Chapter 20: The raid

Looking at the waned moons hanging on the sky, Narse tightly clutched the wooden idol of Wonten in his palms and silently offered his prayer to the faceless god, beseeching the faceless god to grant Narse, his older brother and his men the strength to accomplish their mission tonight.

Normally, when people went to war or battle they offered their prayer to Sinintee for victory since Sinintee was the god of destruction and civilization and the mightiest among the four patron deities.

Without Sinintee, men, dwarves, elves and most of the intelligent races on Escana that came after the titans would still remain savage beasts even today. He was the one who advocated against the dark god Naharis his father for allowing the titans to monopolize the flame of civilization to themselves. He was the one who shared the flame of civilization with all races, allowing whoever learned to master the flame to evolve to civilized beings that were more than just savage beasts. Sinintee was the one who taught the intelligent races to use the power of the winds to sail through rivers and oceans. Without Sinintee, the titans would still roam Escana as the undisputed master of this plane.

Without Sinintee, there would be no man nor dwarf nor elf on Escana, only titans and high elves and beasts. It was told in the myths that Sinintee was a loving god who loved all races equally. He loved all races like his children and yet his love was almost twisted. He did not mind if his children would kill themselves, destroy themselves and extinguish themselves for their own gain.

In fact, he encouraged them to do just that for the sake of advancing civilization. Sinintee’s gospel that was passed down by the ancient priests and priestesses of the Great temple taught people that in order to win wars and conflicts, people must advance their civilization at a greater speed than their opponents. Those who fell behind would be defeated and be at the mercy of the winners. In order to win wars against their competitions, people must be more advanced than their competitions. In order to be more civilized, people must win against their competitions. Thus, civilization, wars and destruction went hand in hand in the eyes of Sinintee.

Unlike his older brother Narik and many other people, the gospel of Sinintee has always been unsettling to Narse ever since he was but a boy. The world through the eyes of the worshippers of Sinintee was cold, merciless and almost cruel. Narse still had the same thought even now when he’s already a man. He made a living with his sword and spear, guarding the wall of Madukat, and yet, he was never be at ease with Sinintee’s teaching. Perhaps, that was why Narse always prayed to Wonten in the time of conflicts.

There were people like Narse who would offer their prayer to the Wonten, Eogaill and Niwdar instead of Sinintee in the time of wars.

Niwdar the nurturing goddess of nature despite her hatred for men would unconditionally grant salvation to both men and women. Eogaill the goddess of wisdom would lent her divine wisdom to people who sought her and Wonten- he who governed strength would bestow strength to people who he deemed worthy.

The faceless god Wonten has always been the source of fascination to Narse since he first heard about him. He was everything Narse wished himself to be as a man. Just like Sinintee, Niwdar, and Eogaill, Wonten was born from the dark god Naharis when the dark god fell in to the despair of his loneliness.

After watching over the titans for millenniums, Naharis realized that he was the only one of his kind. He was the god and the almighty father of all races, and yet he was all alone. He was the only god. Thus, Naharis cut his own flesh to create his children to share his godhood.

Eogaill was the first born of Naharis. She inherited his wisdom and his insatiate drive toward truth and knowledge. Sinintee was born from Naharis’ burning desire of self-improvement. Wonten was created to share the aspect of strength from Naharis as well as his own sense of justness. Niwdar was the youngest child of Naharis, born from his appreciation of beauty and boundless kindness.

However, the dark god Naharis did not become happier after creating his children. Sinintee went against his will and secretly gave the flame of civilization to all races on Escana. Eogaill shut herself inside the Library of All Knowledge to pursuit truth and wisdom, rarely showed her faces. Wonten devoted himself to protect Escana from the foreign forces and lent his strength to all beings he deemed just and worthy. Niwdar spent more time in the mortal realm Escana than Coeles the Celestial plane of god, unconditionally granting her miracles to all races and sexes, Naharis has almost never seen her at home.

