New Mission

It was a cool morning, with a slight breeze that carried the smell of the forest mixed in with the filth of the city. The sun still hadn't crested the horizon and the cocks were just starting to announce a new day. Marcus was standing at the west gate next to a train of ten wagons. The wagons were being pulled by oxen. Oxen were a bit slower than horses, but could pull quite a bit more. Each wagon had one driver and two oxen pulling it, because of how large the wagons were. They were about twenty feet long and ten feet wide, and could hold up to six tons of goods. The wagons were carrying clay pots full of salted fish, as well as some tools and weapons made by local blacksmiths.

He wasn't the first to arrive, before him was a group that looked like it consisted of two rangers, a swordsman, and a rogue. The rogue was wearing all black with a hood hiding his face, and had two long daggers at his waist. You might classify a rogue as a thief, but if you called one a thief to their face they were liable to get very angry. Rogues were just fighters that excelled in surprise and speed, not someone that snuck in to steal things.

The two rangers looked very similar to each other, Marcus thought that maybe they were brothers. They both had red hair and a similar tall and lanky build. They both wielded shortbows strapped to their backs with small daggers at their side. The swordsman was on the taller side at about five-feet seven inches, had blonde hair and wore light leather armor and had a straight sword at his hip. It was about three feet long and double edged. Marcus wasn't sure what it was called, he never really kept up on his medieval weaponry.

They were still waiting on the other mercenaries to arrive for the journey to begin. Marcus wore his new leather armor, had his multi day pack on his back, and had his extra large warhammer slung over his shoulder. He was just waiting like everyone else was when another group of four walked up to the caravan. This group had two swordsmen, one with a kite shield, the other with just a sword. The one with the shield had a stocky build, at about five-feet five-inches tall with brown hair. His sword was smaller at only about two feet long, and his shield covered about one-third of his body. The other swordsman was just a little shorter with brown hair and had a larger two handed sword that was about four feet long and looked heavy to use.

The other two members of the group were women, it was very rare to find female mercenaries. Not that it was taboo or anything, just that it was a hard job and most women wouldn't want to do it. They also looked very similar to each other and held swords that looked like sabers. They were curved, single edged, and had thin blades. The women had leather armor on, just covering their vital areas and wool clothing underneath covering everything else.

Now nine out of the ten mercenaries had arrived, everyone started to look around for the last. A young man stood up from the seat of the head wagon and walked over to the waiting group of mercenaries.

"Alright, it looks as if everyone has arrived. Now we'll head out. You can decide the assignments amongst yourselves. It's about a half day's travel to the first rest stop so prepare accordingly." The young man said in a loud voice so that everyone could hear him.

"Now, are there any questions before we move out?"

One of the female mercenaries stepped forward. "Sir, you said everyone was here, but I only count nine of us. There should be one more coming, right?"

"Oh yes, I'd nearly forgotten. We met with the other member last night. He's a magician, so he'll be riding in the front wagon with me. Should the need arise he'll lend a hand, otherwise he said he'd like his privacy. Now, is that it?"

No one said anymore and they all shook their heads.

"Good, ten minutes, then we'll start!" The young man said, then turned around and headed back towards the head wagon.

"Alright, everyone gather up!" The swordsman from the first group yelled, not in a commanding tone, but just to get everyone's attention.

"My name's Roger, I'm the leader of the Red Hounds, the iron ranked mercenary group. Now, if no one has any objections, I'd like to take the lead with the assignments for this mission."

He paused, waiting for anyone to voice their concerns. This was a common practice when more than one group participated on the same mission. One leader would take the lead so that there wouldn't be any confusion later on if something were to happen. All the mercenaries would take orders from the one that had the lead.

Seeing that no one objected to his motion, he continued. "Good, Now I'd like everyone to introduce themselves and say what their strengths are so that I can place you where you're needed."

The Red Hounds went first, the rogue was named Derrick. He excelled in sneak attacks and stealth. His strength was scouting, he was very fast and wore all black, making him perfect for that position. Next was Nick, he was one of the rangers of the group. They were actually brothers, They've been doing mercenary work together for ten years and been part of the Red Hounds for five. His strength was tracking, so he was assigned as look out for the caravan and hunting for game when they stopped to rest. His brother, Dave, was the other ranger. His strength was his accuracy with the bow. He could hit a bullseye from one-hundred yards away. He was also assigned as lookout with his brother.

