Just and Only Us

"Vlad's gone!" Sofya cried as she jostled me awake.

"W-What?"

"HE'S GONE! I fell asleep with him and-"

Then she saw Mara cuddling in my chest beneath the covers.

"S-Sofya I can-"

"Next time you do it, invite me too." Sofya demanded.

"What-"

"Look, Rats have a lot of orgies. I have been a part of many Rat orgies because that's normal. What I want is something slightly less crowded. And even then… I just wish you had done me first…" Sofya grumbled as her hand reached up to twiddle her hair.

Okay then…

"So Vlad's gone?"

"KING VLADIMIR IS GONE?!" Mara suddenly jumped up from the covers, "H-How are we going to- No, no, no, no…"

"Mara, we'll be fine." I said to try and calm her half-naked form, "Sofya, did Vladimir leave behind those papers?"

"He did, right beside the bed."

"That probably means he wants us to get them back to the Castle."

"S-So, we are just couriers? That's our job? That's the only thing we can do?" Mara said with something else in mind.

"I'll be honest, I'm in no state to fight any Rats. Not at the moment, but maybe with the help of you two, I'll be able to."

"So we're defenseless?! I-If a Rat comes across us we'll all be-"

"Mara." I said, placing my hand on her shoulder, "We might only be three people, but we're also only three people. As long as we keep quiet and pick our time, we can slip through the Rats easily. Sofya and I managed to do that just fine."

"B-B-But the Pathfinders! Do you know how many nights Vladimir and I spent trying to get around them?"

"The Pathfinders moved on, expecting enemies coming from the Castle. They are not expecting anyone going to the Castle." I explained.

Mara hung her head low before I raised her chin with my hand.

"You want to do something more, don't you Mara, to the Rats who destroyed your home."

Mara's eyes glistened.

"Yes, yes I do."

"Then we need to be very careful." I said, "Now get dressed, we need to get through Five Enemy Armies before they get to the castle."

"MOVE IT YOU TWIGGY TWATS!" The Rat Overseer roared as his whip snapped in the air.

Nearly a dozen Rat laborers desperately pushed the Cannon mere inches out of the snow-slushed mud to let another two Rats slide timber beneath its wheels.

"We're going to lose this cannon too…" A scholarly aide to the Overseer's side said out loud. The whip flashed towards the aide, slashing and snapping his thick glasses and nearly taking out his left eye.

"NO TALKING!" The Overseer snapped. Everyone else could see it too, everyone knew that this whole thing had been a bad idea, but it had to be done. The Lord could only finance three Cannons of the six that turncoat Vampire had wanted, with one tumbling into a marsh only days prior. Lord Karacz had ordered it recovered, but between its weight and the slippery mud, they had lost the cannon, were days behind, and had lost six soldiers to the marsh, two of which knew how to use it.

It would be his life next too, if he failed to recover this. Lives were on the line, his life was on the line. It needed to be done, no matter what, if he was ever to survive this war.

"W-W-What is that giant metal tube on wheels?" Mara whispered.

"They're Cannons," I replied as I peered through the snowy thicket towards the army column, "Looks like this one's stuck."

"Y-You think we can get the other one stuck too?" Sofya asked by my side.

"I'm definitely not strong enough to do that, but where there's Guns, there's Gunpowder. We set fire to that, you carve a chunk out of their firepower. Mara, mind if I drink from you?"

Mara hesitated her way into a nod.

"Why not from me?" Sofya asked, offering herself up.

"Did you feel queasy at the castle?"

"Quite a bit afterwards, but I'm fine now."

"That's when Vampirism gets Dangerous. You need at least a couple days of rest before I drink from you again."

Sofya pouted as Mara exposed her neck to me. I latched my mouth to her nape and drank, holding her upright as I did so. After a moment I pulled back, and kissed her on the forehead.

"I'll be back in a moment." I said with a smile.

"B-Be careful…" Mara said as she fell into Sofya who moped jealously.

I paced as quietly through the snow-crusted thicket as I could towards the caravan. I had a good idea about where the gunpowder was stored based on the number of guards it had, which was a problem. There had to be another way.

I scouted further up the caravan, where eyes and ears had been pulled from to help with the Cannon.

Lord Karacz rode down the column on his Wolf-mount, halting before a lowly Alchemist.

"I THOUGHT WE WOULDN'T GET ANOTHER CANNON STUCK IN THE MUD!"

"I-It is, my Lord, but it is still quite the task to perform. The Cannon is quite cumbersome after-"

"CUMBERSOME? These weapons are designed by a Future One! And we have committed to his specifications as best as we can! Are you doubting the Designs of the Future?"

