The windswept field had been silent for hours, except for the assiduous work of four freeguilders. No words had been spoken while a row of shallow graves emerged on the edge of the battlefield. The Bloodbound corpses had been left were they had fallen, but each and every Averbury man had been laid to rest in the shadow of the forest edge.
Placing the guardsman's helmet he'd used as a shovel on top of the final mound, Lieutenant Leopold Scholz let out a deep sigh.
"That's all I can do for you lads. I thank you for your honourable service. In Sigmar's name," he muttered, thumping his forearm against his chest in salute. The Greatswords behind him echoed the gesture. Gunmaster Fersen was standing a bit to the side of the scene, deep in thought. He too bowed his head in acknowledgement of the modest ceremony.
"We sweep the forest now, then?" the engineer eventually called out after a moment of silence.
"Aye. We'll see if anyone else has wandered here in search of us, then we'll move on to where the khornates came," Scholz replied.
"We'll find that artefact and carry on with the mission."
Hours passed. Fersen, Scholz and the two Greatswords walked through the forest back to the portal they'd come from, each on them on high alert for any lurking danger in these unfamiliar lands. Sun was shining high in the sky, illuminating the forest in a warm golden light that made the woods much more beautiful than its misty counterpart that came before. There were even some birds singing merrily in the canopy.
"Now this is more like an environment I'm ready to have adventures in," Wolfgang smiled.
"Mist and darkness make everything look more sinister."
"Don't get too comfy with it, Gunmaster. Broad daylight is usually more dangerous than the dead of night."
"How so?" Wolfgang asked, his brow raised.
"Well, you wouldn't be using your senses to admire the vista in the dark, right? You'd be using them for something useful, like.... let's say, spotting enemies?" Scholz grinned.
"Right... didn't think of it like that."
"That's why I'm the lieutenant and you're the scholar."
Suddenly the Greatsword ahead of them stopped and raised his hand in a "halt" gesture, staring to their left. Sonorous speach was audible from the direction. Wolfgang opened his mouth to say something, but Scholz interrupted.
"Not one word about how I didn't hear that. You were disturbing me."
With that, Leopold strode over to the gesturing freeguilder.
"Where?" he whispered.
"Seems like right beyond those bushes over there, sir. Sounds human."
"Great. Let's see whose side they're on," Scholz replied, taking up his greatsword that he'd carried along by the blade.
The quartet snuck up to the bushes with their weapons at the ready, and peeked across. Right there, some hundred feet away, a small column of Averbury soldiers was trudging past them. They were led by a blue-robed figure with a snake-shaped staff, walking ahead of the column and reciting something continuously in some arcane language. The figure was holding its staff aloft, its tip shining a bright white light to illuminate the landscape to the column's front.
"That's... that's Rosengart!" Wolfgang gasped from behind the lieutenant's shoulder.
"Who?"
"Ernest Rosengart, one of your regiment's Battlemages! I've been working with him ever since I was assigned to this duty," The Gunmaster's face lit up in a delighted smile.
"He's a well-educated man. A man of knowledge."
"Well well, would you look at that..." Scholz replied in exaggerated amazement, turning sour immediately after.
"Never heard of him. I've never enjoyed the company of over-learned men."
Wolfgang merely snorted, holstering his repeater and pushing through the bushes.
"Hey, Rosengart! I'm so glad to see you, my good man!"
The blue-clad figure spun around to face their direction, still holding his staff aloft.
"Stay... back! You... whatever you are, stay back or face the might of the Averguild!" the mage shouted out, waving the glowing staff back and forth, the soldiers forming into a defensive circle around him.
"You... have no chance against good honest steel and... and my ARCANE MIGHT!"
A bolt of lightning stretched down from the clear blue skies, through the canopy, connecting with the glowing snakehead of Ernest's staff. The bolt stuck to it, pulsing rapidly up and down the staff's length as the wizard turned his weapon to point at Wolfgang.
"It's me, Ernest. Calm down now, will you?" the Gunmaster suggested, slowly raising his hands.
"Oh. Just... a moment if you please. I... need to put this somewhere," Rosengart replied, now frowning in confusion as he looked around him, clearly thinking. After a moment's thought the mage spun the electrified staff above his head and brought it down, end-first, into the forest soil. The pent-up energy was released from the staff into the ground, a swarm of forked lightnings bursting outwards from the point of impact along with a thunderous crack that rustled the leaves of nearby trees.
Raising his gaze from the ground, Battlemage Ernest Rosengart began approaching Wolfgang. His eyes were squinting, and the freeguilders behind him still seemed wary.
"Fersen? I... am terribly sorry about that back there, I... was just... prepared," he said apologeticly, speaking in his usual soft fashion.
"Things... could've gone very badly from that setting... should some actions have been any more... hasty."
"We can count ourselves blessed that it wasn't so," Wolfgand grinned, walking up to the mage to shake hands.
"Good to see you, Rosengart."
"Yes... you too," the wizard replied, now visibly more relaxed.
Scholz strode to the scene with his two men, causing the entirety of Rosengart's entourage to snap into a salute.
"That was quite the performance you had there, master mage! I have to say I'm impressed."
With a wave of his hand he signaled the freeguilders to be at ease. Rosengart turned his gaze to the officer, tilting his head to the side.
"Why... thank you, lieutenant. I... guess."
"It actually asks a lot of Scholz to compliment anyone like that. You really nailed the first impression," Wolfgang laughed, thumping the mage with his elbow, winking.
Ignoring the Gunmaster's remark, Leopold spoke to the assembled soldiers.
"I'll be assuming command of this detachment from now on. What do we have here... some arquebuses, greatswords and a couple of halberds. Good. We'll be heading that-a-way to track down an artefact of great importance. Welcome aboard!"
The soldiers nodded in acknowledgement.
"Lieutenant... I apologise but I do have to ask... what... in Sigmar's name are you doing here in Hysh? Besides... that artefact, I mean," Rosengart asked after Scholz had spoken.
"What? We're in the Realm of Light? Perfect! Right where I want us to be," lieutenant replied.
"We must find a powerful item of some sort and then find a magical place of some sort. Haven't had time to return to the camp just yet. Wolfgang will fill in the details for you on the way."
The freeguilders began falling into a marching order under Scholz's instructions. The Battlemage stood silent for a while, stroking his pointy beard as he watched the soldiers hustle about. When the column was ready and began marching east, Rosengart walked up and grabbed the lieutenant by the shoulder.
"There... is a realmgate west of here, near which lie five condensations of arcane energy. I... believe that might be the location you're looking for, lieutenant."
"Oh? Right, west. Damned trees, all look alike," Scholz stammered. Clearing his throat, Leopold called out new orders to the marching Averburians.
"Detachment, about-face! Double time, march!"
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti