Marr was getting angry and Fay was worried. The others of the group about two dozen in all, couldn’t ever tell but she could. Marr’s hands always started twitching, forming into a claw shape and back again, his eyes slightly narrowed, and he set his stance with his one foot slightly forward and shoulder length apart, as if he were going to charge someone. Marr still wore a smile, but it was strained, trying to form into a snarl at the edges.
Raul and Rain were supposed to be handling this hold up, but they were taking to long, Marr would step in soon and if that happened the best outcome was broken bones, the worst a slaughter. Fay heard shouting and tensed, Marr was walking forward. She quickly caught up to him and put a hand on his arm, careful not to grab it or seem threatening
“calm” she said and could feel him relax a little, she gave his arm a small squeeze then and let go, taking place behind and just to the side of him. Marr wouldn’t let anyone this close to him but her, wether that was because she was the only girl of the group or the least threatening she still hadn’t figured out yet, but figured it was a combination of the two.
They reached the rest of the group, who had formed a wide circle around a beautiful white carriage with blue and gold accents, it must have been worth a small fortune. The carriage was surrounded by half a dozen guards, spears pointed out and towards their group, and pulled by four snow white horses, their driver dressed in a thick jacket to protect against the cold. It had a window on each side and she briefly caught someone looking out at them before hiding behind the curtain again. What a sight she must seem Fay mused, half a year ago she would have been wearing court dresses, not the nicest ones mind you but decent enough ones, she had been a minor noble turned hand maiden for upper nobility and the upper nobility could never be insulted by how poorly their servants dressed so provided quality clothing.
Now Fay, like the rest of the band wore furs with hide armor. Hers had been personally skinned by Marr before she knew how to do it herself and stitched by her own hands, they might not have been the best looking in style, but they were certainly best in quality and warmth, each piece of her clothing coming from a powerful warped beast Marr had hunted, the ones he claimed were weak but would rip through a dozen normal men in moments. Standing next to Marr she felt like a feral queen of beasts, with Marr as her king, one of the number of fantasies that sometimes ran through her head at night.
The men of their band made a wide space and Marr walked through it towards the carriage, he glared at Raul and Rain, and his voice came out almost like a growl, Fay always wondered how he did that.
“what in the hells is taking so dam long, if the guards won’t move just use the dam crossbows, it’s what they’re for.”
Raul, the brain to Rains brawn answered Marr, looking down so as to not seem challenging, he was the only other one who had figured how Marr’s mind worked, not as well as Fay but well enough. Marr acted like a civilized beast in part because that’s what he was. If you in turn acted how a beta or omega might to the alpha of a pack things went easier, got through better to Marr and made him less likely to get angry. No one wanted him angry, she still had nightmares about the last time.
“crossbows aren’t working sir. There’s a barrier around the carriage, makes the bolts splinter or bounce back. Had to pull a big splinter from Zee already.”
Marr looked around as if contemplating, briefly closing his eyes and taking a sniff of the air. He raised a hand and Fay and the men took a few steps back.
“come out here shaper, your barrier wont hold and you’re to weak to fight, surrender and let’s get this finished with, I’m a busy man and this is taking too long.”
A middle finger in the window was the only reply and Fay sent out a small prayer to the guards, the poor guys were just doing their job and she hoped they wouldn’t be to hurt after this. Marr stepped forwards and summoned part of his Regalia, his right hand turning into scaled claws. He slashed at the air and the barrier briefly appeared, a large gash where Marr’s hand had passed through effortlessly. The barrier shattered, and Fay could see the guard’s eyes widen in fear, they wouldn’t know how strong Marr is but any one who could so casually destroy something that broke crossbow bolts was someone to be feared.
Screaming briefly came from the inside of the carriage, the feedback from the shaper’s binding being destroyed. Marr turned his attention to the guards.
