Chapter 3 - The Long Road Out Of Eden

Egon is about to open his mouth to agree with the surly man, but then sighs at his following statement. He, too, heels his horse into motion and casts a glower at Hrothgar. "Hrothgar, must you take every opportunity to take the piss out of each and every man that rubs you even slightly the wrong way? It's really...well...it's tiring." Egon spurs his horse ahead, knowing the response is coming, but electing not to wait around for it.

"Fear not, Hrothgar, I know you can't help being hedgeborn," Calix retorts, using his knees to prompt his horse to pick up after Egon. "Or slow, for that matter. I'm assuming, anyway, that's how you became so concerned with my arse. It's always ahead of you."

"I'll give y'something up y'bloody arse," Hrothgar grumbles as the group rides on through the afternoon. It's a pleasant journey south-east across the Tamesas valley, and, by the time the sun starts to dip lower in the sky, a large hill can be seen rising up ahead; a vanguard of the North Wessex Downs that lie between the travellers and the Roman town of Calleva. A settlement stands atop the hill, delivering a powerful stench to all downwind from it.

Muireann all but throws up her hands in exasperation. Men. The same here as they were back home. Didn't matter if you were Pagan, Christian, or anything else. She brushes a hand through Little Thunder's mane, then presses her heels gently into his side to spur him on, her thoughts lost in Ireland as they hurry eastward.

As the riders draw closer to the town, five powerfully built dogs emerge from what appears to be a nearby homestead and come bounding towards the travellers. Moments later a man with an impressively bushy moustache comes dashing out of the door after them. "CAESER! BRUTUS! MAXIMUS! NERO! TIBERIUS! COME! STAY! GET BACK HERE!!!" He yells as the dogs bark loudly with foam at their mouths. Hrothgar tenses and readies an axe.

Muireann, who had been hanging towards the back of their little band, suddenly spurs Little Thunder forwards, humming an eerie melody as she does so. Once she passes Calix and Egon, she rears Little Thunder up, and shouts at the dogs, her words strange and lilting to the ears of the others, but to the horses and the dogs, she speaks clearly. "Caesar! Brutus! Maximus! Nero! Tiberius! I command you to STOP," the final word reverberates through the bones of all present, though her human companions couldn't understand what she was saying. As the final word leaves her mouth, she can see a clear shift in the demeanor of the dogs. They're momentum doesn't slow, but now they seem excited. And she along with them. She'd had a dog once. A large hound, and he'd been her best friend. And the sight of the five large dogs now barreling towards her brings back those nearly forgotten memories, and with barely a second thought, she slides from Little Thunder, giving the horse a reassuring pat on the neck as she goes. She can practically hear him rolling his eyes.  Mere seconds later, she's surrounded by the large, excited balls of fur, and she falls to the ground laughing, relaxing for the first time in....years almost. "Such good boys! Who's the best puppy? That's right, you are," she croons to the creatures, willingly surrendering herself to being licked furiously all over.  

The dogs' owner comes running up behind them, but bends over panting once he sees Muireann affectionately cuddling them. "Damn... mutts..." he wheezes, slowly catching his breath. The man glances up and throws a dark look at Hrothgar who is only slowly lowering his axe. "Sorry 'bout that."

Calix looks to exchange a baffled look with Egon, utterly bemused with Muireann, and instinctively reaches between them to pull on the Saxon's skittish horse's reins to still it.  "No harm, it appears,"  he responds to the owner with faint bewilderment, righting in his saddle.  "We will just be on our way."

Muireann sits upright, still surrounded by the excited mutts. She gives them each a fond rub on the head, and nods to the farmer, her eyes bright, before turning her attention back to the dogs, pushing up to her feet.

"Headed up the hill?" The man probes as his dogs gather around his legs, licking at him affectionately.

"That is our current path, yes," she says, in broken Mercian. 

"Why do you ask?" Egon asks casually, concern beginning to crease his brow.

"Y'might want to avoid riding through Suindune," the man explains, gesturing at the cross hanging from around Calix's neck. "Unless you want to end up like a stuck pig, that is. The folks in the village have no love for his kind." Hrothgar erupts into a deep belly laugh at the mention of Calix being stuck like a pig.

