I wasn’t sure how long exactly I worked to save Walter’s life, but it couldn’t have been long. The precision of my Aetherial sense and the ability to directly manipulate the flesh below me meant that the process was surprisingly quick, if not incredibly mentally intensive. I couldn’t allow my concentration to slip for even a moment. If it did, and I wasn’t holding the wound together through sheer mental pressure while I worked, Walter would likely bleed out and die.
I kept in mind I likely didn’t have very long before it was my turn to fight and I had to leave Walter alone. He had to be stable by the time I left him. I couldn’t ask Bleddyn to watch him either, as it hadn’t escaped my attention who the last two slaves that hadn’t fought were. It looked like Magnus wanted the last fight of the first round to be Bleddyn and me.
I was lucky that whatever was going on out there seemed to be the longest of the fights so far. My concentration had nearly been broken several times by the reactions of the heartless crowd, with their cheers and their jeers. But eventually, I finished.
I think…I’d done it.
Snapping out of my Aetherial sense with a deep gasp of air, I nearly fell onto my ass at the wave of exhaustion that hit me. Instead, I fell back onto Bleddyn’s legs, as he was still leaning over me. It looked like he had stopped holding down Walter by this point, as apparently, the teenager had lost consciousness sometime during the procedure. I felt my own waver from the strain of what I had done, nearly knocking me out.
Seconds later, I felt myself being shaken back to awareness. Slowly blinking my eyes, I found that Bleddyn had moved to crouch in front of me. He was staring at me with a concerned expression on his face. “Oi,” He said lowly. “Ye can’t sleep now. I think they’re done out there, and we’ve got to check on the boy before they come for us.”
Breathing deeply, I nonetheless nodded at him. He nodded back and moved out of my way so I could inspect Walter. Well, he was breathing at least. It was unsteady and slight, but it was there. He’d likely passed out from the shock of both the wound and the impromptu surgery. He was pale from blood loss, which unfortunately I don’t think I could do anything about. I didn’t have any of the blood-replenishing potions that Magnus had forced down my throat.
As for the surgery itself, it seemed like it had been a success. I’d managed to stitch close both the wound on his abdomen, and the perforation on his large intestine. Probably not very well, though. The stitches weren’t very neat, and I’d likely used too much thread, but at least Walter wasn’t bleeding everywhere anymore. Instead, I was covered in his blood now.
Tiredly, I tore off the remaining sleeve on my tunic and started winding it around Walter’s stomach, with Bleddyn’s help. When I was done, I cinched it off as best I could as a makeshift bandage.
God, I wish I had some kind of medical training to tell whether or not I’d just saved his life, or doomed it.
“I think I’ve done all I can now for him,” I said to Bleddyn lowly. “It’s up to him now if he pulls through.” Bleddyn nodded at me seriously and opened his mouth to reply, but didn’t get the chance.
Behind us, we heard the tent flap fly open. Bleddyn shut his mouth and narrowed his eyes. I turned around to see what he was looking at to find another blood-soaked slave stumbling into the tent. This one looked rougher than either of the first two winners, and multiple cuts lingering on his skin. He wasn’t followed by another slave, only the same guard that was assigned to mind us. I let out a rough breath from my nose. That made two other slaves that were likely dead by now.
I didn’t get very long to contemplate the slave though, as the guard immediately turned to Bleddyn and I. “Up and at ‘em, you two,” He said to us maliciously, before pausing at the sight of me. He smirked at my blood-soaked form. “Well, well, what do we have here? Could it be that one you is being a little…preactive?”
Bleddyn stood up first and helped me up after him. He spat on the ground at the guard's words while I woozily tried to steady myself. “It’s proactive, ye dumb twat,” He said mulishly, causing the guard to scoff. “Besides, the boy already lost. Why would we try and kill ‘im now?”
“I’m going to enjoy watching you bleed, slave,” The guard sneered. “Out, the both of you.”
Out we went.
………………………………………
Exiting into the inappropriately bright and cheery sunlight, I was surprised to see that another confrontation was already taking place. This time, between Magnus and Orinbar, the Seneschal. They seemed to be having a heated argument. Magnus was sneering down at him from his place higher up on his pavilion. While Orinbar was standing at the bottom of the steps around the back half, with an incredibly frustrated look on his face. Interestingly, Stonebreaker was standing up on the pavilion as well with Magnus. He…didn’t look very pleased.
The crowd was politely pretending not to notice any kind of confrontation happening, while at the same time very obviously paying rapt attention to the two dwarves.
