[Year 351, The month of Storm, day 18]

The gentle breeze that accompanied the coming dawn carried the stench of blood and burnt flesh. Although the fires had been put out and the blood was beginning to dry, there was no rain to mask the stench that lingered in the area.

Last night, after Geisai had calmed down, we took a few supplies and set up a makeshift camp near the shallow gravesite. We brought the lone survivor with us and bound him to a tree. Though, I had to stop Geisai from ripping the man’s head off on three separate occasions. I’m pretty sure he would have spent the entire night glaring at the man if exhaustion hadn’t overtaken him. He would’ve looked adorable, with his peaceful expression and drool running down his chin, if it hadn’t been for the dried blood and dirt that coated his skin.

When I awoke, Geisai had already taken up a spot a few feet away from the still unconscious man. He’d done his best to clean up, but there wasn’t much he could do without a trip to the lake. While Geisai appeared to be as immovable as a mountain, there were slight muscle tics all across his body, and the reds of his eyes were rapidly contracting and expanding.

“Geisai…”

I softly called out to him, but he jerked his head around so fast it seemed like it was at risk of flying off.

“Haah…”

I’d just gotten him back, but he was too on edge to keep around for what needed to happen. I picked a few things up off the ground and rose to my feet.

“Here, eat.” I held out a few strips of dried meat and a canteen.

“I’m not hungry.”

“... Geisai, there are a lot of things we need to take care off today, and I don’t need you dropping like a stone halfway back home. Eat.” I did my best intimidating glare and pushed the food closer to him.

Although a bit reluctant, Geisai took the dried meat and bit into it. He’d been running on anger and not much ease for the last day or so and it wasn’t long before he was wolfing the food down. After his second and third helping, I handed him a stone and began asking him what I needed to know ahead of time.

“Geisai, how did they catch you?” The question visibly wounded Geisai, but he eventually managed to choke out a response.

“I had nothing better to do, so I decided to do a bit of scouting. They ambushed me with poison-coated weapons and two bowmen. Before I could break free, one of theirs blew some powder in my face, and I lost control of my body.” Cracks began to form along the stone's surface as he relived the experience.

“Then, this powder was how they keep you pinned down? How did you break free?”

“I-I couldn’t, at least not at first. No matter how much I wanted to, my body refused to move. I felt weak. I felt helpless. POWERLESS...”

(CRARCH TOOW)

The stone had been reduced to pebbles as Geisai breathing became erratic.

“Geisai, calm down. Breath, just breath.” I handed him another stone and did my best to soothe him. Four stones later and a brief flash of gold, he’d brought himself under control.

“At least, that was how it was at first. The longer it went own, the more flesh they yanked out, the more pain they inflicted, the more control I regained.”

“Didn’t they give you more of that powder or was one dose strong enough to last the whole day?”

“No, the pale man blow the powder into my face three times over the course of the day. While none of them had been as large as the initial dose, a few of them said that it’d been enough to kill a man.”

“Why didn’t they keep the dose size consistent?”

“They wanted me to tell them where you were? Heehe. You can’t force someone to talk unless they can still feel pain. I guess it worked in my favor. The effects shortened with each successive dose. When I heard they were stopping for the night, I know I had to escape before the pale man gave me enough powder to knock men out again.”

“Did you learn anything about them? Where did they come from? Why were they here in the first place?”

“Not much. Someone had sent them to complete a task, but they lost their original leader when they crossed paths with the bear. He took over for them afterward. Other than that, I just picked up a few names and place I’d never heard of and that most of them were afraid of being caught inside the forest.” Geisai pointed to the man tied to the tree as the pebbles fell from his left hand.

While it wasn’t as much to go off of, someone the pieces were falling into place. Now, I just needed to tap the other source of information.

“Geisai, can you find your way back to their camp?”

He raised an eyebrow at the question but nodded his head nevertheless.

“Okay, I need you to go there and gather up anything useful. Then, I want you to move the body next to the fire pit and start gathering kindling. I should be finished by the time you’re done with that.”

“What are you gonna be doing?”

“I’m gonna have a little chat with ou⎯.”

“NO! I’m not leaving you alone with that bastard!”

A flash of golden light momentarily blinded me. Geisai had leaped to his feet before I could finish that sentence, his golden cloak covering his body from head to toe, and his pupils lost in the sea of crimson that had become his eyes. He was at his breaking point. Before he could grab the unconscious man, I used my canteen to splash water into his face.

The golden cloak vanished, and he was left standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“Hey!” After the second shot, he let out a shout and wiped the water out of his eyes. The pupil and ever a bit of white had become visible again.

“That is exactly why I’ll be speaking to him alone. I can’t trust you not to kill him halfway into the conversation in your current state. We're dealing with a completely unknown entity and now, more than ever, we need information. And he is the only source we have.”

“But… what if we move deeper into the forest and forget that this ever happened.”

“Geisai, we sit in between an unknown and the known threat, and that gap we occupy is only growing smaller. The only way we can survive is if we stay ahead of things.”

For a brief moment, it looked like his anger was gonna get the best of him again, but all of the tension drained from his body with a single sigh.

“Haah… You deserve better than just surviving.”

There it was again. He’d said something similar before storming off the other day. If survival wasn’t the goal then what was? I’ll have to come back to that later.

“Let's compromise. You can stay, but you’re gonna be out of sight and, under no circumstances are you to show yourself.”

“But, what if⎯.”

“That’s my final offer.”

After thinking it over for a bit, Geisai reluctantly nodded his head.

“Good. Now find a hiding place. I need time to prepare.”

…

..

.

Above, the sun had completed half of its journey to the top of the sky.

