Chapter 3
Blood Trail
—————————
Kail awoke to a knocking at his door. “Kail, the sun’s coming up and it's time for us to be off.”
Yawning, he rolled over and sat up. “Alright,” he said as he quickly dawned fresh clothes and hurried to open the door. Corvis stood on the other side of the doorway, alongside a servant who clutched a stained red set of leather armor in his arms.
“These should fit you,” Corvis said as he inclined his head toward the armor. “Clout will assist you in dawning it.”
“Thanks,” said Kail as Clout began fastening the armor to him.
A slight smirk played across Corvis’s face. “Of course, we can’t leave the future of our family exposed, not on the journey we're about to undertake.”
“How long will our journey be?”
“My war camp is some four days' ride west.”
“Ride? As in horses.”
“Obviously,” chuckled Corvis.
“I’ve never ridden a horse before.”
“Then we’ll give you one of the calmer mares, don’t worry, you’ll catch on quickly enough, you are a Valien after all.”
The sun had barely begun its ascent from the horizon as Kail and Corvis emerged into the courtyard where the black-haired brothers waited with three stallions and one smaller mare.
“Is Father not coming out to say farewell?” asked Kail.
Corvis shook his head. “He's a heavy sleeper and doesn’t like being woken prematurely. These are my lieutenants, Lancen and Landry Houth.”
“My Lord,” said the brothers in unison as they bowed their heads.
“A pleasure to meet you both,” said Kail.
“Help Kail into the saddle boys,” said Corvis as he mounted his stallion.
Some minutes and two failed attempts later, Kail sat atop his mare, feeling just a tad embarassed as Lancen explained the signals his mount would respond to.
“Come on then,” interrupted Corvis, “we haven't got all day to linger here.”
Lancen nodded, stepping back and climbing smoothly onto his horse. Kail tapped his legs inward slightly against the sides of his mare which trotted forward in response, following the other three horses out the open gate and down the winding dirt road.
As the sun rose higher above them, Kail found his back and legs beginning to grow uncomfortably stiff. He also had to pee. They’d left the palace and city well behind them and were now riding down a dirt road that cut its way through a very lush forest. He road at the back beside Lancen, while Landry and Corvis road ahead of them.
‘Sorry, but could we stop for a moment? I have to piss,” said Kail once he could no longer bear the sensation.
Corvis glanced at the forest to either side of them. “I suppose this is as good a place as any.”
They halted their progress, and Kail managed to dismount by himself, a feat he felt rather proud of. He stepped over a low green bush and walked past the tree line and into the forest before lowering his trousers and relieving himself. As his tension eased he couldn’t help but smirk at the absurdity of where he was and what had brought him here. He raised his pants just as he heard footsteps approaching from behind. He turned to find Corvis some feet from him, flanked by Lancen and Landry.
Corvis shook his head, his lips parted as he sighed. “This world just isn’t fair.”
A flash of confusion and uncertainty shot through Kail as Corvis reached forward and clasped a hand to either side of his head, his brother’s movements so fast that he was unable to react. Then Lancen and Landry were beside him, each grasping one of his arms and holding him still as Corvis stared down at him.
“I see no sign of it within you,” muttered Corvis as he transferred one hand to hold Kail by his chin and traced the other around his forehead.
Kail attempted to struggle free, but to no avail, all three of the men holding him had iron grips and were likely each far stronger than he. ‘What are you doing?” he stammered, his voice sounding weak and uncertain.
“Searching for the gem Father gave you,” replied Corvis as he released his hold on Kail’s chin and pressed all his fingers against his forehead. His touch felt cold and invasive. Then he stepped back, frowning. “It's gone, fully integrated within you.”
“Let me go,” said Kail as he attempted to lunge forward, but the hands holding him remained firm and unmoving, holding him back and in place.
