Chapter 12: The Butcher’s Toll

Part 1: The Ambush

image [https://i.imgur.com/CgpztPF.jpeg]

Kenji’s group decided to retire early. Varro insisted that they make their entrance early the next morning instead of trying to do business late in the day while also fighting the curiosity their entrance would attract. They were close enough to the city that they had been passed by a few groups rushing to enter before the gates closed for the night. Since those groups were traveling without the benefit of a souped-up carriage, they would be cutting it close. One particularly kind traveler noticed they were missing a horse and still offered to help, though it would have set them back a night. Varro thanked him, but fibbed and said they were expecting someone to meet back with a horse early in the morning.

Being this close to civilization was enough to help everyone relax as the risk of beast-attacks finally seemed to fade. Kenji had kept his mind so busy and focused, that he hadn’t realized just how much tension he had been carrying over the last two days. He eagerly prepared his sleeping bag next to their small campfire.

Lucia had offered to trade places with him, so he could have a turn in the carriage. However, the suggestion that he would force a young woman, not to mention a priestess, to sleep on the hard ground so that he could loaf around on a comfy couch went completely against his idea of chivalry. Lucia seemed somewhat confused by this. Intellectually, he was a modern man and a firm believer in equality of gender, but Kenji had spent too much of his childhood rescuing 2D and 3D princesses to not hold on to some old-fashioned ideas.

His thought process made him think about the gender-roles he had come into contact with so far. There might have been a slight tendency on this world for men and women to fill roles that might be considered traditional, but he had seen both filling most roles without noticing any bias so far. So far, a person’s Gift was the biggest equalizer, but age and physical fitness was the second. A 20-year old man might expect to win an arm-wrestling contest against a 20-year old woman, but would probably lose to a woman in her 40’s. Wait, was he bringing his own assumptions in? Was Kenji actually even more old-fashioned than this archaic fantasy world? It was something to pay attention to when they arrived in the big city.

As the sun set, Kenji was able to clearly see the city lights in the distance, thousands of lights and even what appeared to be tall streetlights. They were closer to their next destination than he thought. The city was massive in comparison to the wooden keep-town he assumed would be typical of this world. The ambient light was enough to dim the infinite blanket of stars Kenji had already grown to appreciate seeing on a regular basis. It was just bright and familiar enough that a part of his brain was confused by the lack of towering fast-food logos, billboards, and gas-station prices.

Kenji realized his heart was already thinking of this world as his home now. From his point of view, he hadn’t been away from Earth long enough to even feel homesick yet. So much had happened in such a short period of time that it was hard to focus on exactly how many days he had spent here. Tonight should be his second or third night of dreamless sleep, and if he added that to how many dreams Omnistra had sent him he should get a number. His slighter-higher-than-average intelligence whispered to hold up two fingers and start adding.

Kenji was fast asleep before he finished counting.

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image [https://i.imgur.com/oOSMvBA.jpeg]

A pair of darkly dressed figures approached the horseless carriage, completely silent. They observed the two men camped outside the carriage. Some yards behind them, another dozen similarly dressed started to spread out in a loose circle surrounding the carriage. Another hundred yards outside the circle, the noisiest element, two riders awaited a signal. Everyone’s face and hair was covered with a black piece of fabric.

The two figures watched as one of the travelers studied his hand for a moment, as if he forgot how many fingers he had, and then immediately started snoring as his hand almost fell on his own face. People did strange things when they were convinced no one could see them. That just left the one guard fiddling with a scrap of leather thoughtfully. Rather than keep watch, he elected to lay down across the driver’s seat of the carriage, blocking the door inside. Clearly, the guard reckoned that any thief would have to go through him first to get inside. He had not yet fallen asleep, but would arrive at that point soon. The guard was spinning the scrap of leather around making swishing noises with his mouth.

The travelers were not being careless, not exactly. Bandit attacks so close to the main city were nearly unheard of. They happened, just frequently enough by the desperate to either fail horribly or be quickly caught. Those stories were repeated just often enough to convince everyone who heard them that the roads were safe.

If this were a simple bandit raid, it would be overkill, but this was a little different. The ‘bandits’ brought a carriage of their own from the city, except that carriage was drawn by two horses when it only needed one and held a dozen armed thugs crammed into tight quarters. Their orders were to secure the entire carriage and the people within. The men had been quickly pulled together and given clear instructions.

1. No civilian casualties.

2. No evidence that doesn’t look like an animal attack.

3. Don’t bring corpses through the city gates.

Sticker knew that third point didn’t even need to be said to anyone who knew the score about the Gifts employed by the gate guards. Unfortunately, someone who didn’t know anything about anything happened to be the one sitting next to him asking stupid questions.

