Jamal X

PA 1.8

“Khalila, stay behind us,” Jamal told the young girl he’d decided to protect. “If it looks like we’re losing, I want you to run away as fast as you can, got it?”

Not waiting for an answer, Jamal steadied his heart and charged in, his dagger darting toward the leader’s neck. The other soldiers, while prepared to fight, were caught off guard by his near suicidal rush, giving him the moment necessary to stab their leader.

Said leader was unfortunately competent though, at least more competent than Jamal was in a fight, and with a jerking shift of his spear was able to knock his arm to the side, allowing him to cut a thin line along his cheek. Thrown off balance, Jamal stumbled into the guard of the leader, who with his free hand buried his fist in his stomach, knocking him to the ground.

Dazed, Jamal had only a second to roll out of the way of the spear as it stabbed into the ground where he was laying a moment before.

A sudden battle cry resounded over his head, and Jamal glanced up just in time to see Yue thrusting her own spear at the leader. His leather armor unfortunately stopped the attack from killing him, but it still forced the man to stumble back, knocking the wind out of him.

Suddenly the leader’s allies were next to him, all three men raising their spears and charging as a unit, while behind them their two hounds let out a long, low howl, before running into the fray along with their masters.

‘There’s too many of them,’ Jamal realized, feeling his heart sink. ‘And only two of us actually know how to fight. If we can’t pull something off quickly… we’re doomed.’

Despite that, Jamal felt himself scowl. Like hell he’d give up so easily!

With a hiss of pain Jamal rolled onto his stomach, before pulling off a breakdancing move he’d learned when he was back in high school, spinning in a wide circle beneath the charging spears and knocking two of the soldier’s legs out from under them.

The third soldier, who’d been just a bit too slow to keep up with his allies found himself tripping over his ally’s bodies, only barely managing to keep himself standing. He had only a second of reprieve though, before Yue was upon him, shoving her spear forward and through his neck, mortally wounding if not killing him.

Unfortunately, that was when the hounds arrived, one jumping at Yue, its fang’s bared, while the other leaped onto Jamal. On the ground, there was nothing he could do at the dog’s fangs closed around his throat, crushing his windpipe and shaking its head back and forth, snapping his spine a half-dozen times in quick succession.

It was incredible painful getting mauled by a dog, and with his spine broken like that he couldn’t even move his body to get it off. Luckily the dog quickly assumed the person who’d neck it had just snapped was dead, as it jumped off him a moment later, charging past toward where Khalila was hiding behind Ishi and Fei.

“Oh no you don’t,” Jamal rasped, stumbling onto his feet with surprising grace, spitting out a glob of blood as he did so. His dagger held in a death-grip he lunged at the hound, landing on it and tackling it to the ground. Raising his blade up, he hesitated as he registered what he was about to do, before he hardened his heart and stabbed down, ending it as quickly as he could.

“You or me,” he whispered to himself, feeling somehow worse than when he had killed a person. “You or me.”

Jumping back to his feet he turned back to the battle, noting that Yue had managed to get rid of her own hound, who he saw skulking around the edge of the battlefield, its hind a bloody mess. Fei had joined Yue at some point, the two of them barely managing to hold back the three remaining soldiers.

Still, the battle had been evened up. Running up to them, Jamal rejoined his friends in the fight. Getting behind Yue, he thrust his dagger out beneath her armpit, slashing at the leader’s waist in the small opening in his armor. Stepping around her, he then tackled one of the other soldiers, knocking the both of them to the ground.

“You…” the leader snarled, stumbling back as he clutched his side. “You! You killed Ashka! I’ll kill you all and piss on your graves!”

“How lovely,” Fei drawled, stabbing at the leader and further unbalancing him. “I’ve always wanted someone to piss of my grave. It just feels like the kind of thing you need to liven up a funeral, you know?”

“Fei!” Yue shouted, yelping as she ducked beneath a spearthrust aimed at her head. “Now is not the time!”

Jamal, meanwhile, was wrestling with his own opponent, pulling out every dirty trick in the book from biting his nose to kneeing him in the crotch. The other man screamed and flailed beneath him, his shouts of agony grabbing the attention of his ally, a distraction which Yue mercilessly took advantage of, thrusting her spear through his shoulder with a roar. The man let out a scream of pain, dropping his own spear and giving Yue the chance to step forward and coldclock him, knocking him to the ground. Then in a single fluid movement she reached down and picked up her opponent’s spear, spinning it around and stabbing it into his throat, finishing him off.

The enemy leader roared, forgoing any more caution and charging at Fei, who only had a moment for his eyes to widen before the spear stabbed into his thigh, knocking him to the ground.

