Chapter 49 : Chapter 49
Sevha dan Anse stood on the terrace of the Garde Castle watchtower, bow in hand.
Beside him, a single torch lay burning on the stone. Scattered around it were his arrows, their tips wrapped in bandages soaked in Bretol’s blood and the strong liquor that had failed to save him.
Exhaling, Sevha picked up an arrow and lit it in the torch flame. He nocked the fire arrow and slowly drew the string.
Creeak…
Beyond the roaring flames, the castle courtyard lay exposed. Prisoners, set ablaze, screamed and cursed in agony as they rolled across the yard.
Sevha did not look away as he released the string.
“Aaaargh!”
The fire arrow cut across the night sky. It struck a prisoner in the chest, and the man erupted in flames.
Immediately, Eshu’s cry rose from the courtyard.
“Forgive us!”
Hearing the excuse, Sevha nocked and drew another fire arrow. Through the crimson inferno, he watched his knights fight the Tusk Tribe, kicking the living torches he’d made toward nearby piles of supplies.
Sevha burned the sight into his memory and released the string.
“Forgive this atrocity!”
Another burning prisoner. Another echoing excuse.
Sevha nocked another fire arrow.
“Forgive this sacrifice!”
He fired. And fired. Again.
He burned them. And burned them.
All of them.
“Forgive us!”
The knights continued to fight the Tusk Tribe, shoving the prisoners Sevha had set ablaze in all directions.
“Forgive us!”
And so the castle courtyard was engulfed in a great conflagration. The Tusk Tribe fell into confusion, caught in a sudden, unimaginable fire set by their own supposed victims.
Staring down at the chaos he had wrought, Sevha turned his back. The only sound loud enough to pierce his thoughts was Eshu’s final, desperate plea from below.
“Forgive me, for I could not save you, and now use you to survive!”
Then, a sound from behind him.
A heavy footstep, like that of a beast.
A breath, like the panting of a wild animal.
“I knew you would come straight for me.”
Sevha didn’t have to turn around to know who it was.
“Achuk.”
When he turned, Achuk stood there, greatsword in hand. The tribesman struck the floor with its tip and looked down upon the pandemonium in the courtyard.
Then he grinned, as if surprised, as if this exceeded all his expectations.
“Kill own kind to live. You, hawk? Or wolf?”
Sevha did not answer.
Achuk nodded twice, as if he understood his silent heart.
“Yes. We know. Hawk, wolf. Final moment. Prove.”
Achuk threw a handaxe at Sevha’s feet. It was Sevha’s own, forged of black steel.
“Now, prove?”
Despite Achuk’s provocation, Sevha remained cold as he slid the few remaining arrows into his quiver.
He picked up the handaxe.
And then…
“I told you, didn’t I? I knew you’d come for me.”
He threw himself off the terrace.
Achuk’s eyes shot wide.
The night sky spread out before Sevha. He caught a rope he had tied there beforehand, spun his body in mid-air, and descended at a terrifying speed.
Thump!
Sevha rolled across the ground and looked up. Achuk was smiling broadly, as if he had found someone truly amusing.
“The chase is the wolf’s work.”
Achuk disappeared back into the watchtower.
He’s taking the stairs even though the rope is still there… Does he need some kind of condition to use that monstrous strength, like last time?
Having deduced that Achuk’s power required a trigger, Sevha ran.
“Aaaargh!”
The castle courtyard was burning on all sides.
Human torches stumbled about, flailing their limbs and screaming.
Tusk Tribe warriors, fighting knights, collided with the burning prisoners and fell.
The knights ignored them, running toward some unknown destination.
Sevha ran through the chaos he had orchestrated until he spotted a Tusk Tribe warrior mounted on a werewolf. He instantly kicked off the ground and leaped, bringing his handaxe down on the warrior’s head and landing on the werewolf’s back.
He grabbed its mane. “Good doggy, aren’t you?”
He tried to soothe it with a feigned sincerity, but the werewolf, naturally, resisted.
“Son of a bitch. Not so good after all.”
Sevha mercilessly slammed his handaxe into the werewolf’s shoulder and twisted the embedded axe. As the wound gaped, the creature howled and began to bolt wildly.
“Eshu! We’re breaking out!” Sevha cried out.
A crash echoed and splinters of wood flew through the air. He looked toward the sound and saw Eshu and his knights on horseback, bursting out of the demolished stables.
“Ride!”
Sevha twisted the handaxe again, and the werewolf bolted toward the castle gate. The knights followed close behind.
Breaking through the flames, trampling the burning prisoners, Sevha rode out of the castle. He galloped down the hill, leaving the blackened houses and corpses behind, and escaped the castle town in an instant.
“My Lord!”
“Shut up unless you have good news!”
“…”
“Damn it, you’re too obedient.”
Sevha looked back to confirm the bad news. Achuk and the Tusk Tribe were in pursuit, riding werewolves.
“None of the horses are in good condition. We’ll be caught.”
Sevha turned his head, searching for a way to shake their pursuers. The star-strewn night sky flowed forward like a river, and at the end of that river was a forest.
“Into the forest.”