Egon turns a patient look in Hrothgar's direction, waiting for the saxon to finish his bellowing. "If you're quite done," he says after entirely too long, "We'll be on our way. I appreciate the warning, friend. We should head around the city."  He gives Calix a significant look.

"Name's Frithgar," the man tells Egon with a nod of respect. "Not much light left to ride by today," he notes, gesturing to where the sun hangs low in the sky. "Lesser men might have taken up arms against my boys. There's space in the barn for you tonight, if you want it."

Calix looks away from Egon to Frithgar, the request to behave evident. Even so, his eyebrow raises and he can't help but ask, "Even for my kind?"

"Dogs don't care, do they?" Frithgar notes with a shrug.

"Hrothgar seems to," Calix responds, nevertheless slowly dismounting.

Hrothgar scoffs and bumps hard into Calix's shoulder from behind as he passes the Frank, heading for the barn with his pack over his shoulder. The barn is warm and dry and Frithgar brings out a pot of stew to share with his guests for the evening meal. When everyone turns in for the night, the pack of dogs pile up around Muireann to sleep. A few hours later in the small hours of the morning their bodies stiffen and their ears prick up on end. Caeser begins to whine softly.

Muireann instinctively reaches for the dog, giving him a reassuring scratch as she sits upright, body tense. "Shhhh," she whispers. "What's got you all worked up, eh?" 

Maximus stands and shakes his fur out, heckles raised as he growls towards the door. Outside muffled voices can be heard.

Following the dog's cue, Muireann picks up her bow from where it had been laying beside her. Stringing her quiver over her shoulders, she swiftly nocks an arrow. "We've got company," she mutters in a low voice to the others. 

Egon slowly clambers to his feet, gripping his seax in two hands. He slips into the shadows at the sides of the barn, silently preying to Freya that the company would pass them by.

"...them out, Frithgar. Now. I don't want to spend another minute outside your pathetic hut." "Please, I don't know what you're talking about. There's nobody here but me." "Don't play dumb with me. You know full..."

Calix’s hand curls around the increasingly-familiar hilt of Eleison, holding it readied at his side as he presses his back into the wall beside the door and strains to hear more through the cracked wood.

"...dare you. You go too far Lindwig - the ealdorman will hear of this!" "The ealdorman doesn't give two shits about your sorry arse. Nobody does. Now, bring them out, Frithgar." Calix hears boots treading the grass outside.

Calix signals the others of the impending approach, shifting his stance to strike once the doors open.

The loud thump of a door being flung open can be heard outside, but the barn remains untouched. High pitched squeals and shrieks follow soon after, accompanied by angry shouting from Frithgar, although the exact words are impossible to catch. Almost immediately, the dogs erupt into loud yapping and begin scratching at the barn door.

Egon grumbles under his breath, hearing the shrieks of what must be a woman -- someone else that Frithgar was hiding. "Something is wrong," Egon says. "We must intervene." Without waiting for assenting or dissenting opinions, he hits the latch and throws the barn doors open, allowing the dogs to go charging toward the intruders.

The door swings upon with a loud bang, drawing the attention of a band of armed men (and a couple of women) who appear to be harrassing Frithgar and dragging two girls out of his home. One is obviously an adult, but the other seems barely of age. Both are screaming and struggling against the strangers' grip.

With little hesitation, Muireann draws back the arrow, staring down the shaft at one of the strangers she can see, a woman. "On your left," she mutters to Egon, the shaft of the arrow firing past his left shoulder. She mutters a lilting phrase, and the woman's presence becomes fixed in her mind. The arrow misses the mark, but she's already nocking another, her demeanor calm and cool.

No sooner has the arrow split past his shoulder than Egon is closing the distance between the barn and the house. Normally, he would offer the chance to walk away, but trying to take women and children to do gods know what? They did not deserve the chance. His langseax flashes in the moonlight toward one of the combatants, who ducks the blade, but finds himself sprawled on the ground as Egon sweeps his legs out from under him with a swift kick.  "Frithgar, who are these people?" he says calmly as the men and women turn to face him. 

