To our brother's on the other side

While Moe and Joffry were having their chat, Fort Lenora was in a state of disarray. That shouldn’t be a surprise, considering the odds against the group. Everyone thought the plan would be to abandon the fort, and find shelter elsewhere. Instead here they are, being told that they're gonna hold the line. This course of action is a fool’s errand, if they run they can survive. However, if they stay to defend the fort, even if they do win the fight it won’t end there. This is a matter of pride, and the Kingdom of Soleil would rather fall than let some bandits make a mockery of them.

Because of this, the members of The Mountain Moes are currently on high alert and have terrible morale. No one wants to die, and yet right now it feels like death is looking them in the eye. Despite that, the band must push on and that’s a sentiment that can be seen in the eyes of some of the members. That includes our motley crew.

****

“I can’t believe you roped the boss into going this route, Thief!”

“Yeah! I told you we’re of the same ilk, after this is all over the boss might even make me his new right hand man!”

“Hehe, an oaf can dream!”

“Bite me!”

I found myself chatting with the guys like usual, and to think that the fort’s gonna turn into a warzone soon. Steve seems impressed by my efforts, while Rat thinks that I got lucky as usual. Oh well, nothing wrong with having luck! Right as I thought that, I noticed Jasmine walking by and called out to her.

“Hey! Jas-”

“...”

I stopped myself for a moment, Jasmine’s eyes seemed different from usual. Sure, due to those bandages you can only make out a pair of hawk-like eyes glaring at you. However, today her eyes seemed different. They seemed soft, almost like someone saw a ghost or heard something they shouldn’t have. Seeing her like that I stopped myself, she probably doesn’t want to talk to anyone right now. After she passed by the guys started up again. Starting with Steve.

“Hmmm, I wonder what that was about?”

“Oh you noticed too?”

“Yeah, she’d usual threaten you with a throwing knife when you’d call out to her”

“Yeah, I wonder what’s wrong. I’ve never seen Jasmine troubled before.”

“Could it be? Maybe seeing your girlfriend like that has you all hot and bothered!”

“PUT A SOCK IN IT!”

Here comes deputy Rat turning things into a joke again, at least Steve noticed something was up. Even under enemy fire, Jasmine’s never looked so troubled. What could possibly be going on in that head of hers. Well let’s not focus on that for now, we got more important matters.

“Well duty calls, let’s go Rat!”

“Oh, where are you two going?”

“To Mitch, I left him with the leftover scrap pieces of my crossbow. By now it should be fixed.”

I needed to pick up my order and Rat wanted to synthesize more stink bombs, it was a win-win situation. However, fate had other plans.

****

“Sorry Thief, your crossbow was busted to s***. I can’t do anything about it.”

“Huh!?!”

Well that came as an honest surprise, I honestly thought that if it was Mitch He’d be able to do something. Instead, he informs me there’s no way the job can be done.

“I mean, is there really nothing you can do?”

“Did you really just ask me that, you little punk!”

Mitch walks over to his workbench in a huff, Rat snickering slightly. I guess I’m in trouble, Mitch then brings over my destroyed crossbow.

“I won’t blame you because it was a near death situation, but what did you expect? I can tell by the frame damage here that it got cut by a sword, it’s a miracle the infrastructure held together after taking a blow like that. Then to make matters complicated, the last shot you fired with it really was the last. I can imagine the parts began to jettison off the moment you took the last shot.”

“Well, I guess so…”

I never would have imagined the damage was that bad. Not even Mitch, our handyman, can fix it.

“On top of that, you don’t have all the frame pieces needed to remake the frame. Can’t even do a patch job at that point.

“Oh, my bad.”

Well I guess this is farewell to you partner, but don’t worry I promise that you’re replacement-

“Before you start, I don’t have any replacement crossbows either.”

“WELL S***!”

What am I supposed to do then! The base defense operation can start anytime now, we’re literally in high-alert right now. This is usually the part of the story when the main character gets a whole arsenal of weapons to face off against the opposition. You’re telling me I have to go into this battle with some throwing stones and some pocket sand!

“Well a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. I’ll just have to wing it.”

“Heh, at least you got some balls. The least I can do is try to prepare as much pellets and pocket sand as you can carry.”

“Sounds like a deal.”

