Chapter 34 Early birds take the bridge
Rohan put on all his clothes and strapped his old shortsword on the left next to his new wakizashi. He had strapped the other sword on his right to balance it out a bit, as well with the 2 military knives he had gotten from Britta.
All the stuff they needed was brought to them quickly yesterday evening, including meals and drinks.
"You got some new stuff eh? At the smithery I guess?" Ragnar asked curiously about the 2 new swords. He had strapped the grenade launcher to his back and had gotten his straps with grenades over his shoulders. He looked like he was about to shoot a movie or commit a couple war crimes.
"Yeah got a wakizashi and a regular sword from the smithery for free. These were one of the last things available that were decent enough." Rohan tapped on both swords. "seems like you also got your things… happy?"
"Couldn't be any better, living one of my old dreams."
"Being stupid isn't a dream" Britta called him out
Ragnar threw his pillow at Britta this time who got hit right in the face and spilled her coffee over the floor.
"Fu*k" She was pissed and Ragnar felt it in his bones.
Rohan turned around to look at Ragnar but only heard the door close and Ragnar's shouting loudly.
"I will see you at the meeting spot" 'Seems like someone can be quick on their feet when they want to.
"Oh just wait, I'll get you." Britta talked to herself softly as she had a devilish grin on her face. Giving Rohan shivers as he finished packing his stuff and eating breakfast quickly.
They were only packing lightly for maximum of 3 days, trying to leave as much as they could in the castle to keep up the speed. The whole plan was to quickly reach Duran's Cross and take it over withing 2 days. It might be very optimistic but everyone believed it was possible. After all, the satyrs had yet to show some significant resistance.
Rohan and the rest, except Ragnar, left the building and walked towards the exit of the castle. The meeting spot for their shelter was slightly west of the castle, but they still had to walk all the way down the hill to leave the castle area. Just like everyone else. There were lot of people walking on the main road going down the castle. Some were alone while other were in groups. Some were making some last minute fun while others looked stern ahead of them, waiting for the storm to start.
The further down Rohan walked, the more quiet it would get. People would become quiet or stop talking at all. Only the steps of dozens of people could be heard. The early morning mist was still hanging in the city, bringing a humid breeze with it.
Reaching the meeting spot, most people of the shelter were already there, he recognized quite some people but there were still many unknown faces. It was 4:45 and the group was complete. The plan was set to start at 5:00, but starting early didn't make a difference to Follin.
Rohan heard someone loudly scrape their throat as he looked to a slightly elevated person. Follin was standing on a box above the rest wanting to say something to the group.
"Welcome everyone, we are complete and will start a bit early. Each team will split up and go to their own designated bridge after my speech. I dislike long or any motivational speech in general, so I will keep it short. Good luck and let's move."
As the silence settled in, Follin got down from the box and moved to his team. His speech was a very short and blew everyone's expectations. The rest of the people stood still for a couple seconds before the first started to move. Slowly the sounds would start building up as people started to follow Follin.
"Well let's go then" Britta moved first and the rest of the group followed. She gave Ragnar a longer look as he had joined them again silently. Ragnar could move quietly whenever he wanted to, but he didn't use that skill all too often.
"I will keep track of the route and will inform you when we need to split up from the rest. We will stay with Irimia's group the longest and split up a little bit before the bridge."
"Thanks Leslie" Ragnar gave him a slap on the shoulder as the group joined with the others.
Both teams kept more separate from each other, only Britta talked with Irimia to discuss meeting spot before we went separate ways. It would be a half day walk to reach the bridge, and hopefully it would be empty. But Rohan had a feeling that it wouldn't be.
This time his feeling was right.
When they approached closer to the bridge, they went inside on of the buildings on the side that allowed a full view of the bridge. It was a simple design, made purely for efficiency and low building costs. The bridge was purely grey in color, matching with the road or mountains.
As Rohan looked at the bridge he could see at least a dozen satyr's stand on the other end of the bridge. All wearing armor from leather harnesses to metal plates, this time there were even bowmen, or maybe Rohan should say bowsatyr's.
"Guess the bridge wasn't empty this time. Most of them must have come from the most inner parts of the city." Rohan thought out loudly, they hadn't even seen this much armor at the furthest place they got. Either these are from the most inner part or they have suddenly gained equipment.
"We take them down hard and fast, we can strike as the first group and surprise them." Ragnar stood excitedly as he hadn't even looked at the enemies.
"Only way is to take m down, let's get ready." Britta got up first as they quickly made a plan. They would need to move more carefully around the bowsatyr's, but hopefully Jan would have their back.
Jan had taken a prime spot at a window, allowing for almost perfect vision over the bridge while Leslie would stand close to the entrance of the building. Rohan walked to the bridge, the rest would need to be the main attack as Jan would support them.
"Feels like we are missing some battle music, some war movies have good music for moments like this" Ragnar smiled a bit and tried to make the mood a bit lighter.
"Shutup" Britta jabbed at him. Not in the mood for his antics.