Gunpowder Knight
Moderator: Moderators
-
Guessmyname
- Posts: 3301
- Joined: 28 Apr 2005, 21:07
Oops
EDIT: Gah! How did this happen?
EDIT: Gah! How did this happen?
Last edited by Guessmyname on 29 Nov 2007, 19:07, edited 1 time in total.
-
Guessmyname
- Posts: 3301
- Joined: 28 Apr 2005, 21:07
-
Guessmyname
- Posts: 3301
- Joined: 28 Apr 2005, 21:07
And here it is!
###
It was the fifth day of patrol and Alex had gotten very used to walking in circles. His baton never left his side, and thankfully, it never went to his hand. The Silverbacks were beaten and most of them knew it. A few other patrols were shot at. Only one Knight had been wounded, and a study of the flints showed they were of an old make, the kind that exploded every few discharges.
Alex stopped quite suddenly in his walking. Gordon kept going a few steps before he stopped too. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat?├óÔé¼┬Ø He asked, looking around.
├óÔé¼┼ôJust one second,├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex said, holding up his hand, looking at the store they had stopped by. He opened the front door.
The Silverback behind the counter looked up. One of his ears was missing and a rather formidable scar stretched across his neck. Behind him were...
├óÔé¼┼ôHow much,├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex asked, pointing at the canvas.
The Silverback grunted. ├óÔé¼┼ôTwo pay chits for canvas. One for paint.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôAnd brushes?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôThree for good set. One for bad.├óÔé¼┬Ø The Silverback's voice sounded a bit like two rocks grinding against one another. Alex nodded and reached into his pay pouch. He slipped out several pay chits and put them down on the counter. The Silverback grunted and picked up two canvass, a set of paint, and a few brushes.
├óÔé¼┼ôThank you very very much.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex said, bowing low.
The Silverback grunted.
├óÔé¼┼ôWhat the hells are those things?├óÔé¼┬Ø Gordon asked, cocking an eyebrow as Alex walked out with the two canvases rolled into tubes and shoved under his armpit, the paintbrush and paint in his other hand.
├óÔé¼┼ôCanvas, paint, paintbrushes.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex sighed. ├óÔé¼┼ôMY hands are a bit more callused than before...but they can still paint.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôYou? A painter?├óÔé¼┬Ø Gordon shook his head. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, if you want to, I'm not going to stop you.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex grinned. ├óÔé¼┼ôI never thought I'd be glad of Occupation duty.├óÔé¼┬Ø
The two of them walked around the corner. Another patrol that walked in the opposite direction waved at Alex. Gordon waved back. A small beer bottle flew out of a second story window. It shattered against one of the other Knight's foreheads. He went down with a groan.
├óÔé¼┼ôREEDA!├óÔé¼┬Ø Someone shouted. Alex hurriedly shifted his paintbrushes to his other hand and drew his baton. Gordon did likewise. The partner of the downed Knight struck out at the nearest Silverback, who collapsed with a shrike, their body flashing green.
├óÔé¼┼ôReeda!├óÔé¼┬Ø More shouts came from the Silverbacks who, rather than the ones who ran, hit back. Alex started to lay about himself with the baton, backing up. Someone smacked into his arm and he dropped his paint, brushes and canvases.
Now he got mad. His baton rose and fell, cracking down on someone's skull. Gordon blew a whistle. Twee, twee, twee! Alex saw other patrols rushing into the fray, laying about themselves with their batons.
A hard ax handle cracked into the back of Gordon's skull. He went down. Alex smacked the arm that had swung the ax handle. His baton flashed and whoever had swung the handle went down with a thump. Something thumped into his back.
He pitched forward and for a moment, the word was trampling feet and crushing blows to his back. Then he managed to scramble back to his feet, barreling forward.
A sudden crackle of flints sounded. People shrieked as bullets tore into flesh. ├óÔé¼┼ôDisperse!├óÔé¼┬Ø Someone was shouting. ├óÔé¼┼ôDisperse! Disperse!├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôREEDA!├óÔé¼┬Ø The roar was loud, organized, and vicious. A few pops and bangs from within the crowd meant that some Silverbacks had flints of their own. Another round of fire from the Imperials wrought another round of slaughter. Alex found the writhing mob of Silverbacks slowly dissolved. Several were left on the ground, moaning and groaning. More than a few were women. One was a child.
Alex felt his gorge rise as he stood. His head swam and his back felt like one giant bruise. He staggered over to Gordon, who lay face down in the mud. A small blade stuck out of the back of his neck, buried up to the hilt. Blood pooled around his face, turning the mud into a slurry of dirt, water and blood.
Alex felt around for Gordon's pulse. He found none.
├óÔé¼┼ôSon of a bitch.├óÔé¼┬Ø He muttered.
###
The riot changed things quickly. New posters went up, proclaiming new laws. No Silverbacks could gather in meetings greater than three without Imperial permission. No Silverbacks could own any weapons without Imperial permission. On and on the list went, banning speaking poorly about the occupation, banning any and all Silverback religions, banning voting, banning...well, most things beyond working, eating, and breathing.
No Silverbacks wandered the streets other than a few who were going to work and those that were buying things. There weren't many things to buy, and there weren't too many places to work.
Alex stood next to his billeted home and set up his canvas. It had taken even more pay chits to replace what he had lost in the riots. His paints rested on his palm, the caps unscrewed. His paintbrush, clenched between his forefingers, hovered over the paint as he tried to let the ideas flow from his subconscious to his fingertips.
He waited for ten minuets.
Then fifteen.
├óÔé¼┼ôCome on.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex breathed. He watched a few Silverbacks walk back and forth, each of them looking more beaten and depressed than the last. Finally, something began to tingle at his fingertips. Alex dipped his brush into the gray paint and then started to daub the brush across the canvas. The brush started to move as if it held a life of it's own. A form began to take shape.
├óÔé¼┼ôAlex?├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex blinked and looked up. Key stood in front of him. She didn't wear the red robes of a Source, being wrapped in a green jacket with a large hood that covered the top of her face. He could only see her lips, which were curved in a very faint smile.
├óÔé¼┼ôKey?├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex blinked. ├óÔé¼┼ôUh...hello.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôHi.├óÔé¼┬Ø She stepped around the canvas. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat are you painting?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex hastily stood between her and the canvas. ├óÔé¼┼ôUh, nothing.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôGet out of the way,├óÔé¼┬Ø Key's voice held the snap of command. Alex got out of the way, slowly. Key slowly ran her fingers along the edge of the painting, carefully not touching the wet paint.
