—On the road again—

  “For fuck’s sake!” Kale kicks the darkened ground in frustration.

  “Hey! There’s a kid here! Watch your language!” Eagle Eye scolds him.

  “My man, I literally kill people for a living. What the fuck?”

  “...” Eagle Eye is stunned for a second. He hadn’t really thought about it like that. He shrugs and lets it go.

  “Pfuah! Pfft! Ha! More important than your language, stop kicking up so much ash! It’s all getting in my face.” Saul complains, coughing and spitting as the ash stubbornly sticks to him.

  “Oh. Sorry about that. …Anyway, it’s still bullshit. I really wanted to sleep in a bed tonight, maybe drink a cold beer, maybe even wrap my arms around a busty maiden. But instead the whole fucking village is burned to shit!” Kale insists on making his frustration known to all, as if he were the only one feeling like this.

  “Well, it looks like our battle back in that mountain pass helped the Count quite a lot. If the Duke’s army is burning down their own villages while retreating, it means they’re getting their shit kicked in.” Rabbit says, grinning ear to ear.

  “Yeah well, you know how it is in war by now. After all the conscripts are dead, the war usually fizzles out. When nobles and their bastards start spilling blood, suddenly war is a horrible thing.” Landyn adds, cynically.

  “How do we even know it was the Duke’s men who burned this place down?” Saul asks.

  “No people around. If it’d been attacked, there would be charred corpses all about. Not even crows eat those.” Thorvald explains as though he were talking about the weather.

  Just as they start leaving the burned village and the ground turns from black to brown, they hear a whistle in the trees.

  Landyn raises his arm, gesturing for the others to stop: “Stop! Get your shields!”

  Everyone rushes to get a shield from the cart. Most of them crowd around the donkey, protecting their only mode of transport other than pulling the load themselves. Thorvald grabs a large pavese shield and guards Rabbit and the merchant while Viper hands one shield to Anna and uses another to protect her and the child entirely from all directions.

  “Heheheeeheeee” The trees giggle.

  “The fuck…?” Rabbit mutters.

  Thorvald is the first to see the source of the giggle. He throws down his pavese, scaring and confusing the merchant who is now exposed, and then he shouts while poorly concealing his amusement:

  “Didn’t your mama ever teach you not to fuck with strangers, kid? Get yer arse down here before I throw my axe up there!”

  “Hahaha! I was just trying to get your attention, but you guys got so scared!”

  The kid finally shows himself to the rest of the company as he climbs down the tree. He is young, maybe even younger than Jacob, but he is strong and tall for his age. He does not climb down by carefully placing his arms and legs in the perfect spot, instead he just wraps his arms around the slim trunk and walks down the tree like a ladder.

  Kid: “It was my turn to watch the road today!”

  Thorvald: “Ha! So I guess you haven’t got any more arachnid troubles, eh?” Thorvald teases him.

  Kid: “A-Arachnid?”

  Thorvald: “Yeah. We killed a bunch in the forests around here how many years ago?”

  Landyn: “Three”

  Thorvald: “Yeah, three years ago. While you were still wet around the ears. Say, I sure hope we didn’t miss any of them. You seem to be about bite-sized for them.”

  The kid drops the scared act and stares at Thorvald with a blank face: “Yeah, yeah. Anyway, the adults said to get any men with weapons to help us. So?”

  Thorvald: “The fuck’s wrong with this kid? I’d have shit my pants when I was his age.”

  Kid: “So?”

  Before Thorvald can start yelling at the kid, Landyn jumps in: “Do these adults happen to have extra booze and a few beds?”

  Kid: “Y-”

  Merchant: “H-Hold on!! You promised you’d escort me to Iselbaum’s territory!”

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  Landyn gets in his face. So close that neither of their eyes can focus: “Listen ‘ere you shitbag! We have long passed the old border! As far as I see it, it’s time you paid us, but I know you can’t. I had Rabbit search your bags while you slept on the first day you came with us.”

  Merchant: “What an-”

  Landyn: “Didn’t I tell you to fucking listen?” He grabs him by the collar. “The only reason we didn’t slit your throat is because Viper thought it’d scare his little girlfriend, alright? Considering that you have nowhere near 700 crowns on you and we’ve already walked you an entire day further than agreed, you can fuck off for all I care. But you leave everything here except your soiled underwear. Got it?”

  Merchant, with his pants pissed thoroughly, stands frozen in fear for a second before begging: ”P-Please! I’ll give you all I have on me right now! You have to get me past Treblin’s lines!”

  Landyn thinks for a moment. Still staring crazy-eyed into the merchant’s face, breathing so heavily that he seems to grow in size with every breath. Finally: “Fine. Give us everything you have. I’ll let you keep the clothes on your back for now.”

  Merchant: “Th-Thank you…”

  Landyn: “But, I still have to give my men their wages. We’ll follow the kid and see if his parents have a job for us.”

  The kid interrupts with glee: “So you’re coming?! Dad’s gonna be so happy!”

  Landyn drops the intensity as much as he can and turns to the kid with a forced smile: “Yeah, kid. Lead us to them.”

  Kid, radiating joy: “Yayy!”

  The kid goes on ahead, followed by the rest of the men. Landyn stays a little behind, still mean mugging the merchant. Landyn then puts his hand in the merchant’s pocket and rummages through, grabbing everything.

