Edited by: tommyjl7
The passage under the castle was narrow, there were places in which I had to move on all four. How those bandits managed to move via this tunnel, especially as most of them were taller than me and were wearing studier armor, remained a mystery to me.
What else could I expect? This tunnel was most likely used as a trap. Attackers lured into it by a promise of invading castle from inside would be forced to move one by one, in such case, a single defender could not only stop the attempt of attack but also cause serious damage. Even more, if I was the defending one, I would most likely fill the passage with oil. One sparkle and a few dozen people would be turned into cinders.
I reached the end of the tunnel, above me there was a single opening, covered with a metal door. I heard a few people running next to it, I waited till they passed, and lifted the metal cover of a manhole.
I entered the prison in a place that looked like either the guard’s room or some weird storage. Maybe both? So the main purpose of this room was an escape route in case defenders were overwhelmed, in the end, no sane prisoner would barge into a place filled with guards to escape, then again, leaving an escape route near the people that wished to escape (prisoners)? No one would ever think about such madness, thus no one was looking for it.
And now, as I am inside, I have two main objectives. First one is to, of course, secure and later open the side gates. The other one… sorry, miss knight, but I want to have a chat with so-called Bandit King. But first thing first.
I looked up at the ceiling. It was just perfect, at least for me. The time did its due damaging the castle also inside. Its walls were full of holes one could use to climb up. The columns supporting the ceiling used to be excessively big, now could serve as a wonderful passage above the guardians’ heads. I morphed my body, starting with reducing the weight and remodeling my spine and limb bone structures, that would force me to move on all four, next phase was growing curved talons which would help me with holding onto walls, in next moment I turned my skin gray (a wonderful camouflage in this dark place) and started producing a little sticky mucus just like amphibian does. I lost most of my hair, my eyes became much wider allowing me to see better in this dim prison. The joints in my legs twisted and turned, depriving me of ability to run, still the empowered jumping power should cover this disadvantage. The last modification was long, thin yet muscled reptilian-like tail, I would use it to balance my body bit better… or to strangle someone.
I moved toward the column and grabbed it with one of my hands, talons granted more than just enough grasp over the wide structure. I raised another hand higher, then I started using my legs for support. Climbing completely vertical and slippery column was as easy as breathing and cost me almost no stamina, in few seconds I reached my destination – a shelf like formation close to the ceiling itself, bipedal creature would have problems hiding in those, but my new, twisted, slimy self could do this just right. Now, the infiltration.
I licked my lips as I started moving from one hiding place to another using ceiling and walls. The adrenaline clouded my mind for a few seconds, then it disappeared leaving me clear headed like never before. I was nervous, yet in a positive aspect of this word. I felt this tight sensation in my guts, as if some hand was holding me by my stomach from inside – the feeling of anticipation, desire to wait for right moment to strike. The tingling sensation running down my spine screaming at me to jump at someone. Yet the greater bliss gave me the struggle of surpassing those primal desires, it made me feel as if I was the ultimate predator, watching its prey passing next to it. Their lives were in my hands, those who never hunted before could never understand would kind of sensation is this.
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- “The fuck are we supposed to do here?” one of the two bandits patrolling the ruins of the prison cursed loudly “… the enemy is at our front gates, yet boss is forcing us to wander around the castle?! What for!? We have them in shooting range! I want to join other people on the walls!”
- “That’s exactly why boss sent us here, shithead! They took an effort to climb the mountains, they moved past ambush squads and reached the castle, and now they are just moving back and forth as if provoking us! If that’s not a decoy, I have no idea what is! We have to secure the escape routes.”
- “What for?”
- “How could you survive this long with no brain at all!? Escape routes could also be used as alternative entering routes. Just a squad of five to ten soldiers is enough to take a castle from the inside.”
- “Bullshit! There is over a hundred of us!”
- “If they would enter the gates from inside, the number advantage would be lost, and they have much better gear, with all those soldiers inside that would be carnage…”
The wiser of bandits was moving few steps ahead of his dumber colleague, this is why he did not notice at first that his colleague stopped talking.
- “Finally shut your face, did ya? Right fucking time!” he turned around after few dozens of seconds
The second man was standing awkwardly at the other end of the corridor.
- “Charles? Everything all right?”
The dumber man had a strange expression plastered on his face, he looked as if he was scratching his neck, his mouth kept moving, yet no words could be heard. The first bandit started moving slowly toward his immobilized companion with a bared sword. The eyes of the trapped man started going back to his skull as he was clearly losing consciousness.
The man moved faster, when he was standing five meters away from his fighting for air comrade he noticed that what he was scratching was not his neck, but some slimy, gray rope. His eyes started following after the “rope” toward the ceiling. His head kept rising higher and higher, up to the moment he was looking exactly above himself, there, there was a hanging upside down creature. It was looking at him with curiosity, when their eyes finally met, the monster smiled. A smile, which twisted the face of the monster into a sadistic grin.