├óÔé¼┼ôIt's...got a spark.├óÔé¼┬Ø She murmured. ├óÔé¼┼ôKeep this safe, Alex. Keep it safe and finish it.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex grinned. ├óÔé¼┼ôThanks.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôI'm serious.├óÔé¼┬Ø Key put her hand on the canvass, caressing it. ├óÔé¼┼ôThis is going to be important...├óÔé¼┬Ø
She trailed off. Alex watched her, wondering if she would say anything else. After a moment, she turned back to him. ├óÔé¼┼ôRight, I came here to tell you that I have a clue about why Tessa went nuts when she touched you.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôAll right...what is it?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Key sighed. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell...do you know what Ghost Light is?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex paused, thought, then shook his head.
Key sighed again. ├óÔé¼┼ôThis is going to be a bit harder then. Well, you do know that Source control Ghost Light...right?├óÔé¼┬Ø When Alex nodded, she continued. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, Ghost Light is just a manifestation of the power that flows underneath every material object in this world. We are blind, and we only see the power...the material world is something of a mystery.├óÔé¼┬Ø She glances at the canvas, sighing sadly.
├óÔé¼┼ôI can see the power that lies in this picture,├óÔé¼┬Ø She murmured. ├óÔé¼┼ôBut I'll never see what it actually is.├óÔé¼┬Ø She shook her head, brightening. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnyway, Ghost Light is just what happens when power is collected so much anyone can see it. And, I think that someone has put a Geis on you.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôA what?├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex felt a bit like being back in grade school, except he with power and Ghost Light, rather than arithmetic and grammar.
├óÔé¼┼ôGeis...it means, if anyone touches you, Power will flare out. Normal...people won't see it.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôBut Sources will?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôYes.├óÔé¼┬Ø Key said, glancing around. An Imperial patrol tromped by, but they didn't pay Alex or Key any mind. ├óÔé¼┼ôBut, the only way I can tell for sure is...to touch you.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex glanced around. ├óÔé¼┼ôRemember what happened to Tessa?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôWell...yes,├óÔé¼┬Ø Key bit her lip. ├óÔé¼┼ôBut it wasn't permanent, and I'm trained in handling more extreme conditions than Tessa.├óÔé¼┬Ø
She held out her hand. Alex gingerly put his hand out and pressed his forefinger into her palm.
A stiff breeze blew through the streets. Two Silverbacks talked softly to one another, walking from their place of work to their homes. The canvas threatened to blow off it's stand. Alex put his free hand out to stop it.
├óÔé¼┼ôWell?├óÔé¼┬Ø He asked, looking at Key. Key slowly put her head back, the hood covering slightly less of her face. Now he could see her nose and cheeks.
├óÔé¼┼ôNothing...├óÔé¼┬Ø She breathed. ├óÔé¼┼ôAbsolutely nothing.├óÔé¼┬Ø
She jerked her hand away from Alex's finger. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd I was hoping,├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, jerking her hood down to cover her face more. ├óÔé¼┼ôThat something exciting would happen. Oh well, guess I was wrong.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex shrugged. ├óÔé¼┼ôGuess so.├óÔé¼┬Ø
She shook her head. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, sorry to waste your time. I'll come back if I figure anything else out.├óÔé¼┬Ø
She turned around and started to walk away, her shoes squelching into the mud. Alex bit his lip.
├óÔé¼┼ôWait!├óÔé¼┬Ø She turned around, her hood fluttering slightly. Alex looked around, then stepped closer. ├óÔé¼┼ôUh...are there people that a Geis wouldn't work on?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôWell, the person who put it.├óÔé¼┬Ø Key started. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, I certainly didn't put it on you, if that's what you are wondering.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex shrugged. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, it was worth a shot. Oh, and did you figure out anything more about that flint pistol?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Key shook her head. ├óÔé¼┼ôNone at all.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell...keep trying.├óÔé¼┬Ø
They both stood there for a while, looking at one another. Alex tried to think up some reason to get Key to stay longer.
├óÔé¼┼ôThat your billet?├óÔé¼┬Ø She asked, pointing at the small house behind Alex.
├óÔé¼┼ôUh, yeah.├óÔé¼┬Ø He looked over his shoulder at the billet. He looked back at Key. ├óÔé¼┼ôUh...the family that owned it decided to...they were forced out of the house. They're at the Refugee Center.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Key nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell...uh, I need to be getting back to work. Someone might need to recharge their baton.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôRight.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôSo, when does your shift end? I mean, when do you get liberty...├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôI get some leave in a month.├óÔé¼┬Ø Key glanced around. ├óÔé¼┼ôTill then, no free time. This is just my bathroom break.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôRight. Well, see you.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Key smiled, and for a moment she looked very normal. Then she turned around and walked away.
Alex stood there, watching her walk away. He grinned.
###
The next day, Alex and his new partner were given their marching orders. Alex took the orders glumly, not because he had to patrol any extra nasty or extra dangerous areas of the city.
No. It was because of his partner. Jasper was about as tall as Alex, and about twice as wide, wide enough that he stretched the seams of his armor. When marched, his chin waggled. At first, that had been the most annoying thing about Jasper. But then, once the marching got harder, his started to wheeze loudly through his nose. Alex decided that he was wrong: The wheezing was the most annoying thing.
And then, Alex stopped being annoyed and started getting angry when he stopped Alex outside of the first eatery they walked by.
├óÔé¼┼ôWait,├óÔé¼┬Ø Jasper muttered, looking at the eatery. It, unlike most of the stores and homes in Shrillbore, was actually doing well. Everyone needed to eat.
├óÔé¼┼ôWhat?├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex looked at him.
├óÔé¼┼ôThis place...I think there is something suspicious going on in here.├óÔé¼┬Ø Jasper looked at Alex. ├óÔé¼┼ôWait here.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex crossed his arms over his chest. ├óÔé¼┼ôJasper,├óÔé¼┬Ø He said. ├óÔé¼┼ôThis would be...the third time this week you've stopped at this eatery.├óÔé¼┬Ø He stepped closer. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd every time, they give you a full meal.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Jasper scowled back. ├óÔé¼┼ôI don't like what you are insinuating.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex sighed, stepping closer, one of his hands dropping down to his frying pan. ├óÔé¼┼ôI'm not insinuating. I'm accusing. Stop it, right now. We're supposed to be patrolling, not getting our meal with our flints.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Jasper scowled. ├óÔé¼┼ôFine.├óÔé¼┬Ø He adjusted the collar of his shirt. ├óÔé¼┼ôFine.├óÔé¼┬Ø
The patrol resumed. Alex watched Jasper. Jasper watched Alex. The day went on, slowly. Then the next day ended. And the day after. Alex worked on the painting in his off time. He drunk at bars and he talked with Jonathan and Hank.
