Chapter 5
The Baron, along with Helmut, were making their way to another Waffenstadt factory, the last one before the going away ceremony the next day.
Miners greeted the Baron with thanks as he walked by, which the Baron responded to by saying they didn’t need to thank him, which only elicited more thanks. It seemed that the people of Waffenstadt were getting comfortable with talking to him.
The Baron leaned down to speak to an old woman selling apples while Helmut leaned against a nearby wall, looking up and scanning the surroundings occasionally. The Baron handed over two Reiksgeld and took one apple. The old woman told him to take more, and the Baron only responded by setting down another three coins.
“I have plenty, ma’am. You need it more than I do.”
The woman thanked the Baron profusely, came around her stall and embraced him. The Baron left that stall feeling righteous and pious. He had been meaning to give away more of his money, as it was easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Baron left, gesturing for Helmut to follow him. He walked with his head held high and his chest puffed out, while Helmut followed behind with his regular ramrod straight posture. They entered into a street with a large amount of twenty foot buildings on either side and the Baron set about looking for something nice to bring Wolfgang.
“Should you get him something to drink? You like to drink.”
The Baron shook his head.
“My son only drinks when I…”
The Baron smiled.
“Actually, that’s a great idea. I’ll get him ‘something for when I give him a headache’, eh? Doesn’t that sound good?”
Suddenly, a chill went down the spines of both men, and their eyes instantly shot up to the roofs surrounding them. They saw ten small hand crossbows aimed down at them. The Baron pushed a nearby man to the side and yelled.
“Everybody clear way!”
A voice came from the buildings.
“Fill the Rassenverräter with bolts!”
The crossbows let loose their bolts and Helmut threw himself to the side. The Baron could tell which ones he needed to actively block, as the rest would bounce off of his armor harmlessly or pierce nothing vital.
He drew his sword and smacked a bolt heading towards his neck out of the air in a single stroke. Three bolts bounced off his armor harmlessly, but one of them hit its mark, sticking into his exposed bicep. The Baron barely even registered the pain as he drew a gun and fired, piercing an ambusher’s eye and killing him instantly. People all around screamed and ran, especially after the deafening noise of a gunshot rang throughout the street.
Helmut rolled to his feet and drew his rapier. The ambushers jumped down from the rooftops, symbols of traditional Imperial might, namely the Katzbalger, drawn. Before the Baron could draw another pistol they were on him, swinging and thrusting with reckless abandon.
The Baron twisted his shoulders to dodge a strike and raised his saber through the attacker’s hand, cutting it off at the wrist with his supernaturally sharp edge and flicking his wrist to slash the man from neck to flank. Another thrust at him and he redirected the strike with the flat of his saber as he let it drop onto the man’s face.
He fell instantly as the tip split his brainstem, slamming his head on the ground and sending bits of brain flying from the now opened front of his skull. A man behind the Baron raised his Katzbager, but before he could slash he found a rapier piercing through his bicep and into his neck, a twist of the blade severing his spine.
The Baron dropped his gun and drew another, firing and killing another ambusher on the spot. Helmut thrust into an enemy’s thrust, allowing the Katzbalger to glide less than a centimeter from his face as the rapier pierced up through the man’s jaw. Helmut stepped forward and raised his saber, levering the man’s head up so that he could withdraw the rapier with ease.
Soon enough the city guards had arrived, halberds and guns lowered and aimed at the four remaining him. They all ran at the guards, who simply waited for the guns to fire. In an instant, three of the four were killed instantly, and the last remaining man was bleeding profusely through holes in his arm and shoulder.
The halberd guards immediately moved in, sticking their spikes into the ground as they used the heads to pin his arms and legs. The Baron grabbed and holstered his weapons before walking over to the downed man, crouching down and leaning over his face.
“Call me a traitor? You just attacked an Imperial nobleman, a baron no less.”
The man grunted in displeasure.
“You really thought you could kill me and my man without firearms? What, are you some sort of mentally deficient traditionalist? Crossbows? You make me fucking sick.”
