It took Robert around half an hour to get the source of black smoke visible. Wolves were immediately forgotten when he might finally get more information about this world and potentially even find humans or any other sapient beings. Seeing dark clouds dispersing high in the air, he was sure that it was manmade. It wasn’t a field under the scorching sun that was set ablaze by an accidental spark. There was no possible lightning that might hit a dry tree to ignite the fire. No, it was made by someone’s hand without any doubts. The problem was in its dark color and size. It seemed like something big was burning and it wasn’t just an ordinary bonfire that he wanted to get himself. No, it was much bigger. Unfortunately, Rob’s worries soon were confirmed.
The scenery that appeared before his eyes looked like taken directly from medieval times. The rampaging flame was devouring several houses of the once peaceful village. However, there was no activity to stop it because the owners were busy defending their own lives. Robert couldn’t see the whole settlement – gaps between separate households were no less than a hundred meters (300 ft), but what he saw made him tremble. He spent many years on the battlefield. He saw the death of comrades and friends from cameras. He visited them while they were dying in mobile hospitals. Still, there was never a situation for him where the human killed another human. Of course, he wasn’t that naive and knew the history of Earth, most pages of which were filled with rivers of blood. But to know and to see it with his own eyes were two completely different things.
They don’t spare even women… Fuck! What do I do now?
Robert’s first impulse was to help. He wasn’t a hero, but it was physically hard to watch a murderous event while doing nothing. It wasn’t a movie, they were real people, and he was always told about his role as a protector. Despite the huge gap between himself and those for whom he meant to be a shield from aliens, Rob still thought that way, liked he or not. So, it wasn’t strange for him to get such a feeling. However, he stopped only after a few steps. The absence of any weapon together with his pathetical constitution and non-existent hand-to-hand training meant a certain death. He knew nothing about the reasoning behind such a massacre. Maybe it was a settlement of cannibals, or they deserved such treatment because of their own deeds. He might even break a local law by attempting to help.
A complex mixture of emotions filled Robert’s mind while his body was frozen. Small amounts of guilt, a pinch of fear, raging righteousness, and stubborn rationality made him angry with himself, his indecisiveness, and his own mental weakness. Robert wasn’t a hero and never wanted to be one. He did what was needed as a soldier, that’s it, no more, no less. Rob didn’t have even the slightest idea of willingly going somewhere to save people, animals, or any other thing, that needed to be saved. On the other hand, when tragedy was happening right before him, it was hard to pass with closed eyes and heart. Only real sociopaths had no sympathy. Some part of pop culture tried to picture them as cool pragmatic characters, but lack of understanding of emotions looked fine only on paper. Or in the imagination of teenagers, who deep inside desired exactly the opposite – to impress others with their cold and ruthless behavior. Robert definitely wasn’t such a person.
He sighed before making the first step forward. In just a moment, he had to push himself into the sprint when he saw several children, crying behind the back of their mother. She desperately tried to shield them from the danger, but the chances were non-existent as everywhere near similar situations led to sorrowful outcomes. It struck him like lightning. All of Rob’s scruples were thrown away while he squeezed every grain of force out of his body to make him run faster. To be on time before they would die. Madly beating heart, painful heat in legs, heavy breathing – everything was pushed to the background of his mind while Robert tried to capture every single detail that could be useful.
The village visually had tens of households, each of them with its own small courtyard. Far behind this settlement, there were spacious fields, which were empty right now. Most remnants of locals were dispersed between buildings and all resistance was almost over by this time. That was not a surprising result as men with big lumberjack axes, pitchforks, shovels or even rakes couldn’t make a fair fight against proper melee weapons and wooden round shields with metal edging. In addition, dressed in linen clothes, they made a big contrast to the aggressors equipped with armor. The latter didn’t look like knights, but their bodies were covered with thick leather. Robert was sure that underneath it, there were metal plates with the same protections covering their arms and thighs. Heavy boots together with helmets made their defense on another level. However, what made Rob tense up was their identical symbol on the chest and back – a green circle with five pointing upward red arrows on a white mountain background. That meant they were trained soldiers and not just random thugs or bandits.
