The Sands of Blood - Chapter Two: Acre

[The Mercenary]

Alys walked away from the group, standing on a dune nearby and scanning the area. All she saw was sand and what looked like a road, a few leagues to the east. She glanced back.

"Let us get moving."

 

[Corndawg]

Corey once more shook the sand out of his armor. He glanced at the monk, who had woken up, and gave him a nod.

"Let us get moving."

"Very well, try and keep a tight line. Keep your eyes sharp, we can't be caught off guard. Leinad, I suggest you take up the rear. You, the yeoman, in front of him, the monk in the middle. Me, Sister Alys, and this knight over here shall be in the front. Before we head out, let us first know each others' names. I am Sir Corey Allard, Knight of the Templar Order."

((Seeing as our characters don't know everyone's names....))

 

[corey43]

John looked upm from his woodcutting axe. We are moving finnaly he thought as he stood up, onto the burning sands.

''You, Yeoman in front of him.''

Here come the orders John thought, he did what he was told and prepared to march.

'' Sir, I am surprised you wish to know my name, but it is John Archer son of William Archer.''

 

[RalliX]

"Sir Joseph Artorious O'Keenan."  said the proud knight, looking at Archer with a small grin. "It seems you lack arrows my friend, if I still have my purse I will buy you some fresh bodkin arrows!" He said looking around his person for the pouch, finally remembering it was next to his dagger, at his rear. He opened it and found two hundred, and thirteen silver, Artorious looked up at the yeoman and nodded briefly before walking in front of the others waiting for their names, and formation. "Let us get moving!" He said aloud 'We can tell each other our names as we walk.'

 

[corey43]

John looked at the gold and sliver in awe, he had not seen so much at one time in his life. More arrows, brilliant i wont have to use this crude weapon after all, John thought looking at the axe with disdain.

 

[Kalnia]

Leinad slid from the saddle and led Lyamrai by the reigns to preserve the beasts strength. He rested his spears shaft on his over shoulder, walking silently on content in his own company. Before the peasent's blow had torn the quart of flesh from the right-hand side of his face, he had been a good looking man. He had never seen himself in one of the mirrors the nobility loved so much, but he had always known so. The moment with the peasent's spear had turned him to quite the social pariah, friendly but most were scared or intimidated by the remainder of his face.

With a sigh, Leinad begain to whistle the tune to an old soldier's song and kept time by tapping his oaken spear's butt into the ground as he stepped.

 

[RalliX]

Joseph joined along in the soldiers tune, whistling as he had heard it before many times, and he always enjoyed a good song or two. He continued walking ahead of the rest looking around the flat rocky area for any sign of settlement, of which he found none, the most worrying thing now was water supplies.

 

[The Mercenary]

Alys walked along with the other knights, her sword sheathed again to protect it from the dust and to avoid alerting others to their presence by a stray ray of light deflecting off of the polished blade, without joining in the song or even giving a sign that she'd noticed them singing.

 

[Corndawg]

Corey walked along and smiled when the others started whistling. He joined in and continued to look around. There had to be something somewhere was all he could think, no matter how vague. The only thing that he knew of was the road that was a few leagues away. He sighed and continued whistling.

 

[corey43]

As they walked the mounted Sergeant started whistling a soldiers tune, which he'd recognised, he'd heard it on the ship before it sank. John did not feel that he should Join in, The Sergeant and Knights may become offended by someone as low rank as himself joining in. So John walked on in silence, on the alert in case of any danger.

 

[Kalnia]

Laughing at the small chorus he had created, and also at the coldness and almost arrogant distance of the Templars, Leinad patted Lyamrai's neck fondly and yawned. They were wondering near enough blind and, even though he believed himself above it, he was the only one possessing a horse and so was the only suitable candidate for a scout. Mounting the horse with a heave and a grunt, the man-at-arms trotted it to walk beside the Templars who were his superiors in rank.

"With your permission, Lords and Lady, I'll take Lyamrai along the rode and see where we march too. Not to question the way of which God's warriors choose to travel, but marching blind into the snake pit of an unknown land might be considered a mortal sin to a humble soldier such as myself."

 

[The Mercenary]

Alys looked up at the sergeant, keeping her expression cool.

"Scout if you wish. I'm not familiar with this area, and I'm not even sure which way is north."

She glanced around.

"If we wrecked to the south, the water is in the north, and we're somewhere in Egypt. If we wrecked to the east, we're in Arabia, but we could be in Seljuk or Ottoman territory, Crusader territory, or in the Saracen's territory. We'll just have to see which way the sun sets and find a caravan or something."

She looked forward again, continuing advancing.

 

[Kalnia]

Looking down at the Templar for a moment after she finished speaking, the sergeant bowed his head as her rank demanded and trotted his horse on a few paces to avoid kicking a dust cloud up over the small band. Most be like making love to an icesickle with that lass, the man-at-arms chuckled as the thought passed hrough his head. Once clear, Leinad clicked his tongue and urged his faithful mount on to a canter on the hard, sun-baked earth. He was on this crusade to save his soul, and although it was probably not the worst the Almighty had seen, he doupted he would earn a place beside the seraphs with thoughts concerning any Templar lass. Resting the oaken staff on his boot again, Leinad kept his eye out for the errant spark of gleaming metal or dustcloud or smoke on te horizon that would betray the absense of any life.

