Chapter 102 – A Chaos ridden burial

The streets were filled with marching men with the symbol of the thorn cross in their uniforms. They parade while showing off their newly made rifles. They carried their banners with them, leaving a trail of dust. There was a slowly moving car behind the men. The man in pious robes waves his hands at the people before sitting down the carriage with a solemn expression.

The streets were filled with people waving their hands at the Templars. There was fervor in their eyes, as the flotillas of airships put shadows on the road. The skidding of boots that were so synchronized. The fervor of their voices irritated him further than it should be.

He continued down the boulevard, ignoring all the plastic faces that that joins the bandwagon cheers. He found himself in the central park where one could see the stronghold of Avilla. He craned his head up and there he saw what everyone else was gazing upon.

“You don’t deserve this,” he murmured. He cringed at the sight of the burly man whose festering corpse was ridden with bullets, his skin and fur were burnt and there was a plague across his chest that says ‘Here lies a traitor of the land, a false hero, a butcher of North’ which made his heart boil.

He was angered at the sight of this. He looked around. He turned to where an outpost of the Templars was and observed them. They were vigilant and their eyes never left the road. He couldn’t do anything while they watch so he trotted to the alley where he unpacked his wooden backpack. Inside the pack were round bombs and a blunderbuss that was disassembled. With nimble hands, he assembled the weapon. He hung the round bounds around his belt. He then primed his blunderbuss before creeping behind the outpost.

He saw a guard with a rifle in hand. He needed to distract the guard so he threw something to distract the guard. The guard didn’t move. He merely looked at the direction but it was enough for him to slide to cover and sneak behind the guard. Using his elbow he choked the guard and his neck then made a cracking sound. The guard dropped down with his head turned. He silently opened the door and slid his leg inside the outpost. He crouched low and went the ammunition storage where the ammunition was. He saw that there were rifles on the racks. He took one with him and slung it over his back.

He squatted near the box of explosive. He reached for his round bombs and tied a two-arm length fuse string and rigged the bomb to blow. After rigging the whole storage with his round bombs he crept out of the outpost and walked to a vantage point where he waited for the bomb.

The parade of Templars was going on. The cheery atmosphere vanished when the bomb exploded and the outpost scattered into splinters. Black smoke raised everywhere and the people started screaming and running. He grimaced at the sight but jogged to his motor car and drives it up the stronghold.

The stronghold was dispersing soldiers. He swung his vehicle masterfully and approached the cross where the bull of the north was left for display. A Templar was guarding the platform and saw him. The Templar tried to stop him only for him to see the muzzle of the blunderbuss go off. The Templar had his torso blown. He continued towards the cross and pulled out the ax that was on his waist. He chopped the cross down and it fell backward. He approached the cross and untied the body of the crazed bull.

He easily lifted Shig’s corpse on his shoulder. There was still confusion so he was able to amble back to his motor car and put Shig inside. He started his motor car and escaped out of the stronghold masterfully. He drove down the panic-ridden streets and went straight to the gates. The Templars were holding the gates closed. He couldn’t stay around so he swung the vehicle to the right and threw the rest of the bombs he had down a manhole. He could smell the sewer and within a few seconds, the round bombs exploded, creating a chain reaction that made the Templars on the gate rushed to the scene of the explosion.

Normally, no one should be able to do such havoc. But before he went to the city of storms he was part of the construction team that built Avilla up. He had knowledge of the city and he was one of the people who dug the sewer system. He knows what a round of bomb or a flicker of flame could do down a sewer. He had seen what it does and he had taken advantage of it.

He was able to drive through the gates like the rest of the merchant carriages did. His vehicle speeded away from the city and he found himself in this cemetery. It was a place filled with foliage. There’s a wrought iron fence around the area. There was a gravedigger smoking a roll of tobacco in the middle of the tombstone. Seeing his vehicle the gravedigger took the tobacco out of his mouth.

“Barbados!” hollered the gravedigger.

“Gravedigger,” Barbados took Shig’s corpse without minding the smell. The gravedigger puffed a smoke. He looked at the corpse on Barbados’s shoulder.

“Ah, the Bull of the North finally found his way down the grave. At least he can be with the love of his life.”

Barbados nodded his head. He laid Shig’s corpse on the ground. The grave keeper stretched his legs where a coffin was and pulled it near Shig’s corpse.

“You aren’t embalming him?” said Barbados.

“He’s already been emptied. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

“I see,” Barbados looked at the coffin. “Good work on the coffin.”

“I bought it from this lad just a few kilometers away from here. I might actually have the lad build my coffins from now on. He’s good.”

Barbados crooked his head at the corpse. “Damn bastards, they have no respect for the dead.”

“The time of sword and ax’s done, Barbados,” said the gravedigger. “All we have now are guns and smokes. Even a peasant could kill you now.”

“They could...I just wish that the dead shouldn’t be displayed like some sort of relic.”

“Templars...they have to drive any resistance and it worked,” the gravedigger shrugged. The gravedigger looked meek and thin but he was able to lift Shig’s dried festering corpse inside the coffin. After putting the corpse inside, the gravedigger shut the coffin with nails and started digging. Barbados helped the digger and after a few minutes of digging. They lowered the coffin down and closed the hole up. Then the two prayed to their own Gods.

When the burial was done the gravedigger left the cemetery along with his carriage. Barbados watched him go before walking back to his vehicle.