"Here he comes" muttered Harvid. Ezekiel didn't understand the old man. He sits there, looking down at the grime covered floor. Every time Captain Finch strode down the length of the cells, he started his little chant. It was the same every time. Ezekiel wondered how long Harvid had actually been locked away here, but he couldn't ask for Harvid was completely oblivious to him.
But, in all honesty, Ezekiel didn't really care. More than any other time, he just wanted to keep to his thoughts. It wasn't as if there was anything else to do. "Call him Devil" continued Harvid. Ezekiel really did wish he would keep quiet. He was almost inviting Finch to choose their cell.
He could see the captains broad shadow stretch the length of the cells. There was only light at one end of the cells, and as you got further along the cells it got dimmer and dimmer, until you were plunged into complete darkness darkness. Ezekiel could only imagine the discomfort of those at the end. He himself was fortunate enough to be fairly close to the light.
Finch was nearing his cell. He held his breath, and called upon the four divines to spare him for one more week. Finch stopped momentarily infront of the cell, saw the look of horror on Ezekiel's face, grinned, and kept walking. Ezekiel let out a shakey breath, before copying his fellow prisoners in looking down the corridor to see where Finch would stop, and who would die.
Four cells down from Ezekiel, Finch stopped. He fumbled for his keys, before opening the cell door. As Ezekiel strained to see who was in the cell, he remembered one of the occupants. It was one of his men, Karkaroff. He also knew that Karkaroff shared a cell with a weed of a man. He was small and thin, although supposedly the best knife wielder in the Augarn Empire. Quite the contrast to Karkaroff, who's practically a giant, built like a house and preferably used heavy, cumbersome broadswords and war hammers.
He would know who out of the two of them would be headed for the noose as soon as they stepped out. Karkaroff would obviously be a much larger figure in the gloom, whereas his cell mate would be barely visible. He waited while Finch undid the binds of whoever was to go next with anxiety. He truly didn't want it to be one of his men.
Harvid was still babbling on, talking about retribution and the likes. His eyes were empty,cold and lifeless. He showed no awareness of his surroundings, apart from when he started talking as Finch entered. However, he did copy Ezekiel in leaning towards the corridor, interested to see todays victim. There was no mistake in who it was. Ezekiel knew straight away. Hauled to his feet, he was lead out of his cell. Eyes looked up all around.
It wasn't Karkaroff.
*
Ezekiel had known it wasn't Karkaroff before he even saw who it was. The fact that somebody was hauled up immediately eliminated Karkaroff from the two candidates. No man, however strong, could lift such a weight.
After having an hour or two of sitting around, the prisoners were led out into a large room filled with the smell of smoke, burnt food and sweat. In single file, they moved towards a large hatch in the wall where they were given food. Ezekiel took the bowl of food, wrinkled his nose with disgust, before sitting himself on a bench with Karkaroff.
"Ah, slop. My favourite" Ezekiel said with sarcasm.
"Maybe", grumbled Karkaroff, "but it's better than nothing".
Realising the conversation was probably going to be as dull as ever, Ezekiel looked for his other men. The two of them were situated at the back of the line, so he still had to put up with about five minutes of it.
"So, it was quite a scare today. Right?"
Karkaroff looked back with a puzzled expression, raising one eyebrow.
"Hmm?" he grunted.
"You know, Finch? Could have been you".
Karkaroff put on a sour face. "I wish it had of been. Less time in this shit hole. I would rather die, and simply have it over with. None of this mulling around crap".
Well, at least that had killed the possibilities of anything similar occurring. Ezekiel doubted Karkaroff would be very talkative after getting in a sulk.
Ezekiel looked for his men once again. After shouting insults at a fellow inmate for tripping him over, subsequently causing the loss of his slop, Damien strolled over closely followed by Raphi.
"Fucking Northmen" growled Damien. "Clumsy oaf knocked my stew all over the damn floor".
"Ah, so that's what it is" mused Ezekiel.
"Why not go up for more?" asked Raphi.
"Are you taking the piss?" snorted Damien. "They're not paid to keep our lives exactly comfortable, are they? They wouldn't care if I went hungry".
Ezekiel took a small slurp of the stew. "I'm not hungry." he said, and pushed it towards Damien, who scoffed it greedily. In truth he was starving, but he couldn't see Damien go hungry. Not one of his men.
"I still don't get why we are here. What did we do that was so wrong?"
"Raphi, my friend. There doesn't have to be a reason. If someone high up says we are guilty for one crime or another, we are guilty" came Ezekiel's reply. "And don't you know what we were charged with?".
Raphi shook his head. "All I know is that it was something to do with 'war crimes'."
Ezekiel nodded. "Yes, you are right to some extent. But, there is more to it. Go back to when we fought against the Imperial Footmen with them animals, the..."
"Marshmen"
"Yeah, but what's their race?
"Oh, Rakau"
"Ugh, don't mention them. If anything they should be charged with war crimes. Bloody savages, that's all they are. No discipline." said Damien.
"Discipline isn't going to win you any battles." sneered Karkaroff.
"Maybe, but neither will killing prisoners or raping the local population. The stuff I saw them do would make you sick. I saw one of the bastards in hand-to-hand combat once. It's arm had been cut clean off by this soldier, but it hadn't stopped it. Mad thing jumped onto the soldier and started eating at his face. The worst part being it left him alive. I went over to finish the soldier out of sympathy, and I could have sworn that his flesh had been eaten down to the bone."
"Thanks for that. Anyway, go back to there. Remember the village of Ravenheath? Yeah? We captured it, along with a load of Imperial Footmen. We tied up all the prisoners, handed control to the Rakau and thought nothing more of it. I presume none of you know what happened after that?"
Everyone remained quiet.
"They strung up the Imperials and bled them like pigs. Apparently it was like a slaughterhouse."
"So how did you become aware of this and not us?" queried Damien.
"I was informed by General Mortormer. He was wondering wether or not we knew about it and if we were involved".
"So how does any of this cause us to be charged with war crimes? We were hired by King Augarn like every other mercenary within the Kingdom. We were hired to fight. What puts us on his naughty list?"
"King Augarn and his Council are trying to construct order within the kingdom. They're trying to show that there is law in the land, and that they can be a leading figure in controlled order. This lawless land cannot last forever."
"So..."
"What the Rakau done gave the King a bad name. He personally signed for an alliance, as he was desperate for troops because of the Imperial Troops were brimming on the border."
"So the king couldn't let the Rakau be seen as the savages they truly are!"
"Yes, Raphi. Yes! And who happened to also be at Ravenheath around the time of the killings?"
"Us!"
"And who better to point the finger of justice than us? We were at the wrong place at the wrong time".
Ezekiel looked around the hall, realising he had been talking to Raphi without taking much notice of his volume. Everybody was looking his way, eyebrows raised.
"I don't even bother pretending to understand what you go on about now, Ezekiel." said Damien.
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Hello potential readers! I hope you liked the little taster of it. Yeah, it's short, but I may make it longer if it does catch on, which I doubt. There will be more happening than just dialogue and observation stuff. It's mainly introducing the characters and plot at the moment. Hopefully it will all turn out fine and dandy.
-Justix