attack Victors feet slammed fully into his chest, knocking all air out of his lungs, he raised a soundless yell as victor kicked off into a flip and brought the rifle up,
the world spun through his sights before he took a deep breath and pulled the trigger, a great bang erupted from the end of the cold steel barrel.
Two of the bandits gunned straight for Harabec, he grinned as he sprinted full pelt at his assailants before dropping to his knees and letting the momentum carry him forwards, before they could react Bec threw a swing upwards and broke into a run, hearing the scream behind him he skidded to a halt and turned around to see one of the bandits fall face first on the cold earth, the other readying his weapon for an attack before a slight exhalation slipped through his mouth as the side of his head erupted and he flopped lifelessly against the cart.
“bud-ding!” came the joyous exhaltation from victors mouth from around twenty paces away,
Harabec gave him a quick thumbs up before whipping his sword through the air, fleschettes of blood whipped off onto the floor as the leader stood up,
Victor stuffed another lead ball into the barrel of his rifle, then noticed Dakhun sprinting up behind Harabec “Bec! Get the guy with the heavy duty stuff!”
Harabec looked at the leaders axe and nodded “righto!”
“AAAARGH!!” as he looked back he saw Dakhun running, sword drawn.
Harabec jumped back as Dakhun lunged.
Cold steel flew across his face as Victors gauntlet charged in from the west, he staggered off balance and fell over, rolling with the momentum, Victor fell forwards onto his hands and flipped forwards back onto his feet grinning as he beckoned Dakhun to stand up with his fingers.
The leader took advantage of the temporary disarray Dakhun's little charge had caused, closing the gap between himself and Harabec, who had just started to turn around.
Harabec registered the axe coming down and swung his sword up, there was a loud cling as the metal impacted against each other, both fighters pushing into the deadlock, Harabec looked into the bandits snarling eyes and saw his own reflected, full of the fire of adrenaline he brought a knee up, only to meet the leaders knee, the leader angled his axe slightly and started to push down, Harabec felt the friction give way as the axe head slid down the sword towards the handle, he dropped the sword and brought a fist up, narrowly missing the razor sharp axe head and instead smashing the leader in the face, breaking his nose.
Dakhun stood back up rubbing his jaw “cheap trick” he grunted as he sprinted again at victor, sword trailing behind him, victor clenched the fist of the gauntlet and smiled “...no...THIS is a cheap trick!” he uttered as he waited for dakhun to swing the blade, as he brought it up Victor backhanded it away and punched him in the gut, there was a small metallic click before three small bangs, “Dakhun yelled in agony and disbelief as three small balls were blasted through his back,
Victor kicked him down to the floor and blew the three now smoking holes on the back of his fist “boom!” he grinned as the black smoke snaked away in the light wind.
Harabec exhaled deeply as the leader got back up “alright...you disarmed me, I rearranged your face...that's even...” he reached up and took his spear off his back and swept the air with it
“...I hate being even!”
“You talk too much!” the leader grimaced, wiping some blood from his face as he brought the axe back up, “I get that a lot...” Harabec grinned as he spun the spear in deadly patterns around his body,
the leader straightened up “I'm gonna shut you up for good!!”
Harabec smiled childishly “I get that a lot too!” he watched the bandit break into a fast charge “but the funny thing is they never follow through!...” he burst into his own charge.
The leader yelled as he dived forwards, Harabec stuck the spear into the ground and leaped up, bringing both feet up into the leader's face, blood spraying into the air from his nose, “ooh...what are the odds?” Bec grinned as the leader fell back screaming dropping the axe, Harabec pulled the spear free and carried on running before stabbing into the leaders stomach as he laid on the ground, “Alley oop!” Bec joked as he vaulted over the afflicted bandit leader before landing on his feet and pulling the spear free from its fleshy stand...
Victor walked over “you and your show boating!”
Harabec looked at Victors gauntlet with feigned disgust “you and your stupid toys”
they both grinned and bumped fists laughing “it was pretty funny though” Bec voiced looking at the limp form of Dakhun,
Victor nodded “worked like a charm...and that was probably the most square punch ive seen landed on someone's mush before! I'm impressed!” he watched harabec sheath the spear and pick up his sword “that makes five...” Harabec grinned
“Huh?” Victor looked at him with an eyebrow raised
“Only five people have ever disarmed me with my sword....he was the fifth...” Harabec grinned
“anyways, lets get back to Odamar, tell him the roads clear...”
“I can bloody see that from here!” came an exlamation from the caravan “get back in here!! if they have friends they'll definitely be looking for us now!!”
The two shrugged at each other before stepping back into the caravan, as Victor peered out, he could see the smallest segment of red in the sky in the distance... “It's getting late...we should get a move on...”
Odamar nodded “yeah...you two get some sleep, i'll wake you when we get there, or if something else comes up...”
Harabec nodded as he sat back down with a big sigh “well...i guess a power nap can't hurt...”
Victor sat opposite and hung his head back, folding his arms “yeah...what else could go wrong huh?...”