Grand Captain Altair gave Limlic a half hearted punch to the shoulder. “I told you captain Drack had a knack for luck.” He said heartedly. “Look, he was the only one to survive and return.”

The older man simply grunted in turn, massaging his shoulder.

Before Drack could even speak, the Grand Captain spoke again. “You see, things in life aren’t ever so simple,” he said profoundly. “That's why it's better to burn and get it over with instead of wasting time.”

“Did you know?” Drack asked.

“Know what?”

“That another company had passed through this village not too long ago.” 

The Grand Capatain shook his head, everything finally clicking for him. “Each company does its own thing,” he said. “I don’t even know how many there are out here in the north, or anywhere for that matter. If we were coordinated then I wouldn’t have found you four years back, you would’ve died… or maybe not with your luck.” 

Drack clenched his fists. “What now?” 

“What a silly question Capitan.” Altair said. “Our men will do what they do best since civil talk didn’t work out. In my experience, that shit never works out, it's good for stalling though.” 

“They have Arnfried!” Drack said. “And Aoife is still down there lurking. I know she won’t leave without him.” 

“And?” The Grand Captain asked, looking down at a small metallic bottle as he slowly unscrewed it. His eyes betrayed no emotion.

Drack paused for a second, before pursing his lips. They had started this, so why should the Grand Captain worry about their consequences?

“The village Azyuhy, she wants to speak with you.” He decided to finally say. 

“Oh come on Drack, don’t make me do this dance too.” The Grand Capatain whined before placing the bottle to his lips and downing some of its contents. Drack guessed it was alcohol. The smell soon confirmed his suspicion. Altair swiveled the drink in his mouth, as long seconds of silence stretched on. He finally swallowed and sighed. 

“Is she fun to talk to?” 

“What?”

“The Azyuhy, does she make for interesting conversation?”

“Yeah.” Drack lied, hopeful. 

The Grand Captain patted his white and dirty long sleeve shirt with embroidery around the neck before he got on his feet. “Limlic, get the men ready.” The Grand Captain said. He walked past Drack, giving him a slap on the back. “And you are a terrible liar Drack. It's really not good for negotiations, you know. You're Lucky I find it endearing.” 

Drack followed behind the Grand Captain, scratching his Cat-like ear offhandedly, Captain Limlic on the other hand limped in the opposite direction, going to prepare the men.

Once they were close to the Village of Kearth, Grand Captain Altair smiled as if he’d smelled the greatest fortunate, and not some poor village. But if the village could be considered poor, then what was their company? 

As they passed down the boundary leading into the village, Grand Captain Altair’s eyes shifted to one of the buildings Aoife was hiding behind. He had a knack for seeing hidden things. Drack reckoned it was a given considering The Captain was a hunter.

The only thing that was the same about the village of Kearth was the delectable Aromas and structures. Everything else was completely different. The village was now deathly silent. Everyone had evacuated back into their houses, something probably recommended by the guards and the Azyuhy. Most villages, towns, and cities even, tended to do this. They didn’t know that as much as a house could be a sanctuary, it could also easily be a prison. What would they do when those houses were set on fire?

Swarm out like insects, Grand Captain Altair liked to say.

There were a lot more guards placed near the entrance of the village, but Captain Altair didn’t seem to care. He approached with both hands spread wide open as if he was the one who'd invited them to speak with him. Once he was close enough, he gave a theatrical bow. “I, Grand Captain Altair, am humbled to be in the presence of all you reasonable people.” He said, before his eyes slid past the guards and onto Rawiya. “You must be Azyuhy Rawiya. My captain said you wished to speak with me.” 

She looked Altair over. “I did.” she said tersely. “And I was hoping you’d be more reasonable than him.” 

She didn’t even spare Drack a glance.

“But looking at you now.” She continued, “I think I know what type of man you are.”  

Altair burped. “And what type of man am I? Thought I was no different from any other since I have a cock.” 

Rawiya’s expression remained the same. “Your demands are too high.” She said.

“I myself never listed any demands, but I’m curious, what did my apprentice ask of you?”  

She recounted Drack’s demands. 

The grand Capitan laughed, and turned towards Drack. “You know me too well, Drack.” he said, before turning his attention back to Rawiya. “And I expect nothing less than what Captain Drack demanded from you and your people my dear Azyuhy.” 

“And i’m supposed to just hand everything over?” Rawiya asked, a scowl forming on her face. “What about my people? What about what they expect and want?” 

