"The worst possible thing you could ever do while hunting is to hurt a beast's cub. That will more likely than not result in a rampaging mother beast out for your blood, all semblance of survival instincts thrown aside." - An old hunter's advice.

Fort Ascher

Holy Kingdom of Theodinaz, southern region

Western Alcidea

6th day, 4th week, 6th month of the year 2 FP.

"Fucking shit!" cursed Elfriede as she listened to the battle outside being relayed by an observer from a window in the secondary barracks that housed the camp followers and other dependents of the Free Lances mercenary company. "And it had to bloody rain too, at that."

Outside the window, was a scene of carnage, as the predominantly dwarven soldiers of Knallzog fought against a literal horde of what looked to be local militia. Normally, such a fight would have gone one-sidedly to the soldiers, but this wasn't normal circumstances.

For one, pretty much most of those militiamen were fanatical zealots, unafraid of death in their pursuit to be "worthy" in the eyes of their so-called God-King. Making things worse, there were supposedly at least ten thousand of those fanatical lunatics besieging the fort, if not more.

Elfriede, much like the rest of the Free Lances, were part of the first expedition sent by Knallzog to forcefully reconnoiter their neighboring country of Theodinaz, which was a long-time enemy with a long history of hostilities.

Said first expedition consisted of the forces Knallzog managed to deploy in haste, meant to probe the enemy nation's defenses, and to establish a forward base should it prove feasible. Their hated neighbor had taken massive losses not half a year ago, and they had been eager to capitalize on that.

The fifteen thousand men and women of the first expedition force were mostly soldiers from the forces of the northern nobles, those near the border with Theodinaz. In the meantime, a greater main army was being assembled in the capital city of Knallgant and was scheduled to catch up to the advance forces in a month.

Out of those fifteen thousand, eleven thousand belonged to the soldiers led by the various nobles. Their overall commander was Graf Angus Harscape, who was the highest ranked noble in the north.

The remaining four thousand were mercenary troops belonging to three large companies. Barnaby's Brewers was the largest of the three, as they sported three full companies of six hundred well-trained men and women each.

Also present was the Vanguard Legion, a collective of many smaller outfits that banded together in order to tackle larger jobs. They countes two full companies, a thousand and two hundred men and women, to their name.

Elfriede herself was part of the Free Lances, which comprised of two short companies of five hundred each. Normally, she would be out in the fields, by her husband's side, but not a week ago their young daughter was taken ill, so she had remained at the fort to take care of her, while her husband was out on further missions.

She had expected to just miss out on what was supposed to be an easy reconnaissance mission. She had not expected ten thousand fanatics to swarm the fort they were in at the crack of dawn.

Much like most mercenary companies, the three companies that were part of the expedition brought their camp followers and dependents with them. All those had stayed in the fort, while the fighting men and women went out to earn their pay.

There were at least five thousand of them between the three companies, which was rather few for the four thousand mercenaries, because the Brewers were known to only bring those who served a function to the company. Their dependents were left behind in Knallzog as was the norm for them, as they only ever worked for the predominantly dwarven nation, effectively functioning as an irregular and unofficial part of their army.

The Vanguard Legion and the Free Lances both brought their dependents along, as neither companies had permanent bases. The rest of their camp followers were their blacksmiths, armorers, cooks and prostitutes, and all other jobs an army on the move might have need of.

"How's it looking out there, Friede?" asked an old woman from behind her. She noticed old Ursula, whose grandchildren were part of the company's mercenaries, and served as a cook herself, approaching her. The old woman was rather hard on hearing and didn't catch what their observer relayed of the battle outside.

Elfriede had not watched the battle herself because there would not have been a point to do so. She was blind from birth, and navigated the world by a combination of sound and the movement of wind. As a wind affinity mage she could sense the fine movement of wind around her, but that ability did not extend that far, only ten meters at most, if she were to maintain it comfortably.

"Pretty bad," she replied to the old woman with a shake of her head. "They're close to breaching the gates, and still outnumber the soldiers here by at least twice."

"Do you think… that they might attack us as well?" asked Ursula with trepidation in her voice. It was an unwritten rule of war not to attack non-combatants of the enemy side, such as a mercenary group's camp followers and dependents. Such a rule was not always followed, but most of the time, it was adhered to.

"I don't know… We're dealing with a bunch of fanatics here. I wouldn't put anything past them if they thought their so-called God-King wanted it done," replied Elfriede with another shake of her head. "Have everyone keep a weapon nearby… just in case."

Elfriede went to her room - she had merited a private room rather than had to share the bunks with most of the rest, both because she was an active member of the company and because she was caring for a sick child the past few days - and armed herself.

She only wore light armor, a suit of long-sleeved gambeson, thin and light, yet made of many interwoven layers of good quality fabric. Her two swords - double-edged swords with blades halfway between a shortsword and a longsword in length, and a sharp spike as the pommel - were sheathed in crossed sheaths behind the small of her back.

Elfriede told her four year old daughter, who had only recently recovered from her illness to be good, and to stay in the room, while she walked out. She noticed that most every adult - and some of the older kids - in the building kept a knife or cudgel nearby, and nodded in satisfaction.

She hid herself on the second floor, where she would not be noticed by people entering the building, but could jump down to drop onto people coming in through the front door, and waited.

Elfriede hoped that her blades would not need to be unsheathed that day, but at the same time, she prepared herself, in case they were needed.