Hansens and Haddicks (Closed, Historical)

[Kanada]

The peaceful sound of a bubbling creek was dimmed by the noise of children laughing and talking, and a yipping and barking dog. It was springtime in southern Kanada, the snow gone from the ground, revealing the new, budding grass rise from the dirt. Four children and one adolescent were on the northern side of the water, the little ones splashing and running around, and the young man sitting under a tree distracted with his own two hands.


They quieted at the sight of another child, on the other side of the river. Unknowing and uncaring of who he was, they had soon invited him to join. Not ten seconds after, there was the shouting of, “Alex!” echoing through the woods.


A clean-dressed man stepped down to the creek, a hunting rifle over his shoulder. He sniffled and wiped his lower face with his sleeve, spotting the wandering child, “There you are. Why’d you meander off?” Alex ran over, “Daddy!” and leaped at him. The man caught him, lifting him by his waist, and holding him under his arm, “And why are you with these… Folk?”


The adolescent under the tree looked up, silent and wide-eyed. He stuttered something, and the man waved him off, “Nevermind. Let’s go,” he turned and marched back up to his side, muttering to himself, “Damned Hansens…”


Øvre Grensby, Sundeon, Kanada. March 16th, 1880.


“Come on, then,” Karl Hansen laughed, leaning forward against the fence, happily observing the moving of lumber onto a wooden, horse-drawn cart, “Day’s almost over, let’s get this load out.”


Karl owned his own lumbering company, Grense Logging Co., which worked the land directly north the border of Kanada and Maloria. Although they were now unified as a single Empire, he had trouble gaining ownership south of where he currently was, mostly controlled by that damned oil baron Willem Haddick. He had first met him in the army, not knowing they owned land right next to each other until after Karl had left the force.


He was drilling further north, and it wouldn’t be long before he would try and dig in the foothills covered by the forest- Karl’s forest. He had the local governments on his side, in his wallet.


He stopped his hand from fidgeting. He looked around, spotting his nephew walk up, carrying one of Karl’s children over his shoulder with a goofy grin on his face. Karl couldn’t help but smile back slightly, waving him over, “Hello, Gunny. How’d you all do down at the creek?” Karl kneeled and picked up his youngest daughter. Gunne was silent for a moment, having to think before responding, stuttering and quiet, “It was, uh, f-fine, uncle. There was a boy who j-joined us.”


The older man placed his hand on Gunne’s shoulder, “Thank’s for watching them. Who’s the boy?” “I d-dun know, but his father come and got ‘im. He had a g-gun.” Karl stopped himself from cursing, “Right, yeah. Wait here at the cart, your father’s almost done.”


Karl got up and sat on the fence, wishing his workers goodbye as they passed by him. He sighed, looking at the lowering sun in the sky. His vision was getting worse. Perhaps he should purchase some spectacles. Damn, he hated getting old.


His thought was disturbed after his brother, Eirik, who marched up, tugging at one of his suspender straps, ax over a shoulder. “Who’s that?” Eirik asked, and Karl followed his gaze. A man was riding up on a horse, and the Hansens had no idea what was to come from this single conversation.

 

[Nogori]

The room was silent as the men and women on each side looked at each other waiting for the signal to begin. Then with one very swift motion Colonel Willem Haddick snapped his fingers and the music began to play with each side meeting each other in the center of the great hall. There they took each other by the hands and waltzed across the wooden floor, every single pair mirroring each other’s motions going with the music.


Willem Haddick sat in his chair overlooking the room with his rifle and son beside of him as they danced in his grand home with paintings of his families and their home along with several other pieces of artwork hanging from the walls. While they were not nobility but landed knights the Haddicks were no strangers to their own balls and parties, rivaling that of some lords but it was very upper echelon for the Kingdom of Sebalt. After all, they were Malorians in a Nordic province of the Empire.


Willem was a veteran of the First Andrenno-Malorian War rising to the rank of Colonel where he eventually with some gifts to some officers along the way got a position in his home of Sebalt. There he was given command over the local garrison of Drakenberg, the Kingdom’s capital. His family being one of the wealthiest in the region owned several mines in the mountains of Sebalt which they occupied for decades, however upon the death of his father and him taking control of the company he turned his sights to the oil industry and more importantly oil refining. This shift led to far greater wealth and prosperity being unseen by his family before and he soaked in his earnings with him refurbishing his home and his land and occasionally the local government’s office and their pockets.


