PART II: Injured Beast
After two hours of being still, deserting and collecting their minds, the men did not wait for Tazan or anyone else to help them make their decision.
Those who did not have family in the village fled the moment after they saw the horrifying sight. They could not stomach it and dropped their weapons and left.
Those who did have family in the village but did not see their bodies displayed rushed to the village of Lif in hopes of at the very least burying their dead.
And then there was everyone else left along with Tazan. Broken, silent, helpless at what they just witnessed.
Some, like the young boy, had their minds shatter, going insane from the insanity they had witnessed from Andras.
Some just sat there envying the broken-minded people, wishing they could forget the scenes they had just witnessed, like the old man.
And one grew with flaming rage. Tazan's body was boiling with anger. His huge axe sat beside him as he reimagined the scene over and over again in his mind. Each time it flashed over to images of Nex and Actaeon as he imagined the worst.
All it took was one final push to have Tazan become what he and his grandmother always feared of becoming... a beast.
As the old man sat there while the moon reigned high in the sky, shining the sun's reflected light on the post below them, he finally stood up after his eyes went blind from crying.
He called over for the young boy. "Brata, Brata, where are you?" The old man started moving his hands through the air, hoping to find someone to lead him to the young boy.
"Brata, please, grandson, answer me, Brata... Do not leave me alone." Through the tens of voices in Brata's mind, he heard his grandfather's the loudest, breaking out of his broken brain for mere moments.
"Yes, grandfather, I am here. I will never leave you." Brata answered as he took his hand off his ears and rushed over to his grandfather's side, holding him by his stomach with his head went under his shoulder.
"I know. I know you would never leave me, grandson... But I need to leave you." The old man said as he laid down his arms and held the boy by his cheeks.
"What do you mean? We need to stick together, grandpa. We are the last we have. There is no one else left."
"Look at me, my boy. I have nothing left... Even my eyesight was taken from me. My daughter, my brother displayed the way they were—I cannot live on, son... I want you to make your resolve right here and now."
"Grandfather, you have me left. I will guide you until my last breath... Let us leave here and we can have a peaceful life we used to have back in the north." The young boy held onto his grandfather's arms as the old man swept away the boy's tears.
"There is no peace in these lands, boy... As long as this empire exists, we will always suffer no matter where we go... I wish you live long enough to see the day this empire is dead and buried... But until then you have to be strong. You have to fight and kill. You have to ignore the voices in your head. You have to fight with honor and loyalty and most importantly... you have to survive. I am ready now, boy. Take your knife and claim your first life."
Tazan's eyes glanced beyond his rage into the young boy's first kill as he picked up the knife. Tazan thought to himself, "I should stop him. But why should I? If the old man lives, he might suffer the same fate as his loved ones did... It is the right thing to do. But why should it be me who does the right thing? Why am I always abiding by rules no one else is... I need to stop this grandson from hurting his grandfather... I am sure he will come to regret it in the future. But--"
Tazan's thoughts were cut short with the sound of the blade penetrating the old man's heart as he uttered his last words.
"Thank you, Brata. I will always love you... Survive."
After a while of everyone just watching holding their breaths.
"NO! NO, HE DID NOT LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU SHUT UP!" The young boy suddenly screamed while holding his grandfather's head to his chest.
"I DID THE RIGHT THING! I GAVE HIM MERCY! HE DESERVED IT!" he said while wiping his tears away with his bloodied hand.
The young boy was arguing with the voices in his head as everyone stared at him, unable to pity him as they themselves wanted the old man's way out.
Some started reaching for their weapons, trying to claim their own lives with their trembling hands, crying out their loved ones' names, hoping to reunite with them wherever they believe they might end up after death.
"GET UP!" Tazan commanded with a firm voice loud enough for everyone to hear him, towering over the young boy and everyone around him. For some reason, Tazan looked larger than normal—bigger, stronger, more dependable with the eyes of hopelessness.
With his huge axe carried with one hand and a huge tree log he picked up from the ground, he set it on the ground, then carried his axe with one hand above his head before dropping it down with force that cut air, creating waves from where he swung.
It broke the huge log in half effortlessly with a single swing of his axe. But the axe did not stop there—it went into the ground, digging a hole as big as the young boy's torso.
"GET UP!" He commanded again after picking up the log and carving a hole inside of it with his bare hand, making it into a shield big enough to cover a big chunk of his body.
"GET UP!" He yelled with a thundering voice, ringing everyone's eardrums and loud enough that the guards below woke from their sleep.
"YOUR FAMILIES ARE SLEEPLESS WHILE YOU ARE SITTING HERE RESTING, COLLECTING YOUR THOUGHTS! THEY ARE BEING DISPLAYED FOR AMUSEMENT OF THOSE VERY MEN THAT MURDERED THEM!" He did not lower his voice—it was intentional. He wanted them to come to him.
