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Author	Topic: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst)
Wedgeatbarkura Registered: Aug '03	Date Posted: 2/17/04 1:57pm Subject: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst)
	Title: With Fire and Sword Author: Wedgeatbarkura Timeframe: Pre-TPM/ AU Characters: Lt. Skrytuski, Others Genre: little romantics, action, angst. Summary: An Empire is begginning to get ripped apart in a remote Empire in the Sietch. The instigator will be Boghdon Chielmiecki. The revolt spreads and destroys all in it's path. Disclaimer: THe usual. Note: Many specific names are slavik in nature and please treat them that way. Chapter 1 A rider was covering the great expanse of the steppe by himself upon a horse. He wore a wonderfully beautiful coat made of fur, and an equally extravagant set of pants made of silk. He carried a short of a composite titanium sword that sharpened to a brilliant point, and a las gun holstered at his waist. His great figure sat confidently upon a warhorse and he galloped quickly towards a slachte’s home and garden. It was long since abandoned by its owners who had fled from the area to escape the peasant’s revolts that had destroyed any sense of pride in the local region. Now the commander himself sped to the house to drink some water and rest before heading out on the last leg of his journey. As he approached the house he noticed that the house had begun to fall into great decay. On the left wing of the house the roof had caved in, and much of the wood used in the house’s construction lay rotten and discarded. Numerous windows around the building lay broken, and shards of glass lay there to hurt any unfortunate passerby. He slowed his horse down to a trot and a headed towards the stone well that still seemed intact. Finally he noticed 5 men bearing down upon him from every direction. They were dressed in ragged clothes many of which were dirty and ripped. Fear and anger finally registered within the man and his hand leapt towards the las gun on his holster. In that half-second of indecision that captured the commander, one of the bandits ran forward with a vibro-spear and stabbed it into the commander’s horse. The horse jumped back in pain and nearly threw the commander off. At the same time another of the bandit’s pulled out a whip, and lashed out at the commander. The whip wrapped itself around the man’s neck and cut off his breath. The commander instinctually fired his las gun, creating small fires on the garden’s ground, before dropping the gun. His hands flew directly towards his neck trying to get the whip off his throat with an animal fervor. The bandit with the whip yanked hard and the commander fell hard. The pain from his throat was incomprehensible. The rope had cut off his breath and he was beginning to become dizzy. He had garbled something as he fell but no one took any notice. A bandit walked up to him, las pistol extended. He thrust the pistol towards the commander’s face. All manner of thoughts went through his head. Would these bandits’s simply kill him, ransom him, or torture him. He knew that the slachte greatly resented rule by the nobility, but he did not think that it ran this deep. And it was totally unheard of for a group of peasants to attack a noble born man in peace on the open field. The man in front of him unwrapped the whip from around the commander’s throat. Suddenly las beams erupted from behind him. They struck 2 of the bandits who went down immediately. More beams lanced out from around him and another 2 men fell dead. In a flash a man dressed in a red cloak cleanly beheaded the man who stood above the commander as he rode by on a horse. The body fell headless upon him. Weakly he pushed the off of him and pushed himself up to a kneeling position. He looked around and saw roughly 30 men atop horses, dresses in the garb of Imperial warriors. Who were these men? Were they just another group trying to kidnap him, or could he hope for the best, that they actually saved him. He tried to rise to his feet by, his energy ran out and he fell facedown onto the grass. One of the mounted men got off his horse and ran over to the fallen man. The soldier flipped the fallen man over and put his head to the man’s chest. Another of the mounted men asked, “Is he alive?” in a gruff and think voice that sounded commanding. “Yes he is. I would know, I’m an expert on such things.” The man above him said. “Water,” the commander croaked. The man above him reached for his canteen and poured some water into his mouth. The commander swished the water around savoring the taste the pristine liquid. “I am Vladimir Rabban, and I will pay 200 ducats for you to release me.” The commander said loudly. Men bought once of course, could be bought again. “Ah my friend, there will be no need for that.” A mounted man said. He was dressed in