“surrender”
One word was all it took and the guards all dropped their weapons. Thankfully none of them wanted to be a hero today, it would be less bloody now. Marr continued forward and reached for the carriage door but was blasted away. The driver of the carriage had moved to the ground, summoned his Regalia and used some ability to blast away Marr. So, there was more than one shaper, whoever is in the carriage must have been very important.
Fay was worried now, Marr had been blasted fairly far and had made a trough in the ground after landing a good ten feet long. They all heard a loud feral growl, a sound no human should be able to make.
“RUN” she screamed and their band all scattered, trying to get away from the carriage as quickly as they could. Depending how angry Marr was there may just be a crater and splinters left of it in a few seconds. The Driver had started to say something, probably telling them to stop or he would hunt them all down. The man was arrogant and a fool if he thought something like that was going to take down Marr. Fay had seen him take stronger blows from his pet warped beast Shadow when they played together.
The driver started to raise his hand and point at Rain when Marr appeared from where he had landed, almost forty feet away. The other shaper got out of the carriage, recovered from the barrier breaking earlier and summoned his regalia too. They contrasted quite a bit, the driver’s regalia was dark, made of boots of black lightening, pants of a dark metal silk tucked into the boots, gloves of compressed smoke that went halfway up his forearm, and a tight, long sleeved shirt of darkness that looked to be smoking, tucked into his gloves and pants. The other Shapers was brighter, but of the same style, boots made of fire, pants of crystal, a shirt of a bright silver metal, and gloves made of compressed light.
Marr was walking quickly towards them now, his clothing had been singed, the edges burnt. He had discarded his shirt and was now only in pants. Marr had summoned more of his regalia and scales now covered both of his arms almost reaching his shoulders, each one dark and metallic, almost impossible to break or damage. The other two shapers quickly turned towards him and summoned weapons, the driver a long rapier, the other a saber. Marr kept walking towards them, he had never bound an actual weapon, but it didn’t matter, that’s what his claws were for.
Half way their Marr started to charge, letting out a low growl and the two shapers tried blasting him again, sending out a blast of hot smoke and a laser of light. If it slowed down Marr, Fay couldn’t tell. Marr continued charging, picking up speed. He slammed into the first shaper who didn’t react quick enough and the force shattered the metallic shirt of the shapers regalia, the driver had some how moved 20 feet to the side, probably one of the abilities of his lightening boots and sent another blast of smoke. Marr turned towards him and charged, the driver was leading him away from the carriage, but Marr wouldn’t care, he wouldn’t have to hold back as much then.
The horses of the carriage took off at full speed, someone had taken their rains and was steering it. Marr saw it leaving and let out a loud howl. Only a moment later it was matched by another one coming from somewhere in the woods. Shadow appeared only a moment later, Marrs pet. Shadow was shaped like a dire wolf but bigger. He was taller than Fay who wasn’t short herself, Shadow stood somewhere around six feet and was covered in black scales that were outlined in dark red around the edges. His body constantly let out wisps of darkness, like smoke after a candle is blown out.
Shadow ran in front of the horses, catching up to them in moments from almost a hundred feet away. They turned and reared, causing the carriage to flip over. Fay whistled calling Shadow over to her, she didn’t want him suddenly attacking one of the horses or people in the carriage. Marr was still fighting but she could see the driver was tiring, his flash-steps had gone from 20 to 30 feet to barely ten now, red covered one of his arms and the rapier was missing. The fight had turned more into a game of tag than anything else.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Shadow reached her and bowled her over, licking at her face and making her giggle, she tried pushing his snout away, but he was far stronger than her.
“shadow stop, no face licking, NO!! shadow, come on ill rub your belly if you stop.”
That last bit came out pleading but got his attention and he rolled over onto his back next to her, playfully pushing her with one paw as if saying to hurry up. Fay got up and started rubbing his belly. She felt ridiculous, rubbing a warped beasts belly in the middle of a robbery with a shaper fight going on around her. She had grown up on stories of dangerous warped beast were, how preyed on men and could destroy entire villages if they were strong enough. They could if they wanted too, the stories weren’t wrong just not entirely accurate, shadow wouldn’t purposely hurt her, as long as Marr didn’t order him too. He was like a big puppy more than a feral beast.
