"Ain't nothing angrier out there but a merc' being denied their rightful paycheck~
'Cept maybe the fury of a damsel at the altar cos' her man took a raincheck~
Piss not all the mama bears off, lest life goes astray~
As hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, they say~" - Old ribald tune, commonly sung amongst soldiers and mercenaries.
Fort Ascher
Holy Kingdom of Theodinaz, southern region
Western Alcidea
1st day, 1st week, 7th month of the year 2 FP.
Reinhardt yawned loudly as he slowly climbed up the steps to the fort's walls. Those who had been fit to fight amongst his group were scheduled to take the morning watch today, their rest and respite lasting but a brief night.
There was little to complain about, honestly. The fort had been so low on manpower, that it was already good that they didn't make him stand watch from last night. He saw Kasimir as the half-orcish man made his way to another section of the wall with sleepy eyes, and others from his group of survivors similarly headed to their posts.
Rodney and Hannah were exempt from the watch duties due to their injuries, though Hannah had insisted they move her to a high place where she could help keep watch with her sharp eyes even from her sickbed.
Elfriede was similarly exempt - mostly because she cannot see to begin with - and stayed at the barracks, where she took care of the recovering Erycea. It sickened Reinhardt that Erycea wasn't the only child injured in yesterday's mess. Many of the children amongst the Legion's dependents were even killed in cold blood.
"Oh, hey, little boss. Here to take the watch?" greeted Ylisera's familiar voice as he stepped up to the walkways on top of the wall. The elven camp prostitute wasn't wearing one of those frilly, low-necked dresses she loved so much, but more practical pants and tunic with a gambeson covering her torso instead.
She called him by his nickname - which had stuck with him for a while, especially amongst the older members of the companies, since he was Ingrid's adopted nephew - since they were quite familiar with each other. He himself had been a frequent customer of hers in the past, at least before he got together with Elfriede.
And yet, the sight of the well-made saber and long knife sheathed by her waist reminded him all too well that although Ylisera favored working as a camp prostitute for the company, the woman was perfectly capable of killing many of her mercenary clients should it come to a fight.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
The attackers found that little tidbit out the hard way when they attacked the fort the day before yesterday.
Ylisera's new saber and long knife were salvaged from those very attackers, and Reinhardt saw many other people - dependents of the company members, or their various camp followers - wielding weapons and armor taken from their dead enemies as well.
Many of those people had just grieved for the loss of their family members last night, as Reinhardt had the unpleasant responsibility to let them know what happened to the first company.
A lot of them cursed the deities, some even cursed at Ingrid or him in their grief, and a few even had to be restrained. Yet after the emotions cooled down, and the grief settled somewhat, he saw only burning determination in their eyes.
Determination, and a desire for blood.
The vast majority of the company's followers had volunteered to fight more battles, at least for the duration of this conflict. Only a few shied away, as most of them wished to exact some payback for their lost families and friends with their own hands.
How the dependents of the other companies would react, Reinhardt didn't know. They would fight back when threatened - that much was a given - but whether they would deign to help supplement the few remaining soldiers or not remained to be seen.
Reinhardt sighed audibly, even as he politely nodded to Ylisera and sat down next to her. The crenellations on the fort's walls were tall ones, tall enough to hide most of an average human behind them, with only their eyes and the top of their head peeking out.
For someone as tall as he was, he needed to sit down before the crenellation covered him, and he barely had to rise a bit to look over the top of the structure. Ylisera was shorter than him by a head, but she was still taller than the average human, and also found the crenellation a bit too short for her liking.
"Think we'll get some news today?" She asked him as he settled down beside her. It had been nearly a week since the ambush that decimated the first company of the Free Lances, and what tidbits of news they received from Graf Harscape, expected that if the other detachments met an ambush on the same day, assuming they faced resistance on their way back, some survivors might reach them by today.
"Maybe. Maybe not. Hard to tell," he replied honestly. "We got back here in five days, but we were on the run, always hidden, and didn't fight until we ran into the encirclement here. If whoever else is returning comes through the main roads… they'd have far more resistance to deal with."
Reinhardt's group had avoided contact with any enemy for most of their way back, and even then they saw that there were at least three different detachments of enemy troops on their way back. His group was small enough to take detours to avoid them and still make good pace, fortunately.
The same could not be said for larger groups, especially if that group carried the injured and wounded with them. For those groups, conflict on the way back was nearly inevitable.
He was about to make more small talk with Ylisera when he noticed that the elven woman had gone tense, as if she was trying to make out something in the distance.
"What is it?" he asked, as he felt his own heart beat faster and his muscles tensed.
"Not sure yet…" replied Ylisera with her face scrunched up in concentration. "I thought I heard some vague noises of fighting, but I can't hear them anymore… wait… there! North by northeast! Do you see them!?"
Reinhardt squinted his eyes, and shaded them with one hand as he tried to make out whatever was in the distance. He could barely see a thing that far - Ylisera had sharper eyesight than him by a fair bit - but he did hear one of the dwarven soldiers ringing the alarm bell on the watchtower. Those soldiers had spyglasses to keep a lookout with.
Before too long, he received concrete news on what was happening. There was fighting to the north, and whoever was fighting there, was headed closer to Fort Ascher.