Snippet #1233531

Hauclir was not impressed at Tarn's behaviour. Yes, the woman- was Marie her name? he couldn't remember-, had failed in her task. But to suddenly start beating her for it was ridiculous. He was fairly certain she didn't even fall under his command. Besides the fact that he thought it wrong to hit a woman, it was actions like that that lead to mutinies, or to the officers involved disappearing in the night. Despite all of these misgivings, he remained silent. This was not the sea, perhaps things worked differently here. When the order was given to march out he obediently double timed it, easily keeping pace with everyone.

When he saw the fight, he was at first rather annoyed. This was quickly turning into a patrol he probably should've skipped. Then the big guy with the axes called him a sea horse. In the back of his mind he knew that the man probably had no idea who he was, but at the front of it a furnace of rage opened up. He slung the small bolt thrower from his shoulder and began to ready it to fire. He levered the arms into position, locked the trigger mechanism in place, and then attached the arming lever. The whole thing had taken a couple of minutes to set up, and then it took him another minute or so to complete the twenty ratchets needed to pull the cord back and fit the bolt. But the result was worth it.

Grinning, he shouted back to the man "Everybody knows a Corsair's a sea bird, 'cos we fly fast...and 'cos we have talons." And with a wicked wink he braced himself and pulled the trigger. The bolt thrower bucked, rocking him back, and the bolt flew through the air almost faster than the eye could follow. It narrowly missed the brawl Tarn was caught up in, and then the two foot long iron tipped projectile hit the peasant he had aimed at. The impact lasted less than a second, with the man's head bursting like a watermelon. It then kept on going, impaling itself through the foot of another peasant, pinning him to the floor. Not bad for the first shot of the day he thought to himself, as he began the process of reloading the weapon...