Aubentag 10th Ulriczeit 2522
Grunnd is well on the mend it seems. He came up on deck with hardly a sign of pain, dwarven stubbornness accounts for much. He was in a foul mood as he gave us a dressing down like I have seen the captain of the guard give his fellow watchmen before. He berated us for not following his orders on the battlefield. Stefan interrupted and challenged him a lot, defending his own actions that night. Before I knew it anger flared and Grunnd had punched him.
I was amazed when Stefan took the blow and still stood. He looked at Grunnd in disgust.
"As a gentleman I will let you have that one for free. However, mark this - the next time you raise a hand against me it will be the last time for one of us." He walked away, turning his back.
Such a threat and open mockery of his authority was too much. Grunnd gritted his teeth and followed the turned back, readying another blow.
Stefan wheeled on him and drew his sword. Not a word spoken. Face calm. Eyes boring into Grunnd in confident serious challenge. Wrong thing to do.
Grunnd stopped. His hand flicked to Storm Breaker and time stood still for a moment.
“Mouse! What were my words about drawing steel?” He barked at me.
I replied. “Never draw steel unless you intend to bloody the blade and deal with the consequences.” The sudden sickening image of the last man who tried drawing a blade against the master dwarf flashed in my mind. The awful wet crunch as the hammer caved the mans skull into his chest. The sound of the barely revealed blade clanging to the stone floor in the mausoleum. Fool. I begged Stefan to think about his actions. Luckily for us all the captain heard the raised voices and intercepted the commotion.
Not on his ship. Thank you Sigmar!
Grunnd has been very quiet since then. He has taken to teaching Danielle how to use her quarterstaff effectively and how not to shoot him in the back again with a crossbow. Just one of the many reasons we disappointed him in battle. It is nice to see the two of them bonding in a way. They have never seemed to like each other. Danielle finds Grunnd rude and obnoxious. I think Grunnd has felt the same towards her in the past. Both willful hardheads, both stubborn.
“You stupid fool of a girl!”
Those were some of the last words I had heard him say to her before we charged. Danielle had flew in between him and a beastman in an attempt to attack it with her staff but luckily for everyone she planted herself in the mud. Grunnd had been standing ready to fire his new blunderbuss at the creature.
“If you’re in such a hurry to die Storm Breaker will speed it along!” He roared at her.
He wasn’t all flames and temper. He did well that night to be fair, as he said he is. “What you did was very brave.... But very stupid! When you see that gun in my hands, don’t run in front of it. It doesn’t care what is in front when it goes off, and I’m not as accurate as Hans.” His words are coming back to me now.
“These things won’t ask for mercy. These things won’t offer clemency. They only care about killing, fucking and eating and they don’t care if you’re alive or dead when they start to eat you. So if you think I’m being rude or just shouting at you because I don’t like you. You’re wrong! It’s called giving orders, and when I give an order on the battlefield I expect it to be followed. Orders will keep you alive. Keep us all safe, and with Sigmar’s good graces we’ll get out of here alive.”
There were no lies told. We may not have followed his orders to the letter but we are but a rag-taggle band of untrained and untested civilians. We are not soldiers or warriors. When a beastman charges straight for you, roaring and scything it’s sword through the air it is only natural that our first instincts would be to defend ourselves.
I feel I did the best I could. I must get myself a sword or something more suitable when we reach the city. Pistols are only good for one shot before I am overwhelmed and daggers are little better than butter-knives in a fight with such creatures. If Hans had not thrown me his sword I shudder to think what would have befell me and the others.
Mäuschen
[Next entry - He is Reborn]
[Previous entry - Children of Chaos]
[First entry - Ranald's Luck]
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