There were a trio of riders that came up to where Radivick was instructing a few soldiers on how to string up the struggling Duke’s son who was now thrashing wildly before he caught a hard blow to the jaw from the blunt end of a staff.<br/><br/>“ We  had found some sort of tailor shop where one of the Duke’s Earls  have been found… and it turns out the tailor herself had done the work for us,”<br/><br/>“ Jammed a sharp tool right into his scull she did,” said the other, “ We saw him putting his hands upon her in a mild state of undress — I guess he wanted the wrong type of action this day,”<br/><br/>“ What about the slaves and captives?,” Radivick asked, “ Were they excepting of this woman?,”<br/><br/>“ From what we can tell yes,” said the other, “ From the looks of things she may have been helping these poor people under the nose of this one here,”<br/><br/>“Aye,” said the other, “ I agree – a friend or at least a possible ally,”<br/><br/><br/>“ Then let her be however…,” he then pondered, “ Warn her of a swift judgement if she needs a horse and provisions… give this bastard’s best at her disposal… maybe she can lead some of these  people else where — summon this tailor to me if she wishes and if not — let her know we aren’t here to assist but judge and be left to one’s own fate,”<br/><br/>“ Aye,”<br/><br/>Trajan was tied behind a horse and led through the thickets and raw ground of the heavily destroyed land he had allowed to fester under is abuses.  The rider was one of the stable hands that was often whipped, raped, made to endure horrors within his bed chamber for many nights that she would care to re-live without turning into utter rage.  The woman harshly reigned the strong war horse, making sure that he was dragged swiftly and rubbed raw while he  screamed and shouted as his very clothes were torn to shreds and his exposed skin ripped from the rocks, shrubs, thickets, and dirt.  This ride lasted at least three circular revolutions before his skinned and cut body was tossed at the edge of an waiting crowd that pelted him with all matter of debris from filled chamber pots, broken garden tools, rocks, rotten food from the slave larder, and even their own torn field shoes out of hate.  The Duke’s son was no longer the evil prowler to be feared but an agonizing fiend that snarled and groaned from his open wounds that were being doused in human waist and trash.  Radivick and his small war band only watched as they provided the violence of justice through the maimed, humiliated, starved, raped, and brutalized.<br/><br/>Once the crowd had done this for a good few moments, Radivick then directed that Trajan be stripped and shackled by his ankles before being strung up by ropes,  leaving him dangling with his head and arms pointing towards the ground. A single bucket was placed undeneath him before Radivick calmly got off his midnight black stead with red eyes and made his way to look upon him.<br/><br/><br/>“ As I said — judged,” Radivick spoke as he looked upon Trajan who had one working eye as his left had been pierced by a shard of broken glass.<br/><br/>“ Yo…u will p..ay… you de..vil…hunnnnhhnn…ereeaachh…kkk..,”<br/><br/><br/>“ Silence is golden Trajan,” Radivick cut in as he drove a serrated dagger into Trajan’s neck with a pressurized spray of gore. “ Your kind of fiend deserves much worse — but I will teach this Kingdom real respect and with it — I’ll be sure to give your father a most tender gift of my express condolences of his loss — make love to a demon on your way to hell Trajan, the pleasure will be your last,” as he spoke, Radivick sawed through his neck’s flesh and with forceful thrusts, separated Trajan’s head which fell into the bucket that was filled with gore and cut sinews.<br/><br/>The crowd roared in hateful and dark reprisal as some took turns beating what was left of Trajan’s body with sticks or hands as his toro swung and bled from the violence.<br/><br/><br/>Radivick collected his head in a burlap sack and affixed it to his horse’s saddle rigging.<br/><br/>“ Do what you will — though I caution that these fires will ultimately being the King’s men — I suggest you all leave as soon as possible,” Radivick then addressed the crowd, “ If you wish to join me then head north into the Iron Hills and it is there you will find us — the crown will fall,”<br/><br/><br/>Radivick then seemed to be preoccupied by his own thoughts as he trotted his horse to a peculiar outcropping of rocks that was seen not too far from the inner most court yard that was behind the edge of Trajan’s keep. This was the old marker of his family’s home before it was torn down and yet even after all of these years, with a few hard scrapes and some digging, Radivick uncovered a cellar door set made of steel that time and growth had forgotten. Radivick pulled upon the doors and opened it with a bit of force before making his way down the flight of steps that led into a large room of which no one had probably ventured for a good 15 years.  He had created a make shift torch and with a little effort, lit a wound up bundle of cloth which flickered to life and illuminated the room.<br/><br/>Family heirlooms. Armor and arms that his ancestors had donned in wars lost from the history books but were living monuments of a proud service to a once  proud Kingdom.<br/><br/><br/>“ I am home dear wife — it may be late for you and our daughters but soon I will deliver on to you those who sent you to the next world so brutally,” he said as he looked at old paintings placed silently upon the wall as if their instilled eyes were suddenly watching a long lost son of McFien rise again.  Radivick’s  interests laid upon the full plate of armor that, it would seem, his wife had did her due diligence and placed within the secret cellar before being taken.<br/><br/>“ In the end you had did your duty even during certain death…,” he said as he placed  a glove hand upon the armor’s chest.<br/><br/>Instead of nostalgia that should have brought him to tears he instead had years of such agonies put away into his soul in which he had no room but the fierce determination of destruction.  Radivick had ordered a more sturdy pack horse in which he had several pieces taken from the cellar and placed into a wagon filled with arms, heirlooms, paintings, and other remnants of his past life. Radivick had also found within the corner of the basement the remains of his valiant field wolf-Shepard, the family dog that served him so faithfully during those years.  It must have took refuge within the secret keep and laid down until time took it’s life, incidentally a shimmer of humanity was gleaned from this find as Radivick knelt down beside the old bones of his dog and hung his head low as he gently touched the top most part of its scull.<br/><br/>There was a brief silence in that moment. Pictures of laughing children. The sun upon the swept hair of his wife as the trusted Shepard bounded through the thick layers of wheat within the fields.  The sounds. The smells. The touch.<br/><br/>“ Have I truly become a walking demon…,” he then began to say, “ I’ve taken Wars to far off lands and felled man, woman, and beast a like for this damned country. Was called a hero amongst its peoples and for a time, a protectorate  of its cities, deities, and royal line. Yet here you lay dear Gunther, waiting for my return while your world shattered around you. What blood lust you must have felt — what tremendous dishonor your eyes must have wept as Cathrine and Jalana suffered such a cruel fate.  You were like me and yet… here you are…watching over what used to be like… the loyal friend you always were..,”  Radivick Hand began to quiver, only to be turned into a balled fist that shook.<br/><br/>“ For you too old friend — for you too,”<br/><br/>The others allowed their General to have his moment within the hidden cellar before respectfully calling down the twisting stair well.<br/><br/>A few moments did go by before Radivick surfaced from the cellar carrying a box with the remains of his field Shepard within it.