The despair inside Naharis grew wider after each millennium passed by. Eogaill became wiser and smarter than he ever was. Sinintee’s ability for self-improvement was better than Naharis. Wonten was stronger and Niwdar was more beautiful and perfect than himself. Naharis went mad from the despair.

In his growing madness, Naharis raped his youngest daughter born of his own flesh when she has finally returned home. When Wonten returned home and witnessed the unspeakable folly of his father, he fought against him to defend his sister, thus triggering the Kriarieg the War of All Wars.

Wonten was stronger than Naharis in term of physical strength, but never as cunning or as polished or as crafty with magic as Naharis. He was beaten thoroughly by his father but he refused to back down. The flame created by Naharis burned Wonten’s flesh and his hair, melting and fusing his skin with his flesh and bones. His face became disfigured, a giant blank canvas of pink scar without any feature. There was no eye nor eye socket nor nose nor mouth on his face. Even so, Wonten stood, braving on the magic onslaught from his own father as his flesh burned. In the end, Niwdar managed to call Sinintee and Eogaill to the defense of Wonten and together the four deities defeated the dark god with their power, tearing him into fifty two pieces.

Wonten’s injury was never healed even when treated with the divine magic of Niwdar and the knowledge of Eogaill, became faceless as the result, a horrific fate for a just god. Nevertheless, Wonten did not regret of his decision nor he blamed Niwdar. He advocated his worshippers to enshrine bravery and justice as virtues.

“Narse, are you done praying?”

Narse turned at the source of the voice, it was his older brother Narik. His flamboyant short hazel hair which he inherited from their mother was hidden by a white helmet, so did his big ears that were pierced by a dozen of silver earrings.

“Yeah, I’m done,” Narse replied, quickly putting the wooden idol into his padded armor.

“Nervous?” Narik asked, a mocking grin floated on his face.

“Of course,” Narse honestly replied and removed the leather glove on his right hand, showing his brother his sweaty palm and whitened fingers, “I would be a fool if I’m not nervous.”

“You should chuck a jar of fire wine down your throat. That should rid you of that nervousness,” Narik laughed and lightly punched Narse’s chest.

“And who will kill Bloodbeard for you? I would be too drunk to even swing my sword,” Narse wryly chuckled.

“Even when you are dead drunk, ten Bloodbeard would not be a match for your sword, let alone a single Bloodbeard.”

“You underestimate him. They said he killed a bear with bare hand.”

“I would love to see how he will fight you with his bare hand and win.” Narik smirked, his shoulders quivered in amusement and his ear rings chinked against each other. He then grabbed Narse’s head, pressing their forehead together, quietly whispered, “Brother, it’s fine when you are with me but you should not show your nervousness to your men. You are our best swordsman. It’s bad for the morale.”

“Unlike you, I cannot act,” Narse wryly smiled, did not deny his brother’s praise to him as the best swordsman of Madukat.

“It’s not acting, brother. It’s believing. You should be more confident in yourself and your ability as a leader.”

“I can’t win a fight just because I believe in myself.”

“But that’s where you are wrong, Narse. How can you win a fight without believing that you can win it first? This is why someone with so much talent as you remain a vice captain for years. It should be you who become the guard captain of the Inner wall, not me.”

“You are a much better leader than I am. This thing is the only thing that I am good at,” Narse tapped his sheathed long sword hanging at his waist. Narik inherited the bravado and the confidence of a leader from their father who was also a guard captain protecting the wall of Madukat. His bluish eyes and high cheekbones were also inherited from their father. Narse, he only inherited his father’s skill with the sword, and his greenish eyes. He resembled their mother more than he did their father.

“You are still as pessimistic as ever, brother” Narik chuckled, released Narse’s head and turned, “It’s time. Let’s hunt.”

Narse put his hand on his chest where the idol of Wonten was kept, feeling it. “Let’s rid this city of the plague of Bloodbeard,” he prayed to the faceless god again as he followed his brother while putting a dark cloak over his body to hide his contrasting white padded armor.

