Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 452 (Patreon)

The trip return trip to Stoneburrow was slower than the trip out. General Themis had no reason to hurry and many reasons to keep her men and horses well-rested. The Red Banner and House Franklin scouted the surrounding areas for ambushes but Winter had given up on harassing them, more interested in heading further North now that the temperature was becoming warmer. When it became apparent that nothing was lurking to ambush her cavalry, the Dutchess spoke quietly to Harmonia who passed a message to Harmony. After that, House Franklin broke into small groups, becoming the ambushers rather than the scouts, launching minor attacks with snowballs and spells. The impromptu war games continued until they arrived in Stoneburrow with surprisingly few small injuries.

Ben had spent his time flying overhead and descending when he saw skirmishes, healing most of the injuries. Mudhead was content with that, greatly fatigued from the last day's exertions. Or possibly just the last night's. Ben had found his horse with the rest of House Franklin's mounts, surrounded by several mares and looking tired but satisfied. Ben declined to comment: What happens at the corral stays at the corral. And he himself had been engaged in a similar activity, but limited to only one partner. Both he and Mudhead had hoped for a slower journey but were disappointed when they reached Stoneburrow as the sun was setting.

Over a thousand Imperial troops were waiting for them, their camps going up all around the town. The Workers from Sedgewick grabbed their shovels and got to work, digging ditches and a small berm around the square where the troops they'd accompanied would camp. The cooks began heating pots of meat and boiled groats to go with the hardtack bread and beer. Ozzy got his tripe pot boiling and began to ladle out soup to any of the soldiers who were still wounded. Between enchanted tripe soup, healing bear, and the barrels of potions, only a few of the soldiers were still wounded, those who had taken grievous injuries. The army was in far better shape than it should be, something that General Themis was all too aware of. Ozzy found himself summoned to a staff meeting along with Ben. The large tent held Themis, her staff, Harmonia, Duchess Claudia, the Duchess' staff, Caldrius, and a dozen officers from the Legion troops that had arrived in Stoneburrow.

The new officers accepted Ben's presence, dressed as he was as an Imperial Courier, but were a little confused as to why the General had asked for a Butcher in a bloodstained apron to attend the meeting. Ozzy didn't sit, the stools looked too small. He stood in the back and grinned at anyone who stared at him.

Themis wasted no time or energy on pleasantries. "We're going to be heading North from Stoneburrow, leaving only a small group to reinforce the town. In an emergency, more troops can be teleported here nearly instantly from Rowan Keep, which is now directly linked to all important points we have operational. The Emperor wants us to make things uncomfortable for any winter forces in the area and hunt down the stragglers. Those of you who fought with me in the last battle know what to expect. Everyone else is going to get caught up to speed fast. This isn't a cakewalk and some of their critters are quite mean." She pointed to the huge hide of a snarlfang hanging on one side of the tent. "There were packs of those things and fifty-foot-tall giants. If you ever wondered about the tales of the Jotun, we can confirm those are true."

One captain raised a hand, "General? How did you kill a Jotun."

Themis smiled, "Jotun, plural. They sent three of them against us. The answer is fire, lots and lots of fire. We lit up the first one with barrels of burning pitch launched from our catapults. The second one had a bad encounter with Master Caldrius and a squad of Fire Mages hyped up on too much Burney Bacon. The Butcher took down the third one and captured him. We had a long talk later about the forces Winter could throw at us. A very helpful talk and worth taking his parole and letting him go. I say this because if any of you see a Jotun limping home to the North, just pass him by. He's only dangerous if you attack him."

Ozzy confused most of the people in the room by saying, "And he owes me an ox, so I'll be very upset if anyone up our deal with him."

Themis let that comment settle in before continuing. "I'm not joking when I say the Butcher took down a Jotun, please keep this in mind when you encounter him or any of Baron William's workers from Sedgewick. They were instrumental in our victory and I may drag them into this war again. If you see them pulling wagons of goods or war machines into camp, it's because I ordered them to. Baron William will be resupplying the Legion for part of this campaign, and loaning us some of his specialists now and then."

Caldrius spoke up, "Which reminds me, we are out of Mage's Delight."