"JOIN THEM IN THEIR SLEEPLESS REST! COME JOIN ME IN DEATH WITHOUT HONOR, WITHOUT JUSTICE, BUT SHEER BLOOD AND VIOLENCE AS THEY WANT... We will give it to them." His voice cracked again near the end, but this time it was out of tiredness.
No one reacted with emotions. Instead, they all accepted his words... Carrying their weapons, all twenty-five people who remained took their swords as death did not bother them with his presence anymore. His scythe was finally welcome around their necks.
Even Brata ignored his grandfather's last wishes of surviving and carried his sword along with his grandfather's, dual-wielding a shortsword and a long sword as he followed Tazan and the others with their spears and shields and armor taken from the dead or off the ground from the deserters.
And they all headed down the hill to meet the guards that were sent up to scout out the noise.
The scouts on the back of their horses immediately took notice of the giant and the men running downhill, shouting and yelling with weapons, shields, and bows in their hands. Normally they would have laughed at the pathetic sight of villagers trying to fight back... But this was different. Even the horses felt it... Fear and the death that awaited them.
They grabbed the horses by their reins and ordered them to turn back; however, the horses grew with fear and started kicking on and about, kicking them off their high horse and onto their backs.
Tazan was leading the charge down. With his massive strength and speed, he was ahead of anyone else. As he saw the horses running away from him and his men, he carried his axe above and split the first man that he reached the same way he did to the log—in half, without effort, without hesitation. He picked up the axe again and swung it across his body from the left to the right, cutting off the head of the other scout and leaving only two more remaining.
One of the scouts picked himself up and tried to flee as he got hit by one of the tens of arrows that were shot, injuring his leg, leaving him to be torn apart by the Death Company.
The last two chose to fight back with their swords and heavy armor, but they were no match to rage-filled men who had nothing left to lose and welcomed death with open arms as the soldiers feared it every second of every day.
After killing the scouts, Tazan was not satisfied, neither were the others; however, Tazan was physically able to keep going while the twenty-five villagers could not. They had to catch their breaths running down that hill and fighting after, even if Tazan did all the heavy lifting, killing three out of the five scouts by himself. These elderly men and young boys were just that—elderly men and young boys, not soldiers and definitely no giants like Tazan, though they had hoped they were.
Tazan looked over his shoulder after removing the armor from the scouts—the ones that were not split in half with his axe. He threw the black and red armor on the ground. He saw tired faces of breathless men; they did not ask for rest but awaited orders to move to their deaths, but it was clear to Tazan that moving forward right now would just be plain suicide without killing anyone.
"Do you want rest?" he asked with a commanding voice, almost mocking them in a way, intentionally trying to make them gather every bit of strength they had by doing so. After all, if the scouts did not return to the post soon, a small squad would be sent—or at least a group of soldiers—and Tazan knew that.
"NO!" Brata screamed at the top of his breathless lungs. His long sword, which he held in his dominant hand, dripped blood on the green grass.
"We need to kill as many as we can. We have to lay a trap here for the reinforcements which will surely follow if the scouts do not return," Brata added before catching his breath.
"And how do you suppose we lay a trap in an open field and on short grass, kid?" one of the men asked.
After a few silent seconds, Tazan tried to say something before being interrupted.
"THAT WOULD NEVER WORK! I WON'T WASTE THEIR TIME TELLING THEM THAT!" Brata yelled out.
After exchanging a few glances, Tazan asked, "What is it?"
"It is nothing, Lord Tazan. Do not concern yourself with me. Keep saying what you were going to say," Brata responded.
"I asked you to tell me what it is so I can compare my plan to yours and take the one that will allow us to kill more of the bastards. Now tell me what it is," Tazan commanded.
"Well, this... voice in my head told me that we should..." Brata answered with hesitation in his voice, unable to tell if the voice's ideas were his or someone else's.
"Well, spit it out, kid," another man said.
"It told me to play dead, and wait for them to walk close to us with their horses, where we will jump out killing their horses, dropping them down on the ground, and picking them off one by one like we did the scouts... It will give us an advantage that we know we can use, as we have just seen... Their heavy armor makes them unable to get off their asses fast... Or... or so the voice told me." Brata looked at the ground after finishing, being ashamed of relying on an uncertain voice in his head to come up with a decent plan to fight back.
"I like that... Let's cut open these bastards," Tazan commanded them before continuing to remove the armor from the scouts.
After what felt like hours but were merely passing minutes, everyone started questioning if reinforcements were even coming.