Alex sat patiently in his chair right beside of his father watching the rest of the guests dance and have a swell ole time but he couldn’t partake in it with them. His father was very displeased with him wandering out into the woods causing his father to have to delay the party. He hoped maybe later he would be able to.


As the guests drank and danced Willem signaled to a man who was dressed in a turquoise colored wool coat and a black top hat at the other of the room to come to him. The man made his way through the crowd of hedonists to Willem and presented himself in front of Willem. There the Lord of the Manor began to speak.


“Eduard, I have a task for you” Haddick said taking a pause before he continued. “You know for some time now I have had a yearning for that Hansen man’s land. I want you to go to his manor and see if you can convince him of giving it to us humble folk to his south.”


“Your wish is my command but what if he doesn’t wish to sell his land?”


“We’ll worry about that if he refuses.”


With that said Eduard took a brown colored horse with a rifle at his side and a dagger in his sheath on his hip and made his way to the Hansen house. Up the route to the Hansen Family Farm until he saw people and he rode up to them.


“Hello there” he said “I’m from Colonel Haddick’s Estate, the Colonel has a proposition for you” and with that he awaited a response.

 

[Kanada]

Karl watched the man come up, and snorted, before spitting off to the side of the road, murmuring something to his brother, who nodded and began towards the wagon. The man looked Eduard up and down with disdain. He had disliked the Colonel more and more with time, and he was suspicious this deal would be anything benefiting him.

Karl began speaking, "Hello, boy. What does Willem want?"

Eirik soon returned from the wagon, a holster with a revolver, loaded or not, hung in it.

 

[Nogori]

Eduard ignored the revolting snort and spit that came out of the Hansen man’s mouth. If he had to deal with these Nordic men from the backwoods of Kanada then he might have to take his rifle and shoot himself there. He remained silent as the man approached with a pistol with no care from Eduard as their little intimidation tactic had failed. Eduard had learned to not fear death for a long time and that fear was not going to come back over some Kanadian hillbillies.


“The Colonel offers to take this land you got right here” he said pointing at the ground and the surrounding forests. “He offers to pay quite handsomely if you will allow land surveyors from Drakensberg up here to…” he stopped for a moment to think how to explain it to them. “…to determine the price of this land you own so we can come up with a reasonable estimate for compensation.”

 

[Kanada]

Karl Hansen stared silently at the man for a long time, unmoving. His eyes seemed to slightly dart around Eduard’s face, before a look of disgust covered his face, “I inherited this land from my father, who got it from his father, so on and so forth back until 1493. And I fully intend to give every acre I own now, if not more, to my son when I pass. Your man- Especially him- could offer me every cent in the Royal Family’s coffers and I wouldn’t even begin to consider it.”

Karl blinked and looked to his right. Above the forest were rising foothills, with mountains, beautifully snow-capped mountains on the horizon, “So send your surveyors, and waste your time and money. I’m not handing over a square metre of land for as long as I live to that bastard, do you hear me?”

 

[Nogori]

Eduard kept his calm composure on his horse keeping his solid face as this uncivilized Kanadian insulted his boss. If he didn’t have a good head on his shoulders he would’ve had half a mind to pull his rifle out and shoot the man then and there and be done with it but he knew that wasn’t a viable option. Instead he sat there and took it not even blinking as the man kept going, however, at the end of his remarks an idea came across Eduard’s mind and he intended to fully bring it up.


“Oh I hear you loud and clear” he said staring the man down this time with a cold grin. “I’m sure you’d like to reconsider about hearing the prices we can offer you which could be more than adequate for your cooperation” at this point he wanted to bite his own tongue. Eduard hated acting as if these savages had the negotiating high ground when they had about two coins worth compared to his employee and yet they were still so damn stubborn.


“So what do you say to one last offer?”

 

[Kanada]

Karl was quiet for some time. He stopped leaning on the fence and looked Eduard up and down, noting that he pretty obviously thought of himself as superior.

“I’ll tell you what. I’ll sell Willem land one acre at a time, once all the trees are gone. This area we’re standing on?” Karl looked around, before smiling, “A little over a year, if we rushed it. You wouldn’t mind the wait, would you?”

