Mill Wilkinson
Veteran
A very well-written story, enough to make me want to make my own with Mill swinging his two-hand sabre. Moar plz. 
Evangeline, Nation-Breaker - An AAR (Chapter 37 Posted)
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Veteran
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay but as you loyal readers will know, the event below could not possibly happen to Evangeline without there being absolute and bloody hell to pay. I'll be posting one of Chapter 27's three parts a day for the next three days. Chapter 28 will come whenever it does.
Chapter 27 - Part I
January 21, 1258 - Dhirim
On January 21, 1258 Evangeline Nation-Breaker was captured during the first successful siege of Dhirim by the armies of Sanjir Khan. This very temporarily earned her recognition amongst the tribesmen as a lucky omen of victory since it was the first time she was present in the fighting and the first time they took the town; given the frightful decimation she wrought upon their field armies in the time immediately after her escape that distinction seems ironic now. Below is a narrative description of the events leading up to the battle for Dhirim, the battle itself, and Evangeline's bloody escape from captivity. What I have written is based on numerous reliable sources and is the closest possible historical extrapolation of what went on those 3 days.
Riding through the ethnic-Swadian villages on the way to Dhirim, Evangeline recruited nearly two dozen more young Swadian men to her warband and brought its total roster strength up to 80 men. With so many raw recruits in hand and an excellent training program established she knew she would need upgraded arms and armor for them soon so headed into the city. Cresting a hill to the north of Dhirim with a few more smaller ones to go she finally brought the city into sight. However, Khergit forces off to the northeast behind her were now also visible, topping a rise of their own only a mile distant. As her party ambled along another Khergit party was seen to the east. With plans to linger for a few days to maximize the training of her new men and minimize trips to refit them after successful trials, Evangeline was going to come pouring out of Swadian lands with a larger force than she had ever assembled and bring many a Sarranid and Vaegir lord to fear. Unfortunately, the Khergits seen were the same Khergits that had been shadowing her for a little over a day and that glorious plan was not to come to full.
The fact that those Khergits had now begun to adopt what could be mistaken as a tactical spread and were definitely still following suggested nothing good. Evangeline wondered if they bore hostile intentions but a quick check showed them to be bannered parties of a faction she was at peace with, one that had shown some small approval of her war on the Sarranids. They had no reason to attack her. Despite this, Evangeline's instincts were twitching. There had been little chance 4 days ago that these Khergits, if they proved to be enemies, could have caught up to her and hers thanks to the party consisting solely of mounted troops. But now, with the fresh influx of foot soldiers, they probably could -and indeed, Borcha reported that they seemed to be doing just that.
In response Evangeline set Borcha the task of scouting them directly; an answer to their intentions needed to be had. Almost immediately it was plain that these Khergits were acting oddly. Borcha rode out to get a closer look and the mass of men and horses began to pick up speed, angling toward him. He turned away and again they followed. He rode to nearly within range and they drew their bows, moving into a gallop. Borcha thundered back from these once-neutral enemies and Evangeline roared for the party to run to Dhirim. An attack horn sounded from the tribesmen and more suddenly began topping rises to the east, northeast, and even northwest at full gallop, weapons drawn. It was obvious now that they had not been trying to catch her before, only box her in. The Khergit lords must have been delighted to hear that she had hobbled herself with the new men she brought on and when she had turned toward the city, their primary target on that campaign, it was time to spring the trap and take both targets at once. Betrayed and at the head of a troop too far from fit for combat against these lapdogs of an apparently treacherous king, Evangeline announced the only plan she had: "TO DHIRIM! GO!"
Arriving with surprising speed but little lead remaining on her pursuers, Evangeline and the men she refused to leave behind charged through the gates as the city's guards waved her through eagerly. They dropped the gate behind her last man then barred the doors as she continued to rush through between the buildings. Basher, Lezalit, Rolf, Artimenner, and Alayan were made responsible for keeping the company together as it went running and riding through the streets at best speed so that the denizens of the place were forced to flee to side alleys and leap over counters to avoid the hurried boots and hooves. Evangeline had intended to run right through the city and come out the west gate, leave her pursuers on the far side trying to cut through an enemy city. However, word or some other signal had passed amongst the guards from one side to the other and the city was now locked down. When she reached the other end of her escape route the doors were barred shut, the portcullises already down at every entrance.
Evangeline raged for the men on the walls to open the doors on pain of death but the guard captain stated that he could not and pointed out that the Khergits were already surrounding the city with their fastest horsemen. Borcha quickly clambered up to the wall to see. It was clear from the attitude of the men in that city that such an attack had been known to be coming and Evangeline being chased in to the city was both a boon and a fright: now they had 80 more fighters to add to the walls, increasing the chance that they would live but then the brave and fearsome woman-warrior had been CHASED inside so clearly the enemy was even more fearsome than she. Borcha called down from the wall that the captain was right about being surrounded and that they wouldn't be able to fight through the Khergits anyway as an inordinate number were massing near the gates, apparently intent on stopping anyone from leaving - an unusual tactic for a siege. Evangeline eased her hand off the hilt of her great sword and her veterans followed suit when it was clear they would not be fighting their way out.
The Battle Queen swore, then swore again and again as her mind raced to come up with an alternative. She gave up when she saw one of the younger city guards watching her carefully, obviously hoping that she could devise a plan for escape that he could follow. "GOD DAMN IT!!" she roared then swore again. "Get to the walls then!" she ordered her men, a command followed by several more curses. "You!" she pointed at the guard captain. "Tell me everything you know about defending this place!" A veteran of a half dozen sieges, the captain blinked at the massive amount of information he was being asked for. "NOW, god damn it! Start with where they will be attacking!"
"Oh. Well, that'll be the east wall. Right this way." Evangeline dismounted, climbed a few steps and issued several commands to her companions waiting nearby: "Borcha - run the walls of the city starting to the north and report back me on the east wall with anything interesting or useful. Alayan - the southern half. Rolf, Lezalit - bring the men and get them placed intelligently where the garrison forces are massing and find out everything you can about Khergit tactics attacking this dump. I know this isn't their first and it better not be their last try. Artimenner, Basher - you're with me to the breach. Firentis, Ymira - stow the horses and baggage. Lancer Guards - get doing something useful. Raise morale or something!" This of course excepted Jordan who never left her side while awake. Evangeline turned back to the city guard captain as her 80 men burst into activity below. "Well?! Let's ruttin' GO!"
A quick appraisal of the situation showed it to be nearly hopeless: the Khergits approached with over 1,000 men and even with Evangeline's 80, a quarter of which being fresh recruits, the defenders of Dhirim could mass only just over 200. The guard captain pointed out the spot where the expected attack would take place - a chunk of broken battlements the enemy had smashed in several sieges previous. The lord of the town had decided not to repair or reinforce the spot because the weakness gave him a sure location where the enemy would attack. Of course, since he was not there at the time it helped him do nothing except lose his fief. No defenses at all had been set up beyond that point to take advantage of knowing where the enemy would strike, a subject an irate Artimenner could neither be silenced nor offer advice on. Basher's own skills in tactics offered little in the way of comfort. He pointed out that the battlements were their only advantage in that they could shoot arrows and bolts down with somewhat less exposure to enemy arrows coming back up so therefore the infantry and dismounted cavalry should be massed at the breach with archers striving to kill as many on the approach as possible. Anything after that and the defenders lost any advantage they had.
This simple plan, however, was severely kinked due to the fact that nearly all of the 1,000 Khergits would be carrying bows themselves. Getting pushed back from the breach would require a complete reorganization to some other choke point but the terrible egress options and very long run to reposition the archers to the top of the next wall back could cause a rout instead of tactical retreat. The only logical choice was to fight at the walls within range of their sundry bows and hope for the best. The next best option was to fall back to the secondary wall immediately, concentrate archer fire on the narrow gap in the wall, and defend the doors granting access to that second wall but that would allow a huge area at close range for their myriad archers to quickly fill and throw away the advantage of the towers flanking that single entry point. All in all, everything looked bad.
Borcha and Alayan reported back shortly after that conclusion and stated that though experience stated the Khergits would attack on the east wall, they seemed to be preparing attacks from all sides. Artimenner scoffed at such an idea. "Why would they spread themselves out and waste so much time and resources building multiple siege engines when they have a perfectly ridiculous hole RIGHT HERE, one they made 10 months ago! That hasn't been fixed or reinforced or even had secondary defenses built behind it with easy retreat routes like simple rutting planks that could just be knocked away after they last man crosses! I mean -"
"Arti! Shut up and look to your sword!" Evangeline commanded. The older man continued grumbling but took a few steps farther away. "He's probably right that they won't come at us from more than one side but we can't let them see undefended walls. Alayan, Basher - go back along the walls and set up token defensive parties wherever they are setting up token attack parties. Borcha, go to that top of that tower there and prepare a beacon fire that will produce lots of smoke. When the beacon is lit the Khergits have committed themselves to attack here on the east wall. Regardless of what is going on anywhere else those token troops MUST respond to here. If we can stifle this attack we can deal with any others later. If we can't then nothing else matters. Go." The guard captain pointed out that since the token defensive units were spread out along the walls they would arrive at different times instead of all at once, "In waves as it were." "Then we'll receive waves of reinforcements. Now go. Tell your men that now that I am here we are going to kill every Khergit we see today." Evangeline then went looking for Firentis to make sure their most valuable gear was hidden and not just stowed.
Chapter 27 - Part I
January 21, 1258 - Dhirim
On January 21, 1258 Evangeline Nation-Breaker was captured during the first successful siege of Dhirim by the armies of Sanjir Khan. This very temporarily earned her recognition amongst the tribesmen as a lucky omen of victory since it was the first time she was present in the fighting and the first time they took the town; given the frightful decimation she wrought upon their field armies in the time immediately after her escape that distinction seems ironic now. Below is a narrative description of the events leading up to the battle for Dhirim, the battle itself, and Evangeline's bloody escape from captivity. What I have written is based on numerous reliable sources and is the closest possible historical extrapolation of what went on those 3 days.
Riding through the ethnic-Swadian villages on the way to Dhirim, Evangeline recruited nearly two dozen more young Swadian men to her warband and brought its total roster strength up to 80 men. With so many raw recruits in hand and an excellent training program established she knew she would need upgraded arms and armor for them soon so headed into the city. Cresting a hill to the north of Dhirim with a few more smaller ones to go she finally brought the city into sight. However, Khergit forces off to the northeast behind her were now also visible, topping a rise of their own only a mile distant. As her party ambled along another Khergit party was seen to the east. With plans to linger for a few days to maximize the training of her new men and minimize trips to refit them after successful trials, Evangeline was going to come pouring out of Swadian lands with a larger force than she had ever assembled and bring many a Sarranid and Vaegir lord to fear. Unfortunately, the Khergits seen were the same Khergits that had been shadowing her for a little over a day and that glorious plan was not to come to full.
The fact that those Khergits had now begun to adopt what could be mistaken as a tactical spread and were definitely still following suggested nothing good. Evangeline wondered if they bore hostile intentions but a quick check showed them to be bannered parties of a faction she was at peace with, one that had shown some small approval of her war on the Sarranids. They had no reason to attack her. Despite this, Evangeline's instincts were twitching. There had been little chance 4 days ago that these Khergits, if they proved to be enemies, could have caught up to her and hers thanks to the party consisting solely of mounted troops. But now, with the fresh influx of foot soldiers, they probably could -and indeed, Borcha reported that they seemed to be doing just that.
In response Evangeline set Borcha the task of scouting them directly; an answer to their intentions needed to be had. Almost immediately it was plain that these Khergits were acting oddly. Borcha rode out to get a closer look and the mass of men and horses began to pick up speed, angling toward him. He turned away and again they followed. He rode to nearly within range and they drew their bows, moving into a gallop. Borcha thundered back from these once-neutral enemies and Evangeline roared for the party to run to Dhirim. An attack horn sounded from the tribesmen and more suddenly began topping rises to the east, northeast, and even northwest at full gallop, weapons drawn. It was obvious now that they had not been trying to catch her before, only box her in. The Khergit lords must have been delighted to hear that she had hobbled herself with the new men she brought on and when she had turned toward the city, their primary target on that campaign, it was time to spring the trap and take both targets at once. Betrayed and at the head of a troop too far from fit for combat against these lapdogs of an apparently treacherous king, Evangeline announced the only plan she had: "TO DHIRIM! GO!"