“Fei!” Yue shouted, running over and engaging the leader herself. “Don’t you dare die!”

Jamal, meanwhile, was now straddling his opponent, punching him in the face. One, two, ten times, he laid into him, punching and punching until the man stopped moving and he felt something cave under his fists.

Breathing heavily from where he was sitting on top of the dead man, Jamal stared down at the brutalized corpse beneath him, the image carving itself into his memory.

Then he blinked, shaking his head. Now… now wasn’t the time for this.

Stumbling to his feet, Jamal turned to their final enemy, the leader who by this point was littered with bloody cuts and bruises but nothing that would finish him off. Even now, injured as he was, he was fighting Yue—their best fighter—to a standstill. Even helping her fight, Jamal wasn’t sure if they’d be able to beat him before he hurt anyone else, and with Fei injured as he was…

No, they couldn’t afford to waste time fighting him.

So, he didn’t.

Running forward and throwing any self-preservation to the wind, Jamal tackled the enemy leader to the ground. The man, to his credit, managed to bring his spear to bear fast enough that, had it been anyone else, they would have died, the spear slicing open their throat in an instant.

Unfortunate for him, that he’d picked a fight with someone who couldn’t die.

With a grunt of pain the two of them fell to the forest floor, the man struggling beneath him. Unlike the other soldier he definitely had some training in wrestling, flipping Jamal over before he even knew what was going on. In an instant the man’s hands were around his neck, as he began choking him.

And then Yue was there, slamming a dagger into the back the man’s neck.

His eyes went wide, and he let out a choked gasp, before he fell down on top of Jamal, dead.

Jamal stared up at the branched above him, the sun blinding him where it slipped past the leaves.

“…Fuck,” he croaked.

“…Fuck…” Yue agreed, panting.

Shoving the corpse off of him, Jamal forced himself to his feet. Glancing around the clearing as the adrenaline faded from his system, he couldn’t help but wince at the sight around him. Corpses littered the forest, their eyes open in pain and shock as their blood painted the roots of the trees. It was like a scene out of a horror film, and Jamal felt bile rise up in his throat at the knowledge he’d helped cause it.

“Fei!” Yue hissed, stumbling down next him. Her shout caused Jamal to snap out of his fugue, suddenly remembering that he’d been injured. He practically jumped over to him, sliding down to his knees next to Yue. “Fei, are you alright? Fei!”

“I…” their injured friend hissed, his hand grabbing onto his thigh. “I’m still alive. It just… it fucking hurts.”

Jamal let out a small sigh, sharing a relieved look with Yue. “Thank God. Can you move… wait, no, never mind. Keep pressure on the wound, we don’t want you loosing too much blood. Yue can you… Holy shit…”

“Yes?” she asked, her face pale and pained.

“Yue, what the fuck happened to your arm!?” Jamal exclaimed, leaning over to get a closer look. In the heat of battle it had escaped him, but seeing it now…

Her left arm was a bloody mess. Her sleeve was torn almost completely off, the remaining bits soaked in blood. Her wrist looked completely mangled, bent at a wrong angle and was that her bone he could see? And, god, it was hard to see with all the blood, but it looked like she was missing her thumb.

“Ah, that…” she chuckled wearily, giving him a grimace of a smile. “The dog surprised me. I tried to knock it off quickly, but well… you can see what happened.”

“Yue,” Jamal whispered in horror. “Fuck, okay, new plan! Yue, go over to where we dumped the supplies and sit down. Fei, don’t move a muscle, and keep pressure on that injury. Ishi, are you uninjured? I need you to start a fire, I’ll grab the rest of what we need, and—”

Turning to look at Ishi, Jamal froze, as he realized he’d forgotten something important.

Ishi himself was fine, thank god. He had a hound’s corpse beneath his feet, showing where the other one had ended up, but behind him…

Khalila’s face was a mask of shock and horror, staring at the bloody corpses with wide eyes. She was breathing heavily as tears flowed freely from her eyes, looking like she was on the verge of breaking down then and there.

‘And here I thought the fight would be the worst thing I’d be dealing with today.’

He shook his head. He felt awful, but injuries came first. “Ishi, get to work on starting that fire. Yue, here, let me help you walk, settle down. I’m pretty sure there was a river to our south, um, Khalila, would you like to come with…”

The girl flinched when he spoke her name, taking a step back like she was going to bolt. Another flood of shame washed over him, that a child would be so scared of him, that she’d look at him with those terrified eyes.

