Enigmatic Immortal
09-27-14, 02:29 PM
“This meeting will have to be brief.”
The green tarp of the canopy snapped and bent in the wind, howling rain beating upon the fabric like impatient fingers upon wood. Pockets of rainfall would fall like waterfalls into remote areas of the makeshift tent, a single piece of oak resting on two uneven logs were the best the resistance group could manage for the interim while the army attempted to catch up.
A younger fellow, scruffy and unshaven, ran a shaky hand through oily black hair. He looked to the plans on the table with a huff of a sigh, as if trying to divine some ancient wisdom from the map with circles painted all over major critical towns and their holds. He fixed his leather jacket, tightening it around his shoulders letting it creak audibly in the quiet air, four other men surrounding the table as well.
“The set back at Churchill will cost us a few thousand in gold, not to mention the loss of man power. We have to hold at the Braum River for at least a few days until we can get reinforcements. Harrison will take his scouts and set traps in the woods and advanced warning if any significant troop movements come.” The speaker turned to the one named Harrison and gave him a grim nod. While they were all cold and obviously shaken, his reassuring gesture gave Harrison enough courage to nod back quickly, already pulling out a map of the surrounding woodlands.
“I can make noise traps here, here, and here,” he spoke rapidly to the assembled people. His fingers moved along his map to indicate the locations he spoke of. “Listen for them, because if they go off you’ll have a twenty man raid heading your way or worse. My scouts and I can handle anything smaller than that with quick strikes.”
“We have to detain them long enough to make the push a fruitless endeavor.” The man next to Harrison spoke next, aged fingers pointing to an arming supply base near the River by a windmill. His greying hair clashed with his white hair, brown eyes full of aged wisdom and experience drawn from a life of hard work. He spoke like a father would to his children; set in his ways and not going to be convinced otherwise. “My huntsman and I will strike their supply base. If we can take it out, then…” he hesitated a moment as his voice trailed away a hidden meaning he didn’t want to convey. The leader of the group spoke again, his voice picking up his hesitation with reassurance.
“Then should we not hold the river, they will not be able to push any further. Be careful old timer, I promised a woman you know very well your safe return. Do not make me a liar.” There was nervous laughter as they took a moment to de-stress from their long voyage. Recently they had a foothold within the Concordian Forest, but a major offensive from the local government of Corone pushed them back. The Imperials have spent their entire war forcing submission of the surrounding area, increasing taxes and workloads as punishment for aiding the Ixian Knights in the Civil War. A group of Rebels had fought back, trying to push the Imperial forces away and out. They were a long way from home and if the fringe towns showed they couldn’t be pushed around, Corone would leave them be.
That plan horribly backfired.
Not only did the Coronian Empire take the rebellion as treason, they have pushed several of their forces into the area and began acts of war that went beyond sending a simple message. Entire villages were forced into work camps, where all the food they had saved was given to the Empire, then the village was burnt to the ground and the workers freed to fend for themselves. Then they approached the next town and offered two choices: Join and be kept under leash, or suffer the same fate as the last town.
At first the Rebels managed to fight back, forcing the enemy into their own territory and keeping them at bay, but recently, a new group of warrior elite had shown themselves. Wherever they went, the battle turned into a massacre. This was the fifth bug out the Rebels had to do in the face of the enemy, and to give up this last bit of ground would end them once and for all.
Sei Orlouge and the Ixians had been contacted, and while they couldn’t directly help the Rebels, Sei assured the messenger that their “plight wasn’t being ignored.” So far nothing had shown from the Ixians, and the leader had held his tongue about it until now. It seemed painfully obvious that the Ixians were not sending help.
He set his jaw straight and brought the rest of the hard working men to attention. They did not have long to waste before they had to set other plans into motion. “There is the one problem. The Night Walkers,” he said irritably, as if the very concept couldn’t be rationalized. “They have yet to be found, and yet to be stopped. If we can’t stop them, we’ll not be able to hold off any longer. I will not kid you guys; we fail here, this rebellion is over and we will be hanged. We have to find them and take them out.”
The room remained silent, for nobody wanted to speak the deadly truth. They had no clue where this elite forces group was. They had no man power to even look for them. They were not secret agents or master warriors. They were a rag tag group of villagers who worked together for a common goal. Some had served before in the Coronian army, but at the end of the day they could beat the Imperials only in guerrilla war and hit and run. That had changed when the Night Walkers became a force to reckon with. Highly trained, fighting the dirty fight against a dirty opponent. They raided the Rebels supply houses, killed key personnel, blew up supply stashes, and made an already difficult war impossible to fight.
The wind blew harder against the tent flap, and a crack of lightning illuminated the area making several men jump. They jumped again when they saw the entrance to their makeshift tent was open and four men stood before them. They looked like any other rag tag group of mercenaries, but the one in the front had a grin that could devour demons. His red tipped hair let drips of rain water cascade down his face. He stood there with his cocky grin, arms crossed over his chest with a confidence that made him look smarmy and crass, but the air of authority he brought with him gave a soft reluctance to admit that he was as damn good as he thought he was.