Still, that didn’t stop Robert as it also didn’t stop these soldiers from massacring villagers. They went much further as they started to methodically burn every single house. Such brutality was similar only to those religious wars or plundering. Rob couldn’t see any other reason. Capturing land was only useful together with human labor who could work on it. Robbers didn’t need a dead chicken as it wouldn’t lay any more eggs after being used as meat. For illnesses such as plague villagers looked too healthy and soldiers didn’t have any protection. However, differences in religion might lead in some cases to feelings of superiority. The latter could appear by itself, but the outcome was always the same – lots of corpses. Yes, it was a different world, but logical thinking hinted that it wasn’t exclusive to Earth.
Not that was very important at this exact moment as Robert was already ten meters (30ft.) from two warriors, who knocked down a young woman on the ground. No explanation was needed to figure out what they wanted to do. Crying children tried to stop them only to be slapped away. One of the warriors stood up and picked up his weapon with a shield as if he wanted to finish the bloody deed. His small axe was already covered in a red liquid. The black beard couldn’t hide a creepy smile. Maybe that was the reason for Robert to change his direction to this soldier while another was still standing sideways. Rob even rejoiced that he hadn’t noticed so far before jumping directly on the opponent. However, unfortunately, most likely the smile was intended for Robert and not for children, as the soldier without the slightest pause turned himself simultaneously raising his shield. And that shield not only covered the enemy’s body but also rushed towards Rob, who was still in the air during his attempt to attack spontaneously.
The incoming wooden board with a metal edging met a lunging body of Robert, making a resulting impact devastating. Devastating for Rob and not his opponent, who sidestepped and pushed him to the side without meeting the crazy rush head-on. As for Robert – he felt as if he was hit by a truck. Despite the pain in the shoulder and foot, he somehow managed to somersault clumsily, avoiding a following swing of the axe. His disorderly movement of rolling on the ground helped him to make a safe distance before he hastily stood up. To his surprise both soldiers didn’t rush to him, mockingly looking at his pathetic entrance and appearance.
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“Run!” Robert’s shout awoke frozen children and they immediately sprinted away. To be honest, he wasn’t even sure who was even more scared at this very moment. Still, his mission was partly accomplished, and only a woman was left. “I will distract…”
Rob’s words died a moment later as one other soldier stabbed his sword right into her throat. His broad smile together with bright blue eyes and clean shaved chin made an image of a guy not older than Robert. However, a young age hadn’t influenced him in the slightest. There was not even a second hesitation before the kill. There was no change in expression, as it was just a fun game for him. He didn’t even blink. Without looking away from Rob, he wiped the blood on the blade with the woman’s clothes. The grin never left him while he was doing it. This frightening scenery made Rob’s mind go blank and almost missed the movement of the second soldier. A fast swing opened a new cut across his bare chest, not deep enough to make it lethal, but he definitely couldn’t pretend that it was just a scratch. It hurt like hell, making him involuntary scream as new smiles emerged on enemies' faces.
Those bastards are just playing with me! Crap! I need to run before I would bleed out and fall…
Not wasting a breath, Robert turned around instantly and sprinted away. Or at least tried, as only after a few steps something hit him in the back. He almost fell but managed to keep his balance. He used all his willpower to continue moving despite flaming pain without slowing down.
“Nice throw, Berny!” a loud laugh sounded behind, making Rob glance back just to find out that only one of the enemies was lazily running after him while the other, a bearded one, was picking a bloodied axe from the ground. It didn’t even seem that the latter would follow him, fully trusting his blue-eyed psychopathic ally. Unfortunately for Robert, their reasoning was quite right. With two wounds, no weapons, no training or melee combat experience, he had non-existent chances to escape or properly fight back. Moreover, that was without adding multiple other soldiers in the area.
I am in deep shit. A possible and maybe single way out of this disgusting substance is to “die” without damaging my brain or heart, and rely on my healing ability… Hope they don’t practice a control shot… control stab? Fuck, this is not the right time!
While making his legs move, he tried to find the best direction, but not to avail. There was a large burning house to the left with a few corpses lying motionlessly before it. A huge field in front of him without a single obstacle or place to hide was crossed out immediately. Rob had a group of buildings that related to a single household on the right. The main problem was that the fight there just ended. Three soldiers stood there, calmly cleaning their weapons and armor. All options were quite bad, so Robert chose a less dangerous direction in his opinion – engulfed in flames house at least didn’t have any additional enemies and dead villages might have something useful for protection near them.
