He breathed in and out at an increasing rate. He dashed through street after street as it tried with all of its being to escape. Kiran wasn’t just going to let it manage that, especially after killing their horse. Do you really think you can get away with that and not face any consequences?
Silvy kept up the pace by being right behind him.
You can’t keep running forever.
The creature entered another dark alleyway. Unfortunately for it, this alley came to an end forcing them to turn their back to a wall blocking them in.
He began to make out more of their details as their head darted around trying to spot a way out. They had more feminine features that their long black hair hid away. Their eyes widened as he took up a particular stance with his sword. They pressed their back against the back alley wall with eyes widening in fear.
Their breathing quickened. This banespawn clearly feared him. But he found it unusual how human-like they appeared despite very much being a monster with lizard-like characteristics such as their bulky tail tucked between their legs.
As they both neared them, they raised their hands and bent their knees to lower themselves slightly to them. “Please don’t kill me!” They began to weep as they fell to their knees. This must be one of the intelligent banespawn I’ve heard about. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know that horse was yours.”
“If you didn’t know, then why’d you kill them?”
“I was starving…I—” They struggled to speak as more tears fell down their face. “I couldn’t help myself.”
“Is that so?” He took another step forward gripping his sword tightly.
They lowered their head even more groveling before him in a panic. “No, no, no, no, no! Please!” Their shrill and high-pitched voice etched itself further into his mind.
He felt a hand grasp his shoulder. He turned his head towards Silvy who appeared somewhat concerned.
What’s a horse worth in this world? He asked himself that question and didn’t know the answer. He had grown to like that horse quite a lot. It made their travels easier and he thought the horse came to like him quite a bit. It was a shame that this thing of all things decided to kill it.
For a banespawn, it would be easy to just judge them as being nothing more than a monster, but this thing did look somewhat human-like despite the lizard tail and lizard textured skin on their hands and lower face. This made it hard for him to merely strike them down like any other monster. It would do him no good though to just let them run off without some kind of value in return for their loss.
“Fine, I won’t kill you. But I do expect something in return.” He lowered his sword choosing to not intimidate this banespawn quite as much.
They looked up to him appearing surprised. “You really won’t kill me?”
“That depends entirely on you and whether you can be helpful.”
“Oh, I can be very helpful to you mister. Very helpful indeed! I’ll do anything if it means you’ll spare me!”
Their changed attitude made him even more wary of her. He was still willing to exercise grace however. He sheathed his sword and kept a few steps back from her as she stood up. He began to take more notice of her hands that appeared covered in drying blood from the horse she had moments ago killed.
I don’t know what all I’ll be able to get out of her, but maybe I can get something of use. Hopefully that’s the case. “I’m trying to look for some people of mine that I think might be here in this city. Are there any other humans or familiars here that you know about?”
They blinked several times and began to squint a little. “You’re one of them then, aren’t you?”
“You’ll have to be more specific.”
“The occupiers, vagabonds, or whatever word you wish to call them. They who thought to wander into our city one day and have it for themselves.”
“Whose city does this belong to then?”
“It is ours. It does not belong to your kind or those pesky familiars.” With the way she said familiars, he got the impression the banespawn weren’t at all fond of them. Perhaps even more so than humanity.
Her words did suggest that the two were here though which made him even more confident that it was in fact the coalition who was here in the city. All he had to do was find them.
“Can you take me to them?”
They rapidly shook their head. “No, no, no.” He raised his sword managing to get them to lock eyes with it. “Please mister, I cannot help you. Those people of yours that you’re eager to find would kill me the moment they saw me like they’ve done to the rest of my kin.” They began to mutter words in a foreign language he did not understand. They became quite furious sounding as she showed her sharpened teeth a little bit.
“If not you, then someone else then?”
“Yes,” she said, “I know of someone who would take you to them. Come, come,” she said walking towards him, “let me take you two and—”
Some kind of rustling sound caught his attention. It sounded like feet tapping against a rooftop from one of the buildings beside them.
“Kiran, look out!”
From way high up, something began falling rapidly down towards them. A slim silhouette appeared forcing him to take action as they drove a steel blade directly towards him. He pulled up his sword blocking the attack as he struggled to maintain his bearings as the creature landed on the ground between him and Silvy.
As he prepared to attack the short black-clad figure that kept their face hidden with a big droopy hood, a sharp pain erupted in his lower back.
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His arm swung backward slicing at whatever had hurt him. The steel from his sword cut through the creature who had just moments before offered to help them.
They let out a wretched yelp and cried aloud as blood poured out of the cut that ran across their face. Their body fell over convulsing on the ground as Silvy kept the other surprise attacker busy. Rather than finishing off the woman who landed a hit somewhere on his backside, he chose to assist Silvy since the other was in no position to fight any further.
He swung his sword in a downward arc towards their surprise attacker. Their sword went up against his and went forward sliding against his blade. It nearly plunged into him but he ducked out of the way and repositioned himself.
Whoever this attacker was, fought fast and effectively. But he also found it difficult to aid Silvy in the attack since he became more aware of something sticking out of his lower back near the right side.
The pain in his back caused him to grimace as he became more aware of its presence. Every second, it felt as if a plentiful amount of his life was spilling out of the wound on his back.
His ability to fight quickly eroded away. His technique became sloppy, and no matter how hard he wanted to utilize magic to assist him, it would not work.