Me and Mitch shake on it, and that’s when we hear an explosion. Immediately from a corner of the room, I smell one of the worst smells I ever had the displeasure of sniffing. Mitch and I turn to see Rat standing near a pile of ashes, hands behind his back and looking guilty as sin.

“Did I do that?”

“Dammit Rat! That’s the third time this month!”

“This wasn’t the first time?”

Mitch runs over and smacks Rat upside the head, it feels nice having moments like these. I guess the fact that we’ll be fighting for our lives soon really is weighing on my mind. Here’s hoping we can live to keep enjoying memories like this.

****

After Rat got his lecture, we left to reconvene with Steve and head over to the mess hall. Thank the gods! Based on the smell, Chef made beef stew today. The stew is probably the closest thing to a 5 star meal a low-life can ask for. Me and the boys grab our bowls, and surprisingly Chef piles them high. I couldn’t help but stare for a moment and then Chef said it.

“It’s not favoritism you little weasel, it’s common courtesy.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll know when you take a seat.”

Me and the boys looked puzzled for a minute, and then we walked over to our usual spots and began to chow down. A few spoons deep we finally noticed what Chef meant. Everyone in the room besides a few people looked like they were at a funeral. Everyone was restless, one guy ate a spoonful only to start puking it up a second later. Some people kept looking over their shoulders like they had a noose around their neck. Then there was Kenny, brooding in the corner as usual. This is what Chef meant, anything to help raise the guys morale. Even if just a little. Looking at this me and the guys couldn’t help but whisper to each other.

“Damn, it’s everyone’s favorite meal and we can’t even enjoy it.”

“It’s like there’s some kind of unspoken rule in here.”

“Let’s fix that.”

Steve and Rat stare at me when I said that, I then got up and stood on my seat. That grabbed the attention of Chef and the other guys who weren’t depressed. Now then, time to brighten the mood!

“YO HO! YO HO! A BANDIT’S LIFE FOR ME! IT IS A FAIR JOY, EARNING SOME COINS! A BANDIT’S LIFE FOR ME!”

As I continued to sing, the whole room went silent. Everyone began to stare at me, as if I went senile. When everyone’s attention was on me I went in for the kill.

“I get it you guys, what we’re about to do is a death sentence. In the coming days, the person you’re sitting next to might not be here anymore, but now’s not the time to worry about that. Now’s the time to celebrate, to relax, to-”

“THAT’S EASY FOR YOU TO SAY!”

I gave a death glare to Kenny who starting going off in his corner behind me. He gave a smirk at me and tried to ramble off.

“It’s easy for you to say, we’re not dumb Thief! We know this was your idea, so don’t come here and-”

“Who ever said it was easy to say all this?”

“What!?!”

Kenny looked dumbfounded for a moment, and everyone in the mess hall went silent. With that I continued.

“I give my apologies for getting you guys into this mess, but let me ask you this. Are you guys serious about being thieves?”

Everyone looked puzzled for a moment, some even looked at their neighbor next to them. However, I didn’t let this stop me.

“This isn’t one of my insane rambles as usual, I want you all to think for a moment. When you joined this band, you never took the time to realize a time would come to defend it. When you took your first life for this band or your first coin, you didn’t consider that to be the beginning. I get it that you’re afraid, I know how scary it is knowing that you might not be here tomorrow. Still, what I’m afraid of isn’t losing my life. It’s losing this home that we’ve made for ourselves, this place where I met all of you and where I’ve said goodbye to some of you. I owe a lot to Fort Lenora, so of course I would want to protect it. Especially from those damned knights of Soleil, don’t you feel the same way? I know you don’t want to die, but is it alright for those knight bastards to spit on our home? The testament to our friends who’ve passed, and those who are still alive.”

The members began to look conflicted, they put their own feelings over those of the fallen. Could they really leave this place to be trampled on, by the same people who killed their friends?

“Let me ask you all, are you ashamed of your choices, that the kingdom or wherever you came from spat you out and left you with the only option of coming here. Do you want to go back to the people who abandoned you? Do you wish for your oppressors to take pity on you once again? Well they aren’t, not because you’re thieves but because they're too damn prideful. So what’s so bad about doing the same thing, is it really so wrong to have some pride in yourselves. Is it wrong to fight back against our natural predators and protect our new found righteousness? It’s not, if they can do it, then why can’t we? It’s okay to be angry at those bastards, it’s okay to want to kill every single one of those bastards, it’s okay to mourn your friends, it’s okay to worry for the future, it’s okay to regret your actions. Just promise me you’re not gonna run away from them, promise me that for our friends that are gone, promise me you’re gonna carry a blade for them. Tell me, are you guys wrong for caring?”

