Ballad of the Brothers: The Lion

Chapter Seven

Caiaphas jolted awake and fumbles for the iron cavalry saber.  The twins unfurled their wings. They normally slept standing up, fully armed and dressed. They pulled down their visors, and looked for the sorce of the arrow. It was oasis robbers. They had hooked the boat with a heavy chain, the boat pulling taught against it.
The avians ran deftly along the chains, with the metallic tapping of talon on iron.  Caiaphas followed behind, arms spread so as not to fumble. Halfway across the chains, he bent his front knee, and sprang into the air. He had enough mental strength to leap a few feet into the air and glide slowly to the shore. The three stood at the ready.
These oasis robbers were mostly mounted, though there was a wagon to transport the thugs that would be fighting on foot. The leader rode forth to the peak of the hill, eclipsing the sun.  A confident but eloquent voice called out to them.
"Good morning! I apologize for waking good travellers such as you on this fine day, but if I might be so kind, might I purloin some of your belongings, over yonder on that there aquatic vessel?"
Caiaphas scratched his head. "If you are asking us to stand and deliver, the answer is, no, you will stand and deliver. This is a counter robbery."
"My good man, I do rather prefer the term, aggressive borrowing for use when describing such circumstances. But we will see who will leave here with the loot. DRAW."
On his command, a dozen horse archers drew t8heir bows. He noticed that some of their arms strained and wobbled, no doubt not having the right draw strength to use the presumably stolen weapons. Even so, he was not confident that he would be able to deflect the arrows with a psy blast.
He glanced sidelong at Shen, and then at Gaol. "Any ideas?"
"I'd say, bait the fire and catch them on the draw. You, Shen?"
"Agreed, but the horse archers are priority. All the rest we can handle if we stick together."
They gave each other knowing nods, and Caiaphas took the lead, force leaping towards the archers with his cavalry saber. He knew that he was going to try to shoot him out of the air, and they did. They focused fire on him, but as soon as their fingers released their arrows, Caiaphas had forced himself to drop, creating a minor shockwave in the dirt and sand. Taking that as their cue, the twins leaped into the fray, practically blending the  archers and their horses into shreds of meat. Caiaphas took out the miďdle three, cutting the horses' legs and finishing off the grounded enemies. The three gathered in the pocket that this created as the thugs, who were simple axe and dagger users, began to surround them. There was about twenty men in total, with the leader in the back line. Instead of clearing a path towards the leader, they decided to kill each and every one of his men and force a surrender.
Caiaphas had switched to his bastard sword, and began a saber dance, in which he rushed in with a defensive stance, shoulder bashed them, suddenly switched to an offensive stance, and dispatch them.  He danced forward, hacking through enemies left and right. A few dagger users tried to use their speed to stop him, but his superior range resulted in him only getting a few nicks to the arm, but them getting cut down in this way and that way. The bracer was serving him well, saving him from the pain of countless potential axe wounds and severed hands. The other two were just letting them flood in, and eliminating them in waves. In ten minutes they stood surrounded by mangled corpses. Caiaphas pulled an intestinal fragment off of his shoulder and threw it to the side. They all simultaneously turned to face the dandy robber baron. He took off his top hat. "Well, I do say, you lads put up a good fight. A real bang up job. Gloriously terrifying. Now, about the method of my paying you..." He dug through his coat pockets as they approached him menacingly.
"Will an...IOU do?" He weakly extended his quivering hand, the taught note falling limp as Caiaphas stopped in front of him. "You're coming with us. But first," he threw the man down to his hands and knees and began to kick him repeatedly. "this is for wasting my sodding time. You tried," he continued vigorously kicking. The others had joined in, furtively at first, but ramping up the intensity. "You tried to rob three people. On a raft. That were practically in rags. I'm both taking all of your stuff and turning you over to the law. You are lucky that I don't turn you into a latrine." He finally stopped kicking. He forcefully stripped the man naked, and the others tied him to the mast. He put his clothes and all of the weapons on the field into a comically large sack with a green money sign on it, unhooked the boat, and got on.
They continued drifting away. Shen was holding up a bag for the seasick capitalist to throw up into, his dingaling flapping like a windsock as the boat hurried down the current.
"Please, don't turn me in. I wouldn't make it in jail. I don't care what you do, except for maybe torture, or sodomy, but the latter may be negotiable on some days provided that I am properly compensated. I don't judge."
Caiaphas folded his arms. "Give me ONE reason that I should not send you to Vorpal Cay, to work the mines like you belong."
The man was sweating heavily, then he suddenly brightened. "You seem like you are trying to build some sort of fighting force of your own. You see, my boy, I am skilled at the arts of Arithmancy. I am a numbers man. For troops, you need logistics. You need swords, uniforms, even cheap booze. Oh and I also have a few... shall i say, free market, connections with varied skillsets.  Say what you will, but the market is a necessity for obtaining cheap stuff, and certain...special items. I will take care of all of that, on my honor as a disreputable businessman."
Caiaphas glared at him, then glanced at Shen and Gaol. "You guys' call. You know more about this...negotiation stuff than me."
The twins shot each other a questioning glance, and then shrugged. "If he's a liar, you could always have him tortured, sodomized, and/or killed." Shen commented nonchalantly. He was filing his talons.
The baron froze for a moment, and began to sweat. Caiaphas gave him an evil, hungry lion's smile. "Welcome aboard, Quartermaster. Give it your all, or we will give you our all." He gestured in greeting, weakly turned, and began to read the stars.
His hood flapped, and his silver hair seemed to radiate it's own light. In his heart, he was glad to have a new ally, though he tried not to let it show. He had really turned away from the rest so that they wouldn't see him smile. Like all good things, it faded into oblivion, whithering when he dared to look upon the truths of the world.
His premonitions still all only showed the same thing, no matter how far ahead he looked. Visions of some catastrophe. He suspected psychic interference. The only difference he could make was the time of day... but this line of thinking sparked an idea. He would force his visions forward into the night, and then try to have a look at the state of the moonlit sky.
Gaol leaned forward, and reflexively recoiled. Caiaphas was grinning darkly. She didn't know what he was planning, but she was afraid. After all, this was the son of a Dark Lord...ally or not, she found it difficult to trust someone like him, who seemed to relish in bloodshed...who was so coldhearted...who suffered silently with a smile.
Shen was sharing a smoke with Reuben with a solemn look on his face. He didn't care what Caiaphas did to him, but he worried that he may hurt his sister, the woman he had sworn to himself to protect. He wanted to like Caiaphas, but the path he walked was a dark one. He mentally filed away a plan to eliminate the wretched child.