Romulus
Romulus, Captain Smith, and Sergeant Kosta were in charge of a group of 200 men from the detachment that Earl Marcus promised along with other troops around King Harbor that were willing to fight alongside them.
They set off from King Harbor and marched a few kilometers outside the city to a farm complex containing thousands of commoners. There wasn’t much talk between the three men who led the soldiers as Kosta and Smith dared not to speak to each other more than necessary. Kosta asked Romulus why they were going to the farm, and Romulus answered that they needed to send a message to the farmers, secure some of the grain that had already been harvested, and find anything that could lead to the capture of Noah.
The complex wasn’t as complex as one would think, but a series of farms built around a central trade building where all of the farmers stored their tools, sent out the grain and socialized with the other farmers. When the detachment arrived, the people at the central building stared in suspicion as Romulus dismounted his horse and approached a man who stood behind a table. The central building had no walls but a roof with bugs crawling over the place. “Good sir,” Romulus called out.
The man looked up from a pile of papers on the table and looked behind Romulus. “You’ve got hundreds of men behind you with about fifty on horseback. Are you invading the farms?” he asked sarcastically.
“By order of the king, I am here to collect all shipments of grain and wheat to be stored in the royal reserves. If you have a record of how much of the grain belongs to each farmer, they shall be compensated for their contribution to the country.”
“And what is their contribution to this?” the man asked.
“Ten percent below market price. That’s for buying in bulk.” Romulus assured the man.
The man gave out a fake smile and nodded. “I assume there is not much I can do?”
“You can do something else, though. Has there been any sign of Noah Kien or any other People’s Lord activity?”
The man stood up and told Romulus that rumors of the discussion in King Harbor had trickled into the countryside. “And let’s just say the farmers weren’t the most receptive to the plan that was decided. People don’t really like being pushed into a corner and told what to do.”
It was then someone called out to Romulus. He turned to his right and found a Dymish man in worn-down clothing with a scar across his jawline. “The gentleman would like some time to himself, and the farmers would like to keep their grain until someone buys it at the appropriate price.”
“Noah,” Romulus said, stunned. Kosta and Smith flew off of their horses, and men followed as they went to see what the commotion was about and when they saw the scarred man, they pulled out their swords and surrounded Noah. Romulus walked closer to Noah and wanted to punch him in the face, but held off. There was no good reason a sane man would walk into the enemy’s face without a good reason. “Why are you here you?” Romulus asked.
“Before I answer that, I would like to inform you that if you touch me in any way all of you will be killed. You shall be killed slowly, brutally, but most importantly, publicly.” Noah turned his back to Romulus and looked at the soldiers who now surrounded him. “I have come to talk. Unlike some members in the People’s Lord, including the People’s Lord himself, I am more open to negotiations, but before we negotiate, I would like to ask you what we are surrounded by.”
Romulus was silent until Noah asked him again but in a firmer voice. “Farms,” Romulus answered.
“What is in between the farms?” Noah asked.
Romulus looked past Noah and his soldiers and saw fences, trees, and the next farm behind that. “A forest?” Romulus guessed, confused at what game Noah was playing.
“Hm,” Noah said before checking his watch. “How about now?”
Romulus gave a smirk to Kosta and Smith before looking back out into the strip of forest in between the farms, but this time, his smirk was wiped from his face. A feeling that no man, especially Romulus, enjoyed. A row of men in black slowly rose from the forest floor. Romulus looked to his right to where they came from, and the dirt road was now blocked off by a row of men behind, to his left was the same story, and, together, marched to Romulus and his soldiers. Romulus didn’t need to respond to Noah’s question as the soldiers noticed the men emerge from the forest, and sweat rolled down their faces. They clinched onto their swords, clumped together, and turned to see if the line of men was getting closer.
“Negotiations tend to go better without hundreds of men surrounding others.” Romulus reminded Noah.
“If one isn’t willing to back out of negotiations, they aren’t the smartest people,” Noah responded as he turned back around.
“What do you want? And please tell me before someone panics and charges the other.”
“Governors,” Noah said.
“Governors?” Romulus asked, confused at the concept.
“I want elected governors to replace the earls. If you do that, I shall no longer be a part of the People’s Lord and will stop committing ‘liberating acts’, and the farmers will happily give over their food stores to the crown for the winter.”
“God, are you serious?” Romulus asked. “You might as well ask the crown to step down.”
“We’ve already tried that, and it hasn’t worked.”
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“Yeah, but you are terrorists. You don’t compromise.”
“We have never claimed to be terrorists. Only you have.”
By now Noah’s men had closed in and were only a couple of paces away from Romulus’s men. They formed a circle around the building, the soldiers on horseback, and the people surrounding Noah. Romulus knew that now there was no way this was going to end peacefully and ran through scenarios about how to get out of the situation the best. He looked back at Kosta and Smith to gauge their reactions. Smith gave no emotion while Kosta only gave a nod of his head while holding over his unsheathed sword. “It’s a no, Noah,” Romulus said.
“It was worth a try.”
“Noah Kien, you are under arrest for treason. Men, arrest this man!”
When Romulus said that his men moved closer to Noah, and in response, Noah’s men charged Romulus. Swords clashed between the two sides; all the while Noah dodged person after person trying to grab him. One or two people were able to latch onto his arm, but he swiftly knocked them back before sneaking through the circle around him by pushing someone over who was facing the other way. Romulus tried to reach Noah himself, but there were too many men in the way attempting the same thing, and he had to pull back to the building.
