There was no more time to hang around, "enjoying" each other's company.
Outside Oudane, we saw a desolate, run-down town with broken buildings
and messy roads littered by garbage. Shabby cloth tents granted little
mercy to the people beneath them, who looked dirty and tired. I was
briefed on what had led us here, probably to distract me with anger for
someone other than the three of us. The Prince for his coldness, The
Huntress for not telling me she was pregnant, and myself for being so
fucking useless.
The Huntress began, "It was the third time he came
into my bed that I castrated him. The first time, I forgave him because
he was drunk. The second time, I pleaded for him to stop. When I woke
up, I got a sickle from the shack and started sharpening it. I practiced
my swings on small trees bent in half, until I felt I had JUST the
right angle. But when I succeeded, that third time, he beat me blind for
a week. The fourth time, he used his hands, and I couldn't see to run
away. But I was lucky, because I met The Prince, and there was no fifth
time. That, and you already know what he did to my mothers."
I was
horrified. I couldn't believe she'd let me anywhere near her after
something like that – I must have been the least threatening person
she'd ever laid eyes on.
The Prince shook the shivers off his neck
and shoulders. "My mother had always used me, when she was done using my
father. I lost count. Two brothers of mine are my sons, and they're not
right in the head. She used them too. Then, in The Chief's village, she
sold them to slavers. I remember praying that they would die in some
accident, so they would not be whipped without knowing why."
I
lifted a side of my mouth in disgust. My head was dark with grotesque
sights, some of which my demon enjoyed, but none of which I did.
The
Prince continued, "When my mother and her father married, they drank so
much together, they had to sell the whole village. Every last man,
woman, and child. All so he could forget his lost loins, and so she
could whisper in his ears to keep herself from cages one more night."
The Huntress gritted her teeth. "Centuries of our history, all of our
people, for drunken sleep." Now she was seething, not suddenly, but as
something hidden just under water deciding to surface.
The Prince
gestured his head to the town. "Here, they take in war refugees, and
make them feel safe. At night, the people are stolen away."
He took a
spyglass from his hip pouch, which was hidden under his robes, and
observed from afar. "I have camped here before, and I know where he
stays. But not my mother. Be careful, he is of two minds. One is
friendly and kind. The other isn't a man, it's a monster. Once he starts
twitching, he's about to try and grab you. If he does, you're dead, so
slip away before he crushes your throat. He will lie to your face and
smile, using his two minds to trick himself and make you believe in him.
This is why his victims trust him so completely – he trusts himself,
and then lets the monster take over."
I nodded. "Thanks for the heads up-"
"Shut it," he cut me off. "No weather-chat. We are here to kill beasts of man."
We crouched low, and came through the alleys to steal covering robes
from a clothesline, as a disguise. Weaving through the crowd, we came to
the fort where The Chief was said to dwell. As I looked up for him, I
heard a long, soft yawn, and it vibrated my bones so nicely I couldn't
help but feel disarmed.
The Huntress spat in whisper, "That's him.
Don't drop your guard, he always makes nice sounds, and tries to put you
at ease with favors. It's when you're comfortable that he attacks you."
I tried to re-harden my heart for the challenge, but somehow, I
couldn't! I was alarmed with how soft I felt, how communal all of a
sudden. Like he was my neighbor and I was coming over for tea. Even my
demon had been lulled to sleep, and no matter how hard I remembered
hearing of his crimes, my anger was blocked. If he wrapped his hands
around my throat that instant, I'd have apologized for the resistance to
his joining of fists.
The Prince hissed, "Come on!" He was
actually, for the first time, proper scared; the full whites of his eyes
were like warnings, only shown in dire straits – and I could see his
whole bloody eyeballs.
As The Prince and The Huntress snuck off, I
couldn't move. I wanted to slap myself – too much noise. I punched
m'self, twice, dull and quiet. I shook my hands, my head. I thought,
'Who does this fat bastard think he is? Lounging like a pet on Sunday
when he an'is whore 'ave raped and sold their own fuckin' people?! This
is the man who HURT MY GIRLFRIEND, AND MY SORT-OF BOYFRIEND!!' I stood
up straight, and was immediately spotted by the man. His belly blocked
my view of his head from down where I was standing, the chubby fuck had
to crane through five kinds of bend j'st ta find me'gain. I ran, and he
bellowed out somethin'. His tone was butter, but I wasn't toast anymore.
The Huntress climbed up the tower of his fort by 'er bare claws, and
The Prince ran the steps as fast' e could. I decided to distract the
sod, and took off me fake robes n' slid down my father's skull o'r my
face.
