Chapter 2 Second Blood.

In the darkness 3 native tribes men ran for their lives over the grassy plains as 3 pony riders gave chase. On one of the ponies backs stood Mars holding onto his wounded peasant warrior as he lifted up his axe, took aim, and sent his axe flying straight into a native man's back.

"Argh!" The savage yelled in pain as he fell to the ground. Quickly Mars ordered his pony rider to halt as he then hopped off it. And with a knife in hand he rushed to the struggling savage's side and gave him a huge cut on his throat.

The savage tried to stop the bleeding with his hands, but it was no use as Mars took his knife and stabbed the savage man in the back again and again and again.

Consumed by his rage Mars didn't care for the savages pained yells and pleas that he did not understand anyways. Instead he gave the savage a quick death which was more than the savage deserved.

And so another soul came to him. Though as he looked into the distance he could see one savage being cut down by his two pony riders, but the last one had managed to run into the small dark forest overlooking the plains.

Seeing it Mars clicked his tongue in frustration, hopped on his pony and ordered the rider to go after the last savage.

However within the next moment he could see the savage ride out of the woods with a fast horse. Seeing it he realised that the savages had probably hidden their horses within the forest, and now with his slow ponies there was no way to catch the savage.

In annoyance his thoughts seemed to automatically manifest a solution for him. Once more a soul flew out before him, a flash of light was seen, and then a Dwarven rifleman appeared.

The short, but stocky, bearded dwarf quickly took aim at the savage in the far distance. With care he aimed his blunderbuss, and then squeezed the trigger. And then as a mighty bang rang out through the quiet night, smoke from the gun rose as its metallic ball flew far, and then dropped harmlessly to the ground falling short of its intended target.

Lowering his gun the Dwarf cursed his luck. "Aih, shait. Guess my boomstick just ain't all so good as I thought it to be. My apologies my lord, but it seems I have failed."

Mars was no expert with muskets, but with the savage having been several hundreds of meters away he knew it to have been an impossible shot anyway. So with a little shake of his head he shook away the short man's concerns and said.

"Don't worry about it. He was too far away anyway. Instead let's go see what these savages have left behind for us. Maybe we will find something good and once we are ready. I swear that we will find that savage again, and then do onto him and his tribe that what he has done to my family."

With the dwarf following on foot and the other peasant man without a pony joining them they then headed off into the woods. And there to Marse's delight they found themselves 6 horses and some provisions, but no muskets sadly.

Mars knew that many native savage tribes liked to use muskets nowadays, but it seemed that whichever tribe these natives belonged to apparently didn't use them. Still the horses were a good catch as horses were not cheap. Mars was no merchant but he knew that a single horse could get him at least 100 dollars, and with 6 horses he would have 600 dollars. This meaning that if he sold the horses then he could get himself a nice house within one of the big cities, or even get himself a nice big farm in safer lands.

However Mars was on a mission and his rage would not be satisfied with just this much. So with his powers or whatever it was that he had, he summoned another peasant man, who this time held a crossbow in hand and a small quiver of bolts.

Finding this odd, Mars was quick to ask the men.

"Where are your weapons men? Why don't you hold rifles like the short bearded man does?"

Though unknown to him, his words seemingly offended the short Dwarf who was quick to correct Mars by saying.

"Oi, lad. I'm no man and I'm not short. Names Ugrim Waildbeard and I'm a Dwarf hunter, that's why I have my trusty boomstick with me. For wherever I go, my boomstick follows, although it does seem that I don't have many shots left. We will have to make more I suppose, or get some if you know from where?"

Mars knew not what a dwarf was, or why this Dwarf sounded Irish, but then again he had never seen Irish people before just heard that they talked funny. So he supposed this Dwarf named Ugrin Wildbeard must have been just some form of an Irish man. Though from where he could get more powder or shots for his musket he didn't know.

Shaking his head Mars sadly had to tell Ugrin the truth.

"Sorry Ugrin, but the nearest town is a days ride away in the wrong direction. We can't let that savage go off too far or else will never find his trail again. So will just have to make do with what we've got."

To this Ugrin nodded to and confidently said.

"Ai, as a hunter myself I can say you're right. If we don't follow soon then the trail will go cold as we don't even have any hounds with us. But don't you worry my Lord, If you just give me a chance to set up shop, then I'll make my own powder and gear, along with whatever else you or the others might need."

Hearing these words a muscular peasant stepped forth and said.

