HUNTING WITH A SERSEN

"Truly, the Heavens maintain equality, when they give, they also take."

The cry from the priest, caused the rest to shake their heads in agreement. The young woman standing in the doorway supported this belief of universal balance. To describe her appearance-- simply horrifying.

Her face had been marred with blotches of yellow and brown skin, possibly scars from squeezing those swollen bumps. One of her eyes peeked out from behind two swelling lumps, while half of her lip looked like a bee vented its anger. If not for the golden waves of hair falling over her shoulders, none might think this creature a woman.

The pair of disfigured hands, holding onto a ledger, had similar blotches, as if the sickness spread throughout her entire body. The group breathed a sigh of relief, thanking the gods for inventing the robe. Amanda made a clumsy bow to the group, before walking towards the table.

The old priest recovered first from the shock, hustling over to assist her with a chair. He helped the poor destitute onto the chair, as per his oath to serve the people. When the girl settled into the chair, he shot a face of hope towards Farmer Thomas.

"I have never seen such a condition in my life. Farmer Thomas, never despair and give up, one day your prayers will be answered, so that she may be cured."

"Farmer Thomas, I understand now why you have chosen a life of near isolation, but the light from your son will ensure your daughter will never be mistreated in the Capital."

Priest Lowe and Merchant Windit remarked to the shocked man sitting at the side. Having to expose a child in such condition to nobles of the Capital, no less, would break any man's will.

'These brats! What the heck are they trying to pull?'

The farmer only shook his head in reply, maintaining the face of a parent who can recognize words of consolation. Soon everyone regained their composure, as Chu and Amanda faced the line up on the opposite side of the large table. Mr Thomas remained with the other bodyguards, sitting on the benches at the side.

"My brother is a kind-hearted soul, so its easy for others to take advantage of him. You people from the Capital, however, have shown respect and admiration towards him. Otherwise, it would have been simple for all of you to rob and pillage us simple farming folk."

Amanda coughed, before continuing with a slight slur. She found it a little hard to talk with a swollen lip.

"I am sure you are all aware of the contract made between Merchant Griz and the Empire. I propose to make the same deal with everyone here. My brother intends to enter into a collaboration with the windmill and the wagon at stake."

She reached into her cloak and removed a pouch, then emptied its contents. One hundred Gold coins rattled on the table. This display had the representatives tensing while sitting up and focusing on ignoring that ugly face.

'This girl knows about money.'

"Before we start, let's understand a little about percentages..."

***

Sersen Akey wished he could strangle the boy walking in front. He had come with four guards into this forest, all armed with longbows and swords. These men, he trained himself and had proven their loyalty. The trip inside this forest was supposed to be easy-- kill the two brats, then return to the farm.

Before leaving the forest, he planned to kill a beast, so as to have a worthy scapegoat. His Young Master would take care of the rest, by consoling the genius brat, while gaining his trust. Returning home with the designs in hand later would become so much easier. They might even coax the grieving brat to join their powerhouse.

But how in the world did it come to this?

This teen here was a chatterbox. He spouted some nonsense about Goblin Raiders, spinning rumors of them stealing chests of gold coins and valuables from traveling merchants. Back in Frost City, he had heard stories of this Western Forest, but the tales had just been that-- fairy tales of entertaining Bards. Until now...

Who knew that they would have actually stumbled across a genuine Goblin trail.

Under the influence of the recent talk, everyone decided to follow this trail. The enticement of money, coupled with the urge to fight and battle a strange creature propelled them forward. A new idea sprouted, in which the children became casualties during an epic fight against Goblins.

The boy Ming, however, proved to be a fluke in the woods. He kept loosing a trail even a blind beggar could follow. Vexed at his incompetence, he had a scout from his guards take the lead. This marked the beginning of a string of bad luck.

First, his scout, a little rusty from fattening up as a guard in the Capital, sprang a trap, screaming to wake up the entire forest, as wooden spikes penetrated his body. Worse yet, the spikes had a thin coat of poison pasted generously at the tips. Having no experience in a never-ending forest, the group only brought weapons for this hunt.

As for sucking out the poison, the Goblin bastards possessed some sick sense of humor. The spikes had pierced the guard across the top of his thighs, and under his belly, with one entering his child-maker.

Sersen Akey decided to leave the forest, hoping to get the injured man some treatment. They had ventured into the forest, carrying only weapons, not expecting any sort of danger. The two kids had some weapons and carried bags on their backs, hoping to return with some meat.

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Someone offered local advice, however...

"It looks like a paralysis poison, wait a while, and he will regain movement. If you move him now, the poison will spread."

A quarter hour after...

"This thing looks serious, I heard a villager once got poisoned in the forest, he survived by opening the wound with a knife and bleeding out the poisoned blood."

Sometime later, and about three pints less in body weight...

"I think this guy needs to get an antidote, we should carry him out soon."

By the time they made a decision, the poor guy passed away, disbelief written all over his pale face.

"Nooo... Harry! I swear I will find those little Goblin bastards and make them pay. Even though I only knew you for a short time, I will find revenge for you. Brothers, come!"

If Akey did not know any better, he swore the brat and Harry grew up together.

Under oaths and tears, the group focused their vengeance on the Goblins. Sersen Akey at that time followed the excited crowd. Without their scout, Ming volunteered to take the lead. No one voiced their objection since the trail obviously had hidden traps.

The boy in front moved around the trails, as if wary of activating any traps. The slow progress, and ginger movements as if walking on a bed of coals, nearly caused veins to pop. Pissed because of this behavior, Akey had wanted to initiate a kill, but then the second disaster struck.