“Let’s get them now, what are we really waiting for?” The new guy asked. The sound of his voice was just awful and irritating.

“Waiting for the big one there to nod off, now cut the chatter rookie.” When the new guy wasn’t talking, he was quiet, it was eerie. You couldn’t hear him breathe or walk or even open doors. Sticker wondered if the man was chained to a wall, if the chains would even rattle. But right now he really needed to shut up. He was acting like his Gift made him invincible, but he barely made the cut for this task. It was Sticker’s job to make sure the job was clean, he was the only one with a blade, where everyone else held clubs. His long pig-sticker dagger was half of the reason for his nickname, the other half was his own Gift.

They didn’t know why a small lightly protected carriage with no horse was such a high value target, but the consequences for failure were clear. As the observed guard closed his eyes and tried to get comfortable on the driver’s seat, Sticker waited for the signs of the man’s breathing to change before giving the signal to disarm him. Sticker didn’t hear his companion, who hadn’t bothered waiting for his signal. The new guy was already silently climbing up the carriage and hovering over the guard, acting like he was going to strangle him with a length of rope. Sticker wanted to yell at the fool, but that would ruin the element of surprise. He drew his dagger and got ready to do his part.

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“Attack! Thieves! Wake up!” Marcel yelled loud enough to snap Kenji wide awake before he realized he was even on his feet.

Kenji looked around and saw dark figures walking toward him from all sides, he and his friends were woefully outnumbered. The way the attackers were dressed resembled stereotypical ninjas, except they held clubs and staves instead of swords. Kenji glanced at his sword, just a couple feet away from him, as he weighed their odds. A yell of pain from behind him caused him to turn around just in time to see how Marcel was faring. He was wrestling one man as another approached from behind and stabbed Marcel in the back with a long dagger. Immediately, blood gushed from the wound at a speed that felt unnatural. The two of them threw Marcel down from the carriage. With a single stab, they had incapacitated the muscular man before he was able to draw a weapon. Kenji picked up his sword, his mind racing to come up with a way to fight back a dozen opponents. The sword felt much heavier in his hands than he remembered. He glanced down at the blade, and briefly wondered what was different.

The one holding the dagger had eyes that were almost violet in color. He pointed at Kenji and spoke to him. “Surrender, and no one else needs to die.”

Kenji knew he wasn’t going to win this fight, and as the carriage door started to open he yelled out the only thing he could think of. “Aito! Play Dead!” With focus, he had deliberately avoided speaking the language of this world. He tentatively raised his hands and dropped his weapon.

The carriage door opened fully, and Lucia ran out. The scanner was resting on top of her head like a hair accessory as she held Aito, who was limp in her arms. In the dim light, she could easily be mistaken as a spoiled princess holding a toy prince. When she saw Marcel, she screamed, dropping Aito on the ground as she raced to her guard. She immediately tried to staunch his bleeding and prayed over her canteen of water that she was desperately pouring over his wound.

“Back off woman!” The one who had wrestled Marcellus spoke, his voice was strangely high-pitched. He raised his club and advanced towards Lucia. She ignored him and continued to try and tend to Marcel’s wounds. The man, clearly enraged, made a backhanded swing with his club at Lucia, striking her face.

Lucia, desperate, ignored the blow she took as she kept trying to staunch Marcel’s bleeding. The club-wielder brought his club down on her repeatedly, but instead of knocking her out, she was just being beaten bloody. Kenji couldn’t stand the sight of it any longer, so he picked the sword back up from the dirt and decided to charge.

As he rushed to her side and swung his sword down at her attacker, he was easily parried by the second man with the dagger. Kenji was not a skilled swordsman, and the unnatural lightness the sword possessed the day before was gone. Still, he did his best, forcing the one who parried him to jump back with a wide swing. Kenji temporarily ignored the man with the blade and brought his foot down on the knee of the one beating up Lucia. Strangely, when the kick landed, he didn’t hear the crunching or popping noises he expected. It definitely had an impact, as the man still went down and clutched his knee in pain.

Kenji was grabbed from behind as the circle closed around him, and he was forced to drop his sword as multiple assailants pinned him to the ground. He looked up and saw Crisp trying to slip out of the carriage, reaching for the reins. Unfortunately, Crisp never had a chance to do anything except yell out. More attackers appeared from the other side of the carriage and pulled Crisp down. Varro, holding a crossbow, was the last to exit. He took quick stock of the situation, and seeing his son hostage, threw his crossbow into the tall grass and raised his hands “We can pay you more than enough, don’t hurt anyone. It won’t be worth it.” He was quickly brought down, and the attackers started to tie and gag him along with Crisp.

