Fable - Ask Escort Duty

[Ein]

Somewhere Between Vel Anir and Alliria
Donric Mannir | Colette

"My father owns the biggest plantation in all of Anirian Territory, bigger than House Pirian. If he saw me traveling like this it would make him sick to his stomach."​

Ein gripped the reigns of his horse so tightly that his knuckles went white.

It took every single ounce of his being not to pull a rock from his boot and throw it at the little bastards head. Thomas Weiran was the son of Lord Manfred Weiran, a Minor Noble who fell under the family tree of the Great House Weiroon. He was richer than all of the Guardsmen around him combined times twenty, and his attitude showed that he knew as much.

The lad hadn't shut up for what felt like a hundred miles, and Ein was just about at his wits end. He wanted to stab the boy in the back of the neck with his knife, call the day an end and just walk away.

Yet even raising his voice towards the idiot would be the absolute last thing he did. His transfer to the Army of the North had only come in three days ago, and he'd been told that if he fucked up even a single time it would be Red-Hall Prison for him. The rumors he'd heard about that place had been enough to scare him straight...at least for now. Fucking noble.

Ein thought to himself as Thomas continued his tirade.

"I should have a carriage, and an attendant, probably two actually."​

 

[Donric Mannir]

Donric hated escort duty. It was a well-known fact that those due to be escorted by the Guard were the same individuals who knew they were too unimportant to warrant or, simply too poor, to afford their own House Guard. Thomas Weiran was exactly that individual and, deep down, he knew it. A truly minor noble in every sense of the word.

Thankfully, time in the guard grants experience. Teaches lessons to any good soldier. Donric mightn't be the best soldier, but he was at least an okay soldier - which meant lessons sometimes stuck.

He watched the countryside roll past endlessly, the verdant hills, the small copses of trees, birds soundlessly tweeting. The world had been muted to him, so he watched with amusement as he saw the new recruit Ein get visibly more distressed and angered by the tirades of the noble.

Donric glanced to Colette and grinned. He'd taught her the trick on her first guard duty with him, small balls of wax - standard issue for every guard in case they need to send missives - placed gently inside the ear. Makeshift earplugs that worked excellently to drown out the sound of any weak-chinned noble.

 

[Colette]

Though she hated to ever admit it, and she certainly would never do so out loud, sometimes Donric was right. When he had first shown her the wax she was appalled. It seemed like a dereliction of duty! Though his insistence meant that eventually the blonde soldier complied and put a bit of the wax into her ear canal. Once they were off however, and Donric had turned his back, she discretely removed the wax.

What if the noble was injured? What if he needed her help? What if she was the sole reason her squad failed at this vital escort mission because she had failed to hear something crucial?

As the hours drug on though she realized that the noble was in need of something. Quite a lot of somethings. He seemed to require near constant attention and praise from the guard. It was absolutely exhausting and only too late did she realize that Donric's wax trick would've been the one thing to save her.

"Wow that plantation sounds quite lovely lord," Colette replied to his boasting. She had been the only member of the guard to reply to his bragging for the past hour. "Yes, you should have a carriage, I agree. You'll have to ask your father I suppose."

He was only a minor noble, sure, but he was still a noble. She wouldn't be so rude as to ignore him entirely. Even if her mouth and throat were beginning to feel dry and hoarse from the constant praise he seemed to require.

 

[Ein]

Win looked at his fellow Guardsmen with no small amount of disgust every time she complemented or even replied to the little nobling. He could understand it if he were a member of a Great House or even had an ounce of Charisma, but the man was about as obnoxious as possible.

Perhaps it was because she had a crush on him.

He supposed objectively speaking Thomas wasn't the most unattractive man, and had he kept his mouth shut it would have made him even...tolerable to look at. He was just around the same age as the boot-licking Guardsmen, so maybe that played into it.

Many people had fantasies of marrying into nobility and getting away from ordinary life. Hell even a few members of the Runners back in the slums had that idea. Not all of them girls either.

Life as a peasant wasn't easy.

Still, even with the other Guardsman entertaining the Lord's every demand Ein could only take so much before he wanted to bit down on a poison needle and end it all. Eventually he spoke up. "My lord, it's getting to be sundown. Perhaps we should find a comfortable place to camp. We wouldn't want you to settle down just anywhere."

