Iron Blooded

By the time the sun began it’s decent in the sky we were out of the ravine and into the grasslands. We removed Bessy’s saddlebags and let her wonder and graze.

Seth, who had been scouting ahead, returned. His face drawn and grim.

“What is it lad?” asked Gills.

“There is something up ahead,” he said. “Bodies.”

Wordlessly we drew our weapons, and prepared our weary selves for yet another gruesome fight.

The dirt trail led past a thicket of brushes and out into an open clearing.

At Gills signal we we divided into two groups and advanced slowly from either direction. I was holding my blade in a high guard, ready for anything.

Wind whistled through the brush, stirring my cloak. With it came the scent of death.

The point of my sword tip dipped as I saw what lay ahead.

“It wasn’t a Monster.” Draxus comes to a stop beside me. His eyes are empty. When he spoke his voice held a coldness I’d never heard from him before.

“The Inquisition did this.”

He threw down his shield and spear, cursing. Then he strode towards the tree. Eight bodies hung from the branches, swinging gently in the breeze.

“Drax, we shouldn’t..” Kato tried to grab at his arm but Draxus snarled and shoved him away. Kato looked as shocked as the rest of us.

The bodies hadn't been dead long by the look of it. One of them is shorter and smaller than the rest. A child's body - a young boy no older than fourteen. Every one of the corpses has a symbol carved into their forehead. A stylized I that can symbolize only one thing.

The Inquisition.

My stomach betrayed me. I turned and hurled the contents of my gut across the ground.

I'm not the only one.

Draxus hoisted himself unto the tree and began climbing from branch to branch. I drew a sleeve across my mouth and I stepped forward to help.

Flies buzz around the corpses. They are stiff and blue. I take the feet of the first body in my gloved hands and wait.

Draxus said nothing at my approach but I noticed the set of his shoulders relax marginally. There is a pain in him and it goes deep. I make a note to myself to ask him about it when the time is right.

Draxus pulls a long knife from his belt and slashes at the rope holding the woman up. I catch her, grunting as her full weigh hit me. Then I lowered her gently to the ground. Her eyes were glassy and vacant. I couldn't help but wonder what she say before the end.

I knelt and brushed my fingertips over them to close her eyelids.

“Find peace,” I whispered over her.

“What, no prayer?” asked Draxus bitterly. The branch swayed under his weight, making the bodies swing with the creaking of rope.

“Would you pray to a God King that allowed this to happen in his name?”

My question is quiet but I can tell it surprised him.

His haunted eyes met mine and I saw something flicker in them. Approval? Sadness?

In the end he only grunted his agreement and slashed the next rope. I lowered the body to the ground as gently as I could. This time it was Kato who stooped beside me to close his eyelids.

He put a hand on my shoulder then stood to catch the next body.

And on and on it went. There were eight all told. Three of them were women and then there was the boy. I couldn't help but wonder what they had done to deserve this. I didn't think there was an answer.

At first, the other soldiers had been weary of helping us.

They kept making the sign of the saint, and looking fearfully at the sky as if the God King himself might appear and strike them down from the heavens.

“They fear retribution,” Kato explained. “Technically it’s illegal to interfere with the will of his Majesty's Inquisition. Even now."

Eventually though Gills and Seth joined us, leaving the rest of the men to stand watch as we did our work.

We had no proper spades, so we used a pick to break the earth, and a latrine shovel to scoop the loose dirt away. True darkness had fallen when we finally shoveled dirt over the single deep grave.

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My hands were numb but I could feel something burning in my chest that hadn’t been there before. Anger, or at least the embers of it. Whatever these people had done I doubted they had all been serious criminals.

I remembered Jarvis’s words, the way his lip hard curled when he told me the Inquisition would burn me at the stake for what I was.

Would he had condoned this murder of innocents if it was done in the name of the God King?

Draxus had been silent since the incident. I couldn't blame him, not after seeing what we had.

We continued down the trail for almost an hour before we spotted a river with a mill turning in the water. Beyond the mill was a small town lit with torches.

A man wearing leather armor and the kettle hat of a watchmen hailed us. He was backed by four of his fellows, one of which had a bow drawn and pointed at us.

“That’s far enough,” said the watchman. “Who are you, and what do you want with us? We’re a small town, and we don’t have much.”

“We’re not bandits,” said Gills, striding forward. He pulled the folded parchment from his breast pocket long enough to flash the red seal.

“We’re soldiers, 3rd Auxiliary under command of Lord Hadrian Blackthorne.”

The watchmen eyed our gore splattered clothes and mismatched armor somewhat dubiously.

“You don’t look like men at arms in service to a Lord,” he said. He wasn't wrong. Gills started to reply but Kato strolled past him, his sheathed sword resting across one shoulder.

“That’s because we’re not.” he said firmly.