Kenji looked to Lucia, who was laid out protectively over Marcel. It was an image that broke Kenji’s heart. Barely conscious, she tried to whisper her healing prayers and used her own robes and weight to put pressure on his wound. Once their attackers confirmed the carriage was empty, they pulled her from Marcel’s body and threw her next to the others, only then did she go limp. The only hope Kenji had was that Aito had followed instructions, as their attackers seemed to have no interest in a toy lying in the dirt next to a dying man.

The one Kenji managed to kick, the same one that had hurt Lucia so badly, got off the ground with a small limp and stared at Kenji. He picked up Kenji’s dropped sword and for a moment it looked like Kenji was going to be run through, until he was grabbed and pulled back forcibly by the one with the dagger.

“Idiot! Does he look like a damn guard to you? Captured civilians belong to The Butcher! And where did you learn that shit? From watching your father?” He pointed at Lucia’s battered face with that last statement. “For the love of the Goddess, this is how you knock someone out.”

The man with the dagger sheathed the blade and grabbed a club instead. He walked steadily towards Kenji and grabbed his chin with his free hand. With a quick motion, the violet-eyed man brought the club down expertly with his other hand. For Kenji, everything went black.

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Part 2: Pools of Blood

image [https://i.imgur.com/C1dbsIq.jpeg]

The side of his head throbbed, and his arms felt like they were being pulled from their sockets. Kenji opened his eyes, but saw nearly nothing. All he knew for sure was that it smelled like animals and rotten food. He tried to move, but realized his hands were tied and that he was hanging from the ceiling by some sort of hook. It felt like he had been hanging there for hours.

He was definitely a prisoner, but for some reason he wasn’t panicking. Just how much had this journey changed him? He let out a painful groan as he struggled against the ropes.

“Who’s there?” A woman’s voice called out from the darkness. It sounded familiar.

“Lucia, is that you? It’s Kenji.” His eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness, and he saw someone sitting on the ground opposite him.

“I can’t see right now Kenji, I’m glad you’re alive.” Kenji heard the rattle of a chain as Lucia moved closer to him and reached out. They were just out of reach of each other, the manacle around her leg was firmly attached to the wall.

Lucia’s movement brought her closer to the small amount of light that seemed to shine from beneath a door behind him. Kenji gasped when he saw Lucia’s face, her eyes and face were swollen so badly that she couldn’t see. “I know, it looks bad right now doesn’t it? Do you know, is Marcellus okay?”

“I don’t know, I saw Marcel get stabbed and saw you try to heal him, but I was knocked out right after they pulled you from him. How far did you get trying to heal his wound?”

“I did my best, but there was so much blood. Something was fighting my Gift, I’ve never seen that before. I think I stopped the bleeding, but do you think he is okay?”

“Aito is with him and will help, they didn’t seem interested in a toy. Marcel will be okay.” Kenji hoped those words weren’t a lie, because that might be their best hope.

“Do you know where we are Kenji?”

Kenji looked around, his eyes starting to adjust. The walls and floor were covered in blood. He looked up and around and started to piece together where they were.

It was some kind of slaughterhouse, and he was hanging from a meat-hook. Panic finally broke through as Kenji saw a body hanging just within reach of Lucia. He was able to calm slightly when he realized it was an animal that resembled a pig and not another person. Fresh blood pooled on the ground underneath the animal, but in general blood was everywhere staining the walls. He tried to get a good look at Lucia’s manacle. It didn’t seem to be designed with a lock and key, but by some clever mechanism designed to hold an animal in place.

While Kenji wasn’t very familiar with the meat industry, this appeared to be a small kill-room where blood could be drained from the animal afterwards, out of sight of the rest of a herd. There was a small drain in the middle of the room, along with small openings in the wall that resembled rain gutters, probably some method of allowing rainwater to sometimes flush the place. From the looks of the room, it hadn’t rained in a while. When they stopped talking, he could hear the sound of a multitude of animals from somewhere outside the room. Kenji’s mind started racing to take in their situation.

“It is a slaughterhouse, we are in a room where they drain the animals. We must have been brought into the city.”

Lucia frowned “Why would bandits kidnap us? Why not just rob us?”

“Do bandits on this world dress up in identical black ninja outfits and execute coordinated attacks so close to a city?” Kenji thought out loud. Only afterwards did he notice he said ‘this world’, but luckily Lucia didn’t seem to read into it.

“I need to heal my face and eyes, or I will just be a burden. I need water for my Gift to work, do you see any?”