-

Karl knew Willem all too well. When he was young, he too served in the army, fighting on the same side as him, working both as a soldier and a translator in the fighting against the Andrennains. He never knew the trouble that Willem would cause him.

The first problem was that he’d already ‘stolen’ land that should be his. Karl’s father sold some land to Willem on the far south part of his property, with a plan to purchase land further North instead, striking deals with then people that owned that land, to purchase it when the Haddicks paid. He promptly died barely weeks later, leaving Karl fifteen square kilometres of rich, forested land shorted. Ehen he went to try and buy the land from up north, those illiterate Tannløs refused. He knew he didn’t have the financial or legal capabilities to fight against the Haddicks, especially because they every damned judge for fifty kilometres was either their family, or in their pocket.

So Karl took little pleasure in negoating with Willem’s pawn.

 

[Nogori]

He could feel the smugness omitting from the Hansen man as if he was some great lion that just killed a great prey and standing over its fallen corpse. Eduard however was far from that of prey and he intended to show these uncivilized mountain folk how proper men retaliate. He waited a moment before answering.


Eduard knew the exact type of man that Karl was. A man who thinks himself sly and in a far greater position than he actually was and that actually played into Eduard’s favor. He would rather have a far prouder man for him to destroy than a weak one because after all, twice the price double the fall.


He served under Colonel Haddick himself in Andrenne during the First Andrenno-Malorian War fighting in the Battle of Frankthorf and the counteroffensive into Andrenne by Grand Duke Leonid vin Hegeman. He served firstly as a common foot soldier under the Colonel however Eduard saved his life in the field by shooting an Andrennian soldier that was getting ready to run him through with a bayonet in the snow and mud. After that day Willem befriended the man and gave him a place at his side as his personal guard and had him personally trained by the best sharpshooters and riflemen in Maloria.


After the war Willem offered him a place at his company, estate, and the local garrison as Willem’s second-in-command which Eduard eagerly accepted. He would die for that man if he needed to and whatever that man wanted he would sure as hell do everything in his power to make sure he got it. Everything, including this land that he had his eyes on for years.


So Eduard thought for a moment and he smiled briefly at the man letting the idea dance around in mind and he enjoyed the scenarios he envisioned. His smile faded away as he rested his hand on his rifle hanging from its holster off the side of the horse and looked at Karl. He tipped his hat down once and said “You have yourself a deal sir.”


Before he left though his horse did a circle around the man before stopping in front of Karl one more time. Eduard looked at Karl and tipped his hat one more time at the man and adjusted his turquoise colored jacket around his neck. His horse then preceded to shit in front of the man as Eduard kept eye contact with him with his hat down.


Once the horse was down Eduard kicked its side and it slowly made its way back down the path back to the Haddick Estate. However he shouted in range for Karl to hear “We’ll send someone up here for you to sign a contact for that deal.” The horse kept going as he said under his breath “You Kanadian inbreeds.”

 

[Kanada]

Øvre Grensby, Sundeon, Kanada. March 24th, 1880.

Karl stepped out of his room in the early morning, the sun barely breaking over the horizon. He pulled his coat over his shoulders and accepted a cup of coffee, taking a sip before he stepped outside, onto the firm ground. The ghostly yellow light basked the ground in front of him. He looked up, and paused, his cup nearly dropping from his hand.

He rushed inside, setting down his cup. Rushing out the door, he slung his rifle over his shoulder, and untied his barely waking horse from his post down the path. Karl was already climbing aboard, pushing his steed faster towards the column of smoke rising into the blue, cloudless sky.

-

The sound of crackling wood was overpowering, and Karl’s horse halted at the wall of heat coming from the hot burning forest. He leaped down, unbelieving. It hadn’t rained in two weeks, and the ground was dry. Charred pieces of bark lie scattered across the singed grass. A few men who had followed him dismounted as well, and they all took a moment, taking it in.

Karl blinked and stepped back, telling one man to call in help from the nearest village, while the rest were to cut a barrier between trees with the axes and hatchets left there from the work done the day before.

As he laboured for hours, desperate to save his living, Karl prayed for rain, but the sky was clear, except for the gray of his business burning to the ground.

-

The heavens blessed him with rain. At midnight, the mountainside illuminated by fire, a sprinkle began. The men cheered as the rain became more intense, causing the fire to hiss. Three acres had burned out completely, with four more damaged to different degrees.