The Baron drove a thumb into the man’s shoulder wound, causing him to howl with pain. The Baron nodded and stood up, giving orders to the guards.
“Take him wherever you take dangerous criminals. We are going to want to interrogate him. Find out who sent him.”
The man spit at the Baron, who managed to dodge the bloody phlegm which soared from the man’s mouth.
“We’re not sent by anyone, Rassenverräter!”
He hacked up a small amount of blood.
“We are real Imperials! We want to preserve the Imperial way! You want to let sub-humans destroy our glori-”
The Baron drew another pistol and shot the man point blank in the face, causing the guards to jump. They all looked at him in horror, but the Baron simply stood up tall. He looked extremely displeased, not even putting on his signature in-public smile.
“I got everything I needed from that filth. Throw him in the river Leiben or something, I don’t care what you do with him.”
The Baron growled with anger after he spit on the man’s corpse.
“Men like him are a plague upon polite society.”
|
|
|
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
|
“Baron, I say this as your brother and friend, do not execute people in my streets.”
The Baron shrugged as he pulled his salt and pepper hair back into a small ponytail.
“I was attacked. What do you expect me to do?”
Ingo lightly smacked the Baron in the back of the head.
“You can kill them when they’re not already captured. You really freaked out the guards man, they said you looked ‘cold and calculating’.”
The Baron pulled on his boots.
“I wasn’t exactly ‘calculating’, I was angry and I wanted him gone. He and his freak friends attacked me because of my progressive policies. They called themselves the true Imperials. I cannot abide that.”
Helmut assisted the Baron is putting on his chausses and cuirass, Ingo glowered at the Baron.
“Yeah, that’s my problem. Don’t execute people in my fucking streets!”
The Baron sighed.
“Fine. I won’t do it again. Unlikely it happens again anyway.”
Ingo stared at the Baron for a few seconds before sighing heavily.
“I honestly shouldn’t give you this, but, well, I already had it commissioned.”
Ingo reached into his pocket and pulled something out: a necklace. It had a small gold crucifix with a man nailed to it by his arms and feet. He wore traditional Imperial puff and slash, which made the Baron chuckle.
“You made me a cross necklace! How thoughtful! Though, he should be wearing a loincloth, and he’s lacking the crown of thorns.”
Ingo laughed and shoved the necklace into the Baron’s hands.
“Yeah yeah, we don’t exactly have many experts on Christianity here. We did the best we could.”
The Baron smiled and put it around his neck.
“Well, I appreciate it all the same. It’s the sentiment that matters.”
“Good, good. Speaking of sentiments, you seem to have earned the favor of my people. That trick you pulled with the miners was…inspired. You have now doubled my food costs, excellent work!”
The Baron scoffed.
“Please, you’ll be fine. Beer is not that expensive.”
“Yeah yeah. I’ll tell you what is expensive: weapons. Tell me, what exactly would you want me to produce, if you could control such a thing.”
The Baron briefly scruffed his beard in thought.
“Well, guns and artillery, as well as powder, obviously. I think I would suggest you go harder on artillery. If you get enough of it the enemy won’t even get close. If I could make you produce more of something for the war effort, it would be that.”
Ingo nodded his head and wrote something down on a notepad before he retrieved a pocket watch from his inside breast pocket.
“Excellent. I will keep that in mind. It’s time to say goodby publicly, hopefully not for another decade though. Still can’t believe you did that.”
|
|
The Rauchburg Honor Guard raised their rifles to the sky.
“Honor Guard of Rauchburg! Let us send our guests off the only way we know how: Loudly!”
The honor guard all fired at once, shaking the ground with the blasts. The crowd cheered, overtaking the gunfire with the yelling and shouting of slogans.
Ingo waved at the Baron with his cap as the baggage train left the city of Rauchburg after staying for a little over a week. The Baron was very pleased.