Romulus, Kosta, and Smith formed a tight circle around each other, but there wasn’t much else Romulus thought of doing. All the plans he made a moment ago about how to get out of this situation involved grabbing ahold of Noah. He didn’t think that Noah would be able to get out of the circle alive. However, Kosta was ahead of Romulus and ordered all the men to form around the building. Romulus asked Kosta what he was doing, and he responded: “Staying alive!”
By the time the three men formed a wall around the building, about thirty of Romulus’s men lay on the ground, with only about ten or so dead for Noah. Smith ran around the inside of the formation and pushed the soldiers together, so they made a perfect seal, so no man could slip behind and break the formation. All the horses were dead, including the ones with men on them, as they were shot or stabbed early in the fighting.
The two sides now stared at each other as they tried to assess the situation. Romulus looked for Noah and found him slithering behind his men, watching. “Noah!” Romulus yelled. His voice trembled as he raised his sword in the air. “Come here and face me like a man!”
Romulus could see that Noah gave a chuckle and walked to the front of his line. “We know in this situation that if you were me, you would have said no too.”
Romulus tried to respond, but before he could, Kosta pulled him back and asked how they were going to get out of there. “We are surrounded on all sides, and now unless you are going to keep shouting nonsense at Noah, I suggest we come up with a plan to get out of here.”
“Alright, what do you suggest, Kosta? Huh?”
Kosta clinched his teeth before answering. “You are not going to like this, but I think we should hold out here for a while and stall for time. If they haven’t attacked yet, I don’t think they will for a little bit.”
As Kosta said Noah ordered his men to advance. “You were saying,” responded Romulus. Kosta didn’t respond. “God,” Romulus told his men. “That is the only man who decides if you shall die or not today, but I have a strong feeling that he is not going to let you die in front of a bunch of terrorists today. Do your jobs and bring me Noah’s head!” Romulus ordered his men to advance out of the building and toward Noah. Kosta tried to protest, but it was too late, and every soldier, including Captain Smith, was fighting. Swords clashed, blood flew through the air, and men yelled in pain, all while Romulus looked over and saw Captain Smith cutting down man after man. Kosta and Romulus stayed in the center of the building to command the troops and looked in awe as Smith killed each man with increasing brutality, and he did it without getting a nick, but one man couldn’t fight an entire army and holes in the formation began to form. Kosta begged Romulus to pull back the formation, and Romulus reluctantly agreed.
Romulus looked to the ground and saw the man he first talked to on the ground, dead. The formation grew smaller, but this time it looked like they had taken an equal number of men. Romulus looked to see where Noah was, but he was already gone. The two men looked around and wondered why Noah’s men weren’t attacking. They would destroy them in a second, but when they saw Captain Smith, they understood why.
He was covered in blood and held two swords in his hands. He wasn’t in formation or behind it but in front of it as he waved his swords at the People’s Lord soldiers. They backed up as he got closer, but eventually, they had to stop to hold the formation around the building. It looked like Smith contemplated attacking as his swords twitched in his hands, but after staring down the enemy, came back to the line.
They stood there for about an hour, with the consensus being that the enemy was trying to wear them down to minimize losses. Romulus tried to think of a way out, but all of them involved attacking and that would end in disaster. It wasn’t until Kosta suggested an idea that they knew how to get out. “We stay in formation no matter what,” he said. “And we slowly march down the road back to King Harbor.”
“Are you insane?” Romulus asked him. “You think they are just going to let us out of here?”
“We are outnumbered on every side, Romulus. That road only has two sides. They will funnel into three groups. The ones in front of us, the ones behind us, and the ones trying to follow through the forest. The ones on the side will most likely fall behind, we can handle the ones in the front if they attack, and the ones in the back will have their numbers suppressed by the width of the road. You got any better ideas?”
Romulus shook his head. It sounded incredibly stupid, but this situation was also stupid. An outnumbered force was allowed to stand for an hour. “God,” Romulus responded. “When I get my hands on Noah, I am going to smash him limb by limb. Let’s go.”
So they went, marching about ten paces per minute toward the road. At first, the People’s Lord men had their swords at the ready and a couple of them attacked, but after Captain Smith showed up to the part of the line that was being attacked, they pulled back. They were out of the building and slowly marched down the road with the enemy trying to coordinate an all-out attack, but Kosta was right, and they weren’t able to coordinate.
At several points, Captain Smith suggested they make a run for it with a couple of the men covering for them. A large force wouldn’t be able to get them all. Romulus shut down the idea as the likelihood of two stupid ideas working was incredibly low, and there was no reason to change.
The further they went, the fewer men were in front of them, and the enemy behind them grew wearier. About two kilometers out from King Harbor, the enemy decided that they weren’t going to let the heir to the throne live and attacked the formation. Romulus now had two choices: run or stay in formation to fight. If he ran, many of them would die not only by volleys of arrow fire but because who knew how many of the People’s Lord soldiers used to be in a job that required a lot of running? If he stood and fought, most of them would probably die, so Romulus decided on the former.
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Romulus, Kosta, and Smith all got to the city relativity unharmed. They ran for about a kilometer or so before the enemy stopped chasing them. It was a miracle in disguise that they killed all the horses as they couldn’t chase them for the home stretch. The three men found a back alley inn to hide at for the rest of the night.
There wasn’t much talking as they all tried to recover from what just happened. Romulus resisted the urge to run back outside and find Noah, Kosta immediately went to his bed and lay in the fetal position, and Smith tended to his wounds and ground his teeth harder than Romulus had ever seen before.
The sleep was terrible, and before sunrise, they decided to head back to the castle, but when they stepped outside, Romulus reached his hand out and felt what he feared he would touch before Noah’s death: snow.