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Penitent Ch 49: Hunt
🕑 Added 2025-03-17 12:00:12 +0000 UTCThe next morning they all woke before the sunrise. Their routine from the academy was too ingrained in them to allow them to sleep in. All except for Marcus who snored loudly enough to fill the entire barn with the sound of it until Davi chucked a boot at him. A little over an hour later, when the sun was rising, Durn appeared along with several other villagers with fresh food prepared in a basket. There was bread, cooked eggs, bacon, and some kind of fried greens. They all tucked into them eagerly, finding the taste to be far better than what they’d been used to for the last year. Even Tain and Jakub tore into their food with fury.
Once they were done they all started getting armored.
“Leave your packs here, we don’t want to be dealing with the extra weight,” said Tain, already wearing his armor. “Spears and shields for this one, the sword won’t be much use for a hunt.”
“It’s a titled hunt. Swords may work better,” said Jakub.
“Not in a group. We all need to be able to strike it at once.”
Jakub shrugged. “Fair enough.”
Michael felt odd leaving the weight he’d grown used to the last several days behind, but complied anyway, grabbing his spear, but choosing to keep his sword on his belt. If Tain cared, he didn’t say anything.
Marcus didn’t have a spear, but he mounted a fearsome looking bayonet on the end of his rifle.
As they exited the barn they saw Jon, the hunter, waiting for them. His color had returned and he wore a grim expression on his face. His eyes centered on Michael.
“Penitent. Thank you for healing me,” he gave a salute, which Michael reflexively returned. It made sense he was a veteran, all of the men in Stent were obligated to serve in some capacity.
He turned to Tain and Jakub. “I am to guide you all to the titled stag that has been in the woods.”
Tain and Jakub saluted him.
“Yes, thank you huntsman,” said Tain, taking the lead.
He looked at them and shook his head. “Yesterday I’d’ve told you not to wear all that damned armor, but given what happened to me all I can say now is that I wish I had some too.”
“We’ll make sure you don’t come to harm,” said Jakub.
“Forgive me Knights, but I do my best not to rely on fresh faced recruits. Still, it’ll be good to have the help.” He looked up at the sun, holding up fingers to gauge the time. “We should get moving. You shouldn’t have to muffle your movements until we’re in the deep forest, but watch your steps. The hunting trails aren’t well made for men in armor.”
Tain nodded, and they all fell in behind Jon as they started up the path through the village. The path changed slowly from the wide concrete they’d been used to, to clay, and finally dirt as they wound their way into the forest. Jon moved easily, without needing to watch his footing, his experience with the trail making it all second nature to him, but the rest of them struggled. Davi’s wide frame had him brushing against every other branch and twig on the side of the path, and Ollie had to stay constantly hunched forward to avoid hitting every twig and leaf with his head thanks to his new height.
Michael stayed focused on the ground, trying to avoid tripping, but was fascinated by the brief sights of native flora and fauna that he managed while he did so. He saw pillbugs with iridescent shells the size of his fist crawling across the ground, heard bird songs that sounded almost like they were made with human voices, and watched as a snake with wings glided from one tree to another above him, nearly losing his footing while he watched it.
As they got deeper into the forest, the foliage got thicker and very suddenly everyone stopped. Jon looked back at them and held a finger to his lips and muttered a word softly. Everyone cast muffle on themselves, with Michael near the back of the line whispering, “silencio”. Marcus didn’t have any magic, but his own footsteps had barely made a sound anyway. They started moving forward even more cautiously. After an hour Michael was wondering why they had muffled so soon, when suddenly they all came to another stop.
Jon held up a hand and gestured it forward slowly, pointing ahead. They all moved to stand next to one another and look. Ahead was a clearing with a small creek running through it. Drinking from that creek was the stag. It was the size of a large horse with rich black fur and horns of silver. Michael didn’t even try to count the number of points on them, estimating at least thirty. There was still some dried blood on the tips of them, likely from Jon.
He focused for a moment, seeing little words of gold floating around it.
