Dark Bane Crew 3

The night was dark and cold in the moor. It was a dark moon so there was no source of light except for the small fire outside the palisade gate. Alec stood there shivering while his fellow guard was snoring with all his might leaning on the palisade. Tonight, Alec was on guard duty along with his friend, Thomas.

"So cold. Being a bandit sucks," Alec thought,"If it was not for the oaf infront of me, I will be working as a farmhand for old man Josh"

He was not exactly a bandit. He was a farmhand. Thomas, who was more of a bully than a friend to him forced him to join the bandit crew and here he was, shivering in the cold while Thomas slept soundly.

Alec escaped from his village when the Alwen Khyne crew captured the east. Alec had no parents nor siblings or any relatives. His mother died when he was young and his father died during the War. As such, he was left to fend for himself in the castle. Fortunately, he was a good worker and got work as a farmhand in a farm outside the castle. It was there that he met Thomas and everything went downhill again.

"I wonder when are they going to return," muttered Alec,"hope the chief is not too cruel to the villagers."

The Chief had taken half of the crew to one of the village under the control. One of the villagers had killed a bandit because the bandit tried to rape his young sister. The Chief, who was known for his cruelty gor the news and declared that it was a mutiny and marched towards the village after dusk.

"Odd that it's taking so long," Alec thought.

Lost in his thought and due to the darkness, Alec didn't see the man creeping up from behind him. He felt a sharp pain on his back and turn around just in time to see a huge fist coming at him.

"He is knockout cold," Said the assailant, who was Davos the Ashuran, the captain of the Yellow troupe of The Death Cross crew.

"Same here," Said Gurla the Zephyrian,the captain of the white troupe, who had taken out the sleeping guard.

"Open the gate," Came a Voice from the darkness.

"Chief Skinjer," Said Davos, saluting the newcomer.

Chief Skinjer was a powerfully built warrior. He was about 5'11 with olive fair skin, long black hair which was done in a half-up pull through Bun while his face was covered with a red demonic mask. He was wearing a black cuirass, a leather pant and steel gauntlet, showing his toned and bulging muscles teeming with battle scars in all their glory.

On his back was a large and long curved blade glaive, made entirely of black steel while several small throwing axes were on his metallic belt on his waist. A pair of swords, both of them of strange design hang on the back of his waist. His whole get up gave him the look of a wild and seasoned warrior and a walking arsenal.

Kain took the horn from his belt and blew it, long and deep, which echoed throughout the whole valley. Their job was not to secretly attack but to distract the enemies. His army stood up, where they were waiting in silence lying on their stomach to the ground .

"Charge," Kain shouted with all his might as the gate open, running towards the mine entrance.

"Enem...." The patroller who came out to the entrance didn't even had the time to finished his word when Kain's huge glaive came down on him, cleaving his skull into two.

The crew charge in lead by Kain, slewing every bandit they encountered, which were few in number. At first, the tunnel was narrow but soon it opened up to a larger tunnel, enough for twenty man to go forth together and high enough for seven men to form a human ladder. At the end of a tunnel, about ten metres away, a three metre high half timber gatehouse was blocking the way to the mining cavern.

"Shields," Kain commanded as he swathed away several arrows coming towards him.

He ran towards the gatehouse, swathing the arrows with his glaive. He didn't turned around to look at the state of his crew. He didn't give a damn whether they live or die. He threw the glaive at the gatehouse with a huge force, pinning it tightly to the wall.

"Archers, loose," Came a command. It was that of Davos. There were screams and cries of pain from both sides as the arrows meet their targets.

The archers on the top of the gatehouse scream further in pain as someone landed on using the glaive stuck on the outer wall as a spring lever the platform and started to hack at them with two swords.

At that time, the Black and the Brown troupes had also done their job. The iron gate opened and the frontal assault team entered the cavern. The battle was over as soon as it began.

"Haaaooooo," Shout Kain in a primal voice, raising his weapons in the air, blood all over his body and standing on the corpses of several dead enemies.

The sight of their Chief looking so bestial and savage gave a huge rush of adrenaline to the victorious Death Cross bandits. The whole cavern echoed in shouts of victory.

"Skinjer, Skinjer, Skinjer," Chant the bandits, raising their weapons into the air, paying their respect to their fearsome Chief.

While they were celebrating, a messenger came running from the outside. It was one of the Green troupe member sent by Edoras.

"Let me through," Shout the man, navigating through the mass,"I have a message from Captain Edoras for the Chief."

"Let him through," Commanded Kain. The whole cave grew silent.

"Boss, a band of riders are coming from the West headed towards here," Said the man, standing below the gatehouse,"they number about fifty. They are not the returning crew of the Dark Bane. Captain Edoras said they are the Red Band of the Eastern Moorland."