The small-statured figure blocked both of their attacks and did a backflip over Silvy. They landed on both of their feet several feet away near the other injured banespawn. Rather than fight them anymore, they grabbed the still screaming banespawn and leaped over them managing to exit the alley.
“What the heck was that—” Silvy came to grasp him on his sides as he fell to one knee. With her help, he hadn’t completely fallen over but he felt about ready to.
Everything around him began to spin. When he looked into her eyes, she truly possessed fear.
“Hurry,” he said. “Get our supplies from where we sheltered earlier. There should be…” The wound pulsated causing him to collapse over onto the dirtied stone ground in the alleyway. “There should be a way to stop the bleeding but we have to hurry.”
She ran off leaving him in the alley. It would be easy to kill him. He was in a terrible position if those two banespawn returned to finish the job or if others came by to check out all of the commotion.
That’s what I get for trying to be nice. They were just keeping me busy for their friend to come and find them so they stab me right in the back.
He kept silent despite a willingness to scream. A wet liquid continually ran down his back wetting his tunic and covering the ground that he rested upon. If he had removed the object jutting out, there would be even more blood spilling out. For now at least, he didn’t even consider removing it.
Something rushed towards him. Whether an ally or a foe, he didn’t dare look up. He just lay there on his side hopeful for the former.
Since they didn’t immediately attack him, he knew it was Silvy. They rustled some stuff out of a bag and began to start a fire. They began heating an extra blade of theirs allowing the metal to become bright and hot.
While it heated up, she helped him sit up. “How are you feeling?”
He tried to focus and respond to her. “I’ve never felt better.”
“Dammit Kiran, can you ever not joke or fiddle around?”
He smiled despite the pain. “Just…get ready to pull this thing out.”
Moments like these were always in the back of his mind. He had thought of a thousand different painful ways he could go. This was perhaps not the worst way. Dying by fire or drowning always came to mind first as some of the worst ways to go. Or from a prolonged form of torture. That was probably the absolute worst.
If he were to die from bleeding out from a stabbing, he supposed that wasn’t the worst way to go. He felt bad for Silvy though. If he passed on from this life, he did not like the idea of her having to wander through this city all alone to attempt to find the coalition when it appeared that the banespawn—of the intelligent variety—had settled here. To what extent, he did not know, but he feared how great their numbers might be.
That was one reason why he had to live and not die. He needed to be there to help fight against whatever dangers may dwell here. Silvy needed him especially as he needed her.
She gripped the red-hot blade and looked him in the eye. “Are you ready?”
He took a deep breath and then breathed back out. With a simple nod, they began to pull the object from his back and his sight went dark.
* * *
His body fell over in the darkness. Pain erupted from his right shoulder and worse yet, he couldn’t see a thing. The potion he had drank earlier appeared to have completely worn off as well.
Where am I?
While he tried to get up, he had only managed to get to his knees when something hard smacked him straight in the nose. He flew backward hitting the back of his head against the ground. He began to see light as he lay there on his back. It revealed some of the worn buildings around them.
“I’m sorry,” Silvy said from somewhere. He could not see her as he lay there practically unable to move whatsoever.
Someone, or something laughed. He heard Silvy cry out. Though he could barely move, he forced himself upright and stood up stumbling around. He felt for the wound that he had sustained earlier. It appeared that Silvy had managed to remove the blade and cauterize it while he was knocked out. However, they were now in a different location and it became clear, that there were many different beings surrounding them. He could only barely see them in the darkness that was held back somewhat as many of them held onto torches.
“I always like the smell of fresh meat.” Their voice was deep and a bit gravelly in tone. They sniffed and appeared pleased as they hoisted Silvy up by her brown curly hair. They were at least seven feet tall and although he could not see their face very well, their green irises glowed a bit in the dark as torchlight lit up their face from the diverse group of banespawn behind and beside them.
He stretched out his palm hopeful that he could summon something or anything for that matter to use against them. Come on, just work. I need to be able to fight. Hope alone was not sufficient enough to grant miracles in these dire circumstances.
They relinquished their grasp on Silvy’s hair causing her to hit the ground. They began to approach Kiran revealing more of their features. Up close, he could make them out a little better but it was difficult as they were further away from the torchbearers. They had broad shoulders and horns jutting out of their head. As they stood just a few feet away from him and stopped, they slammed the pommel of a giant two-headed axe against the ground. His feet felt the vibrations and knew full well, that this particular banespawn, could kill him easily if they wished it to be done.
“You wish to fight, don’t you?” They were eagerly anticipating him to charge forward and make an attempt. They knew just as well as he did, that he would not be capable of doing anything. At least not in his current state.
Whatever energy or adrenaline had come to him when he reawakened a moment ago, fled his body almost entirely. It was like his body knew the futility of it all. He was completely at their mercy in this pathetically weakened state.
The one standing before him showed their sharp teeth to him by grinning.
More and more laughter erupted. They knew just as well as he did, that there was nothing he could do. He could just stand there and do nothing more.
“So be it,” they said. “Know my name human. I am Drexo, ruler of this city and chieftain of the Dhargarus clan. Tell me your name so that I and my kin may shame it and ridicule it.”
He received jeers from the gathered crowd hiding away in the darkness. “Kiran.”
“Kiran? What a stupid name.” They spat in his face and pushed him. He managed to not fall over although a part of him wanted to since he could barely manage to stay upright on his two feet. “I look forward to the entertainment you shall bring to myself and my people. Those other humans may have avoided capture so far, but you can serve as our appetizer before they’re ours to feast upon in the near future.”