Titles
Lord of the Forest
The Midnight Stag
Deeds
Slayer of Huntsman
Gorer of Lions
Trampler of Wolves
Michael was starting to feel very worried about what they were attempting.
Tain whispered. “Jon, take Marcus around the back and ready your bow and gun. Davi, Pyotr, and Michael approach it from the front. Jakub and I will approach it from the side. Ollie… do you have any way to restrict its movements with your magic?”
Ollie looked at the nearby creek and frowned. “Maybe, but wouldn’t it make more sense for me to just blow it the fuck up?”
Tain scowled. “Absolutely not. We don’t want the body to be destroyed. The materials of a titled beast are too valuable.” He shook his head. “We’ll try to weaken it and keep it in place while you prepare your spell.”
“Its hide is probably far tougher than you think,” said Jakub. “I don’t think an opening salvo of a fireball is a bad idea.”
“I’m in charge Jakub, you’re just the backup. I want that creature as intact as we can make it.”
Michael couldn’t help, but notice how Tain’s orders put the Penitents in the most danger, but he wasn’t exactly surprised. This was their entire purpose.
They all waited while Jon and Marcus got into place and once they received the signal Tain pushed Michael and Davi forward. “Go.”
The movement drew the attention of the stag, and it looked down at Pyotr, Davi, and Michael. For a moment, he thought they’d spooked it, then it reared up its head, its silver horns catching the light and it let out a strange yodeling noise before it charged them.
Michael and Pyotr were able to divert the horns a bit as they slammed into them, but Davi took the full force of it and his feet briefly left the ground before he landed was pushed back and landed on one knee.
Michael stabbed out with his spear, managing a shallow wound on the great beast’s shoulder; its hide was incredibly tough. It slammed its head toward him, knocking him and his shield back. Pyotr managed to drive his own spear into the stag’s leg. Causing it to cry out and rear up, its front hoof landing a glancing blow on Pyotr and knocking him back.
Davi lunged forward to cover the Russian with his spear before the beast could stomp on it, and Michael tried to draw its attention by stabbing at its head. His spear got tangled in the beast's horns and he was forced to release his grip on it. He blocked another blow that knocked him back, causing pain to shoot from his elbow up to his shoulder.
A bullet fired, and Michael saw a spray of blood fly from the beast's neck then start to flow freely, but it didn’t go down. The bullet was followed by a number of arrows, two of which managed to bury themselves in the creature’s haunches.
The stag whipped around, throwing a blind kick at Michael and Davi that they were forced to duck as it looked for the source of this new attack.
With its back turned, Jakub and Tain finally made their entrance. They both ran out from the treeline and slammed their spears into the beast’s side, driving them as deep as they could, blood spurting from the wounds.
The stag made another angry yodel, and tried to turn, but it couldn’t. Its hooves were sinking in mud, far more quickly than they should’ve been. Ollie stepped out from behind the treeline with his staff held aloft, muttering under his breath as wisps of magicka made themselves visible from the force of his spell.
It started to jerk around, and Jakub and Tain stepped back several paces. A recovered Pyotr and Davi moved toward it with spears ready, and Michael followed them close behind, raising his sword.
The Stag was soon sunk up nearly to its neck, and was losing mobility. It was time to finish it off. They approached it, and very suddenly, all of the Penitents doubled over in pain.
Comments
NameGame
Could have just given them an order to fall back. No need to resort to the brand first thing. It was pretty unnecessary and kind of weird, especially since it also affects Ollie who is casting the spell that's affecting the stag.
