Rocco sprint toward the trees where the gunners are. Despite his short legs he was able to reach the bandits in just a few second. Being born a dwarf certainly have many limitation to Rocco but he had long ago figured out that it comes with perks also. For one he was able to sneak through the ranks of gunners without being notice.
Amid the band of bandits Rocco saw what Thilo's spell did. Half of the gunners have red boils growing on their skins, large and translucient they pop emedietly oozing black pus and exposing the muscles, while the other half are disorganized and confuse on what was happening to their comrades.
Pulling his daggers Rocco got started in killing the survivors. He caught one kneeling to a comrade, friends maybe, Rocco cut open his throat and he dropped to the ground near his friend choking on his blood. Rocco caught a second one who watched him kill the first puzzled how a dwarf have killed his fellow, Rocco stabbed him in the guts driving out all the air out of his lungs preventing him from crying for help. A third saw him first and raises his matchlock to shoot, Rocco shorten their distance quick but before he could reach him the gunman had fired a shot. The bullet flied pass Rocco's head, an inch away from entering his skull, graising his left temple instead with a large wound spewing gouts of blood down his face, Rocco killed the bandit in return.
"Shit!" Rocco cursed as the other bandits are alerted of him.
Another shot is fired but instead of Rocco its one of the gunmen who fell to the ground, a hole in his head, "Die you fuckers!" it was Arnulf, crying with fury as he charged the bandits without a second thought, matchlock in his left hand and a knife in his right, he stabbed one in the chest still shocked from what was happening. Another screamed as blood flowed out of his eyes and ears and mouth. Thilo walks forward like a drunkard, too spent by his previous spell but still fighting. The discipline of the gunners evaporated in their combined assault and the bandits starts to run.
"Fight back, use your guns goddamn it!" one of the bandits shouts, the leader trying to bring order back to his men. "Their just three of them! fight back you cowar..." he gasped, looking down he saw Rocco's dagger in his stomach and he collapsed.
"Serve you right you prick!" Rocco spat.
Hagen chop a hand holding a sword coming right at him, his attacker cried clutching his severed stump, Hagen end his crying with an axe to the head. Pulling his axe from the bandit's skull Hagen dodge someone else's axe aiming for his head, he replied in kind and sent his to the bandit's chest but there's no time for him to feel satisfied as another bandit with a spear attacks him. Hagen jumps back as the spear went after him, its sharp tip caught him in the chest, piercing through his fur-cloak and wounding the the flesh underneath. Hagen growled in pain showing the bandit his sharp yellow teeth, the bandit with the spear gave out a vicious laugh at his pain.
Angered, Hagen puts his all into killing the bastard that cuts him, knees bent nearly to the ground and shoulder hunched with his axe close to chest Hagen fights like an animal. The bandit with the spear didn't laugh anymore as he desperately fend off Hagen's attack until Hagen snatch the spear shaft, pulling the bandit down he raises his axe high and chopped it down the bandit's head opening it, Hagen let go of the spear and the dead man slump to the ground.
Their was a loud booming sound somewhere and Hagen saw a bandit flying, hit by Till with his massive club from the look of him, streaming blood through the air from a hole in his chest the bandit crashes to the ground, broken and unmoving, this didn't seemed to discourage the others though as more of the fuckers shows up.
Till went to Hagen, club bloodied from launching the bandit, "Let's go away Hag, there's too many of 'em."
The big lad was right, there are just six of them against an army of killers, at this rate they would soon lose their lives before they lose the caravan, "Lead the way!" Hagen said and he and Till ran toward the front of the caravan where the others were, bandits on their tail.
Lia hides in one of the wagons, holding tightly to the knife her father gave her. She remembers how her father told her to use it if things got dour, though he didn't mention on who to use it to. Everything is going wrong, Volkhard has been right about the bandits and now they are all going to die because of her.
She heard running footsteps outside of the wagon and the cries of the laborers of her father. She listens as they plead for their lives and their inevitable scream of pain as the bandits kill them and laughs like it's all a great joke.
Lia shrinks in the shadow of the wagon even more, slowly crying while holding her ears shut. The boxes of herbs are near her, their pleasant aroma entering Lia's nose and calming the girl.
A loud thud sounded inside the wagon as a bandit jumped inside. He's a tall man in dirty clothings with a short bushy-beard. The bandit stands in front of Lia, eyes gleaming in the dark with madness, right hand lazyly holding a short sword.
"What do we have here?" Beardy cooed, walking slowly towards her. "Oh, my sweet, how lovely you look."
Beardy reached his left hand towards Lia and took hold of her dress' neckline. "Let me take a taste of your peach my lovely" he forces Lia back on her feet and drawing her closer to him, Lia just watches still, transfixed in what is happening
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
"Come here and let me fuc... ugh!" Beardy gasps as Lia kicks his fruits.
"Don't you talk to me you fucking pig!" Lia screamed, blood boiling and rage fuming, she kicked Beardy's fruits again and again.
Beardy, suprised his rape attemp is not going so well, backs away.
He raises his sword inside the confine of the wagon and would have spilled Lia's blood to the floor if she hadn't remembered her knife, Lia grabbed Beardy's beard and rammed it through his neck. Beardy loses the grip on his sword, then his legs and he falls to the floor of the wagon with Lia on top of him. Beardy tried to wrestle Lia's hand and knife out of his throat but Lia fought back, biting Beardy's right hand that's trying to choke her, and holding the bloody handle of her knife keeping the blade in place. Her eyes stared down to the bandit's as the mad light in them faded. Lia stands up atop the dead body, her dress stained with its blood, unsure of what to do next.
