An Ashlanders Tale Chapter 4, By Jonajosa Options

[minque]

I received the beginning of the next chapter from jonajosa, so here you go

Link to chapter two, which this is the continuation of...


Chapter 4



After spending about 3 hours in a barrel on a nord supply ship Ashibalk was beginning to feel very depressed. This was certainly not how a general should be treated. He was going to have to talk to Darius about getting his rank changed to something more… safer. He sat in the cramped space thinking of what he would do when he reached the shore. Would he try and escape back to his own lines or would he try be forced to live in secret inside the nord lines? He had time to think of almost every possibility during the ride and had come to a conclusion. He would run.

The plan was to get taken off the ship and when the nord left him he would get out of the barrel and try and take off through the hills. He felt certain he could easily lose the nords in the rocky landscape of West Gash. Ashibalk knew his chance was getting closer when he started to hear the waves crashing upon the rocks near the shore. He heard some mumbling around his barrel and knew they were about to start taking cargo off the ship. He was picked up and carried some distance before they dropped him on the ground. He stayed still for a while and listened to the footsteps start to fade away. At that moment he put his plan into action.

Ashibalk opened the lid and peered out around him. He was in some sort of room filled with other crates and barrels. He got out and went to the door. He looked through and saw a group of other buildings that had storage signs above them. It was then when he saw a nord carrying a barrel towards his shack. Ashibalk looked around him for something to use as a weapon. There! A large knife was stuck in a lid on the other side of the room. He hurried to it, yanked it out and laid against the wall by the door. Hopefully the guard would pass by quickly and would not notice him standing there.

When the guard did enter the room Ashibalk gave a quick glance through the door to see if anyone followed his new prey. There was no one in sight so he rushed up behind the unsuspecting nord and slit his throat. He quickly dragged him into a corner and began taking his armor off. The nords armor was a little big but it was good enough to fool anyone who would glance at him when he left the camp. Once the armor was on he took a deep breath and took a step out of the room. The sun was blinding and he was forced to lift his arm over his head to block out its light. He had spent too much time in that barrel with no light. Now… which way lead out of this place?

[Jonajosa]

The first few seconds went by slow as I planned my attack on the two. After some consideration on all the different approaches I figured the best way was to charge in swinging. It didn’t sound like the best plan but all the others took to long and had to many places where I could mess up and possibly get killed. I unsheathed my blade and took a deep breath before crashing through the brush.

My plan worked great at the start and I had quickly overwhelmed one of the men and slashed his throat. The other however had time to draw his weapon and ward off my blows before I could finish him off. It truly was one of the most furious battles I had ever been in. We had both sustained several deep wounds and our actions were slowing down to a creeping pace. It turned into fight where we each hit each other’s shield over and over. I realized that I would soon run out of strength if I didn’t end this soon so I summoned up all that was left of my power and charged forward. The man reeled back against my sudden onslaught and his sword snapped off at the hilt. Before he could make a grab at his knife I shoved my sword at his throat. He immediately stopped reaching for his belt and got down on his knees.

“Please don’t kill me! I don’t want to die!” Tears were forming up in the corners of his eyes and he was rocking back and forth on his knees. “Please…” He bent down all the way and began grabbing at my boots. I kicked his hands away and sheathed my own weapon.

“Go tell your “boss” that if he tries to capture another soldier of the Chimer army ever again, I will personally come after him and put a stop to his meaningless life.” I picked him up by the collar and drug him to the edge of the grove. “Give me your knife.” I commanded. He slowly took out the knife and handed it to me. “Now go!” The man didn’t need me to tell him twice for as soon as I finished speaking he was already some 20 yards away from me.

I sighed and walked back to the fire. When I looked around I saw that several things had to be done now. First, I had to get rid of that dead body. Second, I had to collect all the bandit’s food and supplies. And third, I had to start thinking of a new way to reach my own men. I was certain the bandits had led me anywhere but closer to the Chimer army. But where had they led me? The sky was starting to darken again with storm clouds and the sound of thunder was heavy in the distance. I put aside any thoughts of getting home and began digging through the bandit’s stuff to try and find a tent or something to make a shelter with. I had no plans to sleep in the rain again.

After searching through several small packs and finding nothing but dried fish and rat meat I ran out of hope of finding anything that could be used to make a shelter. That meant I had to move out. I snatched up the bandit’s equipment and started out of the protection of the grove and into the sprinkling rain.

I spent several hours walking through the forest until I came upon a road that looked well used. Thinking it would lead me to some allies or some warm and dry tavern I wasted no time following it south… or rather what I thought was south. I was leaving the rain behind me now and the ground was becoming drier the further I went. That was a relief to me for I was tired of my feet getting my feet stuck in the mud. As I went along I noticed several things I had never witnessed before. The flowers were opening up and catching the after shower sunrays and the small animals were running about doing whatever it is they do. I stopped on the top of a hill and took some time to take in the sights. I felt relaxed for the first time in many weeks. There had been so much I had been through. With all constant killing and near death experiences I had felt certain that I would never get to see my home again. Now here I was back in my homeland.

The sun was starting to come up now and with it came the sight of warfare. I looked ahead and saw some smoke coming over the next hill. I frowned and started walking at a quick pace towards the smoke. As I got closer I started to hear muffled clashes and yells. My pace quickened into a run and I soon found myself climbing up the steep hill. When I came over the top I came face to face with another horrific sight. Ahead of me was a town or should I say what was left of a town. All but a few buildings had been turned into nothing but black smoldering piles of wood. My attention was drawn away from the city towards a small group of men running through a field. Behind them were about two-dozen nord archers.

The men kept running from the nords but it was clear they were already doomed. When the nord archers had all reached the edge of the town they lined up and sent two waves of arrows into the running men. All the men fell and disappeared under the tall plants. I forced myself to keep from running down into the city and trying to avenge their deaths but the thought of having to go back to that snowy wasteland kept me from doing anything stupid. Instead I started to creep around the town to where I saw the men go down under the plants. Maybe I could find something of use.