The Calamity: Chapter 2

Vincent’s horse was antsy. The way he was stepping back and forth slowly tail swishing despite the lack of flies. The sun was just coming up, early in the morning. The beige beast threw his head back, shaking his mane of dark hair. On either side of his head was a harness with long bars of metal with leather wrappings on the tops. Connected to the stirrups were huge pipes on the side of the horse’s torso.

He rubbed his hand against the horse’s neck gently. “I know Blaze. I’m eager to get started but we gotta wait for the gang ready.” The horse was standing in the middle of the field just outside of town. There was fresh vomit on the base of a nearby tree.  Tufts of grass were growing here and there.

Reaching into the saddle bag he pulled out a piece of bread. He tore a chunk of chewing it sullenly. “You still mad you got rejected and punched in the face kid?”

The voice was behind him belonging to a grey bearded and mustached face. He was a balding man leaning against the head of horse. His eyes were small but a bright blue and skin just as tanned as Vincent’s own. “Fuck off Lionel.”

He laughed and slapped the younger man on the back with a chuckle. He lurched and felt a twist in his stomach. “Come on now kid. You win some, you lose some.” Continuing Lionel asked. “Where’s the fat one?”

“Oh Samuel? Yeah, he’s not gonna be worth anything for us today. Oh well. Just the two of us. Vincent brushed his fingers through his fiery hair and shook his head. Rubbing the bruise that was only just starting to fade around the rim of his eye. It still stung when he touched it and he was squinting through the sunlight. “Managed to grab this before he left though.” He held up a package hastily wrapped in paper. “At least he finished what I asked him to make.”

“Boss won’t like him missing the job.”

“No he won’t. You remember where the meeting place was?”

He nodded and turned his gaze to the distance. One of the hills out there had smoke coming from it and a few dust clouds were running toward it. He nodded slowly and pointed toward that. “I think that’s it.”

“Then let’s get going. Don’t wanna be late.”

Grabbing the handlebars, they dug their heels into the sides and that spurred both equestrians to action. They darted across the land kicking up dust as they got onto the main roads. As they hit the cross roads they kept going straight.

Their path took a change the sandy dirt turning darker brown. The cloud of dust in the distance got bigger as they made that their goal.  They spurred the horses again as they started sprinting faster heads down slightly. The constantly moving horses was not doing anything great for his stomach. 

More than once he thought he was going to lose it either on himself, Blaze’s neck or a mix of both. This wasn’t his first hungover horse ride though. He just wished he had some more time to mentally get ready for it.

Lionel laughed as he passed him. “Come on Vince. Pick up the pace.”

The ride took them the greater part of the day.  He managed to get there without vomiting and he saw that as a win. Atop the hill there were at least six other riders. Each with horses decorated like their own. Men and women gathered together. Vincent recognized a few of them but not a lot. New recruits to their merry gang. Maybe even their first run.

“Hey Vince. Lionel.” A woman came over to them, scarves wrapped around her face and neck. Yet her arms were bare, except for gloves.

“Didn’t know you’d get back in time Monica.” Lionel said holding out fist. She bumped hers against it.

“The pickings are good in the south.” She said lowering one of the scarves. She had a few scars around her mouth but she still smiled easily. “You know what we’re raiding this time?”

“Nope.” Vincent shrugged his shoulders slowly. He was back to chewing on his bread, finishing the last of the crumbs. “He was boasting about it so I guess it’s gonna be something big. Bigger than normal, right?”

“You know how Boss is. He likes to make his boast. Each raid he’s involved with has to be bigger and better than the others. The Sanctum already hates us and the Norians really hate us.”

Lionel scoffed and spit on the ground. “Screw the Norians. I’d raid them every chance I got.”

“You and me both.” Monica added and looked Vincent. “Who gave you the shiner?” she asked with a laugh.

Vincent lowered his head. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

Monica grinned “Sounds like he had a bad run in with a lady. I wonder which is worse, this one or Paratuga” Lionel burst out laughing and Monica joined him.

“Can we stop talking about Paratuga?”

Monica winked. “I will when I stop being mad about it. So keep dealing with it sport.”

He flipped both of them off and she handed him a flask. He snatched it immediately and took a long swig of it his mood lightening.

A horn blasted out of nowhere and everyone’s heads turned to the sound. A huge cloud of dust was coming straight at them. The horses shuffled uneasily as it looked at the noise but the riders knew better. Arriving in front of them was a chariot pulled by two black stallions. They had the exhaust piping on their sides but the handlebars were attached to the chariot itself.