Once the bond around the man’s left arm I took a step back and viewed my handiwork. The man had begun to stir a while ago, but after a few knocks against the tree trunk and another argument with Geisai we stripped him of everything but his undergarments and overshirt. Ropes around his slightly flabby waist and head pinned him to the tree. His arms hung slack, suspended by rope bound by two nearby trees, and his legs were tied up six times over.

No matter how much he struggled, he won’t be getting out unless his strength rivaled Geisai, and I'd prepared for that. I’d stripped as many daggers to my person as I could, and had hidden some other weapons throughout the area. Geisai hung from a tree directly behind the man, willing and able to pounce at a moment’s notice. I also had one other safeguard. It took a bit of searching, but the blood covered bag of powder.

We were as ready as we could be, no use putting it off any longer. I picked up a bowl of water and tossed it in the man’s face.

“Haa!!”

The ropes binding the man’s arms became tuat as he struggled to break free. However, the ropes held. After a bit of flailing about, the man looked up at me and froze in place. His bloodshot eyes darted back in forth, his struggling to find a way out of this situation. A useless effort, but I commanded him for the effort.

“I know you must be confused, but there are a few things my superiors and I need from you.” I kept my voice steady and revealed nothing on my face. When the tears started falling, I knew I was doing something right.

“You suddenly appear in our forest, running around like a chicken with its head cut off and screaming bloody murder, and we'd very much like to know the why and how of the situation.”

“Damn it. Damn it. They’re dead. Everyone is dead.”

He needed a little direction; otherwise, we weren’t gonna get anywhere. I reached out and grabbed ahold of his face.

“Dead? Who’s dead? Where did they die? How?” They were simple enough questions to start off with, and after a bit more weeping, he finally answered.

“My brother, my friends, everyone. That thing killed them al- aaah” I’d didn’t realize I’d tightened my hold until he let out a pained cry.

Might as well go with it.

“Details. Give me the details.”

“Fuck! It was a damn Darh’ki! One of your fucking rejects! Heugh━ Why do you elves get off your high horse and deal with those animals instead of burdening us with them? Huh?!!” He strained against the ropes again, but they held firm.

This was easier than I thought it’d be. With the right amount of force, I should get him to give up the information I was after.

“See, was that so difficult? A couple more questions and we can wrap this up. Now, what are you doing in our forest?” I forced the man to look me straight in the eyes and bared down on him.

“I didn’t want to, we were short on time and needed to get the job done. Damn it. They didn’t deserve to die like that, not even Merkru.”

I was losing him to his grief, and we couldn’t have that. My fist moved like a burr, the meeting of my knuckles and his face creating a satisfying crunch. While the blow had dazed the man, he was back to straining against his restraints and spewing curses, so I hit him again, and again, and again.

By the time my fist hurt too much to hit him anymore his left eye had swollen shut, and his bottom lip had split open. The ropes had dug into his wrist, and a stream of tears flew from his undamaged eye.

Ignoring the man’s feeble cries, I asked my next question.

“Who sent you on this “job” and why did they do so?”

“FU-FU-FUCK you, bitch!”

Bitch? Was I supposed to be offended by that? I could hurt him again, but I needed one working hand after this. Let’s try something else.

“Haah, it’s a shame that things have to come to this. Don’t worry though. We’re still in the middle of the rainy season, so you won’t have to worry about drying out, getting food might be difficult.”

I turned on my heels and began walking away.

“Y-Y-You’re buffing! Hey! Hey!”

The man shouted at me, but I kept walking.

“I wonder what I should have for dinner tonight. Maybe roasted boar stew or spit-roasted chicken?” My voice was just loud enough for him the hear me.

“Wait!! You can’t get away with this!”

My legs stopped for a moment, but that was only to give him a false sense of hope.

“Such a shame we never figured out who that group of dead travelers were.” I resumed walking after that line.

Ten feet. Twenty feet. Thirty fe─.

“Okay! Okay! It was Lancaster! Lancaster hired us!”

Never heard the name before, but revealing that could be counterproductive, so marched back to him and loomed over his restrained figure.

“Now, why would Lancaster do that?”

“A war is brewing between Lancaster and Greton. The two cities have been fighting over a gold mine that sits on their shared border. Each side is looking for an edge, and we promised Lancaster we could deliver it to them.”

“You risked bringing down the wrath of the forest for something so trivial?”

“Please, I’m just a mercenary. If you’re looking for a target go after Lancaster or Greton.”

I could ask for more, but revealing my lack of knowledge could be detrimental at this point. Besides, any further information he could provide wasn’t worth the effort of dragging it out of him.

Time to finish this.

“I suppose we’re done here. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“So you’re gonna let me go─ Where are you going!? AAAHHHH”

After I put of few feet between us, I spun on my heels and kicked him in the head.

‘“What are you doing?! I answered your question, you said you’d let me go! Gyaaaahhhhhhhhh!!”

Another scream was torn from his throat as one of my daggers dug into his left shoulder.

“Let you go? When did I ever promise something like that?”

The second dagger embedded itself into his gut, the third into his right shoulder, and fourth in between his sixth and seventh, killing the next scream before it left his mouth. His gaping mouth was all the invitation I needed to smash his teeth in with a snap kick.

“Spewtht... Why?… Spewtht.” He managed to get out a single word in between spitting out blood.

“Why? Why? WHY?” It was impossible to hold back any longer.

“You tortured my little brother you piece of shit! You’ve earned all of this and more!”

My father’s dagger pierced his neck and created a new mouth before it left. Only shocked remained in his eyes as his lifeblood poured out of his body.