The next morning, Karl set out south to confront Willem, the sly bastard. As he approached the entrance to his home, he requested to speak with him to the man at the door.

 

[Nogori]

Willem sat at a large hickory table with his daughter and his son at his side. His daughter at his left and his son located at the chair on his right. His wife used to be seated at his left where his daughter currently is now but she died a couple of years ago of tuberculosis.


On the table they had a large variety of meats, breads, ciders, milk, and other goods as well located on large well-decorated silver platters. Willem himself on his own plate had two large slabs of ham, eggs, eight pieces of bacon, a biscuit, and finally some apple cider to wash it down with. His children not exactly sharing the same appetite as the old-war hardened colonel had one piece of ham with some eggs and a biscuit with the son drinking milk and the daughter orange juice.


Willem asked his children what there plans were for the day as he read the local paper that Eduard would go into the city at around dusk and buy for him so he could read every morning. He listened to them while his eyes traced over the paper occasionally licking his fingers and flipping a page. This was his favorite time of the day.


His daughter was a beautiful girl with black hair favoring his side of the family. He gave the girl whatever she wanted in life and hoped for her to find a nice young man that could take great care of her and provide for her and his grandchildren but he knew himself and he understood whoever she most likely brought back he would not like. They is just how those things go though.


His son being far younger than his daughter was far shorter and had dark brown hair showing the signs of his mother’s side of the family instead of his father’s. He was a strong and stocky boy despite his age which most likely came from him helping his father out in the fields and labor intensive work on their land. He was very proud of his boy hoping for him to eventually join the military and take over the family business like he did.


He continued listening to them as out of the middle of nowhere a sudden pounding could be heard at the door. His servant opened it and told the Colonel that a man would like to speak with him and Willem obliged getting out of his seat with Eduard behind him. Eduard already had a decent idea who it was and silently cocked his pistol behind him as Willem opened the door and greeted Karl.


“Well how do you do neighbor” Willem asked with a sly smile on his face.

 

[Kanada]

Karl moved his way to the foot of the table, opposite of Willem. As he walked, he trailed mud, dirt, and ashes behind him, which stained the floor. His face was covered with the smudge of wet soot. He took off his tattered hat, stained black and brown from the years of work behind him and hours of fire just recently, and he threw it on the middle of the table, knocking astray a tray of biscuits.

"You bastard! Oh, you think you're very slick, hm?" he took a moment, coughing painfully into his elbow, "Have you looked outside recently, Willy? The cloud of smoke across the sky? I'm sure you knew before me that my forest was burning."

Before Willem could speak, he continued to rant, "I would have like to sue you on the spot, had you not already bribed every judge within fifty kilometers of here. I will make your life a living hell, mister." Karl shook his head, "So fine, take that bit of land we've marked out-" The man took a step back, coughing again. He had been inhaling too much smoke. He began to turn and walk out, "I will never let you forget me." Before he could leave, at Willem's last chance to say anything, he spat something once more, with a low laugh, "And I'm sure you'd love to figure out who your dear little Daughter is courting."

-

Eirik sat on one of the last remaining pieces of fence, observing the charred hillside. A line had cleared past the dirt on his left cheek where a tear fell. This pained him as much as Karl. Slowly, he took the revolver from his holster, and loaded a single bullet, before placing it away again.

 

[Nogori]

Willem completely kept his calm as the man came into his home and openly insulted him in front of his staff and family. The whole time Willem kept a straight face looking the angry Kanadian with charred lungs, seemingly coughing them up at the same time, in the face. That was however before he told him about his daughter.


His daughter as far as he had known had not been seeing a boy for quite a long time now and this news certainly came as a shock to the Colonel. He waited for the angry landlord to leave before he turned his attention to his daughter Helena. She was now the subject of his assault.


“Would you care to explain to me what the hell he was talking about” Willem said pointing his finger at the door and then taking a bite of his crunchy bacon.


“I.…Pap-“ she said with tears coming swelling at her eyes.


“Tell me” the Colonel said the bacon not being chewed with his eyes dead on his daughter.


“Please.…Papa”


“TELL ME DAMNIT” he said slamming his hands on the large table and kicking the chair out from underneath of him and getting right beside of her.