  He pulls out a fistfull of valuables: coins, a quill, a silver necklace and a golden ring. He holds it up to the merchant’s face, then puts it in his own pocket. He puts his hand down his pants and rubs it against his crack vigorously, then with the same hand pushes hard on the merchant’s face, almost toppling him over.

  —

  After about half an hour of walking up a narrow road perpendicular to the highway they were previously following, they find a small sort of village at the mouth of a large cave. Though there are a couple of thatched huts flanking the cave’s entrance, indicating some sort of permanent residence, the most striking are the patched tents made of furs and canvas that surround the two buildings.

  A man in his thirties is the first to meet them. He is stocky and strong, but looks haggard and tired: “Luca! What are you doing with these men? Wasn’t your dad supposed to watch the road today?”

  “...You know how dad is.”

  “Aye… Go on now, kid. Go play with sticks or something, I have to talk to these men.” He waits for the kid to out of ear shot and sighs a deep mournful sigh: “The kid’s lost his mom to some brigands, now his father just drinks all night and sleeps all day.”

  “Brigands you say, hm? Is that why you were looking for men like us.” Landyn asks, intrigued.

  “Yes, it is. First, let me introduce myself: I am Victor. Until recently I was a butcher, but as you no doubt saw, my shop burned down with the rest of the village. We’ve been staying at the herb-woman’s place here in the mountains since then.”

  “Oh! So that’s why you have so many tents around here.” Saul jumps into the conversation.

  Kale smacks him upside the head then pulls him in and whispers: “Shut up when he’s negotiating!”

  Landyn clears his voice to get over the awkwardness of being interrupted and continues: “We’re the Knight Flayers. Call me…” ‘Wait! The nickname the guys gave me might actually help in this situation…’ “Sir Tanner.” The guys barely contain a giggle.

  Victor’s eyes grow wider and he suddenly stiffens his relaxed posture: “Oh! Sir Tanner. Please, would you like to talk inside?”

  “No, no. I couldn’t impose on you too much. I see your situation is not that great already.” Landyn grins.

  “U-Uh yes. Yes, of course. Look, I see your friend in the sled is not in great condition. We have a healer here, retired from a healer’s guild down south… Liked the mountains he said…”

  “Good. That, and some hot food and soft beds for a night, and we’re square.”

  “Th-Thank you, Sir. You’re so generous!”

  “Don’t thank me. We’re keeping everything we find in their camp, including your shit. Now, tell me about this camp of theirs.”

  —

  Meanwhile, Viper, Anna and Eagle Eye were crowded around Jacob. The night before, Viper had cut up an old gambeson to fit the kid a little better, and Anna had sewn a blanket into pants and a shirt.

  Eagle Eye smiles and speaks in that voice people do when speaking to babies and puppies: “Heyyy, don’cha look so fine in your new clothes? You like ‘em?”

  Anna smacks his arm: “He’s not some kid! He’s at least twelve… I think.”

  Viper shrugs: “Well, he could be older too. Or younger. We can’t know if he doesn’t speak.”

  Anna: “But he’s obviously not a baby! Just talk to him normally.”

  Eagle Eye: “...”

  Viper: “...”

  Anna: “Alright, maybe not like normal. Just don’t cuss.”

  Jacob has yet to have any reaction to their doting. Ever since he was rescued he has kept the same vacant look on his face. The Knight Flayers know that look. It’s the same look they’d sometimes get stuck in their eyes when there’s a moment of silence. That stare that covers a thousand yards of unseen ground. That stare which sees beyond the horizon but only into the past. A look of sorrow. Of horror. Of pain.

  Eagle Eye puts a hand on Jacob’s shoulder: “Say, kid. Do you want to hear a story?”

  Viper: “Hey, come on now, don’t scare the kid.”

  Eagle Eye: “No, no, I won’t. …Just. Listen here, kid. My face probably looks scary to you, right? Missing an eye, big ole scar, it’s not even… Well, to me it’s a blessing of sorts. You see, when I got this scar I was hit so hard that I forgot everything. Even about myself. Hell, I’m not even sure who I was fighting for that day… or who I was before.”

  He takes a small pause. His eye darts about along the ground and his hands can’t seem to find their place. He continues:

  “You see, I learned something in these months traveling with these guys. None choose this trade because life is easy. Everyone has something that haunts them. Some have larger ghosts than others… and we’re not all up to the task of fighting them. Just like me, you now have a new name, Jacob. That ghost will follow you your whole life, you don’t have to slay it right now. Just forget about it for a while… until you grow strong. Alright?”

  He pats the kid on the shoulder. The stare is still stuck in place, but somehow it seems a little loosened.

  Viper: “That’s shit advice if you ask me.”

  Anna slaps his arm: “Viper!” she exclaims in shock. “First of all, you stop cursing in front of Jacob. Secondly, don’t listen to this dummy, alright? Eagle Eye said some good things too. One day you’ll be strong enough, alright? Hang in there, Jacob. Become normal for me… alright?” She holds back tears and hugs him tight.

  Viper can’t help but think: ‘She’d make a damn good mother… What the fuck am I thinking about?!’

  He slaps himself and vigorously shakes his head. Then he gets up and starts looking in the back of the sled for a bottle of something strong.

  Anna is too absorbed in what she’s doing to notice, but Eagle Eye chuckles to himself. Although he’s lost his memories, he’s no fool.