Sevha, Eshu, and the knights galloped toward the woods with all their might.
The moment they entered, the starlight vanished. A deep darkness fell, and the pace of Sevha’s werewolf and the knights’ horses slowed drastically.
“My Lord. It’s dark, and the trees make it impossible to move quickly.”
“I know. That’s why we came here.”
Sevha pulled on his werewolf’s mane, bringing it to a halt. He immediately brought his handaxe down on its head. As the creature collapsed, he struck its skull again and again, splattering blood in every direction.
“M-My Lord?”
“The pursuing werewolves will be drawn to the smell of this blood. Escape the forest while I deal with them. Once you’re out, send a signal.”
“Who are we signaling?”
“Knowing that magus acquaintance of mine, she’ll be watching.”
“There’s no need for you to be the lure, My—”
Sevha cut him off coldly. “This place, however meager, is a forest.”
“Sir?”
“And nothing in the forest can kill me.”
His words were so resolute they could not be denied.
Eshu nodded. “Fortune be with you.”
He and the knights moved away.
Sevha climbed a tree and took stock of what he had left.
Bow, three arrows, handaxe.
He confirmed what he had to do.
Lure them until the knights escape.
He smiled in spite of himself.
No, that’s not it. I’ll… hunt them all.
One by one, lights appeared in the darkness between the trees. Torches of the Tusk Tribe, mounted on werewolves.
As the lights approached, Sevha controlled his breathing, slowed it, and then stopped it entirely.
Mournful werewolves gathered around the tree where Sevha was hiding, their noses overwhelmed by the scent of blood from the dead one. They couldn't pick up his.
The Tusk Tribe began to spread out, moving in all directions from the corpse. As they scattered, Sevha let himself breathe again and leaped from the tree.
He brought his handaxe down on the head of the last warrior, killing him instantly, then mounted the man’s werewolf and furiously hacked at its neck.
As the werewolf howled in pain, the distant Tusk Tribe members all turned toward the sound.
But there was no one there. Only a werewolf, blood gushing from its neck, howling.
Something’s here.
The Tusks thrust their torches in every direction. They scoured the darkness but could not find Sevha. They listened but could not hear him.
All they could see were trees cloaked in black.
All they could hear was the scream of a dying werewolf.
But it’s here.
Haunted by an unseen presence, the Tusks moved their torches even faster.
But the darkness they pushed back, the wavering shadows, seemed to close in on them like a living thing. They became paralyzed, unable to move.
Then…
“Do not be held captive by fear.”
Achuk approached, speaking in the Grassland Tongue.
“He who oversees the line to Judgement uses your terror like an arrow, drawing a forbidden line in your mind that does not exist.”
As Achuk finished speaking, he swung his greatsword in a wide arc. The surrounding trees shattered with a splintering crack.
Dust rose for a moment, and when it cleared, he was visible.
The figure of Sevha, already fleeing in the distance.
“After him.”
Achuk launched off the ground and pursued. The Tusk Tribe dismounted their werewolves and followed.
Sevha glanced back from time to time as he wove through the trees.
Was it the trees? Or the darkness? His pace gradually slowed, and the distance between him and Achuk closed.
Hearing Achuk’s footsteps and breath right behind him, Sevha threw his empty quiver.
Achuk deflected it with his greatsword. And then, because there were too many trees to swing the massive blade, he reached for Sevha’s shoulder.
Even though he had been running flat out, Sevha turned lightly to face Achuk.
Seeing this, Achuk wondered, He can move so fluidly in this dark, dense forest. Why did his pace slow?
His eyes fell to the bow in Sevha’s hand and the three arrows.
He had been lured in.
Sevha drove into the charging Achuk’s embrace and unleashed Hawk’s Talon.
Shhhrk!
The arrows tore across Achuk’s face and flew past him.
Sevha immediately rolled backward to create distance and looked up at his foe.
“Now you’re handsome.”
Gone were Achuk’s eyelids. Gone was his nose. Only two fully exposed eyes and a bloody hole remained.
As blood poured from the ruin of his face, his mouth split into a wide grin. He grabbed a nearby tree and snapped it in two.
Truly monstrous. The sight alone made Sevha pause to think. Was it the bleeding?
As he guessed at the trigger for Achuk’s transformation, he saw the Tusks swarming in behind him.
A shame. I have to fall back.
It was time to retreat, satisfied with having wounded his prey. Sevha focused on Achuk’s movements, on the Tusk Tribe’s, searching for an opening to escape.
As they began to close in, as his focus reached its absolute limit…
A bird’s cry came from behind him.
For a single, fleeting instant, Sevha’s expression crumbled as if he were about to cry.
He quickly forced his face back into a cold mask, biting his lip hard.
He barked, “Hunt!”
A flock of bird calls echoed from the darkness. A volley of arrows poured through the trees, halting the advance of Achuk and his Tusks.
Caught in the sudden ambush, Achuk fell back.
When he looked forward, he saw Sevha standing there. And behind him, moving silently among the trees, were figures in torn scarves.
“Hawks…” Achuk growled.
The Hunters of Anse.