by ich du
Reiner knew just how she felt. After so long in such an alien place, these little huts, which he wouldn't have given a second look a fortnight ago, looked more welcoming to him now than the finest inn in Altdorf.
But as they got closer, the hair began to rise on Reiner's neck. Though he couldn't put a finger on it, something didn't feel quite right. Despite the smoke coming from the chimneys, the place had a neglected, deserted air. Weeds grew unrestrained around the houses and windows gaped open, their shutters hanging off their hinges. There was a disconcerting look of vacancy about the whole place.
The companions walked warily up the muddy street to the well at the centre. Not a sound of human occupation did they hear: not a voice or movement, not the crying of a child or the hammering of a smith. They looked around them, hands on the pommels of their swords and daggers. The empty windows stared back at them.
'Ahoy, the village!' called Reiner.
His voice echoed between the houses and away into the woods.
'Where are they?' asked Franka in a hushed voice. 'Where have they gone?'
'And whose smoke is that coming from the chimneys?' grunted Hals.
'Maybe they went for a walk,' said Oskar.
'And maybe you'll die finding out,' said a rough voice behind them.
The companions whipped around. A gaunt man with lank hair that hung over his forehead stood at the corner of a house. He was dressed in patched and filthy clothes and carried a bow, an arrow nocked and ready. He raised a hand and more ragged men stepped out behind him, and from behind every house that faced the square. All levelled bows at Reiner's men. They were surrounded.
The gaunt man stepped into the square with two lieutenants, a short, pug-nosed fellow with a tuft of sandy beard on his chin, and a grim, powerfully built warrior with long braids that hung to his chest. They gave the companions a once over. The leader grinned, revealing teeth like a horse's.
'Yer a sorry lot,' he said. 'What chewed you up?'
'Almost not worth jumping,' said pug-nose with a sneer.
Braids pointed at the Reiner's leather jerkin, then Hals's and Pavel's. 'Their kit's regulation, what's left of it. They're soldiers.'
The smirk died on horse-face's lips. His eyes turned cold. 'You hunting us?' he asked Reiner. 'You scouts?'
'Best to kill 'em, Horst,' said pug-nose. 'Just t'be safe.'
'Aye,' said horse-face, pushing his hair aside to rub his brow. 'Aye, I suppose we must.' As his hair fell back, Reiner thought he saw a familiar scar on his forehead. The bandit signalled his men and Reiner heard the creak of two-dozen bowstrings being pulled back.
'Wait!' cried Pavel.
'What we do?' gabbled Giano, anxiously. 'What we do?'
'Take off your gloves, quick!' said Reiner.
'Take off...?' echoed Giano, puzzled.
Reiner yanked off his still-damp glove with his teeth and held up his hand, showing the scar on the back. 'Brothers!' he shouted, smiling as wide as he could. 'How glad we are to see fellows of the brand.'
The men paused. Horse-face and his lieutenants squinted at his hand in the dying twilight as Reiner's companions tore off their gloves and showed their brands as well. The ring of archers relaxed their strings, but did not yet lower their bows.
'We... we are recently escaped from a convict column,' said Reiner, making it up as he said it. 'On the way to Middenheim to slave in the rebuilding of the walls. We were closely hounded by wolf swords, and nearly...'
Braids stepped forward, menacing. 'You have brought Knights of Ulric into our hills?'
'No, no,' said Reiner quickly, holding up his hands. 'No, no. We lost them a day ago, but then, alas, became lost ourselves. And many a misadventure have we had since. There was the bear...'
'And the waterfall,' added Franka, picking it up.
Reiner nodded. 'And the tumble down the cliff.'
Braids grabbed Reiner's hand in an iron grip and examined the brand closely. He rubbed it with his thumb, as if he expected it to smear. When it didn't, he grunted and turned away.
Horse-face grinned. 'You really are a sad bunch, ain't you? Tenderfoot flatlanders stumbling about in the hills like little lost babes.'
Reiner drew himself up. 'We are not yet hard-bitten brigands like yourselves. Our brands are still fresh. But we have all our lives to learn.'
Horse-face and pug-nose laughed and their men joined in.