He roared, "ASSASSIN! AFTER HEEM!"
Three men with curved
blades and baggy pants stood up from drinkin', an' I gave 'em sommin' ta
chase. O'r fruit stalls, under things too, scythe in hand to flash and
wave its shiny fineness at them. They bumbled about after me, and I
weaved through a crowd like a dancer, blade how I wanted to slip through
every crack. Couldn't nab me, the poor drunkards, so I left 'em near
the well and went back for glory. Next I saw The Huntress givin' her dad
Hell an' a half, hanging off 'im, yellin' at him, and grabbin' his
neck, but his neck was too round an' he sweated her off like she was
water from 'is folds. The Prince waited a floor below, for a time to
strike. I watched in horror as 'e faced her, the old man with arms
stretched out as olive's branch, face innocent and sweet.
"Just tell me why you are here, I can help you, daughter. I have money for you, I have been saving!"
She circled with him in parallel, neither too close. "I want your HEAD, you BAG of SHIT!!"
He pleaded, unapologetic. "Eyyy, past is past. We had good times too,
didn't we? Didn't I take you fishing? Do you want some food? My girl
looks VERY hungry."
As I climbed the steps me own, I gazed upon 'is
fat bald face and saw a Muslim man of six feet sure, but no beard or jaw
to hide his round baby chin. His nose was a horn on his face, and his
little ears were almost a joke to themselves. Yet try as I might to feel
secure, his presence had weight to it that went past his steps afar,
and made my waist and body feel as though it was somehow something he
owned now. It was the worst feeling I could think of. I'd heard the
qualms of his people before: he was well-within his faith to sell slaves
and rape blood, but he was miles out from bein' a half-decent father,
or anythin' more than a hairless leviathan.
His big, round eyes traced his daughter's face for signs of forgiveness.
He said, "Look at me, I'm old! Will you hurt an old man? I've lost my wife-"
The Huntress snapped, "You SOLD your wife."
He cocked his head. "How'd you know?"
She blinked back tears, and took her hands to her hips for something
strapped to each leg. Hands raised again, she pointed a pair of hunting
knives at him. "I guessed."
The Chief laughed, and looked around
like we were all supposed to join in. "Ayup, ahhh... haha," he sighed.
He was suppin' on 'is own satisfaction right in front of us. I felt a
crawling tickle try to make me enjoy him, but his comedy was in poor
taste. To no applause, he started again: "That's men for you, eh? We
love women, we love booze, and we hate to choose." When nobody laughed,
he belted out 'imself. "HAHAHAHA!"
The Prince took the bait, though I
might've myself if I were closer, and leapt out from the shadows. He
speared the man's back, and it jabbed his bone, only to bounce off. Then
the big man twitched, and a chill shot down my spine. The Chief grabbed
The Prince by the head, and threw him, and my sort-of friend lay
sort-of unconscious after smacking his head into an unfinished wall,
lucky not to 'ave fallen off. Then the man went for his daughter's
throat with meaty hands, face scrunched up into wrath that made him seem
another man altogether, dumb to those around him and not in his way.
She slashed his arms and stabbed his chest over and over, but his big,
thick ribs deflected her blades. Then she stuck one in 'is gut, and he
welched, but grabbed her neck hard as 'e could to strangle 'er, his own
flesh and blood. I climbed my last stairs and came up behind to curve my
blade 'round his neck – he didn't stop for its cold on his adam's
apple, nor its threat to his life. So I pulled hard and sliced him, best
I could – he only laughed. Truly a rhino in every sense, he wouldn't
stop till the charge was ran, blood painting his belly and stainin' 'is
white pants. I sliced again, and he winced through 'is teeth, groaning,
and he turned around to throw his massive fists at me. I blocked them
with my snath, and he grabbed my precious instrument and snapped the
snath in half like a twig! I ran, feeling the heat from 'is hands and
angry breath closing in on me. At the top of a tower, there was no'r to
run but across a few boards to another tower, the place apparently under
build that month. I looked back across, unable to spot my friends, and
with The Chief's bellowing rage bearing down towards me. Thinking fast, I
kicked the boards aside once, then twice, and harder to finally loose
them on the third – the big man was so busy stomping in straight-line to
keep his balance, he din't think once to look down, an' 'is next step
was on thin air. I watched him plummet down below, cracking his
impervious bones on the walls of his fort, and at stone floor's touch he
met his death, flat. I climbed down to stab 'im good with pikes, just
to be sure. Then I crotched strong up the steps again, legs like iron in
motion, ass hard as a rock with pride. I got to the top, and softened
to check on my friends and retrieve the broken pieces of 'em, my scythe
as well.
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