Arriving with surprising speed but little lead remaining on her pursuers, Evangeline and the men she refused to leave behind charged through the gates as the city's guards waved her through eagerly. They dropped the gate behind her last man then barred the doors as she continued to rush through between the buildings. Basher, Lezalit, Rolf, Artimenner, and Alayan were made responsible for keeping the company together as it went running and riding through the streets at best speed so that the denizens of the place were forced to flee to side alleys and leap over counters to avoid the hurried boots and hooves. Evangeline had intended to run right through the city and come out the west gate, leave her pursuers on the far side trying to cut through an enemy city. However, word or some other signal had passed amongst the guards from one side to the other and the city was now locked down. When she reached the other end of her escape route the doors were barred shut, the portcullises already down at every entrance.
Evangeline raged for the men on the walls to open the doors on pain of death but the guard captain stated that he could not and pointed out that the Khergits were already surrounding the city with their fastest horsemen. Borcha quickly clambered up to the wall to see. It was clear from the attitude of the men in that city that such an attack had been known to be coming and Evangeline being chased in to the city was both a boon and a fright: now they had 80 more fighters to add to the walls, increasing the chance that they would live but then the brave and fearsome woman-warrior had been CHASED inside so clearly the enemy was even more fearsome than she. Borcha called down from the wall that the captain was right about being surrounded and that they wouldn't be able to fight through the Khergits anyway as an inordinate number were massing near the gates, apparently intent on stopping anyone from leaving - an unusual tactic for a siege. Evangeline eased her hand off the hilt of her great sword and her veterans followed suit when it was clear they would not be fighting their way out.
The Battle Queen swore, then swore again and again as her mind raced to come up with an alternative. She gave up when she saw one of the younger city guards watching her carefully, obviously hoping that she could devise a plan for escape that he could follow. "GOD DAMN IT!!" she roared then swore again. "Get to the walls then!" she ordered her men, a command followed by several more curses. "You!" she pointed at the guard captain. "Tell me everything you know about defending this place!" A veteran of a half dozen sieges, the captain blinked at the massive amount of information he was being asked for. "NOW, god damn it! Start with where they will be attacking!"
"Oh. Well, that'll be the east wall. Right this way." Evangeline dismounted, climbed a few steps and issued several commands to her companions waiting nearby: "Borcha - run the walls of the city starting to the north and report back me on the east wall with anything interesting or useful. Alayan - the southern half. Rolf, Lezalit - bring the men and get them placed intelligently where the garrison forces are massing and find out everything you can about Khergit tactics attacking this dump. I know this isn't their first and it better not be their last try. Artimenner, Basher - you're with me to the breach. Firentis, Ymira - stow the horses and baggage. Lancer Guards - get doing something useful. Raise morale or something!" This of course excepted Jordan who never left her side while awake. Evangeline turned back to the city guard captain as her 80 men burst into activity below. "Well?! Let's ruttin' GO!"
A quick appraisal of the situation showed it to be nearly hopeless: the Khergits approached with over 1,000 men and even with Evangeline's 80, a quarter of which being fresh recruits, the defenders of Dhirim could mass only just over 200. The guard captain pointed out the spot where the expected attack would take place - a chunk of broken battlements the enemy had smashed in several sieges previous. The lord of the town had decided not to repair or reinforce the spot because the weakness gave him a sure location where the enemy would attack. Of course, since he was not there at the time it helped him do nothing except lose his fief. No defenses at all had been set up beyond that point to take advantage of knowing where the enemy would strike, a subject an irate Artimenner could neither be silenced nor offer advice on. Basher's own skills in tactics offered little in the way of comfort. He pointed out that the battlements were their only advantage in that they could shoot arrows and bolts down with somewhat less exposure to enemy arrows coming back up so therefore the infantry and dismounted cavalry should be massed at the breach with archers striving to kill as many on the approach as possible. Anything after that and the defenders lost any advantage they had.
This simple plan, however, was severely kinked due to the fact that nearly all of the 1,000 Khergits would be carrying bows themselves. Getting pushed back from the breach would require a complete reorganization to some other choke point but the terrible egress options and very long run to reposition the archers to the top of the next wall back could cause a rout instead of tactical retreat. The only logical choice was to fight at the walls within range of their sundry bows and hope for the best. The next best option was to fall back to the secondary wall immediately, concentrate archer fire on the narrow gap in the wall, and defend the doors granting access to that second wall but that would allow a huge area at close range for their myriad archers to quickly fill and throw away the advantage of the towers flanking that single entry point. All in all, everything looked bad.
Borcha and Alayan reported back shortly after that conclusion and stated that though experience stated the Khergits would attack on the east wall, they seemed to be preparing attacks from all sides. Artimenner scoffed at such an idea. "Why would they spread themselves out and waste so much time and resources building multiple siege engines when they have a perfectly ridiculous hole RIGHT HERE, one they made 10 months ago! That hasn't been fixed or reinforced or even had secondary defenses built behind it with easy retreat routes like simple rutting planks that could just be knocked away after they last man crosses! I mean -"
"Arti! Shut up and look to your sword!" Evangeline commanded. The older man continued grumbling but took a few steps farther away. "He's probably right that they won't come at us from more than one side but we can't let them see undefended walls. Alayan, Basher - go back along the walls and set up token defensive parties wherever they are setting up token attack parties. Borcha, go to that top of that tower there and prepare a beacon fire that will produce lots of smoke. When the beacon is lit the Khergits have committed themselves to attack here on the east wall. Regardless of what is going on anywhere else those token troops MUST respond to here. If we can stifle this attack we can deal with any others later. If we can't then nothing else matters. Go." The guard captain pointed out that since the token defensive units were spread out along the walls they would arrive at different times instead of all at once, "In waves as it were." "Then we'll receive waves of reinforcements. Now go. Tell your men that now that I am here we are going to kill every Khergit we see today." Evangeline then went looking for Firentis to make sure their most valuable gear was hidden and not just stowed.
Mixedpotatoes
Master Knight
Amazing. Looking forward to the assault.
Someone must pay! Nice chapter.
Chapter 27 - Part II
January 21, 1258 - Dhirim
The attempted morale boost was better than nothing but the enemy soon to be climbing over the walls had high morale too: they'd been offered a prize for the death or capture of the female agitator - one 'Evangeline' - who had been accused of plotting and executing a plan to start a war between their own people and their great southern cousins. The perfidious agent of the north and west had nearly succeeded in causing an all out war between the Khergit and Sarranid nations but in his 'wisdom' the Great Sanjir Khan had 'discovered the truth' through an agent of his own employed 'secretly' under Sarranid command, one mercenary captain named Rasimus.
Of course, when speaking to Sarranids regarding Evangeline's supposed agitation on behalf of the enemies of that state it was Sultan Hakim's wisdom that uncovered the plot and his idea to set things right by offering a reward for the death or capture of her and he who proposed a secret alliance with Sanjir Khan to surprise the enemies that supposedly supported her. On both sides, however, Rasimus is mentioned as having been the man employed to gather the information necessary to make this secret alliance come to fruition. His journal is strangely mute on this subject and indeed, through this whole time period causing many historians to suggest that this may have been due to his perfectly healthy aversion to recording state secrets then risking being tortured and killed if they were ever found in his lifetime.
Regardless, Rasimus is credited with brokering the peace between Khergits and Sarranids at the cost of Evangeline's first defeat and brief but bloody incarceration. Is it fitting that Evangeline suffer at the hands of the Khergits thanks to the lies and pride of Emir Dhiyul? Was she acting as a balancing agent when she defended the helpless peasants he attacked? Were that the case she should, in terms of cosmic righteousness, never have been punished for SHE was the punisher. It is clear then that Evangeline is the extra weight, throwing itself into the finely tuned gearworks of an established aristocracy that thrived on oppression and intimidation. The unbalanced result was the unpredictable assault upon her by those previously accepting of her presence and activities: the Khergits at Dhirim. At that point in her journey, if the Khergit capture of Dhirim along with herself was to be any indication of things to come she would have been wise to watch carefully the darkness of every shadow and smile of every man for danger of betrayal.
Within a few hours of arrival, the Khergits began their attack as predicted: massing at that one breach and firing an unending storm of arrows; the smoky beacon was lit and all the rest of the defenders came running. Jordan records throughout the battle, beginning to end, men were constantly getting hit by arrows, some strong enough to carry on for a time but many falling on the spot. Strong and wide shields were not always enough and even the stone ramparts overlooking the swarming enemy below were unsuccessful at keeping the defending archers safe. One archer peeking out to shoot at the enemy faced a half dozen enemies firing right back and if that archer stayed brave and kept attacking it was only a matter of time before he was killed. Almost before the siege tower arrived at the wall most of the defending archers were dead. Evangeline, for her part, kept behind a strong stone crenellation near the breach and used her heavy crossbow on the enemy charging across the open plank, the powerful weapon killing and maiming a dozen or more.
Early in the battle it became apparent that her winged helm was generating a lot of interest from the attackers and seemed to be the primary target of every Khergit archer out there, eager as they were to claim the rewards for killing her. This forced Evangeline into more of a supporting role than that of a frontline fighter. Once her steel bolts were expended she drew forth her long awlpike and threaded it between a defending knight and the broken wall to stab at the shins of the tribesmen swarming their wall. Again and again the pike lanced out to stab below a shield and cause a man to stumble or even fall from his feet before the swinging blades of battle-hardened defenders. Given a hard enough thrust Evangeline could feel the pike twist as it burrowed through armor, muscle, and bone, twisting back as she wrenched it free to stab again. She noted with satisfaction that the drilling aspect of the weapon was exactly as effective as she had hoped and therefore far superior to a regular spear.
A short eternity of fighting passed and then they broke through. Suddenly, on Evangeline's side of the breach, there were men in tribal armor where heavy western plate had stood. Dropping her bow for a shield, Evangeline ripped free her beloved and hateful Annabelle to bring it smashing down on turned Khergit heads. In moments they were on her, recognizing her helm as belonging to the woman they needed to kill for rich rewards. Three of them forced her back along the wall as they jostled for position to strike her down. One fell to her sword in a moment of carelessness, another right behind him as he too underestimated her range and speed then the third dropped with an arrow in the back of his skull. Charging back to the breach Evangeline did her damnedest to stop the hole but couldn't get it done until Jordan an another couple Lancer Guards arrived to assist. They smashed the enemy back for a moment and with that short and incomplete respite Evangeline ordered the men back to the doors of the second wall - the enemy was bringing too many men up to fight while the defending reinforcements were taking too long to arrive and join in.
The tactical retreat was never completed properly and instead of holding strong at the narrow door Evangeline and her guards found themselves being pushed back through them. Keeping control of the situation she pulled the men even further back to a broad set of stairs leading back up to the ramparts of the second wall. Here the defenders fought for their lives if they hadn't been already and refused to give even an inch. With reinforcing groups joining the battle faster than the enemy were climbing the walls, the combat began to turn toward the favor of Evangeline though she herself had been forced to pull back from the fighting for a time. Much too popular with the enemy fighting at the front, Evangeline attempted to recreate her earlier shin-stabbing success but was almost immediately struck by disaster: While her shield was caught beneath the arm of one of her recently recruited militiamen as he slumped to the stairs, Evangeline spared a moment of attention from the enemy below her. Where the second wall curved around behind the very stairs she battled upon a Dhirim archer drew his bow and took aim. In that moment it was clear he was attempting to save her life by striking the Khergit closest to her while her defenses were down.
However, she had no need of such rescue just yet and could already see exactly what was going to happen instead. As the Khergit stabbed forward she kicked out, diverting his blade into the dying man who had trapped her shield. In that same moment the archer loosed his arrow and time seemed to slow incredibly. Had she not moved the Khergit out of the arrow's path with that kick he would surely have run her through but in moving him she let the arrow through instead, an inevitable injury she hoped would be minor enough to ignore. Her shield free too late, she swung the haft of her pike across her chest in a frail attempt to block the arrow. She swore in that moment that if that arrow stuck in her pike she would survive long enough to strap it to a truncheon and beat that archer to death with it.
