The Iron Eagles

They moved under the cover of night. Dravisha had enveloped them in a blanket of darkness as she had promised. The camp's torches were alight, and Jenny could see several figures in Landsknecht uniforms move. They carried either muskets or halberds, and wore colourful clothing with wide-brimmed hats that had big feathers sticking out. Their clothing was so over-the-top flamboyant that Jenny found them ridiculous, but she had to admit they had a weird charm. 

None of the guards could see her; Dravisha's magic held true. Their eyes sometimes scanned directly over where they stood, making Jenny's heart palpitate, but much to her relief, they noticed nothing. It felt unsettling how their gazes passed right through her so vacantly. They tiptoed past the guards until they reached a stable of horses.

Dravisha turned to Jenny and whispered, "Are you thinking what I am thinking?"

"No, what are you thinking?"

Dravisha subtly nodded in the direction of the stable. 

Jenny's eyes followed her gesture, and she tsked. "This is a stupid idea."

"With horses, we'd be so much faster."

"How are we going to steal horses from right under the noses of those guards?"

"Simple, we kill them silently, then we take the horses quietly, and once we are a good distance away, we ride them."

"This is a stupid idea."

"You already said that."

"Well, I am repeating it to emphasize how stupid of an idea this is."

"Stupid can be genius if it works."

"No."

"Yes, so let's do it, Jenny Nyxandra Nachtdorn. I'm not walking for who knows how long just because you're too much of a wuss."

Jenny felt a hook penetrate her heart, pulling her towards the nearly insurmountable draw to comply with the Demoness's will. A cold current surged through her veins, raising goosebumps as she fought the dizzying urge to obey. She clenched her fists, shaking off the feeling. "Don't do that," she hissed quietly.

"Fine, but only if you let me steal those horses," Dravisha whispered innocently.

"Ugh, fine."

Three guards stood near the stables, completely unaware of their impending doom. Dravisha snuck up on the man furthest to the left, while Jenny crept up to the man on the right. Dravisha had her obsidian dagger ready; Jenny, her flamberge dagger.

They looked at each other before commencing a simultaneous take-down. Jenny slit a red smile across the neck of the guard, clutching his mouth closed so he couldn't alert anyone. She had angled the cut so that the blood splattered down instead of up.

Dravisha similarly held the mouth closed of the guard she killed, but she had repeatedly stabbed him in the heart instead. No need to worry about blood splatter when there was no muscle pumping blood in the first place. Dravisha loved a clean kill with minimal blood gushing about. It's more stealthy and therefore more aligned with her shadow nature. The third guard whirled around to see his colleagues fall, only for Dravisha's dagger to impale his face the very next second. She had flung the implement at him and then resummoned it into her hand before the guard dropped to the floor.

In a matter of seconds, all three guards were dead on the ground, and the stables were unguarded.

"See? Easy as taking candy from a baby. What were you even worried about?" Dravisha whispered.

Jenny shook her head. "We aren't done yet, and there were so many things that could have gone wrong."

"What's the point of living without risk?" Dravisha asked as she entered the stable. She eyed the row of horses, assessing the quality of each mare until she found a nice, strong black courser that suited her.

"My, what a pretty fellow," she murmured, opening the stall. Dark shadows crept from her hands into the mare as she used a bewitching spell to make the horse more docile.

Jenny followed her, searching for a horse of her own. The first horse she reached for, a small garron, tried to bite her. She looked further until she found a brown courser with a white stripe down its muzzle. She reached out, placing her hand on its nose. It snorted before calming down. She petted it until the mare seemed to accept her.

Before they could exit the stable, they saw lanterns headed in their direction. Two patrol guards headed directly for the stable where the dead corpses lay. Jenny held her breath, and Dravisha shrouded them in the darkness of the stable, but the bodies remained visible. They would have to hope the guards wouldn't spot them in the gloom.

"We should've moved the bodies inside," Jenny whispered.

"Too late now."

The guards were now right next to the bodies. They didn't seem to have noticed until one of them stumbled on the leg of one of the corpses.

"Shit, what the hell," He muttered and looked down. "Oh my G—"

He didn't get to finish before receiving an obsidian dagger to the face. The other guard turned to face his comrade before screaming, "Murder!"

Dravisha resummoned her dagger and flung it at the second guard, killing him, but the alarm was already raised.

"Change of plans, let's ride," Dravisha said as she swung on the saddle of her horse. "Hiya," she shouted as she spurred the Courser into a gallop.

Jenny followed suit. The camp erupted into chaos. Half awake mercenaries stumbled out of tents, still rubbing their bleary eyes as they looked around confused. The sound of pounding feet echoed through the camp as those already awake rushed toward the stables. Jenny muttered a string of curses under her breath as they charged towards the exit of the encampment. Hooves thundered against the packed dirt. In front of them, a group of Landsknecht prepared to intercept them with halberds and muskets.