Following one of the longer routes to Ironclad, we had traveled almost a day and a half before finding a place next to a flowing river to make camp.
My time was spent watching the dancing blaze before me and looking to the water's edge to keep an eye on Jackal.
His mind had been somewhat broken seeing one of the people responsible for the horrific memories he kept buried.
Memories that involved the ones he was forced to slaughter over three years beginning at the age of thirteen.
Anger burned in my heart for that reason yet I couldn't do anything until he did.
Scarlett murmured, "I know how you feel. I want to kill her myself for what she put him through."
She sat beside me and offered the extra bowl of soup, "You know Jackal's mind must be in tatters."
I blew the steam away from the spoonful of rabbit stew, "He hasn't slept peacefully since she showed up.
"I can't help but feel helpless because I can't do anything but stand by his side. I mean for gods sake Scar, I'm going to be his wife and I can't even help him," I said my mind after taking a bite.
I gave Scarlett a disgusted look when she chuckled, "Nyx, you do realize that even standing by him goes a long way."
"I guess you're right," I sighed.
Scarlett nodded, "Of course I am."
A solemn yet soft tone took hold of her voice, "Ya know, I understand why Jackal became the way he is today. I've heard his screams during the night begging for unobtainable forgiveness only to take the lives of many more."
I didn't say anything as I watched Zeke bring Jackal his dinner. Sighing, "Anyway, how have you and Zeke been? Anything new?"
Scarlett chuckled, "Changing the subject, I see."
She took a swig of ale, "We've actually been better in recent years lately. Having a bounty on your head does make life a little more interesting especially since we haven't been doing any jobs as of late."
"I thought Twilight Sand was hired by some Vaniel noble. Did it not go well?" I questioned.
She shrugged, "It went as well as it could and paid well but…I guess you could say all of us have grown tired of going from place to place in attempts to just get by."
"The days of Twilight Sand are close to an end," She looked up into the night sky as the moon outlined her.
A thought struck me, "So what do you and Zeke plan to do after Twilight Sand?"
Scarlett seemed lost in thought for a moment but spoke after a few breaths, "Zeke and I thought about starting a family if you could believe it. We have spent many nights discussing the possibility of little feet running around."
It was my turn to laugh. The thought of a man like Zeke who's wild and loves getting into things as a father was quite humorous, "I don't mean to laugh Scar, truly. I think you'd be a great mother; I mean you've practically taken care of grown children."
Scarlett and I shared a laugh as we both got caught in the moment. She sighed then nodded toward Zeke who was making his way over to us, "We plan to leave Athax Frein behind. Thought about sailing south across the Great Sea and making a living in a new place where our past is behind us."
I took another bite of soup, "What about Fang and the others? You have any idea what they plan to do?"
Scarlett chuckled as Zeke sat on the ground between us, "Fang and a few others decided they would come along with us. Fang, for one, seems to enjoy the idea of being an uncle. The scaly bastard would not shut up about it to the point I had to bind his mouth shut."
It was Zeke's turn to speak as he tossed a blade of grass into the blaze, "The others, like Zion and Aifric, wish to stay and live their lives in Siegfried. I can't blame them for wanting to live normal lives there, especially since not many places would be willing to take in a bunch of rejects like us."
I nodded in agreement and was about to say something cheerful when we realized that the princess had taken an interest in our conversation.
She spoke in a authoritative nervous voice when our eyes met hers, "I was wondering if you can tell me more about Jackal."
"What makes you think we have all the answers?" Zeke returned a question.
Scarlett retorted as I took another drink, "What my darling husband means to say is why not go to the source?"
I continued to devour my meal while Zeke and Scar began to copy the princess who had her hands on her hips waiting for us to leap at the chance to answer. Zeke chuckled before she returned to her seat next to Luca, "What is it you wish to know?"
The princess sighed, "Well…for starters, I find it strange that he's sitting over there by himself. Isn't he cold?"
Zeke scratched his beard, "I doubt it since Orion has him entombed in fur but I think I know what you really want answered."
He took a swig of Scar's ale, "To put it simply, Jackal like most of Siegfried and us can't stand pampered nobles such as yourself, or knights for that matter."
The princess seemed confused by this answer and asked the question I knew would be next, "If the mon…I mean Jackal is Lady Veronica's brother and King VonKnight's nephew, isn't he himself of nobility?"