“Relax,” said Corvis. “No harm will come to you. It seems your gift is unextractable.” Corvis chuckled then, his demeanor changing as he shook his head, an odd sort of smile on his face. “Father’s savior. Years and years dedicated to returning you. Now here you are, powerless. Yet you've been given the gift, and all the potential to grow. To do all that Father has told us time and time again that you will.” Corvis paced back and forth before Kail, the odd smile still playing across his face. “So many resources dedicated to bringing you back. We need you…” his gaze suddenly snapped toward Kail, their eyes locking together as emotion filled his voice. “Have you noticed yet? Have you caught onto Father’s delusions? Did he tell grandmother that you would restore her sight?”
“I,” Kail said uncertainty and Corvis chuckled mirthlessly. “We’ve been losing our so-called empire ever since your disappearance. All Father’s done is focus on recalling you while everything else crumbles away around us. We should have made alliances with the Kingdoms to the east and south, but no; there’s no time for that when all that matters is you. All Father can do is rave about our glorious empire and purpose while our western border is overrun by HIjabwas and all our men are slaughtered.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I’m sorry, but blaming me for all this doesn't seem right,” said Kail as he mustered himself, speaking as calmly and deliberately as possible. “I never asked for this gift Father received from an Angel. I never asked to be teleported away nor to be brought back, and I thought you told Father you’d won a great victory against the Hijabwas?”
Corvis stared at him, his smile gone. “What am supposed to tell him? I spent ages telling him the truth and it was never enough to break through his delusions. Our so-called army is gone, dead or deserted. There are nineteen men left in my camp and they may already be dead.”
Kail opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say, then Corvis’s gaze turned past him, as his mouth opened in an o. There was a sudden snarl from behind, and then the hold on his left arm released, he turned left and some hot fluid splattered against his face, clouding his vision as someone shoved him forward and he stumbled past Corvis who had drawn his sword.
He wiped his eyes as snarls and screams filled the air. Corvis and either Lancen or Landry, he couldn't tell which one, stood before him, swords drawn as they faced a monstrous creature who looked like a cross between a werewolf and hyena. It stood nearly six feet tall and was covered in patchy brown-black fur. It had two long thin arms, the ends of which were buried inside one of the brothers who stood facing them, one of the monster's two heads buried in the left side of his neck, while the other chomped at the right side.
Kail screamed in horror as the other brother let out his own scream and flanked the creature, lunging at it with his sword. The two-headed gnoll pivoted, flinging the corpse at the soldier who sidestepped to avoid it. Corvis lunged forward, his sword sinking between two of the monster’s left ribs. The knoll kicked out shockingly fast, its clawed foot crashing into Corvis and sending him flying back and into a tree. The other brother used the opportunity to sink his sword into the gnoll’s back. One of the heads let out a shriek of pain while the other let out a slow and long moan.
The gnoll kicked out, though the brother quickly withdrew his sword and stepped back and away from the strike. Kail felt as if his heart would burst forth from him with how rapidly it was beating. Corvis lay dazed and bleeding against a tree, one of the brothers was dead and the other was backstepping as the monster closed in on him.
Kail’s eyes darted toward Corvis’s bloody sword which had fallen from his grasp and lay some few feet from him. Without fully realizing what he was doing, he found himself rushing forward and scooping up the sword. The gnoll’s back was to him and there was the sound of a screaming man, the world seemed so hazy, sounds, smell, and sight blurred around him, and all he could focus on was the monster’s harry brown back. He took three long steps forward, then held the sword with both hands and plunged it into the harry brown back. There was a faint yelp, then the world was spinning around him as a force impacted his chest and he toppled back and down, falling to the ground as his vision grew partially obscured by text.
DAMAGE DEALT TO TWO-HEADED PLEASURE GNOLL = 48!
DAMAGE SUSTAINED = 39!
HP 31/70
He wanted to get up but his back had been consumed by a terrible pain which lanced through the rest of him. Someone let out a scream, there was a wet substance dripping down his face and covering his hands, everything seemed so awfully confusing. He dug his hands into the ground to either side of him, forcing himself up just to watch as the gnoll turned to face him. The monster was bleeding from three terrible gashes and blood dripped down from its wretched mouths as it looked down at him. Then there was an airy squelching sound as its intestines fell forth from the largest of its wounds.
