8: A Father's Love (Patreon)

The day started with a rustle and a chill.

After having  spent much of the night on guard duty, Rudvik entered the tent as  quietly as he could manage—which was to say, not quietly at all—to cook  up some breakfast.

Neither Vir  nor Maiya had gotten much sleep, so they were already up when he handed  them bowls of hot soup through the tent’s door. Vir had so many thoughts  on his mind that falling asleep had been impossible, even ignoring the  cold. Maiya just wasn’t used to sleeping on the bare forest floor; she’d  been tossing, turning, and shivering all night. They ate in silence  inside the tent, just happy to be putting something warm into their  bellies.

Vir left the  tent first. The soup had filled him with an inner warmth, but the  morning chill still nipped at his fingers and his toes.

“We’d best  move quick. Deeper we get inta the Godshollow, the better,” Rudvik said,  staring off into the distance. Even now, hardly any light penetrated  through the thick canopy, leaving the forest floor a place of perpetual  darkness.

The forest grew denser and darker the deeper they went, so pathfinding wasn’t too difficult—assuming all you wanted to do was go deeper.

When they’d  packed up camp, Rudvik kicked dirt over the campfire and swept leaves  and sticks over the entire site. “Don’t wanna give those knights any  ideas, if ya catch my drift. Might’s well make it hard to follow our  trail.”

“What if they have hunting bandies, though?” Maiya asked.

“Well then,  nothin’ we can do ‘bout that, can we?” Rudvik said, hoisting his heavy  pack. “Now let’s be off. Got a full day of hikin’ ahead of us.”

They set out  at a slow, even pace, with Rudvik taking the lead. Of them all, Maiya  was the least suited to navigating the wilderness, so she was in the  middle. They didn’t risk getting separated if she started lagging  behind. Vir brought up the rear.

“I don’t think  those knights’ll be able to bring their cavalry in here,” Maiya said  while they walked. “Hard enough just to even walk here.”

“Right you  are, Crimson. Oughta slow ‘em even further. We’re makin’ pretty good  time. Strangers to the Godshollow wouldn’t be able to cut through like  we have. That said… if we’re ever found, whatever ya do, don’t resist.  Those men are highly trained warriors. Neither of ya’d stand a chance.”

Vir wanted to  argue, but he really couldn’t. He didn’t have an ounce of combat  training, and while Vir was good at throwing pebbles, he somehow doubted  he’d win a battle with a professional knight with his lobbing skills  alone. The only weapons they carried were their bushcrafting knives and  Rudvik’s tree ax. Against swords and spears, only Rudvik would stand a  chance.

Conversation  petered out as they penetrated into the Godshollow’s depths. Vir soon  began to pant and sweat, but he toughed it out. He’d grow cold more  easily on account of all the sweat, but he absolutely refused to slow  the group down.

Lunch couldn’t  come soon enough. It was a welcome respite—a quick affair of stale  bread and oranges. They barely stopped for a half hour before picking  back up, but it was enough for Vir to recover his energy. Not long  enough for Vir to go hypothermic from all the cooling sweat, thankfully.

He felt safer  the deeper they got, though Maiya’s fright only continued to mount. She  scanned their surroundings every few seconds. No doubt looking for the Ghost of the Godshollow, Vir smirked.

“Did you hear that?” Maiya whispered, halting.

Vir strained  his ears, but all he heard were the eerie voices, the same as usual. He  started walking, then noticed that Rudvik hadn’t budged. The man’s gaze  was fixed on a certain spot, behind them and to the left.

“Uncle Rudvik?”

“Somethin’s out there,” Rudvik said.

Vir’s blood  went cold. He forced himself to calm down. This was a forest, after all.  A lush, vibrant forest. There were all manner of animals around. He  couldn’t just assume it was a knight.

“Who?” Maiya asked. “Or, what?”

Vir could hear them now. Multiple sounds in the distance. Moving slowly. Cautiously. Prana beasts? Or something worse?

“Bandies,” Rudvik declared. “Several o’ em.”

“But I’ve never heard of Bandies in this forest!” Maiya whispered.

“S’cuz there ain’t, Crimson. We’re bein’ followed.”

How!? Vir couldn’t understand how someone could’ve found them so quickly.  With Apramor leading the knights astray, they should’ve had days, not hours! They’d come across no signs of the knights this entire time, either.  Both Rudvik and Vir were pretty good at finding footprints and signs of  trampled foliage: they’d seen none. It was almost as if… as if they’d been here all along.

The lumberjack glanced at Vir, then at Maiya. “Come close, ya two. Ready yer knives.”