Zeke and Scarlett didn't say anything as they fidgeted around. I sighed when realizing that it was my turn to answer, "The correct term would be 'former' noble. It's a long story…"
"We have time to waste plus I don't mind," the princess insisted as she sat next to me.
A feeling of discomfort filled my gut but I told his story, "Since you insist, Jackal was once a slave."
"Now he wasn't the average laborer like you tend to see tending fields but one of the unlucky ones forced to fight to the death for the sake of your fellow nobility's boredom," I tried to keep the anger out of my voice.
That didn't last long however, "For three years beginning at the age of thirteen, he was forced to kill and abused both physically and mentally."
"Three years he suffered alone without a chance of escape," I closed my eyes and imagined such pain.
"To be honest princess, Lady Veronica should be able to tell you more," I opened my eyes and stared daggers at the woman that caused Jackal so much pain.
My voice was filled with coldness, "After all, she played a hand in sending him to such a hell to - what was it you and your uncle told him? Oh yes…to protect him from the death penalty."
Tears looked to trail the contours of Veronica's face when she gazed over to her brother. The feeling of telling her where to stuff those tears was interrupted when Lieutenant Combs roared "How dare you speak to Lady Ver…."
"It's alright Combs," Veronica wiped away her tears.
"I guess I should start from the beginning," she paused a moment, "it…it was our thirteenth birthday, I remember Uncle had taken me to pick out a dress I had wanted while we left mother and father to finish setting up for that evening's celebration while Einor, or as you know him, Jackal, was in the library."
A small smile flashed for a brief second, "He spent all his free time there, learning about the world outside the manor through the experiences of father and mother, engrossed in the tales of heroes saving damsels and corrupt kings."
"I remember the many stories we acted out, the quests we pretended to conquer," joy glowed within her eyes at such childish memories.
Her smile faded with a depressed sigh, "I remember seeing smoke rising into the sky that was too think for a common stove or fireplace when we came out of the store. Fear chilled my bones when the sight of the manor ablaze when we neared."
She took a drink with shaking hands, "The image of Einor laying there bloodied and coated in ash increased such a fear while the bodies of our parents nearly broke my mind. Uncle told me later that night that Einor was seen by three travelers kill our parents before succumbing to the smoke."
Veronica gazed into the fire with disgust, "Those same travelers spread what they saw to the townspeople who held mother and father with high regards. Soon Uncle tried to cull any ill tempers but the people had already decided that blood needed to be paid with blood."
"Uncle and I knew some kind of foul play was involved but the people that once admired Einor, now demanded his head for his betrayal," her steeled gaze turned on me, "so yes, we arranged for him to be sold to a slaver until things cooled down and we could buy his freedom."
Tears flowed down Veronica's cheeks with so much force that I couldn't think it was a trick of light.
She wiped them away, "When we heard about what truly went on, Uncle sent me and a dozen men to bring him home only to find corpses and tattered remains. After searching the debris and rubble, do you know what I found in one of the cells hidden underneath a dislodged stone?"
I didn't say anything as Veronica pulled a badly burned journal from the satchel sitting beside her and threw it to me.
Catching it, my eyes were stitched to the rough charred leather binding that barely held it together.
Each page felt brittle to the point they'd turn to ash just by the smallest of brushes against my fingertips.
I could tell this had been written by Jackal based on the handwriting and was horrified at the torments he endured from holding fallen comrades to the tortures that followed.
Several tear stains marked most pages like some accursed scripture.
Tears of my own silently traveled my cheek as Veronica spoke, "I read it over and over again. I read the the list of names, burned into my head, of the ones he watched die in his arms and the despair that consumed him to the point of taking his own life."
She scoffed, "I know he hates me for what we did and that he would not hesitate to kill me. I would willingly accept that fate if he chooses it."
Veronica didn't say anything more as I read through many pages harboring details that only he knew about.
He had told me a few things during those days during moments of weakness but it was all so different reading his words without pieces missing.
My body was completely frozen when it was to much to continue diving into his past.
I wiped away tears with the back of my hand and just stared at Jackal as his figure tossed and turned in the moon's veil.
No one spoke for some time as the night sky became filled with the crackling fire and distant wildlife.
"I guess the bard got one thing right after all," the princess broke the silence.
Luca chuckled as he added "Are you referring to the 'Blood Soaked Slave', my Lady?"