Kenji swung his weight a little to get a better look around, there wasn’t any water, just meat-hooks, dead animals, a sturdy iron door, and lots of blood. Kenji studied the dead animal next to Lucia, and the pool of blood just within her reach. He hesitated, and for a moment couldn’t believe what he was about to suggest. Wasn’t blood just like 90% water?

“I have an idea that I think will work, but you might not like it. Have you ever tried using a liquid that wasn’t just clean water?”

“When I was young and cleaning wounds after a battle, the bucket I hauled around would start clean and get pretty dirty by the end. It did not seem to affect my Gift.”

“Uh, that's great, then this will definitely work. So to your right, if you reach, there is a pool of animal blood that you can bless and use to heal yourself.”

“Blood is not water Kenji! Are you suggesting I attempt to practice Blood-Magic like some sort of Wraith or evil Sorcerer? You claimed Omnistra sent you, but are you actually a Demon sent to tempt me or twist the Gift the Goddess gave me?” Lucia tried to keep herself from yelling and drawing attention from their captors.

Despite their desperate circumstances, a part of Kenji was intrigued to hear that Blood-magic and Sorcery existed here, and hoped he could learn those things. That intrusive thought made Kenji wonder if he might be scoring Demon-Points or tanking his Karma score. He would need to ask Aito later if that part of his profile was still updating. If they got out alive that is.

“Lucia, I know it sounds bad, but I can tell you with all sincerity that blood is almost entirely made out of water. In fact, you could consider blood to be dirty water in a way. There is nothing evil about it.” Besides pathogens and bacteria, but Kenji was pretty sure Lucia's Gift would clear those up.

An angry look appeared on her swollen face, and Kenji felt horrible about it. She couldn’t see well enough to judge the sincerity in his eyes. Lucia had a strong sense of right and wrong, and after seeing her reaction to Marcel’s wound earlier, Kenji knew what he needed to say to convince her. He just didn’t feel very heroic for saying it out loud.

“Marcel might still need your help, so I really think it’s worth a….”

His words were even more effective than he expected, as Marcel’s name had barely left Kenji’s lips before Lucia started moving. Lucia wasted no further thought on the morality of her actions as she reached over and covered her own face in animal blood and started praying. At that moment, she exuded a type of confidence mixed with desperation. Kenji was fairly certain her Gift would work just as well without praying, but it seemed to focus her concentration. Unlike her soft words and humming when she healed previously, this time she spoke loud and clear enough to hear.

“Goddess forgive me, but I love him. I’m going to slather myself in blood and guts and heal my eyes. I’m going to smash the bones of my feet and chew off my own leg if I need to in order to get out of these chains. If this works, and if anyone gets in my way, I am going to send their soul straight to you and use their blood to ease the pain of my stump-leg as I hobble back to him. If this is considered Blood Magic and turns me into a Demon, and you spare any mercy for these ninja-people, then keep them out of my way!”

Kenji was stunned, and more than a little intimidated. His image of the innocent priestess was shattered by her heavy-metal prayers. He had noticed the way Marcel looked at Lucia, but from Kenji’s point of view she had only looked at Marcellus as a childhood friend and ally. Still waters run deep, it was a saying Kenji had never appreciated until that moment. But then again, maybe he was just inexperienced in love and didn’t recognize what might have been obvious to others. Also, he was probably going to hell for corrupting a priestess. Then, Kenji remembered that hell probably didn’t exist, unless Omnistra made one specifically for him. However, Permanent Soul Deletion was definitely on the table. This was the second time he was slightly comforted by the idea of non-existence. Was he turning into a nihilist?

“It’s powerful.” Lucia spoke, breaking Kenji out of his strange train of thought. Those thoughts had been helping to distract him from the spectacle of Lucia washing her face in animal blood and making demands of any demons or gods that might be watching her. She lowered her hands from her face and was now able to open her eyes clearly. Kenji saw her bruises visibly shrinking in front of his eyes. This was much stronger than a Gift that killed bacteria and stopped bleeding. This was magic.

“You’re healing too quickly, they’ll notice something strange if you don’t slow down.” Kenji’s mind was chugging at full-speed, trying to stay a step ahead of the situation.

Lucia was focused as well and immediately stopped herself from healing all the way. She was finally able to see clearly from both eyes again. She slipped the scanner from the top of her head and over her eyes. Since it wasn’t made of gold or silver, their captors mistook it as a cheap hair ornament. The scanner, while not as powerful as night-vision goggles would be, was able to help her see fairly clearly.

She looked at the pig-like animal whose blood had been so helpful for her. “This is a Sootsnout, the city we were near, Silvergate, has domesticated them. Technically a monster with a small Mana Stone. So we are definitely inside the city.” She looked at the blood thoughtfully. “I don’t feel like I’m turning into a Demon.”