Vir already  had his out. It wasn’t much—just simple iron—but it was his trusty  companion of many years. The rust only gave it more character.

Maiya removed  her much nicer knife from its sheath, but Vir was afraid she’d drop it  with how much her hands trembled. Then again, it wasn’t like he’d ever  used his knife on a live animal before, either. He doubted he’d fare  much better.

“I reckon there’s about six of ‘em. Sound right ta yer ears, Vir?”

“An entire  pack,” Vir affirmed. They were close now. Rudvik had been right not to  flee. Neither Vir nor Maiya were cut out for sprinting through the  forest. The only question now was just who they were up against. A  knight? Or perhaps some other party that just happened to be in the  woods with their bandies?

“The Ghost of Godshollow,” Maiya whispered. Vir was now genuinely worried about her knife.

“Maiya, you’re going to hurt yourself. Get a grip!” He warned.

Maiya took a deep breath and calmed her jitters, but she was clearly spooked. So was he…

Looking up,  Vir scanned the great trunks of the Godhollows, soaring hundreds of  paces in the air. Their enormous boughs offered the promise of safety,  but only for him.

What about  Neel? What about Maiya and Rudvik? They couldn’t climb like he could,  and he doubted even his bandy could scale such enormous heights. He  refused to abandon everyone to save himself.

Neel started barking incessantly. The voices of the forest went silent.

“Here they come!” Rudvik roared, swinging his ax. Several forms blurred out of the forest, barking and yipping.

Rudvik’s ax smashed into the leading bandy’s stomach, throwing the animal against a nearby tree where it fell, limp.

Vir began  lobbing rocks one after another. His encounter with Camas' bandies the  other day had greatly helped hone his throwing skills. One of his  projectiles hit a bandy right in the eye, forcing it to abort its  attack. But these animals behaved differently from the ones in the  village. They were tougher, more organized. Even when hit on their  snouts, they barely noticed, pressing relentlessly on.

The animals  were close now—many of his strikes missed, forcing him to dive away as  two bandies beset him and Maiya. All thoughts of throwing any more  pebbles disappeared the moment he saw their lithe forms leaping through  the air, a mere pace away.

Flight  instinct took over, and both he and Maiya dodged the Bandies’ vicious  paws by a hair. Maiya hit the dirt hard while Vir broke his fall with a  roll. He’d already begun heaving from the exertion.

Barely even fifteen seconds had passed.

Neel was embroiled in a fierce grapple with another Bandy, and both of them bled from claw slashes.

Rudvik roared again, attracting the beasts’ attention, giving Vir a moment to look around.

Maiya had fended off a bandy all on her own, inflicting a wound on the animal’s leg.

Three of the  bandies circled several paces away, calmly looking for opportunities to  engage. Their discipline and coordination proved that these weren’t mere  hunting Bandies… These were highly trained attack animals. Specially bred for hunting people. And there was only one organization who bred bandies for war.

The military.

Vir leaped and  narrowly avoided another attack. His desperation continued to mount… At  this rate, it was only a matter of time before someone got injured.  Rudvik apparently felt the same.

“Vir, Maiya! We’re running.”

It was a poor option, but it was clear to Vir that staying here was worse.

Rudvik sent another bandy flying with a great swing of his ax, then the three of them took off.

“Neel!” Vir yelled as he started running. The Bandy didn’t hear him. “Neel!” He  yelled again. This time, it noticed. Neel barked once and threw off his  opponent. Vir wasn’t worried; he had every faith that his bandy would  catch up. It was himself he was more concerned about.

Cough!

Vir could  barely breathe. He realized that if he was going to make it, he'd have  to do something differently. He focused on his breathing, taking deep  breaths to calm his heart. He chose every step he took with care, trying  to minimize the amount of effort he expended.

It worked, for  a while. Vir's breaths grew less ragged, but only by a hair. As he ran,  he realized that even with his optimizations, his body simply couldn't  keep up. His heart threatened to burst, and he fell behind the others. Neel barked, concerned.

I know! He looked back to see five bandies in hot pursuit, all intending to sink their fangs into him.

“Badrak’s  Balls, grak it! Maiya, Vir! To me!” The lumberjack ordered. With his  trunk of a left arm, he scooped up the fleeing Maiya, eliciting a shriek  from the girl.

When Vir  registered what was happening, he was already in the lumberjack’s arms,  being carried like a barrel. The lumberjack barreled through the  Godshollow far faster than before.

Vir couldn’t scarcely believe what was happening. Rudvik’s carrying us both!?

