Chapter 58: 55. Highwayman

“Stay by the carriage, no one gets in there without my say-so.”

I barked at lieutenant Levish.

“As you order, my lord!”

The young knight responded before drawing his sword and placing his back to the carriage. He would be the last line of defence for Silika if things went south.

I could hear the commotion growing louder as I made my way to the front of the carriage. Although the commotion was not born of idle talks, but instead of the sound of swords and spears being drawn as well as the muffled scream of servants.

There were no sounds of battle yet, but it didn’t augur well. 

I reached the front of the caravan and immediately understood the commotion.

A lone figure stood at the centre of the road draped in a long hooded cloak… And from its fold, 3 arms could be seen.

“Either an injured kin or…”

“A Feral.”

A voice interrupted my trail of thoughts.

My uncle appeared cross-armed.

“Elaborate, Lord Marlot.”

“Sharp claws. Disgusting heretic, he makes me sick just looking at it.”

I squinted and traced my eyes down to the figure’s hands. Marlot was right, the thing had claws growing straight from its fingers. 

I put my hand on the pommel of my sword and slowly retrieved it from its sheath. 

This will get ugly quickly, I have to do something.

I started walking toward the creature. I needed to act like a leader more more than ever. Most people, including myself, never imagined encountering a feral in their lifespan. The mere idea might be more than many of them can handle. 

I need to do something I need…

The thing let out a low and guttural roar. I dug my heel in the ground and began immediately muttering to myself.

“Oh Steinnher, lest I forget…”

As I did the creature ripped off its cloak revealing it’s thin yet muscular body. Two arms protruded from his left side while only one and a stump still wrapped in blood stained bandages on its right. Its face was barely human. The usual horn of Steihnnerkins protruded from the forehead, but they were misshapen, curling on themselves like screws, while its face was covered in hideous horns and scaly growths.  The eyes were the size of buttons and completely blue while the tip of its ears did not close instead spreading apart into two elongated tips. its entire body was disproportionate, with the chest being much too wide and the legs seemingly permanently bent at an angle and too short. But the feral looked strong. Terrifyingly so.

I did not have much time to observe before the creature jumped and brought its two fists to the ground, making the ground beneath our feet quiver unnaturally. 

With no hesitation, the feral took off into a sprint in our direction, heading just to my left where many of the unarmed onlookers had been standing.

With no time to think I took a deep breath and stood tall.

“YOU!”

I roared at the top of my lungs while pointing in its direction.

Thankfully the blessing took hold and the feral was forced to stop right in its tracks. 

Two arrows immediately hit it, but as per the blessing nature, they simply stopped short of its skin..

It turned to me enraged.

“I will be your opponent!”

I declared loudly.

What I was currently using was one of Steihnner’s most common, yet important blessing. 

The honorable duel. 

It allowed a person to request an unconditional one-on-one duel from another. Of course it had its limitation, but it prevented the two duelist to be interfered with… As well as interfering with those around them. 

This was now a critical moment: the creature could decide to refuse the duel.

I could see its disgusting eyes considering its option. 

A moment ago, it had the effect of surprise on its side, but now, several archers were aiming their bows at it. I could not retract my holy duel request, and allow the archer to takes its life, so I could only wait for it to either come toward me, or decisively turn away.

“ALRIGHT! I’LL KILL YOU FIRST THEN!”

It declared in a hoarse voice, confirming making the blessed contract.

It started rushing in my direction. 

Seeing an opportunity, I rose my sword, ready to strike, but I quickly realise my mistake when it pulled back one of its clawed hand. I dodged as it swiped upward nearly clipping my nose.

I quickly stepped to the side and tried to strike its side, but it simply used another one of its hands to deflect the blow. In the same movement he dug its hand into the ground which immediately split. The crack moved so fast that it reached my foot before I could shift my weight and my leg sank up to my knee. 

It struck me with both its left arms, lacerating my left shoulder and ripping off the shoulder guard that had held my traveling cloak in place.

I winced in pain but the injury had bought me an opportunity and I brought down my sword leaving a long streak across its back.

Suddenly I heard a commotion and screams coming from behind me while my uncle began barking orders. 

More of them?!

I pulled out my foot from the hole and was about to rush to their help, but was interrupted.

“WE’RE NOT DONE YET!”

I heard the feral scream behind me.

I tuned just in time for me to dodge a vicious kick aimed at my chest..

It escaped my mind that a feral wouldn’t give up so easily. 

The duel blessing also allowed one to admit defeat, at which point a rightful Steihnner believer would spare their opponent’s life and make them a prisoner of war, but this wouldn’t apply to a feral. A feral would never be taken prisoner and it knew it.