├óÔé¼┼ôMy new partner...├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex muttered as he swirled his drink around with his finger. ├óÔé¼┼ôIs a dick.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Jonathan grinned, sipping from his drink. ├óÔé¼┼ôThe Silverbacks are dicks.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôEven the girls?├óÔé¼┬Ø Hank asked, glancing around. The bar was packed with Imperials, aside from the Silverback waitresses.
├óÔé¼┼ôEspecially,├óÔé¼┬Ø Jonathan tipped back his entire drink in one long gulp. He slammed the cup down. ├óÔé¼┼ôThe women.├óÔé¼┬Ø He gasped.
Alex sighed. ├óÔé¼┼ôIs this what we signed up for?├óÔé¼┬Ø He asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo, wait, is this what you two signed up for-├óÔé¼┬Ø
Don't look at me,├óÔé¼┬Ø Jonathan muttered. ├óÔé¼┼ôI was conscripted.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôFine,├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex grumbled. ├óÔé¼┼ôHank...is this what you signed up for?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Hank shook his head. ├óÔé¼┼ôNope.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôThis is not what Jonathan and I were forced into either! Am I right?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôYes.├óÔé¼┬Ø Jonathan held up his cup. The Eastlander bartender took the cup and filled it up with another shot of the home brewed Silverback alcohol that kicked like a mule and burned like fresh dragon's blood. He set the drink down and turned, slowly, to face Alex. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd what are you proposing we do about it?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex drank his cup as fast as possible rather than answer.
###
It was the fifth day of patrol and Alex had gotten very used to walking in circles. His baton never left his side, and thankfully, it never went to his hand. The Silverbacks were beaten and most of them knew it. A few other patrols were shot at. Only one Knight had been wounded, and a study of the flints showed they were of an old make, the kind that exploded every few discharges.
Alex stopped quite suddenly in his walking. Gordon kept going a few steps before he stopped too. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat?├óÔé¼┬Ø He asked, looking around.
├óÔé¼┼ôJust one second,├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex said, holding up his hand, looking at the store they had stopped by. He opened the front door.
The Silverback behind the counter looked up. One of his ears was missing and a rather formidable scar stretched across his neck. Behind him were...
├óÔé¼┼ôHow much,├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex asked, pointing at the canvas.
The Silverback grunted. ├óÔé¼┼ôTwo pay chits for canvas. One for paint.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôAnd brushes?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôThree for good set. One for bad.├óÔé¼┬Ø The Silverback's voice sounded a bit like two rocks grinding against one another. Alex nodded and reached into his pay pouch. He slipped out several pay chits and put them down on the counter. The Silverback grunted and picked up two canvass, a set of paint, and a few brushes.
├óÔé¼┼ôThank you very very much.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex said, bowing low.
The Silverback grunted.
├óÔé¼┼ôWhat the hells are those things?├óÔé¼┬Ø Gordon asked, cocking an eyebrow as Alex walked out with the two canvases rolled into tubes and shoved under his armpit, the paintbrush and paint in his other hand.
├óÔé¼┼ôCanvas, paint, paintbrushes.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex sighed. ├óÔé¼┼ôMY hands are a bit more callused than before...but they can still paint.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôYou? A painter?├óÔé¼┬Ø Gordon shook his head. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, if you want to, I'm not going to stop you.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex grinned. ├óÔé¼┼ôI never thought I'd be glad of Occupation duty.├óÔé¼┬Ø
The two of them walked around the corner. Another patrol that walked in the opposite direction waved at Alex. Gordon waved back. A small beer bottle flew out of a second story window. It shattered against one of the other Knight's foreheads. He went down with a groan.
├óÔé¼┼ôREEDA!├óÔé¼┬Ø Someone shouted. Alex hurriedly shifted his paintbrushes to his other hand and drew his baton. Gordon did likewise. The partner of the downed Knight struck out at the nearest Silverback, who collapsed with a shrike, their body flashing green.
├óÔé¼┼ôReeda!├óÔé¼┬Ø More shouts came from the Silverbacks who, rather than the ones who ran, hit back. Alex started to lay about himself with the baton, backing up. Someone smacked into his arm and he dropped his paint, brushes and canvases.
Now he got mad. His baton rose and fell, cracking down on someone's skull. Gordon blew a whistle. Twee, twee, twee! Alex saw other patrols rushing into the fray, laying about themselves with their batons.
A hard ax handle cracked into the back of Gordon's skull. He went down. Alex smacked the arm that had swung the ax handle. His baton flashed and whoever had swung the handle went down with a thump. Something thumped into his back.
He pitched forward and for a moment, the word was trampling feet and crushing blows to his back. Then he managed to scramble back to his feet, barreling forward.
A sudden crackle of flints sounded. People shrieked as bullets tore into flesh. ├óÔé¼┼ôDisperse!├óÔé¼┬Ø Someone was shouting. ├óÔé¼┼ôDisperse! Disperse!├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôREEDA!├óÔé¼┬Ø The roar was loud, organized, and vicious. A few pops and bangs from within the crowd meant that some Silverbacks had flints of their own. Another round of fire from the Imperials wrought another round of slaughter. Alex found the writhing mob of Silverbacks slowly dissolved. Several were left on the ground, moaning and groaning. More than a few were women. One was a child.
Alex felt his gorge rise as he stood. His head swam and his back felt like one giant bruise. He staggered over to Gordon, who lay face down in the mud. A small blade stuck out of the back of his neck, buried up to the hilt. Blood pooled around his face, turning the mud into a slurry of dirt, water and blood.
Alex felt around for Gordon's pulse. He found none.
├óÔé¼┼ôSon of a bitch.├óÔé¼┬Ø He muttered.
###
The riot changed things quickly. New posters went up, proclaiming new laws. No Silverbacks could gather in meetings greater than three without Imperial permission. No Silverbacks could own any weapons without Imperial permission. On and on the list went, banning speaking poorly about the occupation, banning any and all Silverback religions, banning voting, banning...well, most things beyond working, eating, and breathing.
No Silverbacks wandered the streets other than a few who were going to work and those that were buying things. There weren't many things to buy, and there weren't too many places to work.