Ozzy laughed, "I'll make more, and I think between Myrna, our local Peppermancer, and myself we may be able to increase the potency. Just don't let any of the little ones get into it. It'll blow a Tier one Fire Mage's head right off."

"I look forward to tasting it, and please convey my best to Miss Myrna. It was delightful traveling with her. I'll be visiting soon."

Themis handed a roll of paper to Ben. "Convey those to the Baron. I'm going to need more supplies."

Ben bowed, "The Baron is always ready to do business, Ma'am. I'll have these to him today. I assume the Sedgewick contingent is free to travel home."

Themis nodded and smiled, "Yes, go home to soft beds and warm fires while I camp on the hard ground." Ben saluted, Ozzy waved, and they departed the tent. Themis watched them go with a neutral expression on her face. Claudia knew what she was thinking, "Useful, weren't they."

"Very much so. We both know this soldiering business is mostly gruntwork, troop movement, supply management, and scouting. Even if you ignore the frankly ridiculous things that some of them did, those people were a force multiplying in this battle." She turned to Harmonia, "As were your people. Damned good scouting, faster movement, and a mix of offense and healing. Feel like sticking around?"

"I was hoping you'd ask. Every single one of those youngsters has come to me, asking if they can stay to fight in the war. They're having too much fun and dreaming of being heroes. Hell, some of them are already. If I sent them back to normal duties, they'd get into so much trouble. The same probably goes for me."

"Good, you can stay and cause trouble for Winter. What about you, your Grace?"

"I believe that I should return to Wolfsburg and debrief my worried husband before he hears that I've been fighting Cyclones up close and personal. I need to coordinate things with him and order up the troops. But I'll be sending Captain Bernice back with the rest of the Red Banner to join you within a few days. And I'll get the supplies you need moving. I have a new supply depot set up in the city and will be filling it with anything I can get from Gus or Carl and keep it ready to ship to you. You're fighting in the north, and the north will provide."

"Good. Because I don't want to give Winter a chance to reform here in the southern part of the province. We will march north and use House Franklin and the Red Banner to scout far and wide. Communication is down with Northguard and their teleporter isn't working. We need to know what's going on, and if Winter has taken it, we need to get it back."

Harmonia looked at the map, "That's a long march going with foot troops. I can send my best scouts on fast horses to check in at Northguard and race back."

"Do that. It's risky as hell, with Winter retreating, but the information would let us know what we're up against. I don't expect much from Pinchpenney, but there's a Legion outpost there, and hopefully, it's enough to hold out."

Harmonia got up and headed for the door. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Themis had known she was going as soon as she said 'best scouts'. "At least take a couple of the youngsters to keep you out of trouble!"

...weeks ago, as the weather was getting colder, in the lands formerly ruled by Alchemarx...

Hoss landed on his back in the mud as the snarlfang leaped from a concealing bit of cover, snapping his mount's neck and killing it instantly. The apex predator tore a bleeding chunk of flesh from his horse's throat before advancing on him. Hoss rolled to his feet. Running wasn't an option. Anyone with a brain knew you didn't run from a wolf. You grabbed a club or pitchfork and took your chances. Not a good chance of winning, but running meant dying for sure. The sword agreed. She would rather let him die than run from a fight. In total agreement, they waited for the beast to attack. 

It started to circle him, then lept at him, going for his leg. Hoss swung the black sword as she'd taught him, building power from his toes to his hips and finally his shoulders, bringing the blade around in a powerful blow that separated the top half of the snarlfangs skull from the rest of its head, and slicing its brain in two. The thing was dead as it hit him, but that didn't prevent him from being slammed to the ground with a ton of critter on top of him. The damned sword was no help, it was laying on the ground, humming happily as it sucked up the thing's life essence and stole part of its strength. It took him half an hour to shift the body enough to free his arm and reach for the sword. With her strength, he tossed the carcass aside.

He'd been heading to a group of buildings and farmland that were still miles away. He could make it by nightfall if he got started now. Throwing his saddlebags over his shoulder, he looked longingly at his horse. She'd been a good one. If he'd had the time, he would have buried her, but that would leave him here through the night with maybe more of these critters around. He started walking. 