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Narse flinched and twisted his face the moment his iron sole boots stepped on a stone, making a sharp chinking sound. He halted, unconsciously gripped on the handle of his sword and held his breath. He cursed himself for not using a pair of leather boots instead.

Good, the bandits did not hear it, their camp showed no movement. Narse continued to move forward, crouched and tried to make as little noise as he could. He has never realized that his own footsteps could be so noisy, the same could be said for the men around him. They sounded like a marching army the way they moved. Had it not for howling strong winds that wailed like the cries of a thousand angry banshees, drowning out the sound of their footsteps, the bandits would have noticed their presence long ago.

Narse felt his palms drenched in sweat inside his gloves. It’s so damn bloody dark here, Narse and his men had no torches with them. The white background on their padded armor they wore was only thing for Narse and the men to recognize one of their own in this darkness. It’s hard to walk without stepping on cracking driftwoods or chinking stones or bumping into scattered items lying on the grounds. The waning three moons of autumn gave Narse just enough light to see the path lead to Bloodbeard’s camp up above the hill, that was his target, his only target. Narse still could see the flame from the bandit lord’s camp on the first hill, small as ember. That’s where Bloodbeard and his personal guards stayed.

A guard of the outermost wall reported that he saw Bloodbeard’s figure among the group of bandits protected the siege engine. If that was true, this was a golden chance for Narse to rid this world of a terrible bandit lord. Bloodbeard would never see this attack coming. He was probably expecting the entire city of Madukat shivering under the sheer number of his army and the destructiveness of his siege engine.

Narse and his team of hundred men went around the group of bandits that formed a blockage to the southern gate of Madukat without alerting them. The bandits used the village and farm houses as their main camp. Their number was around four thousands, including the four thousands at the North gate, that was around eight thousands in total.

Narse failed to comprehend how Bloodbeard could feed such a large amount of troops and kept them under his control nonetheless. Borig, the oldest guard captain of Madukat who was responsible for the Great Wall shared Narse’s view on this matter. The devil must have committed large scale banditry throughout the Golden Triangle region and even the border region of Silver Snow and White Winter to support such an army. Yet, Narse had never hear such report.

However, today, it would be the end of Bloodbeard and his army.

Narse stopped a distance away from the broken wooden fence surrounded the village where the bandits made their camp. He silently waved his hands, signaling his brother Narik and his men that this was where they would part. Narik and his 1900 men will attack this camp the very moment Narse and his team started raiding Bloodbeard’s camp. The signal would be a fireball shot to the sky by an inquisitor of White Winter kingdom from Narse’s group. Narik wordlessly nodded his head, his right hand made a fist at his left chest, knocking.

Take care brother.

Narse showed the same gesture and started moving again. Slowly, the flickering orange glow on top the first hill leading into the sea of hills became bigger. It was initially at the size of a withering ember at first, now it grew to the size of his palm. Narse thanked the loud noises emitted from those flapping sails Bloodbeard erected in the morning, they would completely mask the sound of footsteps of Narse and his men. The drifting dark cloud which hid the three moons above also helped Narse greatly. Bloodbeard and his men would never see the shadow of Narse and his team. It’s like his prayer to Wonten was answered. The god wanted this ambush to succeed. Narse secretly thanked Wonten, slowly creeping toward the camp.

Narse saw a great camp fire and two beardy naked men restrained an unclothed woman on a froggy position. One man gripped the woman’s bare butts, humping like dog in heat while the other grabbed the woman disheveled hair and violently shoved his cock into her mouth as she gargled. Narse saw nobody else, just large tents pitched around the fire camp.

Narse gritted his teeth and made hand signal for his men to stop where they were. He freed his long sword and silently crept toward the unsuspecting savages. Never in his life has Narse gripped his sword this tight. His father taught him to always keep a firm grip on his sword but not squeezing on it like he meant to squeeze the life out of it. Yet, in this moment, Narse felt like he was choking his trusted sword to dead.

