2 hours later, as night descends on the land, John, Monica, and a few other villagers who desired to join them begin to pack in for the night, in the distance, they see a small plume of smoke rising from above the palace.
John: That sure has been burning for a while, I wonder what's going on...
Monica: maybe a feast for our safe return? she gives him a shove, then goes back to warming her hands with the campfire in front of them
John: Its a nice place, our lands, this will make a beautiful land to live in one day, when there are happier times. john shifts on the dirt, getting comfortable so he can try to sleep. Monica lays down next to him, they warm each other with their hands
Suddenly, a thundering is heard over the horizone, slow at first, however, it is slowly getting louder.....louder...faster.....Yelling is noticed from inside the thunder, john sits up
John: BARBARIANS! John runs toward the cart loaded with food and a handful sharpened poles he recieved from a friend in town. He hands them off to the others, including monica, and picks up a rock
Small pieces of wood, twigs almost, fly over the horizon and land all around john, as he runs toward the thunder, what strange weapons are these? he wonders. He looks to the left and sees a man, a stranger, younger then he, be penetrated by one of the flying sticks, he goes limp.
John is stopped for a moment as he sees what has happened, in that instant, a quiet whistle screeches toward him and imbeds into his shoulder, he screams and falls
Monica: (running toward him) are you okay? John nodds
Monica and the others run toward the approaching barbarians, their largest are in the front, not many of them, but they have superior weapons. Monica kneels down, holds her spear up as the enemy run by, ignoring her, one runs straight into the spear. She sees the look of horror on his face as she drops the spear and runs toward a fallen comrade to pick up his spear.
the battle ensues, when it is over, 5 barbarians passed through the scout group, leaving 8 of their fallen in the same field where 6 villagers lie dead,. 3 injured, including john.
Wasting no time, the remaining villagers, including john, still with the stick in his shoulder run toward the now engulfed villiage.
The scout group return to the villiage to find it damaged, luckily another group, a much better armed group was there to stop the barbarians, John returns to his and Monica's hut as she runs to the palace to check on the wellbeing of Markus
Monica: Sir! e did what we could, are you unharmed?
Markus: Quite actually, another group of mercenaries were present to stop the barbarians, how did they perform?
Monica: (out of breath) they looked like they had suffered many casualties, but their leader is surveying the damage outside
Markus: and the man I met with earlier today? (feigning interest)
Monica: he's hurt, but hell be okay, we lost 6 villiagers though, a few of them scouts and hunters. If there is nothing further sir Id like to check on john.
Markus: By all means, tke your leave.
Monica runs out the door, as markus takes a sip of his drink.
).
