This story is part of the Adventures in fantasy realm
Brown and beige tents were put up in neat rows spiralling away from the big tents in the centre. Soldiers wearing a simple bronze chainmail over red leather worked hard to get the camp set up before dusk would settle and lead the way for the evening to come. The air was filled with the smell of moist dirt, sweat and oil; and the sound of talking, shouting and grinding of blades being sharpened.
A soldier walked through the camp, smiling to greetings, saluting superiors. He tried to act naturally, casually, and gently dropped a bag behind a tent. Without pausing he went in a new direction, his fingers stroking the wood of the handheld crossbow he kept under his cloak. Sure, these people had their Army Destroyer, but his people had been able to downsize crossbows to a more manageable size, without sacrificing a lot of piercing power or range.
His eyes took in the metal-and-wooden structure that was their secret weapon: a moving catapult that was pretty damn accurate and fired big rocks, flaming coal, and flasks of oil at the same time. It was capable of doing a lot of damage and it was well guarded by soldiers.
It moved slowly, but surely. It was pulled by oxen, but a set of gears made it easier for the animals to pull it. The dwarves had made the gears; they didn’t care about quarrels between humans and sold their weapons and forged item to anyone who was willing to pay for their work.
Around him soldiers were talking amongst themselves and he listened to the bits and pieces of the stories and complaint, but his attention was focussed on the moving machine. They had just finished making camp here and the Army Destroyer was on its way to the designated location. Steve smiled and nodded to one of the enemy soldiers as he passed him; so far no-one had seen through his disguise. The enemy army was large enough for soldiers to know their own unit by name, the closest units by face and some by name, and the rest, well, it was good everyone wore the same uniform.
“Hey, from what unit are you?” someone asked.
Steve turned to face him and saluted the officer. “Twenty-four blue, sir,” he said.
“And what are you doing here?”
“Delivering a message to the legas of green ten, sir.” He showed the man a closed letter with the name of the legas on it.
The officer subjected him to a scrutinizing look and after a moment held out his hand. “I will take it, report back to your legas.”
“Yes sir.” Steve turned around and walked back but snuck between some tents and quickly went back in the direction he had been going in before. That was the only letter he had; it was best to avoid being stopped by anyone else. He moved quicker now; he needed to do this before the Army Destroyer would reach its place and come to a halt. He looked at the machine that towered over everything else, still moving steadily.
Only special troops were allowed near the Army Destroyer, but that didn’t matter. His goal was unguarded.
He reached the tree closest to the machine and climbed in.
“What are you doing?” one of the enemy soldiers asked.
“Just getting a good view,” Steve replied as he pulled out his crossbow.
“What is that?”
Steve didn’t answer and took aim. There were two confirmed weaknesses. One only worked if the enemy would approach them on the battlefield, but the other was within range. As someone shouted “Hey, stop!” below him, he fired an iron dart. It pierced the air and buried itself in the gears that allowed it to move. The gears came to a grinding halt while the gears on the other side still moved, causing the large weapon to turn. For a moment it seemed the large machine would topple, but the drivers managed to stop the oxen in time.
Too bad.
Two hands grabbed his legs and Steve smashed the crossbow against the tree, to make sure the enemy wouldn’t get their hands on his weapon. He didn’t have more darts with him anyway; he had known before coming here there would be enough time for just one shot.
They dragged Steve to a tent, searched him for weapons and pushed him against a pole. Steve coughed as the blow forced the air from his lungs and took in a deep breath as the soldiers tied his hands behind the pole.
The heavy fabric of the tent didn’t let a lot of light in. It took a moment before Steve’s eyes adjusted to the darkness around him. There were very few items here. A table and a chair at one side, a crate filled with ropes. And three poles, one of which was still empty. His eyes rested on the other prisoner in the tent. They looked at each other but didn’t speak.
The soldiers who had searched him examined the items they had found: three daggers and a pouch with a flint and firestone in it. They left the tent with the items, probably to inform their commanding officer. As Steve has suspected, they only kept a couple of guards outside the tent. In the past the marshal had been victim of a sweettalking prisoner, who had managed to escape by becoming friends with the guards and stole his ruby dagger in the process. Ever since he wouldn’t let soldiers talk to the prisoners.
“Grand commander Bendul,” a man barked as he entered the tent. Judging by the ornaments on his uniform he was a high-ranking officer. “Is this one of your men?”
“I don’t know all soldiers by face,” Bendul began, but was interrupted by Steve.
“I am. And you must be marshal Doruk.”
The marshal turned to him. “Did you really think that little stunt of you would stop us?”
“It should delay you,” Steve replied, his voice calm and he smiled at the man. “But, to be honest, that was just a message from first major commander Andrus. A warning.”
“Andrus,” Doruk grumbled. “I’ll have his head on a stake.”
“He said that you would say that, and if you would then I had to tell you that his left side is his best side. And that if you would place his head so that the sun is always on the left, he’d make a stunning ornament.”
The grand commander groaned, and the face of the marshal turned red. “I will put his head anyway I want to!” he bellowed, turning around and stomping out of the tent.
“Was that why he sent you?” Bendul asked. “So that you could taunt Doruk in his place?”
“No, sir. I came here to rescue you.”
Bendul let out an amused sound. “That’s not really going according to plan, is it? They took all your weapons.”