Alex stood next to his billeted home and set up his canvas. It had taken even more pay chits to replace what he had lost in the riots. His paints rested on his palm, the caps unscrewed. His paintbrush, clenched between his forefingers, hovered over the paint as he tried to let the ideas flow from his subconscious to his fingertips.
He waited for ten minuets.
Then fifteen.
├óÔé¼┼ôCome on.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex breathed. He watched a few Silverbacks walk back and forth, each of them looking more beaten and depressed than the last. Finally, something began to tingle at his fingertips. Alex dipped his brush into the gray paint and then started to daub the brush across the canvas. The brush started to move as if it held a life of it's own. A form began to take shape.
├óÔé¼┼ôAlex?├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex blinked and looked up. Key stood in front of him. She didn't wear the red robes of a Source, being wrapped in a green jacket with a large hood that covered the top of her face. He could only see her lips, which were curved in a very faint smile.
├óÔé¼┼ôKey?├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex blinked. ├óÔé¼┼ôUh...hello.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôHi.├óÔé¼┬Ø She stepped around the canvas. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat are you painting?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex hastily stood between her and the canvas. ├óÔé¼┼ôUh, nothing.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôGet out of the way,├óÔé¼┬Ø Key's voice held the snap of command. Alex got out of the way, slowly. Key slowly ran her fingers along the edge of the painting, carefully not touching the wet paint.
├óÔé¼┼ôIt's...got a spark.├óÔé¼┬Ø She murmured. ├óÔé¼┼ôKeep this safe, Alex. Keep it safe and finish it.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex grinned. ├óÔé¼┼ôThanks.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôI'm serious.├óÔé¼┬Ø Key put her hand on the canvass, caressing it. ├óÔé¼┼ôThis is going to be important...├óÔé¼┬Ø
She trailed off. Alex watched her, wondering if she would say anything else. After a moment, she turned back to him. ├óÔé¼┼ôRight, I came here to tell you that I have a clue about why Tessa went nuts when she touched you.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôAll right...what is it?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Key sighed. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell...do you know what Ghost Light is?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex paused, thought, then shook his head.
Key sighed again. ├óÔé¼┼ôThis is going to be a bit harder then. Well, you do know that Source control Ghost Light...right?├óÔé¼┬Ø When Alex nodded, she continued. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, Ghost Light is just a manifestation of the power that flows underneath every material object in this world. We are blind, and we only see the power...the material world is something of a mystery.├óÔé¼┬Ø She glances at the canvas, sighing sadly.
├óÔé¼┼ôI can see the power that lies in this picture,├óÔé¼┬Ø She murmured. ├óÔé¼┼ôBut I'll never see what it actually is.├óÔé¼┬Ø She shook her head, brightening. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnyway, Ghost Light is just what happens when power is collected so much anyone can see it. And, I think that someone has put a Geis on you.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôA what?├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex felt a bit like being back in grade school, except he with power and Ghost Light, rather than arithmetic and grammar.
├óÔé¼┼ôGeis...it means, if anyone touches you, Power will flare out. Normal...people won't see it.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôBut Sources will?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôYes.├óÔé¼┬Ø Key said, glancing around. An Imperial patrol tromped by, but they didn't pay Alex or Key any mind. ├óÔé¼┼ôBut, the only way I can tell for sure is...to touch you.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex glanced around. ├óÔé¼┼ôRemember what happened to Tessa?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôWell...yes,├óÔé¼┬Ø Key bit her lip. ├óÔé¼┼ôBut it wasn't permanent, and I'm trained in handling more extreme conditions than Tessa.├óÔé¼┬Ø
She held out her hand. Alex gingerly put his hand out and pressed his forefinger into her palm.
A stiff breeze blew through the streets. Two Silverbacks talked softly to one another, walking from their place of work to their homes. The canvas threatened to blow off it's stand. Alex put his free hand out to stop it.
├óÔé¼┼ôWell?├óÔé¼┬Ø He asked, looking at Key. Key slowly put her head back, the hood covering slightly less of her face. Now he could see her nose and cheeks.
├óÔé¼┼ôNothing...├óÔé¼┬Ø She breathed. ├óÔé¼┼ôAbsolutely nothing.├óÔé¼┬Ø
She jerked her hand away from Alex's finger. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd I was hoping,├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, jerking her hood down to cover her face more. ├óÔé¼┼ôThat something exciting would happen. Oh well, guess I was wrong.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex shrugged. ├óÔé¼┼ôGuess so.├óÔé¼┬Ø
She shook her head. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, sorry to waste your time. I'll come back if I figure anything else out.├óÔé¼┬Ø
She turned around and started to walk away, her shoes squelching into the mud. Alex bit his lip.
├óÔé¼┼ôWait!├óÔé¼┬Ø She turned around, her hood fluttering slightly. Alex looked around, then stepped closer. ├óÔé¼┼ôUh...are there people that a Geis wouldn't work on?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôWell, the person who put it.├óÔé¼┬Ø Key started. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, I certainly didn't put it on you, if that's what you are wondering.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex shrugged. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell, it was worth a shot. Oh, and did you figure out anything more about that flint pistol?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Key shook her head. ├óÔé¼┼ôNone at all.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell...keep trying.├óÔé¼┬Ø
They both stood there for a while, looking at one another. Alex tried to think up some reason to get Key to stay longer.
├óÔé¼┼ôThat your billet?├óÔé¼┬Ø She asked, pointing at the small house behind Alex.
├óÔé¼┼ôUh, yeah.├óÔé¼┬Ø He looked over his shoulder at the billet. He looked back at Key. ├óÔé¼┼ôUh...the family that owned it decided to...they were forced out of the house. They're at the Refugee Center.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Key nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell...uh, I need to be getting back to work. Someone might need to recharge their baton.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôRight.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôSo, when does your shift end? I mean, when do you get liberty...├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôI get some leave in a month.├óÔé¼┬Ø Key glanced around. ├óÔé¼┼ôTill then, no free time. This is just my bathroom break.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôRight. Well, see you.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Key smiled, and for a moment she looked very normal. Then she turned around and walked away.
Alex stood there, watching her walk away. He grinned.
###
The next day, Alex and his new partner were given their marching orders. Alex took the orders glumly, not because he had to patrol any extra nasty or extra dangerous areas of the city.
No. It was because of his partner. Jasper was about as tall as Alex, and about twice as wide, wide enough that he stretched the seams of his armor. When marched, his chin waggled. At first, that had been the most annoying thing about Jasper. But then, once the marching got harder, his started to wheeze loudly through his nose. Alex decided that he was wrong: The wheezing was the most annoying thing.
