Winter is Coming Pt. 1 (Job Solo)

[Bea]

Timestamp: Frost 1st, 120

Bea wrapped her arms around one of her Iron Moon sisters, pressing her ear against the woman's back, feeling the heavy vibrations of the chariot between their thighs. She had a mix of excitement and nervousness growing in her stomach. She always did before a raid. She gripped a little tighter around Lia's midsection. The woman took a hand from the handlebar, and reached down, gripping her smaller sister's hand.

Bea looked out over the cracked plains of the badlands as the raiding party rode together, a vicious pack of women and metal. This was one of many raids going out right now, on the cusp of the harvest season. Hit the farmlands of Ostigen hard and fast, cloaks wrapped tight about them, trailing out behind. The night air was crisp and the moon over head sheened off what few pieces of metal actually managed to shine.

The chariot that Bea was on then broke off from the pack of the others. They were getting close. She said a silent prayer that her other sisters would stay safe, for they were going to be the smash and grab portion of the raid. Bea's job was to burgle silently while the farm was distracted with the ongoing raid. And soon, Bea clutched tighter again, as the soil beneath their wheels changed from the hard, dry, dead pan clay of the badlands proper, becoming softer and spongier as they entered the grasses on the outer edges of the Ostigen farmlands.

They came to a small copse of trees, and Lia pulled the chariot over. Bea slid off, as Lia began to hide it in the brush, just in case they got unlucky with a random passerby. Bea removed her cloak, handing it to Lia, taking in a deep breath of the night air. Lia smiled at her, "You'll do great, sister. And I will be here waiting for your triumph." Lia stepped forward, pulling Bea into a tight embrace, which she returned warmly. With a nod, Bea departed the rendezvous point, creeping through the trees and out the other side of the copse. She said a silent prayer for Lia too, and not solely because she was Bea's ride home.

Bea found a low stone wall separating the small patch of trees and the farmer's property. The forward scouts had said to follow this wall up the rise to find the farm house. Bea crept down low, walking in a half crouch, moving slowly over the grassland, her eyes scanning the moonlit lands around her. Nothing but grass so far. The scouts had reported a few patrolling guards but not near enough to be a problem for a raid.

As Bea made her way to the top of the small hill, she lowered herself to a prone position, crawling the rest of the distance to the peak. From her position there, she could see the large farm house, due north of her along the wall, which was home to the family that owned the property. Off to the northeast of her position, were the other smaller homes, for the other families that also worked the land. From the scouting reports, she knew there were barns on the other side of the property, just northwest of the main house.

And so Bea laid there, waiting for the signals. Her go was the second signal. And so she waited, trying to swallow down the nerves that were peaking. She knew there was a possibility that she might not see some of her sisters ever again after this. Or any of them. But if they didn't try, if they didn't manage to steal enough supplies before winter came, the deaths would be slow and painful.

[Bea]

And the first signal came.

She saw the soft glow from the small collection of homes. The roof of a porch had been set ablaze and was spreading quickly, consuming the dried wood rapidly. It didn't take long for the shouts to begin, as people vacated their houses, coming to the rescue of the one that was burning. Bea cast her eyes back on the main house, looking to the windows that had lights coming from within them. Shadows. Movement.

She watched as one older man and two younger men burst out of the front door, running down toward the blaze. And she knew that if she'd seen it, the others did too. She continued to watch the men run, arriving at the burning house as people found buckets and began using the unclean slop water to try and put out the fire. And then she heard it. The loud roar of many chariots coming to life, on the far side of the main house, down by the barns.

Bea didn't look toward the panicked villagers anymore, knowing that they'd be plenty distracted by her sisters. She climbed to her feet and began running, keeping as low of a crouch as she could muster, so that her form would at least somewhat blend in with the wall she was following. She assumed there were more people still in the house, she hadn't seen any women leave. She couldn't enter through a door, odds are those women were there, looking out with worry or fear.

At the corner of where the porch met the house, there was a trellis with some vine plant upon it. Bea approached it, gently reaching up, finding first a hand hold. She pulled on it, seeing if it might support her weight. It didn't budge. She lifted a foot, finding a foothold, and then began to pull herself up. She moved slow, knowing that being careful was more important than speed right now. Each time she found a new foothold, she eased her weight upon it rather than crashing it down. It took a couple of minutes, but soon she reached up, heaving her light form onto the roof of the porch, her arms burning from the exertion. She laid there, resting, casting her eyes on the window.

'Fuck.'

There on the other side of the glass, a large dog was looking at her curiously, but as her eyes had found it, she could see its heckles beginning to rise. And then it began to bark, deep, booming bellows, scratching and pawing against the glass. Reacting as fast as she could, Bea pulled herself upright, climbing up closer to the porch, pressing herself flat against the wall. The window with the dog was on her right, another window on her left. But she stayed still, waiting, the dog still barking for it knew she was still there.

Then she heard a woman's voice, "Frank! Cut the shit! We got bigger problems than having to listen to your stupid ass!" Bea winced as she heard the dog squeal loudly, likely struck by the woman, but its barking ceased. Bea slowly eased herself over to the window on her left, peering in ever so slightly from around the corner. The room was dark, and Bea couldn't make much out inside, the light of the moon behind the house. She moved slowly, squatting down in front of the window. She pressed her hands flat against the glass and began to slide it upwards. No one ever locked the windows on the higher stories of a home.

The window opened, Bea slipped in moving slow, slipping a foot down gently, easing in. Letting her eyes adjust to the darkness, she found herself in some sort of bedroom, one that was quite messy. Seeing no one in the bed or chair, she turned, easing the window closed behind her. She then moved slowly, testing at the floor boards, seeing if they'd creak under her weight. She moved toward the door, easing it shut, making sure to turn the knob before doing so, to prevent it from clicking into the lock.

She then moved over to the table next to the bed, finding a candle there. Reaching into her pockets, she grabbed her flint and iron and tiny snuffbox of paper tinder. She stuffed the tinder around the wick, and began to strike the iron against the stone. It took several frustrating tries, but she managed to light the candle. She left it where it was, illuminating the room. It seemed to be a child's room, with a bunch of stuffed animals scattered around. Some of them chewed on, stuffing tossed everywhere. She reached down, picking one up, finding what looked to be teeth marks in the fabric. The dog. Whoever's room this was, the dog spent a lot of time in here too.

She kept a hold of the slobbery toy, moving slowly through the room. She opened a closet. There was a wide variety of dresses hanging there. A woman's room. She looked first around in the bottom of the closet, mostly finding shoes, and a heavy wooden box of some sort. No lock on it, but still, heavy wooden boxes usually held something good in them. She opened it up, finding a huge stack of papers. She didn't bother reading them, pulling the stash pouch from her back, shoving the lot of them inside it. She then closed the box, and stood upon it, reaching up to the shelf. More boxes but certainly nothing worth her time. She stepped down, putting the now empty wooden box back where she'd found it.

Then she heard loud, angry footsteps coming down the hall.

Bea, panicking, quietly shut the closet doors, and immediately crept over to the wall next to the door, as the door opened. It swung gently, as someone walked in. As they stepped past, Bea reached out, grabbing the knob to ease the door open just a bit more, so as to cover her form. She heard a woman's voice speak, different from the one earlier. "I thought I blew this candle out..." The woman sighed, and Bea could see the light moving in the room as the woman picked it up. The earlier woman yelled a name through the house, and the woman in the room with Bea yelled back, "I'm coming, god!" She stomped out of the room, not closing the door behind her, having taken the candle with her. Bea heard her disappear down the steps and breathed a sigh of relief, taking some moments to let her heart slow back down.

Continued in Part 2