His comrade was already dead, suffocated by the tail as beast dropped from the ceiling right on the bandit. He didn’t manage to raise his blade fast enough to protect himself, for next minute or two, in the prison the sound of flesh being torn into pieces resonated across the corridors.
The creature spoke of many things about himself, he said that he never enjoyed killing, that he does what he must, that every time he can he would give his opponent a swift death… yet, also said that he is a terrible hypocrite.
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That so-called bandit king already earned my respect. He needed only a minute or two to notice that the soldiers in front of the main gate were simply drawing away attention, he even found out what for, and ordered to check on secret passages, if his men would just bit more competent, I would be in trouble. The only reason I managed to leave the tunnels before they arrived, was that one of the bandits didn’t like the idea of being given some strange job and was slowing his companion down. I just can’t wait to meet him in person!
Easy, Zari, easy me, the faster you would end your current task the faster you will be able to enjoy your little dark scheming.
There weren’t many other guards in the prison itself, in the end the walls needed protection. After getting rid of two more men I left the prison which located on the back of the castle.
First, I merely put out my head and scouted my surroundings, in contrast to prison the bandits were everywhere, they were running back and forth, some were yelling the order dictated by the “king”, some were bringing more arrows to the defenders on the wall. And I have to say, these bastards were quite organized. Of course, here and there someone made a mistake, which would make every sergeant cry, then yell, then mathe ke whole squad clean the toilet for two weeks in a row. But they weren’t mindless crowd. Once again, if someone managed to turn those scum of society into something that resembled a regular army…
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Once again I sighed with sadness. I quickly learned the movement patterns of bandits, located the stronghold within a castle, then side gates, and THEN, I moved.
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The bandit king was watching the assault from the stronghold. His face was stoic, yet the words he spoke revealed his dissatisfaction.
- “You can teach those vermin how to act, you can train them, waste your time on performing military drills, yet in the end in heat of the moment they forget everything, just look on them, they are disgusting! On the other hand, the heavy infantry lead by that she-knight are almost flawless, look at their reaction time! She moves her people around as if they were one body!”
- “Malcolm, am I hearing things, or did you just praise someone?” his old companion grinned in a partly toothless smile
- “Indeed, apparently ambush squads failed to wound them… also, do we have any report from teams which were sent to investigate secret passages?”
- “Yeah. Most of them returned.”
Bandit king turned around.
- “Most of them? Most?”
- “Indeed, people sent to the prison didn’t send the report.”
- “Fuck. Of all the places… They had to enter via corridor to which I send the greatest slacker among all the bandits…”
The scout which was still standing supporting his back by the wall raised his head.
- “Your orders?”
- “Send half of the defenders to inner stronghold, we have no idea which part of the outer walls would be attacked, it would be best to give it to them and barricade here, ha, at least we would hit them good as they would be fighting over the walls with remains of the wall’s defenders…”
- “Indeed, few of the walls are partly covered in oil, we could ignite them and get rid of both soldiers and bandits…”
A slow clapping could be heard from the dark corridor of the hall.
- “So eagerly sacrificing your own people?...” an amused voice could be heard “… are you valuing their lives so little, or are you so experienced that you see the sacrifice that needs to be made?”
A white haired man stepped from the shadows. Malcolm didn’t sense his presence, and that was enough to send a shiver down his spine. Scout brought his daggers yet, bandit king calmed his friend with a gesture of his hand.
- “I presume that you are one of the men that entered via passage in prison?”
- “That statement is partly true.”
On closer inspection, the man was more like a boy, he clearly was under his twenties. His “guests” paid no mind to courtesy as he approached the table with maps, pulled out one of the chairs and sat down on it, putting his legs on precious documents.
Still, the way he talked, he was enjoying himself, he either felt as someone with much higher position, or pretended to be one in order to intimidate him. If he was just pretending to be in control of the situation, then damn, he was good at it.
In his years of service Malcolm learned how to distinguish different kinds of people, and yet he couldn’t much fit the kid in front of him in any group. He was lacking information. Conversation is always a way, it could be used to gather important data.
- “You should have let us know that you were coming beforehand, we would have prepared some tea and biscuits, now we will have to sit by vodka, like some kind of savages.”
Kid laughed cheerfully.
- “I am starting to like you more and more” intruder titled his head to the side.
- “I am sorry to hurt your feelings, but I am afraid it will not work, however, if you would be bit shorter, blonde, and female I could give it a try.”
Such meaningless conversation is important. The “king” was buying himself time. That man clearly didn’t come alone, his group was probably already occupying some side gate and waiting for a sign from him in order to open it. As long as they are talking the king could learn something that could be vital for the survival of his people.
