Clad in dark clothing, so as not to be easily spotted in the moonlight, they marched out of the forest and across the fields. Three of their archers led the way. They all tried to make themselves as small as possible to be less conspicuous in the cornfield. Moreover, they all knew where they had to go, as the light from the oil lamp of the post’s guard could be seen from afar. They crept through the tall-grown corn. Their weapons barely made a sound, but the rustling of the cornfield, they were travelling through, did. None of this mattered, however, as the wind was currently making the entire field rustle in general, thus acoustically masking their approach.

  The settlement had no wall or palisade around it. But what they were aiming for wasn’t the settlement. They wanted to break into the military base. To achieve this, however, they had to get past the wall that surrounded it on all sides. Sure, the wall had gates, but they were massive, firmly locked and guarded. There was only one defence tower, upon which an extremely tired, bored and inattentive guard stood. What was particularly important here, however, was that the walls were accessible on the top and could be walked on, which meant that they only had to climb them to gain access to the post. And that's exactly what they would do! Three squads of them had dragged long ladders with them for this very purpose and were now sneaking up as inconspicuously as possible. The archers drew their bows and took aim. The guard looked in their direction and suddenly began to realise that they were here. But just as he was about to raise the alarm, it happened: Shot! An arrow had pierced the man's throat and he collapsed at the spot.

  At that moment, Theodor gave the signal to advance. All the men sprinted towards the wall and erected their ladders at lightning speed. As the guard's oil lamp had broken, it was almost impossible to see anything. This would very quickly attract another guard to investigate what had happened. Haste was the order of the day. Therefore, the men climbed up the ladders as quickly as possible. Now they were inside the base! They did not split up and ran down the stairs of the watchtower together to reach their one objective: The "confiscation" of the documents. There was no one to be seen in the first room, the stairs led them to, just a table with an armchair and a box. However, a voice could be heard from the room below: "Hello? Who's there?" They had been discovered! Then hasty footsteps began. The next staircase was just round the corner. A soldier suddenly come up those stairs. He spotted their figures in the darkness and shouted loudly, "Hey, HEYYYYY!", to warn the others. The moment of battle had arrived. In any case, this was not an infiltration mission that was supposed to take place quietly, but it would have been foolish not to capitalise on the element of surprise.

  Theodor was the first to act. He thrust the spear, he had brought with him, forward with full force, straight into the guard's stomach. The others piled on. Yup, that one was definitely dead. A flurry of hasty footsteps, rumbling and clattering could be heard from below. Finally, the loud ringing of a bell rang out. Now the whole base was alerted. The men made their way down to the lower floor. They were now met by a handful of fighters, all with swords. G?tz and his squad took over the fight here and used a mixture of sword and spear combat. The spears had too great a reach for the swords of their opponents, but in such close quarters they were naturally limited in what they could do. Only two of his men were wounded, but several of the opponents were struck down! The rest retreated out of the door. Their teams advanced again. They hurried out of the door into the courtyard of the post, with the main building, the commander's house, in front of them.

  Many more soldiers were now converging here, their lamps now illuminating the courtyard in a warm light. Theodor shouted his orders aloud for squad numbers one and two to keep the defenders at bay, so that he and his squad could advance into the main building. And so they did. The two teams attacked the soldiers and tried with all their might to push them aside, so Theodor and his men could get through. The breakthrough was successful and the men advanced into the building. Meanwhile, the defenders were having a hard time not only to keep their opponents at bay, but to survive! The soldiers weren’t weak warriors, but they were almost all just hired mercenaries and for the most part had little combat experience. Theodor's men, on the other hand, were experienced and intensively trained resistance fighters. They were like guerrillas, an organised, armed resistance of the people.