"No-No! Not in the slightest my Lord! I merely-"

"Then you know nothing!" Karacz snapped the reins of his Wolf Mount and made his way down to show the bastards what it meant to fail him.

Only when he was out of earshot did the Alchemist start cursing and kicking snow.

Maybe this was my chance…

I hunched over, throwing my coat over my head in such a way as to appear like a hermit.

"Are you going to fight the Vampires?" I called over to him in as haggard a voice I could muster.

"W-Who goes there!" The Alchemist unsheathed his meat dagger towards me, already trembling in his boots.

"Do not fear me, I am but a humble hermit of these parts." I said as I exited the forest, my hands in a disarming gesture.

"W-What do you w-want?"

"I am no ally of those bastard Vampires," I lied, "I have knowledge that may aid your Lord and comrades in your journey ahead."

"W-Whats in it for me?"

"Hmm… I am no rich man, so I cannot pay in coin, but perhaps I can pay you with your time?"

"W-What does that mean?"

"I can be someone to talk to, about your feelings. All I ask in return is a fire to warm myself by."

Before I knew it, I was inside one of the caravans, listening to this Rat unleashing all his feelings on me as he struck iron against flint to light his pipe for the third time.

"And-And then the Lord told us that he wanted the Cannon lifted out of the Marshes. We tried, we really did, but then when the leeches started biting, Kol freaked out, and it started to go back into the mire! Grost got his foot caught and he began yelping, letting the Cannon slip further. We all knew the Cannon was going to fall, it was only a matter of who could manage to climb over it first to safety. But every hand climbing over meant another hand not stopping it from falling! There was no hope, not for any of us!"

He sucked so hard on his pipe he coughed up a storm of smoke as soon as his lungs couldn't take it anymore.

My eyes were already watering from the smoke, which gave me really good cover as I tapped him on the back like a good coworker should. I had done this once or twice at the bar with my superior, but that had been about his kid's grades, not to an artillery engineer who wanted to fire a cannon aimed at my home. 

"Can't believe I'm cryin'!" He groaned as he wiped at his nose and eyes, "I did what had to be done! I had to be one to survive, I swear!"

"It sounds like these 'Cannons' have been quite the problem even before they started firing."

The Rat laughed, "Can you believe it? Designed by a Future One, 'parently. Thing is, so much mud here! Too much mud! There's mud everywhere and anywhere! You think there can't be enough mud, and there's more than enough mud. You think there weren't be mud somewhere, and we'll find enough to add another caravan just to haul it! Heard even the Gunpowder's been getting drenched in mud, which'll make it worthless if we can't dry it, which we can't do when it's been snowing the entire month! Oh, and the powder can't catch fire when wet! It's been snowing non-stop for a week!"

"So the powder is wet and can't fire?"

"M-Maybe? I wouldn't know… I'm not one of the guards or one of the 'Ballastiku Enjineas' that Future One talked about. All I know is that the other Four Lords will only mock us, tell us that we should burn down our wine cellars and libraries so that we focus on the 'REAL' things! Brutes! Uncultured Brutes the lot of them!"

"Well, it appears that I must be on my way. I must start my fireplace before the afternoon when the chill starts to set in. Might I ask for that Iron and Flint?"

"This?" The Rat asked, "Oh yes, certainly, we brought way too much anyway, and thank you for the conversation. It has… set my mind to some things…"

"My pleasure, good day!" I said as I sneaked out and under the caravan, my face and smile slackening like after an absolute shitfest of a meeting. 

Finding something flammable enough was easy. Drenching a torch in lamp oil, I sneaked my way down the caravan. Most of the drivers were doing something similar to the Alchemist I had talked to, rationing out their stashes of pipe-herbs and sneaking shots of cheap Western wines. Some had even drunk themselves to sleep.

Reaching the Gunpowder cart, I began digging a hole. Once it was deep and sturdy enough, I plugged the torch in and opened up the tinderbox. I nursed a small flame on top of the torch before leaving it to its task, returning to the flanking thicket.

Eventually I found my way back to Mara.

"Mara!" I called out as quietly as I could.

"Ash! S-Sofya! She left-"

Shouts of "Fire! Fire!" suddenly erupted throughout the caravan.

"Run!" I shouted without concern.

We both did, rushing deeper and deeper into the forest before the shockwave hit, rocking the earth beneath us. I fell over Mara to shield her from the wooden shrapnel that plinked and sizzled in the snow around us.

"You hurt?" I asked.

She looked back at me, having never heard an explosion before. After a few moments of shock, she just shook her head.

"W-What was that?" She asked as the white of the snow turned gray.

"The Future of War."