“Mana in the blood must have enhanced your healing then.” That was Kenji’s theory, though he still couldn't explain what mana was other than magic stuff.

“I suppose, at least while the blood is fresh, is my guess. Actually, more than just a guess, I can feel it is true. I don’t feel this would work as well with human blood, because I’ve seen plenty of it as a healer and would have noticed the power. Did you know it would be this powerful Kenji? First Crispus, then Marcellus, and now me. You do something to our Gifts.” Lucia looked at him warily, there was almost an accusation in her voice.

Kenji didn’t know if stories of Devils that bartered with souls, evil wish-granting Djinn, or Monkey’s Paws existed here, but Lucia was looking at him like he might be one. Maybe she picked up on the fact that he accidentally said ‘this world’ after all. She didn’t seem afraid of him, but wanted to know what the catch or price was for her new power.

Kenji tried to put himself in Lucia's shoes. She was a priestess of a Goddess that could on rare occasions guide or comfort her followers through dreams. That same Goddess told Kenji that she was decidedly hands-off, and would only intervene through her singular Chosen. Kenji’s tale that Omnistra warned him of the danger Lucia and the others were in, coupled with his ability to perform ‘miracles’, was clashing with her beliefs about how the Goddess ruled this world. He was dangerously close to false-prophet territory.

“I didn’t know that it would be more powerful, but I was positive it would work. I’ve learned a few things that other people haven’t seemed to figure out yet, or maybe they did figure them out and have kept it a secret. Your Gift is amazing, weren’t you ever curious what would happen if you blessed wine or ice or milk?”

“I tried to bless a rainstorm once, and another time I tried to bless a river. Both times I passed out and hit my head pretty hard. I tried to bottle my blessed water, but it only kept its power for an hour or so. My Gift is rare, but not completely unique. Others do not seem to need water at all, and their Gifts seemed more powerful for it. I thought on my journey to lend aid to others, that I might also learn how to heal with just a touch as well.” Lucia smiled slightly at the memory, and then took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. She was still focused and determined, but with more hope than she had previously. “I’m sorry Kenji, I shouldn’t have acted that way, you’ve only been a friend. We are going to get out of here together and save Marcel and the others.”

Kenji smiled, relieved that Lucia still considered him a friend, but there was one part of what she said that he had to disagree with. “We aren’t going to escape together Lucia, but you can, I’m sure.” Lucia started to protest but Kenji cut her off. “Listen, I’m probably the one they were after, which means that we will be separated soon. Using the scanner, you will be able to sneak out of here. Be careful, while it helps you see in dim light, it also glows blue and can get you noticed even in darkness. Did Aito update the numbers on the screen so you can read them, can you tell what time it is?” Lucia confirmed it was still the middle of the night, hours before sunrise. Kenji continued, “Good, only turn it on when necessary, and don’t wear it over your eyes when you aren’t using it, or you’ll be easily recognized and remembered. When you get closer to Aito, you will be able to link back up with each other through the scanner and coordinate. Make sure Marcel is okay. You will need to trust me to free myself somehow. You trust me to be able to work miracles right?”

Lucia nodded, “I trust you. There is a large temple to Omnistra in this city, Marcel and I won’t stand out there, and I think we will be safe. That is where we should meet.” She looked at her leg with the manacle. “Uh Kenji, I know I talked big a minute ago, but I don’t suppose you have any less painful ideas for getting this off my leg?”

“Actually, I have one idea that might work. However, this probably does cross the line of what might be officially considered blood-magic.” Kenji, with his arms still bound and hanging from a meat-hook, was just barely able to trace a rune in the dirt with his tippy-toes. He explained how she might make use of it briefly.

Lucia took a deep breath, almost as if she was about to dive headfirst into a cold lake, and studied the symbol. She took a picture of it with the scanner the way Aito showed her, before shutting it off and hiding it in her hair again. “Just don’t tell Marcel about any of this. And I’m not just talking about the blood stuff.” She looked Kenji in the eye, deadly serious.

“You better break out of here fast and tell him how you feel, or I’ll get to him first and tell him everything you said about him. Something about hopping out of here on one leg just to see his face again?” Kenji smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

The look Lucia gave Kenji sent a chill down his spine. She calmly dipped her finger back into the pool of blood and started practicing drawing the symbol on her leg. For a moment, he hoped the bad-guys would rescue him before she broke out of her restraints. When he heard the door start to open a minute later, he wished he was able to take that thought back.

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End Chapter 12: The Butcher’s Toll

Next: Chapter 13: Prime Directive