Eldon turns to look back at me in confusion as I walk up beside him, explaining, “He’s already beaten. We can bring him back to The Pit and have him take the Trial.”
Eldon snarls and me and shouts, “You want to save this fucking whelp!? Didn’t you see how many of our brothers and sisters died back there and you still want him to take the Trial!?”
“I know, I know. He’s guilty of a lot of things, including killing you.” When his face started to shift from confusion to surprise, and then onto horror, I had already shoved my blade halfway through his chest. His face blanches and he tries to cut off my head in his death throes but I ducked under his swing while yanking my sword out of his chest and cut off his hand at the wrist before he could swing again. His severed hand still tightly grasping the grip of his sword flies through the air, landing in the dirt a few feet away with a clatter. Eldon falls to his knees, looking up at me from below and soundlessly mouths, “Why?”
“For the glory of the Savior, obviously.” Kicking him in the chest, he falls onto his back and lets out his final breath. Giving Eldon one last look, I spin around, facing the young man whose life I just saved. He’s still sitting where he was when I first arrived and hasn’t moved an inch. Other than being utterly confused at what just happened, he looks to be alright. Bloodied and exhausted from escaping our ambush but still alright.
Sheathing my sword and walking over to him, he flinches when I crouch down to look him in his eyes, asking, “Where’s your horse?”
He takes a moment to register my words and replies in a quiet voice, “My horse didn’t survive the ambush. I followed after everyone else as they were clearing out the valley entrance and didn’t want to risk getting left behind grabbing another horse. I wasn’t expecting you guys to chase me though so thinking back on it, I probably should have grabbed another horse.”
“... Uh huh. Anyways, how many of you ended up entering the valley, how many of you were able to leave alive, and how many members did your gang have in total before today? I don’t need exact numbers but decent estimates.”
He looks stunned at my questions and hesitates for a moment until I flick the axehead of one of the bloodied axes hanging on my belt, the soundful clang reminding him of his situation. He instantly starts to stutter out, “I- uh, we have, err, we had about 120 people chasing those riders at the beginning. Most of them didn’t make it out of that valley and I wasn’t at the front of our retreat to see exactly how many people made it out but I wouldn’t guess more than 30. I’ve never counted how many members the Vipers had personally but I remember someone mentioning we were 250 strong a week or so ago.”
Hmm, that means the numbers on both sides are pretty even. According to my own estimates, The Fold has 220 members remaining but only 150 of them can fight. If his numbers are accurate at all, the Vipers should have 140 members left, all able to fight. Assuming they do launch an attack, they’ll be severely disadvantaged outside the walls but gain the upper hand once inside. This can work. It’ll be close but it can definitely work.
The young man in front of me nervously waits while I contemplate what I should do. When my thoughts are sorted and I’ve made my decision, I ask, “What’s your name?”
“M-My name’s Osbert… sir.”
“... Don’t call me sir. Alright Osbert, it’s your lucky day. You’re going to take that horse the other guy used to chase you down and you’re going to get back to your encampment. But, you’ll need to deliver a very important message for me.”
Osbert vigorously nods his head incessantly while spewing out, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, anything, anything at all. Whatever you want, I’ll do it.”
“Alright, you need to tell your boss, Layton, the weak spot in The Fold’s wall Uda and his boys were investigating a few weeks ago is real. You tell him that if he attacks that wall and can get past the wood section, the stone section behind it will crumble with a sneeze. Tell him I’m doing all this because I was kidnapped by The Fold months ago and forced to undergo their sick trial. This is my revenge for that.”
Osbert looks at me with surprise and confusion. Sighing, I make him repeat everything I just said over and over again until he memorized it and let him go on his way. Even when he’s a dozen yards away from me on Eldon’s horse, he looked back just to check whether I was fucking with him or not and was going to chase after him. Looking at Eldon’s body on the ground with his eyes still looking towards the sky with surprise and regret, I take out my sword in thought. Sometimes a lie needs some truth behind it.
Cleaning my blade thoroughly using the clean parts of Eldon’s shirt, I grit my teeth and make two shallow cuts on my left arm, one near my shoulder and one on my forearm. It’s painful but what’s worse is knowing I’m further ruining my leather top which I can’t replace until I get out of here and far away from Ocean’s Rest. I can try to stitch it up but those makeshift repairs are only temporary and don’t last very long. Regardless, I hop back on my horse and follow my path back to the valley, trying to look as frantic and disheveled as possible.
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I’m stopped at the valley entrance by a group of archers in the process of moving bodies. One of them even nocks an arrow on his bow and aims it at me, shouting, “Stop! Identify yourself!”
Instead of replying, I slip from my horse and land on the ground with a thud. Oww, that one’s going to hurt later. The person next to him shouts, “Wait! That’s Brother Isaac!”
