When slaying a beast, strike it twice upon death, rip out it's womb if it is with child, kill it's parents, and siblings and it's peers, for a job half done is no job at all, the road warden told them before they departed, and Carver often pondered on the thought as they made their way east of their lands.

  "My lord, shouldn't we wait for the reinforcements? " Carver asked his liege lord whilst he glanced towards him.

  "No," Said Lord Yuri Frostbane, his hair has already grown white unlike the coal black hair of his great house, standing as tall as a troll with piercing icy sky eyes and cladded in mail and furs. "I will not await the men of house Bloovidon, we move and follow the trail."

  Carver held back a sigh and hesitantly replied. "As you wish... My lord."

  Carver had always been at his lord's side, since the days Yuri was the lord of house Frostbane and protector of Northliem, the northern province of Osward empire, though now he had grown far too old to rule and left his seat to his only son, Gray frostbane, yet that did that not stop this chiselled man from seeking venture and glory wherever it was to be found, and Carver was inclined to follow, for Yuri Frostbane same as his kin and ancestors did not know when to flee.

  "Road warden." Lord Yuri said and tapped the bald headed lean man next to him on the shoulder. "How far do the tracks go?"

  Lucas, the road warden, hummed thoughtfully and rubbed the side of his chin beard, he gestured for the men to stop and they did awaiting his response, he knelt down and looked towards the rocky fields that they walked upon, similar to the most of Northliem lands but it was clear in his eyes that he could see things they could not see, he traced his fingers on the large rock he stood on and answered. "The beast Umir has been here recently, her claws still mark those rocks but not too deep, she must have rested her wings here... The lords of house Bloovidon are fortunate she did not ravage their cattle... Yet. "

  Carver bit into his lower lip, his heart began pounding against his chest and his throat dried, they had been tailing the beast for half a week whilst expecting the reinforcements of house Bloovidon, their fealty was to house Frostbane protectors of the north, and they were obliged to answer their call, or so he would tell himself, but he knew better than to trust the same house who had been a rival with the house of Frostbane since ages, thus Carver had his doubts and was sure to voice them. "Lord Yuri... Should we not await and see if the reinforcements would arrive? "

  "The delay would make the tracking difficult, but I do agree with him your lordship, Umir is not to be taken for a normal foe, it killed many road wardens trying to capture it or slay it." Lucas admitted.

  Lord Yuri huffed stubbornly and shook his head, his voice erupting with disappointment and slight anger. "We will wait for no such thing! Reinforcements are bound to arrive, we will keep moving, we will find the beast and we will slay it else it will burn another village and I will not stand for it! "

  'If a skull is already hard, a Frostbane's skull is twice as hard.' Carver thought to himself as the road warden remained silent, after a short pause a short sigh escaped Carver's lips before he exclaimed. "Apologies my lord, I only sought to carry out the wishes of lord Gray and his grandsons to... Be your shield. " Carver would not dare test the temper of his lord by saying 'Look after your well being.'

  Lord Yuri grumbled and gestured for them to begin moving as he exclaimed. " Bah, they worry for no reason, I have been in three wars and carried no scars, a mere mindless beast would not cut me down. Road warden! Lead the way, I trust you have many tricks under your belt to take that thing down, don't you?"

  Lucas nodded. "Yes your lordship, but I advise we take it slow even as we do so, Umir is cunning and... Seeing it for the first time would be uneasy, even road wardens are urged to leave it alone. If it did not plunder a village, unlike its nature, we would've left it be, regardless we will find it and kill it if it must be... But let us hope the village in the way, Red hall, is unharmed."

  With Lucas words, they began moving once more through the rough terrain, stopping ever so often for Lucas to check the tracks on the rocks, taste the air and listen to the winds, the road wardens were strange men in their methods and behaviors, but they were important, they protected and cleared roads, killed bandits and drew maps and landmarks, but most importantly, they watched the sixteen beasts of old, and the lesser monsters who roam the lands and skies with nothing but a range of makeshift equipment, steel swords and boiled leathers.

  Carver was glad to not be one of them, a life at Frosthold keep as the smith provided wealth despite the danger at times, he crafted the Xeroium steel Claymore sword strapped to Lord Yuri's back, and for himself he was content with his steel mace, he knew men in riches to be comfortable under their plate steel armor, and Carver would crush their armor and lungs with his mace given the chance, he kept it strapped to his side over the chain mail he wore with his half fur cap reaching down to cover it and his side, he adjusted the strap and smiled to himself as he looked ahead, but his smile faded, his liege lord and the road warden stopped at their tracks and ahead of them beyond the rocky terrain and into the clearing was red hall, a small village inhabited by less than half a hundred folk, but it was plundered from corner to corner.

  "By the northern gods... Everything is gone." Lord Yuri mumbled as Carver stood beside him, the village grounds ran red with mud and blood, every house was broken into pieces of wood over the dirt, and piles of bodies, whether ripped apart or not, were everywhere to be seen.

  "How can one beast of the weaker ones... Bring as much death as this?" Carver asked, as the wind howled in their direction, it carried a breeze of dampness and a taste of steel. He had seen this much death before but his mind could not comprehend how one being could match it.