Fay looked over and saw he was finishing up, he held the driver by the throat in the air, the driver’s kicks unable to knock him free. A moment later and he stilled, Marr tossed him 30 feet away, towards Rain and told him to tie him up, the shaper wasn’t dead then, a lucky guy, Marr wasn’t always in such a good mood. The band started walking towards the carriage, the men breaking off to tie the guards up and to bind the other shaper. Fay reached the carriage, Shadow by her side just before Marr and gave him a disproving look.
“was the shirt really destroyed or did you just not want to wear it anymore?”
Marr gave her an angry look and let out a small growl. She knew what that meant though, once you figured him out he was easy to read. Marr was acting angry as if he was hurt that she would accuse him of purposely destroying his shirt.
“Words Marr, use your words. you aren’t actual some feral beasts as much as you like to think of yourself as one. And you did purposely destroy it.
She gave him a look, eyes angry like she had been insulted.
“It took me days to stitch that together Marr!! I can’t believe you would just destroy it like that, take it off properly next time if you don’t want to wear it during a fight.
He opened his mouth to object, Marr hated wearing a shirt anytime, not just in a fight, he was still trying to figure out how and when Fay had started making him wear shirts in the first place, but was cut off by Fay.
Isn’t that right shadow, a man should never destroy a gift from a beautiful lady, she might get angry or hold a grudge.”
Shadow just looked at him, sitting down wagging his tail, mouth open, pink tongue out to one side. He basked in Fay’s attention, puffing out his chest a little when she said his name. Marr gulped, the last time Fay was angry she had made him eat all his meat cooked and with utensils for a weak. Raw bloody meat was so much better, and the fork and knife were so clumsy and inefficient, his hands were much better at grabbing his food, his claws better at cutting than any knife.
Marr looked at her and grabbed her hand in his, lightly squeezing it and letting it go, he had figured out this particular weakness of hers last week. Whenever Fay was angry if he lightly held and squeezed her hand she always ended up forgiving him after he apologized, which was something she had taught him a few months ago.
“sorry Fay, I’ll try not to rip any more shirts.
Promise?
Promise.
Fine, but you still owe me Marr, you’re not getting out of this that easy.”
Marr gulped and heard a few muffled chuckles, he glared at his men and they went silent. The last time he owed her she had made him take her into one of the small villages that dotted the country side and then have a picnic with her. It wasn’t the worst thing, but Fay had ended up falling asleep leaning against his shoulder and he was afraid to move to much or else he’d wake her, even when his arm had started to go numb. One of the locals had come to his rescue, reminding them it was going to be dark soon and they should be careful. He had tried to explain that this was his territory and no beasts would dare attack him here, but Fay had shushed him, grabbing his arm in her own and walking back towards their camp.
Raul cleared his throat and pointed to the carriage, right then back to business. On the other side of the carriage were three people, two girls and a guy. The guy was older, his sideburns gray, he held a small knife in his hand that looked like it was made for cutting up your dinner more than to use as an actual weapon, he was waving it back and forth as if to ward off everyone from the girls. The girls were huddled together, how old Marr couldn’t tell but Fay would know. Their eye makeup had been smeared with tears, and one had a small cut on her cheek where she had it an edge on the carriage.
Marr stepped up to the man.
“surrender.
I can’t, the girls. I know what you bandits do to women, well not on my watch you won’t, I’ll die before you get these girls.”
Marr arched his eyebrows and turned to Fay giving her a look, what did bandits do to women? He was a bandit lord, technically that made him a bandit too and he hadn’t really done anything to Fay and she was a woman, had he? Well he had taught her to tan a hide, clean a fresh kill, fight bare handed or grapple, Raul had taught her to use the spear and everyone had taught her some other survival stuff. Is that what bandits did, make women not helpless anymore, able to survive in the wilderness, he thought they just robbed people and sometimes held them ransom for more money, was that worth dying over? Well he couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t do that, everyone helped back at camp, there was too much to do otherwise. No free loaders in his camp.