"I will hazard not friends," Calix responds mid-motion a he appears beside Egon with a grim grin, ducking to the left and then stabbing brutally from the right into the side of one of the assailants. He only realizes after her failed block and resulting cry that it's a woman, and it almost takes him off guard. Don't have bandits like that in Brittany .

Finally let loose, Frithgar's dogs come bounding out of the barn and set upon two of the attackers, dragging them to the ground as they savage them. One, a woman wielding seax and shield yelps in surprise and kicks and flails at Caeser and Brutus as they sink their teeth into her legs. The other, a mail clad man near the door, is also dragged away from the younger girl by Nero, Tiberius and Maximus.

Lindwig swings his blade at the trio of hounds in a wide arc, forcing them back and clambering to his feet once more. Nothmund comes to Theodflaed's aid, swinging his mace down at Caeser with a powerful blow that brutally caves in the poor dog's skull. The backswing catches Brutus in the flank making him yelp in pain, before collapsing. Theodwulf grabs the older girl by the door with one hand and with the other reaches out to club Frithgar over the head with the hilt of seax. Free of Caeser, Pendgrim hurries to cover, loosing two arrows at Egon. The first sticks in his leathern jacket, but the second shot he manages to dodge. Gundculf grabs the younger girl, lashing out with his seax at Nero and leaving the dog bleeding on the ground. Beoric surges back to his feet with surprising skill and attempts to grab Egon's sword arm, but isn't fast enough. Modwen spins to face Calix, lunging at him with an overhead swing of her mace that the warrior neatly sidesteps. Theodflaed also turns to face her new attacker, slashing with a jagged-edged langsax at where she believes Egon to be, but the swing finds only air.

The two girls continue to struggle, breaking free from their captors and bolting west. However, they're quickly grabbed again as they try to escape.

Late to the party, Hrothgar comes running out of the barn axe in hand and delivers a powerful blow that would have resulted in serious injury were it not for her mail.

Goewyn dashes out of the barn and disappears into the trees, taking cover out of sight where she readies her bow.

A nearly inhuman scream rips out of Muireann's throat as three of the dogs fall to the weapons of the intruders. Any doubt that she'd had about killing them is gone. In it's place is cold fury, and she strides forward, drawing her arrow back, and making no effort to keep her voice down, pouring the magic and rage of her people into the arrow, the shaft practically thrumming with energy. Tears streaming down her face, the arrow releases with a loud  twang , burying itself in the side of the woman fighting Calix. The woman stiffens and staggers as pain wracks her head for a few seconds, and Muireann's eyes pick out a new target. "Finish her off!" She shouts at Calix, her bow already tracking to a man further away.

Muireann calls out to Calix, but Egon's langseax is already moving, weaving a complicated pattern before crossing with the woman's mace in a timely block by her. But Egon then neatly pivots his blade around the mace to pierce her mailed side. She collapses, her sharp breaths coming in gurgles as blood fills her lungs.

Eleison is raised and ready to strike when Calix sees Egon's blade flash ahead of it, stabbing the woman before Calix has the chance. "That was unnecessary," he remarks breathlessly, stepping forward to swing at the one in front of Egon instead and feeling the sink of the blade find purchase between mail. "You have a friend right here."

Tiberius and Maximus howl as their brother falls and gnash ferociously at Lindwig's legs. However, only Maximus finds purchase, his teeth meeting jingling mail with little effect as the man kicks the hound off and fells the beast with a slash of his blade. Nothmund leaps into action, but Muireann is ready and waiting. Before he can take more than two steps and arrow is flying, catching the man in the neck. A morbid gurgling rises from his mouth as he begins choke on his own blood. Pendgrim takes the opportunity to loose two more arrows at Muireann, one thumps into the side of the barn, but another clips side the bracer of her right arm. Gundculf twirls his seax, crouching low and stabbing rapidly at Hrothgar's legs. The big man roars in pain and fury as the blows connect, delivering a powerful overhead strike in return. Gundculf barely manages to escape it crashing down on his head, instead merely coming away with a bleeding shoulder. Beoric hurls himself at Calix, grabbing the Frank's sword arm to hold it at bay as they enter close quarters. Meanwhile Theodflaed spins to her feet with surprising grace and thrusts her own weapon at Egon's side, but is unable to pass the Kentish man's skillful guard. Theodwulf maintains his grip on the wailing woman and drags her away from the melee towards the shed where Pendgrim is taking cover. "Throw down your weapons, or she dies!" He bellows over the clamour, watching carefully for arrows from the barn.

