Mercenary Tales 96.

The City-State Of Vexil. 

Lord Farque frowns, then he turns around and makes way to the other side of the top of the hill he's on. 

The large heavily armoured deathlord walks by the wyvern, which keeps still, but looks at him as he walks by. 

The undead warlord walks amongst the trees, then comes to a stop as he looks to the north and west. 

The lord and ruler of the Lands Farque sees the cloud of debris mushrooming up into the sky, and falling back down in a large open patch of the forest in the distance to the northwest. 

The lord of the death realm who is sensing just as much as he's looking, slightly nods his full helmed head at what he sees and feels. 

"He'll live" mutters Lord Farque referring to Mira Reinholt the mage, who has just been found by Beldane the cleric and Shur Kee the monk. 

The lord of the death realm then looks a bit further to the west, and he spots the blurred and shielded Helbe the elven thief making his way back to where the rest of the group are. 

The undead warlord who has the name of Draugodrottin that the people of his lands also know him by, grunts then turns back around and walks back to the other side of the top of the hill. 

Once again, the wyvern who is sitting still, watches the large heavily armoured figure of the deathlord of Farque walk by, and come to a stop at the edge of the cliff. 

Lord Farque looks down to the nearby forest road, and sees that there's very few of the Vexillian soldiers who were making their way north on it, still down there on the road. 

The lord of the death realm who has the elven name of Des'tier, which translates to The Destroyer. 

Sees that most of them are amongst the trees to the west of the forest road, and they're engaged in combat with a large force from the mercenary army that's been gathered by the Geist cousins Gamil and Farsen. 

And both sides are locked in combat, a battle for survival to be exact. Against nine others, who are under the command, so to speak, of Draugodrottin himself. 

The undead warlord could raise the dead who have died this morning, here in the hill country that's part of the border region between northern Vexil and the south of the kingdom of Girdane. 

But raising the newly dead has it's problems. The lord of the death realm only has limited control on undead such as those. 

But those who he raised a number of weeks ago. In fact he had some of the group dig up their bodies from a couple of cemeteries in the city of Vexil. 

He's had plenty of time to control them as they've waited in the boxes that held them for the last few weeks. 

And though they can never truly be fully undead, with their intelligence and personalities they had when they were alive. Like Lord Farque himself, and the undead of his lands have. 

They're the next best thing. And because of that, they're a total menace, and almost impossible for even the most powerful cleric to destroy. 

Des'tier watches the unfolding bedlam and chaos taking part down amongst the trees to the west of the forest road, that goes by the cliff like hill the lord and ruler of the Lands Farque is up, this cold winters morning here in the north of the city-state of Vexil. 

Draugodrottin closes his eyes, and senses out for the undead down in the forest. The lord of the death realm finds one, and with his ability to control the undead. 

The lord and ruler of the Lands Farque watches things through the eyes of this particular undead person. 

The mercenary captain Hafnah almost falls of his mount as a Vexillian soldier, who he thought was going to attack him, runs by, knocking into the side of the cockatrice that Hafnah rides. 

With a frown upon his face, the mercenary captain Hafnah mutters "What the hell is he running from?". 

After looking back at the fleeing enemy soldier, who miraculous avoided being caught in the stare of the cockatrice. 

Looks away to his right, and spots another of the riders in his company. The mercenary captain is just about to call out to the rider, when something happens. 

"What?" mutters captain Hafnah who then blinks in surprise after seeing a figure in threadbare clothing, who is leaping, come flying through the trees, just a few feet above the ground, before slamming into both the rider and his cockatrice. 

"The hell" mutters the mercenary captain, for it should be impossible for what just happened. For the simple reason a cockatrice weighs far more than any horse. And no human should be able to knock it down by just running into it. 

Captain Hafnah winces as he sees his fellow cockatrice rider is still alive, and trying to wriggle out from under his mount, which has pinned him underneath it. 

The mercenary captain goes to grab one of his throwing darts, essentially a short spear used by mounted fighters across not just The Southlands, but the entire world. 

He looks back up and blinks in surprise as the person who bowled over the cockatrice and rider, has just stomped on the head of the naturally magical creature, crushing it's skull. 

"Fuck me" mutters captain Hafnah who knows that's definitely impossible, as the head of a cockatrice is basically as hard as stone. 

Then the figure who doesn't even bother to look at the pinned rider, or even to dispatch him, turns and looks at the nearby mercenary captain. 

Who knows that his own cockatrice is now looking straight at the man in the threadbare clothing. 

A man who should be frozen in place, but instead he starts walking towards captain Hafnah and his mount. Picking up speed with every step he takes. 

The captain of the mercenary company that has cockatrice mounts, hurls his throwing dart at the oncoming figure. 

And the short spear takes the man directly in the middle of the chest, almost going right through him. 

And though the figure briefly stumbles, he continues to run at Hafnah and his cockatrice, with the short spear sticking out the front of him. 

"The fuck" mutters captain Hafnah who briefly thinks about grabbing another throwing dart, but instead he wrenches at the reins of his mount. 

And at the last moment as the man running at him, leaps forward, the cockatrice hops to the left. 

And the man leaps by them. Captain Hafnah quickly looks behind them and sees the man in the threadbare clothing, with a short spear sticking out of his chest. 

