To Skagos

Any recommendations or opinion so far is appreciated

If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.

-------------------------------

POV of Lothar Von Ruppin, fifth moon,284 AC

Our military campaign against the heathens of the mountains of the moon had been a resounding success.

The lifeless bodies of the pagans litter the mountains, my only annoyance was that we did not continue what we started, we had the means and were beginning to adapt to the terrain better than the locals, it was only a matter of time before we could cause terror in the vale and cleanse them of their filthy and corrupt religion.

But the campaign was not to finally exterminate the faith of the seven or other pagan religions, it was to save the lives of the poor children, who were being tricked into praising a false god, as the Finns sought to save as many of those poor pure souls as possible.

In less than a moon we had exterminated all the great clans and freed from their clutches tens of thousands of children who should by now be in tumbleton to be reintroduced to the one true religion.

Aleksanteri had demonstrated on several occasions his skills, under his guidance with only two thousand men who were assigned to this mission, we defeated an enemy several times superior in numbers because we were united by actively searching for the weaknesses of the savages, their celebrations and habits.

My only conflict with him is his connections with the heathens, that Brynden Tully was lucky to have been recognized, for if it had not been for that he would be adding to the mountain of dead I leave behind

But apparently that connection saved us time because our plan was simply to move through the mountains until we reached the port city of gulltown and get a couple of galleys using the riches we obtained from the booty of the savages, since they accumulated enough wealth for their uncivilized lifestyle, all to make a trip to the north where we would finish our combat against the enemies around us

For we simply walked through the bloody gates, as Brynden was the head of the fortress, giving us access to the valley of Arryn which allowed us to quickly reach our destination, buy some galleys from some merchants and set sail and row north to Skagos.

The voyage was quick for our luck, the winds were blowing favorably on our way, a sign that the benevolence of our lord gave us a fast and safe journey from waters plagued by heathen slavers.

According to the information that the Finn had, he said that the waters abounded with slavers, from the city of Tyrosh, as they are a very determined decadent culture that needs slaves for their survival and therefore its citizens are the most active when it comes to attacking ships in search of prisoners or attacking villages poorly protected by the coast.

But I doubt that the pirates will attack our group six commercial galleys with almost a thousand men that fill it, Skagos will be our final challenge, as the climate will not be easy, a land where the snow is permanent, even in summer.

''LOTHAR'' shouted from the deck.

Hearing my name I quickly jumped out of my bed and ran as fast as I could to where I was called.

Coming out on deck I found that the Finn was standing on the prow with a spyglass watching the horizon

''Tell me what you see lothar'' said Aleksanteri handing me the spyglass.

Quickly, I began to search the horizon for what was bothering the Finn.

''I see... three ships, flying the flag of tyrosh... the slaver city''I said as I looked through the spyglass.

''We are too far north for them to be here on business, they should have sailed east days ago if they wanted to do business with the Manderly's in whiteharbor'' said the Finn as he sat on a barrel and watched the horizon

''Do you think it's a group of slavers?'', I asked Aleksanteri.

''Probably... do you feel like snapping some necks?'', asked the Finn.

''Always... as long as they're heathens, I'll do my job perfectly'', I said smiling.

''Well... to the oars boys we have to pay an unexpected visit to tyrosh's men'' said Aleksanteri to his men as they began to fill their places at the oars.

Almost immediately we began to pick up speed

I for my part returned to my cabin and prepared my armor.

I am not a coward who is afraid of the sea and I am going to wear my full plate armor anyway, I didn't spend a fortune on reinforced armor only to have it sit around gathering dust.

With my armor in place and mace in hand I was ready to assault the enemy positions and make them suffer.

I went out on deck again and watched as we were rapidly approaching the heathen galleys, after a short time we were sighted and they too began to row faster

But in the same way the distance was getting smaller and smaller.

My blood began to boil when the first enemy arrows flew against us, most of them hit me causing no damage because the armor did its job deflecting all the arrows while I protected my visor with my arm for the small possibility of an arrow in my eye.

The finns had taken cover

''Lothar when we are at boarding range kill the leaders, we need prisoners, don't kill the slaves if there are any on the ship, they will also have their use later'' said Aleksanteri using me as a shield.

Another shower of arrows hit me again, doing nothing, only almost imperceptible dents in my thick armor.

This time Aleksanteri stepped out of my shadow and with three arrows in one hand and his bow in the other fired three of his arrows in less than five seconds, killing two of Tyrosh's ship archers with deadly accuracy, one between eyebrow and eyebrow and the other right in the throat the third arrow hit someone in his armor which saved his life.

Quickly, an exchange of projectiles from side to side began, but all the advantage was on our side, the Finnish archers have a deadly precession, furthermore after engaging in harassment they quickly hide from the enemy response, besides the obvious numerical superiority, but our ships are commercial galleys while the Tyroshi ships are warships with a deck that gives them more height which will make boarding difficult.

The Tyroshi were shooting arrows at me in a desperate manner, as I was the only target that would stand still.

