Life is Feudal Official Forum

[Azerath]

Julius peered over the ridge at the procession below. Several armed men led three others in brown robes. They were escorting a creaky old cart which was pulled by a half-starved mule. In that cart was a large chest. Julius stared at that chest, and his mind raced at the possibilities of what could be inside it.

“What do you figure the dirt worshippers got in there, Julius?” a fellow outlaw and his friend, Tulius, whispered.

“Don’t matter, look, the man at the head of this train is wearing plated armor. Probably a knight or some sort of noble,” Paulus pointed. The man was in a suit of full plate and mounted on a fine warhorse.

“So what, we got them outnumbered!” Tulius rasped.

“So what? I seen you fight! You can barely hold your own against a farmhand! You gonna kill a man whose life is killing bastards like us?” Paulus raised his voice.

“Both of you, shut it,” Julius said. Paulus was an ex-soldier, he knew about war and fighting, more than Julius at least. Julius knew he should listen to what he had to say, but he didn’t very much like Paulus; mostly because Paulus did know more than he did.

Julius stroked his beard and thought for a moment. He shuddered from the cold. His clothes were ragged and his belly was empty. His band stole scraps from local farms and they ran before the farmers could retaliate, but that chest could turn their fortunes, maybe even be enough to retire off of. He raised his hand to give the signal to attack.

“What are you doing!?” Paulus half-whispered.

“Just do your job,” Julius whispered, then closed his fist.

A half-dozen men jumped up from behind him and charged down into the group. Julius pulled out his dagger and ran after them.

Tulius was facing down one of the men in robes. The man dropped to his knees and held his hands up in front of him. Tulius clobbered him and he dropped down like a sack of grain. Tulius continued the beating until he was winded.

One of the other men in robes was struggling against two of Julius’s men. He had bloodied one of their noses before they got a good hold of him, but he managed to slip out and ran right into Julius. Julius stabbed him in the gut with his dagger over and over again. Warm, thick blood leaked out of the wounds and down onto his hands.

Julius looked around to see how the rest of his men were doing. Three of his men lay dead. Two others, including Paulus, circled around the man in the plate armor. His horse was dead, as was everyone else.

Tulius, Julius, and two more of his men joined the others, “give up friend, you can’t kill us all,” said Tulius.

The man in plate armor said nothing, he just stood there with his huge sword raised while Julius and his men surrounded him. The man was very tall, Julius had assumed it was the horse, but he had been mistaken.

One of Julius’s men charged the knight from behind and swung at him with a sword. It bounced off the plate armor, and the man swung around and brought his own sword down. He buried the blade into the shoulder of his attacker and pulled it out. Blood and flesh sprayed from the wound.

“Idiot! Knock him down!” shouted Paulus.

Another man shouted and charged the man in plate and tried to tackle him. He hit with a thud and the man in plate hit his attacker on the back of the head. He dropped to the ground, and the man in plate crushed his neck under his boot.

“Come on now, together!” shouted Paulus.

The others looked at each other hesitantly.

“Just, attack when I do,” said Paulus. He attacked with his sword, striking at the man’s hands. The man in plate struck back, but Paulus parried the blow, “Help me!”

The others charged, and the man in plate swung his sword around, slicing Tulius in the gut. Paulus dodged under the swing and hit the man in plate from behind hard. He lurched forward, and Julius grabbed his sword arm and held it. Another one grabbed his other arm and they held him while Paulus and another pinned him to the ground.

Paulus opened the man’s visor and stabbed his sword through the man’s eye. He screamed out in pain, and Paulus stabbed again, putting all his weight on the sword on this time. The man stopped screaming and Paulus worked the blade back and forth to get it out of the man’s skull.

Julius checked on Tulius. He was shaking, holding his stomach, and bleeding profusely, but he was alive.

Paulus walked over to him, “Kill him.”

“Why?” asked Julius.

“You’re holding in your guts, aren’t you boy?” asked Paulus.

Tulius shook his head yes. Julius sighed, kneeled down in front of Tulius, and stuck his dagger through his friend’s neck.

Julius walked over to the chest and tried to open it. It was locked.

Paulus kicked over the corpse of one of the men in robes. A key dangled around the dead man’s neck. He tore it off, walked over to Julius, and gave him the key.

Julius carefully put the key in the lock, opened the chest, and looked inside. He stood staring for a few seconds in disbelief. He then reached into the chest and pulled out the treasure for all to see.

It was a rock, with some symbols on it. Paulus looked at Julius and shook his head. He then gripped his sword and stuck it all the way through Julius. He pulled it out again and Julius slumped to the ground.

"Let's get going, bring the cart," Paulus said, "wait, put the horse on the cart, at least we'll eat tonight."

[Billus]

Man, that was an excellent read! It was brutal in all the right places, the characters were really well fleshed out for it being a short piece, and the payoff was great too.

I'll be honest, it was a marked improvement from your last one too, which was already good.

Keep it up man, I want to read more of your stuff