Ein tried his best to keep any and all sarcasm from his tone, but he found that some still slipped in despite his best efforts.

There was silence for a moment, and then the noble replied.

"Yes yes, I think you're right. Wouldn't due to sleep in the dirt again. I need a proper bed of grass beneath my mattress. Guardsmen! Find me a clearing."

Ein thanked whatever god still remained for Anirians. At least when the little shit slept he didn't make any noise.

 

[Donric Mannir]

Donric didn't notice the quiet that had overcome the rest of the troop, he was far too busy in his own world humming along with his waxen earplugs in.

In fact, it took him a few moments to notice the rest of the group had stopped and Donric found himself almost stumbling into the back of Colette.

He sighed. Stopping meant camp, meaning he had to take his earplugs out and listen to the noble whinge and moan. Carefully placing his earplugs back in his medical satchel, he glanced around at the contingent of Guard.

Donric had a practised glower. Guards alike often troubled him to aid their aches, pains, grazes and rashes that came about from long periods of marching in armour. Time and again he found himself explaining that, unless it was serious, he wasn't even going to begin to look in his satchel.

Instead, he gave them all an uncomfortable stare and rictus frown so that no one daren't ask him for any help. It worked, most of the time at least.

"Alright, you two, get me some firewood I need to do some distilling." He gestured towards spaghetti Jo and toothless Thom. In reality, he didn't need to do distilling, he wasn't even sure what distilling was, but nobody else was a medic here.

Really, he just wanted to look busy so that nobody would bother to ask him to act as a sentry. A valuable trick his mentor taught him - it always worked.

 

[Colette]

They had found a suitable clearing. The noble they escorted commented it as having, "ample shade," and a lovely babbling creek," that reminded him of the mighty river near his father's summer estate. Colette was smart enough on her feet to insist she be allowed to assemble the campfire. Hopefully that would ensure that Ein was responsible for assembling the grass-mattress that the noble was requesting.

Gathering firewood was quite simple considering the large amount of trees on the edge of the clearing. A few rocks here or there also sufficed. Long before she had enough materials she dotted about, trying to have the task take up as much time as possible. After all, the longer this took the sooner Donric would finish up his distilling and have some other menial task assigned by the young lord.

Once she had managed to get the wood placed, the ring of rocks assembled, and a piece of flint sparking enough to start a modest little flame she moved over to the field medic before checking in with the privileged lad. If she could only avoid the noble for the rest of their journey... maybe the new guy would take to babysitting him a bit better.

Approaching Donric Colette gave him a smile and said, "looks like you've finished your distilling. Perhaps you'll be able to aid with sentry duty?" She knew he hated sentry duty but if he agreed she could accompany him and be out of the noble child's hair for the rest of the evening.

 

[Ein]

Ein had taken to assembling the grass bed with a sort of speed that some might have found utterly shocking. It was likely that most of his compatriots would have thought him too spiteful for such a task, but none of them had thought of just how much spite said task could offer him.

With what could have almost been described as a spring in his step Ein quickly rushed to the nearby high grass and began to cut it apart with his knife.

As he worked he also pulled out a small handkerchief. Within this he began to collect small insects, especially ticks that he noticed wriggling within the grass. He'd always had good eyes, part of why they'd put him in the Rangers initially.

Before long the bed was assembled, and the ticks were deposited within it.

It was then that he heard the lovelost girl speak about sentry duty. His head immediately perked up as he tucked away his handkerchief. "I can do that!"

He called, grasping at any opportunity to get away from the nobling.

 

[Donric Mannir]

Donric bristled as he heard Colette speak. No doubt the naive guard thought she was assisting Donric by giving him a chance to excuse himself from the minor noble. He shuddered, sitting next to a blithering noble and letting him blither was much more preferable to sentry duty. Something about sitting in a hidden position keeping watch of endless amounts of nothing just drove him stir crazy. No, Donric was fine here.

"Oh no, it's fine Colette, I've still got some distilling to do." He smiled wryly, pour two vials of nameless liquids into another and producing a completely different coloured - equally nameless - substance. He was, in fact, simply mixing pigments, he carried them to make himself look busy. They did not have any medical function whatsoever.