“We’re just the 3rd Auxiliary, and we’re levies and volunteer mostly. A few veterans here and there.” He waved a hand.

“We’ve been sent on this all important errand to deliver a message to the Count of fucking Basset, and as you can see we’ve had a hell of a time. So please, for the love of the God King, point us to your nearest inn. We have coin.”

There was a tense pause. Gills looked like he was considering cuffing Kato on the ear. Then the watchmen burst into laughter.

“He’s a funny one ain’t he,” he said, flapping a hand across his chest.

“Aye well, you’re welcome here so long as you don’t cause any trouble. We’ve had enough of that these past few days.”

The watchmen were true to their word. In town we found an inn that was mostly empty, save for a few men nursing drinks late into the evening. We paid the stable hand a copper to take Bessy in for the night before tending to our own needs.

The innkeeper seemed less than thrilled to have us, but in the end she didn’t complain when we each paid for a hot meal, board, and a bath.

The bath was a small wooden basin filled to the brim with warm water. But to me it felt like heaven. Four additional copper pennies earned me a small bar of lye soap, which I used to scrub myself vigorously.

The grime of the road came away quickly, and the water turned a light Grey. I dunked my head and washed my hair, scrubbing until my scalp tingled. It felt nice not to be on edge for once. Military life wasn't one I hated but there was no denying the intensity of it.

Constant vigilance was a side effect of being a soldier.

I let myself soak and nearly dozed off in the warm water before I realized what was happening.

Rising from the tub I reached for a linen towel and wrapped it around my waist. A knock came at the door.

I crossed the wooden floorboards and tugged it open. A young woman stood outside holding a tray. On it was a bowl of steaming stew and a few slices of oat bread. My stomach growled.

It took me a moment to remember that I was only wearing my towel. I ducked out of the doorway.

“My apologies,” I said, turning my back from her and pulling on a fresh shirt that I had laid out on the mattress.

“I wasn’t expecting company.”

She laughed.

“It’s quite alright, nothing I haven’t seen before.”

She handed off the tray and I thanked her. Her eyes lingered on the fresh scar on my shoulder before she turned away. Despite myself I watched her hips sway down the hall and back towards the stairs.

Kato whistled and I realized he was also standing in his doorway, elbow braced against the frame.

“I think she likes you Troll Slayer,” he said, smirking.

“She said like three words to me, I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

“Three words she didn’t say to Draxus,” he laughed. “He’s still sulking.”

Realizing that he probably needed to talk I left my door open and crossed to the bed where I sat and laid the tray across my knees.

Kato sauntered in, closing the door behind him and dropping into a chair in the corner. He put one arm behind his head and propped his feet on my gear.

“So,” I said through a mouthful of hot barely stew. “Are you going to tell me what happened earlier?”

“With Draxus you mean.” He sighed when I nodded.

“The old boy has a rough history with the men in silver masks."

When I give him a blank look he rolled his eyes.

“The inquisition man. Seriously just where is Blackbriar located? The bottom of a well?”

I ignored him.

“Are they the ones that had him whipped?”

Kato hesitated for a moment before leaning forward and resting his bare feet on the wood. Were moments ago his mood was playful it now seems somewhat muted.

There was a shadow in his eyes that reminded me of the way Draxus had stared at the hanging corpses.

“That,” he said. “Is a long story. And not fully mine to tell."

He studied his hands.

"But I can tell you that the Inquisition was what was responsible for the destruction of his family name. He was somebody once - the son of a baroness and set to inherit his mothers estate. Before they took it from him, I mean. To my understanding he was only eight. Who the bleeding hell whips a child?"

He lapsed into silence and I chose to honor it. Finally he shifted back.

“That's how he ended up with the 3rd Auxiliary. Drax has had a hard life - well, harder than most. But there are some things you shouldn’t ask a man.”

I swallowed my last bite of stew and set my spoon into the empty bowl.

“Fair enough. And you? How did you come to be here?”

Kato snorted.

“Pissed off the wrong people, what else?” The answer was evasive but I let it stand, unwilling to pry.

“I have a favor to ask.” I said.

Kato arched a brow.

“You’re far from ugly but very much not my type,” he said. “A lack of breasts, see.”

I rolled my eyes.

“I want to learn the sword.”

"Ah."

I had expected him to mock me but Kato looked me over, assessing.

"You have the build for it," he said. "Long arms and sturdy shoulders. With the way you fight though, I think you'd be better with the sword and shield."

"Can you teach me?"

He scrubbed at his chin.

"I could. But if you want to learn the shield you should practice with Draxus. Few but knighted men can match me with a blade, but he's been using a shield since he was a boy."

I thanked him and we made small talk. Despite it all I could sense the shadow of what we had seen laying over us like a blanket, stifling any mirth or joy.

After a while Kato excused himself and I took that opportunity to go to bed. I sank into the down mattress and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.