When Narse was six steps away from the overlapping figures of those savages and the woman. The beardy bandit who was grabbing the woman’s hair as if he was trying to tear it saw Narse. His eyes enlarged with surprise, his mouth agape. He was trying to warn the other bandit, too late.

Narse lunged himself toward the back of the unsuspecting bandit like a loose arrow, two large strides, his long sword sweeping, tearing through the greasy nape of the unaware savage with a single cut. The head of the bandit flew straight into the cracking orange flame of the camp fire and red embers flew up. The other bandit opened his mouth and gathered air, trying to scream but the point of Narse’s sword was already inside his mouth.

“Shout and I will lop your head off just like I did to this fellow,” Narse quietly told the bandit and the savage raised his arms to the air in surrender. Narse’s voice was almost drown within the flapping noises of the large sails erected nearby the camp.

However, the bandit understood it. His face pale white, his mouth gaping, his jaws chattering against the flat of Narse’s sword.

Narse kicked the headless body of the bandit he killed to the ground when he saw the woman’s naked body was showered in the bandit’s blood. He was afraid that the woman would scream and threw his plan into the fire. However, she was already unconscious, limping lifelessly on the ground. Narse rolled her over with one hand while keeping the petrified bandit at bay with the point of his sword.

Looking at the crooked face of the bandit made Narse felt his blood boiling. He pressed the point of his sword into the inner of the bandit’s mouth. The bandit gargled sharply and froze on the spot, his eyes watering, his erected cock pissing a puddle and his greasy hairy body shook like a leaf.

“Where is Bloodbeard?” Narse moved closer to the bandit, quietly hissed in a low threatening tone.

The bandit pointed his shaking finger at a large tent.

“Sleeping?”

The bandit tried to nod but the sword inside his mouth prevented him to do so. He blinked his eyes many times, trying to convey his answer to Narse, his tears drenched his stubble beard.

Narse raised his free hand, waving for his men to come over. This was a great opportunity. There would be no fight nor casualty on his team tonight. This would be a quick and dirty job. Their enemies were completely unprepared for this raid.

Narse saw the cloaked figures of his men emerged from the shadow and withdrew his blade from the bandit’s mouth.

The teary bandit sharply exhaled and looked at Narse, “Tha…” He was trying to thank Narse for sparing him but the iron pommel of Narse’s sword violently connected with his sweaty temple and knocked him out cold with a small thud. Narse then tossed his cloak on the body of the naked woman and turned at his second in command.

“Jack, tell the magic caster to prepare his spell,” Narse quietly whispered to his second in command while hand-signaling his men to split those tents among themselves. The men silently drew their swords, splitting themselves into small groups, their blades glaring orange by the red glow of the camp fire.

The burned smell of hair filled Narse’s nose, he should not cut that bandit’s head so violently like that. The severed head caught fire within the cracking flame and emitted a gross smell, making Narse wanted to throw up.

Narse took a deep breath, forcefully got himself used to the disgusting smell and started walking toward the large tent where Bloodbeard slept. Suddenly, his ears picked up a strange noise within the loud flapping sound of those giant sails. He signaled his men to stop moving, they did. Narse trained his ears to listen. The loud flapping noises of those sails and the cracking flame were almost distracting, suddenly, he caught those strange sounds again.

It came from the direction of Madukat. Narse tiptoed to the edge of the hill, trained his eyes on the large bandit camp that his older brother Narik was in charge of raiding. It lit up like a starry night sky except those stars burned in an angry orange glow. Narse gasped sharply, some of his men were watching the same scene as him.

Narse tightened the grip on his sword. He feared for his brother. His troops must have been discovered by the bandits. He wanted to rush back to that camp quickly to give his brother aid. However, Bloodbeard came first. They created this opportunity for Narse, he could not waste it. Narse quickly signaled his men to continue with the job, giving them his most stony look. They nodded and quietly slipped into the tents.