His smile grew as he heard Ein speak and faked an expression of pained gratitude towards the new guard. It was hard to stop himself laughing, Colette was a stickler. Colette on sentry duty doubly so, the girl was efficient but sentry duty with her was strictly no-fun, no-frills, focus on the duty at hand. "Aw would you look at that, thanks for that Ein" He said pleasantly towards the newbie.

All the time, he sat there, mixing chemicals for no purpose but to look busy. Life was good.

 

[Colette]

Colette knew that whatever Donric was doing was not helpful in anyway. She couldn't prove it, because he knew more about medicine than her, but she was confident that he wasn't doing anything and passing it off as work. He never had to "distill" anything when other medics were traveling with their platoon.

Her blue eyes rolled in annoyance. She was about to protest as if Donric wouldn't go she'd likely have to go on sentry duty with Thom and not only did Thom only have three teeth but he also had terrible body odor. Luckily, as her lips were forming the words 'selfish bastard', the new recruit volunteered.

She spun around to face Ein and gave him a once over. He seemed to possess all of his teeth and fingers. That was a good start. "Very well, why don't we head towards the edge of the clear?" The edge of the clearing was a slightly higher elevation and would allow one guard to keep an eye on the camp, tree line, and entrance into the campsite whereas the other guard could see over the hill towards the road and any other pathways south of the camp.

Hopefully this person wasn't as lazy as Donric. He would often fall asleep during sentry work or ramble to her about something unimportant which would break her concentration. Sentry duty was an extremely important job after all.

 

[Ein]

"Sounds good to me." Ein said with a practical skip in his step.

Before they headed off he rushed back to his things and grabbed his sword and crossbow. The former was tied to his belt and the latter was craddled in his arm.

He wasn't really good with a bow, though hed been trained on it like every Guardsmen. During his service with the Western Army though he'd found an affinity towards the weapon now in his arm. It did not have as long a range as a bow, but it could punch through nearly anything.

Ein found he rather liked that.

As he and the guardswoman ascended the small incline of the hill Ein glanced over at her. "So what do you think of our Noble charge?"

He asked innocently.

 

[Donric Mannir]

Donric quite enjoyed the peacefulness of the camp. He'd suggested to Dicey Doraine that the resting Guards partake in a few hours of gambling. It was a ploy, of course. All nobility, in particular the minor ones, seemed to enjoy gambling and he knew it would keep both the camp and the noble occupied. That and Doraine always used rigged dice, nobody won except her. It would be funny to hear the noble moan as he lost to them.

In the meantime, Donric had finished his 'distilling' and was now in charge of making the broth of the rest of them. He didn't mind cooking really. In his allotment, he grew lots of herbs and vegetables, so he'd taken a few lessons to learn what to do with them. Colette, in fact, had even joined him in a few of the cooking classes. They'd figured if you spent most of your time on the road, you could at least learn to make the rations pleasant.

This time, however, the rations were far more than pleasant. Another taste of his broth and he smiled. A few more pinches of dried herbs from his satchel and it would be perfect. In fact, it was far too good to be wasted on a noble. He sighed, there was no helping it - he would have to share.

 

[Colette]

They proceeded up the hilltop when the newer recruit asked Colette her opinion on the noble they were escorting.

If she were being honest she'd have blurted out that he was insufferable. That sentry duty was essentially an excuse to be rid of the boy. But that would be improper. No matter how awful the child was he was still nobility and it would be unbecoming of a proper guardsman to badmouth any nobles no matter how minor their houses were.

"He's very talkative," was all she mustered. It was the most honest thing she could say about him without besmirching his name.

At the apex of the hill she sat her rutsack down and loosened the sword which rested on her hip, allowing it to drag down to her thigh. It was more comfortable that way but significantly less formal. She peered out into the distance, viewing the road and admiring the sunset, holding her bow tightly in her main hand. "You want to keep watch on the camp or on the road?" she had her preference but, well, it was only right to offer the choice to the newcomer.

 

[Ein]

"You like that sort of thing?" Ein asked as he already turned back towards the camp, if only so that he could hold his crossbow so it was somewhat in the direction of the noble.

What he wouldn't give to put a bolt through the dolts forehead.

His lips thinned for a brief moment, and he decided it would be an extremely bad move. "I'll watch the camp."

Ein told her as he cleared his throat.

He supposed there were worse things than sentry duty. It's not like they had been one of the units sent to Cortos or the Falwood. Walking alongside an insufferable fool wasn't half as bad as being in the midst of the battle.