And then, Alex stopped being annoyed and started getting angry when he stopped Alex outside of the first eatery they walked by.
├óÔé¼┼ôWait,├óÔé¼┬Ø Jasper muttered, looking at the eatery. It, unlike most of the stores and homes in Shrillbore, was actually doing well. Everyone needed to eat.
├óÔé¼┼ôWhat?├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex looked at him.
├óÔé¼┼ôThis place...I think there is something suspicious going on in here.├óÔé¼┬Ø Jasper looked at Alex. ├óÔé¼┼ôWait here.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex crossed his arms over his chest. ├óÔé¼┼ôJasper,├óÔé¼┬Ø He said. ├óÔé¼┼ôThis would be...the third time this week you've stopped at this eatery.├óÔé¼┬Ø He stepped closer. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd every time, they give you a full meal.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Jasper scowled back. ├óÔé¼┼ôI don't like what you are insinuating.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex sighed, stepping closer, one of his hands dropping down to his frying pan. ├óÔé¼┼ôI'm not insinuating. I'm accusing. Stop it, right now. We're supposed to be patrolling, not getting our meal with our flints.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Jasper scowled. ├óÔé¼┼ôFine.├óÔé¼┬Ø He adjusted the collar of his shirt. ├óÔé¼┼ôFine.├óÔé¼┬Ø
The patrol resumed. Alex watched Jasper. Jasper watched Alex. The day went on, slowly. Then the next day ended. And the day after. Alex worked on the painting in his off time. He drunk at bars and he talked with Jonathan and Hank.
├óÔé¼┼ôMy new partner...├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex muttered as he swirled his drink around with his finger. ├óÔé¼┼ôIs a dick.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Jonathan grinned, sipping from his drink. ├óÔé¼┼ôThe Silverbacks are dicks.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôEven the girls?├óÔé¼┬Ø Hank asked, glancing around. The bar was packed with Imperials, aside from the Silverback waitresses.
├óÔé¼┼ôEspecially,├óÔé¼┬Ø Jonathan tipped back his entire drink in one long gulp. He slammed the cup down. ├óÔé¼┼ôThe women.├óÔé¼┬Ø He gasped.
Alex sighed. ├óÔé¼┼ôIs this what we signed up for?├óÔé¼┬Ø He asked. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo, wait, is this what you two signed up for-├óÔé¼┬Ø
Don't look at me,├óÔé¼┬Ø Jonathan muttered. ├óÔé¼┼ôI was conscripted.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôFine,├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex grumbled. ├óÔé¼┼ôHank...is this what you signed up for?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Hank shook his head. ├óÔé¼┼ôNope.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôThis is not what Jonathan and I were forced into either! Am I right?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôYes.├óÔé¼┬Ø Jonathan held up his cup. The Eastlander bartender took the cup and filled it up with another shot of the home brewed Silverback alcohol that kicked like a mule and burned like fresh dragon's blood. He set the drink down and turned, slowly, to face Alex. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd what are you proposing we do about it?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex drank his cup as fast as possible rather than answer.
-
SwiftSpear
- Classic Community Lead
- Posts: 7287
- Joined: 12 Aug 2005, 09:29
And who said he isn't?
So, expect a new story in, say, two days.
But here is a sneak preview of a story that's been ruminating since I picked up a certain little Russian imported FPS about a year ago...
Three Mile Island takes place thirty years after the Three Mile Island nuclear power facility suffered a catastrophic meltdown. A radioactive plume spread across the East Coast. New York, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C...every major city and every minor city was evacuated. It was far too late for the hundreds of thousands that died of radiation poisoning, and too late for the United States, which fractured under the pressure of the disaster and the massive public backlash from the administrations horrifically inadequate response.
And to Leon Driver, this is all ancient history. He's more interested in fishing wreckage of a once massive shipping industry out of the Ohio river. The radiation has died down, and the prevalence of Reds (anti-rad cigarettes that I blatantly stole from Screamers), means a new business of scrap metal has sprung up over night.
So Leon dove into the river every day and salvaged what he could. But then he found a new car, that had been driven into the river recently. And in the back seat of the car is a briefcase. And inside the briefcase is a high yield tactical nuke.
To Leon, the nuke is the most amazing piece of salvage he could ever find. It could mean enough money to buy his family a new home in Canada or possibly Europe.
To the mysterious Canadian special forces operative who arrives in town to track down a missing nuke, it could mean the start of a new war...
Sound fun, no? Expect it once Gunpowder Knight is over.
And expect Gunpowder Knight to continue in two days!
So, expect a new story in, say, two days.
But here is a sneak preview of a story that's been ruminating since I picked up a certain little Russian imported FPS about a year ago...
Three Mile Island takes place thirty years after the Three Mile Island nuclear power facility suffered a catastrophic meltdown. A radioactive plume spread across the East Coast. New York, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C...every major city and every minor city was evacuated. It was far too late for the hundreds of thousands that died of radiation poisoning, and too late for the United States, which fractured under the pressure of the disaster and the massive public backlash from the administrations horrifically inadequate response.
And to Leon Driver, this is all ancient history. He's more interested in fishing wreckage of a once massive shipping industry out of the Ohio river. The radiation has died down, and the prevalence of Reds (anti-rad cigarettes that I blatantly stole from Screamers), means a new business of scrap metal has sprung up over night.
So Leon dove into the river every day and salvaged what he could. But then he found a new car, that had been driven into the river recently. And in the back seat of the car is a briefcase. And inside the briefcase is a high yield tactical nuke.
To Leon, the nuke is the most amazing piece of salvage he could ever find. It could mean enough money to buy his family a new home in Canada or possibly Europe.
To the mysterious Canadian special forces operative who arrives in town to track down a missing nuke, it could mean the start of a new war...
Sound fun, no? Expect it once Gunpowder Knight is over.
And expect Gunpowder Knight to continue in two days!
And wouldn't you know it, two days after I said I would get the next bit ready..I got the next bit ready.
Neato, huh?
###
A bottle flew in a lazy arc in the air. A flaming rag stuck from the snout of the bottle. The bottle crashed against the tree ten feet to Alex's right. He ducked to the side as the tree burst into flames. Alcohol and flames mixed to turn the pine trees into a pillar of fire. Flints started to crack and boom. Smoke from the tree, and other trees that were hit by other bottles.
