Ransacking, pillaging, and rummaging through the lifeless and deceased, this was how a pressed soldier makes his pay, though calling himself a soldier rather than a peasant or farmer was being quite generous with himself.
Dead, lifeless eyes stared at Julien’s as he heaves and throws another body into the pit of mass graves, though not before picking him clean of valuables, such as an iron dagger, though of not high value it was a pretty finely made one. Should fetch for a couple silvers though he would probably get it for a lesser amount with all the surplus that would probably arrive along with the army as they make for the next town on their march.
It was a strange thought, Julien thinks to himself, how conflicted he feels with looting the dead. For one he feels queasy at the retched act of looting them, as their dead, lifeless and hollowed eyes stared unto his as he loots them for their valuables. On the other hand if he doesn’t do this he gets a pittance of the money that he could make which could be sent to his family or perhaps buy him his plot of land for a small decent farm for himself in the future if being a soldier doesn’t pan out great for him.
“Uuuurgh”
Julien grunts and heaves as he throws another body to the pit. looking beneath at the growing pile of corpses before him made him think of his mortality and what he has gotten himself into. With the rout and defeat of the Velucians it is up to them, the conscripted peasants to clean up the battlefield lest they wanted the land to die and undead to spawn, and nobody wants that, be it them or the Velucians.
Truth be told he would actually prefer doing this part of the job than marching again with the core detachment of knights and some conscripted who were chasing the fleeing army; while they a smaller forced detached from the main, were tasked of cleanup and securing the baggage train as it catches up with the main force.
“Hasn’t been more than a day and already they already smell repugnant”
Rene complains as he toils along with Julien which he could agree with the sentiment indeed. No more than a day has passed and already the smell of rot has filled the air.
“Stop complaining Rene. Ti’s no harder than shoveling manure at the farm”
“Yeah sure but at least manure doesn’t look at you with these eyes” Rene responds back poking the corpse with his foot which unnerves him at how nonchalant Rene is with the dead
Though did Julien agree with the sentiment in mind, although he did not voice it. Julien had known Rene since they were a child, growing up along with him in the village and learning that adding fuel to the fire on his tirades usually would whip him up to further his complaint and might even get them into troubles.
Julien has been sweating under the sun laboring amongst the dead that his midnight black hair has been sticking to the sides of his head, which he hates. His shirt itself was so soaked that if he could wring it out he was pretty sure that he could force out a couple of drops from it.
Rene himself was much the same though he did have red hair rather than black, and he might be taller than Julien by about an inch or 2, though Julien has always denied it to his face that he was taller than him. Rene doesn’t need to hear it otherwise he’ll keep bringing it up whenever they have a conversation.
“Gather up!”
You hear as Captain Olivier walks in on you doing your tasks along with the men. His large stature towering both you and Rene as his grim face and his dirty blonde hair that reaches the back of his neck swishes with the wind. Immediately Julien and Rene stop what they were doing as other people do the same and walked closer to the captain.
“Alright boys pack up the tents and gather your stuff the squads been ordered to scout up front of the baggage train and make sure the areas clear of bandits or any unwanted that the main force hasn’t cleared!” the captain shouts
“Finally were getting out of this cesspit of a graveyard” grumbles Orthos as the bald and stout yet burly man grunts.
“Don’t know which one I hate more the cleanup or the marching” Orlon grumbles along.
Both men look identically the same save for their shirts which had differing colors. Both were twins and practically joined at the hip. You could never see one without the other wherever you go.
Of course when one grumbling starts a cacophony of them follows which also has the side effect of triggering the captains temper.
“Yes, yes, I’m sure everyone has the same complaints, yes?! Yet still all the same, fucking pack your stuff and meet back at center of camp in 10 minutes; and don’t even think of being late, you know the punishment for tardiness!”
Shouts the captain back to the men
A general chorus of grunts and ayes were heard as men starts a procession of going back to camp to pack up their things. Julien and Rene themselves follow along with the others and head back to their tents shared between them and the twins of Orthos and Orlon.
“So you find anything good?” Rene questions side eyeing the dead as you walk along with him.
Again his nonchalance bothers Julien. He thinks that if they had not been pressed and grew up together he would think Rene was already a veteran and desensitized with death itself. Yet he could not ignore the question as it hung in the air.
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“Nahh nothing of much value really. Got a dagger from the leftovers picked clean by the veterans”
“Yeah sucks to be the last ones on the pecking order, veterans and regulars get first shot at the looting. But, I did get lucky though.” Rene intones to you as he rummages his pockets and show you a silver ring that shines as light bounces off of it.
“Got really lucky with this one. Don’t know how the veterans didn’t manage to find it but I ain’t gonna question it. Should fetch a pretty good price once we hit town” Rene says with a grin on his face
Julien can’t help but feel a little bit jealous at his friends luck, but oh well nothing he can do about it.
“I would keep an eye on it at all times if I were you, might get stolen by some shmuck off at camp” A voice mingles on your conversation as Orthos has snuck up behind you with a grin plastered on his face.
“Yeah might get swiped by some fellow whose name starts with an O” Julien reponds back as Orthos laughs at your accusation. Knowing that the twins were well known gamblers at camp it was indeed a level accusation that had some facets of basis on it.
