“I might have oversold how well I knew the location of this crypt.” Lovell muttered with a frown as he wiped sweat from his brow.

The swamp was humid already, and the last half of the day had become hot. The thin strip of land didn’t have any other path but forward. Around him was deep marshy water punctuated by an abundance of marsh trees.

Bright green bushy leaves capped the trees, but met the water in a multitude of small bundled roots instead of a single trunk. The above-water roots spread out wider than the leaves at the top of the tree to absorb as much water as possible.

His path forward was not straight or solid. The grassy strip of land weaved this way and that. Most men would have taken a wrong step and took a dip in the marsh water. But, He wasn’t planning on making this trip soaked. It was just a matter of picking his steps carefully.

After another hour of slow progress forward, he saw the thin plume of smoke and smiled at the sight. However, from now on he would have to be even more careful. If he were to fall in the marsh now, the loud splashing would draw the attention of the crypt’s current inhabitants.

He slowed his steps even more. The smoke got closer and closer until he came to a small hill and left the swampy ground behind.

He crawled up the hill carefully and peered down at the crypt. The hill wrapped around to the left of the crypt as well, from where he was sitting. A large boulder made good cover as he scanned the small camp below.

Two men sat on log stumps by a small campfire. They were lightly armored with swords on their hips. Another leaned against a small tent, armored with a full mail hauberk and armed with a spear. In the center of the small clearing was a circle framed by eight hip height stone obelisks. The circle was filled with gravel and a gravel path led from it to the large red double door of the crypt.

The crypt itself had been built right into a hill. The front was framed with the same dark blue-grey stone as the small obelisk circle. The arch was supported by large stone columns every six feet or so. It had no real roof and was covered by grass that peeked past the main door. The right and left sides of the crypt curved down to the ground.

'We already killed four of them. His group was said to be eight to ten men.'

He appraised the three men. 'None of these are the boss. These guys are too short. Hugh said he was over six feet tall. Well where is he then? The crypt?'

One of the men was holding what looked like a piece of preserved meat in his hand. He waved it up and down. “Hey do we have any spices or something?” The red haired man with the green vest yelled loud enough that Lovell could hear him.

“No,” the guard by the tent said.

“Can’t you check the tent?”

“Absolutely not. Taino has told me not to let anyone inside. Why do you think I’m guarding it? It’s not to keep the wolves out.”

The heavy wooden doors of the crypt slammed open. A large man stood there. His head came close to the top of the door’s curved stone frame. He was a few inches over six feet tall with a thick dirty blond mustache. He carried a quarterstaff in his hand and advanced towards the men by the fire with almost a jaunty gait. He had an unsettling smile on his face when he approached the men. Both men slouched in their seats. They regretted what was to come.

The big man circled around the fire and walked into the gravel circle ringed by the small stone obelisks. He gestured with the quarterstaff at one man and with his hand at the other. “Get up. It’s time to spar!” The big guy was visibly excited by the prospect.

The other two reluctantly rose from their seats. One of them drew his sword and stood opposite Taino in the gravel circle.

The other did not draw his sword. “We don’t even have sparring weapons right now boss. Can we do this later?”

Taino laughed, “Like you’ll even land a hit. I’ll take you both on at the same time. I’ve got my armor anyway. The fight will go until first hit. But it better be a good strike. A little tap won’t count.”

He wasn’t wrong about his armor. It appeared to be a full length suit of gambeson all the way to the hips. And over that, he wore a brigandine vest of solid steel covered in dark red fabric. For extra protection, he wore vambraces over his forearms, but no gloves or gauntlets.

“Just to give you some motivation, if you guys win, I’ll let you skip tomorrow’s session.”

The other two men drew their arming swords and assumed a combat stance. All three started spaced out roughly equally in the circle. Taino did not allow them time to plan their attack. He charged toward the man in the green vest and jabbed the quarterstaff at his face.

The reach must have surprised the man because it was met by a loose, awkward block. Taino smashed the man’s sword to the side with the end of the quarterstaff.

The man’s guard was blown wide open, and Taino’s return swing smashed him across the shoulder hard. The man gave a brief yelp as he crumpled to the gravel.

The bald man had used the brief exchange to circle around to Taino’s back. He moved in with a quick lower strike to try to end it. Taino heard his feet on the gravel and shifted his grip immediately. The bald man’s quick chop met the back part of the quarterstaff with a solid clunk as Taino parried it aside.

Taino converted the parrying motion into a swift backwards jab. The quarterstaff solidly collided with the bald man’s midsection with a loud 'thump'. The bald man's leather armor kept him from getting his guts bruised, but wasn’t enough to prevent him from getting the wind knocked out of him. He groaned something unintelligible and fell to one knee.

“You used him as bait. That was good, but you took too long. Two on one and you still lost. We’ll do this again, tomorrow at dawn.” Taino turned and walked back up the path and into the crypt. 

The two men painfully picked themselves up and returned to the fire. By the way they were moving around, it seemed the fight hadn’t done any permanent damage.

Lovell frowned. 'He took them out in three strikes. And it was pretty obvious that he wasn’t taking them seriously. We’ll need to take this Taino guy out first when we do attack.'