bright red, with a magnificent armor upon him. It was quite obvious that he was in charge of the group. “ I am John Skrytuski, Lieutenant of an elite regiment of hussar mounted cavalry under the command of Prince Jeremy. Were those friends of yours back there?” “As to me, again I am Vladimir Rabban, a colonel in his majesty’s army. I have a personal command of a Cossack regiment also.” Vlad replied. He picked up the collar of one of the bandits lying around him, pulled him close and inspected him. “These are my neighbor’s servants, I had a feud with him years ago and he never forgot it.” “ I see, Then sir where is your regiment? It would be much safer to travel with them,” John asked. “I sent them ahead of me to the sietch. I am to attend a last minute wedding of my brother in law.” Vlad said cautiously. It was obvious that John was poking Vlad’s story to check for any different contradictions, but Vlad had made his alibi airtight. Plans within plans. “ Well I will let you go now.” John pulled up an extra horse and gave it to Vlad. “ I guess you will need this horse now since your other one is wounded. God speed Sire.” “ I thank you for this Lt. Skrytuski. Perhaps sometime in the future, if our paths cross, I will be able to pay you back the favor. Good bye.” “Goodbye, Colonel.” Vladimir rode for a good minute and then turned around. The setting sun behind him outlined his body in a bloody light. He turned around and looked particularly majestic and terrible. “Lt. Skrytuski, do you have any idea of what you have done! You have not saved Vladimir Rabban. You saved the life of Boghdon Chielmiecki.” Black storm clouds gathered behind him and lightning struck the ground close by. It was an ill omen of blood in war that shone upon the horizon. -----signature----- My Fanfiction, "With Fire and Sword" http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=14944666&start=14954366
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Keeper_of_Swords Registered: Sep '03	Date Posted: 2/17/04 2:54pm Subject: RE: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst)
	That was awesome!!!! I liked the ancient feeling you gave to the story. -----signature----- The next day there came no dawn and the Grey Company passed on into the darkness of the storm of Mordor and were lost to mortal sight. But the Dead followed them.
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Wedgeatbarkura Registered: Aug '03	Date Posted: 2/18/04 5:11am Subject: RE: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst) - Date Edited: 2/18/04 10:21am (1 edits total) Edited By: Wedgeatbarkura
	Thanks Keeper-of-Swords, I really appreciate it! I should have more up today or tommorrow. -----signature----- My Fanfiction, "With Fire and Sword" http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=14944666&start=14954366
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Wedgeatbarkura Registered: Aug '03	Date Posted: 2/18/04 11:07am Subject: RE: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst)
	Here's some more. By the way Zagloba, the l would be like w. _______________________________________________________ John Skrytuski had been riding for a day until they had come upon their ultimate destination. It had snowed the night before, and mud was everywhere. A palisade wall, made out of the only materials found in the vicinity, soil and wood, surrounded the town they were coming upon. There was a guard tower over the two gates that were the only entrances to the village. The houses were arranged in an erratic fashion, though a road was visible going through the middle of the town. As they rode by the soldiers could see many of the villagers going about their personal tasks. Imperial infantry was patrolling the walls of the village, las guns in hand. Other military personal walked about the village going about their duties. An old man dressed in greatly dishelved clothing was singing in the town square, entertaining a large group of the villagers. The town blacksmith was hard at work making horseshoes and replacement parts for las guns. The market was active this early in the morning and many villagers were buying their fruits and vegetables for the day, as well as inspecting luxuries from Crimea. Others were getting their hair cut by a barber in the usual fashion that common in this area. A beautiful woman walked past, who stared dreamily at Lt. Skrytuski, who fingered on of his whiskers and smiled back. After riding through the village they came upon the most important place there- the village pub. As they entered they saw large man vigorously downing a flagon of mead. He was a bit overset, and seemed to revel in the fun around him. Next to him sat a tall, long limbed man who was sadly drinking some beer. He looked as if he had great strength in his frame. They two men arguing in the back of the pub. “Czaplinski will get Chielmiecki.” “He