Goewyn watches as one of these cowardly men grabs their host's woman and drags her off the battlefield with a threat. 'Not if I can help that, you bastard.'  She draw her bowstring back, taking aim from her hidden refuge of the trees before sending her arrow streaking through the brush. The head punches into his shoulder, but not the neck as she had intended... She immediately crouches low before disappearing once more into the shadowy boughs of the trees before either assailant could spot her. 

Cold fury still coursing through her, Muireann lets another humming arrow fly, striking Theodwulf in the throat, blood gurgling from his lips as his grip on the woman goes limp and he falls to the ground.  "Not this time, bastard,"  she mutters in her own language.  Yet another arrow takes it's place, and she takes a swift side-step from the barn, keeping the man behind the shed in her sights. 

Egon takes advantage of the confusion to thrust his langseax into the side of the man that has Calix grappled. The man groans, a bubbling sound, and releases his hold on Calix, crumpling to the ground. He nods to Calix, then steps forward and stands ready to intercept any of the ruffians that come close.

Fight. Kill. Protect  scar children. For purposes of not holding up replies, the intimidation dialogue will be, "You will tell us who you are, and what this is about, or this sword will answer for you."

Carefully, Theodflaed backs away from Egon and moves to cut off the woman who is now free of Theodwulf's grasp. Meanwhile, Pendgrim heads into the trees in search of Goewyn. "This degenerate has secluded himself outside of our community, so that he might lie with his own kin." Lindwig spits back at Calix in fury. "The child is an abomination!"

The woman who Theodflaed moved to cut off tries to dash around the shield maiden in her path, but is quickly caught and held in place in the cleft of her arm. Meanwhile, the little girl cowers behind Calix.

The tide was quickly turning against the assailants, but there were still vital elements at play. Namely, a child’s life was held under threat if Hrothgar didn’t act quickly. There was a small opening, and it seemed his allies were hesitant to take it. A moment could be life or death, so Hrothgar seized the advantage. Hrothgar lunged forward, leaping over the body of a fallen guard dog, and swung his axe low. He caught Lindwig’s leg under the beard of his axe head, wrenched it up, then slammed his shoulder into the man’s chest. Lindwig toppled and slammed down. Hrothgar gripped the axe haft with his second hand, but Lindwig's caught it as well. The struggling man tried to wrench the weapon from Hrothgar's steel grip, but to no avail. The gigantic man wrenched his weapon free with a snarl, but Lindwig was quick to strike at his own opening, twisting his blade to strike at his foe's legs. Luckily Hrothgar's axe haft was still present and helped to guide the blade away from finding more than armour. The broadaxe swung high into the air now. For the most brief moment, he thought he’d heard something…a voice calling out, trying to intercede. It almost sounded like Calix. Later , he thought, then he brought the terrible blade down. Lindwig was quick and caught the blade with his own. Now, Hrothgar towered over the Lindwig as the last of the attackers was being quickly overrun. The voice grew louder, it was definitely the Calix. Something about something, who knows? If they all talked as much as this one, they'd all be better off without tongues. "Make yourself useful, Christian, and deal with the other. This one is no concern now."

Goewyn takes a moment from her hidden position to center herself and recall back to all the battles they had fought since meeting this group. She'd never been a warrior before, she had always just been herself in her journey to find her brother. Sure, she'd killed men before this, but normally it was just a bandit or two, perhaps some fool too deep in his cups to recognize the danger in her eyes when he'd tried to force himself upon her, but these were so very different. She sights down the shaft and lets it fly straight into the throat of the man trying to drag this poor woman away from her family. He tries to scream, but the destroyed mess of his throat simply chokes and gasps as blood floods into his stomach and lungs. It was but a mere moment before he falls to his knees, clasping futilely at the wound.