Chapter 4 - Resupply

Jens openen his eyes when Rock called out to him. Siem en Rock stood at the cave entrance already.

"How are you feeling?" Asked Rock. He looked still concerned about Jens's back.

"I'm much better. Mana stones definately do not only strengthen your body, it also heals it. I'm certain of it. I'm barely in any pain anymore, but It itches a lot now."

Siem opened his hand to look at the mana stones in his hand. Two of the three had dimmed completely. He was surprised by that.

He figured that he had used up the mana. Their power doesn't seem to be infinite.

"My mana stones have dimmed. Are they useless now?"

Rock looked puzzled. He didn't know. Jens looked at Siem, who walked towards him to see.

He picked one of the dimmed mana stones to inspect.

"I think so. I can't sense any mana from it anymore."

"Good to know."

"Let's leave this place." Rock said. "Stay vigilant. The enemy might have caught up to us."

Rock was right. They had spent the rest of the afternoon and beginning of the evening to rest. Luckily they had found the mana stones in that cave. They felt perfectly fine now. Their bodies were at peak level.

Siem led them through the forest again. Closely followed by Jens and Rock. It was pitch dark in the forest. Barely any moonlight reached them. Siem held a mana stone in one hand. It shined just enough for them to see where they were walking.

After a long while they reached the end of the forest. They stopped for a moment. There was a flat land in front of them. At the horizon was some light. It looked like there were a few houses.

"That is probably a farm." Rock said.

Siem and Jens had also seen it.

"Want to go there?" Jens asked. "We need to eat."

"Do you want to go ask or steal it?" Siem asked surprisingly.

Jens looked uncertain. "I don't know."

"Let's go that way. We can check out the area when we get there. If it's friendly we can ask. If not…" Siem said.

Jens didn't know how he felt about stealing.

"Let's go." Rock said. He was determined to get there and eat something.

When they got close to the farm, Siem stopped just out of the range of the lights.

"Let's circle around and see if it's safe." He whispered.

Jens followed Siem. He was nervous.

They were walking between a group of sheep that were sleeping on the ground. They avoided them as much as possible. Soon enough they reached the barn. Siem quickly went inside with the others closely behind him.

Something smelled. He started to breath out of his mouth to avoid the smell. He signaled to Jens and he confirmed that he smelled it as well. It was to dark to see anything inside the barn. He picked a mana stone from his pocket for some light.

Immediately Siem spotted something on the ground.

Blood.

He followed the blood trail on the ground and then he saw the bodies. He quickly counted six bodies. Probably the entire farmer's familiy. He felt sick. He stomach churned and he puked.

Rock and Jens were alarmed and walked quickly towards him. That was when they saw the source of the horrible smell.

Rock was clearly fighting with his stomach. He managed to keep it in. Jens on the other hand also staring puking.

"We need to get away from here." Rock said horrified. The enemy is here already."

Jens and Siem weren't feeling to well and quickly agreed.

On the way back to the door of the barn Rock was pleasantly surprised. There was an axe placed in a rack. He picked it up and checked the axe head. It felt sharp. He received some courage from having a weapon in his hands.

Rock slightly opened the barn door and peaked outside. The door to the house opposite of the barn opened and someone walked out. That person was walking clumsy. He walked towards his left and right. Rock quickly thought the man was drunk. He was even more alarmed when he noticed that the person was walking towards the barn.

Rock quickly closed the barn door. "Hide! Someone is coming."

Jens and Siem were alarmed. They both hid behind a few barrels.

Rock stepped away from the door with the axe ready to strike.

For a second, Rock doubted if that person was really walking towards the barn. It took to long, but then he heard someone walking against the wall. That person mumbled something and opened the door wide.

That person walked inside, he walked away from where Rock was.

He clearly saw a sword hanging on the man's waist, identifying him as a soldier. Rock walked silently behind the man with the axe raised. When he was close enough he striked the man on his head. With a loud thud the axe split his head. The man dropped to the floor, dead. Rock kept hold of the axe. Adrenaline was rushing through him.