Tazan stood up and looked over the small grass at the post and saw nothing other than a few guards. It was clear to him Andras was not here anymore—he was headed somewhere else along with his "Art." He knew he had to take control of the post and await his return. Now was the chance, and Tazan would not hesitate—not again.
"Grab your weapons and follow me. I shall break through the blockade. We will take the post while they have fewer numbers than us and await the Andras and his soldiers inside, dressed as them." Tazan's hands were trembling with excitement and anticipation of what was to come.
"Hey, what the hell is that?" the guard outside of the blockade asked the other guard, pointing over the hill as he saw what looked like a giant man running with a huge axe carried in one hand and a huge tree log used as a shield as he closed the distance. Soon after, a few other men followed. Then a few young boys, and finally the elderly were running as fast as they could without tiring themselves before the battle started.
The five elderly archers shot from a huge distance to create cover for Tazan and the remaining men to run in while blocking arrows from the guard who spotted them.
The other guard blew a horn, awakening everyone and alerting them to the danger.
"Open the damn gate! LET US INSIDE!" the guard who was shooting arrows yelled out to his allies inside as the other drew his sword, waiting for the gate to open.
Arrows rained down around the guards. The villagers might have been inexperienced archers, but desperation and sheer volume made up for poor aim—eventually, one would find its mark.
"DAMN YOU, OPEN THE GATES AND LET US IN!" As the giant figure grew closer, revealing truly how terrifying a giant man with a huge axe and almost half a tree to cover his body from arrows was, the guards almost shit themselves in terror the closer Tazan and his men came. Meanwhile, their allies did not open the gates. It was clear to them their allies had no reason to open the gates and save two guards while risking the whole post.
Instead, they would keep the wooden gates closed and buy enough time until the enemy tired themselves or fled fearing reinforcements.
And there he was finally—Tazan in front of them, towering halfway to the gate. If both guards stood on top of each other, they would not reach his head.
"We surrender—" Tazan did not stop to talk or listen. Running at full speed, he swung his axe at the right-hand guard and cut his shield, helmet, and head off with one swing that even got stuck in the wooden gates. As for the archer, he squashed him between his shield and the wooden gate.
He hit him with full power, breaking his ribcage with the first hit and denting his useg armor slightly. The guard did not die—he let out a grunt of pain. Tazan tried pulling his axe, but it was too deep in the gate, so he let it go and shoulder-bashed the guard with his shield, breaking his steel helmet wide open and shattering every bone in his face before the guard slid down against the gate, still alive but barely breathing. Then Tazan picked up his shield with both hands way above his head and crushed his skull like a bug.
The men behind Tazan froze in awe at what they were witnessing, admiring him not for the violence but instead for his almost unheard-of strength and sheer power.
The men were rallied back with Tazan's war cry—a screech that sounded like that of a beast. They cried out with him, chanting his name and bashing their poorly made weapons against the wooden door, barely making any damage.
Tazan used both hands to pull out his axe from the wooden door. Everyone stopped and gave him space. As he got ready to swing this time against only the wooden gate, no one imagined it, but one hit from his axe held with both of Tazan's hands blew a huge hole in the thick wooden gate.
As the soldiers inside watched with growing fear and destroyed confidence about their safety, Tazan put his hand through the hole he made in the gate and unlocked it by removing the plank put behind the door to lock it in place.
No one attacked his arm... No one even dared to get close to him.
Most of them started fleeing from the eastern gate, running away and leaving behind their post and stolen valuables.
"CHARGE!" Brata screamed as he ran in ahead of even Tazan, who paused to catch his breath before running after the soldiers escaping, cutting them in half and even throwing bodies at people who ran ahead of him.
There were fewer than twenty guards left at the post, and the only ones that made it out of Tazan's rage were five who ran as soon as they saw him destroy the gate. But they would not live long, as the Silver Knights led by Commander Riger approached, with Actaeon riding behind him on his beautiful white horse.
As they saw the soldiers flee, Riger commanded their deaths with a signal from his hand after hearing word from Actaeon and his trusted advisor about what was happening in front of him.
The Silver Knights awaited the order, then threw their long silver steel spears in the air, catching them in a throwing position before throwing them accurately, killing the fleeing soldiers. Five soldiers... Five spears were thrown, all hit their targets, penetrating the chests of the soldiers.
Actaeon dropped down from the horse without waiting for it to stop, walking forward. He ran toward the bodies along with the knights who threw their spears to pick them up. He ran to look for the reason they were running, and as he got close to their bodies, the closed wooden gate in front of them was opened by a soldier. As soon as the gate was open, the soldier ran forward.
"Please save m—" A huge two-handed axe hit him in the back, breaking his spine in two and killing him instantly. But not before the force split the air, reaching even Commander Riger's horse. Actaeon recognized the axe.
