Milc/C.J. Milnes
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Chapter 11 - My next victim
🕑 Added 2025-01-01 11:18:52 +0000 UTCVilis Cervus slain.
Six Souls Gathered
Wilson shot past me and splashed his way across the shallow pond to inspect the deer. After a cursory sniff to ensure it was dead he shook himself, throwing droplets all around him.
I was standing still shocked at how much more effective my movements had been. Despite the twinges and throbbing aches left over from yesterday I had felt more powerful than I ever had in my life. Physical exercise and maintaining what I thought of as “a fighting trim” were old habits long ingrained in my daily routines but I’d never been this physically capable.
Exercise hadn't been necessary since I was dumped here due to the constant physical exertions needed to eke out an existence on the edge of survival. I still ought to have lost some of my muscle mass and general fitness due to the relatively poor diet and repeated injuries. Whatever else the body stats did; they had made exercise obsolete.
I walked around the pond, rather than splashing my way through, and stopped next to Wilson. The deer was pinned to the ground, its upward facing side prevented from lying naturally by the spit of wood holding it in place. I grasped the blacked end of the spear and tugged experimentally. It gave a little but the cloying mud was holding the sharpened point in place. I gripped with both hands, grimacing as my shoulder ached, and yanked back as hard as I could manage. A burst of pain went from my shoulder, through my jaw and up into my teeth but the shaft pulled clear with a soggy slurping sound. I stumbled backwards as the deer fell to rest as gravity intended. Wilson stepped forward and licked at the corpse's face.
“Enough. Come away.” Wilson looked up and after a moment's hesitation he backed away as I’d requested. Smart puppy.
Should have brought the litter. I had two options: clean and butcher the deer now or find a way to get it back to the cave intact. As it was currently in one piece it would be far easier to move than if I chopped it up into more manageable chunks however I had no means to carry so many smaller packages.
I opted for a compromise. I pulled out the dagger and flipped the carcass over with a grunt. With its legs in the air I slit it from groin to throat. I flicked the dagger into a nearby tree trunk where it landed with a satisfying thunk. Then I got messy. I leaned in, thrusting my arms up to the elbow in the animals guts and pulling great gory gobs out onto the grass and mud. I tossed the kidneys over to Wilson who snatched them out of the air and barely chewed before swallowing them down.
The diaphragm presented a challenge to my fingernails so I retrieved my knife. I cut through the tough membrane and dragged out the heart and lungs. After rinsing my hands in the pond I moved over to its head. The deer was a big animal, probably a few hundred kilos before it was eviscerated. It was considerably lighter now but I still expected it to be too heavy to move easily. To my surprise I found the body wasn’t entirely unmanageable. It wasn’t light but what remained of it could be dragged or carried fairly easily.
“Venison for dinner, bloke. Good find. If you know any more places like this make sure and drag me over to them.”
I bound the deer's legs to the shaft of the blackened spear. There was half a metre clearance at the bottom and perhaps a third of that at the top. I picked it up by the pointy end and dragged it experimentally. I’d be slow, noisy and at a distinct disadvantage if I got jumped again.
Nothing for it though. This was a lot of meat and I had some ideas for the impressive antlers that skittered along the ground behind me as I set off back to the riverside. I walked slowly back along the stony beach, the butt of the spear clattering as it bounced from stone to stone behind me.
When I reached the trail that would lead me home I paused briefly to rinse myself properly and remove the gritty bits of the deer’s insides that clung to me. Then I set off back up the hill to my cave, thoughts of rich, gamey stew filling my mind. I could almost smell it already. A fatty gravy, flavoured by the meat and the berries, coupled with boiled tubers would be a major improvement over my usual fare.
Despite the awkward weight of the slung deer in my right hand and the pair of spears clutched in my left I didn’t feel like I was tiring as I plodded uphill. Wilson repeatedly passed me both ways, running ahead then circling back only to run past me again or loping back down the hill, his fur brushing my leg as he zipped by.
I stopped about halfway and leant the spears against a nearby tree. I pulled a waterskin around and looked at it. I was thirsty. I sighed and let the skin fall back against my side. No point risking dysentery when boiled water was waiting for me half an hour's walk away. Maybe I should get a third one so I could carry a skin filled with safe water when I went on my little expeditions in the future?
I had seventy six souls in the bank thanks to the lump I was dragging uphill. A step closer to the hundred I would need for an emergency healing potion. I set the thought aside. I’d wait to see what the traps brought in overnight, hopefully in the morning I’d have enough to start levelling again and keep a reserve for a potion.