More screams came from the outside but they're not coming from the laborers anymore, instead they're the screams of the bandits who moments ago were laughing at the massacre they were making. Now, they're not laughing anymore. A face came from the entrance of the wagon and Lia recognises the ugly grin of Hagen, "The boss lady here Till" he said in their strange language, "shit, she actually killed one 'em, hold the others while I talk her out in here.
"Uh, hey their chief we getting outta here, do you mind coming?" Hagen said in Osmela
"Yes, yes I would be glad to." Lia said blankly and remembering the bandit sword she picked it up, just in case.
Emerging outside, Lia could see Till holding the tide of bandits with an incessant swinging of his club. Sword cuts mark his leather armor with blood spilling from the wounds underneath but it didn't seem to bother Till though as his arms continued to swing tirelessly. One of the bandits, braver than the rest or just plain stupid, jumps forward to stab at the big man but Till smashes his head into mush instead.
"A'right big lad I got the chief, let's scram"
With a final powerful swing Till pushes back the tide of bandits, killing another two in the process. The three of them, along with the surviving laborers run toward the head of the caravan.
Volkhard dodges a sword coming for his face, it cuts his burned skin instead below where his right eye used to be. Fortunately the skins over there don't feel much. He dodges again, this time a mace angling for his chest but like the sword it barely missed him and it caught his left shoulder. "Argh!" Volkhard grunts as cold pain spreads through his left arm draining it of its strength. A poleaxe came for him next, he tried to deflect it with his sword but with a weakening arm all he could do was to slap it out of his way, its blade cutting his right hand. Volkhard wences, biting back pain. The mace bandit came at him again but he manages to dodge properly this time and Volkhard ram his sword through his attackers chest, leaving him open to the sword bandit. The sword bandit thrust and Volkhard let go of his sword in the corpse's chest to avoid the attack but the blade's tip still caught him and it pierced the interlocking rings of his chainmail, cutting through his skin. Volkhard screams in pain and grabbed at the sword bandit. Poleaxe bandit, seeing the opportunity, raises his weapon to chop at Volkhard again. Sensing the attack, Volkhard uses all the strength he has left and lifted the sword bandit towards the poleaxe's direction. The sword bandit let out a gasp as the poleaxe caught him on the back, poleaxe bandit appalled at what just happened. Wrestling the sword free out of the bandit's grasp Volkhard reaches out and gets hold of the poleaxe's shaft, pulling the bandit behind it towards him. Volkhard swings his sword in a powerful arc decapitating the bandit and showering himself in blood from the corpse's severed neck.
Volkhard stumbled from the gore and wiped the blood from his unborn face and one good eye, head fussy as it always did after every battle. "Shit..." Volkhard murmured, hurt and extremely tired. He just wishes to get away from this place, wishes to go back home, back to the village where his hall used to be, warm and well fed. Before he could fully reminisce about the past though, Volkhard saw the fourth bandit. He thought the bastard had run away when he killed Pockmarks but he was kneeling on the ground the whole time. Volkhard narrows his eyes, he can't seem to see the bandit's image properly, it bends in the air like one of those objects behind a fire. The bandit stands up, both hands formed into a fist, like his holding two invisible swords, and he raises open a palm towards Volkhard.
Instinct saved the lone host's leader in the end as he leapt to the side avoiding the large ball of fire. "Fuck!" Volkhard yield *These motherfuckers have a pyromancer with them!* he thought bitterly as he jumped back on his feet and faced the pyromancer.
"Lets make your face even shall we, you big ugly bastard!" the pyromancer mocked, spreading his arms apart he let out a wide wave of fire. Nowhere to run to Volkhard kneels and grabs one of the corpses on the ground, lifting it to shield himself. The fire impact and both the corpse and Volkhard went flying. "Argh!" Volkhard gasp as he hit the ground, air escaping his lungs, unable to move even an inch of his finger. The pyromancer let out another blast of fire, It cracks through the air so Volkhard could feel its heat before it even hit him. He closes his eye waiting to die but all Volkhard could feel is the scorching heat of the fire not the searing pain of burning he's familiar with. Volkhard opened his one eye slowly, afraid to see what is happening and he saw Thilo standing over him. The witch's arms extending on his side, magic shielding them from the pyromancer's onslaught.
The pyromancer, seeing the opposition, lifted his second hand and together with the other doubled his flaming blast. Thilo groaned from the effort of holding the flames at bay, his posture visibly weakening.
Volkhard heard a gunshot as a bullet went flying toward the pyromancer but his aura of heat protected him, melting the bullet in mid-air, "Shit!" Arnulf curse. Noticing Arnulf the pyromancer spared his other hand, it exited his protective shield to point at the kid but before he could even summon a fire Rocco, undetected, stabs him. "Ahhhhhh!" the pyromancer screamed as the dagger went through his hand. Losing his concentration, he dropped his shield and attack on Thilo and Volkhard.
The witch would have fallen if Volkhard hadn't caught him in time, so spent was Thilo that he had fallen unconscious.
"You'll pay for that you little shi... " the pyromancer stammered as Hagen buried his axe through his head, "Oy, get on moving!" Hagen said as he casually pulled out his axe out of the corpse's skull, Till and Lia and the surviving laborers right behind him. Placing Thilo's over his shoulder Volkhard forces his tired legs to sprint after them, each exertion of force causing him a jolt of pain. He notices one of the wagons moving and he places the witch gently inside. The screams of bandits can be heard behind the wagon party as they exit the narrow road and come out of the open on the hill's slope. They didn't stop running as they reached the flat ground, fear encouraging them.