“KRISTEN HANSEN” she screamed out crying at this point almost immediately met with the backhand of her father’s hand across her right cheek. She stopped crying with her cheek turning a rosy red and her staring him in the face. His face being cold as stone and hers being stuck in amazement of what just happened and her little brother speechless across the table.


Willem walked back over to his seat and calmly placed his chair back up. He sat down and stared out the window with his daughter being speechless and the silence settling into the room. He stayed there for a minute with his fingers running across his beard.


He finally broke the silence “I will not have you behave like a whore from the city. Do you understand me? Do…you…understand…me?”


“Yes Papa”


“You will not leave this house. You will see no one except your family, our servants, those who come to visit, and your tutors. So help me God if I have to make you live like a nun I will do it.


You have brought disgrace to me and to this family. This is our home, not some brothel where we tolerate harlots and charlatans. Go to your room.”


With that said she simply got up with her cheek now a far redder color than before and silently walked up the stairs to her room. Willem’s son looked at him with no words. “Eat your food” is all Willem said to him.

*—————————————*


Helena looked out of her window as the moonlight illuminated her room with only her candle as the source of light itself for her room. It was time. She gathered her belongings in a sack and silently creeped open her door.


She looked around, peeking her head a little past the door. The coast was clear so she gunned it going down a corridor. The floor was wooden however she memorized which floorboards were creaky as a game when she was little to see which made the most noise.


She made it to the end of the hallway and peaked around another corner seeing a servant walking by but they took a different hallway and down the stairs to the kitchen. She took her shot and made her way through it getting to another set of stairs and slowly descended from them. There she was met with a door to the outside world and she opened it, slowly closing it on her way out.


Helena circled around the manor to the large stables with torches hanging off of the walls and above the places where the horses lay. Looking around she could see the patrols walking around with their lamps guiding them in the surrounding land around the house and horsemen down the road. There was also a sentry sleeping in a chair in front of the stables. An old man with a grouchy gray beard and old rusted buttons on his army uniform.


It was easy to tell that no matter what she did the man wouldn’t wake up and so she snuck into the stables and approached her maple colored stead. She had ridden the horse since she was but a child and it was familiar to her touch. Not being startled as she pressed her hands on its side.


She fastened the saddle onto her and looked around one more time seeing if the coast was clear. When it was she opened the gates to the stable and jumped onto her horse. She breathed heavy before kicking it in the side and she was off.


She took off down the dirt path awaking the old guard as he looked up to see what was happening and as he looked around he became aware of the situation and rang the bell at the manor house alerting the patrols. She zoomed down the bridge up to the manor as guards raced up to the house to see what the problem was. She went down a dirt path seeing the horsemen flee behind her going up to the manor, she knew she was safe.


There she rode through the night making her way to the Hansen Homestead. She stopped before going up the house. Leaving her trusty stead at a tree and snuck up to homestead through the brushes.

 

[Kanada]

Soft singing was heard as Eirik stumbled up the path, bumping into the horse and blinking. He looked at the fine saddle and squinted. Who was here?

He continued up the path, mumbling his song, beer on his breath. Eirik places his hand on the doorknob when he heard the rustle of leaves to his right, and he looked over, seeing the movement of a person, a flash of fabric from under the leaves moving forward slowly.

Kristen was looking out his window, smiling with a nod at Helena as she came closer. His hands were busy tying up a bag. But before he revealed himself, Eirik moved his way to the bushes, grabbing Helena by a handful of clothing and pulling her out into the open, “S-sneaking off to see my boy again, huh?”

As she pulled away to run, he shoved her down with force, spitting out the words, “Bloody harlot,” and before she could yell for help, his gun was out. A flash of lightning and a clap of thunder, and Helena crumpled, limp. Kristen shouted and lept out, rushing to her, wishing for a moment to say something, but it was too late.

Helena Haddick was lifeless, her eyes glassy. The bullet had entered her collar and left through her spine, killing her instantly. Kristen wept silently, and Eirik blinked, stepping back and looking at the gun in his hand. What had he done? He dropped the gun and stumbled back as lights came on from inside the house. Karl looked out his window, silent, mouth half-open.

If Willem knew she had run off, his men would be here shortly. What could he do, cover up the murder? Karl rushed outside. Blood stained the grass in a slowly growing puddle. Eirik fell back onto his bum, staring at the girl he’d just killed. The emotions had washed away leaving just regret.

“Oh, Eirik, what have you done?”