He immediately rushes over to me and holds my head up. Seeing his face, it’s the same archer from before who told me about the Vipers escaping. When he sees I’m conscious, he asks, “Brother Isaac, what happened to you? Where’s Brother Eldon?”
Groaning in pain, I murmur in response, “Dead. We caught up with one of their riders but when we were fighting, a dozen more showed up out of nowhere and killed Brother Eldon, almost killing me as well.”
After that, I pretended to faint. The archer holding me up started shouting orders to gather a group together to scout out the area in case the Vipers wanted to launch a counterattack. As for me, he carefully carried me away from the bodies to where we’re treating our injured and called for someone to come check on me. The medic took off my top and checked me over but didn’t see anything too severe, chalking up my state due to fatigue since I did spend hours fighting inside the valley under the hot sun.
After giving me some water and bandaging the two cuts on my arm, he had me brought under a tree’s shade along with several other injured patients. Waking up two hours later, we were just about ready to head back to the citadel. The scouting team the archer put together found Eldon’s body and brought him back, burying him together with the rest of our casualties. Once that was all taken care of, we transported back the prisoners and the loot.
We managed to subdue 20 people in the end and they’re headed straight for The Pit once we got back. The scavenger parties stripped the bodies of anything useful including weapons, clean clothes, and anything in their pockets, tossing them into our wagons. The Vipers’ surviving horses number around 50, including the one I was riding, and they’ll find a new home in The Fold’s stable. After a good night of rest, they should be back to normal being the hardy creatures they are.
We got back to the citadel just before sunset. Gavin immediately handed his horse over to the stable workers and left the moment we arrived, undoubtedly shaken up hearing about Eldon’s death. As for me, I stopped by one of the citadel’s many wells to clean myself up. After tearing through the Vipers in that cramped valley, I was a grotesque mess, covered head to toe with blood, dying shit, and probably horse shit as well. It wasn’t until I was completely clean did I remember what fresh air smelled like and it was magnificent. Once I was back in my little shack, I took a small nap until dinnertime.
…
I held out a large clay bowl with both hands and the ugly cook ladled the hot potato stew into it, filling it to the brim. Surprised, I looked up at him and he smiled at me, giving me a single nod. Confused, I nodded back and headed over to my regular table when someone shouted, “Brother Isaac! Come sit with us.”
It was Yoel along with several people who took part in today’s ambush. Walking over to them, I take a seat and start on my stew. After my second mouthful, however, I noticed everyone was staring at me with grins on their faces. Raising an eyebrow, I ask, “What is it? Why are you staring at me?”
Yoel can’t hold himself back any longer and enthusiastically bursts out, “I heard all about your heroic feats today, Brother Isaac! These brothers here told me how you were the one who came up with the spiked barricades that made the ambush possible in the first place. Not only that, but your inspiring speech raised their spirits and let them fight bravely for the glory of the Savior! Then they told me about how you valiantly led them into battle, ripping those snakes apart like they were wedges of cheese! Everyone’s talking about how amazing you were today. You’re famous now!”
Seeing Yoel’s bright, starry eyes illuminated by the torchlight, there’s so many things I want to say but I forcibly hold myself back and respond through gritted teeth, “The Savior was watching over all of us today and blessed us with overwhelming strength and bravery. For the glory of the Savior…”
Shouts of “The glory of the Savior!” resound throughout the canteen and everyone seems to be in a fantastic mood. The ugly cook even brings out barrels of ale and starts handing out clay pitchers for each table. Hmm, this place might not be that bad afterall. But I still can’t wait to see this place be burned to the ground.
After having a few drinks with Yoel and the rest of the canteen, I headed into the canteen’s backroom storage to check on something while everyone was distracted. Immediately after, I headed back to my shack to turn in for the night when I saw Gavin leaning outside of it. He has his arms crossed and there’s a smile on his face. Not good. Seeing me, he stops leaning and stares right into my eyes, playfully saying, “I know you killed him.”
Keeping a straight face, I ask, “Who are you talking about? I killed a lot of Vipers today and I unfortunately don’t know any of their names? Could you be a bit more specific? Maybe I’ll remember them if you describe their facial features.”
Still smiling, he replies, “I’m not here to play games anymore. We both know you killed Eldon and I’ve spoken to many of The Fold’s hierarchy and they’ve agreed to hold a trial for your crimes. You won’t get aw-”
His words are interrupted by frantic shouts coming from all around us. People are rushing all over the place noticeably holding their weapons in their hands. Most of the panic seems to be centered around the eastern walls and it’s a drunken Yoel who accidentally stumbles across us who tells us what’s happening, his words slurred but still intelligible, “Enemy attack on the eastern walls! Massive enemy attack! It’s the Vipers!”
When Yoel drunkenly stumbles away from us, heading towards the frontline, I turn to Gavin with a smile and say, “Once the games begin, both parties have to decide when it ends. And I’m not finished playing just yet.”