However, it was a bad shot. Had the Khergit been allowed to stab Evangeline a good shot should have impacted him in the upper back which meant, now that he was ever so briefly out of the way, that same arrow on that same path should have impacted Evangeline just about the middle of her chest. Bringing the haft of the pike across to feebly block that spot, Evangeline saw the truth of the shot as it went astray and looked with hatred right into the archer's eyes as his arrow punched home in her right hip. The intense pain and location seized the joint and stopped Evangeline from moving anything at all as she gritted her teeth and tried not to fall off the side of the stairs, an edge so near on that injured right side. With the jostling all around her she knew it'd be only moments before her inability to steady herself against such activity would push her off to the courtyard below. As she struggled to alert the Guard next to her of her plight to help her back up the stairs and away from the edge a Khergit soldier on the ground below saw his golden opportunity and swung his lance like a club. Slipping right through the gap between steps, the weapon struck Evangeline hard on the inside of her right ankle, yanking her injured leg out from under her. She flailed weakly as pain swamped her mind and tried to aim her pike at the enemies crowded below but the world tumbled around her and she fell to meet it a dozen feet down.
She crashed atop a the shoulder of Khergit paying attention elsewhere, breaking a few of her ribs and causing her to cartwheel, hitting the ground head-and-shoulder-first. That brought Evangeline's world to a halt as she lay quietly sprawled on the stone. Lancer Guards, the few that remained, leapt from the stairs and fought viciously to defend her, finally succeeding for a brief moment when Firentis joined them as well. However, all was now lost: the temporary recovery of Evangeline's unconscious body had been purchased at the cost of the defense on the stairs. When the Lancer Guard had abandoned it the Khergits had pushed in and started a rout of the last two dozen defenders. With the defense broken, Firentis knew all that was left to defend was Evangeline's identity from those wanting her head.
Leaving the remnants of the Lancer Guard to buy him some time, he dragged Evangeline's body a few hundred meters through the chaotic streets of the city of Dhirim, kicked in a door to an empty house, and pulled her up two sets of stairs to a secluded attic where his legs and adrenaline finally gave out. Knowing that the enemy had been terribly interested in killing specifically Evangeline for a reason still unknown to him and that despite that intense interest they wouldn't recognize her out of her armor, he quickly stripped that bloody and battleworn mass from her. Knowing he couldn't be caught near her body with the well-known and much hunted armor, Firentis had no choice but to leave his captain bleeding, injured, and unconscious to run and hide the stuff, hopefully to return and see her to safety. Never accepting for a second that she wouldn't wake up and want to be able to find her armor and Annabelle, he stashed them both along with the rest of her hidden valuables.
January 21, 1258 - Dhirim
The attempted morale boost was better than nothing but the enemy soon to be climbing over the walls had high morale too: they'd been offered a prize for the death or capture of the female agitator - one 'Evangeline' - who had been accused of plotting and executing a plan to start a war between their own people and their great southern cousins. The perfidious agent of the north and west had nearly succeeded in causing an all out war between the Khergit and Sarranid nations but in his 'wisdom' the Great Sanjir Khan had 'discovered the truth' through an agent of his own employed 'secretly' under Sarranid command, one mercenary captain named Rasimus.
Of course, when speaking to Sarranids regarding Evangeline's supposed agitation on behalf of the enemies of that state it was Sultan Hakim's wisdom that uncovered the plot and his idea to set things right by offering a reward for the death or capture of her and he who proposed a secret alliance with Sanjir Khan to surprise the enemies that supposedly supported her. On both sides, however, Rasimus is mentioned as having been the man employed to gather the information necessary to make this secret alliance come to fruition. His journal is strangely mute on this subject and indeed, through this whole time period causing many historians to suggest that this may have been due to his perfectly healthy aversion to recording state secrets then risking being tortured and killed if they were ever found in his lifetime.
Regardless, Rasimus is credited with brokering the peace between Khergits and Sarranids at the cost of Evangeline's first defeat and brief but bloody incarceration. Is it fitting that Evangeline suffer at the hands of the Khergits thanks to the lies and pride of Emir Dhiyul? Was she acting as a balancing agent when she defended the helpless peasants he attacked? Were that the case she should, in terms of cosmic righteousness, never have been punished for SHE was the punisher. It is clear then that Evangeline is the extra weight, throwing itself into the finely tuned gearworks of an established aristocracy that thrived on oppression and intimidation. The unbalanced result was the unpredictable assault upon her by those previously accepting of her presence and activities: the Khergits at Dhirim. At that point in her journey, if the Khergit capture of Dhirim along with herself was to be any indication of things to come she would have been wise to watch carefully the darkness of every shadow and smile of every man for danger of betrayal.
Within a few hours of arrival, the Khergits began their attack as predicted: massing at that one breach and firing an unending storm of arrows; the smoky beacon was lit and all the rest of the defenders came running. Jordan records throughout the battle, beginning to end, men were constantly getting hit by arrows, some strong enough to carry on for a time but many falling on the spot. Strong and wide shields were not always enough and even the stone ramparts overlooking the swarming enemy below were unsuccessful at keeping the defending archers safe. One archer peeking out to shoot at the enemy faced a half dozen enemies firing right back and if that archer stayed brave and kept attacking it was only a matter of time before he was killed. Almost before the siege tower arrived at the wall most of the defending archers were dead. Evangeline, for her part, kept behind a strong stone crenellation near the breach and used her heavy crossbow on the enemy charging across the open plank, the powerful weapon killing and maiming a dozen or more.
Early in the battle it became apparent that her winged helm was generating a lot of interest from the attackers and seemed to be the primary target of every Khergit archer out there, eager as they were to claim the rewards for killing her. This forced Evangeline into more of a supporting role than that of a frontline fighter. Once her steel bolts were expended she drew forth her long awlpike and threaded it between a defending knight and the broken wall to stab at the shins of the tribesmen swarming their wall. Again and again the pike lanced out to stab below a shield and cause a man to stumble or even fall from his feet before the swinging blades of battle-hardened defenders. Given a hard enough thrust Evangeline could feel the pike twist as it burrowed through armor, muscle, and bone, twisting back as she wrenched it free to stab again. She noted with satisfaction that the drilling aspect of the weapon was exactly as effective as she had hoped and therefore far superior to a regular spear.
A short eternity of fighting passed and then they broke through. Suddenly, on Evangeline's side of the breach, there were men in tribal armor where heavy western plate had stood. Dropping her bow for a shield, Evangeline ripped free her beloved and hateful Annabelle to bring it smashing down on turned Khergit heads. In moments they were on her, recognizing her helm as belonging to the woman they needed to kill for rich rewards. Three of them forced her back along the wall as they jostled for position to strike her down. One fell to her sword in a moment of carelessness, another right behind him as he too underestimated her range and speed then the third dropped with an arrow in the back of his skull. Charging back to the breach Evangeline did her damnedest to stop the hole but couldn't get it done until Jordan an another couple Lancer Guards arrived to assist. They smashed the enemy back for a moment and with that short and incomplete respite Evangeline ordered the men back to the doors of the second wall - the enemy was bringing too many men up to fight while the defending reinforcements were taking too long to arrive and join in.
The tactical retreat was never completed properly and instead of holding strong at the narrow door Evangeline and her guards found themselves being pushed back through them. Keeping control of the situation she pulled the men even further back to a broad set of stairs leading back up to the ramparts of the second wall. Here the defenders fought for their lives if they hadn't been already and refused to give even an inch. With reinforcing groups joining the battle faster than the enemy were climbing the walls, the combat began to turn toward the favor of Evangeline though she herself had been forced to pull back from the fighting for a time. Much too popular with the enemy fighting at the front, Evangeline attempted to recreate her earlier shin-stabbing success but was almost immediately struck by disaster: While her shield was caught beneath the arm of one of her recently recruited militiamen as he slumped to the stairs, Evangeline spared a moment of attention from the enemy below her. Where the second wall curved around behind the very stairs she battled upon a Dhirim archer drew his bow and took aim. In that moment it was clear he was attempting to save her life by striking the Khergit closest to her while her defenses were down.
However, she had no need of such rescue just yet and could already see exactly what was going to happen instead. As the Khergit stabbed forward she kicked out, diverting his blade into the dying man who had trapped her shield. In that same moment the archer loosed his arrow and time seemed to slow incredibly. Had she not moved the Khergit out of the arrow's path with that kick he would surely have run her through but in moving him she let the arrow through instead, an inevitable injury she hoped would be minor enough to ignore. Her shield free too late, she swung the haft of her pike across her chest in a frail attempt to block the arrow. She swore in that moment that if that arrow stuck in her pike she would survive long enough to strap it to a truncheon and beat that archer to death with it.
However, it was a bad shot. Had the Khergit been allowed to stab Evangeline a good shot should have impacted him in the upper back which meant, now that he was ever so briefly out of the way, that same arrow on that same path should have impacted Evangeline just about the middle of her chest. Bringing the haft of the pike across to feebly block that spot, Evangeline saw the truth of the shot as it went astray and looked with hatred right into the archer's eyes as his arrow punched home in her right hip. The intense pain and location seized the joint and stopped Evangeline from moving anything at all as she gritted her teeth and tried not to fall off the side of the stairs, an edge so near on that injured right side. With the jostling all around her she knew it'd be only moments before her inability to steady herself against such activity would push her off to the courtyard below. As she struggled to alert the Guard next to her of her plight to help her back up the stairs and away from the edge a Khergit soldier on the ground below saw his golden opportunity and swung his lance like a club. Slipping right through the gap between steps, the weapon struck Evangeline hard on the inside of her right ankle, yanking her injured leg out from under her. She flailed weakly as pain swamped her mind and tried to aim her pike at the enemies crowded below but the world tumbled around her and she fell to meet it a dozen feet down.
She crashed atop a the shoulder of Khergit paying attention elsewhere, breaking a few of her ribs and causing her to cartwheel, hitting the ground head-and-shoulder-first. That brought Evangeline's world to a halt as she lay quietly sprawled on the stone. Lancer Guards, the few that remained, leapt from the stairs and fought viciously to defend her, finally succeeding for a brief moment when Firentis joined them as well. However, all was now lost: the temporary recovery of Evangeline's unconscious body had been purchased at the cost of the defense on the stairs. When the Lancer Guard had abandoned it the Khergits had pushed in and started a rout of the last two dozen defenders. With the defense broken, Firentis knew all that was left to defend was Evangeline's identity from those wanting her head.
Leaving the remnants of the Lancer Guard to buy him some time, he dragged Evangeline's body a few hundred meters through the chaotic streets of the city of Dhirim, kicked in a door to an empty house, and pulled her up two sets of stairs to a secluded attic where his legs and adrenaline finally gave out. Knowing that the enemy had been terribly interested in killing specifically Evangeline for a reason still unknown to him and that despite that intense interest they wouldn't recognize her out of her armor, he quickly stripped that bloody and battleworn mass from her. Knowing he couldn't be caught near her body with the well-known and much hunted armor, Firentis had no choice but to leave his captain bleeding, injured, and unconscious to run and hide the stuff, hopefully to return and see her to safety. Never accepting for a second that she wouldn't wake up and want to be able to find her armor and Annabelle, he stashed them both along with the rest of her hidden valuables.
Hopefully, someone will pay for this as well.
Author's Note: Unfortunately I had to break my promise to post part three of Chapter 27 yesterday due to my own dissatisfaction with it. On the plus side, Chapter 27 has developed a fourth part, which will be posted when it is ready, hopefully tomorrow. I was admittedly unprepared for where this hellish little jaunt into Dhirim would take me and what would become of Evangeline while there. The outcome has been more work than I expected. Please enjoy: 3,427 words.
Chapter 27 - Part III
January 21 and 22, 1258 - Dhirim
The following contains graphic descriptions and violence that is NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN. If you would like to know what happens without the fuss and mess please see the summary at the bottom.
Summary: Evangeline awakes from her fall off the stairs to find herself in the company of an unpleasant man whom she bites - to death. She is knocked unconscious again by one of his companions. When she finally awakes fully, due to her injuries she is not in her right mind to begin with then she completely flips out in reaction to the extreme pain of her injuries and fear at having been captured. In this rage she brutally kills a guard who was going to help her escape; Firentis sees this happen but is too shocked to stop her. The two of them then join the rest of the prison riot he and a the last Lancer Guard started while she was unconscious.