As the guard directed us closer to the pavilion, we must have been noticed by Orinbar. If anything, the sight of us made him look even angrier. “Even the damn Butcher, Magnus?!” He shouted at the heir. “Never mind Azarus’s personal slave, you’re trying to get the town's only butcher killed?! How are we going to get our meat if we don’t have a Butcher!”
Magnus scoffed and sneered. “Azarus doesn’t have a personal slave. What he has is a worthless piece of meat that I’m loaning him. I can do whatever I want with cattle that I own. As for the Butcher, what does it matter? This one isn’t even a real Butcher anyway. I’ll just assign another slave with Fleshcrafting to the job if it dies.”
Orinbar literally shook in anger before he snapped. “You’ve gone too far this time, Magnus! As far as I’m concerned, you’ve sabotaged this operation for the last time! You care more about your own base enjoyments than you do furthering the interests of House Savoy!” He straightened his already neat vest. “I’ll be contacting the Prince to see about recalling you back to Vittolia. Perhaps he can correct your behavior.”
Magnus lurched forward with a snarl on his face. “Oh, are you now, old man? You pathetic weakling, you think I’ll let you? Guards!” He snapped at the guards-dwarves who had gathered to watch the confrontation. “Restrain the Seneschal, and escort him back to his office. Make sure he doesn’t leave. I’ll deal with him…later.” He said ominously.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Two guards hesitantly stepped forward to obey Magnus’s order. Both of them laid a hand on Orinbar’s shoulders to lead him away. On the pavilion, Stonebreaker let out an audible snort of disgust that rang out from his helm. Orinbar looked at the hands on his shoulders disbelievingly for a moment before looking up at Magnus. “You cannot be serious, Magnus. This settlement would collapse in a day without me.”
“Oh, I’m deadly serious, Seneschal,” Magnus answered with a twisted smile. “Take him away.”
The guards did as ordered, directing the shocked Orinbar out of the clearing and back through the gate. Before long, the trio had disappeared off in the direction of the manor. With a self-satisfied noise, Magnus turned back around to look at Bleddyn and I, who had been watching the show behind him. At the sight of us, an evil glint entered his eyes. “Well, well. I believe this might end up being my favorite bout of the day. If it isn’t the rebellious Butcher and the cattle that survived two of my hunts.”
Bleddyn already had a sneer on his face at the sight of Magnus, but his words only caused it to deepen. On my part, I was trying not to let my exhaustion from the surgery show on my face. If I showed any weakness at all, I’m sure that Magnus would pounce on it.
Magnus continued. “You two maggots have the honor of being the last match of the first round, and I believe I’ve changed my mind. The way the other cattle slaughtered each other was most pleasing to me. My order that you don’t need to fight to the death is rescinded.”
His words caused a stir among the crowd. Bleddyn didn’t show a reaction, but I’m sure my dread broke through my mask. Even beyond the fact that Bleddyn was my friend, I didn’t think I would be able to take him in a fight even if I wasn’t exhausted. I might have had an active Status, but the impression I’d gotten for him over time was that he was just way more experienced than I was. Hell, he definitely had a higher level than I did, locked away behind his brand.
“You will fight and die for my amusement this day, and I will enjoy it immensely,” Magnus said, locking his eyes on me with sick glee. “Guards, distribute the cu-”
“No.”
The entire clearing went silent at the word, causing it to echo.
Magnus’s eyes slowly drifted to my left, where Bleddyn stood with a smirk on his face. “Do you care to repeat that, cattle?” He said, disbelievingly.
Bleddyn took a step forward. “I said, no,” He continued forward with another step. He was now only around ten feet from Magnus. “In fact, fuck no. I’m not going to play yer sick little game, ye twisted cunt.”
Magnus chuckled disbelievingly, glancing around at the dead quiet clearing. “You choose to defy me? Here and now, when I’m surrounded by my soldiers and supporters?” In an extreme shift, he suddenly lunged forward and gripped the railing of the pavilion so hard it splintered under his grasp. “You court death, mongrel.” He snarled madly.
From behind him, I saw something silvery drop into Bleddyn’s palm from his long sleeve. My lips parted slightly in silent shock. He must have grabbed it sometime during the surgery, but I hadn’t seen him do it.
The knife that had been buried in Walter’s stomach.
Bleddyn grinned wildly up at Magnus. “Ye FIRST,” He bellowed, whipping his arm up and tossing the knife point first at Magnus’s face.