The former Alchamarx workers saw him coming. They kept a lookout, just in case, up on the tallest building. The rest of them cooked, played cards, knitted or took up some hobby they never had the time for. They were still locked into a five-year contract, but there was confusion as to what they were supposed to be doing. They'd been told they were still getting paid, but no one showed up to order them around. They'd started selling the grain they had stored to traveling merchants to have some spending money, but there hadn't been any come by for a month, and the weather was getting colder. A few people had decided to travel to the city or go exploring. They usually showed up again pretty quickly, either walking or resurrecting after getting mauled by some beast. Quincy was the only one to beat all expectations, being gone for 13 days now. 

With boredom being the norm, the lone visitor walking up to them was a welcome distraction. When he got closer, a few of them recognized him from before. He'd come with the Baron when they'd almost got evicted. Then everyone from Alchemarx went away, the weather turned colder, and nothing was heard from the Baron. Until now. 

Hoss walked up to the door and knocked. When the door opened, he saw a couple of dozen worried people in the big common room, "Hi, I'm Sir Hoss. I work for the Baron. I know some bad stuff happened last time we visited, but that was the Alchemarx bosses, not all the farmers and hired hands. I came down to talk but some big fuzzy critter killed my horse and it's been a long, cold walk. Mind if I come in?"

"Sure. Come in and get warm. Is the thing still roaming around? Surprised you're alive. It's been eating our cattle every night. Not much left."

Hoss shrugged, "It should have gone for me, not the horse. That gave me a chance to kill it. How are you folks doing, other than losing all your cattle?"

Jefferson, who'd volunteered to be spokesman, answered him. "Not sure. Sort of in limbo. No bosses to tell us what to do, but getting bored and it looks like the cold season is coming. Are you here to evict us? I've got to tell you, it won't work well. We have nowhere to go and we'll be back every morning if we have to walk off into the wilds."

Hoss shook his head. "Naw. The Baron has lost interest in a lot of things and just says, "Whatever you think, Hoss." And I think turning people out of their homes isn't right. I couldn't stop it before, but I can now. The way I see it, there are three choices you can make. You can leave, but you already said you didn't want to do that. Next, I've got a big castle that doesn't have much but a leaky roof and drafty rooms. You could come help me fix things up and live there for the winter. Or you can stay here. We can work out a share cropping deal where you give the Baron half the crops and keep the other half."

Jefferson looked around the room. Not everyone was here, but those who were seemed happy with one choice or another. He was about to ask some more questions when Ned, the lookout, came pounding down the stairs. 

"Twister! A damned big one and it's heading straight toward us." Ned didn't stick around, running out the front door and heading to one of the potato sheds. Someone was ringing the "Boss wants to talk" bell and there were shouts from outside. Jefferson started heading after Ned, "Get to the damned shed, a twister will tear this tall building to splinters. We need to be underground."

That seemed sensible to Hoss, as soon as they were outside he used his loudest voice to shout a Command, urging people to get to the shed. Hearing his voice, or seeing the rapidly approaching windstorm goaded everyone on the farms to get into a potato shed or other root cellar. Within minutes, the farm looked deserted.

That didn't stop Shurdhi from coming down to play. The Cyclone was heading South to where it could feed on a huge blizzard and destroy a College of hateful fire worshippers. Along the way, he spread the news that Winter was coming and the rule of men was over. Back and forth across the area, he roared, destroying the mostly wooden buildings. Shattering barns, tossing farm animals into the sky, and destroying nearly everything. Except for the potato sheds. Each was a long, low building set into the soil, so only the shallow slanted roof was visible. The roof was made of a foot of sod, and once the grass grew over them, only the steps leading down to a wooden door would distinguish them from a hill. Shurdhi tried to destroy them, but his funnel bounced over them, the earth defeating him. Eventually, he got bored and headed southward. 

After the winds died down, the door opened and the people emerged to see a desolation of shattered wood and broken wagons. Jefferson looked at Hoss, "About that castle you mention..."

Hoss nodded, "Yeah, seems like the best choice. Let's see how many wagons we can fix, load up what food we can, and leave the rest for another trip. Looks like it's going to be a long Winter."