Zeke chimed in as he stretched out, "One of my best pieces though it's more of a poem than song. Bards usually forget that and add things so they get all the credit. I knew I shouldn't have given that bard the idea."
Everyone gazed at the man that knew Jackal better than most, "Anyway if I recall, it went something like:
'Through the fires and smoke he stalks
As if a dämon set free
Covered in blood and blade in hand
He wonders the land
Stalking his prey
The slaver's head gagged by the instrument of his craft
Displayed for all to see
A reminder of what horrors await
Through the fire of hell he walks
Finally free'."
I couldn't help but applaud Zeke's word craft as he retold his first meeting with Jackal.
A meeting that shocked him to his core as he watched a dämon sent to reap the harvest walk through burning rubble.
When I first heard such a tale from a traveling bard, I was terrified to walk the streets of Siegfried alone at night.
I remember being afraid that the dämon would come for me until I convinced myself that it was just a story.
Funny how things turned out especially when I'm engaged to the specified dämon.
I felt an involuntary chill run down my spine as Scarlett spoke, "I think it's ironic."
She pointed the wooden spoon at Veronica, "You send him there in hopes to save him, but in the end he died either way. I mean, it must have been a shock to you the way Jackal caused such violence the other day."
"For us it's nothing new especially since among Twilight Sand he is known as the Baron of Fear," she shrugged.
I chuckled as Scarlett continued to make little fangs with her fingers.
Jackal knew what everyone thought of him, and didn't care.
He always did things in a way that his mind thought needed done, especially using fear as a motivational tool.
Most people, mainly the other three elders, thought his tenacity was a little extreme but it silenced them when one of the larger bandit groups came to extort protection fees only to be sent running like children.
The rumors of course soon began to spread telling about some spectre that protected Siegfried based on several villagers' and visitor's accounts of what happened.
The Baron of Fear was a nice name to describe Jackal, but it was one of many names.
Casteilla spoke in her hissing voice after a few moments, "We Ijā call him by the Obsidian Emperor for the shadows he clads himself in, and because he's a monster in his own right."
"His strength might rival that of the current Dämon Lord Council alongside with other four emperors. Personally, I'd say he might be the equal of the Azure Empress that rules the skies," her voice had a hint of admiration.
Laughter boomed around us as if the forest itself had came alive.
Jackal appeared in a gap between tree with the scythe he named Morrigon in hand, "Veronica, you and and the others stay close to the Little Fox."
"We have some guests to take care of," he disappeared with Orion at his side into the darkness.
I got to my feet while Zeke helped Scarlett to hers and went over to the tallest trees on either side of the canopy leading to our camp.
Each nodded to one another before beginning the ascent to the hideaways at the trees' peak.
Once they both signaled, I took my position in the middle of the trees just a few feet in front of them.
It was a tactic Jackal thought of that placed me as a vanguard while Zeke and Scar would cover me from above.
Even the camp's position was thought up by him so that a natural barrier was formed with the flowing river at our backs and the thick canopies of trees on either side allowing only one real entrance.
Drawing a small blade hidden in the vambrace, I slit my hand just enough so a small stream could flow down my palm.
I squeezed my fist so that enough crimson droplets made a small pool and began to draw the runes passed down by my family.
When the runes were in place, the forgotten texts converged into a crimson current that ran the distance to surround the camp.
A red aura began to rise from the ground as the faint barrier took effect.
Healing my wound, I readied myself when distant screams echoed through the trees.
Zeke chimed from above, "I hope Jackal leaves some for us."
Scarlett responded, "I'm sure he will. Why else have us up here?"
"Sylla, I hope your thirst is unquenchable as I offer the blood of my enemies in exchange for your protection," the rapier glowed a translucent blue eager for the coming battle.
The first figure that crashed through the brush instantly found an arrow pierced through his throat.
As he fell, a leather bound brunette human woman found an arrow through her chest knocking her into two others close behind.
My figure was a blur when colliding with a chiseled elf wearing plate armor hoping to reach the safety of the fire behind me.
The elf took five steps forward only to fall over dead and soon followed by his cleaved head.
Two more arrows whizzed by and found their target in the chest of two horrified mages while I slid between the legs of a terrified Lepus.
I rolled underneath a large double headed ax seconds before it cut the air where my head once was.
A large burly bovine Orc crashed through the shrubs yelling, "Hurry to the fire! The spirit can't get us in the light!"