Chapter 27 - Part III
January 21 and 22, 1258 - Dhirim
The following contains graphic descriptions and violence that is NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN. If you would like to know what happens without the fuss and mess please see the summary at the bottom.
Evangeline was suddenly awake, like she'd been pushing and pushing and pushing on a door that finally gave. She knew a man was touching her inner legs and when her eyes snapped open she saw him. The look on his face was not yet delighted but he was working on gaining that satisfaction as he wrestled with garments unfamiliar to both he and Evangeline. Without a single other thought, Evangeline bit his throat out.
Her head shot forward and angled to clamp her teeth down around his windpipe, biting and tearing with all the strength she could muster, throwing her head from side to side. So effective was this action that he couldn't scream, merely wheeze in panic. He kicked and thrashed but the other men in the room forcing themselves upon the other women in the room didn't notice anything to be alarmed about - until while fumbling for a sword to defend himself, Evangeline's rapist managed to hit one of the other men with it. Suddenly they realized there was a problem and one of the brutes had the bright idea to kick Evangeline in the head. Biting down harder now than she ever could have consciously and literally being torn loose, Evangeline was instantly unconscious again, nearly drowning in the blood gushing through the gaping hole in the front of her attempted-rapist's neck.
Evangeline woke and puked. Not on her back this time but sitting on the floor and chained to a wall instead, she managed to spew most of it to one side. Unfortunately, puking to one side meant leaning to one side and since she greatly desired laying down, her attempt at napping some more was doomed to bring her back into intimate contact with whatever that last meal was. Sliding sideways down the wall she gathered momentum for a delightful respite from the excruciating pain wracking her body. Chains stopped her short, though, the ones on her hand manacles coming tight first. She jerked to a halt and nearly puked again from all the head jostling that was going on. Prying open her eyes to see if she could manage to reach the floor in some way she saw that she was quite close to that which she had expelled. It appeared to primarily contain dark red clots and tatters of what may have been pig skin. And those chunks there looked like chicken cartilage but seemed too thin.
Letting that mystery go, Evangeline began to attempt to look around. However, the room was far too bright and she couldn't really move. It smelled horribly though she could only tell through one nostril as the other seemed to be blocked. She tasted blood all through her mouth and on her lips. It seemed neither fresh nor dry but sticky instead. She briefly remembered the man she'd bitten and concluded that her vomit consisted mainly of his voice box. The throbbing, stabbing, and mind-numbing pains all throughout and over her body were too many to consider but the first thing she knew was that her right shoulder didn't seem to be there. She tried to look for it but couldn't turn her head, only hang there staring at the filthy floor. Evangeline decided it wasn't gone, just ruined or numb because otherwise she wouldn't seem to be hanging from both arms, just one instead.
With nothing else to do, she began to let the sounds of the place filter through her fog of pain. Almost immediately she realized that this smelly place was in fact not silent at all but so deafeningly riotous as to actually go unnoticed in her state. As Evangeline concentrated she began to sort out the various notes and melodies contributing to the cacophony of dungeon activity. First, there was Firentis' voice shouting her name. It seemed like he might be fighting somebody but she wasn't sure. Then there were many other people rattling chains and shouting, blades swinging and smacking into things, men crying out both in pain and foreign tongues.
The noise was unbearably loud and she tried to yell for everyone to shut up but just the thought of yelling made her head hurt. Perhaps if she sat up she could muster the force to scream for silence so she could sleep again. Pulling with the muscles she knew should be lifting her back into a sitting position, Evangeline watched the floor stay exactly where it was. 'Ah,' she thought, having an epiphany. 'I'll just turn like this then pull -' She felt and heard something snap or pop where her missing shoulder was and immediately passed out again from the sudden pain.
A lifetime later Evangeline was wet and upset about it. She tried to work her mouth to complain or berate but everything in there was sticky and dry. Noises were heard and repeated, possibly commands in some language, then her mouth was forced open and an ocean poured in. She gagged and spit and fought the water back out only for more to come rushing in. Despite her best efforts some of it went down her throat. She tried to shout for someone to stop it but that throat was unresponsive. More water, more struggling, finally she was moist enough to cough up a mass of congealed blood and hock it vaguely forward. She hoped it hit whoever was torturing her square in their face, preferably an open mouth.
Her counterattack apparently worked as the water stopped coming. She tried to speak but couldn't, then, forgetting that she couldn't yet speak, asked for just a little more water. Something was pushed to her bottom lip. She opened her mouth and closed it after some liquid poured in. She sloshed it about and swallowed. Clearing her throat and trying her tongue again, she croaked out "Who -" then fell into a short coughing fit. The darkness in front of her closed eyes responded but she didn't understand. She tried to open those eyes to see her water torturer but physically couldn't, they were stuck closed. She started to fumble at them, too out of it to realize she was not restrained at all.
The torturer started up again, sloshing water onto her face and roughly rubbing her eyes. She tried to fight him back and finally noticed that her hands were free but she felt so weak. Her tormentor seemed to have six hands at once as he scrubbed her eyelids off, ripped out eyelashes, and had two or more left over to bat away her feeble attempts to bat him away. On one of those attempts that he knocked away the broken fingers of her right hand smacked into the stone beside her and she nearly passed out again. A sharp pain on her face from the direction she had been slumping brought her back - but a sudden fury came with her.
Evangeline's eyes snapped open and she saw her Khergit captor. Hatred, bloodlust, and rage filled her mind and she was instantly lost in it. Launching herself forward, she wrapped both hands around his neck as she bowled him over. She tried to squeeze but he tumbled backwards out of her grasp and her whole right arm wouldn't go, just wouldn't obey properly. She swung it in a circle and screamed as the shoulder snapped into place, the arm simultaneously going numb to the elbow.
She spied the water tormentor - certainly a Khergit from his armor and face - scrambling to gain his feet before her. The fury from the pain filled her and she launched herself forward again. He put his hands up and held her back just far enough that her crippled right hand was all that could reach and then only his cheek. She tore furrows of skin off his face and roared her wrath into his wide open eyes as the agony from those broken fingers shot up her arm. Now her captor didn't seem so strong or fast. He only had two arms which left him disadvantaged because Evangeline had her knees. She fired them up into his defenses, first one, then the other and as he fought to block those, she clubbed him with her bad hand. Again the rage of pain swamped her and she lost her mind, screaming and thrashing at the man, now backed nearly to the opposite wall.
As she roared blood, spit and force-fed water flew from her mouth and spattered his face and eyes. She kicked and kicked and hit and fought and clawed to kill this man in any way possible as he just tried to protect himself until he could push her away, an action he had tried several times already to no avail. In fact, she'd bitten him on the hand when he pushed at her once, he was pretty sure. Then she found his dagger's hilt and the fight turned quickly into the endgame. Ripping it free of the sheath, she threw it across the room behind her. The second it had come out his attention and both hands had been diverted to the weapon just long enough to leave him nothing with which to defend against the real threat. She leapt forward with all her might and crushed him into the wall, her knee pinning him in the center of his chest, just below the ribs. She clubbed him in the face again then tore out one of his eyes - or at least she tried.
Mostly she just jammed her fingers into his eye socket and thrashed around, furious that she couldn't fit her thumb all the way in as well to properly rip the vital organ loose. She destroyed the eye handily and tore out what was left but really actually just managed to string nerves and muscle tissue out onto his battered face while HE now screamed. Angry that she hadn't gotten the eye, Evangeline kneed him in the gut, grabbed him by the hair and slid him down the wall to where she could knee him in the throat - which she did. The screaming didn't stop so she tried again and again and again until she realized it was only her screaming now and she was smashing her knee into the wet stone wall, her captor destroyed on the floor and a handful of his hair gripped between her fingers.
She stopped, shook her head, and stomped on his chest, then did it again. With no response she turned away and found the bucket of water she had been tortured with. Splashing some of its contents on herself, she set to clearing out the last of what appeared to be dried blood around her eyes. Scrubbing the difficult chunks loose took some little time and effort but she rewarded herself with a cool drink. Taking a small sip she sloshed the now-welcome liquid around in her mouth then spit it out. Taking another taste she gargled a bit to lubricate her raw and dry throat and realized that the water was rather tasty. She was curious as to the source of it and promised herself that if she found a likely spot on her way out of here she would certainly have to stop and drink some, even possibly fill a water skin or some other receptacle to take with her for later drinking.
That's when Firentis finally found his voice and called her by name at the door. The little room she had been held in was dark and dank, nothing unusual for a prison cell - until one took into account the desk, parchments, and candles Evangeline had knocked over while effecting her escape. In fact, she was not being held at all, she had been carried to that room after being freed during Firentis' and the last surviving Lancer Guard's prison revolt. The Khergit she had killed was a guard who had promised to help lead them out for a portion of the coin Firentis had revealed he had stashed for her. While Evangeline was being roused to her senses so she could walk out on her own - and then promptly losing those senses - the prisoners taken so recently during the siege were fighting to get free. The Khergit noyans had all moved on to other targets or interests, leaving only a garrison of around 100 men: the best opportunity any of them were going to get to leave.
Firentis had returned to see how she was doing and arrived in time to see the guard he had trusted with his captain's life having his eye torn out by that meek charge. Standing stock still in shock and terror, a couple full minutes passed before he nerved himself to address her and even then only after he accepted the fact that she might kill him in madness. He was as content with that as a man could be because his entire life since she hired him had been devoted to helping her do good. If she had lost her mind then his quest for redemption was likely at an end which was as good as the end of his life anyway.
"Evangeline?" He called. Her head snapped to one side to look at him with one eye. After a moment's consideration during which her facial twitches gave away her violent notions she turned slowly to face him, not yet having blinked. She seemed to wrestle her violent instincts down. "Firentis," She greeted him. Her voice was half a growl, half a bite. He could see her working her jaw like she wanted to use those blood-crusted teeth on something.
Firentis stared in uncomprehendingly at his captain but stood his ground. When he had abandoned her in the city above two families had taken refuge in that same attic from the victory-mad Khergits flooding the streets. Finding a gravely wounded Evangeline they correctly concluded that she had fought against the terrors in their city below so tended her wounds as best they possibly could, even dressing her in clothes they found there. When Khergit looters came into the upper levels of the house and discovered them the men folk of the two families had fought valiantly and even killed a few before themselves being put down. The invaders that were left decided, as many victors do, to take the women as prizes, the senior among them claiming for himself the woman who would struggle least: Evangeline.
Nearly half a day later in the prison of Dhirim, Evangeline still wore the simple clothes she was given above ground. Now, however, they were torn, filthy, and almost entirely stained a dark reddish brown - darker where water had been splashed to wake her up and lighter where more blood had been added so recently. Her hair and skin were caked and soaked in the vital fluid, both fresh and dried. It ran down her fingers and forearm on her left side - the one she had used to attempt to take the eye - and dropped to the floor. In all that horror only two clean spots shown, one for each of her brightly shining and entirely feral eyes.
"Captain, we're breaking out of prison," Firentis began. "Some of the -" He couldn't help glancing at the corpse by the wall. "One of the - that -" He took a breath to steady his babbling nerves. "There was a guard who was helping as well and there might be others." He paused with nothing else to say but wanted to asked her to come with him. He didn't think it felt right to request that she follow him when she had just proven herself fully capable - at least fully capable of combat.
"Excellent."She responded tersely. "Help me with this man."She ordered. Working quickly, almost too quickly for him to assist, she was soon dressed in the light armor of her once-jailor, once-ally, now-victim, not seeming to notice that she was quite improperly naked in front of a man at one point. Finding the dagger she had thrown and a truncheon her captor had dropped she shrugged and rolled her shoulders in the armor, shifting about to get its feel and noticing myriad pains but only noting them, not really feeling them. "Let's go."
Having just barely left the room where she awoke, the two were suddenly joined by a man leaping or being thrown from a side passage. Almost before he had reached the opposite wall Evangeline had shoved Firentis aside in her charge. He tried to tell her not to attack the man since he was obviously a prisoner also, still wearing the cotton and wool garments one wears under heavy armor. The warning was not fast enough but Evangeline was. As two jailors charged out of the side passage in pursuit of their prey, each suddenly found himself cut or stabbed, a ferocious screaming woman with a blade mere inches away and seemingly all around them. Firentis pulled forth his own stolen cudgel and tried to join in but Evangeline was too damn fast, slipping in and out and around the two men who only got in each other's way in the confined space. Stabbed in the back of the leg and the dagger pulled upward to split the muscle open, one man fell to his knees screaming. Firentis saw his opportunity to help and moved in to take him out, raising his club. The dagger that had downed the jailor zipped away and plunged into the hip and/or groin of the other one where it was savagely twisted and left behind. Evangeline suddenly reversed direction and kicked the first man in the side of the head.
