Owaine and his men rode through a dense alpine forest road. They had been tasked with hunting down a militia called the Sons of God by King Skinner himself. Next to him was Maxis, Sir Hetfield, and Nathaniel.
Sir Hetfield and Nathaniel were associates of Maxis, Nathaniel was the red haired son of a noble from a small German populated city south of Middle Tahl called Schussel.
He joined the Knights of The Pines when Maxis resurrected the order. Sir Hetfield was a bulky man from Austria who had a passion for music and wrote poems and songs when he wasn't battling.
Owaine's men numbered forty-five and though they were few in number they were extremely accurate bowmen and knew the terrain well. Most men who served in the Faithful Vigils were woodsmen, hunters, Indian fighters and veterans. Most of them were bowmen but some carried maces, swords, axes and spears.
"How do you know where these guys are hiding?" Nathaniel asked
"We don't." Maxis replied "We're supposed to find them." Owaine said. "To find something you must search for it, it won't just appear out of nowhere. If you wanna speed this up why don't you ride and scout for us?"
"Fine." Nathaniel said, letting out a sigh as he kicked his horse and rode away.
Maxis, Hetfield and Owaine laughed as he left.
"Eager bastard." Maxis said. "Don't be too hard on him, we were like him once. Eager and needing to prove ourselves." Hetfield said, his plate armor clanking as he kept riding. "Yeah I guess so." Maxis said. "So, how many soldiers do we have Owen?" Maxis asked. "Why do you insist on calling me that?" Owaine said, slightly annoyed.
"Cuz it's easier than Owaine."
"What…" Owaine paused.
"Huh, what is i-"
"...Ever." Owaine finished, cutting Maxis off. Hetfield burst out laughing and Owaine smirked proudly at himself while Maxis rolled his eyes in annoyance.
Meanwhile, as Nathaniel rode ahead of the main force he overheard men speaking off to the side of the road.
He looked around, trying to figure out the source of the noise. He dismounted and walked off the road and into the forest. He walked up a small hill and peered over it as the noises sounded closer and closer and saw a settlement with two cabins, about forty tents and a barn.
As he looked closer he saw men in white tunics bearing a yellow sun on their chests and shields. He knew these were the men they were looking for. He left the area quietly and hastily and rode back to the main force.
By the time he reached the men, he was out of breath.
"What is it?" Owaine asked
"I…F-Found the… the militia.." Nathaniel said, breathing heavily. Maxis, Hetfield and Owaine looked at each other and then back at Nathaniel. "Are you sure?" Owaine asked, kicking his horse a bit to get closer to Nathaniel. "What were they wearing? Any insignias, uniforms?" Maxis said. "Y-Yeah, they all had yellow suns on their shields and tunics," Nathaniel responded, finally catching his breath. "Does that sound like them, Owen?" Maxis asked, looking over at the ranger. "Yep. Take us to where you saw 'em Nathan." Owaine responded. Nathaniel then turned his horse around and the rangers resumed their steady trot along the road.
"You know how many there were?" Maxis asked, riding up next to Nathaniel.
"Uhh not really, there was two cabins, a barn and about forty tents." Maxis slowed his horse down and got back next to Hetfield and Owaine. "'Bout fifty, fifty-five." Maxis said, matching his horse's speed with the other rangers.
"Hmm…" Owaine hummed, unsure if his force of forty-five could take on a numerically superior foe.
"It'll be fine, we've done more with less before." Maxis said in an attempt to reassure him.
"I hope so, it's been a while since these men have fought trained soldiers."
"Oh well that's fine. Do you have a plan?" Maxis asked
"The same as always, surround their position without them knowing and shoot a few volleys of arrows, after that circle in on them and finish off whatever's left of them in melee combat."
"You've been doing that for years now, don't you think it's predictable?"
"I guess, but it never fails does it?"
"Guess not, you're still alive and you still have a garrison of troops under your command."
"Hey, quiet down," Nathaniel said, stopping his horse. "We're here."
The men all dismounted and followed behind Nathaniel as he led them to where the militia was. He, Maxis, Hetfield and Owaine crouched down on the small hill that overlooked the encampment. "What's the plan, Owaine?" Nathaniel asked
"Circle their position and shoot a few volleys of arrows," Owaine said. "After that we close in and finish the rest of them off in melee fighting."
"Alright. Are you sure you wanna just start killing them? Weren't the orders to first ask them to disband and to invite them to join Middle Tahls army and to kill them only if they resisted?" Nathaniel questioned, looking over to Hetfield, Maxis and Owaine. They were silent and only glared at him before walking away. They walked over to the rangers and Owaine simply nodded at them. "You know your plan is old and repetitive when your men don't even needa' be told what to do." Maxis said with a chuckle. "Shut up." Owaine said as he took a sword and crossbow off his horse's saddle.