won’t.” “Yes he will!” The two men were arguing amongst themselves and the prime topic of conversation around the entire pub was Chielmiecki. The two men continued arguing. “I’ll bet a ducat!” “I bet two!” The same man in a lower voice said, “He’ll get him and hang him.” Now the larger man we saw earlier was going alone with the fun. He started talking, “Chielmiecki, Chielmiecki is a hop. And Hop’s good for beer.” He seemed to enjoying all the revelry, and a serving girl with a large bosom, slammed two flagons of beer down, spraying the liquid everywhere. He continues on seemingly to one at all, “And the beer here is cat piss.” The man grabs a lass down onto his lap, and starts talking to her, “Pretty lass, fill my glass.” The serving girl starts laughing boisterously, and tries to get way. He goes on, “Don’t go away,” and of course she does, staring indignantly at him, “and while you’re at this give me a big kiss,” he pauses, “and your best meade.” John Skrytuski walked over to an old man who happened to the leader of the garrison here. The man is burying himself in a flagon of wine, and stops when John sits down. John says to him, “If it weren’t for me Chielmiecki would have been slain by bandits on the steppe.” The old man looks aghast and says to him, “Don’t you know about the arrest warrant issued by the authorities?” John looks back, “How could I, I just came back from Crimea.” Looking worried the old man says, “Where did you see him?” The serving women fills his glass and looks interestingly at John. The old man pushes her aside and continues his conversation. John ignoring the women replies, “On the other side of the Dneperout River.” John thought the man was worried before, but now he looked as if he would die from fright. “Jesus, he went to the Sietch.” John continues, “Like many others.” His worried demeanor continues and he talks as if the world were at stake, “He stole the king’s letters, urging the Cossack’s to revolt against the noblemen. God, those letters could set the whole province on fire.” John looked at him seriously and said, “You think there’ll be rebellion?” The old man got a strange glint in his eye, “I’m sure of it. There have been far to many ill omens in the past year. A comet in the sky, the king’s letters, Chielmiecki sending Cossack regiments to the Sietch, and now this!” John told him sensibly, “Your a Ruthien colonel, the Cossack’s respect you. Go to the Sietch.” The Ruthien only shook his head from the comment, “Half my men ran off with Chielmiecki. If it weren’t for Colonel Bohun they’d all have gone. Death awaits me, not a hetman’s baton.” Suddenly the door opened and a tall and slim man entered. He wore several rings about his fingers and wore fine clothing. The man said to them, ‘Greetings to you.” The Ruthien said to John, “That’s Czaplinski, a rowdy wrangler, Chielmiecki greatest foe.” Then to Czaplinski he asked him “Do have any news of Chielmiecki?” Czaplinski laughed and replied, “They’ve hanged him, and if not they will do it soon.” He walks over to the table where John is sitting and slams his flagon of wine down. John glances over and tells him, “Please sir, don’t spill the wine.” Czaplinski ignores John and the Ruthien continues to talk to him. “Will you get him?” Czaplinski answers in a husky voice, “My men are waiting for him in the steppe.” Again he spills the wine and again John asks him to stop. Ruthien tells the bad news to Czaplinski’s face, “Chielmiecki avoided your pursuit and went to the Sietch.” Czaplinski looks astounded at the Ruthien and says, “Impossible!” The Ruthien continued, “Sir John here saved him and slaughtered your bandits.” Czaplinski stood outraged and screamed, “How! In spite of the warrant.” The Ruthien calmly replied, “He did not know anything of this. He just came back from Crimea.” Czaplinski then centered his outrage at John, “I’ll have you arrested!” Then more enthusiastically, “I’ll have you set in stocks!!” Czaplinski grabs John’s collar, and pulls him close. John then grabbed Czaplinski’s hands, pulled them down and with his other hand took his sword and waved it in front of Czaplinski’s nose saying, “Smell this!” Indignant Czaplinski recoiled and started to pull out his own sword. John grabbed his hand, thrust his sword back into it’s sheath and picks Czaplinski up by the back of the pants and starts to spin him around. “Gentlemen, this guest is leaving us!” John yells as he throws Czaplinski out through the door and into the mud outside. Czaplinski’s face and clothes are covered and mud and looks up to see the face of a soldier and the Ruthien looking at him. The soldier says to him, “I could dress your wounds, I’m an expert.” Czaplinski seething anger whispers, “Silence,” with such venom that everyone gladly leaves alone. Back in the bar, everyone is congratulating Lt. Skrytuski upon his deed. “Vivat, Skrytuski” The entire