Firentis halted his swing above his shoulder, his target now silent on the floor after hitting the wall face-first. Evangeline let forth a scream from the pain in her ribs that turned into a raging battle cry. The surviving jailor had been attempting to pull the blade out of him but never got it done. Evangeline slammed him into the wall, grabbed him by the hair with her good hand, hit him in the throat with her bad and ripped him backwards off his feet. Landing hard on his back in the hallway he had just emerged from, Evangeline stomped first on his face, then the hilt of the dagger, then the proceeded to kick and stomp on his head as hard and fast as she could until he couldn't even twitch. Snatching the unused club from Firentis - who felt astonishingly useless - she bludgeoned the first man until satisfied that he was dead and tossed the weapon back to her companion with a look that clearly indicated she expected him to be more helpful next time. He stared back with a mixture of shock and dread, looking at the other prisoner to see the same expression there. Retrieving her dagger, she headed down the side passage, briskly jogging toward the sounds of more battle. When the other prisoner started to ask, Firentis responded simply "Evangeline." and hurried to catch up.
Her head shot forward and angled to clamp her teeth down around his windpipe, biting and tearing with all the strength she could muster, throwing her head from side to side. So effective was this action that he couldn't scream, merely wheeze in panic. He kicked and thrashed but the other men in the room forcing themselves upon the other women in the room didn't notice anything to be alarmed about - until while fumbling for a sword to defend himself, Evangeline's rapist managed to hit one of the other men with it. Suddenly they realized there was a problem and one of the brutes had the bright idea to kick Evangeline in the head. Biting down harder now than she ever could have consciously and literally being torn loose, Evangeline was instantly unconscious again, nearly drowning in the blood gushing through the gaping hole in the front of her attempted-rapist's neck.
Evangeline woke and puked. Not on her back this time but sitting on the floor and chained to a wall instead, she managed to spew most of it to one side. Unfortunately, puking to one side meant leaning to one side and since she greatly desired laying down, her attempt at napping some more was doomed to bring her back into intimate contact with whatever that last meal was. Sliding sideways down the wall she gathered momentum for a delightful respite from the excruciating pain wracking her body. Chains stopped her short, though, the ones on her hand manacles coming tight first. She jerked to a halt and nearly puked again from all the head jostling that was going on. Prying open her eyes to see if she could manage to reach the floor in some way she saw that she was quite close to that which she had expelled. It appeared to primarily contain dark red clots and tatters of what may have been pig skin. And those chunks there looked like chicken cartilage but seemed too thin.
Letting that mystery go, Evangeline began to attempt to look around. However, the room was far too bright and she couldn't really move. It smelled horribly though she could only tell through one nostril as the other seemed to be blocked. She tasted blood all through her mouth and on her lips. It seemed neither fresh nor dry but sticky instead. She briefly remembered the man she'd bitten and concluded that her vomit consisted mainly of his voice box. The throbbing, stabbing, and mind-numbing pains all throughout and over her body were too many to consider but the first thing she knew was that her right shoulder didn't seem to be there. She tried to look for it but couldn't turn her head, only hang there staring at the filthy floor. Evangeline decided it wasn't gone, just ruined or numb because otherwise she wouldn't seem to be hanging from both arms, just one instead.
With nothing else to do, she began to let the sounds of the place filter through her fog of pain. Almost immediately she realized that this smelly place was in fact not silent at all but so deafeningly riotous as to actually go unnoticed in her state. As Evangeline concentrated she began to sort out the various notes and melodies contributing to the cacophony of dungeon activity. First, there was Firentis' voice shouting her name. It seemed like he might be fighting somebody but she wasn't sure. Then there were many other people rattling chains and shouting, blades swinging and smacking into things, men crying out both in pain and foreign tongues.
The noise was unbearably loud and she tried to yell for everyone to shut up but just the thought of yelling made her head hurt. Perhaps if she sat up she could muster the force to scream for silence so she could sleep again. Pulling with the muscles she knew should be lifting her back into a sitting position, Evangeline watched the floor stay exactly where it was. 'Ah,' she thought, having an epiphany. 'I'll just turn like this then pull -' She felt and heard something snap or pop where her missing shoulder was and immediately passed out again from the sudden pain.
A lifetime later Evangeline was wet and upset about it. She tried to work her mouth to complain or berate but everything in there was sticky and dry. Noises were heard and repeated, possibly commands in some language, then her mouth was forced open and an ocean poured in. She gagged and spit and fought the water back out only for more to come rushing in. Despite her best efforts some of it went down her throat. She tried to shout for someone to stop it but that throat was unresponsive. More water, more struggling, finally she was moist enough to cough up a mass of congealed blood and hock it vaguely forward. She hoped it hit whoever was torturing her square in their face, preferably an open mouth.
Her counterattack apparently worked as the water stopped coming. She tried to speak but couldn't, then, forgetting that she couldn't yet speak, asked for just a little more water. Something was pushed to her bottom lip. She opened her mouth and closed it after some liquid poured in. She sloshed it about and swallowed. Clearing her throat and trying her tongue again, she croaked out "Who -" then fell into a short coughing fit. The darkness in front of her closed eyes responded but she didn't understand. She tried to open those eyes to see her water torturer but physically couldn't, they were stuck closed. She started to fumble at them, too out of it to realize she was not restrained at all.
The torturer started up again, sloshing water onto her face and roughly rubbing her eyes. She tried to fight him back and finally noticed that her hands were free but she felt so weak. Her tormentor seemed to have six hands at once as he scrubbed her eyelids off, ripped out eyelashes, and had two or more left over to bat away her feeble attempts to bat him away. On one of those attempts that he knocked away the broken fingers of her right hand smacked into the stone beside her and she nearly passed out again. A sharp pain on her face from the direction she had been slumping brought her back - but a sudden fury came with her.
Evangeline's eyes snapped open and she saw her Khergit captor. Hatred, bloodlust, and rage filled her mind and she was instantly lost in it. Launching herself forward, she wrapped both hands around his neck as she bowled him over. She tried to squeeze but he tumbled backwards out of her grasp and her whole right arm wouldn't go, just wouldn't obey properly. She swung it in a circle and screamed as the shoulder snapped into place, the arm simultaneously going numb to the elbow.
She spied the water tormentor - certainly a Khergit from his armor and face - scrambling to gain his feet before her. The fury from the pain filled her and she launched herself forward again. He put his hands up and held her back just far enough that her crippled right hand was all that could reach and then only his cheek. She tore furrows of skin off his face and roared her wrath into his wide open eyes as the agony from those broken fingers shot up her arm. Now her captor didn't seem so strong or fast. He only had two arms which left him disadvantaged because Evangeline had her knees. She fired them up into his defenses, first one, then the other and as he fought to block those, she clubbed him with her bad hand. Again the rage of pain swamped her and she lost her mind, screaming and thrashing at the man, now backed nearly to the opposite wall.
As she roared blood, spit and force-fed water flew from her mouth and spattered his face and eyes. She kicked and kicked and hit and fought and clawed to kill this man in any way possible as he just tried to protect himself until he could push her away, an action he had tried several times already to no avail. In fact, she'd bitten him on the hand when he pushed at her once, he was pretty sure. Then she found his dagger's hilt and the fight turned quickly into the endgame. Ripping it free of the sheath, she threw it across the room behind her. The second it had come out his attention and both hands had been diverted to the weapon just long enough to leave him nothing with which to defend against the real threat. She leapt forward with all her might and crushed him into the wall, her knee pinning him in the center of his chest, just below the ribs. She clubbed him in the face again then tore out one of his eyes - or at least she tried.
Mostly she just jammed her fingers into his eye socket and thrashed around, furious that she couldn't fit her thumb all the way in as well to properly rip the vital organ loose. She destroyed the eye handily and tore out what was left but really actually just managed to string nerves and muscle tissue out onto his battered face while HE now screamed. Angry that she hadn't gotten the eye, Evangeline kneed him in the gut, grabbed him by the hair and slid him down the wall to where she could knee him in the throat - which she did. The screaming didn't stop so she tried again and again and again until she realized it was only her screaming now and she was smashing her knee into the wet stone wall, her captor destroyed on the floor and a handful of his hair gripped between her fingers.
She stopped, shook her head, and stomped on his chest, then did it again. With no response she turned away and found the bucket of water she had been tortured with. Splashing some of its contents on herself, she set to clearing out the last of what appeared to be dried blood around her eyes. Scrubbing the difficult chunks loose took some little time and effort but she rewarded herself with a cool drink. Taking a small sip she sloshed the now-welcome liquid around in her mouth then spit it out. Taking another taste she gargled a bit to lubricate her raw and dry throat and realized that the water was rather tasty. She was curious as to the source of it and promised herself that if she found a likely spot on her way out of here she would certainly have to stop and drink some, even possibly fill a water skin or some other receptacle to take with her for later drinking.
That's when Firentis finally found his voice and called her by name at the door. The little room she had been held in was dark and dank, nothing unusual for a prison cell - until one took into account the desk, parchments, and candles Evangeline had knocked over while effecting her escape. In fact, she was not being held at all, she had been carried to that room after being freed during Firentis' and the last surviving Lancer Guard's prison revolt. The Khergit she had killed was a guard who had promised to help lead them out for a portion of the coin Firentis had revealed he had stashed for her. While Evangeline was being roused to her senses so she could walk out on her own - and then promptly losing those senses - the prisoners taken so recently during the siege were fighting to get free. The Khergit noyans had all moved on to other targets or interests, leaving only a garrison of around 100 men: the best opportunity any of them were going to get to leave.
Firentis had returned to see how she was doing and arrived in time to see the guard he had trusted with his captain's life having his eye torn out by that meek charge. Standing stock still in shock and terror, a couple full minutes passed before he nerved himself to address her and even then only after he accepted the fact that she might kill him in madness. He was as content with that as a man could be because his entire life since she hired him had been devoted to helping her do good. If she had lost her mind then his quest for redemption was likely at an end which was as good as the end of his life anyway.
"Evangeline?" He called. Her head snapped to one side to look at him with one eye. After a moment's consideration during which her facial twitches gave away her violent notions she turned slowly to face him, not yet having blinked. She seemed to wrestle her violent instincts down. "Firentis," She greeted him. Her voice was half a growl, half a bite. He could see her working her jaw like she wanted to use those blood-crusted teeth on something.
Firentis stared in uncomprehendingly at his captain but stood his ground. When he had abandoned her in the city above two families had taken refuge in that same attic from the victory-mad Khergits flooding the streets. Finding a gravely wounded Evangeline they correctly concluded that she had fought against the terrors in their city below so tended her wounds as best they possibly could, even dressing her in clothes they found there. When Khergit looters came into the upper levels of the house and discovered them the men folk of the two families had fought valiantly and even killed a few before themselves being put down. The invaders that were left decided, as many victors do, to take the women as prizes, the senior among them claiming for himself the woman who would struggle least: Evangeline.
Nearly half a day later in the prison of Dhirim, Evangeline still wore the simple clothes she was given above ground. Now, however, they were torn, filthy, and almost entirely stained a dark reddish brown - darker where water had been splashed to wake her up and lighter where more blood had been added so recently. Her hair and skin were caked and soaked in the vital fluid, both fresh and dried. It ran down her fingers and forearm on her left side - the one she had used to attempt to take the eye - and dropped to the floor. In all that horror only two clean spots shown, one for each of her brightly shining and entirely feral eyes.
"Captain, we're breaking out of prison," Firentis began. "Some of the -" He couldn't help glancing at the corpse by the wall. "One of the - that -" He took a breath to steady his babbling nerves. "There was a guard who was helping as well and there might be others." He paused with nothing else to say but wanted to asked her to come with him. He didn't think it felt right to request that she follow him when she had just proven herself fully capable - at least fully capable of combat.