Narse took a deep breath again, trying to regain his calmness. He walked toward Bloodbeard’s tent with quiet footsteps. Narse slowly raised the hem of tent’s door, slipping himself into it and all of a sudden, a loud voice boomed throughout the camp.

“We have been tricked,” a man under Narse’s commanded rushed out of the tent he just entered, shouting. “There is nobody inside these tents,” he shouted.

Narse reflexively lifted the moldy door of the great tent up high, allowing the orange glow of the camp fire to bright up the inside. There was nobody there.

“Shit,” Narse cursed. The rest of his men rushed out of the tents they entered, showing bewildered look on their faces. All empty. How did Bloodbeard predict this raid?

Narse immediately pointed his sword at the large bandit camp, “Guards, we will join our brothers to fight these accursed bandits.”

The men raised their swords and followed Narse, rushing down the hill. Narse saw the fifteen magic casters assigned to his team had their fireballs ready, they were not aware of that they have been tricked and still waiting to give Narik and his team signal via their fireballs.

“We are tricked. Let’s return to Madukat and help our men,” Narse ran to them as he shouted and all of a sudden, the world turned on Narse. He stumbled on something large. Something whizzed by his head the moment he fell, sizzling. Screams filled Narse’s sharp ears, he turned around, and his men were on fire. They screamed, tried to rid themselves of the flame by striking the hands against their body or rolled on the ground, but that did not help much. The horrific flame stuck to their body like burning glue, setting ground where they rubbed their body against on fire as well. Then Narse’s eyes fell on the large object he just stumbled on, it was Jack, he was staring at Narse with widened eyes of disbelief.

“Jack,” Narse called, grabbing his second in command by his shoulder. His body was surprisingly light.

Narse heard the magic casters casted their spell again, “What are you people doing? Open your fucking eyes. We are your ally.” He screamed at the magic casters but they did not stop chanting.

Fireball formed at the tip of their magic staffs, fifteen in total, set loose in a single instant toward Narse and his men. Narse rolled to evade, dragging Jack’s body with him. He felt something wet splattered on his face, cold. Narse had no time to wipe his face, he looked at the ground where he laid a moment ago.

The ground where Narse was a moment ago exploded into a giant puddle of flame. Those fireballs, they were like sticky water, sticky water that burned.

“What the fuck are you people doing?” Narse screamed, picking up his sword and pointing it at the fifteen magic casters. “Jack stand up, cover me. Men, spread out. Don’t cluster up” Narse shouted his order.

Amidst the screaming of the men behind Narse, he did not hear Jack’s reply. “Stand up Jack, what are you waiting,” and he turned. The dark cloud on the sky has drifted away probably for some time, revealed the waned red moon casting its reddened light on Jack’s body. Jack was a corpse, the disbelief in his eyes remained, his torso has been cut clean through his padded armor and his entrails scattered on the ground.

“Treacherous dogs, you were with Bloodbeard all along.” Narse hissed, grating his teeth “That’s how the old man Borig’s plan was leaked.” That’s why this raid failed. This is why their plan kept failing.

A hysteric booming laughter echoed the plain, drowning the loud flapping noises of those giant sails. The magic casters stopped chanting their spells. Narse turned his head toward the direction where that laughter came from, darkness, a drifting cloud hid the moons again, not for long. As the drifting dark cloud slowly drifted away, revealing the three moons of autumn, figures emerged from the darkness.

Narse saw a gray beardy giant walking among a bunch of savage looking men. That giant’s vile face was twisted with scars, a long claw marks disfigured his nose and lips. A large pole axe rested in each of his thick arm.

“Bloodbeard,” Narse grated his teeth and glared at the bandit lord.

“It is I. Guard, how does it feel to be outsmarted by a lowly bandit not once but twice?” The bandit lord showed his yellow teeth, grinning from ear to ear.