Maxis took his bow and quiver of arrows off of his horse and silently walked through the trees and brush, his dark green and brown uniform helping him blend in with the forest around him. Behind him he was followed by ten vigils, including Nathaniel.
Maxis' squad approached the front of the hideout. Maxis noticed there were several fallen trees and shoddy fortifications that he and his men could use for cover when getting close.
Hetfield led a detachment of ten men behind the hideout. Hetfield's men had few bows but they did have swords, spears, axes, maces and shields, they were to rush in and finish off the militiamen from behind.
Finally, Owaines twenty five men were split in two sections. Half blocking the west and half blocking the east. He waited three minutes and watched as the militiamen did their tasks unaware of the danger they were in.
Once the three minutes were up, he raised his hand in the air and brought it down quickly so that his hand pointed forward, he gave the order to fire loudly so it would startle the militiamen and so that all of the rangers would hear. Before the christians could draw their swords, arrows shot down twelve of them.
As the soldiers who had fired reloaded their crossbows, the men behind them marched forward and fired another volley of arrows, striking and killing seventeen more men
"Get your shields men! Form a wall!" one of the christians shouted as he drew his sword.
Maxis fired three arrows in quick succession and then slung his quiver and bow over his shoulder. He took out his sword and rushed forward, his men following. As he ran to the militiamen he let out ear piercing war cries and swung his sword at a soldier's shield, almost cutting it in half. Maxis kept hacking at the man's poorly made shield with his sword until the wood cracked and shattered, eventually falling out of the soldier's hand.
He swung a final time and cut through the soldier's gambeson tunic, leaving a gash through the armor and his flesh. Maxis blocked an attack from a soldier and swiftly disarmed and killed him.
Another soldier swung his mace but missed. Seizing the opportunity, Maxis cut off the man's arm and kicked him to the ground, but before he could kill the man another soldier ran up to him and knocked his sword out of his hand.
The soldier raised his axe above his head but before the weapon came crashing down on him, Maxis reached up and grabbed the handle of the axe and snatched it from the christian, Maxis then punched him in the face with his gauntlet and then lodged the axe in the soldiers head sideways, piercing his helmet and skull.
Before he could get his sword, the armless soldier he kicked to the ground was up again and tackled him, attempting to stab him with a knife. Maxis groaned in pain at the thrusts, though his chainmail armor dulled the stabs it didn't make it painless.
The soldier kept thrusting his knife into Maxis, his arm leaking blood all over the ground, himself and on Maxis.
Eventually Maxis punched the man in the face and knocked him off of him.
Maxis then got on top of the soldier and picked up a rock nearby, slamming the stone into the soldier's face until he laid disfigured and still.
As Maxis ran forward, so did his men, clashing loudly with the christians.
The air was filled with the cries and shrieks of the men as they fought, the sounds of clanking armor and weapons and the loud curses and yelps of pain were also prevalent.
Five minutes after the first volley of arrows, there were only fifteen christians left while the rangers had only lost five men.
Hetfield and his men charged forward after Maxis did, pushing the christian militia back into a tightly packed rectangular formation.
The christians held their ground, completely surrounded. Owaine stepped forward and ordered the attack to halt.
"Surrender now." Owaine demanded. "Who's your leader? Step forward."
"I am." a man said, emerging from the defensive position. "Don't leave, they'll kill you!" a soldier pleaded. The man still left and stood in front of Owaine. The man was old, about forty five and he had a scraggly graying beard and hair that was thinning. He wore a brown monks robe with a rope belt that held his sword.
"My name is Owaine, of house Velazquez. Captain of the Faithful Vigils." He said, stepping closer to the man.
"I am Pastor Grischnackh." the man said.
"Not a very christian sounding name."
"I am from Norway. My mother and father were godless pagans."
"Well that's not very respectful." Owaine said with a smirk
"Heathens do not deserve my respect." The pastor said, the anger in his voice slightly showing. "What do you want?" he asked.
"I want to talk you out of getting yourself killed." Owaine responded.
"My men and I are destined to die in combat and go to heaven and join the lord's army to combat hell's forces." The pastor said.
"I see." Owaine said, brushing off what the christian had just said. "And what will happen if you do not die in combat?"
"We will be sent to hell and be forced to battle there for eternity." The priest said.
"Hmm, Maxis, come here." Maxis walked over, his tunic torn and covered in blood. "Yes?"
"Negotiate something with this man, you have more experience in reasonable negotiations."
"No." The pastor said angrily, "I refuse to negotiate with a redskin!"
Maxis glared at the christian and stepped forward only to be stopped by Owaine tugging on his shoulder. The christian flinched and stepped back from Maxis. "See? His first reaction was to come over here and kill me!"
"Calm down." Owaine said. "Why should I? He's a savage just like the rest of his kind!" The holy man ranted and continued spewing slurs and curses at Maxis who stood there, trying to remain composed.