He had gotten exactly what he wanted, namely an assurance from Ingo that he would side with the Baron in the event of civil war. For the most part, that was all he really needed for the trip. However, he had done much more.
He had finally visited Sabine’s grave, something which he was too scared to do for the past few decades. He had reconnected with his brother-in-law Ingo von Waffenstadt, and not only developed a better relationship with his surprisingly reasonable kin, but had developed the solidarity of being involved together in a seditious plot.
“...so, Helmut, overall I would say this trip went very well.”
Helmut nodded.
“I am just glad to be heading home.”
The Baron raised an eyebrow.
“Aren’t you from here?”
“Yes, but my place is not here, it is in Bickenstadt, where I am accepted for who I am.”
The Baron smiled genuinely.
“Well, that’s good to know. Good to know that I foster a positive attitude. However, not to disappoint, but we have a small detour. Should only add another few hours or so, maybe adding an extra day depending on how things go.”
Helmut tilted his head to the side.
“What exactly are we doing? I haven’t been informed.”
“Oh, yes, it’s a very last minute thing. We are meeting up with some of the Anarchic Horsemen in Leibenstadt, as well as Ludwin and Fergus who went to visit them. It seems they are on my side, which I expected, however there seems to be some complication. Also, I have orders for Ludwin and Fergus.”
|
|
|
The baggage train was stopped for the night. It took them much longer to find where they were supposed to go than was originally thought. Luckily, Ludwin had informed the Baron that the riders would come to them if they spent the night. They always checked out who was staying in their lands.
The Baron sat staring at the fire, fiddling with his ring. While he watched the embers glow and the fire lick the air he thought back to the razing of the city of Kisa in the Assai’id confederation. He was still displeased that he had to take part in such a thing, it was a decision that he would have to grapple with for some time.
Suddenly, the Baron felt movement behind him. He turned, gun drawn, and found a man wearing a puff and slash ghillie suit hybrid riding on top of a horse. He dismounted and took a seat across from the Baron. He took off his brown fur cap, revealing an attractive face, blue eyes, and blonde hair.
“I am Hauptman Marcus, leader of my tribe of Anarchic Horsemen. I have been informed by your subordinates that you wish to form an alliance with us. I am here to tell you that we are on your side, but we do not pledge fealty.”
The Baron smiled and crossed one leg over the other.
“Oh, that’s completely fine. I do not require your subservience, simply your assistance. I assume they have told you what my plan is, yes? And also what I want from you?”
Hauptman Marcus nodded.
“Yes, you wish for the assistance of me and my kin for your war effort, and for us to go out and recruit our fellow horsemen. In return, we will be able to liberate our homeland.”
The Baron nodded.
“Yes, that sounds about right. Additionally, any information you can gather that you feel is useful should be funneled to me. If you agree to that, then we have our deal.”
Both men stood and walked to the other before shaking hands.
“We have a deal, Baron von Bickenstadt. If I find anything you need to know, I will send a rider.”
“Excellent. You will be a great help in the upcoming liberation efforts. We will accomplish mighty things, and be remembered as liberators for hundreds of years!”
Hauptman smiled and put his cap back on before mounting his horse and disappearing into the tall grass. The Baron nodded and made his way to another place he had business: Ludwin and Fergus’s tent.
Ludwin was sitting at a makeshift table, writing a letter to someone. Fergus was dead asleep on a single large cot.
“Ludwin, I have orders for you and Fergus. You know the Land of Everlasting Rain?”
Ludwin set down his pen and nodded.
“Good. You will be going there to ascertain if they would want to ally with us, which I highly doubt they will refuse, find out what they have to offer, and then recruit them. Fairly simple. I hear your family has business relations there, use that if it would please you.”
Ludwin nodded his head.
“That can absolutely be done. Me and Fergus will ride out in the morning, shouldn’t take us half a day to get there.”
The Baron spoke as he ducked out of the tent.
“Excellent. As usual, I’m counting on you, Ludwin. Just do whatever you feel is best.”