That much even he knew.

Of course what Ein wasn't aware of was the movement within the trees just across the river banks. Quick serpent like forms slithering between the trees.

 

[Donric Mannir]

Donric was bored. The rabble they'd collected for this mission wasn't particularly interesting, nor did he enjoy their company. Aside from himself, the rest of them were greenhorns and the commanding officer was here simply because he'd slept with one of the drill sergeants.

He sighed. Colette was going to win, he was going to end up helping them with sentry duty, but it was certainly better than listening to Captain Stafe - or as he'd called him 'Spineless Stafe' - drone on about his heroic deeds.

For a man who'd served 3 years in the Guard, he still seemed full of them - although, conveniently had never shown such heroism when Donric was around.

Shrugging to himself, Donric labelled up some of his excellent and delectable soup and strolled casually towards Ein and Colette's position.

"I'm here to join you, Stafe's on another tirade and I just can't handle his story about saving Elise Virak for the third time." He grimaced, passing the two of them their meals.

Conveniently, as he passed them their meals, as their eyes darted from their posts, slithering forms began to creep closer towards the encampment - unseen.

 

[Colette]

"Not particularly, but he is a noble so I suppose he's allowed to prattle on about anything and it is our duty to grin and bear it."

They were far enough from the camp now that she felt she could speak openly. Though she regretted criticizing the noble boy almost immediately. It was unprofessional.

"Great," she replied, "I'd prefer to watch the road myself." What she had really meant was that she'd preferred to watch the sun set than to watch the other guards play cards, eat dinner, and carouse. It was extremely rude to act like that in the presence of a noble, even a minor one.

After just a few moments Donric waddled up the hill carrying bowls of his soup. For all of his flaws Donric was a talented gardener and a pretty good cook. Definitely better than the normal army rations at least. Once her serving of food was held tightly between her hands she spoke, "so bad that now you're willing to do sentry duty?" Her voice was playful, she knew that Donric hated sentry duty so Stafe must've been on an entirely new level of annoying.

"Probably good we have three," she said inbetween slurps of the delectable meal, "will give us all a chance to sleep in shifts while we keep our eyes peeled."

Her spoon then dropped, hard, into the soupy bowl as a shout rang out from the direction of the camp. She twisted her head to see what had happened and was already prepared to scold Donric and Ein for not paying better attention.

 

[Ein]

"Who the hell is Elise Virak?" Ein asked with a frown as he took the bowl and placed his crossbow down onto the ground.

Ein had never paid much attention to any of the nobility. He knew the names of a few of the Great Houses, but in truth such knowledge had always seemed rather unimportant in the gutters. It had always been more about staying alive another day.

He sat himself down on a rock, taking up the wooden spoon to eat.

Of course the moment he did a scream echoed out from the camp. Bowl and spoon instantly fell to the floor, and as his head shot up Ein took in a glimpse of the assailant. Two odd serpent like men had popped from the trees, one wielding a scythe like blade and the other a great axe with a haft as long as a man.

He watched as the latter serpent cleaved one of the guardsmen in two, slicing him as one would a piece of butter. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!"

Ein called out as he scrambled for his crossbow.

 

[Donric Mannir]

"Imagine a black-widow in human for-" He was quickly interrupted by the screaming and terrified expression of those around him.

Donric cursed and drew his mace and shield - thankfully time had taught him to always keep his equipment close-by, he'd seen too many men slaughtered for such a mistake.

"IT'S A GIANT FUCKING SNAKE CLEARLY." He grumbled, his voice trembling, yet he didn't hesitate. Donric barreled forward and leapt - headfirst - at the strange snake-like figure that had appeared. Despite his broad and heavy-set stature, Donric felt like he had tackled a brick-wall and it soon became apparent that the only reason his manoeuvre had been successful was solely down to the surprise.

The scythe came down against him and, despite his bulk, he carefully sidestepped the menacing blade. The second snake turned towards him and a great axe lumbered towards him. He met this blow with his mace - barely keeping his hand on the blade as the clash caused a painful shockwave to shoot across his arm.

"Some help would be GREATLY appreciated." He shouted back at the duo, attempting a half-hearted feint against one of the snakes with his mace.

