I will prove myself...
And prove myself I did... Or so I would like to believe, I've taken on two major tasks alongside my companions in the Bloody Dawn. My head is still on my shoulders so I consider it an overall success.
Our first task came upon me suddenly, I heard rumors spread around town about an organized protest against The Watch... A demonstration if you will about the public's general disdain for the way things are run... Or so I thought.
We were but a small unit of sellswords armed with clubs and shields. Our captain stressed the importance of protecting The Watch against a potentially aggressive mob. We arrived in the early hours of the evening and I was left somewhat confused as to what we were doing.
The plan was simple, form a shield wall behind the metal gate of the jail yard to protect against any potential assault upon The Watch.
That's all I needed to know, I was never quite into the politics of Bree and quite frankly I was too preoccupied with other things in life than who's angry with who. I was simply doing my duty to keep order in Bree, or at least help prevent anyone from getting hurt in this protest of sorts.
The evening drew on as we simply waited... The golden evening sun slowly began to creep under the houses and then we saw our first few protestors march down the road to the Jail.
We formed the shield line and simply stared down at them, I was in the middle of the line and willingly would take the brunt of any attack, however the first thing I noticed is how different the accents of these people sounded... Turns out that they were from Gondor! They weren't even Breelanders and yet they had beef with The Watch... This is curious indeed, why would folk from the lands South be up to mischief here?
It is not my job to ask questions... So I bit my tongue.
It was looking fairly dull, there were only a handful of people attempting to argue with some higher ups in the Watch... I never really paid attention to the argument, my attention was fixed on the incoming band of folk heading down the road right to us with angry faces. There was a fair number of them, they could have easily overpowered us if anything went hairy.
Before we knew it, curses, accusations and insults were thrown from both sides of the fence, it droned on like this for many hours as we were forced to stand there in the line, the shouting and yelling and chanting and screaming was enough to give anyone a headache, I did not feel entirely comfortable to be honest. Who would in such a situation?
Suddenly the first assault was upon us! Some young girl with likely no one to discipline her started throwing apples over the fence, whether or not she was trying to feed us or attack us was unknown, one apple barely skimmed past the head of the fellow next to me. Other than that it was just a minor annoyance...
It caught my attention at this point amidst the arguing and screaming that several shady fellows were lingering at the back of the ever increasing crowd, they had a grim look to them and seem eager to start trouble, next thing I know I hear the distinct sound of a crossbow being fired, I have more faith in my shield from this day... It saved me from quite a bit of trouble...
I braced and ducked behind my large shied defensively "Hold the line!" I called out "Hold the line and they shall not pass!"
The drums of war may as well have been playing as I fiercely smacked my club against my shield, rattling out a warning to all in the crowd like an echoing boom!
If only my companions followed suit, we may have even scared them off!
There was no attacks or attempted assassinations for some time, the sound of galloping filled the air as several grim looking riders on great war steeds approached, they had a quarrel of their own against The Watch. I recognized these fellows as men from Rohan with their blonde hair and blue eyes and distinctive accents. They were armed and headstrong, our attention soon turned them.
But before we could react some great brute of a woman was cheeky enough to... Offer me a weapon... By throwing an axe straight at my shield, it was obvious that she was just there to give us trouble, I laughed as I skillfully blocked the blow, how kind of her to offer me a free axe! A gift I shall cherish as I split wood for the fire! Ha!
My excitement soon dispersed as the crowd slowly dispersed. These vagabonds from Rohan however were not going to easily be convinced.
I sort of kept to myself while our captain risked heading out into the open to speak to people, I simply busied myself by opening and closing the gate so that people could come and go safely. It turns out that the whole protest was over some woman being arrested for but a day... I remembered how that lass Dalfura was detained like so... No one threw a fit over that. Whoever this woman was I reckon she either had power of popularity...
Not my position to ask questions... So I kept my head down.
I was almost readying myself for a fight as these riders drew weapons... Though what use would clubs be against spears!? Thankfully they were convinced eventually to leave... The whole ordeal lasted the entire night. I did not linger to be thanked or praised, I headed straight back to The Barracks to rest... No doubt I shall recieve some merit for my services. I was simply doing my job...
Our next task did not go so smoothly... And I would dare to say it was far more dangerous... But that's a tale for another day.