The walk was pleasant and peaceful. I kept a watchful eye on my surroundings and my ears were pricked for any sign of a threat but all I heard was now mundane noises of birds and insects. As I rounded the corner that I knew meant the walk would only last a few more minutes, perhaps fifteen with my baggage, Wilson charged up next to me and stood rigidly in my way.
“Come on, Wilson. Out the way, bloke. This shits kind of heavy.”
The wolf didn’t move so I was forced to stop behind him. A low growl rumbled out from his chest, deep and menacing. I glanced around, looking for whatever had spooked him and eased the deer off to the side. I kept my longer spear in my left hand and moved the shorter one to my right. I used imbue again, losing ten mana, and felt the charge of fire settle into my homemade weapon.
Wilson’s growl escalated to a bark, a loud sharp sound that killed the birdsong around us. He took off up the hill at a sprint, moving far too quickly for me to keep up. I charged along, careless of the noise I was making, my crude sandals clattering as they slammed down into rocks on the path as my legs drove me forward faster than I had any right to move.
I still couldn’t keep up with Wilson. By the time I reached the nearest corner on the winding trail he had already rounded the next one. and was out of sight I put my head down and pumped my legs, ignoring the pain the sprint was causing in my left leg and shoulder.
A short howl echoed down the slope from above me and I found new energy, picking up my pace. The noise had cut off sharply and my common sense finally caught up with me. I slowed down, still moving at a fast jog but no longer recklessly running across the uneven ground.
I slowed again as I neared the clearing outside my cave. Then I skidded to a stop and ducked into the undergrowth to the side of the path. Human voices. It hadn’t been that long but being a castaway on an alien world for weeks had made it seem like forever. The words were guttural and incomprehensible.
Sykareskyn Plainsman language acquired.
The babble suddenly made sense.
“-waste of a good pelt! That would be worth a dozen onz! They’ve been pissing on it for weeks from the smell of it!” A gruff baritone voice.
“I still say it’s a female Ur-Vile. They have to leave their tribes to prepare to breed. Might be one of ‘em in seclusion, come down from the north. Maybe she’s ripe!” A tenor, high pitched but undeniably male. He sounded excited by his theory in a way that I immediately found unsavoury.
“Have you seen an Ur-Vile? Even the females are half again your size! Your skinny forearm wouldn’t satisfy her, let alone the sapling you call a pecker.” Another tenor, deeper and meaner sounding than the first.
“Aresk’s Balls! Can’t a man dream? You never know until you try!” replied the second voice with an evil chuckle.
Three of them. I began to creep closer through the brush.
“Can’t be an Ur-Vile. The shit in the cave is all the wrong size for one of them monsters, whether it has tits or a dick.” Voice number four. Deeper than all the others. A hint of command there as well. Intelligent.
“You don’t know shit. This is your first Koryolis too.” Number five made his presence known. He sounded almost the same as voice three just slightly whinier.
“Whoever the fuck it is won’t be far behind their dog. Get into position. We can sell them to the mines if they’re no good as a slave.” Number four said.
“That wasn’t a fucking dog, Kiop, and you know it,” said number five
I ground my teeth together in frustration. Even with my new strength and painfully limited magic, taking on five men at once was a losing proposition. Fights aren’t like you see in the movies. A dozen dogs can kill a lion easily. A few might die in the process but the end result would always be a foregone conclusion.
Slipping farther into the bush I began to creep forward slowly. The home made spear in my right hand meant I could even the odds a little at the outset and Wilson would be around somewhere as a potential backup. Maybe he’d come to my aid when the time came, maybe not. I wouldn’t blame him for staying out of this.
The necessity to attack was plain. They were going to wait in ambush, sitting on all my hard won resources until I showed up. I could abandon everything I'd built up and a relatively safe campsite or I could remove the threat. I paused to lay down my waterskins, putting the sheathed knife between my teeth and then I silently moved closer.
I paused a few feet from the edge of the clearing, hidden by the ferns and bushes. A big man was sitting in the mouth of my cave, disinterestedly inspecting the smoked meat I’d hoarded over the last week. He pulled out a strip, bit into it and chewed thoughtfully for a moment before spitting it out with a look of disgust.
I scanned my gaze across the clearing, irritated by the greenery obscuring my view. I spotted three of the others, spread out around the edges of my home. The nearest was situated a few metres to the side of my usual trail, barely ten metres from where I was crouched.
If they decided I was a lady Ur-Vile, an unlikely conclusion for them to reach when they laid eyes on me, I was to be raped. Otherwise I was to be killed or enslaved. I briefly weighed their karmic balance and concluded I was more than happy to kill these fuckers.
