Artwork by Pelycosaur24
“Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her; but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.” ― Voltaire
Hardly waiting to reload, the pioneer lunged over her prone form, slashing with his musket's fixed socket bayonet, at the now hideously shrieking wraith, which had caught the fired ball which had blazed from the weapon's muzzle like a flaming star much like her own pistol had previously done, to strike the creature just below what she figured was it's collar bone. Half rising, she lunged with her own sword in hand, and ran the creature nearly halfway through it's body. The pioneer stabbed his palely glittering bayonet home as well, into the wraith's hulking shoulder, seemingly killing it. It gave an eerie, wailing cry that sounded to Marie Luise like a soul being blasted into torment, and then it's body began to dissolve into what seemed to be clouds of smoke and sparkling, evil looking flecks of light before her astonished eyes.
Pausing only long enough to assist Marie Luise to her feet, the pioneer looked around quickly, finding no more of the wraiths immediate in sight, he then gestured for her to follow him. She needed no inducement to continue her hurried exit from the confines of the dangerous woods. The Ravens suddenly appeared and swooped protectively around her as she ran.
As the two dodged through the trees, both hurriedly worked to reload their firearms. The pioneer after what seemed like hours suddenly signaled her to halt, she listened but could hear nothing in the silent wood. Cautiously, he motioned to her to follow him towards and through a patch of glittering moonlight, that blazed through the dark forest canopy. She saw four human figures emerge from the woods beyond it, one of whom waved in greeting to the pioneer who nodded back affably.
Of the four approaching men, she realized, one was a soldier of antiquity, an ancient Greek hoplite armed with a great bronze shield and a long spear, the other was a heavily bearded Moscow Streltsy, armed with a saber, matchlock arquebus and bardiche of the reign of Ivan IV Grozny, known to the rest of Europe as Ivan the Terrible. The third and four figures that emerged into the clearing were also soldiers but their uniforms were utterly unfamiliar to Marie Luise, though the taller of the two, seemed to her to be from some eastern nation, the long beard and smart turban and a uniform of a light earth tone almost like the fawn brown once worn by the Austrian artillerymen, with brown leather equipment and a strange rifle of a design she had never seen before although it was fitted with a wickedly long sword bayonet. His dusky skin and fierce hawk like face and soldierly, disciplined air made her think of the fabulously wealthy and exotic Indian princes, that one of her more traveled relations had mentioned to her. The other was nearly her own height and grabbed in highly decorative armour, made of over lapping, lamellar plates with a broad helmet with an elaborate crest, his face half hidden by a leering demon mask suggested one of the kingdoms of still further distant Asia, though she wasn't sure enough to say which. He was armed with two gently curved swords on different lengths and a great bow of a style not found in Europe.
When they both entered the moonlight, Marie Luise watched as the Prussian pioneer ahead of her, suddenly rippled as the moonlight touched his body. His uniform became tattered and riddled with holes caused by bullets or shrapnel, she came to a complete stop in wordless alarm. The pioneer turned about when he noticed that she wasn't moving forward with him to join the others. His face withered under the moon's silvery light, his skin paled, became semi-transparent and flickered with pale light as if it was some sort of aurora borealis held tightly to his body. His skull, suddenly appeared as his face all but disappeared from view. Empty black eye sockets gazed at her. The pioneer realized what had happened by the stunned expression upon Marie Luise's face, and for the first time spoke aloud to her. The Pioneer was rather impressed that she hadn't screamed in fright or terror on seeing him. Made of sterner stuff then most new arrivals, this one, he thought.
"My apologies, if my true appearance gave you are start, milady. We're all like this here, in this Land of the Dead. The moonlight shows everyone as they really are and quite as often how they died in the first place. It also drives the wraiths away, they cannot bear it's light for any length of time." His voice was little more then a whisper although it seemed to echo in her mind, though the jaw of his skeletal face hardly seemed to move as he spoke.
Marie Luise suddenly pulled off one of her gloves, her hand trembled with horrified shock as she watched her skin and muscles of her hand fade and disappear to be replaced by a hand of moving bones. Unconsciously, her bared hand reached to her face. The Indian soldier, pulled a pocket mirror from a pale cloth satchel bag at his hip and passed it to her wordlessly, she took it and raised it to examine her own face. Marie Luise, felt horrified terror and fascination cannon through her as she gazed at the image reflected back at her, a human skull surrounded by wildly tousled, blonde hair which rose above her uniform collar.
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