'Well then, my young sprouts,' said horse-face. 'Let us start you off on the right foot. Let us show you the joys of the life of the outlaw.' He bowed. 'Welcome to our humble home.'
And as he said it, a few gaunt women and dirty children stepped out of hiding and peered from the windows and doors of the rundown huts to stare at the newcomers.
Reiner frowned, confused, as Horse-face led him and the others to the largest house. It was fully dark now. 'Are you bandits? Or is this your village?'
Horse-face grimaced. 'Well, both, really. A lot of us lived here before the war. Or here abouts. But then we went off to fight for Karl-Franz - and much thanks we got for it I can tell ye. Cut down in our thousands while the knights made fine speeches.' He waved a hand. 'But y'know all about that, yes? At any rate, when we returned, they're all dead, our mothers and fathers, sisters and sons...' He sighed and looked around. 'We'd love to live here again, but with them northern devils nesting up in the hills, we've to be on our guard. Can't set up anything permanent.'
'You do a good job of disappearing,' said Reiner.
'Aye,' said Horse-face. 'Plenty of practice.' He shrugged. 'If we could ask m'lord Hulshelft for protection he'd root the heathen out and make this land safe again, but, well, we're marked men, most of us, like you. He'd string us up sooner than help us.'
They entered the house. Reiner's visions of venison and boar roasting on spits and wine flowing from casks of stolen monastery wine were dashed as Horse-face offered him and his companions a place at the small fireplace and called for food. There was no furniture. They sat on the floor. The wind whistled through the missing windows and leaves and dirt gathered in drifts in the corners. The fire was barely large enough to warm Reiner's hands, let alone dry his clothes.
Though they had little, the bandits weren't stingy. They filled bowls and cups for them and refilled them when they were empty. There was no venison. No boar. Only stringy rabbits and squirrels crisping on sticks, and a thin gruel of oats and wild carrots that was mostly water. At least it filled their bellies and warmed their bones.
As he gnawed the last bits from the bones of a rabbit, Hals leaned in and murmured in Reiner's ear. 'Why don't we throw in our lot with these lads?' said the pikeman. 'They seem a likely bunch.'
Reiner made a face. In the light of the fire it was easy to see how malnourished the bandits were, their faces hollow and sickly. These were not merry outlaws living a life free from care. They were wanted men, hard hunted and longing to return to their former lives - a dream as impossible for them as flying to Mannslieb on the back of a griffin.
'Why not?' Reiner asked. 'Because I'd be at home here as you would be in the court of the king of Bretonnia.'
'Ah,' said Hals. "Tain't so bad.'
'You think not? Look at them. They're starving.'
'That's winter.' said Pavel, joining in. 'Things get a touch lean in the winter, certain. But it's spring now. There'll be food aplenty soon.'
'And another winter next year.'
Hals shrugged.
Reiner lowered his voice and hunched closer to them. He didn't want the bandits to hear. 'You're more than welcome to stay. I'll not stop you.' He held up his scarred hand. 'But there's a chance at the end of this journey to erase this mark and return to a normal life - for me to go back to my card rooms and taverns, for you to go back to your farms. That sounds better to me than mucking about in the woods eating coneys for the rest of our lives.'
Hals and Pavel frowned and sat back to whisper between themselves. After a moment Hals leaned forward again, looking sheepish. 'We're with ye, c
aptain.' He shrugged. 'We... well, sometimes it's a mite hard to believe in going home, after everything what's happened.'
'Aye,' said Reiner. 'I know.'
A hand slapped his back and Horse-face sat down next to him with Pug-nose and Braids at his sides. 'Well, how do you like our homely fare?' he asked with a grin.
'The best we've had in days,' said Reiner truthfully. 'And we thank you for your hospitality.'
The bandit waved a dismissive hand. "Tisn't hospitality. Y'll pay for it, one way or the other. If you stay with us y'll pull yer weight. If you leave us, yer purses will be lighter.' He grinned. 'Have y'decided which it's to be?'
Reiner sighed. He had expected something like this. The men were bandits after all. 'I believe we will be moving on. You have been more than generous, but I can see that you have little to share. You have no need of six more mouths to feed.'
'Where will you go?' asked braids.