 

[Colette]

Colette had met Elise Virak and the woman had completely transformed her perception of nobles. She had assumed that all nobles looked down on commoners but Elise had been one of the kindest people that Colette had ever met. She ensured that Colette was fed and taken care of during their brief interaction.

Now was not the time to defend the woman's honor however. Now was a time for action.

"We must rescue Sir Weiran," she managed to say before barreling down the hill after Donric. The blonde girl didn't much care for the lad but she surely didn't wish to see him dead. In addition, it would look quite bad if the noble they were supposed to be escorting had been slain by a species as foul as the naga.

When she had made it halfway towards the frightened and whimpering nobleling she overheard her comrade's cries for help in the distance. Donric had become pinned down by two of the vile snake-people and before she could process it she had grabbed an arrow from her quiver and pulled back swiftly on the bowstring before releasing.

An arrow sailed quickly towards one of the attackers before embedding itself in the creatures shoulder. Not lethal but it would certainly slow the beast down. She pulled back on a second arrow, this one aimed a bit higher. Releasing the arrow found its way straight into the creature's abdomen after it had turned to face her.

The injured snake person scurried towards Colette in an enraged frenzy.

 

[Ein]

Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?

A curse escaped Ein and he let loose a single bolt from his crossbow. The bolt surged down the crest of the hill and then struck the same Naga that Colette had sink an arrow into.

The creature hissed, and then redoubled it's efforts to take down Donric. Ein cursed, dropping his crossbow as he scooped up his sword and shield. His feet carried him in leap and bounds, face contorting in a mixture of fear and anger as he let out a cry of battle.

"FOR THE GUARD!" Ein wasn't entirely sure why he screamed the words, but he did and the Naga still with Donric half turned it's head.

That was when he struck.

With all the fury he could muster Ein raised his shield and slammed his entire body directly into the Snake. With a solid bash containing all his weight he pressed against the creature, sending it reeling back with a loud pained hiss.

 

[Donric Mannir]

Colette didn't need saving. The straw-haired girl was a tough nut to crack. The extra lessons she'd been receiving from Major Talus had left her pretty good with a blade. He wouldn't admit it but give her half a year and he wouldn't hold a candle to the girl.

Ein, on the other hand, Donric was not too sure about. He'd been a transfer, which either meant he was a wastrel or a troublemaker. Either way, Donric wasn't about to leave him to suffer at the hands of this strange snake-folk.

The snake recovered quickly, its body poised and ready to strike. Donric stepped between the Naga and Ein, his shield raised. It was one of the first manoeuvres they'd been taught. Work in pairs, alternate, block, strike, switch. It gave you time to cover each other's mistakes, it worked. He just hoped Ein had been paying attention during training.

The Snake's axe slammed vertically towards Donric. He was ready, he was in position. The sheer strength of the blow almost winded the Guard, however. The weapon struck the shield was a large bang, bouncing off the sturdy metal and almost sending Donric sprawling.

Thankfully, however, the Naga was similarly affected and Donric snapped back with a jab of his mace. The snake's body twisted unnaturally and contorted away from the bulk of the blow - instead, the snake was simply glanced by the weapon.

He nodded towards Ein, it was his turn now.

 

[Alakir]

The grim task of reconnoitering the route always fell to the lowest ranking Guardsmen. In this bunch, that meant him. While the others got to stay with the VIP and languish in the feigned importance of a lesser nobleman, Alakir jogged ahead and surveyed the road. It was the boring sort of duty that made him feel like any amount of training he'd done, or would ever do was wasted. Except for the running. That part seemed to get put to use enough.

"Scout ahead, they said," he muttered to himself as he bit the cork from his waterskin and popped it loose. He gulped twice and began to catch his breath. "Not a bloody thing out of the ordinary. As usual."

The Guard was the deterrent, after all. Their march meant that highwaymen stayed clear of the road. When it came to Vel Anir, everyone knew what happened to those who ran afoul of the city.

He started to take another draught as the boisterous voices of his compatriots rang clear through the distance between them.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?

IT'S A GIANT FUCKING SNAKE, CLEARLY.

FOR THE GUARD!

The Guardsman blinked in astonishment as he stowed the waterskin and grabbed hold of the halberd strapped to his back. There was no time to waste, and he had to move quickly to make up for the distance he'd put between them.