├óÔé¼┼ôFire! Fire! Fire!├óÔé¼┬Ø Some officer shouted. Alex brought his flint to his shoulder and started cussing himself out again. The flint kicked against his shoulder, smoke and flames spurting from the barrel. He didn't know if his shot did a single thing. But, it went along with the other Imperials who were opening fire as well. Silverbacks shot back, running forward in squads. Imperials advanced to the left and right of Alex as he reloaded.
├óÔé¼┼ôBayonets! Charge!├óÔé¼┬Ø The same officer shouted. Alex ducked down and charged forward. More flints went off around him. More bottles flew. Fire spread through the forests.
Alex wished that he had never gotten bored with being in Shrillbore. Alex wished the army hadn't brought forward constables to do the occupation work. Alex wished Key had gotten some leave two weeks before she said she would have. Alex wished...a lot of things.
He also wished to stay alive, so he ducked behind a tree after charging forward a fifteen or so feet. A Silverback charged past him, screaming a battle roar. Alex waited for a bit, then shot him in the back. An Imperial whooped loudly, running to the tree next to Alex.
├óÔé¼┼ôGreat shit isn't this?├óÔé¼┬Ø He shouted over the din of battle. ├óÔé¼┼ôWish we had those damn-├óÔé¼┬Ø
The tree he sheltered behind bust into flames. He shrieked and ran forward, blazing like a grotesque torch. Alex felt his gorge rise. The man ran and ran and finally toppled back near the former Imperial front lines. A few fire teams, lead by a officer and several non-commissioned officers.
├óÔé¼┼ôCome on come on come on!├óÔé¼┬Ø They shouted. Several paused to fire their flints. Silverbacks shot at them, then charged forward. Bayonets met flint, entrenching tool met flesh, more bottles flew. More people burst into flames. Alex lost himself in the heat of the moment, fighting to just stay alive.
There were a lot of Silverbacks. More of the forest started to go up in smoke, giving the entire battlefield a hellish orange ambiance. Smoke, ash, and noxious fumes filled the air. Alex ducked up against a large boulder that was comfortably free of flames, Silverbacks, or corpses.
He panted, slapped in a new cartridge, ripped off the wrapping, closed his breach. The motion had become almost golumn like in it's efficiency. Alex would have worried about that if had the time.
A form jumped down next to him. Alex almost bayoneted an ashen faced Jonathan.
├óÔé¼┼ôThose bottles suck, don't they?├óÔé¼┬Ø Jonathan asked, reloading his flint.
├óÔé¼┼ôYeah.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôIs it just me or have fire teams broken up? I was with Hollister, Jasper, and Hank. I don't know where the hells anyone else is.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Jonathan nodded, glancing around. No Silverbacks were near. ├óÔé¼┼ôWe can stick together. The battle's heading over there.├óÔé¼┬Ø He pointed near a nasty knot of fire, smoke, blood and screams.
During peace time, if someone had asked Alex to charge headfirst into a maelstrom of flying lead, flashing bayonets and howling Silverbacks, he would have said something along the lines of: Madness, insanity, tomfoolery!
Now he grinned. ├óÔé¼┼ôLets go, then.├óÔé¼┬Ø
###
A month ago, and Alex hadn't enjoyed the food the Silverbacks served. Too plain, not enough spices, and the meat was gamy.
Now, after the battle, sitting on the outskirts of the still smoldering forest, he wished he could get his hands on some of that gamy meat.
├óÔé¼┼ôShitfire,├óÔé¼┬Ø Someone to the right of him grumbled. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat are we eating, Silverbacks?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Someone else chuckled. Alex did too, grinning despite himself. Graveyard humor had started to gain hold on him, just like it had on anyone who went to battle.
Alex ate his food anyway. He caught a few familiar faces in the crowd, Jonathan, Hank, a few others...but the rest were, at best, vaguely familiar, and at worst, completely unknown.
The army moved out the next day, leaving the burning forest behind. The Silverbacks they had broken were fleeing into more forests, hills, massive plains. They attacked the Imperial army again and again. They burst from behind cover and opened up with a brace of flint shot or a few bottles. Imperials burst into flames or stopped bullets with their chests, legs, arms, heads. And... the Imperials would slaughter the Silverbacks.
Jasper stopped one of those bullets. He had, through the random luck of falling into marching order, started walking right next to Alex. A sudden Silverback ambush burst from behind a large belt of bushes. A flint went off and Jasper's brains decorated Alex's uniform.
After two weeks of this hell, the Imperial army reached the outskirts of another major Silverback city. Alex didn't know what it's name was. And, unlike Shirllbore, he didn't care.
Cannons, wheeled behind the army by wagons pulled by wildbeasts, started to line up behind Alex. He glances at them. Artillerymen set up the cannons and, after a half hour of work, the first cannons fired.
Their shots hit the ground somewhere between the city and the Imperial army and...exploded!
Alex started, seeing the fountains of earth and mud that were flung into the air. Flames and smoke belched from the insides of the mud fountains. The cannons elevated and fired again. This time, the explosions were in city. The Silverback guns started to answer. Their shots landed between the army and the city and tore furrows in the muddy ground.
No explosions.
Alex didn't savor the idea of marching, let alone charging, through the muddy ground. So he was glad that the next hour consisted of him watching the cannons shell the city. Explosions blasted apart walls. No buildings were knocked down...at first. Then the shelling started to intensify. Explosions started to bang constantly, regularly. The first building that toppled slowly to the side brought forth cheering from the army.
And the Silverback cannons never quite found the range of the Imperial army. A few cannon balls ripped into the Imperial formation. Men shrieked and screamed.
And then the shelling slowed. Alex didn't know why at first. He wondered that maybe the explosive cannon balls were running dry...but no. A white flag flung from almost every street, every still standing building. Alex wondered where the Silverbacks had gotten the flags...and how they had started waving them without getting blown to pieces.
The next few days were some of the strangest Alex had ever been in. He'd seen beaten Silverbacks in Shrillbore. But these Silverbacks weren't just beaten...they were stunned. They walked through the blasted apart streets of their city with eyes that seemed to stare for miles and not see a thing.
Alex's occupation duty lasted three days. Then the constables showed up. Clad in very light leather armor, with flint pistols and wood batons, they talked and laughed like the whole thing was a lark. And, to them, it was. They beat up some Silverbacks, had some fun in the brothels, and then beat up some more Silverbacks. Alex and his friends had to actually face the Silverbacks with flints and bottles.
The army headed out again. The soldier next to Alex, a jovial man named Joshua who enjoyed talking about his cats as he marched, took a bullet in the thigh when a Silverback decided that the best way to stop the Imperial advance into his country would be to die hard.