 

[Boomie]

Giuseppe was running, running as fast as he could. He had been running for over an hour, was it not for his thin build he would certainly be dead. Behind him were ten or so Saracen riders, as he ran he thanked God that they were not horse-archers. He still had his equipment, though he had no time to reload his crossbow. Most of his scouting party is already dead or bleeding, no doubt the Saracens would have done away with them. And there at last, he saw it. A horse and horseman in the distance, he could see no glimmer of silver, and continued to pray to God that the distant man was not Saracen. He raised his sword, swishing it sideways, hoping for an answer. He had little strength with him, and he could only continue running for a few minutes.

 

[Kalnia]

Leinad had no time to signal back and so he shouted to the group in hopes they would hear him, raising his hand and spear and thrusting them in the direction of the fugitive infront of him. Taking the reigns in his left, Leinad raked his heels back gently and the big gelding spurred forward into a gallop. The spear was not the type that could be couched below the arm and thus take an opponent clean out from the saddle, but the thrusts with the horse's speed behind them would still be strong enough. The riders behind the poor sod were enclosing in fast, and as the distance between him and the footman's pursuers closed he saw they wore mail and cloth. Medium cavalry, so either archers or swordsman. Lancers would be adorned with the more noticeable lances and pennants.

Reeling in hard around in a circle, Leinad thrust the spear at a horse's eyes and made the smaller Arabian mount rear to block those behind. One rider came to his left and the scimitar stroke was too far away, the very tip of the man's blade wasting itself on Leinad's mail sleeve. As Lyamrai turned fast, Leinad dropped the reigns and held the horse true with his knees, lowering himself in the saddle and grasping Giuseppe's collar hard, yanking him up like a sack of wheat to lie behind him on Lyamrai's flank.

"Hold on stranger!"

With that, he regained the reins and urged Lyamrai towards the group. His horse was the bigger one, bred for speed in the charge and sheer strength, whilst those behind were smaller Arabian crossbreeds, small, hardy and fast. But Lyamrai was fresh and those behind tired, and Leinad grinned as he galloped with the stranger holding on for dear life. He would get back to the others, dump the stranger with them and let them take the charge, before hitting hard into these bastard's flank. God and the Virgin forgive him, but he was enjoying himself.

 

[Boomie]

((Howd'ja know my name? ))

Giuseppe grasped on, he put his crossbow on his laps, and with one hand on the rider, he pulled back the string with the other. It was a tough thing to do, but he managed it, after receiving some pain on his hip due to the pressure he was pulling on the crossbow. He loaded a bolt on it, and holding on for dear life on the saddle he turned his body around and aimed. It was a hard affair to manage, the crossbow was not suitable to be shot like this. He was not even trained to shoot a crossbow from horse, and doubts if anybody is. Saying a prayer as he aimed, he shouted at the rider to speed up, but his voice seemed to have been lost in the hours of running across the desert.

The Saracens were catching up to them. Hours of riding through the desert has not hindered the endurance of the Arabian horses. "Keep going!" he shouted to the rider as the Saracens were barely a lance away from them. He aimed once more, and risked a shot at one of the Arabs. By the grace of God, he had shot the horse, it tumbled, and the rider behind it was barely able to get out of the way before the horse and its rider became a barricade. That's two riders down, how many more? He counted nine other riders still chasing them. He reloaded his crossbow with much more difficulty, and prayed to God that they would not catch up.

 

[RalliX]

Seeing the charging Saracens, Joseph put to what tactics he had. There was no cover for anyone, and thus, they had to brace for impact. "You, Sir Templar, will brace your spear!" He shouted at the knight next to him.
"Everyone fall in behind me and Corey!" Joseph again shouted out as he removed his spear from it's straps.

 

[The Mercenary]

Alys ignored the knight, drawing her longsword in flash of steel with both hands and stepping forward, raising it defensively above her head.

She casually spoke backwards to the other soldiers,

"Saracens don't work that way. Head-on charges are for knights - Saracen horses aren't used for suicidal attacks against spearmen, they're fast and light, not heavy. The sand won't be very useful for holding, either - your spear will slide nicely unless you manage to bury the end. No parley for us either, Templars are killed on sight by Saracens."

She waited patiently for the horsemen to arrive.

"When they come, they'll try and circle us, hit us in the sides and backs. I want the crossbowman in the center of a circle formation, and hitting them as they try and come in. They'll avoid the spearmen and try for the swordsmen, so just be warned. Yeoman, stay in the center with the crossbowman - your armor's useless against their weapons and you're more useful alive."

 

[Corndawg]

"Saracens, I can't stand em.'" Corey held tightly onto his spear and watched as the Saracens drew closer, ready to surround the group. "John! I need you to be ready as well. Though you don't have any arrows, I'm trusting your skill with that axe of yours." Corey pointed his spear at the riders, waiting. The Saracens began circling the group and taunting them. Corey's grip got even tighter and he almost lunged out in anger, but composed himself.

'Prepare to die Saracens,' he thought to himself, 'prepare to die.'

 

[The Mercenary]

Alys shouted in Arabic at the Saracens, but was ignored. She heard one approaching her from behind and gracefully spun while moving to her left, her hair flying out wide, as her sword slammed across, crunching into the rider's leather armor, pierced it, smashed through his flesh and spinal cord, and exited out the back. She hissed, shaking out the light numbness in her hands from the impact - keeping the sword in her hands had been an ordeal. She stepped over the Saracen's bleeding body and stabbed him through the throat quickly, ending his pain, then stepped back and turned to look at the others, her silvery sword crimson already.