"I refuse to negotiate with this savage, retrieve the highest ranking official of this company and bring him forth at once!" The pastor declared loudly. "Maxis here is the highest ranking official. I'm simply a captain of the Faithful Vigils, he's the Grandmaster of The Knights Of The Pines." Owaine responded.
"Impossible, Indians are not permitted to have command over soldiers."
"While that is sadly true, The Knights Of The Pines are not a branch of Middle Tahls army, they're more of a voluntary army who fight to defend Middle Tahl simply because it is morally correct. Indians are allowed to be in charge of their own militaries and Maxis here resurrected a dead military order which makes him its leader." The pastor stood there in awe and anger, not believing what he had heard. "Then I'd rather die than surrender to an indian." He said coldly, putting his hand on his sword which was still sheathed. As he began to draw it, Maxis reacted quickly and drew his sword first, rushing forward and stabbing the pastor between his ribs. As the pastor stood there impaled on Maxis' blade, he groaned in pain as blood started to trickle down his robes. He looked up at Maxis with a ghastly look as he slowly fell to his knees. Maxis stared back coldly and put his foot against the pastor's chest and pulled his sword out, kicking the holy man to the ground. The militiamen watched as their mentor was killed, not knowing what to do. Some cried and wept while others screamed curses and attempted the charge back at the rangers. A man ran towards Maxis but was disarmed by him, followed by another soldier who was cut down by Maxis. The other soldiers that charged the rangers were shot down by archers before they could kill anyone. All that remained now were ten soldiers, eventually they decided to surrender. As the rangers detained the surrendering soldiers and disposed of corpses, Maxis, Hetfield, Owaine and Nathaniel sat on chairs that were outside one of the cabins.
"You think the Crusaders will hear of this?" Hetfield asked Owaine, cleaning his sword off. "Of course they will, and they won't stop at anything until those men are freed from prison."
"You don't think they'll start a war though do you?" Nathaniel asked. "It's possible they'd try but first they need the support of the church." Maxis responded, leaning back into his chair. "Pope Gabriel is a pacifist but he's very religious. If they convince him to support a crusade on Middle Tahl they'll be the biggest threat the kingdom has ever seen." Maxis said seriously.
"They won't be able to do anything though," Nathaniel interjected. "Middle Tahls allies are many, like Schussel, Frostgrad and New Mecklenburg." Nathaniel continued.
"Yes but you must understand, those territories have their own views on religion. Just because we think Christian militias should be hunted down does not mean they automatically think the same." Said Maxis, sitting up in his chair a bit.
"Well why would we ally with people who don't think like us? Shouldn't we ally with kingdoms that share the same views as us?"
"While that does make sense, our allegiance to New Mecklenburg and Frostgrad are more strategical as they border Middle Tahl. That's not to say Frostgrad and Middle Tahl are not on good terms though. They depend on us for lumber and we depend on them for crops, furs, fabric and dyes."
"And what about Schussel?"
"They supply us with lumber if there's a forest fire or something like that. We also make a lot of money off of selling weapons and armor to them."
"Now what if they get support from the church?" Hetfield asked as he sheathed his sword. "Well that's different." Maxis said. "If the pope endorses the crusade then they'll have support from the Byzantines and every other christian military order in Europe. Of course they don't necessarily need the Vatican's support but it would help. If I had to guess, I'd say the Templars have found out by now."
"The Templars? Why them?"
"They're always around and in Middle Tahl. In fact I'm pretty sure I saw one of them at a tavern when I was on my way to the palace a few days ago. There's no doubt he would've found out about the law."
"Alright, that makes sense. Who would they have told by now?"
"Maybe the Hospitallers or Order of Calatrava in Frostgrad and of course there's also the Teutonic Knights chapter in Ft. Bruford and also the order of Saint James."
"What will we do if they declare war?"
"We'll hold them off for as long as we can until our allies arrive to help."
"Really? That's it? Just wait until our allies come and save us?" Nathaniel asked angrily, somewhat upset by Maxis' response.
"Nathaniel you must understand, Middle Tahl is not fit to fight a war against that many foes. We'd be fighting against at least ten different militias, ten holy orders and the entire Byzantine empire."
"We have amazing commanders and tacticians though, and the knights of the Pines always have good relations with local indian tribes."
"That may be true but our commanders are few and local tribes should not be viewed simply as pawns to use in a war. Warriors take entire generations to replace and their populations are smaller than ours. It's a wonder they were not wiped out by disease." Nathaniel frowned and left the circle, walking over to his horse and mounting it. "Where's he think he's going?" Owaine said. "Ah, let em' go. Battle's over, he can go back home. He's probably off to some grog house to look for an unfortunate whore to take his frustrations out on." Hetfield and Owaine laughed at Maxis' remark and got up to help their men dispose of the rest of the dead bodies.