Alex sat at the end of that day's march on a stump. He looked around at the endless forests, the dark brown mud that passed as roads, the green bushes, the gloomy sky.
A single snowflake drifted down in front of his nose.
Alex looked up. Another snowflake came down. Then another. And another...and another...
###
Alex shivered under his shelter and cursed the Southlands. At first, he had thought the snow would be like the snow of his homeland, Tervarthen, and peter out after a few days of white. And, at first, it had been like that. But rather than petering out...it got worse. And worse.
And now his hands were numb. They were clothed in gloves, which were wrapped cloth, and still they were numb. He had wrapped himself in a great coat he had borrowed from a Silverback, which helped...and, at least, his nose was too numb to smell the musky scent of the former owner of the coat. The only thing he didn't have were new shoes. Before, his boots had barely held up to the mud. Now, they were pitifully inadequate.
Alex had stopped feeling his toes earlier in the day. He wondered when the Freezing Rot would take. He also wondered if his flint would even fire when the Silverbacks finally got around to attacking. Just in case, his bayonet glinted at the end of his flint. A second bayonet hung at his hip and his frying pan sat nearby.
It made a very compact snow shovel.
A soft rustle in the snow made Alex turn his head. A Knight, bent at the waist, ran up to him.
├óÔé¼┼ôWhat is it?├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex whispered.
├óÔé¼┼ôThe Silverbacks are camped five miles east of us.├óÔé¼┬Ø The Knight whispered back.
├óÔé¼┼ôGreat. Why tell me?├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex cocked his head.
├óÔé¼┼ôAren't you Knight Lieutenant Farly?├óÔé¼┬Ø The Knight whispered.
Alex stared at him, then showed him his shoulder. He remembered the coat that covered his insignia, so he shucked the shoulder off for a moment. The Knight looked incredibly abashed. ├óÔé¼┼ôUh...where is Knight Lieutenant Farly?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex pointed down the line. The Knight Messenger ran off, still bent at the waist. Ten minuets later, a soft whistle that sounded more like a bird call than any sound a human would make. Alex started to head forward, following the other Imperials. The snow came down harder and the wind started to pick up. Alex ducked his head down as cold bit into him like knives.
A sudden sharp crack sounded. Alex froze, a bit more literally than he would have wanted. He couldn't see Silverbacks. He couldn't see many Imperials, for that matter. Then a Silverback ran forward, his flint clutched in huge, ungainly looking gloves.
Alex shot him. His flint went off, which was a pleasant surprise. The Silverback pitched forward, the snow turning red.
Alex ran forward as more shots sounded. The battle had started in earnest now, but Alex had something more important to do.
He rolled the Silverback onto his back. The poor son of a bitch was still breathing. Alex slit his throat quickly. It was a mercy, as the flint round had shredded the Silverback's left lung, and it meant he didn't move as much as Alex unlaced his boots.
├óÔé¼┼ôPerfect,├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex muttered, pressing the boots near his feet. They looked a bit too big, but other than that, they'd work. He threw them into his backpack, reloaded his flint, and started looking around for something to kill.
Neato, huh?
###
A bottle flew in a lazy arc in the air. A flaming rag stuck from the snout of the bottle. The bottle crashed against the tree ten feet to Alex's right. He ducked to the side as the tree burst into flames. Alcohol and flames mixed to turn the pine trees into a pillar of fire. Flints started to crack and boom. Smoke from the tree, and other trees that were hit by other bottles.
├óÔé¼┼ôFire! Fire! Fire!├óÔé¼┬Ø Some officer shouted. Alex brought his flint to his shoulder and started cussing himself out again. The flint kicked against his shoulder, smoke and flames spurting from the barrel. He didn't know if his shot did a single thing. But, it went along with the other Imperials who were opening fire as well. Silverbacks shot back, running forward in squads. Imperials advanced to the left and right of Alex as he reloaded.
├óÔé¼┼ôBayonets! Charge!├óÔé¼┬Ø The same officer shouted. Alex ducked down and charged forward. More flints went off around him. More bottles flew. Fire spread through the forests.
Alex wished that he had never gotten bored with being in Shrillbore. Alex wished the army hadn't brought forward constables to do the occupation work. Alex wished Key had gotten some leave two weeks before she said she would have. Alex wished...a lot of things.
He also wished to stay alive, so he ducked behind a tree after charging forward a fifteen or so feet. A Silverback charged past him, screaming a battle roar. Alex waited for a bit, then shot him in the back. An Imperial whooped loudly, running to the tree next to Alex.
├óÔé¼┼ôGreat shit isn't this?├óÔé¼┬Ø He shouted over the din of battle. ├óÔé¼┼ôWish we had those damn-├óÔé¼┬Ø
The tree he sheltered behind bust into flames. He shrieked and ran forward, blazing like a grotesque torch. Alex felt his gorge rise. The man ran and ran and finally toppled back near the former Imperial front lines. A few fire teams, lead by a officer and several non-commissioned officers.
├óÔé¼┼ôCome on come on come on!├óÔé¼┬Ø They shouted. Several paused to fire their flints. Silverbacks shot at them, then charged forward. Bayonets met flint, entrenching tool met flesh, more bottles flew. More people burst into flames. Alex lost himself in the heat of the moment, fighting to just stay alive.
There were a lot of Silverbacks. More of the forest started to go up in smoke, giving the entire battlefield a hellish orange ambiance. Smoke, ash, and noxious fumes filled the air. Alex ducked up against a large boulder that was comfortably free of flames, Silverbacks, or corpses.
He panted, slapped in a new cartridge, ripped off the wrapping, closed his breach. The motion had become almost golumn like in it's efficiency. Alex would have worried about that if had the time.
A form jumped down next to him. Alex almost bayoneted an ashen faced Jonathan.
├óÔé¼┼ôThose bottles suck, don't they?├óÔé¼┬Ø Jonathan asked, reloading his flint.
├óÔé¼┼ôYeah.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex nodded. ├óÔé¼┼ôIs it just me or have fire teams broken up? I was with Hollister, Jasper, and Hank. I don't know where the hells anyone else is.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Jonathan nodded, glancing around. No Silverbacks were near. ├óÔé¼┼ôWe can stick together. The battle's heading over there.├óÔé¼┬Ø He pointed near a nasty knot of fire, smoke, blood and screams.
During peace time, if someone had asked Alex to charge headfirst into a maelstrom of flying lead, flashing bayonets and howling Silverbacks, he would have said something along the lines of: Madness, insanity, tomfoolery!
Now he grinned. ├óÔé¼┼ôLets go, then.├óÔé¼┬Ø
###
A month ago, and Alex hadn't enjoyed the food the Silverbacks served. Too plain, not enough spices, and the meat was gamy.
Now, after the battle, sitting on the outskirts of the still smoldering forest, he wished he could get his hands on some of that gamy meat.
├óÔé¼┼ôShitfire,├óÔé¼┬Ø Someone to the right of him grumbled. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat are we eating, Silverbacks?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Someone else chuckled. Alex did too, grinning despite himself. Graveyard humor had started to gain hold on him, just like it had on anyone who went to battle.
Alex ate his food anyway. He caught a few familiar faces in the crowd, Jonathan, Hank, a few others...but the rest were, at best, vaguely familiar, and at worst, completely unknown.
The army moved out the next day, leaving the burning forest behind. The Silverbacks they had broken were fleeing into more forests, hills, massive plains. They attacked the Imperial army again and again. They burst from behind cover and opened up with a brace of flint shot or a few bottles. Imperials burst into flames or stopped bullets with their chests, legs, arms, heads. And... the Imperials would slaughter the Silverbacks.
Jasper stopped one of those bullets. He had, through the random luck of falling into marching order, started walking right next to Alex. A sudden Silverback ambush burst from behind a large belt of bushes. A flint went off and Jasper's brains decorated Alex's uniform.
After two weeks of this hell, the Imperial army reached the outskirts of another major Silverback city. Alex didn't know what it's name was. And, unlike Shirllbore, he didn't care.
Cannons, wheeled behind the army by wagons pulled by wildbeasts, started to line up behind Alex. He glances at them. Artillerymen set up the cannons and, after a half hour of work, the first cannons fired.
Their shots hit the ground somewhere between the city and the Imperial army and...exploded!
Alex started, seeing the fountains of earth and mud that were flung into the air. Flames and smoke belched from the insides of the mud fountains. The cannons elevated and fired again. This time, the explosions were in city. The Silverback guns started to answer. Their shots landed between the army and the city and tore furrows in the muddy ground.
No explosions.
Alex didn't savor the idea of marching, let alone charging, through the muddy ground. So he was glad that the next hour consisted of him watching the cannons shell the city. Explosions blasted apart walls. No buildings were knocked down...at first. Then the shelling started to intensify. Explosions started to bang constantly, regularly. The first building that toppled slowly to the side brought forth cheering from the army.
And the Silverback cannons never quite found the range of the Imperial army. A few cannon balls ripped into the Imperial formation. Men shrieked and screamed.
And then the shelling slowed. Alex didn't know why at first. He wondered that maybe the explosive cannon balls were running dry...but no. A white flag flung from almost every street, every still standing building. Alex wondered where the Silverbacks had gotten the flags...and how they had started waving them without getting blown to pieces.
The next few days were some of the strangest Alex had ever been in. He'd seen beaten Silverbacks in Shrillbore. But these Silverbacks weren't just beaten...they were stunned. They walked through the blasted apart streets of their city with eyes that seemed to stare for miles and not see a thing.
Alex's occupation duty lasted three days. Then the constables showed up. Clad in very light leather armor, with flint pistols and wood batons, they talked and laughed like the whole thing was a lark. And, to them, it was. They beat up some Silverbacks, had some fun in the brothels, and then beat up some more Silverbacks. Alex and his friends had to actually face the Silverbacks with flints and bottles.
The army headed out again. The soldier next to Alex, a jovial man named Joshua who enjoyed talking about his cats as he marched, took a bullet in the thigh when a Silverback decided that the best way to stop the Imperial advance into his country would be to die hard.
Alex sat at the end of that day's march on a stump. He looked around at the endless forests, the dark brown mud that passed as roads, the green bushes, the gloomy sky.
A single snowflake drifted down in front of his nose.
Alex looked up. Another snowflake came down. Then another. And another...and another...
###
Alex shivered under his shelter and cursed the Southlands. At first, he had thought the snow would be like the snow of his homeland, Tervarthen, and peter out after a few days of white. And, at first, it had been like that. But rather than petering out...it got worse. And worse.
And now his hands were numb. They were clothed in gloves, which were wrapped cloth, and still they were numb. He had wrapped himself in a great coat he had borrowed from a Silverback, which helped...and, at least, his nose was too numb to smell the musky scent of the former owner of the coat. The only thing he didn't have were new shoes. Before, his boots had barely held up to the mud. Now, they were pitifully inadequate.
Alex had stopped feeling his toes earlier in the day. He wondered when the Freezing Rot would take. He also wondered if his flint would even fire when the Silverbacks finally got around to attacking. Just in case, his bayonet glinted at the end of his flint. A second bayonet hung at his hip and his frying pan sat nearby.
It made a very compact snow shovel.
A soft rustle in the snow made Alex turn his head. A Knight, bent at the waist, ran up to him.
├óÔé¼┼ôWhat is it?├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex whispered.
├óÔé¼┼ôThe Silverbacks are camped five miles east of us.├óÔé¼┬Ø The Knight whispered back.
├óÔé¼┼ôGreat. Why tell me?├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex cocked his head.
├óÔé¼┼ôAren't you Knight Lieutenant Farly?├óÔé¼┬Ø The Knight whispered.
Alex stared at him, then showed him his shoulder. He remembered the coat that covered his insignia, so he shucked the shoulder off for a moment. The Knight looked incredibly abashed. ├óÔé¼┼ôUh...where is Knight Lieutenant Farly?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alex pointed down the line. The Knight Messenger ran off, still bent at the waist. Ten minuets later, a soft whistle that sounded more like a bird call than any sound a human would make. Alex started to head forward, following the other Imperials. The snow came down harder and the wind started to pick up. Alex ducked his head down as cold bit into him like knives.
A sudden sharp crack sounded. Alex froze, a bit more literally than he would have wanted. He couldn't see Silverbacks. He couldn't see many Imperials, for that matter. Then a Silverback ran forward, his flint clutched in huge, ungainly looking gloves.
Alex shot him. His flint went off, which was a pleasant surprise. The Silverback pitched forward, the snow turning red.
Alex ran forward as more shots sounded. The battle had started in earnest now, but Alex had something more important to do.
He rolled the Silverback onto his back. The poor son of a bitch was still breathing. Alex slit his throat quickly. It was a mercy, as the flint round had shredded the Silverback's left lung, and it meant he didn't move as much as Alex unlaced his boots.
├óÔé¼┼ôPerfect,├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex muttered, pressing the boots near his feet. They looked a bit too big, but other than that, they'd work. He threw them into his backpack, reloaded his flint, and started looking around for something to kill.