"Thank you master Dwarf in advance, I would for one very much like to hold a sword again. I do not know why I came here with only a hammer in hand or what happened to me before hand, but I know that I am Hicks, Hicks Armstrong, and I'm a guard of Stormwind. The memories are hazy, but I know that my purpose is to protect you my lord and I greatly fear that with only a savage's axe I will not be capable of doing my duty well."

With Hicks the guard, and Ugrin the hunter on his side, Mars had looked to the others expectingly. But sadly only one of them had a profession made for fighting, a man named Arthur Brightmore was apparently something called a warrior priest.

Mars had never heard of warrior priests before, but if the man knew how to fight then that was fine by him. And the crossbow man sadly was only a bard called Whimsey Warbler.

In disappointment Mars commanded them to ride the horses back to the farm as he took his ponies. Sadly though only Hicks Armstrong knew how to ride a horse, and so they went on foot from there while pulling the horses along.

Returning back home to his Farm, the night was still young and everything was dark. Even still he couldn't help but notice that the two dead peasants bodies were still there laying on the ground. Seeing as how they had arrived within the world with a flash, he would have imagined them leaving the same way, but apparently not.

And strangely enough as he began to assess his situation and plan his next move, Hicks was quick to ask.

"My Lord, what are these savages anyway? I have never seen humanoid creatures with skin such as this? What race do they belong to?"

Hearing the question Mars felt confused. How was it that these men didn't know of these savages? But then again, he himself had no idea from where these 6 summoned men of his even came from to begin with. But seeing as these men had saved his life Mars didn't hesitate to explain to them who these savages were.

In astonishment the 5 men, and 1 Dwarf listened, as he explained to them these savages origin and where and in what time they were at, which were all apparently things that they knew nothing about. But how could it be, how was it that they didn't even know that the year was 1813 After Jesus Christ?

Also while talking to them Mars couldn't help but notice just how good his followers looked. Despite wearing shabby peasant clothes, they all had perfect teeth, good skin, non greasy hairs and overall muscular and healthy appearances, plus each and every one of them were young. The youngest of them, the stable boy named Jack Bell being only 16 years of age, only 3 years older than what he was. While the others were barely in their twenties, which though did kind of seem old to him.

While all of this was interesting and all that, Mars still had things to do and so he was quick to act. Firstly he commanded the men to dig graves for his parents and the two fallen peasant warriors. After which they quite unceremoniously tossed all the bodies into one big hole and said a few prayers.

To his surprise they knew how to do the sign of the cross and say a few prayers. Although Arthur Brightmores prayer seemed odd.

"May the father of understanding judge you well and send you to the light, Amen."

After that Mars threw some dirt on their graves, but he never once shed any tiers. For his father and mother he promised to be strong and not cry or rest until he had avenged them. Though he did wonder was it wrong for him to throw them all into a single grave? In all his 13 years he hadn't seen a funeral.

Shrugging his shoulders Mars pressed onwards uncaring of this. Instead he turned to stuffing his family's one and only wagon full of all the food, chickens, beer, cooking equipment and clean sheets that he could fit onto the wagon, then he tied two horses to it, made Whimsey Warbler the Bard drive it and so they were off.

Sadly only Hicks rode a horse now, while the Dwarf Ugrim rode a pony and the three other men pulled the three remaining horses and two ponies along.

Seeing it Mars figured that he would need to make Hicks teach everyone how to ride horses and soon. Even he himself didn't really know how to ride them so he rode on the wagon and that was not good.

Though as they headed off into the darkness he couldn't help but take one final look at his home. For two years it had been his home. His father had promised them that out here in the frontiers they would make it big. His father believed that eventually others would come, settle close to them and in time their land value would grow and then they could sell their property and become wealthy.

Sadly in the frontiers there were lots of hostile native tribes and so his father's plans had now fallen to shit. Besides living so close to the borders of Spanish Texas was always a big risk anyway.

Not only was Texas owned by Spain, but it was hardly even populated by them. At best there were a few small towns there with populations within the hundreds at best. While most of the land was occupied, by wild native tribes whose numbers were in the thousands or even tens of thousands.

Despite this threat of the natives and him pissing off the Spanish by moving into their lands without permission, Mars pressed onwards anyway. Quickly they went past the marshlands, into the woods and across the river they went, and entered into the territory of Texas by daybreak, ready to hunt and find all those savage's wherever they hid.