Skipping a trodden path, Rob ran across the uncut grass, directly heading to his goal. The soldier behind him kept some distance, not even trying to catch up. That made other spectators broke into laugh. They began to bet loudly and mock him for his laziness. Someone made an attempt to taunt Robert, but all words went past his ears. He was fully focused on every single detail that he might use to save his life. Soldiers neglected any possible resistance, not seeing him as a real threat. Speaking frankly, they were mostly correct in this way of thinking as he had no chances against all of them. This sad truth made Rob’s anger rise, slowly turning him into a rat, driven into a corner, which would fight back until certain death with all its strength.
I would tear you apart with my single mech, stupid barbarians! Still, at least one of you will regret meeting me!
Boiling rage accelerated his mind, making everything crystal clear. He was barely in thirty meters (100ft.) from the burning building. Forever frozen blank expressions of two middle-aged men were already visible. They still were holding improvised weapons that didn’t manage to help but showed their will to resist till the end. Near them, facing the ground, a woman lay. Almost beheaded, she had a horrible wound on her neck. The flaming background only made this scenery even bloodier. However, even this closeness to possible cover didn’t make the pursuer speed up, keeping the distance around five meters. Mentally roaring for such disregard, Robert clenched his teeth in anger with a pinch of anticipation. He started to act a second later.
Jumping over corpses, he abruptly turned around after a few more steps. Without pause, in a single fluid motion, Rob kicked an empty bucket with his foot. That bucket, previously abandoned during the start of the attack as water droplets followed its path through the air, crashed directly into a shield. Unfortunately, despite displaying a relaxed attitude, the enemy managed to react in time, protecting his head. But that was what Robert wanted him to do in the first place as it also covered his vision. Not stopping even for a mere moment, he hastily picked up the dropped shovel and turned its sharp edge upwards. Holding it almost on stretched hands while kneeling in front of the dead, he used all his strength just to raise his weapon. The other side of it was already planted on the ground. His thin arms couldn’t make a proper hit from such a position, but that wasn’t needed as the inertia of the enemy made everything instead of him. If this trick had worked against the bear, why wouldn’t it now?
The blue-eyed soldier was going to jump over the corpse when he had to shield him from the thrown object. He managed not only to protect himself but also not to lose momentum, merely slowing down before he pushed himself into the air. He was going to kick his prey with the leg when his groin met with a metal edge. Then the pain came, and everything began to blur. The shrill cry sounded in the surroundings, filled with misery and torture. It took a few seconds to realize that it was his own.
Robert, on the other hand, felt only a strong impact that pulled out the shovel from his hands and then a screaming soldier fell right at his feet. Rob smiled wildly before picking up the shovel again. The next three hits went directly into the face of the temporarily immobilized opponent. The nose protection on a helmet resisted an attempt to crush everything, alas temporarily. Unfortunately, it simultaneously prolonged the terror and pain of the soldier. Hearing angry shouts and rushing sounds of heavy boots, Robert picked up the bleeding man, turning him into the improvised shield. Before he managed to make half of a dozen steps backward, he was already surrounded by four. Unfriendly expressions were quite an understatement in a description of how everyone looked at Robert.
“Hey, put him down and we will let you go!” commanded one of them, an owner of imposing grey mustaches. Being noticeably older than others, he could be their leader or at least had more voice in decisions.
“Oh, now everything doesn’t look so funny, right?” grinned Rob with a crazy smile, taking another step back. The heat from behind started to be uncomfortable, but he continued to move. He was sure that he had very limited time before opponents would act. Robert hid his other hand, but it wouldn’t take long before soldiers would realize it had no weapon.
“Listen, fellow, we had an order and no choice. Still, we can close our eyes if one bird slips through the net. On the other hand, any casualty will decrease our reward by compensating the loss and that is definitely not something we want. Make a smart choice… So, what’s your answer?”
“My answer? I want to find correct words… hm… let me think… the best one is quite simple in fact – fuck you!” Robert replied with a smirk before jumping backward into a raging flame. Fire almost immediately covered him together with the wounded soldier, starting to eat their flesh like a hungry wild beast.
“Fuuuuu…. yooouuuu” Echoed from the burning building together with painful screams before everything went quiet. Dumbfounded warriors stayed silent for some time before the senior one commented.
“That was brave and idiotic at the same moment… Could die without any pain… Listen up, gather everyone, and let’s head on before the Baron’s men find us. They need only to see the results of our raid, not us, so move your asses!”