  Meanwhile, Theodor and his men stormed the commander's house. While his martyrs were engaging two attackers, Einhard, also one of his, told him: "We just need to find the commander's working chamber, sir. Our collaborator has locked himself in there with the document stuff we want. .... At least, if all went according to plan." - "I know!" shouted Theodor, trying to drown out the noise of the battle. A few more mercenaries came out of some doors and down from the upper floor. With a wave of his hand, Theodor ordered his men to stand behind him. He would deal with these "few weaklings" on his own! The opponents charged at him, swords drawn. He engaged the first two with his spear and outmanoeuvred them with his quick, skilful movements. He skilfully swung and moved the spear around, making it difficult for their eyes to follow him, while fending off their sword blows. He hinted at an attack a few times, but those were only feints. Then, jab! One impaled! Jab, the second one! Then he took the spear and hurled it with all his might at a third one, who was following behind. He, too, was pierced with enormous force. The hero of the resistance was unstoppable! The other enemy soldiers became somewhat hesitant at the sight of this. Theodor's men, full of admiration for their leader, had a strong boost in morale. They let out a thunderous battle cry and charged together at the remaining enemies, finishing them off. Theodor also managed to cut down two more with his sword.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Finally, they managed to eliminate the defenders. The leader's troop had suffered relatively few casualties, among which sadly was G?tz. Now he walked along the corridor on the third floor, opening one door after the other to see where the commander's room was. They found the aforementioned person, but not in his room, but hiding behind the door of another room. "What a coward!" Theodor thought to himself. "Killing me won't do you any good either!" he said, trying to come across as tough. Theodor grabbed him by the collar. He looked at him with his usual unwavering expression and said: "I just want to know where your documents are! Where is your chamber?" Almost immediately, the commander's fa?ade crumbled and he flinched fearfully. "At the very end of the corridor to the left." - "Good," Theodor simply replied. He lowered him to the ground. Feeling safer again, the commander then unwisely spoke: "What's the matter with you people? Do you let barbarians lead you now?" Theodor was surprised at that moment. He hadn't thought anyone would be able to pick out his slight accent so quickly. Then he ordered his men to get rid of him. It had nothing to do with what the man had said. All servants of the regime would be eliminated, at least if Theodor had his way.

  He went to the room and knocked on the door. A voice called: "Password?" Theodor was confused for a moment, as he knew nothing about a password. So he simply replied: "Open the door immediately or the martyrs will treat you the same as everyone else on this base!" Those were the magic words. It wasn't the right password, but, well, the idea of the password had probably come from August, who knew nothing about the execution of such missions. Speaking of which, August had been holding position with the rearguard at the edge of the forest the whole time. When the fighting had broken out in the watchtower, they had moved closer to the base to secure the retreat or intervene, if something went wrong. They couldn't just leave the leader behind, even though it was obvious to them, that this endeavour would succeed, or at least that Theodor wouldn’t fall. Over the years, he had built up a myth around himself. For the resistance fighters, he was "invincible".

  Now the gates were opened from the inside by those who had attacked the army post. Theodor and his men stepped out. They waited briefly until all their fighters had gathered. Some of them had looted weapons and armour, and apparently someone had now set fire to the post. August was not pleased, but he was not prepared to play fireman either. More and more people were gathering from the town to see what was going on.Nobody dared to disturb or attack the group in any way, another testament to the regime's "popularity". However, they bore witness to the flag of those who had stormed the military base, flying over it. A red flag was now flying on the roof, depicting a raised fist with thorny vines wrapped around its lower arm. Below it was the following slogan: "Liberty or Death!" The Griffin flag of Ordania lay trampled on the ground. Somebody must have definitely called for reinforcements already, which is why the Martyr Brigades had no time to stay.Their fallen were few in number, so they were able to take their bodies with them.

  Then came the signal from the leader to retreat. And like ghosts in the night, they were gone. After they had completed their retreat and melted away into the forests, Theodor and his men said a prayer of thanks to the Almighty. Without his help they could not have made it, for in their eyes they were nothing without God. Then they buried their fallen. And the captured documents would prove to be extremely helpful. It was a list of nobles and their military ranks. Hence, the Martyr Brigades had a whole host of other names to add to their hit list. G?tz’s demise had not been in vain.