Alakir rushed down one hillside and up another, and finally came within view of the campsite they had established. What he saw, in fact, was a giant fucking snake.

"Fantastic."

It would take him a moment before he could join combat, and the others already seemed to have a handle on the situation. He would take the opportunity to flank the beast, which would hopefully give the others an edge. "Couldn't wait until I returned to get into trouble?" he asked the others in a raised voice. If he split the snake's attention by making it aware of his presence, they might be able to exploit an opening.

 

[Colette]

It had seemed like the pair of Ein and Donric were dealing with the snake-people quite admirably. Sure, Colette's efforts had injured one of the two Naga and allowed her comrades to fell the beast. It was certainly lucky for the two of them that such a skilled marksman was here.

Another arrow was pulled from her quiver, this one striking the throat of a Naga attacking another contingency of guards. It seemed as if Ein and Donric had the folks attacking them under control.

Then, she overheard the newcomer. Colette jumped, nearly a mile into the air, at the sound of Alakir's voice.

"Ha... yeah, it's kind of a mess," she had never met whoever this guardsman was. Judging by his announcement and sudden appearance it seemed likely he had been scouting ahead. Perhaps there were more Naga coming from the road up ahead, perhaps he had just heard all the commotion and came to assist. In a stressed voice she urged, "can you ensure the noble is safe?"

As one of the Naga approached her she stowed her bow and drew her blade. It seemed like her sword would be necessary at this point.

 

[Ein]

Ein slashed forward with his sword, the blade biting into scaled flesh as the Naga recoiled and hissed loudly in there faces.

A grim expression pulled across the young Guardsmen's lips, and as the creature struck back out towards him Ein raised his shield in defense, He felt the heavy weight of a weapon falling on the metal rim of his shield, but it quickly slid off.

Ein remembered his training well enough, and as soon as he felt the weight of the blade against him he called over to Donric. "Kill the damned thing!"

He had no idea how many more there were, they had to finish this quick if they wanted to survive.

 

[Donric Mannir]

Donric found himself smiling as Ein followed through the training manoeuvre, executed perfectly as if by an instructor. He never doubted his comrades, but it always paid to be cautious.

With the Naga briefly engaged with Ein, Donric stepped forward and swung his mace in an arc towards the beast. He was a large man, despite his below-average fitness for a Guardsman he was strong. As Donric's mace hurtled towards the Naga, he plied all his weight behind the blow.

It struck. It struck with an audible crunch. The scales absorbed some of the blow, but the mace struck the head cleanly from the side and resulted in the beast being partially decapitated. The momentum ripped the snake's head from its shoulders and left it hanging limply as the rest of the body collapsed.

He smiled, shaking his mace several times and turning towards the rest of the gang. "Good work Ein."

Not far off, Donric saw one of the beasts rise up and challenge one of the other greenhorns Alakir. With a deep breath, he charged forwards and swung blindly at the Naga.

"EIN DO WHAT COLETTE SAID, GRAB THE NOBLE." He shouted back towards his comrade.

His mace peppered the back of the Naga before Alakir. Several spines of the weapon wedging deeply and gouging themselves into the beast. It screamed and turned its attention towards Donric.

Donric smiled, winking towards Alakir.

 

[Alakir]

Present company made short work of the reptilian threat as he rejoined the fray. Good, he thought. The female Guardsman called back that the situation was fraught, and suggested he secure the Nobleman. A sound plan, save for a hitch that almost instantly introduced itself.

The serpent wound toward him, fangs bared. He gripped the haft of his halberd readily and dug in, ready to stand his ground as the beast lunged. Its wicked maw met with the backside of his weapon and glanced off.

Alakir punched his own weapon out and away, shunting the immediate threat from his face. The Naga was armed properly with a shamshir, but it opted to attempt to bite him. Curious.

Luckily, Donric called out to Ein, and the mace wielding man rushed to Alakir's aid in an instant. The creature reeled back from the initial strike and made for a second, but his ally drew first blood.

In the instant where gore splashed from the creature, he caught Donric's wink and returned a smirk of his own.

The Naga twisted to engage Donric without a second thought to the red-eyed man. Alakir took the initiative, spun the halberd heavily around his body to build momentum, and brought the axe-head crashing down toward the beast's vertebral column as it fixated on the other Guard.

Hopefully the other two could get the carriage moving again, and quickly.