Unfortunately for it though, the feral was on its last leg. Panting loudly and barely keeping its eyes open. I almost felt guilty to keep the fight going, but this was not time for emotions. Especially not while my people were getting attacked.

I pulled back my sword, dug my heel into the ground while facing the feral, brought my weight back and pushed myself forward as hard as I could.

“I beseech your hammer’s weight, o’ supreme lord of war”

I prayed as I focused my attention to my sword.

I pushed my weapon forward and without the opportunity to parry, the feral was empaled. 

I could see the momentary confusion in its face. As though it couldn’t register what had just happened. It tried to raise its claws, but I simply pushed them aside with the back of my hand. I pulled back my sword pulling the poor creature toward me in an awkward embrace.

I lowered it to the ground, closed my eyes and gave a short prayer.

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“May Solomon’s embrace allow for your soul find peace in the immaterium, lost kin of Steihnner.”

By the time, I reopened my eyes, life had departed the feral’s body.

Remembering the earlier commotion, I turned around and was relieved to see my uncle walking calmly in my direction.

I stood up and greeted him as a warrior should.

“Well fought.”

I declared, extending my hand

He grasped my forearm.

“Well fought.”

He turned his attention to the corpse at my side.

“They ambushed us from behind, this one must have been a lure to keep us distracted.”

He began to explain as he released my arm and bent on his knee to observe the creature.

“How many?”

He shook his head, almost disapprovingly.

“A dozen or so. Most of them weakened, starved and deformed. I don’t think they were planning to fight head-on, but some servants caught them digging through our rations.”

I nodded while looking at the creature.

I bent down as well, and examined the feral’s  bandaged stump. 

Curious I unwrapped it uncovering a necrotic injury, oozing liquid in all colours of the rainbow. The dead tissues were running down the length of its arm up to its neck. 

The feral had been dying, if my sword hadn’t struck its heart, it would have stopped beating on its own in a matter of weeks… A month at most. That must be why it was chosen as a lure.

“Any casualty?”

I asked him to which he nodded gravely.

“We don’t have a count yet, but at least 6. Two soldiers and four staff.”

I grit my teeth, although the loss were sour, considering we were up against a dozen feral, this was, unfortunately probably one of the better outcomes we could have hoped for. 

Many a caravan have been completely wiped out by just one of them… 

Which, now that i thought about it, was quite odd. The feral was strong, but not much stronger than a knight. If I hadn’t taken the precaution of provoking a duel, this one would probably have been defeated without any casualty…

While I was pondering, Marlot lifted what was left of the creature’s rag skirt, took a glance and let out a click of the tongue before turning to me.

“Look.”

Confused, I looked up the unfortunate creature’s leg. I searched the strange darkness for a moment until my eyes settled on its groin area. To my complete dismay, what I saw was completely unrecognisable.

“What in the name of…”

“A mule.”

Marlot quickly cut in.

I felt a ball drop in my stomach. A mule. In other words, a feral’s unholy bastard. 

He let out a long sigh as he rubbed his temples.

“At least it’s not a mating pair.”

I nodded in agreement.

It meant that there only was one real heretic behind all this, not a dozen as I had believed at first. 

It also explained why they were so weak. 

From what I had learned in books, mules were often short lived due to their corrupted physiology. They would be lucky to make it to twenty years of age. Although they were also known to age rather rapidly, often on par with animals. 

It made me sick to think that there were people out there cruel enough to treat their children as such, but those who forsake the gods and misuse their blessings are rarely the type to care about anything other than themselves in the first place.

“We’ll have to  make a stop at Jilbeck’s Crossing. They must be warned.”

I said out loud.

My uncle nodded and extended his hand to help me back to my feet which I gladly accepted.

Just as I was wiping the dirt from my pants, someone came running toward us. 

It was Lieutenant Levish. 

I felt my heart sink. IF he was here, where was Silika?

The young knight was bloodied and battered. I rushed toward him and grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Silika! Is Silika alright?!”

He winced weakly as I gripped him. Marlot put a hand on my shoulder.

Only then I noticed the nasty gash on his arm. I released him and instead simply put a hand on his other shoulder.

“Lieutenant. Is my daughter alright?”

He looked at me confused. As though he had just woken up from a nap.

“It.. It happened so  fast…”

He said as he tried to catch his breath.

“Lieutenant! Focus!”

I barked.

His eyes stopped spinning and he straightened up at my call.

“She… She ran, my lord! She ran away when they attacked!”

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