The Grand Captain shrugged with mock disappointment. “Well we can’t all get what we want.” He said, shaking his head. “I would have wanted you and every lady in this here village to greet me with their legs wide open yet here we are. It’s an awful truth I know but that’s how most exchanges go.”   

“Ahurah-illah,” Rawiya seemed to murmur. She only spared a few seconds to compose herself. “Your right Grand Captain. We all can’t get what we want, I suppose you don’t care about a spear going through that boy’s neck.” She turned to glance at Arnfried who was still being held, another man had joined to reinforce the guard. Arnfried was quite big for a boy his age and they didn’t want to take risks.

The Grand Captain turned to look at Arnfried. “Why hello there!” He said, giving a small bow. “I almost hadn’t noticed you. I thought the people you were trying to save would take you to some luxurious castle and hail you as their savior and king, but again, here we are. Things can never go in any man’s favor can they?” 

Drack couldn’t agree more.

“Alas,” Altair continued, his face and eyes empty of all and any emotion. “You made your decision my boy, and someone has to pay for the consequences.” 

There was a glint in Arnfried’s eyes, a tear perhaps but Drack didn’t care. His whole being was focused on a smell his nose had caught. A sort of perfume, familiar one used by the Grand Captain to mark prey. Drack’s heart raced and he tensed. Heknew it was a signal. 

So, he acted. With a swift motion he unsheathed the short sword around his waist and launched it at one of the guards holding Arnfried. It struck, hitting the area between neck and shoulder. The other guard holding Arnfried was stunned. The one holding the spear to his neck wasn’t. He thrust it. Arnfried’s left hand that was no longer constrained because the guard holding it was now dead rose up to defend his throat. 

The spear pierced right through his wrist. Arnfried screamed.  But his hand had managed to stop it, so that his throat was only grazed and not impaled by the spear. 

Drack wanted to run away. Altair now had his short sword, he didn’t even know when the man had taken it out of the other guard’s corpses. People were screaming. Everything was chaotic. The Grand Captain was like a storm cutting through people. Arnfried screamed more and Drack wanted to run even more. He felt people all around him, all enemies. Some confused. Others ready to attack. There was no opening for escape.

The stunned guard who was holding Arnfried had regained his composure. He began dragging Arnfried, who still had the spear lodged through his wrist, away.

Since there was no escape, Drack charged forward towards Arnfried. He bumped into Rawiya by accident, sending her crashing down, nearly falling in the process himself. Drack continued forward. He had to be doing something lest he get caught up in his fear and piss himself. 

With a few bounds Drack neared Arnfried. He clenched his fist and thrust his hand, putting all of his weight into it. His knuckles crushed into the guard’s nose, there was a crunch as it broke. The guard stumbled back, his eyes red with tears but Arnfried was free. 

But what now?

With a quick thought, Drack glanced at Arnfried's legs, they were fine. He had a spear lodged into his wrist sure but he could still run, that’s all that mattered. There was nothing else Drack could do for him. 

“Oi Drack, Catch!!” Altair’s voice boomed, ecstatic.

Drack turned towards the direction of the Captain’s voice and saw his short sword hurtling towards him. He thought it would take his head right there and then but somehow he managed to catch it somehow. 

The Grand Captain now had a spear in hand as he crushed into formations of guards, spilling blood. The guards were now beginning to organize themselves and that mean’t things would become much more dangerous. Drack refused to give them the chance. He had to stall until their own men arrived.

“Sa- save me.” He heard Arnfried sob, his stabbed wrist trembling with pain, causing the spear to grind against the dirt ground.

Save yourself, Drack thought, charging towards some nearby guards. One was burly and the other short. Burly was first to act. He bounded towards Drack and swung his spear. Drack slide down. Dodged and swiped at the man’s hamstrings. He fell to the ground, his leg permanently dysfunctional now. 

Drack continued forward towards the short guard who thrust his spear in panic. Drack sidestepped but tripped due to nervousness. He fell flat on his stomach, some dirt getting into his mouth. The short guard loomed over him. Drack felt the air shift and knew the spear was coming down towards him. He rolled to his side. Narrowly avoiding it.

He gripped the man’s spear, using it to hoist himself up. The man fell toward him in turn and Drack took his chance, stabbing the man in his neck. Blood gushed out, some fell into his slightly open mouth. It mixed with the dirt. He wanted to spit but something pulled him down by one arm. Drack saw the short guard he’d just killed dragging him down with him as he fell to the ground. His last attempts at retaliation.