"Excellent."She responded tersely. "Help me with this man."She ordered. Working quickly, almost too quickly for him to assist, she was soon dressed in the light armor of her once-jailor, once-ally, now-victim, not seeming to notice that she was quite improperly naked in front of a man at one point. Finding the dagger she had thrown and a truncheon her captor had dropped she shrugged and rolled her shoulders in the armor, shifting about to get its feel and noticing myriad pains but only noting them, not really feeling them. "Let's go."
Having just barely left the room where she awoke, the two were suddenly joined by a man leaping or being thrown from a side passage. Almost before he had reached the opposite wall Evangeline had shoved Firentis aside in her charge. He tried to tell her not to attack the man since he was obviously a prisoner also, still wearing the cotton and wool garments one wears under heavy armor. The warning was not fast enough but Evangeline was. As two jailors charged out of the side passage in pursuit of their prey, each suddenly found himself cut or stabbed, a ferocious screaming woman with a blade mere inches away and seemingly all around them. Firentis pulled forth his own stolen cudgel and tried to join in but Evangeline was too damn fast, slipping in and out and around the two men who only got in each other's way in the confined space. Stabbed in the back of the leg and the dagger pulled upward to split the muscle open, one man fell to his knees screaming. Firentis saw his opportunity to help and moved in to take him out, raising his club. The dagger that had downed the jailor zipped away and plunged into the hip and/or groin of the other one where it was savagely twisted and left behind. Evangeline suddenly reversed direction and kicked the first man in the side of the head.
Firentis halted his swing above his shoulder, his target now silent on the floor after hitting the wall face-first. Evangeline let forth a scream from the pain in her ribs that turned into a raging battle cry. The surviving jailor had been attempting to pull the blade out of him but never got it done. Evangeline slammed him into the wall, grabbed him by the hair with her good hand, hit him in the throat with her bad and ripped him backwards off his feet. Landing hard on his back in the hallway he had just emerged from, Evangeline stomped first on his face, then the hilt of the dagger, then the proceeded to kick and stomp on his head as hard and fast as she could until he couldn't even twitch. Snatching the unused club from Firentis - who felt astonishingly useless - she bludgeoned the first man until satisfied that he was dead and tossed the weapon back to her companion with a look that clearly indicated she expected him to be more helpful next time. He stared back with a mixture of shock and dread, looking at the other prisoner to see the same expression there. Retrieving her dagger, she headed down the side passage, briskly jogging toward the sounds of more battle. When the other prisoner started to ask, Firentis responded simply "Evangeline." and hurried to catch up.
Summary: Evangeline awakes from her fall off the stairs to find herself in the company of an unpleasant man whom she bites - to death. She is knocked unconscious again by one of his companions. When she finally awakes fully, due to her injuries she is not in her right mind to begin with then she completely flips out in reaction to the extreme pain of her injuries and fear at having been captured. In this rage she brutally kills a guard who was going to help her escape; Firentis sees this happen but is too shocked to stop her. The two of them then join the rest of the prison riot he and a the last Lancer Guard started while she was unconscious.
I AM HOBO OF DOOM
Knight at Arms
Ow...
Chapter 27 - Part IV
January 21 and 22, 1258 - Dhirim
With Evangeline's madness and hellishly terrifying appearance on the front lines of the escape now, in mere minutes the last surviving prisoner in the not overly-large dungeon was free. No guard stood against her for more than a few moments and every single one of the seven that did throughout her rampage to the surface died painfully though sometimes mercifully fast. Oddly, the most heavily defended section the escaping prisoners encountered was not the exit but instead the hall leading to a cell with one prisoner: Lezalit. After using manacles on chains as weapons and even a full-sized table as a ram/shield to force the jailors back he was finally freed. Untouched since his capture and heavily guarded, Lezalit had been mistaken for the lord of Dhirim. After the defenses fell he and a few others struggled back to the keep to hide or fight some more. Half-exhausted he had flopped down on the lord's throne and was still there when the Khergits charged in. Wearing armor superior to many of the men around him and ordering them about has he did the natural mistake was to assume he was worth a valuable ransom.
Finally finding the surface, the city, daylight, Evangeline stretched her arms out and roared with silent exultance, victorious at escaping alive. Now her new challenge faced her: escaping the city where ten times the number of enemies she had already fought patrolled. Mentally she put away her claws and brought out her sneaking shoes. Besides Lezalit and Firentis another dozen men had survived. All were bone-tired but determined to reach their various goals. Some men wanted to check on families, others wanted to escape on their terms, away from the large party that stayed with Evangeline. With seven men under her command and no enemies immediately present she began to feel the throbbing pains all over her body but pushed them down, letting the half-mad fury mask over them. She had not borne her own assaults well. Her broken ribs pained her more than ever, causing her to stoop while a turned knee and her injured hip slowed her severely. The broken fingers of her right hand had been joined by broken bones in the hand itself when she used it to block a swinging club. She'd taken several hits to the head and face since her initial fall off the stairs and when she wasn't using it her right arm hung limply from that sore shoulder. She looked more than half dead and was starting to act it as exhaustion slowly brought her back to sanity.
Her group's first order of business was to track down the valuables Firentis had stored. They would need the weapons and coin there to make it anywhere in the enemy-held city. Those locals who could walked and behaved as normally as possible and acted as look outs by giving small hand signals back to the rest of the group following along. Once things seemed to be going well enough, significant progress being made, a group of four young Khergit soldiers left a dress shop and entered the street right in the midst of her group as they tried to hide. Evangeline attacked, knocking one into another. Two prisoners were immediately injured and she was thrown to the ground, the last of her strength expended. Rising slowly even with help, Evangeline started to sue for peace, offering money when they found it. However, Firentis was already ahead of her. The soldiers agreed to receive pay for not killing them and sounding the alarm right there but escorting them out of the city was likely out of the question. The lives and temporary freedom of Evangeline's group was purchased for a promise of 3,000 denars per Khergit soldier.
Winding through the streets somewhat faster now Evangeline's mind kept jumping from one track to another as her instincts demanded she attack and kill the enemy soldiers while her rationale knew such a feat was well beyond her at this point. Either way, her suspicions were raised when a significant look seemed to pass between one of her escorts and an heavily armed and armored Khergit lancer with two others nearby. Her instincts roared that a trap was imminent and her rationale agreed. The only thing she could think of to do, however, was not lead the lancers to her stash of goods. She gave the next direction and diverted the group to a false location instead, Lezalit and Firentis catching on quickly that there was trouble. They didn't make it more than a few hundred meters before those heavy lancers suddenly appeared with hands on undrawn weapons and demanded that they halt. In a Khergit tribal tongue the lead lancer demanded an explanation from the soldiers with Evangeline. Five lancers plus the four hired escorts she couldn't trust, Evangeline wasn't sure if this was the end of her escape or not but she damn sure wasn't going to take it lying down. Too tired now to generate a berserker rage she simply settled for trying to rip a man's balls off as the apparent leaders of the two Khergit groups began to argue. Her six other escaped prisoners sprang into action but so did the lancers. Oddly enough, when her quick revolt was just as quickly put down none of her people were dead. Instead, the 4 soldiers she had promised to pay off were all dead, the lancers herding everyone back together.
Confused, she stood her ground as their leader approached, sheathing his sword as he did. She consider trying to rip HIS balls off but decided that one good back hand from his gauntleted hand would put her on the ground, possibly for the last time. In faltering Common he indicated that he knew who they were and was interested in the gold they had offered but wanted 5,000 per man. As he walked dismissively away from Evangeline and greeted Lezalit as Count Clais it was clear he had only approached her to see the curiosity of a severely battered and blood-soaked warrior woman up close but had real business to attend to with the leading man of the group. "I killed your last guard, you know. In your throne room." He told Lezalit. "I remember." Lezalit answered, taking on the role he had likely become familiar with for the sake of survival. "Though I am glad to pay for safe passage out," he continued "25,000 denars is literally four times a KING'S ransom. I'd do much better to stay here as your prisoner. And besides, why on earth would I have that much stashed when I could have used it to hire every mercenary from here to Rivacheg to defend my holdings here? No, I cannot pay what you ask for and wouldn't either way." Evangeline was stunned and showed it but no one was paying attention to the hideously broken woman.
"Raulug said you promised he and his men 2,000 a piece." The lancer responded, indicating to the fellow Khergit he had essentially murdered to rob.
"Well, Raulug lied. I promised he and his 3,000 each and intended to ambush them before we even reached the hidden stash." This took the lancer back a bit. "Look," continued Lezalit, playing the part of a haughty and self-centered lord of Swadia extremely well. "I can stay here and be ransomed likely for around 4,000 denars -"
"Bah! The noyan's always receive no less than 6,000!" Lezalit leveled a cold gaze at the man with their fate in his hands.
"Is that what they tell you?" The lancer shifted uncomfortably. "A lord is never ransomed for that much - ever. A king will fetch something near 8,000 but only after arduous negotiations. But you don't need to know any of that for this negotiation right here." the count imposter indicted between himself and his captor. "What you need to know is what is being asked of you and how you are going to be compensated." He paused, seeming to let that sink through the lancer's thick skull. "I'm asking for passage for myself and my retainers here to the outside wall under the cover of darkness. I am willing to pay every single denar in my possession," he looked pointedly at Firentis who, after a slight pause to understand what was being asked of him responded "Round about 9,000 denars - my lord." The lancer did not scoff this time, listening intently. After a moment of silence Lezalit clarified, telling all the lancers "That's 1,800 denars for each of you."The leader seemed to do some math in his head, calculating just what exactly he could buy with his share and finally agreed - with one caveat:
"We want your woman." he answered, pointing at Evangeline. Her heart stopped and blood boiled, insanity roaring quickly to the top. She would rather be dead. Lezalit fixed him with that pitiless look again and refused.
"That woman is my sister, sir, and giving her to you would be paramount to purchasing my freedom at the cost of her undoubtedly being RAPED to death! I will NOT hand her over to you, you may as well stuff yourselves because the DEAL IS OFF!" The lancer quickly tried to quiet his charge down a bit, clearly not wishing for the situation to be complicated by more soldiers coming into it. He backed off.
"Fine, no woman. Keep her, she's too ugly anyway. The deal is not off, 9,000, okay. Let's go." Firentis looked to Evangeline, she signaled her okay. Lezalit looked to Firentis as he would a chamberlain and gestured for him to lead the way. Turning back the direction they had come from Firentis started to lead the way, Lezalit and the rest following. "Wait," said the lancer suspiciously. Firentis stopped. "You were heading into these stables here. Why are you now turning around?"
Lezalit answered: "Because I wasn't about to attempt an ambush where my money actually WAS. If I and my retainers die the money will be lost with me. I felt we were close enough to make it the rest of the way so this is where I was going to shed myself of them." The answer accepted, the lancer motioned for them to continue on, leaving 4 bodies in the street. Arriving after a few uneventful minutes of walking at a butcher's shop the lancer stopped them again.
"You already planned to kill your guards once and now you are leading us into a place where you will easily find weapons?" Lezalit nodded in understanding.
"Then leave two of your men with everyone else and bring two more inside to watch myself and my man here." Lezalit indicated to Firentis and himself. Again their escort grudgingly agreed after several moments of thought. He assigned two men to guard Evangeline plus the four others but before he could proceed inside the shop the two lancers required a word with him. Speaking quietly in a tribal dialect it was obvious from the pointing and other hand signals that they were establishing conditions and signals under which to kill everyone out there or come inside and how they would know when the money was in hand. That settled the two readied their bows as the lancer, two of his men, 'Count Clais' and Firentis journeyed inside.
"Will he kill them if he gets the money?" One of the prisoners asked Evangeline.
"Perhaps. Be ready to run inside the butcher's shop if need be." The prisoner seemed to like that answer well enough, Evangeline clearly wasn't out of her mind like she was before. He started to pass the word down to the other prisoners but one of their guards drew his bow at him and the warned him not to continue with a terse "Tsst!" and a waving finger. What worried Evangeline wasn't what would happen inside but the way the two guarding them had seemed to make a plan of their own as soon as the others were gone, moving she and the other prisoners out of the way to one side of the door to the shop. After a few tense and almost entirely silent minutes the lancer leader came out and calmly ordered everyone inside, blood soaking his arm up to the elbows. Inside Evangeline found no one dead but every animal carcass or hiding spot in the place had been turned over, looked and/or felt in, and in some cases turned inside out so that the lancer lead could be sure the one box of coins presented was the only one hidden there.
