Chapter 13

Pino POV

The silence was becoming too much to bear.

“If there is a bantila, and I’m to die anyway, I might as well go out swinging. And if there is a band of hunters come to raid me, I’ll be sure to take down at least one of them!” I reasoned to myself angrily.

As rage and adrenaline coursed through my body and fueled my actions, I took two large steps, spanning the distance to the door, ripping it open.

I then leaped through the door into the frigid snow, swinging my torch in large arcs as I screamed, “COME AT ME!!”

I was once again met with only silence, but I refused to be fooled. My eyes earnestly scanned the snow and surrounding trees, looking for anything suspicious, ready to pounce. As the cold set in and the adrenaline wore off, I began to feel a little foolish.

‘Perhaps it really was just a branch?’ I thought as I turned and began walking back towards the cozy and warm embrace of my home.

“What the fuck?!?” I yelled, nearly jumping out of my skin.

There was something warm and squishy under my feet just now.

Tana-Il POV:

Now having an advantage in numbers due to the surprise attack, Tana-il was sure of a victory. No matter how battle-prone the steppe tribes were, a hand (5) to a hand and a half (8) battle was all but impossible to win.

“CHAAARGEEE!!!” Tana-il shouted, as he swiftly made his way down the small hill. His clansmen were right behind him, taking long strides towards the enemy. They closed the 20-meter distance in a matter of seconds. Adrenaline, honor, and glory fuel their excited motions. When they were close enough Tana-il leaped into the air, and using his momentum, crashed onto the leader of the band of enemy tribesmen. They crashed to the ground, and Tana-il, using the few seconds that the enemy leader was disoriented, rendered a quick strike to the man’s throat, dispatching him from the fight.

The man’s eyes were wide as he clutched at his throat desperately, in a futile attempt to scoop the blood back into his body. His eyes swiftly lost their luster, leaving behind only a look of pain and confusion.

Tana-il’s eyes swiftly scanned the battlefield, less than a hand of his tribesmen engaged in singular battles, while a hand of them teamed up on the final opponent, jeering at him and pushing him amongst themselves, having already disarmed him.

Tana-il nodded at that, the men knew to keep at least one of them alive for questioning. He then sprinted to one of the duels that were taking place and ended it with a well-placed jab to the back of the enemy’s neck. Then he ran forward a bit more and pierced the skull of the other man who had his clansman on the ropes.

There was only one more enemy alive, and he was in a heated battle with Tana-il’s son.

“Tie up the enemy so we can question him!” Tana-il commanded, while never taking his eyes off his son’s battle.

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“It is necessary to let him experience his first blood, and real battles, but I will step in as soon as his life is in danger.” He thought.

“COME ON KAITOOOO!!!” The surrounding clansmen yelled and cheered, taking the one-on-one duel as a form of entertainment now that there was no longer any real danger.

Kaito-il smiled, even during the heat of battle, before becoming serious again as a spear thrust barely missed his throat. While the man was attempting to fight inertia and bring his spear back towards him, Kaito-il took the opportunity to smack the man’s spear farther to the side. This sudden movement caused the man to lose his balance and stumble. Kaito-il stuck low to the ground and darted towards the man, bracing his spear in preparation to pierce the man’s chest.

Understanding the imminent danger, the man released his hold on the spear, and using his imbalance to his advantage, rolled backwards before quickly regaining his feet. Kaito, to keep the advantage, did a large horizontal sweep at the man’s chest, forcing him another few steps backwards.

However, Kaito-il was now wide open, and the man dashed forward, tackling the boy, and bringing the battle to the ground. The bout quickly became a wrestling match. The man, clearly more experienced in such combat, quickly asserted his advantage and began pummeling Kaito-il.

Fist after fist thrashed his face, breaking his nose and causing an aching headache as his brain smashed time after time against his skeleton. He attempted to block some of the blows by raising his hands in a defensive position, but the man’s fist simply powered through his defense and continued to rain their fury upon his face. Just as Kaito-il felt himself slipping into an unconscious state, he felt something fall onto him that wasn’t a fist.

He cracked open his swollen eyes to see the tip of a spear protruding from the mouth of his opponent. Thick and warm blood mixed as they dripped onto Kaito-il’s face, an eternally shocked expression stuck on the assailant’s face as his body lost power and he collapsed on top of Kaito-il.

Once the man was no longer blocking his view, he could see his savior. His father, looking down on him with slight disappointment.

“Father… I-” before Kaito-il could finish speaking, his father reached a hand down towards him.

Kaito, believing that his father meant to help him up, pushed the fresh corpse off himself, and reached out his own hand. However, he was surprised when Tana’s hand continued past his and grasped his nose, before quickly snapping it back into place.

“FUCK!” Kaito couldn’t help but express.

“Do you understand where you went wrong?” Tana asked stoically.

“I- I almost had him!” Kaito exclaimed.

“ALMOST?!” Tana said sharply, “If not for me, you would’ve almost died. Never make a move, you don’t have to. Never lose focus in the face of the enemy. And never-” Tana said as he ripped a bone dagger from the hide belt that looped Kaito’s waist, “Get caught in your enemy’s flow. You could’ve ended the battle long ago.” he said, shoving the hilt of the dagger toward his chest.

Kaito, at a loss for words, simply nodded his head while closing his eyes embarrassedly.

“Don’t worry too much.” Tana said in a slightly less harsh tone. “For your first battle you did well. Now come and watch this, it will be important to know when you are clan head.” He said while directing Kaito’s attention to the tied-up and kneeling tribesmen.

“aln’ supar` tahkn!” the man exclaimed while looking around in a frightened manner.

Tana-il slowly walked up to him, pulling out his dagger as he made his way towards the man. He bent down so he was eye level with the prisoner, then with a swift motion cut the man’s thumb off.

“AHHHHHHHCKKK!!!” The man yelled in pain, tears gushing down his face.

With no visible reaction Tana grabbed the man’s wrist. The man tried his best, although tied up, to resist, balling his hands into fists to stop any further disfigurement.

“You see son, this is why you start with the outer-finger. It makes it harder for them to impede your work.” Tana said calmly as he pried the mans index finger from the rest of them and slowly sawed it off with his knife.

The man cried something horrendous, saying incoherent words, maybe begging for them to stop this torture. The clansmen simply grinned a bit and held the man down, ensuring that Tana could get along with his work.

“B-but father… why?” Kaito asked in barely a whisper, his voice cracking as he worded his question. Even in the heat of battle, he hadn’t felt this scared. Not even enemies deserved this cruelty, in fact, those who’d died were the lucky ones!

Kana sawed almost completely to the end of the finger, leaving only a little skin between the decapitated finger and the rest of the hand. He then slowly ripped the finger off, taking with it a swathe of skin.

Then he turned to his son and simply stated, “To show them we aren’t playing around.”

Turning back to the wailing man, he grasped another finger.