bar is lively now, circled around the new hero. A rather fat man comes up and starts talking. “Let me offer you my service. I’m Zagloba, bearer of the forehead crest. I received it when an infidel rebel shot me in the head when I went on a pilgrimage.” The Ruthien then came up and asked him, “You told me last week that someone hit you over the head with a tankard in Tomaszow.” Zagloba objected, “A Rebel dog shot me! You’re confusing two different stories.” Laughter ensued. To change the topic Zagloba lifts his glass and says, “To your health.” A long skinny man walks up, “And please introduce me to the Lt.” Zagloba heartily agrees, “Alright, all right. So here it is, Sir Long Anus.” The man replied, “Longinus” “Of Trouser Snatcher” “No, no, Hood snatcher.” Zagloba continued, “From Doggy guts.” Longinus replied, “Your getting it all wrong. Its Mousey guts.” Laughter ensued in the hall. Zagloba prattled on, “Whatever, I wouldn’t want to live in anyone’s guts. It’s a disgrace to stay there, and coming out isn’t politically correct.” More laughter ensued. “This man has been buying me drinks for a week, weighty sword, heavy purse, feather light brain.” “There you go again, phooey.” John walked up to him, “Is that an executioners sword you carry?” He pointed to the enormous sword that the man carried. The man replied insulted, “Not an executioners sword, but a Catonic one. It’s my ancestors ancient battle trophy.” John was insistent, “Can you lift it with both hands?” “You can with two, or with one.” He pulled out the sword and gave it to John. He tried to hold it up with one hand, but it wavered and after about twenty seconds fell. The surrounding men laughed at him. “How many of you tried?” John asked. “We’ve all tried.” Someone in the crowd answered. John turned to Longinus. “Here you try.” Longinus picked up the sword with one hand, and swung it high above everyone’s heads. He brought it into a one-handed fighting position. He then swung it and cut down the candles that served as lights. John looked astounded, “I’ll be damned! A fine soldier for the prince you will be.” Longinus looked excited, “You think he’ll take me.” John looked back, “He’d be happy to!” Zagloba ran up with a beer in each hand and said to them, “So it’s two new skewers for his kitchen.” He pointed at Longinus, “You and your sword!” He then proceeded to start drowning in beer. -----signature----- My Fanfiction, "With Fire and Sword" http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=14944666&start=14954366
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Wedgeatbarkura Registered: Aug '03	Date Posted: 2/19/04 10:23am Subject: RE: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst)
	I again should have something up by tonight, or tommorrow. I got a free period during History today, so I decided to write. See ya -----signature----- My Fanfiction, "With Fire and Sword" http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=14944666&start=14954366
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Wedgeatbarkura Registered: Aug '03	Date Posted: 2/24/04 7:52am Subject: RE: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst)
	Sorry, testing and writing papers has been catching up with me. I might get some more up in the next week -----signature----- My Fanfiction, "With Fire and Sword" http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=14944666&start=14954366
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Wedgeatbarkura Registered: Aug '03	Date Posted: 2/26/04 10:12am Subject: RE: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst)
	Our heroes, now are on a journey to the Sietch bearing letters. Start of story again. The military detatchment was traveling through the wooded area that surrounded the Sietch. This land here was normally ruled a Duke and his lady, but unfortunately that family had died in a peasant revolt years ago. Seeing that the land needed to be ruled the Emperor gave this land to his younger brother, Kasmian. There were roads weaving through the country, must often used by patrols, and now Lt. Skrytuski and his men were on one of them. He had brought along his new friends, Longinus and Zagloba. Zagloba was talking to some men in the back of the procession about beer, and John was talking to Longinus. Longinus began, “My family Crest is Hoodsnatcher. In 1410 one of my ancestors cut of three Catonic head with one blow. In honor of the great deed, the Empoeror gave him a Crest and a fief.” John responded to Longinus, “Strength runs in the family I see.” Sadly Longinus replied, “What good is it to me? I made a vow to remain chaste until I too cut of three heads with one blow.” Smiling John questioned him further, “But you haven’t cut off three heads yet, have you?” Again with sadness in his voice, Longius said, “No tough luck. Two heads have come to me quite often, but never three. I’m no hood