The gnoll reached for them but staggered and fell. The air smelled humid and sick as Kail struggled to his feet. Lancen and Landry both lay dead, yet the gnoll was most certainly still alive, whimpering as it attempted to hold itself together. Spotting his dropped sword he reached for it, grasping it clumsily as the hilt was slick with blood. He turned, warily approaching the gnoll which lay in an inward curling ball of bloody fur.
A pang of fear and pain ran through him. What if he got too close and the monster leaped up and devoured him?!
He took a calming breath, then strode forward and sank the sword down between the back of gnoll’s two necks. Just like that the monster went limp, a sickening sound emitting as he withdrew the bloody sword.
TWO HEADED PLEASURE GNOLL DEFEATED! EXPERIENCE GAINED = 400. LEVEL UP x2 YOUR HP HAS BEEN RESTORED, +2 Constitution, YOU HAVE 2 FREE STAT POINTS TO ALLOCATE.
In a sudden glorious instant, the pain was gone. He found himself smiling in relief, even as he surveyed his horrific surroundings. A cough caused him to turn toward where Corvis lay slumped against the trunk of a thick tree with dark brown bark. Kail dropped the bloody sword and approached his brother.
“There it is,” wheezed Corvis.
“What?” asked Kail as he stood, looking down at the injured man with gray hair and bright crimson eyes.
“God’s gift, the power Father promised,” Corvis coughed, then extended a hand up toward him. “Help me up, we need to get well away from here.”
Kail considered the injured man who had held him restrained mere minutes ago. Then he reached out and took his brother’s hand, pulling him to his feet.
“Agh, fuck,” gasped Corvis as he stood.
Kail surveyed him, finding no visible wounds aside from a slight trickle of blood which descended from the back of his head and down his neck.
“They usually travel in groups,” muttered Corvis as he stared at the dead gnoll. “I’ve never seen one that fast before either.”
A drop of something wet impacted his shoulder. Kail frowned, half expecting it to be more blood, but then he glanced up and found that the sky above the foliage had turned dark and a light rain had begun to fall.
“We need to go back home,” said Kail.
Corvis nodded slightly before patting down the corpses of his men and withdrawing pouches from them. Kail looked down at his hands which were slick with blood, he felt disgusting and sick. He shouldn’t be here!
The rain began to intensify as he and Corvis headed back toward the road. Though as they reached it a sense of horror overcame him. The horses were gone, the tree they’d been tied off to stood alone and unaccompanied as water dripped down from its leaves and formed puddles below in the grooves made from the horse's hooves.
“Fuck,” cursed Corvis as he stared left then right
“How’d they get loose?” asked Kail
“With the help of someone or something,” muttered Corvis darkly before a fit of coughs overcame him.
Kail frowned as he looked at his brother, something within him had clearly been damaged, either from the gnoll’s kick or from when he’d impacted the tree. “We’ll have to walk back then.”
Corvis’s gaze remained on the road which was quickly growing muddy, he pointed toward a section of it. “Whoever stole our horses took them west. Banditry cannot be tolerated or else it will grow rampant.”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do about that now.”
“There is. We can follow them and take back our horses. They’ll likely soon stop to sleep and get out of this rain. We can catch up to them and take them while they’re asleep.”
Kail wondered if Corvis’s judgment had been impaired by his injuries. “We don’t even know who took our horses, or why, or how many of them there are, or where they’re going. I don’t even see any tracks leading west.”
Corvis coughed harshly. “You’ll do as I say or…” he toppled over, falling into the mud.
Kail just stood there for a moment. Then he bent down and grasped Corvis by his legs, dragging his unconscious body into the tree line opposite to the one where the corpses lay. His clothes were thoroughly soaked by the time he laid his brother down beneath the trunk of the tree with the most protective foliage that he could find. Corvis’s inhalations and exhalations were quite audible, signaling that he was alive. Kail stood there, soaking wet with a mixture of blood and water as he stared down at his unconscious younger brother who looked old enough to be his Father.
What had he done to deserve any of this?