Another member of the team stepped unto some well-hidden spikes on the ground. A wicked looking stake pierced through the man's foot, crippling his mobility in the heart of this dreaded forest.

Learning common sense, the group quickly decided to beat a retreat from this treacherous land. Just when they had made a crude stretcher for the guard, the boy again chimed in.

"What the heck is this thing? It looks like a copper coin but it's a little thicker and the color is different, damn, look there is another."

The boy in front mumbled, following a trail, before he returned to the group, biting his teeth into a gold coin.

"Must be Goblin money, not worth a fart."

Ming held the coin, allowing the group to view the coin and providing just enough time for reality to sink in. He then made as if he wanted to fling the worthless thing away.

"Nooo..."

Akey had rushed up to the boy and scrambled the coin for a closer inspection.

Gold.

This country brat had probably never seen a gold coin in all his worthless life. Copper my ass!

Renewed greed caused the group to split on a unanimous decision-- A guard would take the wounded man out of the forest, while the others would follow the trail.

Unfortunately, they did not travel far, when the screams and shouts of battle, halted further progress. Rushing back to meet the two, they stumbled upon a gruesome battle. A band of four wildcats had ambushed the guards, swiftly killing the guard, while easily dispatching the wounded. Akey had disturbed and also stumbled onto a grand feast.

Ming and Lucy stood together witnessing the skills of a Sersen in action.

Akey lumbered into the fray; his first strike a horizontal slash with raw power. The sword left a wicked wound on a wildcat, crippling one of its front legs in the process. His companion rushed to finish the wounded beast. The Sersen then showcased his might, as his towering frame blasted forward towards another wildcat.

This time a vertical two-handed cleave, soon followed that rushing move, with the blood-stained sword crashing onto the head of a beast, splitting it into two. This attack seemed to drain the man for a moment, indicating the amount of energy exerted for the one-shot kill.

During the Sersen's slaughter, a wildcat tore the throat of a guard forced to the ground, creating a brief fountain, as blood gushed and sprayed from the gruesome act. The beast made use of the opening of the Sersen defense, launching an attack, clawing and biting into his large muscular sword arm.

Akey seemed unfazed by the attacker mauling his arm, punching out with his free hand onto the animal's head. That talisman backed hit, knocked the wildcat to the ground in a daze. One horizontal slash followed, cutting across its front chest.

The last wildcat had chosen to attack the last surviving guard who had come to the rescue. It had thrown the man down and began chewing on a leg. By the time it realized what happened to the others, Akey had burst upon it, firing another raw powered slash.

The Sersen roared in the blood-soaked clearing, while two of the wildcats stumbled and crawled around, bleeding to their deaths.

'This guy sure likes those slash attacks. His burly frame and the way he attacks reminds me of the variant red boar.'

Ming muttered to himself. The image of this man rushing into a battlefield fully armed matched the reputation of these lucky men. Opponents around this man would look like pestering bugs waiting to be swatted aside.

At the end of the battle, Akey had decided to retreat from the forest. He spent an entire day, trekking in this dismal dry place, with nothing to show, except losses. Drenched in heavy perspiration and blood, they retreated.

Now every time Akey looked at the teen walking ahead, he had the urge to kill him, then and there. If he did not suffer some heavy injury while in the fight, he would have killed the two children then and there. The guard companion had also not escaped unscathed, a wildcat had mauled his leg.

What irked Akey some more, was how he had been so careless. If he had decided to wear his iron gauntlets and mail, his injury might not have been so severe. Wiping out four wildcats by himself with a little help, however, impressed the two children.

Faced with these smaller relatives of the Jaga, he contemplated on carrying out his plan. Corpses and blood depicted the aftermath of the battle, all he needed to make the picture perfect scene; the bodies of two little children.

Something had always held him back from killing the brat. Since he entered this forest, he had the feeling as if the eyes of a bloodthirsty beast watched him. It came and went; untraceable, but made him uncomfortable. He decided to keep the children as disposable food when they exited, only then would he kill them.

"Come to think of it, we should not have tried to bleed out the poison. All that blood in the forest... surely would have attracted some predators."

Ming spoke as he disappeared behind a little incline on the trail.

Akey grimaced, holding onto his crude bandaged arm. In the late evening, he just wanted to escape this horrible place. He had fought in the rocky plains and mountain passes in the north against the demon beast. That place now seemed like heaven.

He walked over the ridge to see the little punk drinking and showering under a water-skin pouch.

Ming felt the deadly stare and looked up.

"What? This forest can kill a man from thirst, you guys from the Capital are really strong."

Ming said politely.

The drenched guard clambering up the incline now viewed the scene. Instead of sweat, this guy had been hiding and bathing in precious water.

Unlike Akey, whose vein on his forehead still throbbed, the guard finally lost it.

"Damn you brat. See if I don't kill you today, you... you unlucky star!"

Pucchi!

The body of the guard slipped out from the steady dagger piercing into his heart from behind, his soulless body inching forward through gravity. The limp corpse, free from the supporting blade, tumbled and rolled down the little slope.

It came to rest on its back, the eyes of the dead man popping in disbelief. His open mouth never had the chance to utter the scream stuck in his throat.

Sersen Akey looked on dumbfounded on the play acting out before him. His neck creaked, turning slowly from the dead guard to the unshaken dagger, dripping with blood, then towards the owner.

Years of battlefield experience condensed at this moment, flooding his mind. He shuddered, knowing now the origin of the dreadful feeling, ever since he entered this vile forest.

It seeped out from the owner of this dagger.

Billowing out freely; from the owner of those yellow eyes standing beside him.