 

[Nogori]

The sounds of dogs barking and riders could be heard in the distance accompanied by the glows of their torches. Their hooves beating loudly through the mud as their horses raced through the wilderness, approaching at a grand speed to the homestead. By the sound of it at least twenty horsemen with eleven on horseback.


The barking and beating of the hooves against the ground grew louder and louder as their light from their torches moved with them through the dark woods being visible to the Hansen men at their home. There they passed through the tree line at the beginning of the property with the charred wilderness in the distance close to them. The riders and footmen with hounds made their way up to the men surrounding them in a flurry of speed and heat with the dogs snapping and cracking at them with ferociousness.


They started to slow down eventually coming to a stop around the Hansens with Eduard being the leader of the search party pulling his horse up in front of Eirik and Karl. He looked down at them, the torchlight illuminating the Hansens and Helena’s corpse. He got down off of his horse leaving his rifle in its holster hanging off of it and didn’t say a word to anyone.


His ice cold gaze met Eirik and then Karl and then Helena’s body. He said nothing, just picking up her body and holding it like a mother holds her new babe with her still warm blood getting onto his emerald colored cotton coat. “Whoever did this. It doesn’t matter which one of you but whoever did it…you will be killed. The Colonel will have his revenge. You’re lucky we don’t kill you where you stand right now in front of your children” Eduard let that sit in for a minute before he took Helena and put her over his shoulders and got on top of his horse.


“We will be back” and with that said they took back off down the dirt trail into the forest.

*—————————————*


Willem sat in his chair with his feet kicked over onto the pelt of a bear. The fire crackling near him as he watched it awaiting news of his daughter. That’s when he heard the riders coming back.

 

[Nogori]

Willem walked outside of his house only to be met with Eduard carrying his daughter’s lifeless corpse on the front of his horse in front of him. The riders stopped in front of the Colonel, all of them remaining silent with Eduard sliding off of the side of his horse and taking Willem’s daughter with him in his arms. He walked up in front of Willem where Willem reached out to hold his daughter’s body.


Eduard gave him the body and Willem almost immediately fell to the ground, however he made not to let her touch it. Her blood having dried on her white clothes and the bleeding stopped he ran his fingers through her ebony colored hair. Tears filled his eyes with one dropping down off of his face and into his daughter’s which he slowly wiped off.


“I…am…going to kill…the son of a bitch that did this” Willem said his voice breaking and being croggy. He looked up at Eduard still tear eyed, “You will leave right now for Drakensburg …and you will assemble the men and tomorrow I will have my justice.” Eduard just gave Willem a solitary nod and got onto his horse and rode off with the riders.


Willem was left there on the ground with his dead daughter in his arms. There he slowly cried, something he had not done even at his own wife’s funeral but this wasn’t his wife. This was his own flesh and blood, his precious little girl. Those Hansen men would feel pain, he promised them that.

 

[Kanada]

The house was alive with movement, dozens of people carrying everything of value to three large horsedrawn carts waiting behind. Karl had decided to bring everything worth bringing with them, and burning the house behind him. When Willem came for vengeance, he knew it wasn't just going to be Eirik.

In the early morning, the last person came out, carrying Karl's uniform from his time in the army, and the rifle he had purchased for hunting. He pulled on the dark blue coat, and placed the pickelhaube and rest of the clothing into the cart. He loaded his rifle and put it over his shoulder, before directing two of the carts to head off.

He turned back to the house, and stepped in one last time. The floor was littered in dry grass, straw, and hay. What appeared to be kindling along the floorboards seemed to turn the house into a fire, waiting to happen. He looked at the stairwell. The fine oak grip that ran down the sides of it, and the supports that held it up, had been torn away and thrown across the floor, yet he could still visualize his little children attempting to climb up the steps with the help of their mother, like it was the first time.

Gunne came in, shaky hand carrying a torch. Karl took it and thanked him, and they backed up out the back door, before tossing it inside. As soon as the flame touched the straw, it caught the blaze, and soon it was spreading throughout the house. As Karl turned, he helped Gunny onto the loaded back of the last cart, and sent it off without getting off. Karl himself didn't go, looking at the house, before crossing the clearing it was built in, and disappearing into the forest.

As Willem's men came, with him at the head, they found Karl's house burned to the ground, into a useless mound of baked wood. It was abandoned, save Eirik, tied securely to a post fifty meters ahead of the front door. There was no note or message, but it was implied. Karl would not fight to keep a guilty man on the run.