"We are going to wait here until dark then go to the west gate." He declared. One of the lancers asked a question wherein the only tribal word Evangeline recognized was 'duties'. "Limwauld will go and tell the captain that the rest of us have eaten some bad meat while exploring the city and can't make it for duty." the leader responded, indicating to one of the men earlier set to guard the captives outside. The man was waved on his way and left without a backwards glace. Evangeline felt sure he and the other man had been up to something and the leader separating them could not have been part of any plan yet he did not look at his co-conspirator once on his way out. Perhaps she was mistaken; she didn't feel like she was, though.
Some few hours later after dozing off and on Evangeline woke to a wet thumping sound. Head ringing from her concussion and opening her eyes far too painful to be done quickly, she tried to guess what she was hearing but the sound stopped too quickly and was replaced by heavy breathing. Whatever had happened, it apparently had tired somebody out. Something was going on and she needed to know what. Forcing herself upright she pried her eyes open and found Lezalit standing with his back to her spattered in blood from the feet up with the lancer leader's body at his feet, head obviously stomped in. Near the doorway the two lancers who had been guarding her earlier stood calmly with bows in hand but not readied. The other two lancers lay stuck full of arrows on the floor of the shop.
The younger of the two surviving Khergits put up his bow, smiled pleasantly at Evangeline and walked over to squat next to her. None of the others moved to intervene, instead gathering weapons and armor from the fallen for any later difficulties like she was in no danger at all. The prisoners volunteered Lezalit and Firentis to take the best armor and weapons but the young lancer pointed and said that they wouldn't need it; no one dropped anything but did stop undressing the corpses. He turned back to Evangeline and gently helped her to her feet where she wobbled from her countless injuries. "9,000 denars is far too much for just the four of us and such a simple task as a jail break." He said, speaking directly to Evangeline. Behind him the other lancer had recruited an ex-prisoner to help him ferry large, armor-shaped and -sounding parcels from somewhere outside. "We are taking it though, so to give you your money's worth we have brought you your men's armor, weapons, and other possessions." The young man smiled at the suspicious look in Evangeline's eyes. "We know who you are, Evangeline, and dying in a place like this is not a fitting end to such an enemy. Plus, the 9,000 is three times what the Khan has offered as a bounty on your head." He was still smiling. She was confused and on the verge of puking from vertigo.
Taking a moment to force her mind right she ordered her men up and to get armed: her own men in their own gear and the others in the scavenged gear. She still didn't trust these Khergits but couldn't figure any way for them to gain an advantage by letting them arm. Firentis indicated that he wanted to go fetch the rest of the stash from the well he had tainted with an animal carcass nearby. She ordered him to suit up first for fear of combat then countered that and sent two other men with him to hurry the process along. Regardless of nearly baseless suspicions, there seemed to be a golden opportunity here to escape.
Gently leading her outside the young lancer continued to surprise her with his magical generosity: Outside the butcher's shop stood almost a dozen horses, every single one of them that belonged to Evangeline and her companions. Two more smiling Khergits stood watch over them and even greeted her though she thought one was actually sneering. "We knew such animals and equipment couldn't belong to the garrison defenders when we found them so our captain - my father - had them all gathered and placed under his protection for when you inevitably escaped captivity or returned to claim them. The same was the case with your two men and their armor. Though most of the tribesmen did not, we knew your man was certainly NOT Count Clais. My father believes as I do and we both hope to face you on the battlefield, hence his mercy here in aiding your escape. Additionally, the rest of those who were captured that we knew couldn't possibly be local defenders but were taken by other noyans were taken to Rindyar Castle. We believe your surgeon fled to Shariz." Again and still the smiling... As he helped Evangeline's battered form up to the top of her horse's back she wanted to jab his eyes out and once there wanted to kick his nose in. She did not and he kept smiling.
"I can see from your eyes you will not spare me when next we meet." The lancer said. "Good for I will not spare you either. True warriors are not ransomed or captured, they are killed outright on the field of battle. You did not die this time so we have ensured you have another chance to die properly, on the end of a Khergit lance!" She couldn't disagree with that on any part but the last.
The gear gathered from the well and strapped to horses, Evangeline's party and its escorts proceeded to the west gate where the Khergit guards watched her impassively. Taking command of her little troop, Evangeline started through the gate. The young lancer spoke up from the side of her horse. "My father wished to meet you but his duties keep him in the castle. Shall I give him a message?" She stopped her horse and walked it back to him. "What is your name?"
"I am Rachek, son of Korman." She stared into his eyes for a long moment, set her jaw, nodded, and turned her horse to leave. He laughed out loud, a short and loud bark of a laugh. "Good! Good! A fight to the death then, when next we meet!" He shouted at her back as she disappeared into the dark countryside.
January 21 and 22, 1258 - Dhirim
With Evangeline's madness and hellishly terrifying appearance on the front lines of the escape now, in mere minutes the last surviving prisoner in the not overly-large dungeon was free. No guard stood against her for more than a few moments and every single one of the seven that did throughout her rampage to the surface died painfully though sometimes mercifully fast. Oddly, the most heavily defended section the escaping prisoners encountered was not the exit but instead the hall leading to a cell with one prisoner: Lezalit. After using manacles on chains as weapons and even a full-sized table as a ram/shield to force the jailors back he was finally freed. Untouched since his capture and heavily guarded, Lezalit had been mistaken for the lord of Dhirim. After the defenses fell he and a few others struggled back to the keep to hide or fight some more. Half-exhausted he had flopped down on the lord's throne and was still there when the Khergits charged in. Wearing armor superior to many of the men around him and ordering them about has he did the natural mistake was to assume he was worth a valuable ransom.
Finally finding the surface, the city, daylight, Evangeline stretched her arms out and roared with silent exultance, victorious at escaping alive. Now her new challenge faced her: escaping the city where ten times the number of enemies she had already fought patrolled. Mentally she put away her claws and brought out her sneaking shoes. Besides Lezalit and Firentis another dozen men had survived. All were bone-tired but determined to reach their various goals. Some men wanted to check on families, others wanted to escape on their terms, away from the large party that stayed with Evangeline. With seven men under her command and no enemies immediately present she began to feel the throbbing pains all over her body but pushed them down, letting the half-mad fury mask over them. She had not borne her own assaults well. Her broken ribs pained her more than ever, causing her to stoop while a turned knee and her injured hip slowed her severely. The broken fingers of her right hand had been joined by broken bones in the hand itself when she used it to block a swinging club. She'd taken several hits to the head and face since her initial fall off the stairs and when she wasn't using it her right arm hung limply from that sore shoulder. She looked more than half dead and was starting to act it as exhaustion slowly brought her back to sanity.
Her group's first order of business was to track down the valuables Firentis had stored. They would need the weapons and coin there to make it anywhere in the enemy-held city. Those locals who could walked and behaved as normally as possible and acted as look outs by giving small hand signals back to the rest of the group following along. Once things seemed to be going well enough, significant progress being made, a group of four young Khergit soldiers left a dress shop and entered the street right in the midst of her group as they tried to hide. Evangeline attacked, knocking one into another. Two prisoners were immediately injured and she was thrown to the ground, the last of her strength expended. Rising slowly even with help, Evangeline started to sue for peace, offering money when they found it. However, Firentis was already ahead of her. The soldiers agreed to receive pay for not killing them and sounding the alarm right there but escorting them out of the city was likely out of the question. The lives and temporary freedom of Evangeline's group was purchased for a promise of 3,000 denars per Khergit soldier.
Winding through the streets somewhat faster now Evangeline's mind kept jumping from one track to another as her instincts demanded she attack and kill the enemy soldiers while her rationale knew such a feat was well beyond her at this point. Either way, her suspicions were raised when a significant look seemed to pass between one of her escorts and an heavily armed and armored Khergit lancer with two others nearby. Her instincts roared that a trap was imminent and her rationale agreed. The only thing she could think of to do, however, was not lead the lancers to her stash of goods. She gave the next direction and diverted the group to a false location instead, Lezalit and Firentis catching on quickly that there was trouble. They didn't make it more than a few hundred meters before those heavy lancers suddenly appeared with hands on undrawn weapons and demanded that they halt. In a Khergit tribal tongue the lead lancer demanded an explanation from the soldiers with Evangeline. Five lancers plus the four hired escorts she couldn't trust, Evangeline wasn't sure if this was the end of her escape or not but she damn sure wasn't going to take it lying down. Too tired now to generate a berserker rage she simply settled for trying to rip a man's balls off as the apparent leaders of the two Khergit groups began to argue. Her six other escaped prisoners sprang into action but so did the lancers. Oddly enough, when her quick revolt was just as quickly put down none of her people were dead. Instead, the 4 soldiers she had promised to pay off were all dead, the lancers herding everyone back together.
Confused, she stood her ground as their leader approached, sheathing his sword as he did. She consider trying to rip HIS balls off but decided that one good back hand from his gauntleted hand would put her on the ground, possibly for the last time. In faltering Common he indicated that he knew who they were and was interested in the gold they had offered but wanted 5,000 per man. As he walked dismissively away from Evangeline and greeted Lezalit as Count Clais it was clear he had only approached her to see the curiosity of a severely battered and blood-soaked warrior woman up close but had real business to attend to with the leading man of the group. "I killed your last guard, you know. In your throne room." He told Lezalit. "I remember." Lezalit answered, taking on the role he had likely become familiar with for the sake of survival. "Though I am glad to pay for safe passage out," he continued "25,000 denars is literally four times a KING'S ransom. I'd do much better to stay here as your prisoner. And besides, why on earth would I have that much stashed when I could have used it to hire every mercenary from here to Rivacheg to defend my holdings here? No, I cannot pay what you ask for and wouldn't either way." Evangeline was stunned and showed it but no one was paying attention to the hideously broken woman.
"Raulug said you promised he and his men 2,000 a piece." The lancer responded, indicating to the fellow Khergit he had essentially murdered to rob.
"Well, Raulug lied. I promised he and his 3,000 each and intended to ambush them before we even reached the hidden stash." This took the lancer back a bit. "Look," continued Lezalit, playing the part of a haughty and self-centered lord of Swadia extremely well. "I can stay here and be ransomed likely for around 4,000 denars -"
"Bah! The noyan's always receive no less than 6,000!" Lezalit leveled a cold gaze at the man with their fate in his hands.
"Is that what they tell you?" The lancer shifted uncomfortably. "A lord is never ransomed for that much - ever. A king will fetch something near 8,000 but only after arduous negotiations. But you don't need to know any of that for this negotiation right here." the count imposter indicted between himself and his captor. "What you need to know is what is being asked of you and how you are going to be compensated." He paused, seeming to let that sink through the lancer's thick skull. "I'm asking for passage for myself and my retainers here to the outside wall under the cover of darkness. I am willing to pay every single denar in my possession," he looked pointedly at Firentis who, after a slight pause to understand what was being asked of him responded "Round about 9,000 denars - my lord." The lancer did not scoff this time, listening intently. After a moment of silence Lezalit clarified, telling all the lancers "That's 1,800 denars for each of you."The leader seemed to do some math in his head, calculating just what exactly he could buy with his share and finally agreed - with one caveat:
"We want your woman." he answered, pointing at Evangeline. Her heart stopped and blood boiled, insanity roaring quickly to the top. She would rather be dead. Lezalit fixed him with that pitiless look again and refused.
"That woman is my sister, sir, and giving her to you would be paramount to purchasing my freedom at the cost of her undoubtedly being RAPED to death! I will NOT hand her over to you, you may as well stuff yourselves because the DEAL IS OFF!" The lancer quickly tried to quiet his charge down a bit, clearly not wishing for the situation to be complicated by more soldiers coming into it. He backed off.
"Fine, no woman. Keep her, she's too ugly anyway. The deal is not off, 9,000, okay. Let's go." Firentis looked to Evangeline, she signaled her okay. Lezalit looked to Firentis as he would a chamberlain and gestured for him to lead the way. Turning back the direction they had come from Firentis started to lead the way, Lezalit and the rest following. "Wait," said the lancer suspiciously. Firentis stopped. "You were heading into these stables here. Why are you now turning around?"