Jens had seen him strike the enemy. He came out of hiding and walked quickly towards Rock. Rock raised his axe in alarm, wanting to strike again.

"It's me!" Jens said quickly.

Rock recognized him and lowered the axe.

Siem was already at the dead soldier en took hold of his sword. He stood up and laid a hand on Rock's shoulder. "Well done. You saved us again. If he would've alarmed the rest, we would be done for."

Rock was staring at the soldier he had killed.

"Hey!" Siem hushed. "Look at me."

Jens was looking worried at them.

Siem positioned himself between Rock and the dead soldier.

"It was him or us. You did the right thing."

Rock looked uncertain at Siem. He nodded and turned around.

Siem went out first with his new sword in hand.

Jens pushed Rock gently to go before him.

When they were all three outside, to Jens's surprise, Siem moved towards the house. He peeked inside through a window. He leaned back against the wall and raised three fingers at Rock and Jens.

Does he want to go inside?

Jens rushed as quietly as possible past Rock and grabbed Siem's arm. "What are you planning?" He whispered.

"We need to kill them. If they find their buddy they will hunt us or raise an alarm."

That sounded reasonable. They also needed some food. He nodded. "I have no weapon."

"Doesn't matter. Pick something inside."

Siem walked passed him towards the door and walked silently inside.

They entered the kitchen. Jens noticed a long knife on the table. Jens stood beside an opening and was peeking inside again. He signaled Rock and Jens to be ready. He quickly moved to the other side of the opening.

Jens held his breath. He waited for an alarm but there wasn't any. He walked beside Rock, who was standing at the opening, opposite of Siem.

Siem walked in quickly with Rock closely behind him. Jens also followed them.

Someone shouted in alarm. Siem had stabbed the man at the left in his chest. Rock swiped the axe in an arch over his head into the man facing away from him.

Jens jumped away from behind Rock. He just now saw what was happening. The three soldiers were sitting at a table. They were eating and were surprised. The third man stood up in shock and tried to reach for his sword.

Jens rushed around the table with the knife in front of him.

The man was raising his sword out of it's scabbard. He had the sword almost free when the knife pierced his chest.

The man looked in shock at Jens. Jens let loose of the knife and the man's hands grabbed immediately towards the knife. He stumbled backward one step and fell to the ground.

Jens kept staring at the man. He felt sick. He knew he had killed at the battlefield. He had no choice back then. It was chaos.

Now he had chosen to kill the man. He had seen it happen step by step. From the surprised look of his victim, until the realization that he was going to die. It didn't feel right.

"We did it. Lets gather what we can carry and get out of here." Siem said. He already grabbed some food from a plate and devoured it.

Rock and Jens looked at each other in accordance and started eating as well.

After only a few minutes stuffing his mouth full, Siem started looking around the room. They needed a bag or something to bring with them. He started looking in the cabinets for anything usefull.

"What are you looking for?" Jens asked.

"Supplies, bags, anything useful."

Jens started looking as well. He soon found two backpacks in a closet. "Found it!"

He noticed that Rock had already laid the valuables of the dead soldiers on the table. Siem came out of the kitchen with his hands full of food and several canteens. He laid them across the table and stuffed the backpack full. Jens did the same with the other.

Rock took the backpack from Siem and handed him a new scabbard. Meanwhile Jens put on the other backpack. Rock handed him also a scabbard. All three of them were ready to move out again. They were watching each other not sure what to do now.

"What now?" Rock asked to break the silence.

"Let's keep going the way we were heading. When the sun rises we need to find a shelter to stay out of the light." Siem suggested.

"Okay, let's do that. I have no better plan."

Rock said. Jens nodded in approval.

He casted one last glance over the dead soldiers. Siem noticed him. "They got what they deserved. Butchering this farm's family like that."

Jens looked at Siem. "I know." He noticed that Siem was walking away already, probably not even hearing his reply. He followed him and Rock.