2 The Most trusted General

With a disgusted face he shoved the so called food down his throat. It was gross to say the least. Maybe if he would eat ist fast enough, it wouldn't taste as bad. Marcus should have known better. It had been 7 Months in this Camp and only in two of them they had had better food than this. Ah least no one threw up from it any more. A few more scoopes with the spoon and the wooden bowl was empty and his stomach full. Disgruntled he shoved to the side of the desk he was sitting on. The only candle merely illuminated the map that was to his right but he had always found solace in working in the dark. His senses were sharp as his sword in this dim light and nothing went past his attention.

It had been dark outside for a while now and he knew he should be asleep. It had just been so much to do. The new Rations had to be tabulated , the sold of his men had to be counted and the Gang of Thieves they had captured this morning had to be reported. Both hands rubbed his Temples as Marcus got a slight headache. It was probably the food. Or the lack of sleep. He couldn't care less. If this job would be easy, he wouldn't have been appointed by the King to do it. One does not simply send his highest rank General into the wild with no purpose.

The feather scratched loudly over the parchment as he finished the letter from before to his king. Everything had went smoothly the last weeks and he was quite content that they would not need to be stationed here much longer.

Last year when King Lortus proposed the idea to clean the surrounding land of the capital of riffraff and Thieves, Marcus had been pleased. In times without war a General was not of a lot of use. At least Marcus had always felt like it. His life and Duty was to protect and serve, his king, the kingdom and all righteous citizens. Without danger, you tend to be bored. He did not want war, obviously, but he missed the fight, that he could not deny.

Sealing the letter a stood up and put it to the 20 other letters, that needed to be delivered tomorrow. The flickering candle caused gruesome shadows to fall on the tent tarpaulin as the big man moved in the Accomodation.

His line of sight reaches the simple bed with the furs on it and even though he would hate himself for this at one point in the morning, he turned around and left his tent to do a last check up.

The camp was quiet, most of the man were sleeping and the ones who weren't, were standing guard in strategic points and wooden towers build by them a few months prior. Here and there one could see a dying campfire or a chicken, searching for a few grains on the ground. His round did not take long and at last he stood in front of his tent again and looked up to the moon. It shone bright, brighter than he had ever seen a moon shine and now the Moon seemed to illuminate a part of the woods in the North. 'Strange' he wondered. But he shook

His head and went to bed.

The morning was nice and a soft sunlight warmed the earth and dried off any morning dew. But it was not silent. The chatting of men, screeching of pigs as they got shoved out of the way, the rattle of kettles and swords moved around, was far louder than the song of any bird. The loud comping of an axe that hit a tree on the outskirts of the camp was a rhythmic sound over all this noise. Marcus was already up, dressed in a dark tunic and trousers, only his sword on his side. "You first give this to the King. The news need to find him As soon as possible. Got it?" His rough voice was imminent as he spoke to the young and skinny boy on top of the brown mare. "Yes General,Sir" the Boy tucked the letters in a bag at the side of the saddle. "I will ride fast and save to deliver this safely to our great king." Marcus bonded in his direction, for he had already turned and started stomping away. He yelled a few commands here and there and made his way to the makeshift cage, where the 5 Bandits sat with grumpy faces. "Don't be sad, you're going to get moved to a nice prison cell today." He did not even look at the 5 culprits. To the guard at the cell he said: "Tie them up for the journey, we'll take them to Grayin." The Guard, Nicholas, saluted and went to do as he was told. Marcus smiled a little evil. Grayin was the nearest City from the Camp and they sure had a prison. It just wasn't as nice. Serves them right, he thought to himself.

Another two hours later he and 5 of his men were in their way to get rid of the bandits. No one is fond to have murderous Idiots in the Vamp, that would not hesitate to slice each and every throat of him and his men. It was practical that the City wasn't as far in the North, only a few hours to walk by foot. He and his man were on horses but the 5 Criminals in tow would never get such a amenity from him. It slowed things down. A lot. The dirty fives didn't seem to be in a hurry to get to their new forever home so they shambled after the horses, tied with ropes.

Marcus did not grow impatient, that wasn't him. He had all the time in the world so why would he even bother about these thieves. His face got grim as he thought about their crimes. They had not only stolen from innocent people, no. It had been their thing to kill the men, fathers, brothers and husbands, sell the children and rape the women till they died. As him and his men had arrived at one of the crime scenes it was horrid. He has been at war for years in foreign countries and his eyes had seen more gruesome things than humanity should be able to commit, but it never got easier. Over the years he had just learned to not get involved. Only with that he had been able to turn the body of the young girl, 12 or 13 maybe, around only to see that her private parts and her face had been slashed with a sword. Not even her own mother would have been able to recognise her. Maybe a good thing that she had been laying death a few meters away from her daughter. Stomach ripped open for the crows to feed.

His Horse pranced nervously as his grip on the reigns got tighter and tighter. Immediately he relaxed his hands and patted the black stallion in the neck. "Sorry my boy" . With pressure from his strong Thighs the Horse fell into a trot and regained its place at the top of the Company.

It had been 1 hour riding when suddenly a choked scream filled the silence of the woods. Instantly Marcus flung his Horse around and couldn't quite believe what he saw. The loud galloping of 2 Horses underlined his thoughts. Two of his men and one bandit lay bleeding in the ground. Weapons gone. Afar were two horses racing into the forest with 4 people on top of them. "You gotta be kidding me" With an angry yell, he and his 3 remaining men gave their horses the Spurs.