Standing up in it was a tall man. He had gleaming dark skin and braided blonde hair. He had strong chiseled features, wearing a gleaming bronze breastplate, a pair of swords at his hips, trousers and boots. Around his arm was a tattoo of white wings wrapped around his bicep. He road in a circle around them kicking up dust and whooped shouting to which each of them responded in turn raising their fist, blades and rifles.

He slowed down with a jerk the chariot teetering slightly before settling in one spot. He was smiling from ear to ear looking at each of the assembled riders. There were at least a dozen of them now, not including himself. He lowered the handle bars and spread his arms.

“So here we are. The biggest, baddest gang on these sands!” They roared in response to this claim. “Of all the kingdoms of this land, only one truly believes that they are safe. Safe from misgivings. Safe under the protection of their God. And all that costs them is the suffering of their people! But they have to answer to the Rogues!”

He smirked as he looked at each of them soaking up the excitement, anticipation and eagerness of his assorted gang members “We have it on good information exactly where they will be coming from. Where the train will be. Silks. Riches. All for us to take. And when it’ll be time for us to make our move. The only question left is to ask who’s going to do this with me?”

“We will!” was the rallying cry between them all.

“You’re goddamn right we will!” He turned, yanking the handlebars of the horses. “Our horse power is high, our blades are sharp, and our lady is watching over us! Let’s get moving Rogues!”

Horses cried out as their rides spurred them forward. They took the path down the hill creating a huge storm of dust. This wasn’t their first raid or even the most members going but there was some energy riding them. An excitement that made Vincent’s fingers tingle and even Blaze was twitching.

The empty plains slowly but surely became trees and grass. The rocky dusty plateaus flattened out even more but were replaced with small wooded areas. The farms were bigger and more spread out here, adding crops to the barns. The ground was more suitable for actual plant life it seemed.

They split up as they crossed territory lines. Vincent, Monica, Lionel and a few others were one of two splinter groups. They were traveling with the forest to their side. The main road was on the other side of it and it was better to go around the trees than to go through them. Not to mention none of their horses had probably seen trees like this in their lives.

The sun was hanging low in the air, bordering on late afternoon. Orange and purple streaks were hanging in the air. Lionel raised his hand to grab their attention. Getting to the edge of the trees Vincent pulled on Blaze’s handlebars bringing the horse to a stop. He shuffled slightly as he came closer to Lionel and leaned forward.

“What do you see?”

The old man rubbed his jaw slowly and hooded his eyes. “There’s our target there.” He pointed to a dot in the distance. Well it wasn’t just a dot. It was a long line of carriages and wagons. There were several horses on the edge of the party. They had the shining silver armor with blue feathers on the sides of their helmets and the tops. There were a lot of them. Two dozen soldiers protecting their cargo.

Vincent reached into his saddle bag and brought out a spyglass. Extending it to maximum length he looked through it focusing on the cargo. The carriage drivers looked like ordinary Sanctum citizens. Nothing special about their clothes. The flaps were also closed tightly. He couldn’t get a decent angle on the first few but the fourth one down he whistled.

He handed it to Monica when she outstretched her hand. “Check out the ones in the back.” Lionel added.

She did just that arched her eyebrow. “Seems like the riders are hanging back there. There’s at least eight of them on that cart alone.”

“Think there’s something special in the cart?” Vincent asked.

“I wouldn’t call it special kid. But it’s valuable to somebody which means its valuable to us.”

“Amen to that.” Monica gave the spy glass back and glanced at the supply train again.  “Guess we’re waiting.”

“Don’t get comfortable because it looks like things are going down now.”

The path was going to turn away from their clump of trees. Meaning within a few minutes they would be at the flank or even right behind them. And right down the end of the road exploded with dust. They could hear the shouting among the train and several coming to the head of the column. All a part of the plan.

Bolts and bullets flew straight out of the dust. Some missed their targets but the majority had true aim. They hit horses’ mid stride or knocked riders right out of their saddles. With shouts they came straight out of the smoke brandishing swords and axes with Boss right behind.

The horsemen scattered but the carriages couldn’t move in time. They tried, the horses pulling them panicking. They jerked out of the way left or right and ended up tipping over scattering their contents across the ground. The horsemen from the rear shouted and came up drawing their swords.

Mounted combat commenced but it wasn’t that long. A few moments of skirmishing but the Rogues didn’t want extended fighting. They wanted to stay on the move and sow the chaos as much as they could. Not to mention once the element of surprise was lost the knights of the Sanctum. It didn’t help that against armor the bullets weren’t the most useful.