Reiner frowned and rubbed his hand. 'The man who gave us these brands rides with Count Manfred, who means to win back Nordbergbruche from the northers. We have unfinished business with that man, if we can find Nordbergbruche.' He grinned wryly. 'We're sorely lost.'
Pug-nose made a face. 'You would run back to the arms of your executioners? Are you mad?'
'We are willing to die, so long as our nemesis does as well.'
'They go to betray us,' said Braids. 'They hope to win clemency by turning us in.'
Reiner glared at him. 'Do you think I am such a fool, sir? I know the Empire's justice as well as any. There is no clemency for one who wears the hammer brand. They may spare me the axe, but only to give me a pick and shovel. I will die in chains one way or the other.'
Braids snorted, but Horse-face waved an annoyed hand at him. 'Leave off, Gherholt. You would suspect Sigmar himself.' He smiled at Reiner. 'You've picked a busy destination. We spied Manfred marching toward Nordbergbruche this morning, and Chaos troops have been coming down out of the crags to defend it. We mean to go there after the battle, to pick the bones of the dead.'
A thrill of fear ran up Reiner's spine. 'Do you think battle has already been joined, then? Did you see the troops of the count's brother, Baron Albrecht?'
'Afraid your nemesis might die without your help?' asked Pugnose.
'Precisely. I don't want some filthy norther cheating me of my vengeance.'
Horse-face shook his head. 'Manfred wouldn't have reached Nordbergbruche before dark. They won't form up until daybreak. We didn't see his brother.'
Reiner made a noise halfway between a sigh of relief and a moan. He was relieved that they hadn't come too late, but almost undone by the realisation of what they must now do. 'And how far is Nordbergbruche from here? Can we reach it by morning?'
Pug-nose laughed. 'In your condition? I doubt you'll make it at all.'
'Ye'll walk all night.' said Horse-face. 'But you'll be there before dawn.'
Reiner's companions groaned.
'Can y'tell us the way?' asked Hals.
'Aye, we can.' said Pug-nose.
They waited for him to continue, but he didn't.
'Will y'tell us the way?' asked Pavel.
Horse-face shrugged. 'Well, friends, that depends on the contents of your purses.'
Reiner smirked. He had known it would eventually come to this. Fortunately, unlike the cut and thrust of duelling, hard bargaining was a kind of melee he was comfortable engaging in. Here he could lead with confidence.
'Well, we don't have much to baiter with, do we? For if you don't like our offer you can just kill us and take what you want. Therefore I must call upon your honour as brothers of the brand to deal squarely with us, and to remind you that cornered rats bite. You will get a fair price for your help if we make a bargain. You will get more than you bargained for if you fight us.'
Horse-face exchanged a look with his companions, then nodded. 'Fair enough. Tell us what you want, and make your offer.'
IN THE END, they got away with their lives, but it cost Reiner all Veirt's gold crowns, one of his pistols, and the sword his father had given him to do it. He hadn't minded giving away the gold. Gold always came and went. That was its purpose. And if Count Manfred rewarded them as he hoped, they would all soon be knee-deep in gold. The sword however was a painful parting. Certainly he could buy a better sword with Manfred's gold, but it wouldn't be his sword, would it?
In addition to not killing them, the bandits had patched their wounds - though not as expertly as Gustaf would have - given them directions and provided them all with weapons: a lesser sword for Reiner, spears for Pavel and Hals - as well as a crutch - bows for Franka and Giano, and an enormous old blunderbuss for Oskar, but only enough powder or shot for a handful of charges.
As per the bandits' directions, they followed the stream down the mountain until it reached a rutted track, took that east until it crossed a main road, and then travelled north and east as fast as their bruised, exhausted bodies would carry them.
Franka grinned as she walked beside Reiner. 'Never have I heard someone lie like that. So fluently, so credibly. Hurrying to kill the man who branded us. Ha!'
'Well, isn't it the truth?' asked Reiner. 'We may not have the pleasure of killing Albrecht with our own swords, but if we succeed, we will certainly cause his downfall.'
'But that is not what you implied. You made us out to be the most bloodthirsty of villains, out for terrible vengeance. Never have I known such a master of deceit.'