NameGame
Typo, missing space: "Michael sawa spray of blood". All the Penitents, so...the magic brand? That's going to include Ollie, which means the magic mudpit comes to a halt. Perhaps it'll be able to get out or defend itself in some way. Also, at least we know why there was no hesitation in sending them to the fight, they weren't intended to get a title/deed anyway. Still, they participated, so maybe something? Guess tomorrow will tell. But why not just order them to fall back? It's easier, less likely to cause resentment, and...it's the military thing to do. There would have to be some regulations on use of the brand/abuse of it for commanding officers so it's not just used unnecessarily. While Penitents are viewed badly, they're at least tools and you don't just beat up your tools for no reason and they do have some protections in place against being abused/beaten/harmed for no reason, and there's no reason to use the brand on them at this point. This is REALLY odd that the brand would be used like this, so I'm hoping that I'm wrong and it's not the brand being used but something else that's affecting them. I can't imagine what that could be, though. Thanks for the chapter.
on the upside
Michael converts pain in some way to prevent the noble from taking the kill
ForbiddenPancake
I really like the story but I sincerely hope they don't get robbed of the deed/title. At the very least I hope Michael uses his power to take the pain of the stag and somehow earns a title from it. Also, I think he needs to be a little less understanding. It's great that he wants to do good and live a life that will honor the one he "took", but i wish he was more like he was with Crim with those deserving of it. A heal/protect the good and punish the wicked type rather than just an all-forgiving doormat. I saw someone else make the argument that he views all this as kids being kids basically so he doesn't retaliate but that's bull. He's a parent, that's just an excuse for bad parenting so people don't have to put effort in and actually try to stop their kids from turning into budding little assholes/psychopaths.
Hellnhavoc
this world just gets more and more unfair, nobles not earning crap. Hope this dude dies a painful death.
Adunn
You’d think the world/divine would be able to tell the context of the kill, but at the same time this world doesn’t seem like a very fair place.
DAGr
“-but Davi took the full force of it and his feet briefly left the ground before he landed was pushed back and landed on one knee.” Minor error here.
DAGr
I think you could possibly be right, and I think it would be a really interesting plot point, but that’s not really how I interpreted it. I thought he was saying that he doesn’t know how long before training starts, basically. They were all showing up weeks to months apart, and were dosed differently. Basically, when one taker arrives the “wave” starts until they have a big enough class size to end the “wave”. I figure if another taker is born a couple of days after classes started they just wouldn’t age them up until it was time to start the next “wave”. Eh they’re more like indentured servants. It was said that if the other countries don’t outright kill takers they become actual slaves instead. The penitents have a bit more freedom and do get paid, though their situation isn’t much better than slavery. At least they have a chance at true freedom. Everyone in Stent is forced to serve in the military as far as I can tell.
Dee
It occurs to me now that if Michael can transfer pain he may be able to ignore the effects of his brand. 🤔
J S
Clever!
J S
There’s the kill steal!
MagicWafflez
ch 5: “Ah, this one is quick,” said Pyotr, nodding. “We just figured this out yesterday. Along with the fact that someone let slip that takers typically arrive in waves. How long those waves are though, we do not know. How long have you been here?” I took this to mean that they come in batches, which doesn't make sense if something isn't triggering it to some extent. Add to that, they've been in perpetual war with their neighboring country for a while... it's also convenient that other countries kill their penitents and only this country is benevolent enough to keep them as slaves. =_=
lala jhones
Yep, sounds about right no way would the knights let them have the last blow. 😩
Adunn
Wow. That’s dirty, maybe he can use his ability to give the pain back to them.
tibbish
assholes last hit kill steal all the time so its not surprising that something similar would be done here
Beeees!
The batches part is more just how they process the lifetakers, it was indicated that they grow em slowly if the next batch isn't due for a while, Micheal just happened to be born last minute before his batch was ready to start. Seemed like the others had been around at least a few months as toddlers
Beeees!
Ahh, and here comes making sure they can't get a deed for slaying the titled beast. I'm sure this will have zero consequences for Jakub and Tain
Austin
Looks like Tain or jakub want the title/honor themselves.
MagicWafflez
wow. jerk. he could have just told them to get back instead of using the torture tattoos. ffs. smh. stuff like *this* is what makes me think that the whole 'you killed our babies' thing a conspiracy. Like, obviously you bastards just wanted these powerful foreigners under your thumb without looking like monsters. Even if the babies *do* die in the process of being "taken" I bet it's some kind of sacrifice the upper-upper crust chooses to take on... like a summoning ritual or some shit. Why else would it happen 'in batches'?