The ones knocked off their horses were getting to their feet and were bringing out their bows. Sadly, that didn’t do well against a chariot. Boss ran straight over a few of the knights who were too foolish to get out of the way. He spurred the chariot onward and laughed as he turned the chariot again.

Arrows whizzed by narrowly missing him but that didn’t stop him from riding forward toward the back of the caravan. The eight knights in the back lowered their lances and gathered together to provide a wall of steel. Boss was a brash man but he wasn’t dumb. He turned immediately getting away from them and he raised a horn to his lips.

He blew loudly as he raised his arm high. Lionel shouted to each of them, “Alright Rogues! Let’s get in there!” he shouted as he steered his horse into action. Vincent and Monica ran with him. Vincent glanced upward as another group came down from their hiding spot. Lionel grabbed the horn hanging from the side of his horses’ side and blew.

The knights shouted at the noise and startled even more as another horn blasted from the other side. The other strike team was riding in from the flank. By now they had move on in numerous directions to keep the spread of chaos. One of the carriages lacked its horses, having been cut loose by the Rogues. Knights had huddled around some of the others as a sort of defense but it wasn’t much good.

The moment Vincent got close he drew his sword a longsword with notches from previous battles. Riding right alongside one of the knights he slashed with the sword. The knight blocked it but wasn’t ready for Blaze. The horse bucked into the other sending him stumbling away.

With a quick thrust, he dug the sword into the horse flank. Slashing down its body the horse let out a shriek and collapsed onto the ground. The knight stumbled away as well trapped under the horse. “Poor horse.” He said to himself as he continued forward. The other guy was going to be trapped for a while. He rode toward the back carriage knowing that fine silk was always worth something with the traders.

Boss came forward drawing his twin swords and slamming them together to form a giant claymore. Swinging it left and right he cleaved the knights in half and knocking them away. He shouted taunts to them, challenging for more to try him but instead of swords he was met by fire. A blast of fire exploded under his chariot sending him flying through the air and his horses scattering in fear.

From out of the rearmost carriage was a hooded man. His hands were raised and glowing orange. The man turned his head pointing both hands at the newest riders and explosions flared under their feet. The screams of horse and rider echoed together as they each flew into the air.

“Mage!” Lionel shouted immediately backing off. “Focus him down!”

Monica rode past drawing a set of throwing knives. She whipped them out, immediately throwing them right on the money. Sadly, they didn’t hit their target, as he ducked below them. Monica made a face as she rode past throwing another pair of blades. The mage was focused this time and incinerated them in the air.

“I’m gonna need some help here!” She shouted as a pair of knights ran at her from the ground.

Finally rolling to his feet Boss swung his sword around and glared at the mage. “Vince! Take care of that mage!”

Boss got to his feet and whistled for his horses. In the meantime, he started swinging his sword around knocking a knight off his feet and into a carriage. Arrows flew toward him and he raised his arms to ward them off grunting as they embedded into his forearm. Wincing in frustration he started charging toward a carriage and hacked at the wheel.

Vincent rode straight toward the mage’s carriage grabbing the package he took from Samuel. Those glowing orange hands turned on him almost immediately. “Blaze right!” the horse served immediately just in time to avoid the fiery explosion. Blaze shouted in shock and probably would have run if his owner didn’t keep a hand on him to steady the horse.

His eyes focused on the mage who pointed hands at him again. Before he could rattle of another blast, he tore the wrapping off the package. Revealing a revolver, he spun it around his finger and finally aimed it firing off shots. The mage ducked down clumsily and the bullets slammed into the carriage wall behind him.

Leaning forward he jumped off Blaze’s back aiming another shot. He fired hitting the mage in the leg. He landed on the carriage right next to a startled mage. He tried to get off a spell, orange light emanating from his hands. A blast this close he couldn’t dodge and would likely destroy the cargo too.

Smirking his hand jerked to the revolver and he fired the final two shots. They took the mage in the chest blowing him off his feet and sprawling on the ground. Smirking he spun the weapon around and glanced at it, “This is awesome Samuel. I take back most of the bad things I said about you.”

The carriage lurched suddenly. Vincent bounced within the cart and slammed into the wall. Grunting he rolled over slowly and pushed himself off the ground. Limping forward he picked up his sword. When he looked at the attack things were pretty much over. The knights were either dead or rounded up. The carriage drivers were too and the Rogues were going through the loot.

He put the weapons away and hopped out of the carriage allowing himself to look smug. Blaze came over and bumped into him almost knocking him over. He glared at the horse who just blew air at him, horse breath and all. “Yeah good to see you too.” He mumbled going to help out.