I threw a boarding hook, catching one of the galleys, every time someone tried to cut the rope they were quickly put to sleep with an arrow from the Finns.

More grappling hooks were thrown which caused us to quickly side-step the tyrosh's galley.

I gained momentum and jumped towards the enemy ship

''Lothar entered combat... concentrate on the other galleys, that battle is won'' I heard Aleksanteri say before I grabbed the ship's railing and quickly jumped up.

-----------------------------

The Prussian knight had climbed into the galley of the Tyroshi who watched in disbelief as a man completely covered in metal had taken a great leap to board their galley

Observing the only human feature that could be distinguished from the modified Prussian gothic armor worn by the mighty warrior

His rage-filled eyes that were fixed on his opponents like knives

At first the Tyroshi did not understand why their pursuers only allowed one person to board them while they concentrated on pursuing the other galleys that were accompanying them.

but it only took the Prussian knight to kill the first man who tried to stop him with a single blow of his fist for them to understand that what had boarded their ship was not a man, it was a monster.

''CHALLENGE ME PAGANS HERE I AM'' shouted the knight as the blood of his last victim spilled onto the deck.

The mighty Prussian knight rushed with his mace in hand against the defenders on deck.

The arrows of the bows bounced off his armor, while the swords could not even cause the slightest dent in the thick armor of the knight that he wore like a second skin that weighed nothing to him.

The Prussian was tearing apart anyone who stood in front of him, smashing his enemies, breaking their ribs, bursting their skulls, breaking their bones

The few rowing slaves on deck watched in horror as their captors were torn apart by the Prussian beast and because they were in shackles that prevented their escape they could only close their eyes and pray that the beast would not pay attention to them

But they could clearly hear the bones being broken as the mighty hands of the Prussian knight bent the metal like paper, the horrifying screams of pain that the Tyroshi uttered when the Prussian beast broke his weapon and decided to use his hands to kill his victims.

For them death itself had boarded their ship, no one lasted more than seconds facing such an opponent and slowly one by one the Tyroshi died without even being able to harm him.

One of the signs of brutality conferred by the Prussian knight was to break the arms of one of the Tyrosh and throw him into the sea so that the frozen and salty water would do the job of taking the slaver's life.

The last defenders on deck began to doubt whether it was safer to throw themselves into the freezing waters and try to swim ashore or to confront the knight who was already soaked with the blood of his comrades

When one decided to simply throw down his weapon and beg for his life as the knight ignored him, they all started to do the same to save their lives.

''Ehh, cowards... but orders are orders and I won't break it'' said the knight as he broke the chains of the rowing slaves.

''You scum, keep them from escaping'' said the knight to the newly freed slaves.

Although they did not understand what he said, his signals were clear and the slaves grabbed the swords of their captors and held them back while the knight descended to the second level of the galley.

Only to hear seconds later, agonizing screams of someone being torn to pieces.

for a few moments, the most horrifying sounds that the human body could emit were heard.

But from one moment to another the most terrible sound was emitted, total silence, only the sea could be heard, which made everyone present nervous of imminent danger.

Only to see again the knight ascending, carrying in one of his hands the severed head of the Captain Tyroshi and trying to attract the attention of the other ships that were already controlling the other two galleys.

The survivors were praying to their gods that the knight would continue to ignore them and have a chance to live.

-----------------------

''How was the combat, lothar?'', asked the Finn as he wiped his dagger off the blood of one of his victims.

''A formality, they could barely defend themselves, I killed about seventy percent of the slavers crew and as you ordered I spared the lives of the slaves... although I don't know why you want the heathens alive, they are witnesses of our operation... just throw them into the sea and the cold water will do the job'' I said while remembering the fate of one of my victims.

''We just got oarsmen, lothar... so my men can rest their arms for a moment... heh, heh, heh, slavers reduced to galley slaves... a fate worse than death... while slaves could be useful for when we have to erect some constructions besides oars we can never do without an extra pair of hands'' said Aleksanteri while holding back his laughter

''Are you going to become a slaver?'', I asked the Finnish man

''No, no, no, no, as a military commander and the powers given to me by the king I condemn all slavers to hard labor in the galleys for life..... simple, he, he, he, he''laughed the Finn as he went through the judicial procedure.

''I see... any orders I have to carry out?'', I asked the Finn.

''Wash up a little lothar...I don't want you to fill the ship with the blood on your hands'' Aleksanteri said pointing to a barrel of water for me.

''Aleksanteri... I know it's a stupid question, but I want your confirmation...I managed to understand one of the slaves...from essos, they asked if now that we freed them we can take them back to their homes''said a Finnish soldier to Aleksanteri

''Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...are you serious?...let me laugh louder..... HA, HA, HA, HA, HA...if they want to go home they are free to jump into the sea and swim back...we are not a charity...we have work to do...break their dreams right away or hope will turn to anger in time''said Aleksanteri as he relaxed.

------------------------

leave a comment, support is always appreciated.

----------------------