“HAHAHAHAHA! worry not you fools. Me and my brother made some good pickings recently don’t think we’ll need to swipe anything from you anytime soon. Ours should last us a long while before we reach town and get it pawned off” He laughed as he walked past Julien and Rene followed closely by his brother who was grinning siliently with him.
“Welp still you might wanna keep that with you at all times before you could pawn it off Rene”
“yeah not taking any chances with those oaf with us at camp”
Dust flew as the squad marched down the earthen road. 10 men walked bearing arms as their personal affections on themselves.
“Goddamn my feet hurts” Julien hears as Rene complains
“Yeah well tough luck buddy so do mine so shut the fuck up” Orthos replies to him
“Man why can’t we have horses to ride on?” Rene continues further
“That’s because you’re not a noble and also because you’re dirt poor you idiot! Do you know how much the beast costs just by itself and how much money they require to feed and groom? So unless you’re a noble’s bastard son shut up and keep marching!” The captain shouts cutting off the complaints from Rene who immediately shuts his mouth.
Really his mouth keeps getting him in trouble it’s a wonder he hasn’t gotten into more brawls by way of his unceasing and uncensored mouth thought Julien to himself.
“We’re here” Captain Olivier Intones as A quaint village appears in the backdrop.
Immediately the men whooped with a subdued voice and started to march into the village as people started to gawk at the armed strangers bearing arms upon them.
A bunch of armed boys appeared at the village gates tensed for conflict as most of them are probably between the ages of 13-16, though one of them appeared to be aged beyond that with his hunched posture and cane in hand. He was visibly the village elder by the way they flanked him as he waited for the squad to come nearer.
The Captain signaled for the squad to stop as they neared the gates. He marched towards the elder and greeted him with a polite bow before speaking.
“Blessings upon you elder”
“Same unto you stranger. Tell me what you and your men are doing here upon the cusp of our village with visible armaments upon you?” He said cautiously but with steel upon his eye. The same can be said on the Teens. It seems that they were prepared for a fight if in case they come bearing bad intentions upon them.
“Worry not Elder we are with the kingdoms army. We come here to resupply and would pay with market rates for the goods, we are also on a mission to clear out any disruption on the roads” The captain said as he brings out a parchment bearing the kingdoms seal upon it.
The Elder visibly softened with the words the captain said, yet still with a glint of caution there on his body as he takes the captains scroll from him and opened it.
“Ah. I see, well we do indeed have some trouble still even when the army has just passed recently; though it would be better if we spoke about these on the village hall. Come follow me.” The Elder said as he returns the captains scroll to him and turns his back to walk towards the village.
The armed boys made way and allowed them to pass as the squad started to march in when the captain walked back to them signaled for them to follow
“Were resupplying here and I’m to confer with village elder if there were any disruption recently that still persists. For the meantime make no ruckus and do whatever you want but meet up at the village square by afternoon. Also Orthos and Orlon will come with me to the meeting” He continues.
Both Twins visibly groaning on their predicament before the captain shut them up with his stare as they started to walk along with the captain towards the village elder as they head for the hall.
The rest of the men however were all smiles as they walked through the village houses and started to disperse to find the nearest place to drink their weariness away. Julien and Rene went along with the other men as they tried to find a bar. After questioning a passerby they headed for an inn that said to serve it pretty cheaply.
They opened the door as they entered the establishment. Few people in here with most of the townsfolk busy with the farm work or their daily chores. These people here were probably travelers headed for the cities who were taking their time here for now as they wait for the army to fully pass.
The Group went to a table and started ordering eyeing the other guests with nobody seeming to bother them; though one person did eye them warily. He had strange markings on his face though that was partially obscured by his cloak and hood covering him. Well so long as he doesn’t trouble them who was he to judge a person thought to Julien as he started to drink the days’ weariness away with the company he has with him.
Olivier sat upon the chair as the Elder offered it to him while Orthos and Orlon while the elder sat upon his chair.
“There have been bandits plaguing the roads here for a while now, they have collected tolls from travelers and generally don’t bother them so long if you pay their fees, however recently they’ve ramped up their operations and started harassing surrounding villages and collecting part of the harvest, and with most of the men gone being drafted into the war most villages have no way to defend themselves” The elder stated as he motions eyeing the teens who guarded the door “But when the army marched passed here they’ve lied low and gone into hiding. Now they’ve resurfaced and started to plague us with trouble again.”
“That is indeed trouble; we’ve also been tasked with safeguarding roads the baggage train would take on their way to the main force at the front. Have you any idea on how many of them there are?”
“Truth be told, no. They’ve come here before with 5 men however I doubt that’s all they have if they were so brazen with their collection of tributes from multiple villages.” The Elder sighed as he continues
“We haven’t the courage to really defy them. We’ve given them a part of the stored grain in the Silo so that they leave us in peace. However once you start to give they keep coming back for more and more stuff we’ve given them some tools from the local smith as well as ale from the inn, if they keep this up we doubt we’d even get to the autumn harvest with their persisted collecting”
“Hmmmph. If they have been so brazen with their extortion I doubt there forces are so meager. Perhaps just perhaps we can lay a trap” Olivier Smiles at the elder as a plan starts to form in his head while Orthos and Orlon grimaced internally knowing what that smile meant.