Before - Legends 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 h

 

That was awesome!!!!

I liked the ancient feeling you gave to the story.

 

Thanks Keeper-of-Swords, I really appreciate it!

I should have more up today or tommorrow.

 

Here's some more. By the way Zagloba, the l would be like w.

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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??

Th

 

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

 

Sorry, testing and writing papers has been catching up with me. I might get some more up in the next week

 

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.

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I felt I'd stop here and post everything a bit later.

 

Sorry for the really long wait, perhaps I will write something by the end of the weekend at my school's retreat.

 

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.

 

I like the detail. I enjoyed the dialgue too, and I don't usually like dialogue. Great story!

 

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!!

 

Very nicely done! I can't wait for more.

 

excellent story, I like the old style that really doesn't show up in the other starwars.