Everyone was silent again, no one could speak up. Not even Kenny, who was clearly my nemesis in this group. Then that’s when it happened, Bandit A stood up.

“I’m not wrong, s*** I think I speak for all of us when I say I hate those f***ers!”

After him stood another member, and another. Each speaking their minds, their beliefs, their fears. Soon the whole room stood, everyone on the same page. So I had to ask them once again...

“Tell me, are you wrong for feeling as you do?”

““““““NO!!!!”””””””

The mess hall erupted, everyone was in agreement now. I couldn’t help but smile, I’m gonna miss these guys. Whether I live or die, I won’t forget them. Well time to finish.

“That’s right, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to protect our home or wanting to express your pain. So before all that, let’s raise our mugs! For our brothers who fought for us, and for some of us the brothers we’ll soon be joining. Let’s drink, eat, and be merry and continue the festival when we meet our brothers on the other side. WHO’S WITH ME!”

Everyone raised their mug and rejoiced, the morale that we lost had finally returned. We began singing bandit shanties, drinking barrels of booze from the cellar, and eating Chef’s feast the way it was meant to be eaten. It’s fun, it’s like a party we wish will never end and it won’t. We’re gonna survive this, and when we win we’ll do it all again. Bring it on knights, us bandits are some pretty tenacious bastards.

****

“*Sigh* I wish I was back at base, yet here I am dealing with this guy.”

I’m sadly one of the unlucky guys that got relegated to this guy’s assault team. Apparently this area was as far as his team made it, look at all these burnt trees. At least we’re about to make camp, although I would’ve preferred a place that didn’t smell like a gamblers den. Then there’s this predicament right now, for some reason the team leader wants to see me.

“This can’t be good.”

I couldn’t help, but mutter that to myself. I soon found myself standing behind the one eyed demon himself, I still can’t forget what he did to the captain. This bastard, I swear he’ll get his!

“Soldier, report…”

“Oh yes!”

Dammit, I’m following his flow, where did all my courage run off too! Losing my will to fight, I began to report to the bastard. He turned to face me, single eye and all. Then he began to conversate with me.

“So tell me soldier-”

“My name isn’t soldier.”

“Did I ask what your name is?”

“!!!!”

I could only stand there, this man’s glare alone is tearing me to shreds.

“My apologies sir…”

“Excellent answer, so tell me soldier. What do you think of my command.”

“I have no issues whatsoever, you’re perfect sir!”

“Oh, hehehehe, is that so?”

He began to straighten up his posture, then he stared at me and began to speak.

“I assumed when I destroyed your sorry excuse of a ringleader that there would be some opposition. Your losers are more weak minded than I thought, but with such weak command it’s to be expected isn’t it.”

“WHAT!”

This bastard, how dare he! First he brutally beats my captain and now this! He must’ve used some trick, there’s no way some cripple could’ve decimated my captain. There had to have been some mistake. Just when I thought that, he pressed on.

“I know that look, you think my victory was a mistake right, that there’s no way I should’ve been able to beat your superior right. Well if that’s what you think, we’re the only people here, and you have a sword on your hip. So use it, come on, I’ll even give you the first move.”

This prick, he’s egging me on. The worst part is, it’s working! No one’s here, if I kill him no one would know. Then I just need to go tell the guys he got taken out by a trap, and that he was weak. Then we can go back to the base and tell everyone that bastard Goltas tricked us. Then everything will go back to normal, yeah that sounds good. For that sake of the frontier base, I’ll kill this bastard. I pulled my sword and rushed him.

“YOU’RE DEA-”

It’s strange, for some reason I can’t breathe. I glanced down to see blood pouring out my neck, no way how did he move so fast. Just for good measure, the bastard delivered an upward slice tearing right through my chest plate like paper. How can a sword be so sharp, this isn’t good. With this much blood lost, I’m dead. Please someone stop this crazy bastard…

****

It’s laughable that these dogs still think they can bite after the demonstration the other day. I use the body of the fodder I just slayed to crudely wipe my sword, he made good practice. So it works just like it did in the legends, with this power I’ll win for certain. Just wait Thief bastard, you’re life is mine!