Both women chuckled. "We are not usually sought out for our tales and stories Milady. but we do have several. Including about the Commander."
Before she could see or even guess at their thoughts on that particular matter, Tianna spoke. "My personal favorite is the Tower of Morning Hill. Tiny little town. The commander was riding through with a small force of Lord Bartok's men. He was not even an officer yet at the time. Anyway as they rode through passing on the Lord's messages, and delivering the town's supplies from Lord Bartok. Special food supplies, their proceeds from the market, and so on. Well as they were doing so, a young vagrant stole the patrol leader's coin purse. The patrol leader was a young man. But ambitious. and eager to prove himself. So he shot the vagrant with his crossbow. By all accounts a fine shot. But the bolt killed not only the vagrant but passed through and struck the village elder's horse."
She sipped her water. "The horse bolted, and rushed the patrol leader. This was no warhorse, but one of two large work horses, and the only two in the village. At the time the village did not have oxen due to the then nationwide shortage. The patrol leader panicked, and aimed his crossbow at the horse. The Commander swatted it away and the bolt flew harmlessly into a wall. Then Morgan rode after the fleeing horse and soothed him, and treated the wound. He lead the horse back and put it into the barn with it's fellow and mate, then went to rejoin the patrol."
Jenna giggled. "Best part."
"Hush you. The patrol leader is trying to hang the village leader, the village elder, and their wives, for assaulting him. The majority of the patrol is refusing to allow this, calling him a fool and a coward. Not exactly calming things down. Morgan, ever the direct one, cuts the ropes of the 'prisoners' and sends them home, ignoring the screams of the offended patrol leader. Who draws his sword and swings it at Morgan. Morgan dodges it and the fool falls out of his saddle and onto his own sword, killing himself. And everyone, save Morgan, begins to scream that they should be in charge now."
Jenna giggled again.
Tianna smirked. "Well My Lady, in addition to delivering and accepting items for Lord Bartok, the patrol was looking for signs of Ser Hollow Brent."
Jenna nodded as Bella recognized the name. An infamous highwayman and bandit, who had supposedly once been minor lord in the Imperial Court but had been caught attempting unfriendly relations with several persons. And according to rumors several animals.
"Now Ser Hollow may or may not have done all those things he was said to have done. I have no idea. But he did have a number of illnesses that present themselves openly. Including the one that rots the tender parts of the body. the natural areas yes, but also the ears and nose."
Bella had seen the afflicted. They were miserable creatures, driven mad by the slow rot of their bodies and eventually their minds.
"Well by this point Ser Hollow was deeply in the final stages. He had already burned Fair Grove for giving him what he asked for. And the ambush at Nottlesworth was only weeks away. But he happened to be in the area with his little band of cutthroats. And he overheard the clamor. Lord Bartok being who and what he was, he had one of the highest prices out for Ser Hollow. And had publicly sworn to punish Ser Hollow to the fully extent of the law. Meaning execution by severe means. and for his men. So Ser Hollow remembered three things. His greed. His lust. and his hatred for Lord Bartok. So he and his band ride along into town. My Lady will no doubt know that Ser Hollow died in winter at Nottlesworth. So there was of course a heavy layer of snow on the ground. And fortunately no mud. There had been but it had frozen. And now it cracked."
Jenna sighed. "My Lady have you ever heard Morgan truly bellow? He can shout down a storm when he must."
Tianna nudged her. "Indeed. and this day he heard the crack of breaking ice and frozen mud and roared for them all to be quiet. And just in time. The patrol was 17 by then. Ser Hollow still commanded 150 men then. And for all their roughness, they were fierce and nasty fighters. He saw them. and their sigils for Clan Bartok. And without a word he drew his weapons. Morgan surprised everyone. 'Retreat!'" And snatched up the fallen crossbow, loaded and drew it back with one hand, then fired, killing Hollow's horse. Surprised Hollow fell under his horse and was too busy cursing to react yet. The patrol meanwhile shot down the main street of the town, toward the tower, beating their shields and calling out the warning. The villages were well used to such cries and fled to the tower as well, bundling their stock and children in in minutes, the patrol remembering themselves and helping. The last in was the village leader, his father the elder, their wives and other children, and the majority of the town's supplies in the wagon pulled by the two horses. The leader would later affirm that he had been intent on lodging a complaint with Lord Bartok."
Jenna grunted. "Mighty pissed he was. Sorry My Lady."
Tianna spoke on. "So while this is going on, Morgan has drawn his swords and is standing in the middle of the road over the corpse of the patrol leader, their warhorses blocking the rest of the path, and the heavy snow on either bank making crawling out nearly impossible. and of course for all their ferocity, these lads couldn't tie their shoes without guidance from Hollow. He was their idol and leader all at once. So when he fell they stood by and watched. He hated to be helped. He couldn't stand to be touched. Many say it was his ego. i think it just hurt him. Which is likely why he was sooo angry at Morgan. Being under a horse is never fun. being under one when it's especially painful to you? certain to be infuriating. So finally he orders three of his boys to ride Morgan down. Well you've seen Morgan work. Now three bandits ever born could have presented him trouble even if they were on warhorses and wearing full mail. As they were in furs and rags they went down quick as a blink. Ser Hollow repeated this little drama two more times. And only gave Morgan six more kills. Now utterly mad with rage he demands they drag his horse off him."
