Journey of the Messenger Cycle 1 Part 8d
The first enemy Osran came to lay on his back, gasping for breath, she stomped on his head. Looking around, she saw that most of the horses had fled the area, one man with a morning star was still mounted and he was intent on Ijah who had just ran another man through. Between herself and Ijah the man in the breastplate was on his feet, somewhat curled around the stump of his bleeding arm. Osran threw her axe at the last mounted man, the haft of her weapon hit his shoulder. She closed to the leader to grab him by the neck and the seat of his pants, with a shout she lifted him into the air then slammed him to the ground and kicked him in the head for good measure.
The battle was done. The man with the morning star lay at Ijah’s feet, his horse was going back to the village. Berri still sat on her mount, obviously shocked. While Ijah killed the wounded, Osran retrieved her axe and spear, for good measure she also took the morning star.
Berri moved past her shock, “By Norvad’s swollen gonads! What the fuck!”
Ijah turned away from the village, “Do you still have your crossbow?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Best dismount and load it then.”
“What are we doing?” Berri asked as she swung down from her horse.
“I want to see what’s going on in that building.”
“What about the horses?”
“We’ll get them later.”
“Gods, Ijah. We didn’t have to do that.”
Osran had been keeping an eye on the village, the first of the horses to flee in that direction had been noticed. There were a couple of lookouts up on the roof of the building who were certainly aware of what had just happened. “More will come.”
Ijah looked pointedly at Berri, “Load up, we’ve work to do.”
“This is crazy.” Once Berri had loaded her crossbow, she took a moment to belt her quiver around her narrow hips. The same belt had a small hatchet and long knife, as well as a pouch with some fletching materials. Osran felt she was woefully under armed.
“Alright, stay behind us and keep the crossbow out of sight as much as you can.” Ijah looked to Osran, “You ready?”
She grinned at her war-leader, “Always ready for good fight.”
“Let’s go then.”
They advanced. The folks in the burnt village were scrambling, a few more had moved up onto the roof of the main building, others were getting on horses. A group of them were gathering in front of the building. Osran could see that most of the men on the rooftop had bows, only one of them looked like he would be able to match Berri’s range. She made sure Berri and Ijah were aware of the threat.
A group of the locals advanced towards them, five men on horses, two groups of five footmen to either side and somewhat trailing the mounted men. Ijah instructed Berri, “When they get to within fifty paces, take out the leading horseman. We’ll stop and hold a line at that point. We should still be beyond the range of the folks up on the roof.”
Berri laughed, “Sure, then what? That group coming out this way outnumbers us five to one.”
“I suggest you load and shoot as fast as you can.”
“Did I mention that this is crazy?”
“A couple times now, yes. Calm your mind.”
The leading rider periodically shouted out commands or encouragements to those advancing with him. When he was just under fifty paces away, Berri said, “Ready!”
Osran and Ijah stepped aside. Berri’s shot took the man in the throat. Some of the men charged forward, shouting in angry defiance, while others fell back a few paces. Osran rolled out her shoulders and readied her spear, Ijah kept moving, angling towards the left flank of the enemy. A couple moments later, Berri shot another man, hitting him in the chest. A few of the hesitant enemy cried out and began to run towards them, still a few hung back. Berri’s third shot hit a horse in the throat as the horsemen nearly reached them. Ijah rushed towards the footmen on the left flank. Osran tossed her spear at the closest mounted man as the horse Berri had just shot stumbled and fell, its rider trying to jump clear.
Osran drew her axe and moved to Berri, pushing her aside, then with a two handed throw she tossed the axe at the final horseman. The blade took him in the face, she had to dodge to avoid the horse. Not quite fast enough as it clipped her as it thundered past, she slammed to the ground, stunned.
She gasped for a breath she could not take. Ignoring the pain, she forced herself up and fumbled to unwrap the morning star from around her hips. Looking around she saw Berri, with her knife and hatchet ready, facing off against the man who had jumped clear of his falling horse. He had a broadsword and limped forward, closing to Berri with a powerful downward swing. Osran finally managed to draw air and pull the handle of the morning star clear from where it had been tucked under the chain. Berri had dodged to the side and then back as the man swung at her again. Taking deep breaths, Osran swung the morning star as she closed towards the swordsman. Berri saw her coming and dodged away from another attack, the man followed, still limping. He stepped forward. He remained unaware that Osran was coming up behind him. The head of the morning star slammed into his back, his ribs shattered, the man screamed and dropped to a knee. Berri darted in, slammed her hatchet into the man’s sword-arm and, with a scream, drove her knife into his throat. Osran laughed.
Looking around, she spotted Ijah a few paces ahead of them. Three corpses littered the ground behind her, two more men cautiously moved to engage her, three others were closing from further back. Osran shouted at Berri, “Get bow.” Then she rushed forward to assist Ijah. In the time it took her to close the distance Ijah had disembowelled one of the men she had engaged. The other backed away, then fled. The three who had been closing changed their mind and also ran back towards their village.
Osran laughed and bellowed a challenge, “Come fight little men! Come fight! Come die!” A long shafted arrow hit the ground a half dozen paces away.
“Berri! You are needed.” Ijah called out.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t get your knickers in a bunch.”
“Less lip, more shooting.”
“Wasted shots at this range, we need to get closer.”
“Alright then, stay behind me, if I tell you to get down, do so. Osran, be ready to rush them if they send out another sortie.”
Once Berri had loaded her crossbow they started to advance again. Another arrow hit the ground, a bit closer, but well to their right. They kept walking. Another shaft arched towards them, this time it was too high and it landed somewhere behind them. Berri asked, “What are we going to do when we get in range of the other bows?”
“You’ll kill them before they kill us.”
“Your plan sucks, Ijah.”
“Berri – ”
“Yeah, yeah. More shoot, less talk.”
“Get down!” They all dropped to their knees, the arrow whirred past and hit the ground just behind Berri.
“Can you shoot him yet?”
“Another ten paces!”
“Okay. Take the time to aim, I’ll worry about the arrows.”
Ten paces later another arrow arched towards them, Berri aimed, Ijah knocked the incoming shaft aside with the flat of her blade. Berri took her shot. A moment later the bolt hit the archer and he careened into another man, the two of them fell from the roof.
There was a distant cry, “Witchcraft!”
Some of the locals retreated into the stone building. A handful of them, still with horses, rode off towards Freeton, another dozen or so fled in that direction on foot. No one stayed up on the roof. No one tried to move against them again.
“As I said, cowards.” Ijah sounded pleased.
Once Berri had reloaded they continued their advance. No one opposed them. The door to the building had been shut, a couple of times they briefly saw people looking out from one of the ground floor windows.
Ijah asked, “Do you think if you ran at that door, you could take it down?”
Osran laughed gleefully, “It will break under my fury!”
“Great. Berri, if the door comes down, be ready to shoot.”
“Got it.”
They closed a few more paces, Ijah gave Osran’s shoulder a small tap, “Now!”
Osran roared, surged forward with all her might and leapt feet first into the door. Wood splintered. The door came down with a crash. Osran sprawled across the threshold, there were lots of angry shouts from within.
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