Smash into a pair of Vexillian soldiers who were running up behind the mercenary captain and his mount. 

Hafnah's eyes go wide as the man stands up, grabbing one of the enemy soldiers by the throat, picking him up well off the ground, then snapping his neck, and throwing the soldiers body away a good dozen feet to the side. 

The man with the short spear in his chest then stomps down on the back of the second downed Vexillian soldier, who is groaning in pain as he attempts to crawl away. 

The mercenary captain winces as he clearly hears the downed soldier's spine snap when the man in the threadbare clothing stomps on him. 

"Fuck this" mutters captain Hafnah who then silently adds, no wonder that soldier was running away. 

And as the man with the throwing dart sticking out of his chest, turns to look at the mercenary captain and his cockatrice. 

Hafnah commands his mount to take off, and as it runs away. He glances back, and sees the man in the threadbare clothing take a couple of steps, as if to pursue captain Hafnah and his cockatrice. 

But instead he stops and turns to one side, and spots a number of Vexillian soldiers and mercenaries nearby who are locked in battle. 

The man starts walking that way, picking up his pace with every step he takes. As he does, captain Hafnah looks on in disbelief as the figure in the threadbare clothing pulls out the short spear in his chest. 

Flip it, catch it in midair. And as he runs, throws it. And the throwing dart slams into the back of one the fighting mercenaries, who screams in pain as he falls forward to the ground. 

Just before the man in the threadbare clothing runs straight into a number of the combatants, sending them flying in all directions. 

"What the hell's going on?" murmurs captain Hafnah as his cockatrice runs between the trees. While the mercenary captain keeps a look out for any other individuals, neither mercenaries in the gathered army of the Geist Trading Company, or in the Vexillian army, here in the hill country of northern Vexil. 

Lord Farque opens his eyes, and let's that particular undead do whatever it wants. The lord of the death realm who is sensing in all directions for as far as possible. 

And is keeping an eye, so to speak, on the rest of the group who are away in the distance, to the north and west. 

Looks down amongst the trees, off to the west side of the forest road that approaches, and goes around the steep hill that he's on top of. 

The lord and ruler of the Lands Farque spots another of the undead, who is busy attacking both Vexillian soldiers, and mercenaries from the army gathered by the Geist cousins Gamil and Farsen. 

The Geist guard commander Kilmas swings with all his might, and takes off the left arm of the woman who has been attacking those with him. 

A woman who by the way has no head, as the guard commander has already chopped that off. Though he suspects he wouldn't of been able to do that if she wasn't already missing half of her head, which was struck by a crossbow bolt before Kilmas encountered her. 

The commander of the Geist Trading Company guards, steps back as the one armed woman reaches out to try and grab him. 

Just then a Vexillian soldier with a rather large axe runs up behind her, and chops into the back of her left leg, taking it off just below the knee. 

The woman in a torn and dirty dress drops to the ground, and the guard commander along with the Vexillian soldier with the axe. Along with two other soldiers in the army of the city-state of Vexil. As well as a pair of mercenaries, the only two left of five, who were with Kilmas when they encountered the woman. 

Start hacking her to pieces with their weapons. Body parts are chopped and hacked from the woman, who is completely silent. Not to mention she's still trying to move. 

"Step back!" shouts another Vexillian soldier, and commander Kilmas and the others move back as this soldier is holding a burning torch .

Which he puts to the torso of the woman on the ground, and sets her on fire. He also puts the torch to the arm the guard commander chopped off. 

As well as the head that lies off to one side. A head that is more than a little disturbing to look at. For though nearly half the skull is missing, the eyes are still open and looking around. 

And a silent scream comes from the mouth as the head catches fire from the lit torch that's put to it. 

Commander Kilmas looks to where one of the mercenaries points at a hand nearby. It's the woman's hand, and it's crawling away by itself. 

Though it gets slower and slower, and eventually stops once most of the rest of the woman's body burns more steadily. 

The guard commander, the mercenaries, and the Vexillian soldiers are all breathing heavily as they step back and away from the burning pieces of body. 

And though they look at each other, and they grip and regrip the hafts and handles and pommels of their weapons. They don't attack one another like they were doing earlier. 

Then the soldier in the army of the city-state of Vexil, who lit the woman, or to be exact, the pieces of the woman on fire, says "Hell spawn". 

He follows that with "Unclean or undead" he continues with "Best way to destroy them is with fire since there's no clerics around". 

He nods at the guard commander in the Geist Trading Company and adds "Chopping them to bits helps too" the Vexillian soldier continues with "Easier to set on fire as well". 

Commander Kilmas nods, then he gestures away to their right amongst the trees "Come on, over there". 

Where a cockatrice has just knocked down a man who is dressed like a court dandy from a couple of centuries ago. 

And is stomping on him, while a couple of mercenaries shove spears in the downed man. Who looks inconvenienced more than anything else. 

Command Kilmas leads both mercenaries and Vexillian soldiers there, on this cold winters morning here in the hill country of northern Vexil. 

While up on the nearby hilltop, Lord Farque continues to watch the mayhem he's unleashed take place amongst the trees, off to the side of the forest road that leads to the border further north . . . . . .