Kings, Geezers and Bloody War (Chapter 13)
Hello my beautiful Steemits! Oh how I am so excited, I have heard on the grape vine that my writings have gained the attention of some very astute people. Names and more names are popping through the holes to read my material, it makes me blush. Now I am not one to name drop but this is the smell of fame heading my way. So the big A list names I have been hearing about are NDS, Mossat, ASIO, 3PLA and the SSSG just to name a few.
Anyhow enough about me, onward to another badly written contingency of words called.... ->
Chapter 13
The road to Altenkirchen was busy with much traffic travelling to and fro, mostly farmers and traders, taking advantage of the regions abundant summer wealth. Ruff and Motyl had made good time, hitching with a merchant trader in a rush to make the early season market before others. When the merchant learnt than Ruff was as handy with a needle as well as sword, he was quick to have him on his caravan, fixing tapestries or fine rugs damaged from the travel and taking guard when needed. The merchant took to Motyl like a daughter, as she reminded him of his own.
His caravan guard also appreciated Motyl along for she was a beautiful distraction, some even tried to court her, which Ruff refused to admit, made him jealous but he had to play the dutiful farther and keep them at bay, at first. When Motyl wanted to train more of her fighting skills, most of the men were eager and sort to subdue her to their bed with their manly skills, till half suffered broken bones and prides at Motyl's in-human strength and growing abilities. Now the men behold her at length, preferring to watching her beauty instead of having her crushing them in a wrestle hold.
Ruff had to admit he found her a handful in their training, sword play his only advantage over her. She was skilled enough to hold in a short fight against robbers and common solders but lacked against more seasoned soldiers or Blade Masters. Her skills though in Knife and bow now out shone Ruff's two fold. They grew to be natural in her that it scared Ruff of how good could she become at the hands of elite master assassins.
Even her hand-to-hand skills saw Ruff more the pinned than the pinner in a wrestling match. One day Motyl even wagered four of the caravan guards that she could pin all four under a minute and did, winning her five gold pieces.
A tap on the caravan raises Ruff and Motyl's attention from repair of some frayed curtains. Motyl opens the rear flap and the Merchant rides in close.
“Arm yourselves, the road is suddenly vacant of traffic and my hairs tells me there be bandits near to.”
Ruff grabs his sword and exits the rear of the Caravan. Motyl, takes her bow and quiver and heads front to the seat beside the driver.
Ruff jogs with the rest of the caravan guard, scanning the roadside brush for any tell tail signs of a hidden foe. Heads flick side to side, hands tense upon hilts.
Motyl stands on the seat next to Negved, the driver of one of the goods carts. His head low, hands itchy to crack the whip when arrows start to fly. Motyl notches an arrow when something non-animal moves in a bush far up the road, Negved twitches nervously, the reins object to his tightened grip.
Ruff also sees the movement and quietly informs the guards near him of the impending ambush ahead. Everyone's focus is now on the road ahead and hands shake with tension. “Hold yourselves lads, don't let them know we see them!”
The attack still catches some of the guards napping and three fall, arrows to their hearts. Bandits burst from the bushes and Ruff dispatches three in quick concession. Motyl takes down four bandit archers but not till two more guards fall dead. The rest of the guards struggle to dispatch the bandits and the merchant fights off two, trying to claw him off his horse. Ruff turns to help, a bandit intercepts him with a downward sword stroke, Ruff sidesteps the blow and drives one of his daggers up into the bandits throat and through to his skull.
An arrow flies by the driver Negved making him flinch and react, whipping the horses into a bolt. Motyl is thrown off balance and falls from the cart, hitting the ground, winding her but she rolls enough to avoid being run over by the wagon's wheels.
Before she can recover, three bandits are onto her and wrestle her from the ground. “A woman! This little pretty will give the boys some pleasure.” says a balding bandit. Motyl knees him in the stomach, dropping him to the ground. The other two reef her backwards but Motyl's strength helps her break free of their grip. The two look puzzled at each other, a young woman with such strength was unheard of. The bold bandit, still hunched over, yells “Grab the little bitch! I'm gunna rip the little slut's ass open when I get a fucking her!”