He didn’t know  how much strength it took to carry two young adults, but he could  scarcely lift Maiya himself… And she wasn’t a big girl, not even close.

“You really can do anything, can’t you?” Vir muttered. It'd be handy to be that strong.

But as strong  as Rudvik was, Vir knew he couldn’t keep this up forever. He would  eventually tire. Bandies could run all day long. It was clear who would  win.

“They’re  catching up!” Maiya warned. She had her knife extended, her face set  with determination. But rather than look gallant, she just came across  as ridiculous, being carried by Rudvik.

“You can’t keep this up, father! Put us down!”

“What… kinda… father…” Rudvik gasped between breaths, “can’t… defend… his own… children?”

A frantic  minute later, they broke out into a small grove where the trees were  less dense. The sun broke through the canopy, high above, painting the  forest floor with gorgeous shafts of light.

For a tiny moment, Vir forgot all about his fear, stunned speechless at the beauty of this place.

Then a bandy pounced upon them. Then two.

From his awkward position, Vir tried to lob pebbles at them, but it was hard to hit things when you were being jostled around.

One took a bite out of Rudvik’s shoulder, while the other slashed a paw across his face.

“Gaaahhh!!” The lumberjack went down, but somehow managed to protect both Vir and Maiya from being crushed by his weight.

Neel valiantly jumped into the fray, occupying the two bandies long enough for Rudvik to recover.

If the man was in pain, he didn’t show it.

“Listen! We  can do this!” Rudvik shouted as he righted himself. “Only five of ‘em  left. I’ll handle the ones that come from the front. You two guard my  sides. Keep yer backs together. Ya hear? We got this!”

Vir and Maiya  nodded as the five bandies surrounded them. The beasts circled the  three, eyeing them with both indignation and fear.

“Well c’mon! Get on with it!” Rudvik shouted.

Not a single one responded to his provocations.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

All eyes turned to the stranger who emerged from the woods, clapping slowly.

“Well, well, well! And what do we have here?”

Vir felt they  had a fighting chance against the bandies. It wouldn’t have been an easy  fight, and he might have gotten injured, but they had a chance. The addition of the man was worrisome, but perhaps not a death sentence.

When Vir saw the emerald and gold of the man’s armor, all hope left him. Hiranyan military.

“It would seem that our dear priest has led us astray, after all. Captain Vastav was right to suspect him.”

“Who’re you?”

“A knight  scout of the Third Imperial Legion. You are Rudvik, I presume? The  lumberjack? And this must be Apramor’s daughter, eh? Flaming red hair,  rebellious attitude… And of course, our infamous Ashborn. Do you have  any idea how much trouble you’ve caused us, young man?”

Vir backed away instinctively. This knight was dangerous.

It wasn’t just his vicious-looking poleax or his battered-and-mended brigandine armor. The man had a look that  spoke volumes about the many battles he’d seen. Vir could tell. This  man had killed before. Many, many times. Vir could practically smell the  stench of blood oozing off of him.

He backed up another step.

“We’d been  getting reports of an Ashborn in this area for ages, you know?” the  knight continued. “No one really cared until now. Only, our new high  priest is adamant that we bring you in, er, for protection.”

“If you’re trying to protect me, why would you sic your bandies on us?”

“Ya call yerself a knight in the employ of Hiranya, and yet ye point yer blade at children?” Rudvik shouted, pointing his axe at the man as he eyed the bandies encircling them.

The knight  responded with a sad smile. “Friend, I hear you. Believe you me, I take  no pleasure in such actions. It is,” he cut himself off with a sigh.  “Orders are orders, I’m afraid. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had  to carry out distasteful acts in the name of the greater good. I reckon  it shall not be the last, either.”

Neel, who had  been growling at the soldier ever since he appeared, finally acted. He  pounced upon the soldier, who calmly flicked a chakram at the bandy  without even flinching.

“Neel! No!”  Maiya shrieked, diving to protect the animal. Neel startled at the sound  of his name. The flying disk missed by a hair’s breadth, coming to rest  deep within a nearby log..

Maiya grabbed Neel’s collar and glared at the soldier. “You’re despicable.”

“As a scout of  the Third Imperial Legion, I am under orders to use any means necessary  to bring the Ashborn back alive. The lumberjack is hereby sentenced to  death for obstruction of knightly affairs. The priest’s daughter will be  brought to Daha and shall serve the kingdom for the rest of her life as  penance for her parents’ actions.”

Maiya blanched. “What did you just say?”