Next was the other group of mercenaries, the Four Blades. The swordsman with the shield was named Ronan, he was actually married to one of the female swordswomen. His strength was defense, so he was tasked with guarding the rangers should a fight break out. His wife, Katy, wielded the saber so she was a front line attacker. The swordsman with the two-handed sword was named Tim. He was also a front line attacker and was married to the other swordswoman, her name was Ellen. Ellen and Katy were sisters and were trained with the saber by their father as they were growing up. Ellen was put with her sister and husband on the frontline.

Lastly was Marcus, the only strength that he had was his monstrous strength. Since he didn't really have any skill in his fighting technique, he was just told to fill in the gaps when needed. He was also delegated the task of gathering the firewood when they stopped for the night, they wanted to put his strength to use.

"Now, you all heard the caravan leader say that there's a magician as well. Don't expect him to pull his own during this mission. The most we can hope for is that he stays in the carriage and doesn't cause us any trouble." Roger said with a look of disgust on his face.

Magicians had a very high status, and with high status they were often very arrogant. Being a magician usually requires a large amount of money and skill as well. So they were justified in being a little high and mighty, but many of them went overboard. It was actually rare for one to be a mercenary. This one must have some extenuating circumstances.

"Now let's take our positions and head out, it's about time to go."

Marcus headed towards the rear of the caravan. He'd guard their flank as they progressed to Clearmount. He was paired up with Ellen, the swordswoman. Katy and Tim took the left side and Ronan and Roger took the right. Derrick would scout ahead while Nick and Dave would watch the road ahead.

"You're not gonna tire out on me before we make it to the rest stop are ya?" Ellen asked Marcus as they made their way out of the city's west gate. She was looking Marcus up and down, seeing the large pack on his back and the incredibly heavy warhammer he was carrying.

"Oh no, I'll be fine." Marcus replied with a chuckle.

"In fact, if you need me to, I can carry you if you get tired."

"Nice try Mister, but I'm taken!" She said with a laugh, she knew that he was joking.

"You have much experience with this sort of mission, you're only copper rank right?"

Ellen was iron rank, along with everyone else in the Four Blades. She was just trying to gauge how much Marcus would be worth in a fight, but if his size said anything she didn't have much to worry about.

"I'm not the fastest, but I can hold my own. So don't worry, I'll have your back." Marcus said seriously. He would never allow himself to fail any of his companions. Not only would his reputation take a hit, he'd have trouble sleeping if there were anything that he could do but didn't.

"Good, glad to hear that." Ellen said nodding.

Marcus and Ellen continued walking behind the caravan not talking about anything in particular, but still keeping an eye out on their surrounding.

.......

It was now almost dusk, they had stopped at the first rest stop a little after noon. Now they were nearing the stop where they would camp out for the first night. They were in a large open field with knee high grass and purple flowers that Marcus didn't know the name of. They had circled the wagons and allowed the oxen to start grazing on the grass. The merchants had brought feed with them, but if they could feed the oxen for free then they would jump at the chance.

Marcus and Ellen were on the second watch, so after dinner he'd have to go on watch for two hours. It was Marcus's responsibility to gather the fire wood when they stopped, so he took an axe from one of the merchants and headed off towards the woods. He was never really the outdoors type, but he still knew to look for dry dead wood and not anything still green. The green wood had a lot of moisture and wouldn't burn very well at all.

After walking about one-hundred feet into the forest he came across a tree that had fallen over. It was about thirty feet long and three feet in diameter. It was long since dead and made of hard wood so it was perfect for burning. Marcus didn't need all of it so he decided to chop it in half, then bring the half back to camp so he could split it into usable pieces.

After chopping the dead tree in half with a couple swings of the axe, Marcus centered himself with the tree and hefted it up in his shoulder. The log he'd cut was fifteen feet long and maybe weighed 200 pounds, at least that's what Marcus thought it felt like. When the log was on his shoulder his feet sank into the ground a couple of inches, the ground was luckily hard from a lack of rain so he didn't sink in any more.

Turning around to head back to camp, he nearly screamed out when he saw a creature standing ten feet from him. It looked just like a small deer, standing only as high as his waist. It had brown fur, white under its tail and big brown eyes. It was standing still, quietly watching him.