The world nearly slowed to crawl at the rush of adrenaline I felt. In a freeze frame, I could see everything that was happening. The knife was flying through the air fast enough that Magnus couldn’t react in time. The audience was only barely beginning to react to the sight of the blade, and a great clamor was erupting from them. The various guards around the clearing were charging at Bleddyn, some of them drawing their blades. Magnus’s eye’s widened slowly at the approaching knife.
Meanwhile, Stonebreaker moved.
Time sped up.
In front of me, Bleddyn was still standing with one arm outstretched from his throwing position. Suddenly, he began laughing wildly at something. “Ha Ha HA HA HA H-” He was cut off briefly by one of the guards tackling him and wrestling him to the ground. His laughter picked up again though, undeterred.
Numbly, I followed his gaze to where he’d been staring.
On the podium, Stonebreaker was standing just off to the side of Magnus, one arm outstretched in front of Magnus’s face at eye height. Pinched in between his gauntleted index and middle finger was the blood-soaked kitchen knife that had nearly stolen Walter’s life. But…
The entire knife wasn’t present before Stonebreaker’s fingers.
Slowly, stumblingly, Magnus backed away from the knife in front of his left eye with a faint, but audible wet plopping noise. As he did so, Stonebreaker tilted the knife up just enough for everyone to see what was on the point.
A ruined, punctured eyeball.
Suddenly, Magnus let out a high-pitched scream of pure agony. The view of Magnus wasn’t blocked by Stonebreaker anymore, as he had stepped to the side, with a vaguely self-satisfied air. As suspected, Magnus’s left eye was just gone. In its place was a bloody, empty eye socket.
Some of the dwarven women in the audience screamed at the sight, while the clamor from the rest of the audience picked up.
“You!” Magnus suddenly screamed through his wails at Stonebreaker, clutching his empty socket. “Why didn’t you stop it!”
Over the din of the crowd, I still managed to hear Stonebreaker’s reply. “I did,” He said, somewhat smugly. “Enough that it wasn’t fatal, at least. Chin up, boy. You’ll get it grown back. Once you’re back in Vittolia, at least.”
Oh. I see. So Stonebreaker was more on Orinbar’s side…
Magnus must have realized that as well, because a rictus of hate suddenly stole across his face. “I’ll deal with you later.” He snarled. Suddenly, he rounded back on the clearing where Bleddyn was being held down by the guards. In an explosive movement that cracked a wooden board beneath him, Magnus jumped down to land in front of Bleddyn. He grabbed him by the hair and yanked his head up to meet his eyes. “Try and kill me, will you!” He screamed in Bleddyn’s face, spittle impacting him. “You’ll beg for death by the time I’m done with you!”
Bleddyn gave a pained chuckle from his position on the ground. “I doubt that.”
Magnus slammed his head back on the ground forcefully. He looked up at the guard that was directly on top of Bleddyn. “Take him to the cells,” He hissed. Standing up, he screamed at the onlookers. “Everyone LEAVE! We’re DONE!” He started hurriedly sprinting in the direction of the manor once he’d finished with his orders.
I took a breath for the first time in a long time. I watched numbly as the guards picked up Bleddyn roughly and began to march him away towards the manor as well. Before he got too far away though, Bleddyn turned around to meet my eyes. First, he smiled at me, surprisingly content for a man that was likely to be tortured to death soon. Then, he mouthed something at me, for the second time that day.
‘The boy’.
Walter…
Suddenly glancing around, I saw that the clearing was in a state of panic. The crowd was rushing out of it quickly, and the guards were preoccupied with them. Nobody was paying any attention to me anymore. Realizing what Bleddyn had meant, I walked back to the tent we’d been held in as quickly as I dared. Once inside, I sprinted over to where Walter was still laying in the dirt where we had left him. Putting my head to his chest and the back of my hand over his mouth, I found that he still had a heartbeat and was still breathing, although both were weak. He was still alive then, thank God.
Carefully, I began to pick up Walter as gently as I could and put him in a fireman’s carry. Standing back up, I ignored the hesitant questions from the other slaves. I didn’t care about people that would willingly kill another slave when they didn’t need to. Poking my head out of the tent, I saw that the coast was fairly clear. Hurriedly, I made my way over to and outside the gate undetected in all the confusion. Once clear, I rushed as quickly as I dared to the side path that led to Azarus’s house.
Thank you, Bleddyn. I wouldn’t forget this.
I swear, I won’t let you die in that house.
That’s a promise.