Behind him was a warrior with a bow, standing to his left and nearly invisible to the group. Indeed many had to look three times to realize he was there watching them all, already finished assessing them. The man on the opposite end looked like a killer through and through, and his crazed gaze flashed to each one, a soft smile on his face. Why he smiled nobody was sure, but he added a certain menace to the display of power. The last stood behind the leader, arms mirrored in the fashion of the one before him as he cocked his head to the side and smiled as well. He looked human in nature, but something about him was off.
“Who are you?” the head of the tattered rebels asked in a slight stupor.
“The one’s who are gonna get your dick out of the bear trap,” he said with a giggle. “We’re the help Sei couldn’t send, the team that doesn’t exist. Thank your gods now, gentlemen, the cavalry has arrived. Now, about those Night Walkers…”
~*~*~
Jensen listend to all the information he was given about these so called Night Walkers with a detached care. Chances were slim these idiots would have a better idea of who they were than Jensen would at first glance. However they also didn’t have Talen Shadowalker’s covert operations network. It took the teenager a few weeks to dig up the black operations file on the Night Walkers, but he did find some information. They were created during the Civil War to assist the Viceroy’s in dispatching upstart towns and hubs from turning into another Ixian Knight stronghold much like Valdta. They were trained to induce fear, infiltrate, smuggle, and do everything illegally possible to get their job done. Too bad Jensen’s wetworks team did the same thing, and better to his opinion.
He walked away from the tent of rebels with his entourage in tow, looking back to Terry and Matt with a disgruntled face. The situation, while he played it off calmly, wasn’t so black and white. “Listen up,” Jensen said seriously. “The Night Walkers are not just a bunch of elite soldiers in the Imperial Army. Remember Sei’s reformation team? Helping criminals gain their freedom by assisting the Ixian Knights and working for the good of the people? They are the exact opposite. Murderer’s, top spies that were caught, and all sorts of societies dregs were given the option to join this unit or perish. Not exactly hard choice,” Jensen joked.
He moved into the canopy of the tree’s, grabbing his satchel of items and watching as the others did the same. “Some tough crackers in there too. A Hex Mage, a vampiress, couple of Dark Elven assassin’s. They are pretty well trained and the worst part is the idiots in the Empire are giving them what they want. No rules, just obedience to do what the Viceroy’s want.”
He turned to the warrior with the bow, nodding to him. “Get some eyes and ears on the surrounding area, see if you can find where they are camping, alright Shadow?” Jensen looked to the other two. “As for us, let’s do some recon and a little charity work for the Rebels. Let’s go spook the imperials in their beds.”
The green tarp of the canopy snapped and bent in the wind, howling rain beating upon the fabric like impatient fingers upon wood. Pockets of rainfall would fall like waterfalls into remote areas of the makeshift tent, a single piece of oak resting on two uneven logs were the best the resistance group could manage for the interim while the army attempted to catch up.
A younger fellow, scruffy and unshaven, ran a shaky hand through oily black hair. He looked to the plans on the table with a huff of a sigh, as if trying to divine some ancient wisdom from the map with circles painted all over major critical towns and their holds. He fixed his leather jacket, tightening it around his shoulders letting it creak audibly in the quiet air, four other men surrounding the table as well.
“The set back at Churchill will cost us a few thousand in gold, not to mention the loss of man power. We have to hold at the Braum River for at least a few days until we can get reinforcements. Harrison will take his scouts and set traps in the woods and advanced warning if any significant troop movements come.” The speaker turned to the one named Harrison and gave him a grim nod. While they were all cold and obviously shaken, his reassuring gesture gave Harrison enough courage to nod back quickly, already pulling out a map of the surrounding woodlands.
“I can make noise traps here, here, and here,” he spoke rapidly to the assembled people. His fingers moved along his map to indicate the locations he spoke of. “Listen for them, because if they go off you’ll have a twenty man raid heading your way or worse. My scouts and I can handle anything smaller than that with quick strikes.”
“We have to detain them long enough to make the push a fruitless endeavor.” The man next to Harrison spoke next, aged fingers pointing to an arming supply base near the River by a windmill. His greying hair clashed with his white hair, brown eyes full of aged wisdom and experience drawn from a life of hard work. He spoke like a father would to his children; set in his ways and not going to be convinced otherwise. “My huntsman and I will strike their supply base. If we can take it out, then…” he hesitated a moment as his voice trailed away a hidden meaning he didn’t want to convey. The leader of the group spoke again, his voice picking up his hesitation with reassurance.
“Then should we not hold the river, they will not be able to push any further. Be careful old timer, I promised a woman you know very well your safe return. Do not make me a liar.” There was nervous laughter as they took a moment to de-stress from their long voyage. Recently they had a foothold within the Concordian Forest, but a major offensive from the local government of Corone pushed them back. The Imperials have spent their entire war forcing submission of the surrounding area, increasing taxes and workloads as punishment for aiding the Ixian Knights in the Civil War. A group of Rebels had fought back, trying to push the Imperial forces away and out. They were a long way from home and if the fringe towns showed they couldn’t be pushed around, Corone would leave them be.
