A lone man with a bloodied sword looks down at a body without a head. In the last moments, it was pathetically begging for life while splashing in the mud. Now, after all that noise, it's finally silent. The one who performed the execution remains empty while staring at what once was his subordinate.
Unfortunately, there's not much time for thinking about what's been done. In the distance, beyond dozens of trees, a trail of angry voices scream out. Their words mangle together, creating a mess that no person could comprehend. When noticing this obnoxious noise, the murderer swung his sword in the air. With this swift movement, all the blood was forced off and splashed onto the white snow. This rendered the blade clean enough to finally sheath it.
Expecting visitors, he sat down on a nearby fallen tree and got comfortable for his wait.
Some moments passed, but finally the voices from afar began to take shape, "...e's the traitor?"
"I don't... but... footsteps... this way!"
"... was... towards the cliff!"
"Hurry, before... manages to get away!"
"There's something on the ground over there!"
"What the fuck?"
"Wait! Is that?"
Seeing the first faces smash through the leaves of the forest, the sitting man throws a cheeky smile, "Took you a while, dumbasses!"
One of quick thinking, but not solid thoughts spoke up, "Squad leader?"
Slower thinking one, a bit taller man than most exclaimed in surprise, "Holy shit, what? How did he already get here?"
The Squad Leader playfully scoffs, "Better question is why you all arrived only now!"
Quite a short man with a bowl cut exclaimed in disbelief, "Don't compare us with a monster like yourself!"
While lightly chuckling, the Squad Leader walked towards the group, "Alright, alright! I'll leave the clean-up to you, I'm feeling pretty hungry after this chase."
Seeing their higher-up walk away, multiple members of the group groan, "Oh, c'mon, again?!"
"I'm so sick of being responsible of clean up all the time!"
"Well! I'm taking the legs!"
"Wait! I was gonna take the..."
"Just shut up and throw him..."
…
[Tasked]
Light and calm set of footsteps walk through a thick grouping of pine trees. At a consistent rate, the soft snow crunches under his shoes. Initially, he found this noise quite distracting, fortunately, his thoughts easily got distracted by food. It led to him getting quite excited, and various pleasant memories rose up.
Particularly, a memory about a certain tavern he'd used to hang around when he was younger. There was a certain song that the tavern owner really was a fan of, so, much of the time it played. After multiple days of the song being played to that extent, the tavern customers violently complained, and the owner was forced to reduce it to only once a day.
Despite the negativity that surrounded it, the notes of it are firmly imprinted in the mind of the Squad Leader. Slowly, but quite happily, a familiar tune began to be hummed.
Path to the outpost where he resides is quite far from the cliff, though his mood serves as great fuel to push him past all the trees.
If one while going by each one would take a look, they'd notice that the barks of some have symbols scratched on them. During the dark, it's not really possible to take out what they are, though. Past them, the space opens up quite a bit, and a building comes into view.
In the clearing, on top of the stairs that lead to a huge wooden door, stands a burly man with a pleasant expression. Next to him, on the wall, a warm flame illuminates the surroundings.
Clearly being guilty of drinking a strong liquor very recently, speaks the man from above, "Well, I guess if yer here it's already done, huh?"
Catching light glimpses of the stench, the calm Squad Leader reports, "Yeah, I assume they probably already threw the body down."
Satisfied with the answer, the burly man nods, "Good. Though I have another task for ya."
Hearing those words, the calmness quickly escaped, and a jumpy annoyance surrounded the man below, "Oh, no, don't tell m–"
A slightly drunken slur escaped from the burly man's lips, "Yep, yer gonna go clean his room. "
Mildly annoyed by the interruption of his plans, the man begins climbing the stairs, "Aaah, fuck, c'mon Captain, give the shitty jobs to the others."
Judgmentally smirks the drunken Captain, "Are ya of all people saying that shit to my face, when ya just left the others to clean up after yer shit?"
Annoyed, but still calm, the man reaches the top of the stairs. "Fine, fine, I hear you loud and clear, Captain!"
Slowly stepping down the stairs, the burly man remembers, "By the way, ye'll have the kid helping ya out!"
Quickly turning around in surprise, the no-longer-calm man exclaims, "And fucking babysitting, too?"
Completely ignoring the dissatisfaction of his subordinate, the Captain slowly heads down the stairs. A pair of eyes in utter disbelief are able to only look down on the figure as it flees into the darkness.
Defeated and out of options, the frustrated Squad Leader heads inside the outpost, "What an ass."
…
[Appetite]
Annoying wooden creaking fills the hallways as a hungry man walks down it to his room. Each step is a gruelling one, only a sliver of hope remains that there is something that could satisfy his belly.
Following a pre-planned path, the man pushes his door to the side and begins rummaging around. From one location to the next, concern turns to bother, which inevitably turns to defeat.
"No food, just my luck.", closing the last drawer in his desk, the man with a cleaning duty groans.
Accepting his fate, he throws his combat gear on the floor and heads to his task. No other option left, but to finish it quickly and go steal something from the storage afterwards.
The moment he entered the room, his eyes darted straight to the plate of bread on the table. Completely forgetting why he was here, the starved one grabs what he now considers his and munches down on it.
"He...hey?", from the hungry beast's side emanates a confused young voice.
Distracted by the food in his mouth and the loud crunching emanating from his own mouth, the starved man continued to satisfy his appetite. After a full minute of nothing but sounds of bread being crushed by teeth and loud swallowing, the silence hit. It was just a short pause, however, enough time to come back to his senses.
"Oh, shit! When did you get here?", startled, the satisfied muncher steps back.
"I was...nevermind.", a defeated young voice sighed.
"What's that?", a sheet of paper in the teen's hands drew the Squad Leader's attention.
"This... I don't really know, I think he may have been in contact with an Earl.", cautiously the young one delivered a note.
Not really understanding what the kid was on about, he just took the note while eating a new piece of bread. The moment his eyes read the words, chewing paused and his eyes narrowed. On the sheet of paper was a message meant for someone quite know, but the name of the sender he had never seen. However, he knew the handwriting of this person very well - the Captain.
To the Esteemed Earl Braham,
I write to inform you that the goods have departed from Woolhope and are headed west. There were minor complications when loading the cargo on the carriages, but we took care of the inconveniences quickly. Regrettably, a portion of the goods sustained damage - minor, though worth noting. We expect to reach the destination in about five days, the cargo will be delivered as per your instructions.
-Florian.
After reading it, he swallowed the bread in his mouth and folded the note, "Burn it."
Not following what's going on, the young teen stutters, "What do-- what do you mean? Isn't-- Isn't this important?"
The squad leader dismissively shakes his head, "This is either bullshit or unneeded trouble. Listen to me and just burn it. I'll take care of the clean-up here, you can go rest after."
Reluctant to follow orders, even so, the kid, left with no options, heads to the door, "Okay, I'll do it."
With cold, threatening eyes, the man made it clear, "Don't speak of this to anyone."
Loyalty fueled by fear forces a nod from the young one's head as he rushes out. Still staring at the doorway from the middle of the room all alone, concerned eyes calmly look down at a piece of bread in weathered hands. His face twists in dissatisfaction.
Defeated by today's events, the man slowly puts the bread back on the table, "Fuck...and now I lost my appetite too."