Lezalit answered: "Because I wasn't about to attempt an ambush where my money actually WAS. If I and my retainers die the money will be lost with me. I felt we were close enough to make it the rest of the way so this is where I was going to shed myself of them." The answer accepted, the lancer motioned for them to continue on, leaving 4 bodies in the street. Arriving after a few uneventful minutes of walking at a butcher's shop the lancer stopped them again.
"You already planned to kill your guards once and now you are leading us into a place where you will easily find weapons?" Lezalit nodded in understanding.
"Then leave two of your men with everyone else and bring two more inside to watch myself and my man here." Lezalit indicated to Firentis and himself. Again their escort grudgingly agreed after several moments of thought. He assigned two men to guard Evangeline plus the four others but before he could proceed inside the shop the two lancers required a word with him. Speaking quietly in a tribal dialect it was obvious from the pointing and other hand signals that they were establishing conditions and signals under which to kill everyone out there or come inside and how they would know when the money was in hand. That settled the two readied their bows as the lancer, two of his men, 'Count Clais' and Firentis journeyed inside.
"Will he kill them if he gets the money?" One of the prisoners asked Evangeline.
"Perhaps. Be ready to run inside the butcher's shop if need be." The prisoner seemed to like that answer well enough, Evangeline clearly wasn't out of her mind like she was before. He started to pass the word down to the other prisoners but one of their guards drew his bow at him and the warned him not to continue with a terse "Tsst!" and a waving finger. What worried Evangeline wasn't what would happen inside but the way the two guarding them had seemed to make a plan of their own as soon as the others were gone, moving she and the other prisoners out of the way to one side of the door to the shop. After a few tense and almost entirely silent minutes the lancer leader came out and calmly ordered everyone inside, blood soaking his arm up to the elbows. Inside Evangeline found no one dead but every animal carcass or hiding spot in the place had been turned over, looked and/or felt in, and in some cases turned inside out so that the lancer lead could be sure the one box of coins presented was the only one hidden there.
"We are going to wait here until dark then go to the west gate." He declared. One of the lancers asked a question wherein the only tribal word Evangeline recognized was 'duties'. "Limwauld will go and tell the captain that the rest of us have eaten some bad meat while exploring the city and can't make it for duty." the leader responded, indicating to one of the men earlier set to guard the captives outside. The man was waved on his way and left without a backwards glace. Evangeline felt sure he and the other man had been up to something and the leader separating them could not have been part of any plan yet he did not look at his co-conspirator once on his way out. Perhaps she was mistaken; she didn't feel like she was, though.
Some few hours later after dozing off and on Evangeline woke to a wet thumping sound. Head ringing from her concussion and opening her eyes far too painful to be done quickly, she tried to guess what she was hearing but the sound stopped too quickly and was replaced by heavy breathing. Whatever had happened, it apparently had tired somebody out. Something was going on and she needed to know what. Forcing herself upright she pried her eyes open and found Lezalit standing with his back to her spattered in blood from the feet up with the lancer leader's body at his feet, head obviously stomped in. Near the doorway the two lancers who had been guarding her earlier stood calmly with bows in hand but not readied. The other two lancers lay stuck full of arrows on the floor of the shop.
The younger of the two surviving Khergits put up his bow, smiled pleasantly at Evangeline and walked over to squat next to her. None of the others moved to intervene, instead gathering weapons and armor from the fallen for any later difficulties like she was in no danger at all. The prisoners volunteered Lezalit and Firentis to take the best armor and weapons but the young lancer pointed and said that they wouldn't need it; no one dropped anything but did stop undressing the corpses. He turned back to Evangeline and gently helped her to her feet where she wobbled from her countless injuries. "9,000 denars is far too much for just the four of us and such a simple task as a jail break." He said, speaking directly to Evangeline. Behind him the other lancer had recruited an ex-prisoner to help him ferry large, armor-shaped and -sounding parcels from somewhere outside. "We are taking it though, so to give you your money's worth we have brought you your men's armor, weapons, and other possessions." The young man smiled at the suspicious look in Evangeline's eyes. "We know who you are, Evangeline, and dying in a place like this is not a fitting end to such an enemy. Plus, the 9,000 is three times what the Khan has offered as a bounty on your head." He was still smiling. She was confused and on the verge of puking from vertigo.
Taking a moment to force her mind right she ordered her men up and to get armed: her own men in their own gear and the others in the scavenged gear. She still didn't trust these Khergits but couldn't figure any way for them to gain an advantage by letting them arm. Firentis indicated that he wanted to go fetch the rest of the stash from the well he had tainted with an animal carcass nearby. She ordered him to suit up first for fear of combat then countered that and sent two other men with him to hurry the process along. Regardless of nearly baseless suspicions, there seemed to be a golden opportunity here to escape.
Gently leading her outside the young lancer continued to surprise her with his magical generosity: Outside the butcher's shop stood almost a dozen horses, every single one of them that belonged to Evangeline and her companions. Two more smiling Khergits stood watch over them and even greeted her though she thought one was actually sneering. "We knew such animals and equipment couldn't belong to the garrison defenders when we found them so our captain - my father - had them all gathered and placed under his protection for when you inevitably escaped captivity or returned to claim them. The same was the case with your two men and their armor. Though most of the tribesmen did not, we knew your man was certainly NOT Count Clais. My father believes as I do and we both hope to face you on the battlefield, hence his mercy here in aiding your escape. Additionally, the rest of those who were captured that we knew couldn't possibly be local defenders but were taken by other noyans were taken to Rindyar Castle. We believe your surgeon fled to Shariz." Again and still the smiling... As he helped Evangeline's battered form up to the top of her horse's back she wanted to jab his eyes out and once there wanted to kick his nose in. She did not and he kept smiling.
"I can see from your eyes you will not spare me when next we meet." The lancer said. "Good for I will not spare you either. True warriors are not ransomed or captured, they are killed outright on the field of battle. You did not die this time so we have ensured you have another chance to die properly, on the end of a Khergit lance!" She couldn't disagree with that on any part but the last.
The gear gathered from the well and strapped to horses, Evangeline's party and its escorts proceeded to the west gate where the Khergit guards watched her impassively. Taking command of her little troop, Evangeline started through the gate. The young lancer spoke up from the side of her horse. "My father wished to meet you but his duties keep him in the castle. Shall I give him a message?" She stopped her horse and walked it back to him. "What is your name?"
"I am Rachek, son of Korman." She stared into his eyes for a long moment, set her jaw, nodded, and turned her horse to leave. He laughed out loud, a short and loud bark of a laugh. "Good! Good! A fight to the death then, when next we meet!" He shouted at her back as she disappeared into the dark countryside.
I AM HOBO OF DOOM
Knight at Arms
How so?killer110 说:
Mill Wilkinson
Veteran
Wheeee! *applauds*
True honour found in some tribesman noble instead of the knights riding in shining armour. Nice, I like.
True honour found in some tribesman noble instead of the knights riding in shining armour. Nice, I like.
No Disney always ends with a "happily ever after" moment.
there was such a thing as a "gentleman's code" way way back then. Not so much now hence your soccer match Kick em when they're down mentality (not saying that wasn't the case back then but it seems the "gentlemen" have almost completely died out since)
there was such a thing as a "gentleman's code" way way back then. Not so much now hence your soccer match Kick em when they're down mentality (not saying that wasn't the case back then but it seems the "gentlemen" have almost completely died out since)
Mixedpotatoes
Master Knight
killer110 说:
No, it was completely real, but I doubt that a lot of knights followed the code of honor.
Because most people are just assholes and can't do anything about it
To the point: Chivalry existed, some knights and lords followed this code. Have you ever heard about Saladin? Of course you have. He was a pretty honorful guy. He fits perfectly in the description of chivalry.
nem•e•sis [ némməssiss ]
unbeatable opponent: a bitter enemy, especially one who seems unbeatable
source of harm: a source of harm or ruin
deserved punishment: punishment that is deserved, especially when it results in somebody's downfall
Simply put, Rachek had heard of Evangeline and, as many a man will do, was fascinated by her willing and voracious participation in violence first and impressed by her prowess second. Even though she was defeated in the siege during which he may or may not have gotten to see her fight, the next time he saw her she was covered in blood, injured in just about every way, exhausted, had just clawed her way out of the dungeons via brute force, and was STILL the first person to launch an attack when her situation seemed hopeless. He saw that she was unrelenting, canny, and extremely dangerous even severely injured and was excited to see her in full glory and health on the field of battle, the only place where she could die and produce a fitting end to her story.
Sure, in reality great warriors rarely die at their peak and in battle but those uneven stories are less satisfying. To have a whole tale build up and build up just to end awkwardly is disappointing. Imagine if in your own single player game your kingdom was steadily expanding out across the land when suddenly the game stops and forces you to make a choice as to how your empire will end with no further gameplay involved: will it be destroyed by drought and famine or will your enemies rise up, band together and defeat you? While many players will not give their digital enemies the satisfaction, others certainly will because their kingdom going out in a blaze of glory sounds a lot better than the land drying up and everyone moving away or starving over the next decade.
The point is, Rachek didn't want Evangeline's tale to end so ignominiously, even if it could eventually lead to his own death or the destruction of his people and culture. He didn't think she deserved to be just another fighter killed in the siege and he wanted to be the one to finish her. Honor never came into it: he wanted the challenge of facing her down when she was at her best and thereby proving himself indisputably superior. Taking out an enemy with a rock in the night while they can't defend themselves may well be acceptable to many of us here but it wasn't good enough for him and just like this game wouldn't be any fun if it was too easy and no one respects cheaters even if they win, he wanted to have to work for his victory, to earn it.
Some will still say that this is a form of honor but I disagree. In a fair duel if one man drops his sword the honorable thing would be to let him retrieve it. The glory-lusting thing to do would be finish him off - his fault if he can't hold onto his weapon. Rachek would certainly have taken the second option and he knew Evangeline would too. Would she spare him as he spared her, though? Absolutely not. She has world-changing in mind and he is a part that needs to be killed. That doesn't matter to him though because he is confident he can defeat her without her having to be disadvantaged.
unbeatable opponent: a bitter enemy, especially one who seems unbeatable
source of harm: a source of harm or ruin
deserved punishment: punishment that is deserved, especially when it results in somebody's downfall
Simply put, Rachek had heard of Evangeline and, as many a man will do, was fascinated by her willing and voracious participation in violence first and impressed by her prowess second. Even though she was defeated in the siege during which he may or may not have gotten to see her fight, the next time he saw her she was covered in blood, injured in just about every way, exhausted, had just clawed her way out of the dungeons via brute force, and was STILL the first person to launch an attack when her situation seemed hopeless. He saw that she was unrelenting, canny, and extremely dangerous even severely injured and was excited to see her in full glory and health on the field of battle, the only place where she could die and produce a fitting end to her story.
Sure, in reality great warriors rarely die at their peak and in battle but those uneven stories are less satisfying. To have a whole tale build up and build up just to end awkwardly is disappointing. Imagine if in your own single player game your kingdom was steadily expanding out across the land when suddenly the game stops and forces you to make a choice as to how your empire will end with no further gameplay involved: will it be destroyed by drought and famine or will your enemies rise up, band together and defeat you? While many players will not give their digital enemies the satisfaction, others certainly will because their kingdom going out in a blaze of glory sounds a lot better than the land drying up and everyone moving away or starving over the next decade.
The point is, Rachek didn't want Evangeline's tale to end so ignominiously, even if it could eventually lead to his own death or the destruction of his people and culture. He didn't think she deserved to be just another fighter killed in the siege and he wanted to be the one to finish her. Honor never came into it: he wanted the challenge of facing her down when she was at her best and thereby proving himself indisputably superior. Taking out an enemy with a rock in the night while they can't defend themselves may well be acceptable to many of us here but it wasn't good enough for him and just like this game wouldn't be any fun if it was too easy and no one respects cheaters even if they win, he wanted to have to work for his victory, to earn it.
Some will still say that this is a form of honor but I disagree. In a fair duel if one man drops his sword the honorable thing would be to let him retrieve it. The glory-lusting thing to do would be finish him off - his fault if he can't hold onto his weapon. Rachek would certainly have taken the second option and he knew Evangeline would too. Would she spare him as he spared her, though? Absolutely not. She has world-changing in mind and he is a part that needs to be killed. That doesn't matter to him though because he is confident he can defeat her without her having to be disadvantaged.