Reiner smirked. 'Have you glanced in a looking glass lately?'
Franka punched him and looked around anxiously to see if anyone else had heard.
They followed the road all night, shambling like sleepwalkers for mile upon endless mile. Soon all conversations ceased. All pretences of vigilance fell by the wayside. Reiner felt in a dream. Sometimes it seemed he walked in place and the world rolled beneath him. Sometimes he seemed to float above himself, watching from the clouds the line of ragged, limping figures as they wound through the dark woods and moonlit wastelands. It grew colder as they marched into the early morning and the warmth of the fire became a distant memory. They huddled in their torn and threadbare jerkins, longing for the heavy cloaks they had been issued at the beginning of this mad journey.
Long after the moons had set, they reached the turning the bandits had mentioned and began to climb back into the hills. Their pace became even slower. More than once Reiner caught himself just before his knees buckled. He wanted more than anything in the world to curl up and sleep, right in the middle of the road, if need be. His chin sank to his chest at regular intervals, and there were a few times when he opened his eyes and couldn't be sure when he had closed them.
At last, just as a faint pink light was touching the snowy peaks of the mountains, they crested a pass and saw in the distance a massive stone castle looming like a vulture over a shadowed valley. The valley opened before Reiner and his companions like a Y, with the castle perched on a high crag at the intersection of the two arms. At the base of the Y, just below where they stood, was a village. No lights shone there, but further up the valley, a cautious distance from the castle, the morning campfires of a great army shone in the darkness.
'Come on, lads,' said Reiner. 'Journey's end.'
'One way or the other,' grumbled Hals, but he was too tired to put much feeling into it.
They marched wearily down the hill to the valley floor. As they reached the village they saw that it had been destroyed. Not a building had its roof, or all four of its walls. Most had been burned to the ground. The yawning holes of the burned-out windows stared at them reproachfully, like betrayed comrades come back from the dead. The silence was utter. Though dawn was breaking, not a bird sang. No wind stirred the blackened, leafless trees. It felt as if the world had died, had uttered its last breath, and lay cold and motionless at their feet.
As they trudged up the dirt road that ran up the middle of the valley, the camp began to appear over the intervening trees and hedgerows - the white tents in their
ordered ranks, the banners of the knights or companies housed within hanging limp above them, Manfred's banner of a lion in white and gold rising over them all, and to Reiner's relief, no sign what so ever of the manticore banner.
Noise returned to the world as they got closer - pots and pans clanked, ropes and harnesses creaked, hooves thudded, grindstones whirred, sleepy soldiers coughed and grumbled. Smells followed the sounds: porridge and bacon, horse, man, leather and canvas, wood smoke and gunpowder. Reiner and his companions inhaled deeply. Though Reiner had enlisted with reluctance, and would have sworn that he'd hated every minute of his time in the army, the sounds and smells of the camp filled him with such homesick joy that there were tears in his eyes.
He had to swallow a few times before he could speak. 'Cover your brands. We don't want to be thrown in the brig before we see Manfred.'
At the perimeter of the camp a picket stopped them. 'Who goes there!' cried a sentry.
'Couriers, with news for Count Manfred,' said Reiner, with as much military brusqueness as he could muster.
The picket stepped out of the shadows, eight men led by a sergeant - a square-shouldered, square-jawed swordsman. He wrinkled his nose and gave Reiner's company a suspicious once over. 'You look more like tinkers. Where is your seal?'
'We have been set upon, as you can see,' said Reiner. 'And have lost almost everything, but we have urgent news of Baron Albrecht's advance that the count must hear.'
'I'll decide that. What's the news?'
'It isn't for your ears, damn your eyes!' said Reiner drawing himself up. 'Do you think I'd tell a mere sergeant what torture couldn't get out of me? My name is Captain Reiner Hetzau and I demand to see Count Manfred!'
The sergeant gave Reiner a dirty look for pulling rank, and turned to one of his men. 'Hergig. Take his lordship and his men to see Captain Shaffer. I've had enough of him.'
This comedy was repeated four times in front of various captains, lieutenants and knights - before Reiner and his companions were at last led to the majestic white tent with the gold and white pennons in the centre of the camp.