- “I have a job offer.” Every sign of amusement vanished from white-haired boy’s face.
Maybe, the man noticed what Malcolm was doing? If yes, their horrible situation turned into a complete pile of shit.
- “I am a busy man, still, I can at least hear it out, mister…” Malcolm made a suggestive pause, asking politely for his guest to identify himself.
- “Oh, my manners! I am Zariel, call me Zari, my full name sounds like a venereal disease.”
Zariel, Zariel… it rang a bell.
- “I see, it surely is an honor to…”
- “Stop wasting my time and listen. I am not here, at least not for the soldiers that are attacking this place, this conversation never took place. And as I am running out of time, allow me to cut the subject to the most vital point. You are a skilled, knowledgeable man and, as far as I can tell, wonderful warrior. But you are being hunted by authorities. Syndicate values you highly and wishes to hire you. Not only you, but also few people of your choosing will survive this assault, even more - you would also be declared dead. Nobody would ever hunt you again, yet you would be allowed to do pretty much the same thing you are doing now… you would just do it when Syndicate would tell you to… The salary is decent, we have a nice carrier-ladder system, we offer working in a developing team with ambitious people, we would allow you to see the world. We also have bingo every Saturday and
It’s bad. Syndicate? Here? Just what on earth did he do to draw their attention!? He was relocating every few months! He did everything he could to keep lying low whenever he could! They can’t possibly investigate every bandit warlord that would pop out around the world!
But the man kept counting down.
Malcolm looked at the man, then at the attacker in front of the gates.
- “How many?”
- “Hm?” distracted syndicate’s member titled his head to the side in confusion.
- “You said I would be able to take a few of my people. How many.”
- “Five.”
- “Why only five?”
- “Because otherwise, the soldiers would notice that you are missing, it is not a problem to drag few bodies of other bandits and scorch them to the point that would make body impossible to recognize, but if suddenly half of the bandits went missing, the whole plan that I bother making as I walked here would be wasted. Also… four… three. Threeeeee… Two and half… decided already? One and three quarters …”
- “No. I will not abandon my people. There are around thirty good men that left the army because of me. I am responsible for them. It will not happen.”
Zariel looked truly disappointed.
- “There is no way I will be able to protect you from those soldiers, you know, I have a deal with them too… such a waste.”
Man got up from his chair.
- “Ok. In that case, I will be going, you know, the gates won’t open themselves. Honestly, coming here alone is such a bummer…”
Wait, he came alone. He actually came alone?! That means… that if they would get rid of him there would be no one to open the gates? That they could push away the attackers?
Malcolm looked at his friend, he already knew the thoughts of his companion. With a barely visible nod, they agreed to kill the unwanted guest.
But as the kid was in the middle of his path toward the door he stopped.
- “On the other hand… If they would catch you alive… they could make you talk… then you could mention that I am with a Syndicate, and that could damage my good image… and as a serious entrepreneur I have to take care of public relations, marketing and stuff…” he said that with a tone of naïve kid, yet it was clear that he planned that from very beginning. “… sorry, looks like I can’t let you leave!”
Malcolm picked his two handed axe and charge at Syndicate’s member with a war-scream, he didn’t shout to boost his ego, but to completely draw the attention of the man from his companion.
Zariel wasn’t paying any attention to the scout, still, somehow he managed to avoid the backstab. He moved one step to the left while putting his hand on the handle of the sword attached to his belt.
- “You are in the way.” He said annoyed drawing his blade.
With a fast swing, he decided to detach head of the scout with rest of his body, yet he didn’t train all these years for nothing. He stomped with one of his foot, stopping his charge and then used the momentum to jump in place while performing a front-flip.
Still, few drops of blood were splashed on the ground.
Malcolm brought his axe down while performing a [Powerful strike] on the Zariel. The blow was actually strong enough to break tiles on the floor and produce a huge cloud of dust.
- “Are you ok?” He quickly checked on the condition of his companion?
- “Yeah, just a scratch!” scout got up from the ground
- “Man, that was scary!” a voice of their opponent could be heard from behind their backs.
They jumped away in fear.
He could finish them with a single swing, yet he was busy with removing the dust from his shoulder.
Was he looking down on them so much? Or maybe…
- “That’s the very final offer, I rarely have the pleasure to work with people I like, so I don’t want to give up on you so quickly. Because I am very merciful, I will give you one more minute.”
This bastard… This bastard… THIS FUCKING BASTARD!
Rage clouded Malcolm’s mind. He dedicated his entire life looking for recognition of his skills, first, he wasn’t allowed to rank up in military structure because he was a commoner, right now, someone is giving him a handicap… If he would agree, it would be as if his whole life was pointless.
One thing was clear, he will bring this cocky fucker to hell, even if this would mean dragging him there personally!