That plan horribly backfired.
Not only did the Coronian Empire take the rebellion as treason, they have pushed several of their forces into the area and began acts of war that went beyond sending a simple message. Entire villages were forced into work camps, where all the food they had saved was given to the Empire, then the village was burnt to the ground and the workers freed to fend for themselves. Then they approached the next town and offered two choices: Join and be kept under leash, or suffer the same fate as the last town.
At first the Rebels managed to fight back, forcing the enemy into their own territory and keeping them at bay, but recently, a new group of warrior elite had shown themselves. Wherever they went, the battle turned into a massacre. This was the fifth bug out the Rebels had to do in the face of the enemy, and to give up this last bit of ground would end them once and for all.
Sei Orlouge and the Ixians had been contacted, and while they couldn’t directly help the Rebels, Sei assured the messenger that their “plight wasn’t being ignored.” So far nothing had shown from the Ixians, and the leader had held his tongue about it until now. It seemed painfully obvious that the Ixians were not sending help.
He set his jaw straight and brought the rest of the hard working men to attention. They did not have long to waste before they had to set other plans into motion. “There is the one problem. The Night Walkers,” he said irritably, as if the very concept couldn’t be rationalized. “They have yet to be found, and yet to be stopped. If we can’t stop them, we’ll not be able to hold off any longer. I will not kid you guys; we fail here, this rebellion is over and we will be hanged. We have to find them and take them out.”
The room remained silent, for nobody wanted to speak the deadly truth. They had no clue where this elite forces group was. They had no man power to even look for them. They were not secret agents or master warriors. They were a rag tag group of villagers who worked together for a common goal. Some had served before in the Coronian army, but at the end of the day they could beat the Imperials only in guerrilla war and hit and run. That had changed when the Night Walkers became a force to reckon with. Highly trained, fighting the dirty fight against a dirty opponent. They raided the Rebels supply houses, killed key personnel, blew up supply stashes, and made an already difficult war impossible to fight.
The wind blew harder against the tent flap, and a crack of lightning illuminated the area making several men jump. They jumped again when they saw the entrance to their makeshift tent was open and four men stood before them. They looked like any other rag tag group of mercenaries, but the one in the front had a grin that could devour demons. His red tipped hair let drips of rain water cascade down his face. He stood there with his cocky grin, arms crossed over his chest with a confidence that made him look smarmy and crass, but the air of authority he brought with him gave a soft reluctance to admit that he was as damn good as he thought he was.
Behind him was a warrior with a bow, standing to his left and nearly invisible to the group. Indeed many had to look three times to realize he was there watching them all, already finished assessing them. The man on the opposite end looked like a killer through and through, and his crazed gaze flashed to each one, a soft smile on his face. Why he smiled nobody was sure, but he added a certain menace to the display of power. The last stood behind the leader, arms mirrored in the fashion of the one before him as he cocked his head to the side and smiled as well. He looked human in nature, but something about him was off.
“Who are you?” the head of the tattered rebels asked in a slight stupor.
“The one’s who are gonna get your dick out of the bear trap,” he said with a giggle. “We’re the help Sei couldn’t send, the team that doesn’t exist. Thank your gods now, gentlemen, the cavalry has arrived. Now, about those Night Walkers…”
~*~*~
Jensen listend to all the information he was given about these so called Night Walkers with a detached care. Chances were slim these idiots would have a better idea of who they were than Jensen would at first glance. However they also didn’t have Talen Shadowalker’s covert operations network. It took the teenager a few weeks to dig up the black operations file on the Night Walkers, but he did find some information. They were created during the Civil War to assist the Viceroy’s in dispatching upstart towns and hubs from turning into another Ixian Knight stronghold much like Valdta. They were trained to induce fear, infiltrate, smuggle, and do everything illegally possible to get their job done. Too bad Jensen’s wetworks team did the same thing, and better to his opinion.
He walked away from the tent of rebels with his entourage in tow, looking back to Terry and Matt with a disgruntled face. The situation, while he played it off calmly, wasn’t so black and white. “Listen up,” Jensen said seriously. “The Night Walkers are not just a bunch of elite soldiers in the Imperial Army. Remember Sei’s reformation team? Helping criminals gain their freedom by assisting the Ixian Knights and working for the good of the people? They are the exact opposite. Murderer’s, top spies that were caught, and all sorts of societies dregs were given the option to join this unit or perish. Not exactly hard choice,” Jensen joked.
He moved into the canopy of the tree’s, grabbing his satchel of items and watching as the others did the same. “Some tough crackers in there too. A Hex Mage, a vampiress, couple of Dark Elven assassin’s. They are pretty well trained and the worst part is the idiots in the Empire are giving them what they want. No rules, just obedience to do what the Viceroy’s want.”
He turned to the warrior with the bow, nodding to him. “Get some eyes and ears on the surrounding area, see if you can find where they are camping, alright Shadow?” Jensen looked to the other two. “As for us, let’s do some recon and a little charity work for the Rebels. Let’s go spook the imperials in their beds.”