“I do not  enjoy this, girl. My duty is to protect our citizens, not to hunt them.  As for you, I truly do not wish to harm you. Please come quietly.  However,” he said, locking eyes with Vir, “traitors to humanity must be  eliminated at all cost.”

Vir’s fright  evaporated in an instant, replaced by an icy anger. Their talk of  ‘protecting’ Ashborn had all been a lie. They meant to murder him. His  anger blossomed into fury.

Rudvik stepped forward. “I will not allow it.”

The knight appraised Rudvik with a bemused expression. “You!? Don’t embarrass yourself, lumberjack. What combat training have you  had? Have you ever even taken the life of another man? Will you behead  me with that ungainly tree ax of yours?”

“Ye know grakkin’ well I’ll do whate’er it takes!”

“Sic!” the knight yelled. At once, all the enemy bandies leaped at Rudvik.

The lumberjack  was ready. He ducked low, barely avoiding the snapping jaw of a bandy,  while he brought his ax to bear on another, gouging deep into its belly.  But his weapon was not an agile one. Built for hacking at trees, its  weight was ill suited for combat. While Rudvik worked to dislodge the  blade from the bandy’s body, two others ripped into his arms.

“Father!” Vir  screamed. He desperately thrust his knife into the closest bandy’s hide,  but a paw swipe disarmed him, flinging the weapon aside and making his  fingers bleed. The bandy hadn’t even bothered to look at him…

Rudvik  whirled, throwing the bandies off one by one, but not before they took a  chunk of his flesh with them. Blood poured from several wounds,  staining his overalls crimson.

“Run!” He bellowed. “I’ll hold ‘em off!”

“You think we’d abandon you?” Vir said in indignation, picking his knife back up and charging a bandy with reckless abandon.

“Distasteful,”  the knight said with an exaggerated sigh, taking two steps forward in  the blink of an eye. With a casual—almost bored—motion, he thrust his  poleaxe forward.

There was no time to dodge. No one had even seen it coming, despite the weapon’s massive size.

The speartip met with Rudvik’s chest, and like a blade through water, passed through unimpeded.

Right through his chest, grazing his heart.

Maiya and Vir froze, their eyes glued to the blade as it penetrated all the way through Rudvik’s back, stained red.

“Wha—Hngh!”  Rudvik looked down in disbelief. Pinned by the weapon, he couldn’t move  an inch. Most men would’ve crumpled right away, debilitated by the pain.

Not Rudvik. He grabbed the polearm with his left hand, preventing the knight from escaping. He swung his ax with his right.

He hit nothing but air—his reach simply wasn’t enough to hit the knight at the other end of his long weapon.

Rudvik  grunted. He repositioned his grip on the ax, and with the last remaining  bit of his strength, hurled it at the knight, forcing the enemy to let  go of his weapon to dodge. The ax sailed just past his neck, nicking it,  and embedding itself into a nearby tree.

“Vera curse you, backwater chal!” The knight roared and jumped away, hastily drawing his talwar.

The lumberjack finally crumpled to the ground, but not before locking the knight’s abandoned weapon in a death grip.

Not a moment later, the four remaining bandies set upon him, tearing into his flesh.

Rudvik locked eyes with Vir, and time seemed to slow to a crawl. “Run…” He whispered. His eyes glazed over, hands still holding his opponent’s weapon.

Unable to even shed a tear, Vir stared blankly at his father, transfixed.

The knight  sheathed his sword and tried to yank his primary weapon from the  lumberjack, one hand pressed against the wound on his neck.

Vir stared right up to the moment Rudvik shed his last tear and passed from this world to the next.

Then he screamed. His vision turned red as primal fury overcame him. Blinded by thoughts of revenge, his body moved on its own, charging the knight.

The knight looked up in surprise, still trying to dislodge his weapon.

Then an unseen force held Vir back. Unyielding. Like a wall.

Someone shouted at him. He knew that voice. Maiya?

Vir jolted  back to his senses to find Maiya desperately clutching his clothes,  knees on the ground, doing everything she could to stop him.

“What are you  going to do!?” she wailed, tears flowing out of her eyes. “Y-you want  uncle’s sacrifice to be in vain!? Get a grip!”

Hot shame  coursed through Vir’s veins. He’d lost control of himself at the most  crucial moment, nearly getting both of them killed.

He glared at the chal who’d  killed his father—still fussing over the weapon clutched within  Rudvik’s hands—and burned the man’s face into his memory. Then he took a  great breath and locked his emotions away, somewhere deep within him.

Now was not the time for guilt. Or grief. Or remorse.

To survive, he would have to act. And so he did.

Vir grabbed Maiya’s wrist. “We run.”