Marr went to say so, but Fay interrupted him. She was doing that more and more, it was odd and frustrating. She would challenge him in situations like this, dealing with people, mostly the ones they attacked, but was subservient the rest of the time, going along with his decisions, sometimes without even being asked like she new what he was thinking. He was the alpha of this pack, all the men knew, Shadow knew, but it seemed Fay forgot sometimes and then remembered at others. Thinking about it made him confused, he often felt that way when he tried to figure Fay out.
“surrender”
Fay said it this time, voice gentle yet firm.
“nothing will happen to you, the girls, or your guards, including your two shapers as long as you surrender, and your shapers take a bound oath saying they wont harm us or try to escape. Well blindfold you, take you back to our camp and then send a message offering a ransom. The Shapers guild will pay for the two shapers and whoever’s house that can afford a carriage like that and two shapers has enough money to pay a ransom for you and the girls. the details we can hash out later, but the important part is no one will be hurt, and nothing will happen to the girls. isn’t that right Marr.”
Fay was doing it again, she had started out acting like the leader but then deferred to his authority at the end. He let out a growl and Shadow matched it. Both of them barring their teeth.
“yes, now hurry up, the others are all bound by ropes and I want this carriage flipped back over and brought to camp.”
The man dropped the knife and they tied his arms back, Fay grabbed the two girls and brought them away from the men under a tree, they were still sniffling, the younger one breaking into sobs every so often. Her heart ached for them, the eldest must have been no older than 16, the younger one 13 or 14. They looked like sisters, but one could just as easily be the others hand maiden. It was common for an illegitimate daughter to be the legitimates hand maiden or the reverse, a bastard his brother’s aide. Families sometimes married the two bastards together, forming a weaker alliance between themselves than if they were full blooded heirs but still an alliance nonetheless.
Fay had the girls sit, tried to get them talking but the eldest just glared and the younger one hid behind the other. Fay watched the men lift the carriage off the ground and right it, it had taken almost all of them. Marr was off collecting the two shapers, Shadow by his side blocking most of him except for the top half of his face. He would be getting a bound oath from the shapers to not attack or run away, or if they didn’t give it he would be killing them, probably feed their corpses to shadow.
That was part of the dichotomy of Marr. He could be so civil at least for a bandit one moment and then feeding corpses to his pet another. How he had even trained a warped beast was a mystery, the only greater mystery being Marr’s own past. The men had a few theories including that Marr and Shadow were actually brothers, a warped beast eating a pregnant women and Marr ripping himself out of both his mother’s womb and the beasts stomach, finding Shadow in the beast while eating it for his first meal and believing themselves to be brothers since they came from the same beast. A more realistic theory had been that Marr was some master shaper who had been raised by a pack of beasts in the warped lands, the second one sounded much more realistic but just as incredible. No one survived in the warped lands, the strongest warped beasts fought for supremacy there and the only known way to reach them was through the country of Bass. Bass was controlled by the order and they all hated foreigners, especially foreign shapers. Something to do with the Ancient’s war thousands of years ago.
The men were starting to blindfold the guards, Marr had already blindfolded the shapers and was leading them away with a rope. Fay called for the girls and brought them next to the guards, having them blindfolded and roped together with the rest of them. Raul asked for two volunteers to deliver the news that Marr and his Bandit group the Beasts were holding the girls and shapers for ransom. He gave them a note with a meeting place and date on it and sent them off on their way.
They started walking back towards camp, Rain leading the guards and two girls, Raul driving the carriage. Fay sped up and caught up to Marr and Shadow, taking the spot next to him, opposite shadow on his left side. She had a smile on her face and took his hand in hers, she had never been subtle about liking him, but Marr never seemed to notice, and the others never commented. That was okay, everything would come together in its own time. Plus, he owed her for ripping the shirt and she had a great idea for how he could repay her.