"Tazan!" he yelled out with a smile on his face as he ran forward, but he froze at the sight of his friend bashing in the skull of a soldier with his shield. His smile disappeared as he saw Tazan bloodied and breathing heavily. As Tazan looked outside to retrieve his axe, he noticed the Knights with Actaeon ahead of them.
"Get back here, boy!" Commander Riger dropped down from his horse. His Silver Knights held a tight formation, ready to engage in combat, as Riger himself held his spear with both hands, his helmet covering his face.
"He is my ally," Actaeon yelled out, protecting his friend.
"What kind of monster is that?" the civilian Tex asked Riger after hiding behind his back, trembling in fear at the sight of Tazan.
"Is he truly your ally, boy?" Riger asked. "If so, you did not really need us. That guy right there could have won you a war if he so much as wanted to." He added with a slight smugness behind his helmet.
"He is my ally, and we never wanted to kill people... Besides, I was separated from him. I... I did not even know he was alive," Actaeon confirmed with Riger.
"At ease, Knights," Riger commanded as the Silver Knights started sweating. They had fought countless battles and barbarians from the never-ending forest, but this was something else entirely—the strength of that axe throw and his shield being a huge tree log he used to bash in skulls of soldiers.
They did not fear him, but they were worried that if it had come down to fighting him, they knew they could slay him but only after many casualties.
"Actaeon, YOU LIVE!" he yelled out, dropping his shield and running forward while trying to catch his breath. Actaeon met him in the middle. Tazan knelt down right before reaching him and opened up his arms, and Actaeon did not disappoint—despite the blood and gore on Tazan's clothes, he hugged him.
"Thank you for being alive, thank you, Actae, for surviving."
"You too, you big dumb mountain."
As Riger saw this, he finally ordered his Knights to walk past and head inside to investigate the soldiers and what they were even doing at this post.
After a small while, they finally let go of each other, and Tazan immediately asked Actaeon.
"Actaeon, what happened to the fake hostages and why were you guys not captured like we planned?"
"This is why." Actaeon pulled away his hair that intentionally covered his right eye, revealing an empty dark hole in the place of his eye.
"HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!" Tazan yelled.
"There was a traitor. They knew about everything and they killed everyone as they sacrificed their lives to keep me alive... They bound us like we were supposed to be, but then they began killing us one by one like lambs being slaughtered. I dodged the swing of a sword and cut the rope binding my hands, then grabbed my dagger and killed an archer who was near me. As soon as I grabbed the bow..." Actaeon covered his missing eye with his right hand.
"I... I was hit with an arrow. I could not see anything on the right, and as I was about to die... Leto and a few others broke free and saved me, telling me to run and save myself... Sacrificing themselves for me."
Tazan's eyes began watering, not because of Actaeon's injury but because of guilt. "If I had attacked and taken the post earlier, I could have maybe helped them. I could have saved Leto and the villagers."
"Villagers? What do you mean villagers?" Actaeon asked with growing worry.
"Tazan, where is Nex and the others... TAZAN, ANSWER ME!" Actaeon asked, holding Tazan by his collar, unable to shake him.
"Nex... I do not know, but the villagers... They were attacked by Andras and his men and... They killed Chief Oryin and the blacksmith along with women and children that we left in the village an—" Tazan's words were interrupted by a scream from inside the post.
His scream started as words but dissolved into something primal and broken, as if language itself had failed him. With actual horror being heard in his voice, he yelled out, "WHAT ANIM—" He threw up before being able to continue his words, stumbling his way through the gate and running outside, covering his eyes after throwing up.
"WHAT WAS THAT? WHAT DEVIL DID THAT!" he asked, looking at Tazan, his earlier fear of him gone, replaced with terror from the art of Andras and his men he had seen inside.
Actaeon glanced at Tazan and Tex before starting to walk forward towards the gate, but he was blocked by two Silver Knights who stepped out of the gate, throwing up themselves.
Actaeon could not believe it. "Those people are the most famed knights for how strong-willed and disciplined they are, and yet they are throwing up? Just what could they have seen that made them have such a reaction?"
As Actaeon almost stepped through the gate, he heard voices from both Tazan and Riger.
"BLOCK HIM!" Then Riger continued, "Do not under any circumstances try to see what is here. If it is truly what they told me, we should burn them to honor the dead... And Actaeon and everyone else should never see this . We, the Silver Knights, will take care of it. Until then, stay outside." Riger commanded with a serious tone.
A few minutes later, the smell of burnt bodies covered the entire post and beyond as the smoke went all the way up to the clouds. The Death Company men thanked Commander Riger as the Silver Knights stood in a wall, covering the horrors of Andras and his men.