  The road warden sighed deeply, his eyes did not budge nor did his face, for a man this age to not flinch at the view of slaughter took Carver by surprise as he listened to the road warden. "Umir might be lower in the ranks of the sixteen beasts, but she is strong, very strong, no man can kill her in single combat, no man came even close, if we do see her, we take it slow even if she engages, keep the tips of your weapons ahead, it'll stop her from charging... And do not, ever, cut her head off."

  As the road warden was explaining, lord Yuri had already rushed down to the scene, Carver prayed that Lord Yuri had heard the warden's words and took heed of his warnings and instructions.

  Not long after they quickly followed up behind him, as lord Yuri inspected the slaughtered village, his icy eyes became colder with each body and torn limb he saw and after a while they stood at the center of the plundered village as Lord Yuri spoke. "Bodies everywhere... No children, same as the other village. Gods, I thought the beast harmed no child, and only ate livestock, could the villager have provoked him?"

  Lucas was silent for a long minute, his eyes drifting far away from the slaughter until he finally replied. "Unlikely, nobody has a weapon within their reach... Usually the creature would only steal cattle and livestock, she would not attack humans unless provoked, hence no villager is dumb enough to attempt stopping her... But she took the livestock and killed them anyway... And the children are gone, I— Umir would never defy her own nature."

  "Unless... She was forced to." Carver whispered to the warden but Lucas did not respond, Carver would not know how to respond neither, despite the sixteen beasts being calamities and forces of nature, they were bound to rules and certain behaviors, never defying them, unlike the nature of man that is easily swayed and altered, the beasts would not harm others unless provoked since the ages of tyrant mages, Carver was left to his own thoughts and more questions than he would rather have.

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  Lord Yuri curses interrupted the silence, he turned his gaze towards the road warden and announced. "I had enough of this rat chase, I want the beast to be found and I want to kill it with my own blade, warden Lucas, where do the tracks go from here?"

  The road warden looked around, and was hesitant for a moment, almost clueless as they were, with a quivering lip he answered. "Your lordship... The tracks ended here, the wind does not tell of her trail no longer, nor do I see a marking of her claws out of the village... By the gods, could it be that... "

  Lucas words were cut short by a close sound, the voice of a woman, a crying woman in one of the very few houses that still stood, the three men turned but none moved, the weeping was loud and ear piercing, and from one of the houses, a door slowly creaked open as the weeping ceased, then a head leaned outside peeking towards them, a snow-pale black haired maiden with tears in her eyes and a frown, for a moment she was motionless but as lord Yuri took a step forward, the weeping woman frown turned into a wide grin with sharp razor teeth and a screech from her followed, the head moved further out and it was attached to a much bigger body that destroyed the doorway as it moved outside.

  Carver froze, he heard tales and rumors about Umir but none matched the truth, it had the body of a lion but twice as big, the limbs and wings of a vulture and the tail of a scorpion, and finally its cursed head, looking at it froze Carver, it was a woman's head that kept on weeping and screeching with tears of blood, with fangs similar to that of a shark, an abomination to dwell in Osward, and unlike Carver, Lord Yuri did not seem to flinch, in fact he was smiling, the crazed man is smiling, Carver thought to himself as he looked at his liege lord.

  Lord Yuri reached for the Claymore strapped to his back and unsheathed it without delay as he dashed ahead towards the creature and yelled. "I will see to it that your hand will be a trophy on the walls of Frosthold keep!"

  "Stop! Don't charge him!" Lucas yelled out as he went after Lord Yuri with an arming sword in his hand and a dagger on his off hand, the two met with Umir halfway as she also approached them, the ground shaking at each step she took, almost knocking down Carver who was still frozen where he stood.

  And as Lord Yuri had reached her, he swung his claymore downwards at the beast body but the creature jumped forward and grabbed Lord Yuri by his chainmail using her claws, with her wings she flapped at the warden, sending him flying through the air and into one of the rubble of the houses, then Umir took off flying towards the other end of the village before dropping Yuri down and landing near him.

  "My lord!!!" Carver screamed, despite being warned of the frenzy he would suffer from seeing the creature for the first time, nothing could prepare him for such a sight or sound, he cursed himself, his liege lord fighting whilst he stood like a statue, and the warden mostly to be dead.

  Yet Carver still had resolve, he carried no dagger or smaller thing, but he had a trick up his sleeve to awake his body, slowly and steadily he raised his off hand, as heavy as it was he kept doing so, until it reached his mouth, and there he forced his own mouth open then placed his pinky and ring finger inside, he closed his eyes, his heart pounding heavily, his breath racing, until he closed his mouth shut, and half of his two fingers were ripped, he held back a scream as he spat the fingers out with some of the blood, his body was light again and he could move once more, he quickly reached under his mail and ripped cloth off his tunic then wrapped it tightly around his two injured fingers, the wounds still burning hot with pain and blood but nonetheless, he would give much more to serve the house who protected the north for eras.