 

[Nogori]

Willem rode on horseback through the wilderness to the Hansen Estate followed in tail by 45 soldiers, 55 if you counted the horseman. These were no normal members of the cavalry however, they were members of the Zwarny Derd or in Mercanti the Black Death. The most feared and fearsome cavalry hussars in the Empire.


They trace their roots back to the Wars of the Republic for their ferocious charges into Callise’s Republican Infantry dressed in their infamous black uniforms wearing their ebony colored furry Khuvacht Hats that were adorned with silver skulls and bones. Their ranks entirely filled up with nobility and the cavalry division’s own history having seen combat in Kanada, Andrenne, and several other countries. This splinter group in particular being comprised of solely young noblemen’s sons who no doubt wanted their children to be seen as some of the most elite in the Empire and to give their families prestige.


The Infantry continued through the Kanadian wilderness marching to the sounds of their drums and flutes having Willem and the Zwarny Derd be at their front with the flag bearer right behind them. Willem was here for one thing and one thing, revenge. No one would step in the way of his vengeance against the man who killed his daughter, no one; children, women, the men, they all would die if they needed to.


“If this is a waste of my time Willem then I will tell my fath-“ the young Man to Willem’s left said to him with his Khuvacht Hat bouncing with the strode of his stead.


Willem wasted no time only interrupting the boy giving him a slight nod behind him when he talked as he had reminded all of them about his father 40 times before this. “You will tell your father you took money from a rich businessman in the East to kill impoverished Kanadian farmers?”


The boy remained silent.


“That’s what I thought” Willem said smugly. “I’m aware your father is the Grand Duke of Arkum but if I hear you bitch one more time I am going to backhand you harder than your father beat the Emperor’s sister.” The current Keizer was Keizer Alwin II, the son of Markus who was the son of Alwin I and who overthrew his sister Hanna after she stole the throne from him. Markus’ daughter had married the Grand Duke of Arkum to secure his allegiance to Markus but soon after Markus’ death it had been revealed that the Grand Duke abused his wife which almost led to his imprisonment from Alwin II but the situation had calmed but it was still a stain on the Ducal Family.


The small army made their way closer to the farm coming upon a scouting party awaiting outside of the entrance to the farm that Willem had sent ahead of his main force. “Colonel” one of the men said walking closer to him. “The Farm has been abandoned but we from our sights we saw someone chained to a wooden post in the distance.”


Willem nodded at the man and motioned for them to continue, they made it past the tree line and onto the land marching up to what was formerly the main house of the farm. Before them was Eirik Hansen tied to a wooden post. The soldiers held formation as Willem and the Zwarny Derd rode up in front of them reaching Eirik. Willem stared at the man.


He felt so many emotions inside of him. He wanted to kill that man with his bear hands and bury his body on the farm but he couldn’t show emotion towards his shoulders. He stood there contemplating before he simply said “Take him.”

 

[Kanada]

Karl stalked along in the woods, silent with each step. His eyes remained on Willem, leading his column of personal soldiers. He knew these forests well. He managed to move ahead towards a bend in the road, lifting his rifle, readying it with a click. The nub on the end of the barrel trained onto the chest of Willem. Following a deep breath, he fired, and the bullet flew barely through the space between his chest and arm, slicing a clean cut in the armpit of his uniform. Karl cursed, lowering the firearm and taking a step back into the foliage, before turning and running, out of range for any returning fire.

-

Eight miles north, Karl moved, cutting across roads and streams. He moved off of the main path, over some logs that had been laid down across a road, where a man watching guard nodded to him. A short walk later he found himself climbing a secluded, but open hilltop, poorly plowed ground leading the way up to a few sheds and a small house. He found nearly one and a half hundred men working, putting up walls and fences, digging small ditches, and boarding up windows and doors, into a small fortification. These people here were poorer than the dirt they worked on, most living along the border, and many had been wronged by Willem and his people.

More people arrived on horseback by the hour, bringing guns and ammunition with them. By the next morning, small bands of people were patrolling as far as the destroyed farmhouse for any sign of Willem. There were a few minor encounters, but nothing ending in death. Nobody argued when Karl asked for them to gather all of the cattle they owned from their farms atop the hill.