The two dive at her and she dodges with little grace or flare, the whole struggle looking like children playing tag till the bold bandit regains his pride and grabs her from behind. Motyl is pinned for a moment as he lifts her from the ground, giving her no purchase to break free. The two others step in with hard fists, one landing in the side of her face, the other to the stomach. She goes limp in the bold bandits arms. He drops her to the ground like a sack and grabs a rope from his waist and beckons the others to do the same.
“Help me hog tie her, the little bitch is gunna be worth a bit in the markets, but not till we all ave 'er”. Partly concious she tries to resist, the bold bandit gabs at her leather cowl, pulling back enough for him to jerk back in reaction. “What the fuck?!”. The other two halt at their tying and are about to look at what the bold bandit saw. Motyl's pupils thin to cat like slits causing all three to hold in a hunched over stupor, her face heats to a hot red and her jaw clenches in rage. With speed, strength and movement never seen in a human she launches from the ground, in mid air she snaps the half done bindings from her feet and kicks hard at one bandit. She connects with his head, making him somersault twice in the air be for hitting the ground dead.
As she touches the ground she whips out a back leg sweep to the legs of the second bandit, destroying them at the knee join. He too flips in the air and lands hard into the ground, his legs flopping to unnatural positions. Before the bold bandit can react to any of it, Motyl flips over him and groats him with her bound hands. He chokes and gasps as she leans up to his ear and whispers “You can fuck me red, bugger me dead, or sold me for bread, but you never, ever get to live, after seeing my cursed deformity!” With blinding speed she spins on the spot causing the groat to tighten and sever the bandits head off.
Without hesitation she immediately retrieves her cowl from the dead man's hands and feverishly re-covers her head, pauses then looks for her bow and rejoins the fight.
Ruff slits a throat, and blood splashes upon a bandit, he freezes for a moment giving the merchant a chance to kick him away, before the bandit can defend himself, Ruff steps into him and also slits his throat. The man falls, gargling his last words.
“Thanks Ruff, the bastards were going for my keys, save themselves time trying to break the locks.” he spins on his horse and looks to the rest of his caravan. With his guards engaged, remaining bandits scurry to three wagons, trying to bludgeon or knife their respective drivers. “The wagons! everyone to the wagons now!” he kicks his horse to a gallop fort the first wagon, Ruff follows behind stabbing bandits as he goes to free up guards. Motyl is quick to dispatch two with bow and is ready for a third when a bandit hones in on her from her left. She has no trouble swinging around in time, but out of no-where Negved charges over the bandit with his wagon, killing the man instantly. Negved yells back to Motyl “Sorry! I didn’t mean to run off like that!” Motyl just shakes her head and snickers. Soon she falls another three bandits before the remainder succumb to the caravan guards.
The Merchant, Ruff, the head guardsman and Motyl gather together to asses the damage. He dismounts from his horse and asks “Did we lose any wagons?”
“Nay, Sire, all accounted for, thanks to the extra hands of Ruff and his daughter, but a few items are damaged.” sings the Guardsman.
The Merchant grins from ear to ear “I would say that that is a good days work” and embraces Ruff and Motyl with jolly enthusiasm, “tis been a while, in fact never, that I have gotten to a main city with a full account of wagons, you two have been a blessing, a blessing I tell you, from the heavens, when we reach Altenkirchen on the morrow, there will be good wages for all, especially for you two!”
The merchant walks away to look over his wagons proper, the Guardsman also gives Motyl a peck on the cheek and takes Ruffs hand “I know we have lost a few men but we are still coming into town with a strong show of men, bandits further ahead may think twice about hitting us again.” he pulls Ruff close and whispers “But I know your style, I have fought off assassins before. Lets just say, I am glad you are on my side for once.” He walks away and taps his nose as to say he will keep the secret.
Ruff nods his approval and takes Motyl by the arm “Tonight we must disappear, that asshole is planning something and it won’t be good.” Motyl is sadden but nods agreement “I was looking forward to meeting the Merchants daughter, she sounded nice.” Ruff turns her around and looks her in the eye. “Look, the world is not a nice place and there is no ‘nice people’, only people surviving and those that they eventually betray, that’s it. If the Merchant knew we were assassins, we would be tied and betrayed to another guild or dead. Besides we have a job, and we need to see it through, now go get ready.”