  Carver rushed ahead and made his way where Umir and Lord Yuri landed, expecting to find his lord to be injured or worse dead but to his surprise, his liege lord was standing on his feet, battling the beast evenly, swinging his claymore from side to side with ease and blocking its attacks, Carver did not waste his time in awe and instead he jumped at his lord's side with a mace in his hand, he struck at the creature wings, distracting it for a second and as it was about to attack Carver, Lord Yuri laughed and roared, lunging ahead and severing the humanoid head from the rest of the body. "For the emperor!!!"

  The head dropped to the ground and the creature's body fell limp with blood pouring out into the mud they stood upon, though the ground was quick to devour the blood, the two men were left breathless.

  "My lord... None had come close to killing the beast, yet you did it alone." Carver muttered, the pain still fresh but the heated blood dulled it for a brief time. "Will you ever tire of a life of adventure? You're near your sixty cycles."

  "Never." His lord admitted, blood dripping from his claymore as he held it by his side and used it as a cane, a bone was peeking out of Lord Yuri's thigh yet he looked past Carver unaware. "But make no mistake, Yuri Frostbane slain the beast with Carver of Collem, who lost two fingers at the battle... Stand proud old friend, we rid this world of a great evil today, no village will be burnt in our lands without consequences. look, here comes the warden."

  Carver smiled for a moment, harsh as his lord was at times, the man still had a heart, Carver soon turned his head at the warden, whom was limping towards them and shouting from a distance, at first, Carver could not hear what he was saying, but as soon as his ears caught the word 'The head' his eyes widened recalling on his warnings, and he turned his gaze to where the body laid alongside the head, then he saw what he did not think possible, the neck wish had no head, formed flesh and tissues of muscles and grew another one as ugly as the severed one, and the head which laid on the bloodied mud, created a body from the neck down and stood as a new entity, ahead of them stood two Umir's, and they both charged Lord Yuri at once, screeching with anger, one had it's claws pierce through the mail he wore, and the other ripped a part of lord Yuri's neck and clawed against his left arm tearing down.

  "No!!!" Carver yelled out, he sprinted forward with his mace in hand but the creature merely flapped a wing to his side and sent him flying back into a wall, he hit it hard and coughed up before dropping down, his hand tightly clinging to his chest struggling for air as tears pressed against his eyes, he shortly looked up, to see the final moments of his lord, unable to do nothing.

  But as all Frostbanes, they had a skull twice as thick, the lord smiled, a bloody smile at that whilst he gargled on his own blood and cursed. "I'll kill you again in oblivion, cunt."

  Mustering the strength he had left, and with only one arm, he rose his claymore and cut the beast's body in half, instantly killing it whilst he laughed, though his voice was silenced by the vengeance of the surviving Umir, as she took him down and teared at his chest past his mail, yet before she could turn Lucas had made his way behind her then rode her back, stabbing her deeply with his sword and dagger into her spine a dozens time as she struggled to reach him with no arms, and all the while Carver struggled back to his feet, he limped ahead towards the fight, his mace at the ready as he jumped ahead and struck the creature's head, bashing its brains out and dropping it dead.

  The two were breathless, the fight had taken much more than Carver had expected, but it was the price they paid for not awaiting reinforcements.

  With a deep sigh he dropped the mace and looked down at his lord lifeless form, he knelt down and looked towards him, whilst most of his body was torn, his face remained intact and In his hand he held the sword he fought with throughout his whole life, Carver witnessed the passing of a generation and it left him shallow, as much as he tried to help his lord, some forces are way beyond the power of mere humans, he set his uninjured fingers on his lord's eye lids and closed them. "Lord Yuri Frostbane, the second of your name, former guardian of Northliem and the eldest of house Frostbane. May our goddess Frosbana welcome you in her halls, with a cold breeze to ease your pain, and may the lands of Osward all hear of your deeds."

  "They will." Said the warden, despite the earlier hit he took he was not heavily damaged, though the blood of Umir left him coevered in red. "No man came close to killing Umir before... And while what he did was idiotic, he killed two of them... Two."

  Carver chuckled with some pity. "My lord tends to stand out..."

  "Hm..." Lucas hummed in response, he knelt down and closely inspected the original head of the creature, he checked her mouth, eyes and ears, and his face was nearly horrified.

  "What... What is it? " Carver hesitantly dared question.

  The warden was unresponsive, taking a long time before answering. "Wide pupils, bleeding ears... No beast would suffer such symptoms unless... Those are symptoms of constant pain and panic, those creatures hear sounds our mortal ears cannot hear, Umir was panicking and in pain and the only thing that could cause such a thing is the migration of supreme celestial beasts... "

  Carver gulped, Oswardians hear tales of the Tyrant mages age, and he knew what such a thing would mean. "But the last time the celestial beasts migrated... Half of Osward burnt, all tyrant mages died, and our continent still did not recover."

  "indeed... This goes beyond Northliem." Lucas confessed.

  "Can you figure out where the celestial beasts migrated?" Carver asked.

  Lucas stood back up, his eyes shifting from one direction to the other until he replied, his words brought comfort, even if they felt short lived. "Umir was moving north and felt comfortable enough to plunder in Northliem... The celestials are migrating south... To the deserts of the Tatarians, that's where they are heading."