Tyranny of Steel

News spread like wildfire in the German camp. Despite just landing hours ago, Natives had already revealed themselves and proven to be hostile. Before Honoria could even react, her man was leading a pursuit into the unknown landscape. By the time she figured out what was going on, Berengar was already gone. Leaving the byzantine princess to curse the man she loved.

"Bastard! I thought we were supposed to do this together!"

While Honoria lamented her lot in life. Berengar was In the woodlands, where he rode on top of his mighty red steed. A cavalry sword was in his left hand, while the reins were in his right. He skillfully maneuvered through the dense woods in pursuit of a woman who had witnessed his people's landing.

If she were to report back to whatever Kingdom she hailed from, it would only cause further conflict. For the safety of the German landing party, she needed to be captured or eliminated. Thus, he had personally led the charge as he wanted to get this over with as quick as possible. 

Though the woman had a head start, she was, after all, only on foot. The speed and maneuverability of cavalry posed a significant advantage to the German host. However, there was one serious matter they were lacking in, and that was knowledge of the local terrain. Though they knew the general direction she had gone in, they could only follow the clues left behind from her retreat of locate the woman of interest. 

While Berengar was in pursuit, the female jaguar warrior had regrouped with her allies and informed them of what she had witnessed. 

"I'm telling you, there were several hundred, maybe a thousand, of these golden-haired, white skin men. Several of which could conjure thunder. With a simple pointing of a stick, they murdered Tlanoch as if he were a mere ant!"

A particularly large and burly warrior scoffed when he heard such words. A group of golden-haired, white skin men coming from the east, possessing the ability to conjure thunder. What were they, the offspring of the feathered serpent? Because of this absurdity, he was not afraid to express his disbelief.

"Princess Tlexictli, with all due respect, I think you should lay off the mushrooms. They are starting to affect your mind!"

The young princess immediately pouted as she urged her party to retreat.

"Fine, believe me, don't believe me, I don't care. The fact of the matter is that our mission is complete, and my father will be furious if something were to happen to me. There is no reason to stay here, especially after what I have seen!"

The warrior scoffed once more. He was about to tell the Princess what he really thought of her wild claims. However, before he could utter a word, the scout of the party lifted his ear from the ground and interrupted. 

"Something is coming... I don't know what it is. It sounds like a group of beasts I've never heard before."

Tlexictli eye's grew wide in shock, and immediately shouted to her comrades.

"Quick, hide! It's them!"

Before the team could react, the Princess had run off and climbed into a large tree. Gazing down at the area below where her friends were too slow to react. The beating of hooves resounded as Berengar and his squad came across the Jaguar warriors. 

The natives raised their weapons in fear when they realized what their princess had said was accurate. One of them immediately pulled out a blowgun and prepared to strike, however before he could react, Berengar retrieved his revolver with his free hand and fired a round straight into the man's skull, killing him on the spot. 

The loud thunder combined with the splattering of the man's brains caused the other jaguar warriors to freeze in trepidation. They were absolutely terrified of what they had just witnessed. Before they could get their act together, the German cavalry pulled out their lassos and ensnared the surviving native warriors, jumping off their horses to hogtie them on the ground.

Berengar immediately noticed that no woman was present, and thus he climbed off his horse and gazed around at his surroundings, looking for the missing member of the squad. Despite his best efforts, the thick foliage had successfully concealed the warrior princess as she glared at the one eyed man with hatred in her eyes. 

Berengar immediately grabbed hold of one of the hogtied men, and pressed him against a rock, pointing the revolver to his skull, and pulling back the hammer as he shouted at the man in the german tongue.

"Where is she!?!"

The warrior in question was the same man who had believed that the Princess was making up a fairy tale. He gazed up toward where the woman hid, and said nothing, instead spitting on Berengar's face in a last act of defiance.

Enraged by this behavior, Berengar head butted the man, instantly dropping him to the knees where the German Emperor slashed at the man's neck with his blade. The cold steel edge easily cut through the spine and severed his head.

When Tlexictli saw this, she could only bite her tongue in order to silence the scream rising within her. She swore she would taste this one eyed man's blood before the days were over. As for Berengar, the moment he realized he would not get any information from these men, he ordered for their lives to be terminated.

"Kill them, and search for the girl. She couldn't have gotten far!"

With this order given, the members of the Royal Guard raised their rifles and gunned down the captives mercilessly before searching their surroundings. As for Berengar, he searched the area for any clues where the woman might be hiding. 

While he was doing this, Tlexictli climbed in the tress above, stalking the members of the German Royal Guard like a sly jaguar. Only when the men were alone did she strike? The woman reached into her belt and grabbed hold of her obsidian headed axe before jumping off the branch and onto the back of one of the German soldiers, covering his mouth with her hand and slitting his throat with the sharp edge of her stone axe.

Aside from the noise caused by the tumble, not a single sound had escaped into the surroundings, allowing her to stealthily retreat to the trees above. She repeated this tactic until Berengar was all alone, returning to the bloody scene where the German Emperor inspected his surroundings. 

As the leader of these foreigners, and the man who issued the order to slaughter her comrades, Tlexictli knew that Berengar's death had to be slow and painful. Thus, she stealthily approached him as he was kneeling down and observing footprints. Just when she was about to incapacitate her target, he spun around and raised his revolver to her face, saying a single word.

"Clever girl..."

However, in the next moment, Berengar's smug expression vanished and was replaced with one of fear as the yellow eyes of these regions' greatest predator revealed themselves from the shadow. While Tlexictli had been hunting Berengar's men, she too was being pursued by a vicious jaguar, enraged by the sight of its slain kin being worn so proudly over the woman's naked figure. 

Berengar reacted before the Jaguar could pounce, pushing the woman out of the way, and raising his sword in the air as the creature jumped where she once knelt, skewering itself in the process. The jaguar wailed and roared as in its death throes, trying its best to take the man who had so violently penetrated its abdomen with it into the afterlife. 

The German Emperor struggled to reach for his revolver that had been knocked to the floor in the scramble as he evaded the creature's jagged teeth, which snapped towards his neck in an attempt to claim his life. The only thing keeping it at bay was the sword embedded in its guts. Eventually, Berengar grabbed hold of the gun and raised it to the beast's skull, squeezing the trigger and blowing out its brains. 

After killing the Jaguar, Berengar retrieved his blade, sheathing it into his scabbard. By the time he recovered, he noticed that the woman had assumed a fighting position, and was encircling him. Clearly, their little dance was far from over. Recognizing the danger he was in, Berengar lifted his revolver once more and sighed heavily in defeat before revealing his thoughts..

"I really do not want to have to kill you. It is against my moral code to kill a beautiful young woman such as yourself. I thought that by saving your life, you may have come peacefully, but I can tell by the hatred in your eyes that this will only end with one of our deaths. I'm sorry.... But your time has come."

Just as he was about to squeeze the trigger, the girl pounced on him like a wild beast, causing him to miss his shot. Where she grabbed ahold of him and launched the two of them off the edge of a nearby cliff. The duo tumbled into the dirt and rocks below as they fell down into a river, completely unconscious. By the time the two rivals awoke from their state, they would have floated downstream, to a strange and foreign land.