Drack squawked as he lost balance, tumbling to the ground. He fell on his shoulder this time. Pain erupted from it, and zipped to his neck. Then he felt a searing pain in his ankle. Why should he feel pain in his ankle for hurting his shoulder?

The ground trembled as the sound of footsteps filled his ears. It clicked, someone had trampled on his ankle amidst the chaos. I need to get-

He felt a presence loom over him. Drack turned to find Burly pouncing at him. The guard couldn’t walk but he could crawl, and he’d done just that. Drack tried to move back but it was too late. Burly was on top of him now. Drack felt his entire skull rattle as Burly’s fist slammed into his cheekbone. He was dazed for a split second. When he came to his senses he felt Burley’s giant hands wrapped around his neck.

Drack tried to pry them open but his strength couldn’t compare. He tried a different strategy, clawing at the man’s face with gritted teeth and bulging eyes, and flailing legs, but Burly kept a firm grip, his own teeth gritted with the effort.

“You take my ability to walk, I take your life.” He said, crazed. 

Dark spots started to appear in Drack’s vision and his mind felt lighter and lighter. His efforts became weaker and weaker. Even the pain was becoming less and less. I’m dead, Drack thought. All of his strength eluded him, and his vision was about to be consumed by darkness. 

But then Burly's grip loosened before he fell forward. Drack shifted his head to the side, narrowly avoiding a collision between both their skulls. He gulped in air but the big man atop him made it difficult to breathe. He tried to push him to the side with the little strength he’d just regained from that breath and found that it was easier than he’d expect. He looked up and saw Aoife helping him with the ordeal. 

Burly was flung to the side, and Drack took a few long moments to catch his breath. He pushed himself to his feet. He couldn’t stay down for too long. That was a nice way to get killed.

He expected more guards, and his expectations were met, except they were all dead, bloodied with missing limbs, and mangled wounds. He turned to look deeper into the village, and the Company had already arrived, cutting the rest of the village Guards down with ease. Some tried to run but horsemen caught up easily and cut them down. Aoife turned to leave but Drack just stayed there, watching. 

Once the Company’s men were done with the guards they began tearing down house doors. When they entered, Drack heard screams, men, children, women.

He heard other doors being torn down. Some of the people inside managed to escape unscathed but they were soon cut down by the company’s other mercenaries stationed outside. Drack saw one aged man desperately holding a small child be dragged off into some alleyway. Moments later, blood flowed from it and onto the street. 

“Take anything valuable and set everything else on fire.” Someone yelled.

A kid to one side of the road had a sword lodged into his skull as he stumbled around, dazed. Drack hadn’t even seen when it had happened. All sorts of sounds mixed in his head. Horse hooves, breaking wood, footsteps, hacking, slashing, and shrieks with varying emotions, mostly despair and anguish but there were shrieks of excitement from some of the company’s men. He even heard a crackle not too far off. The fires would start soon. 

All sorts of overwhelming smells assaulted Drack’s nose too. The smell of blood, piss, and shit, probably from those running or already dead. He blinked, his entire being a storm of turmoil. After a very long time of looking at the brutality, after the smoke started erupting from houses, Drack decided to turn around and started heading out of the village.

Before he knew it, he was ascending up the hill. He saw a familiar figure. Arnfried. One arm had a wrapped stump where his wrist and hand used to be. He was looking at it with teary wide eyes, brimmed with disbelief and horror. The company’s doctor had already worked on his hand it seemed. Probably under Aoife’s urging. 

Arnfried raised his head as he heard Drack’s footsteps approaching. The younger boy’s expression shifted to an even more pitiful one when he saw Drack. “I’m sorry.” He sobbed, standing in front of him. “I shouldn’t-“ 

Drack’s fist collided with Arnfried’s temple and sent him reeling to the ground. Drack didn’t even know why he’d done it. Maybe it was because of the headache that burned behind his eyes, or maybe it was because of the turmoil he felt, or maybe it was just because the boy was standing in his way.

Either way, Drack stepped past the collapsed Arnfried, and continued forward towards the top of the hill. He found Captain Altair. He was just sat there looking down at the village down below.

Drack dropped next to him, and looked down as well. Moments passed in silence. Eventually, Drack found himself laughing but felt like he was crying. 

“So this is what the King’s Justice looks like?” He asked.

“It’s as good as any.” The Grand Captain replied simply.

Looking at it from where he was, the village of Kearth looked so small, so insignificant, so inconsequential. And now that it was burning, it would be much more so. In fact, it would become nothing.