I shifted my throwing spear to my left hand and pulled the dagger from its sheath in my mouth. I let the scabbard fall to my knee then tilted my leg so it fell silently to the ground. It would be a bitch to find again afterwards but such is life.
I moved so slowly. It took over a minute to advance a foot. I made no sound as I moved into my first victim's blind spot and crept steadily closer. When I was a metre from him I paused. His breathing was quiet and controlled. His back was tense, partially covered by wolf pelt but with no armour on his upper body.
The knife moved forward. It was almost as though the knife was the living thing and I was just an afterthought dragged along behind it. As it got to six inches from his skin I leaned forward and slid the blade between his ribs. A vicious flick ruined the man's right lung then I stood quickly, took the throwing spear in my right hand and hurled it with blinding force at the bear of a man sitting in my cave entrance.
My first victim had only been able to make a startled gasping intake of breath, his last, before blood began to bubble up his throat to silence him. Stabbing a man in the lung was a mean thing to do but it was extremely effective. He’d suffocate eventually but wouldn’t be able to cry out. The spear ignited as it left my hand and shot across the clearing to bury itself in the bigger man's stomach. Another killing blow and again: not a quick death. He was out of the fight though. Now for his friends.
I dove backwards into the bushes and scurried as quietly as I could towards the next closest victim. I caught a glimpse of the big guy pulling the burning spear from his stomach and struggling to his feet. His pained bellow rang out a moment later.
“On me!” he snarled and coughed. His remaining soon-to-be-corpses helpfully rushed to his side. One helped him balance while the others formed up, backs to the cave with weapons raised.
One had a bow and a quiver of arrows hanging from his hip. The others pulled crude maces from their hips, perhaps as long as my arm with a round polished stone head the size of a clenched fist mounted on the end. The stone had been drilled so the handle fit through it to create a primitive but effective club. They were all wearing wolfskins over their shoulders with rough spun shorts on their legs. I eyed their leather moccasins greedily. Hopefully one of them was my size. I needed some better footwear.
“Show yourself coward!” called one of the mace wielders. A dog barking into the night.
“We’ll hunt you forever, little man!” called what must have been his brother, the resemblance between them was remarkable. This pair were voices number five and three. So one hawk, a crippled bear and a pair of dogs to deal with.
The archer would be an issue. I had my dagger and the Soul Shop spear. Only a fool would throw his longest weapon at his foes in this situation. Fortunately I had other options. I stayed hidden but moved closer to the edge of the woods, ignoring their continuing insults. Once I was in position I cast a fireball at the archer, summoning it five metres to my right so as not to give away my position.
The ball of fire shot across the clearing and slammed into the man. His bow went flying as the detonation tossed him to the side and threw his friends to the ground at the same time. He screamed and flailed at the wolf pelt over his shoulders as it caught fire. One hawk down.
I charged forward behind my spear, rushing out of the trees with an unintelligible battle cry. Dog One had been furthest from the blast and recovered first, sprinting towards me alone and swinging his mace in a vicious arc aimed at my right temple as soon as he was close enough to strike.
Flicking his weapon aside with the shaft of my spear I twisted it in my grip and ran the stone tip into his guts. He dropped his mace and grunted, latching both hands onto my weapon and preventing me from freeing it. I released it, he fell as the support vanished and crumpled into a bloody heap at my feet. I switched the dagger to my now free right hand. Hawk had managed to put out his fur cloak and was running as fast as his injured condition would allow, faint smoke and whimpers of pain trailing behind him as adrenaline leant him strength and stamina to flee.
Dog Two screamed in rage as his brother died clutching tight to the spear, having removed my range advantage in death. He advanced and swung low, aiming to break my leg with his stone headed mace. I pivoted around it, shifting my weight effortlessly to let the blow whiff past my knee then shifted my weight again so I could drive my other leg into his side as my body spun round to add force to the blow. My shin slammed into his kidney and he was knocked sideways clutching at himself. Before he could move again I was on him, pulling back on his hair so I could drive my brittle knife through the thin bone at the base of his skull and into his brain via his throat.
I gasped for breath and checked my surroundings. Bear was looking at me with terrified eyes, shivering as a puddle of piss spread out to mix with the blood escaping his stomach wound. To one side of him I saw Wilson’s body, two arrows protruding from his chest. He wasn’t moving and I could tell at a glance that he would never move again. His head had been partially stoved in by a stone mace. Fury boiled up inside me.
Normalis Humano slain x3
Thirty Souls gathered.
With cold eyes I pulled my dagger out of Dog Two’s brain, letting his body fall to the ground limply, then flicked the gore off my blade before advancing on my next victim.