“To be honest, sir,” Steve said, lowering his voice to a whisper as he started wriggling and turning his wrists, “those were meant to be found. You see, after studying the knots they use a lot, Trevor tied me up with a knot they use most frequent and left food with me, telling me that if I was hungry I had to get it myself. It took me a day, but I found a way to untie myself. Then of course I had to do it again, but faster. Then another knot…”
“That sounds like Trevor,” Bendul sighed. “If he’d still be an officer I would have demoted him for that stunt.”
“But he’s not, and that’s probably why the first major commander requested his assistance. Of course, the first major commander didn’t know what Trevor did.”
“Of course,” Bendul whispered back, but they both knew Andrus knew exactly what Trevor had done.
The ropes fell to the ground. “Maybe it is unethical to tie one of your own up and withhold food from them,” Steve went to the grand commander to untie him, “but it worked.”
“I suppose you have a plan to get us out of here too.”
“Yes sir.” Steve walked to the back of the tent and lay down on the ground. He lifted the fabric and peered through the opening. Three set of boots marched on the other side of the tent and he waited until they were gone. As far as he could see there weren’t any boots or shadows of people within eye range and he grabbed the bag he had dropped there earlier, pulling it into the tent.
“Missionary cloaks,” he whispered as he opened the pack. “And two daggers.” A small dragon with yellow scales and wings like that of a dragonfly flew out. “And Linda,” Steve added with a grin.
“You came prepared,” Bendul whispered back as he took the green cloth made of plants and feather and put it on.
“She will distract the guards outside so we can escape.”
Once they were dressed in their missionary cloaks, Steve opened the tent just enough for Linda to crawl through. It didn’t take long before they heard ‘ouch, my eyes!’, followed by her taunting and the shouting of soldiers to grab her. For some reason these people considered fairydragons bad luck, but that worked to their advantage. It probably hadn’t helped she had poked the guards of the tent in their eyes before starting her taunts. Steve peered outside through a small gap and when it looked like the coast was clear he stepped outside. When he saw a couple of soldiers running towards the east, the direction he had instructed Linda to take, he quickly made the blessing symbol with his hand and waited for Bendul to join him. Together they walked through the camp, their hands clasped as all missionaries seemed to do, their eyes cast to the ground. They managed to walk through most of the camp, giving blessings to those who requested them, but they were stopped by a soldier.
“Missionaries aren’t supposed to be in this part of the camp,” he told them.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Steve said, his hand disappeared in the cloak and his fingers wrapped around the handle of his dagger.
“Show your hands,” the soldier said, putting his own hand on his sword.
With a swift movement Steve drew the blade and lashed out, but the soldier evaded it. Before he could shout for help, Bendul grabbed him and slit his throat from behind. The man grabbed his throat, blood oozing through his fingers, and Steve started to pull him between the tents.
“Hey, you two!”
“Damn,” Steve muttered, dropping the dying soldier. “This way, sir!” He started running through the camp, followed closely by Bendul. He pulled down a stack of crates, dove between some tents and rushed into one of them. Quickly he removed the cloak, pushed it in an open barrel, and grabbed another bag as Bendul removed his cloak too. They ran out the other side, Bendul just a step behind him, and sprinted through the camp, diving into another supply tent.
Steve panted and gave the bag to Bendul. “Enemy uniform. Quick.”
They both cleaned their hands and Steve removed his chainmail while Bendul changed in the red uniform. It was good the blood barely showed on his leather armour; Steve didn’t want to explain how it got there. There were orders being shouted on the other side of the fabric and Steve listened to what was going on there. When Bendul was ready, they left the tent and Steve led the way.
“Another thing you prepared?” Bendul asked.
“I prepared a few things, yes.” Steve looked at a few soldiers who were searching for them, making sure to keep his worry hidden deep inside and keep a more casual pose, as if he belonged here.
“You two,” one of them said, stepping closer to them. “Did you see any missionaries?”
“I think two went that way,” Steve said, pointing towards the north. “Why?”
“They killed one of our men.”
“Quick then!” Steve started running north. “They can’t be far!”
Together with Bendul and a handful of enemy soldiers, Steve lead the search for the two missionaries. At one of the junctions Steve stopped. “You guys go left, we’ll go right.”
The enemy soldiers nodded and ran to the left. Steve quickly turned right and together with Bendul ran through the camp.
“What’s up?” someone asked.
“Two missionaries killed soldiers!” Steve explained. “We’re looking for them. We must bring all the missionaries to the main tent and confirm their identities. Help us do that.”
The soldiers complied and relayed the orders to other soldiers they came across. Steve watched them disperse and turned to Bendul. “This way, sir.”
They reached the outskirts of the camp and when one of the guards asked what they were doing here, Steve told them they were send on a mission by legas Uli. He wanted to drink tea again. The guard rolled his eyes and with a gesture of his head allowed them to leave the camp. The tea obsession of Uli was well known among the soldiers, Steve had heard a few things about that during his exploration of the camp when the soldiers were still putting it up.
Once they were far enough from the camp, Bendul turned to Steve. “Did you plan for transportation?”
“At the river.”
Bendul showed his approval by nodding. “Let’s make haste, we have to be a good distance away before they find the missionary cloaks in the barrel and find out two soldiers left the camp.”
Steve nodded and both men started running to the river.
*** © Mariska Bekker ***