Jenna sniffed the cheese rolls. "I think they are ready My lady." And offered the first to bella, and split one with Tianna. As ever Bathilde's cooking was perfection. Both women moaned in delight as they ate. Then Tianna took a long sip, sat back, belched, excused herself, and resumed the story.
"Ser Hollow shambled up to Morgan and challenges him to a fight. Morgan agrees. Then Hollow names the terms. Him and 15 against Morgan. Morgan sighs and agrees. Then kicks Hollow in the nethers. Hollow's screams could be heard for miles. The people in the tower still swear they heard his balls break. Morgan hurled Hollow at his boys, mounted his horse, and grabbed the leader's horse's reins, and galloped for the tower. And begins yelling. "Open up! Open up!"
Jenna was nibbling the remains of her roll, watching the inside of her eyelids.
"The villagers of course are scared, but one of the patrol knows Morgan, so does so. Only for the horses to enter alone. The door is yanked shut and he roared. "Bar it!' and the others of the patrol used the arrow slits and murderholes to peek out. Morgan stood before that door alone as a few dozen crazed bandits rode down on him. Seeing what he intends they wait until he roars for them to fire and they unleash a volley into the charging force, making them twitch and focus elsewhere, and Morgan dives in. He killed 11 of them before they realized what he was doing, and another 5 before they could get away, while the archers killed 14 altogether. If you are counting My Lady you know that leaves Hollow with 111 including himself. With his entire attack on morgan killed, Hollow at first unaware, he just waits for them to return so he can kill Morgan personally. But they don't come. Still he waits. he waits for an entire hour. During which time Morgan searches the entire village and secures all the remaining food and supplies those inside needs, and now does join those inside the tower, but only for a moment."
Jenna giggled. "Sneaky time."
Tianna nodded. "He gathers the most stealthy of the patrol, and puts the men of the village to work first barricading the door, then while the stealthy make preparations he shares out the bows and arrows, and crossbows and bolts and puts them in the higher floors and top of the tower, while the spearmen are in the bottom floor, the children elderly secured in the underchambers. the village leader is of course worried about Hollow firing the town. Especially their silos. He and Morgan brought what they could, but it is a little farming town. they survive on their stores of corn and wheat more than anything, though with the dead horses outside and the meat he and Morgan brought everyone should be alright, if this doesn't turn into a seige. Morgan assures him it will not, and asks if there is a secret passage or underground tunnel. There is, though it's only to the tower's well. This is fine. Morgan has them move the animals here, under watch. So all the noncombatants are out of harm's way now. So now Morgan rejoins the stealthy."
She took another sip of water.
"They have secured the leanto atop the tower, and have secured the drop ropes. Night has begun to fall quickly, and Hollow is still waiting, something Morgan will still tell you was far more than luck. it was a gift. Now we, yes I was among the stealthy, secured ropes at the top, and climbed down the tower, the ropes were drawn back up, and we all slid into the village proper, and made our way slowly towards Hollow and his 111. That is important My lady. There were 7 of us, including Morgan. Hollow was pacing and blathering about his nonsense plans, and ignoring his men. We slid along the road, watching them, leaving one of our best shooters to watch Hollow. They had no guards. No pickets. So we managed to sneak along to their back end. And once there we set to work. kill those who isolated themselves first. Then those who were being quiet and still. We killed 41 of them before we met anything like trouble. The men at this point were cold. So they were grumbling about building a fire, and asking those nearest Hollow to let them. We managed 5 more. 76 with Hollow now. Morgan meanwhile had been making another plan. And when he ordered us back we were stunned. Until he started the stampede. The 46 horses of those we had killed, and many of these others all suddenly ran forward, through their fellows, and over the people."
Tianna shook head head. "My lady may have heard that a horse will not step on a human. That is both true and false. Of course a Warhorse will. But unless trained a horse hates to step on anything but solid ground. including a human being. But if the horse must step on a human, they will. And in the midst of a stampede they have little choice. 20 men were crushed, trampled, or otherwise killed in that stampede. in the space of a few hours Hollow had lost nearly a full two thirds of his force. And the stampede took all but 30 of their horses off into the night, where Morgan, who had been riding in the center of the stampede, spent the rest of the night corraling every horse he could. He only lost three. Anyway, by now Hollow is out of his mind with rage. So he charges into town. No one is there of course. But the tower is shining in the night, and he can hear the children singing. he charges the tower. it was a slaughter. We stealthy picked off a few here and there, and the archers and spearmen, even in the night, lay waste to his numbers. In the end he rode away with the infamous 13 Hollowmen. The last of his real fighters before he went on that made recruiting/slave run that ended in Nottlesworth under Commander Raiden's sword. Morgan claimed all 13 Hollowmen himself in that battle."
Jenna nodded. "That was my first one. Commander Raiden put me in charge of Hollow's harem of girls. They were all so scared they would start rotting. Fortunately he was too fargone to ever partake of them by then. Got them all home. That village recieved double potions for the rest of lord Bartok's life. and that's been renewed under Lord Hurt. They also are working on becoming one of the major horse breeders in the region, due to the massive influx of horses they got that night. Quite a few fine stallions, and many suitable broodmares, all stolen in Hollow's madness. Your Ladyship might be advised to visit and seek a business arrangement. They would certainly love extra chances to sell."
Tianna nodded. "Perhaps we could even build a racetrack. With the popularity of horse racing lately it could be a most profitable venture, and partnership if we were to host their stock."
They fell silent, letting Bella ruminate both on the story and the possibilities of profit for herself and her people.
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