snatcher, and Mr. Zagloba is right to mock me. I offer my grief to Jesus.” “And have you remained chaste?” Longinus looked ahead of them onto the road, muddy from the snow. Hoof and shoe prints dotted the ground beneath him. “God sees my sorrow. I’m in my prime, I’m wealthy, and still waithing for the three heads.” He shook his head in dismay, assuming that he would never get his three heads. He looked up with determination, “And the blood runs hot.” A man from behind the Lt. asked, “If you need a blood letting, I can help.” John yelled back at his friend and servant warning him, “Rzendzian.” The man looked back incredulous, “What, I’m an expert.” Ahead of them the road opens so the horse could now ride 4 wide. The mud unfortunately got deeper. Ahead they saw a carriage with two women and a driver in it. They were stuck in the nearly knee deep mud, and the wheel of their carriage had fallen out. They called out to the oncoming soldiers. “Chevaliars, Help us ppor women. My sons will come after dusk and there are graves around.” Terror sounded in her voice, but she hoped that perhaps these weren’t more bandits going to the Sietch. John looked over to Longinus and smiled. “You pledged chasity, so carry the old women.” Longinus rolled his eyes and muttered, “Oh brother.” John directed his horse forward through the water to the carriage. He splashed water everywhere, trying to make the best impression he could to the younger women that was with her mother. He came around and then froze. As John picked up the younger women, he was enraptrued by her beauty. ---------------------- I felt I'd stop here and post everything a bit later. -----signature----- My Fanfiction, "With Fire and Sword" http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=14944666&start=14954366
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Wedgeatbarkura Registered: Aug '03	Date Posted: 4/30/04 11:14am Subject: RE: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst)
	Sorry for the really long wait, perhaps I will write something by the end of the weekend at my school's retreat. -----signature----- My Fanfiction, "With Fire and Sword" http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=14944666&start=14954366
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Keeper_of_Swords Registered: Sep '03	Date Posted: 6/2/04 12:39am Subject: RE: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst)
	Good work. I enjoyed the description of the village at the beginning of the second post and the dialogue was realistic. That talk about the Catonic sword was interesting. -----signature----- The next day there came no dawn and the Grey Company passed on into the darkness of the storm of Mordor and were lost to mortal sight. But the Dead followed them.
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ShadowAssailant Registered: Dec '03	Date Posted: 6/16/04 6:32am Subject: RE: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst)
	I like the detail. I enjoyed the dialgue too, and I don't usually like dialogue. Great story! -----signature----- "Do or do not. There is no try."-Yoda "It's not my problem if people don't like me, its their problem if I don't like them!"-Myself so anyways... I guess I'll be going... Slips silently into the shadows........
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Wedgeatbarkura Registered: Aug '03	Date Posted: 9/2/04 9:27am Subject: RE: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst)
	I apologize greatly for any inconveniance this caused, the last few months I have a aranged a trip "exchange" to Poland and this took a lot of time. I alsoworked, studied Polish and had to take care of beucratic crap ( a pain) so I had no time, but I hope to start working on these again!! -----signature----- My Fanfiction, "With Fire and Sword" http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=14944666&start=14954366
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VaderLVR64 Title: Manager Emeritus Registered: Feb '04	Date Posted: 9/2/04 9:58am Subject: RE: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst)
	Very nicely done! I can't wait for more. -----signature----- R.I.P John, Alex, Jason, and Christian Never forgotten Soldiers' Angels http://soldiersangels.org/ 2114 soldiers waiting for someone to care
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Ki-Adi-Matt Registered: Aug '04	Date Posted: 9/2/04 12:49pm Subject: RE: With Fire and Sword (Pre-TPM/ AU/Action/ little angst)
	excellent story, I like the old style that really doesn't show up in the other starwars. -----signature----- Read my Fan Fiction story, "The Plight of Hoth" http://boards.theforce.net/Before_the_Saga/b10475/17916560/?0 "They best chiggity check themselves before they wreck theyselves" "Do or do not, there is no try." YODA Happiness is a virtue LOTR ROCK!!!!!
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