“…Uh, hey, it’s okay…” he soothed her, settling Yue down, the woman looking a moment away from passing out. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”

“Here, why don’t I take her to the river?” Ishi rasped, kneeling down so that he was at eyelevel with Khalila. “Do you want to go down to the river with me and wash your face off? Or would you prefer if Jamal took you?”

She didn’t respond immediately, standing stock-still and wide-eyed. But, haltingly, she reached forward and grabbed Ishi’s shirt, tugging it lightly.

Wow, that hurt a lot more than he’d expected it to.

“Alright,” Ishi gave her a soft smile. “Then I’ll take you down there. Jamal, what did you need to get down there?”

He shook himself out of his funk. Now was not the time! “I need water, as much of it as you can bring back. It’ll probably take you multiple trips, but right now we just need water.”

“Got it. Then, shall we, Khalila?” he asked, holding out a hand for the girl to grab.

Jamal watched them go, his heart clenching. That a little girl would be so scared of him hurt him in a way that was hard to describe. Killing those people in front of her, no matter his motives, couldn’t have been good for her mental state.

Well, he couldn’t say he wouldn’t do it again, if it was to keep her safe. But… maybe there had been a better way. Maybe he’d gotten too caught up in the ‘kill-or-be-killed’ mentality that he’d messed up somewhere along the line.

He shook his head. He had injured friends to help, he couldn’t get lost in his own head now of all times.

Spinning around, he clapped his hands loudly right in Yue’s face, causing her to snap to alertness with a yelp, grabbing for her spear on instinct.

“Don’t fall asleep,” he told her seriously, starting to build the fire. “If you do you might never wake up again. That goes for you too Fei!”

Fei used his free hand to give him a thumbs up from where he was laying.

“I… I understand,” Yue nodded, looking dazed. “It’s just… everything is so hazy…”

Jamal cursed. “That’s probably the blood loss then. I think we have… ah-ha!” he exclaimed triumphantly, pulling a roll of bandages from his pack. They were just a roll of linen cloth he’d made for small cuts and the like, but right now they’d prove invaluable. “Okay, I’m going to wrap up your hand tightly. It’ll hurt, but it’s necessary for you to survive.”

“I… are you sure you’re not injured, though?”

“What?” he asked, glancing down at himself. Oh, that was… that was a lot of blood. Compartmentalize, Jamal, compartmentalize… “Urk. Uh, don’t worry, none of it is mine. I’m immortal, remember. I’m either dead or alive, no in between for me. So worry about yourself first, got it?”

“Oh… right, right…”

“Here, bite down on this,” he told her, gently shoving a ball of cloth in her mouth. “Here we go. It doesn’t look like you’re bleeding as much, your blood’s probably started clotting by now, but we don’t want you losing any more. I would have preferred to clean them with boiled water first, but we need to wait for Ishi to get back for that…”

She looked incredibly uncomfortably as he wrapped up her hand, but a few moments later her mangled left hand was completely encased in crappy, primitive bandages.

Following that rushed first aid, Jamal finished setting up the fire, just in time for Ishi to return with the water.

“Where’s Khalila?” was the first thing out of his mouth, immediately noticing the absence of the girl.

“She’s waiting down by the river,” Ishi replied, pouring the water into the pot he’d set over the fire. “I felt she needed some time away from… this.”

Jamal grimaced, but didn’t refute him. “Fine. Go head back and stick with her—I don’t want her alone right now.”

“Are you sure you don’t need me for anything else?”

“I think this should be enough water right now, and I can do the rest of this alone.”

“Alright then, I’ll be back once she’s calmed down,” Ishi gave him and Yue a tired smile, before turning to head back to the river.

Jamal let out a long sigh, slumping down next to Yue. Watching the water boil, Jamal felt himself grimace as he realized just how bad things had gotten.

Sure, nobody died—well at least nobody on his side—but that was a cold comfort considering the injuries—both mental and physical—sustained by the battle. Yue would likely never be able to use her left hand again, Fei had taken a nasty wound to the thigh, and Khalila had been even further traumatized. And there was no guarantee any of those wounds would heal.

He frowned. They’d have to stay in one place for a while, at least until Fei’s leg injury had healed enough for him to walk. Hopefully there wasn’t any other hunting parties after Khalila, or else they were screwed.

Of course, that brought the matter of the girl back to the forefront of his mind once more.

Jamal sighed, feeling… not quite regret, but a similar feeling. Protecting the girl had been the only choice. He’d made some morally grey decisions since arriving in this world, but there were some lines he just refused to cross. Leaving a little girl to die or worse at the hands of a tyrannical God-King was something he refused to do.

He just hoped he never had to make that kind of choice ever again.

9,880 God-Kings Remain