"Hey there little guy." Marcus said in a cute voice, like you would talk to a dog. He reached out his left hand and slowly went to pet the small deer. Just as he was about to reach the deer's muzzle, the deer snapped at his fingers. In the deer's mouth were large sharp teeth, just like in a wolf's mouth.

The deer started to snarl in a high pitched sound. It's hackles we're standing on end and it was looking like it was about to pounce. Marcus was not very impressed with the cute looking deer becoming aggressive.

When he was younger he had a German Shepard that snapped at him once. He backhanded the dog to show it that he was the alpha, since then it never snapped at him again. He did the same to the now very aggressive deer.

As his hand made contact with the deer's head he heard a cracking sound. Its head snapped to the left at a weird angle and the deer went sliding across the ground about ten feet. The deer lay still not breathing.

He'd hadn't meant to kill the deer, but he didn't feel bad about it either.

"Little bastard had it coming." He mumbled to himself as he bent over and picked up the deer's carcass. He didn't want the meat to go to waste so he would bring it back to camp.

Walking out of the forest with his giant log and his dead deer. Marcus made his way back into camp. The merchants and mercenaries were busy assembling their tents or setting up for dinner. When they saw Marcus walking up with a giant log slung over his shoulder they stopped what they were doing, some even dropped their tools. Mouths agape, they witnessed him stop and drop the log onto the ground. It made a loud thump and even caused the ground to shake a little.

Letting out a deep breath, Marcus also dropped the carcass of the deer and stretched his shoulders and back.

"That log must have been heavier than I thought. Well, let's go see if she can use this." He said to himself as he saw how much the log sank into the ground when he dropped it. Grabbing the carcass he took it over to the cook, Ellen. She was assigned to prepare the meals of the mercenaries. The merchants supplied most of the food, but had no obligation to prepare it.

"Here ya go Ellen, hope you're in the mood for venison!" Marcus said with a smile as he handed the deer to her like you would a loaf of bread. Ellen was still staring slack jawed at Marcus, but still reached out to grab the deer. When Marcus let go of the deer, Ellen was unable to hold on to it. It came up only to his waist, but it was still as big as a very large dog.

"Oh shit, sorry! I didn't even think about how big it was." Marcus said with an embarrassed look on his face. He quickly bent over to pick the deer back up.

"Just tell me where you want it and I'll put it there."

Just now snapping out of her daze, Ellen cleared her throat. "Just what in the hells is going on? You come walking in here with a whole tree AND a fanged deer over your shoulders like it's nothing! Fanged deer are viscous little fuckers. If they catch you by yourself they'll try n' get ya. I'd rather run into a wolf than one of these, at least with a wolf you might be able to scare it away!"

"Really? I guess he did try to bite me when I tried to pet him."

"You tried to pet him! Are you nuts!? Everyone knows to stay away from them! And what about that whole tree? Is it hollow inside?" Ellen was practically screaming. She just couldn't believe what she was seeing and hearing. Fanged deer weren't particularly dangerous, they just didn't fear anything and would even try to fight a bear. And the log he'd brought in was solid iron oak. She wanted to think it was hollow, but she could clearly see that it was whole.

Taking a deep breath, Ellen then asked. "How did you kill the deer? I don't see any wounds or blood."

"Yeah, when he tried to bite me I just back handed him to teach him a lesson. I must have hit him a little too hard though, I think I broke his neck. Haha." Marcus said with a red face. He didn't mean to stand out, he was just getting stronger without him realising it. He was just going about his life as usual. From now one he had to be more careful, just so he didn't accidentally hurt someone.

"Right.... You just hit him huh. Then broke his neck?" Ellen's face was just a little pale.

"Remind me never to piss you off." She added with a little chuckle.

"Just put it over there." She finally said as she pointed towards a makeshift A-frame that Nick had set up. He was just about to go hunting when Marcus had returned and had set up an A-frame to drain the blood out of whatever he killed. Nick had walked over in silence and helped Ellen pick the deer up and hang it upside down.

Everyone was listening in on their conversation and was just as shocked as Ellen was. They watched in silence as Marcus returned to the log and started to split it. He worked very fast and in ten minutes had split all the wood into pieces just the right size to use. Marcus had gotten very good at splitting wood while at Issac's farm.

Clapping his hands Roger finally awoke everyone from their stupors. "Alright everyone, back to work!"