I examined the rushing brute and slid between his legs like the Lepus before and cut the Achilles heel of his left leg.
Gritting its teeth, the Orc managed to wrap a massive hand around my head when I went for the kill.
Pain erupted through my body when the ground left my feet and the hard earth slammed against my body several times.
Smoke erupted from his nostrils and with one mighty arm my body soared through the air.
Dazed from the sheer pain flowing down my spine, I watched several more figures leap past me.
Stifling a scream, I felt bones break when the Orc applied all his weight on my left leg.
"First I'll kill you then reach the safety of the fire," the Orc snarled as he raised his ax.
"Vinea Vivus!!" I sent mana from my fingers to the tree.
I closed my eyes as the ax came to deal the death blow only to find that my place was still among the living.
Opening my eyes, I saw the hanging vines from the tree wrapped around the large ax and stopped it just meters from my neck.
The vines began to slither up the shaft of the ax and bound the Orc's arms like coiling snakes.
The Orc was lifted off the ground resembling a marionette puppet as he struggled to tear away each string.
Bones cracking filled my ears with his gutteral screams as his body began to be drawn and quartered.
The sun rose over the horizon with its warm embrace, a welcomed feeling against the night air from earlier.
Throughout the clearing, the corpses of twenty or so would-be ambushers laid dead throughout the small clearing.
I heard footsteps approaching from either side as Zeke and Scarlett came to stand next to me.
Bows were strapped to their backs while three emptied quivers jangled from their sides with each step taken.
It was apparent that Jackal's plan to draw out our followers into a forced assault had gone without any hitch.
I was about to meet Zeke and Scar halfway when the sound rustling of shrubs caught my attention.
Sylla and the small knife flew into my hands as my stance was one ready to strike.
Growing fear was the only thing I felt as a dark blood coated figure made its presence known.
With scythe relaxed against its shoulder and clad in darkness itself, the aspect of Death had come to reap the souls of the dead.
In its other hand, it dragged a silver haired Vulpes by his collar as if bringing him to the abyss below with a large crimson eyed hellhound in tow.
I felt relieved as I met the figure halfway and wrapped my arms around it.
Jackal asked after kissing me, "I'm glad the three of you are safe. Did you enjoy yourselves?"
"How many in total?" Zeke asked as he nodded toward the forest behind us.
Jackal nodded to the Vulpes, "Including this mongrel, I counted forty or so. More of them than I had accounted for became frightened of the dark as Orion and I took down several."
He shrugged leading the way back to camp, "I have a feeling the little fox might know him, and even more so, would want to know what I gathered from him before he blacked out."
I walked beside Jackal as he dragged the Vulpes over to the back of the carriage.
As we did, I saw that Orion had changed into his cat form and found a spot near the fire.
He began to clean the blood off his obsidian fur.
Veronica and Combs were at the center of the mass of knights while the princess sat watching Orion as he curled into a small ball.
Weapons were held in shaking hands ready to either run from fear or to charge forth into certain death.
We paid them no mind as Jackal slammed the man against the carriage with a slight grin.
He handed Morrigon to me before kneeling to be eye level with the crumbled man, "The bastard tried to offer quite a sum of gold to kill you and the others, Little Fox."
I turned to the princess who went pale when noticing the man.
I thought she was going faint but managed to stay conscious, "Wh-what did you say?"
Jackal chuckled as he started to bind the Vulpes with black threads made from the shadows of the carriage, "I took his gold then knocked him out. Gold is gold after all, am I correct Zeke?
Zeke, Scar, and I bursted out laughing. Zeke shook his head, "That is a good point my friend. I see that hasn't changed."
Jackal glared daggers at the knights making them take an unintended retreat.
Fear filled their eyes once more when sheathing their weapons as the princess asked, "Do you intend to keep your word and kill me?"
Anger burned deep when I heard such a remark.
Jackal bound a shadowy rope across the man's neck to keep him secured for the travel ahead but not tight enough to asphyxiate him, "If I intended to do just that, you wouldn't be breathing."
Casteilla and Luca stepped between Jackal and the princess.
"We wouldn't let you have the chance," Casteilla hissed.
Jackal rolled his eyes and lifted the Vulpes' head by the ear, "I'm guessing you know him, princess. Who is he anyway?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Luca gazed at the princess who gave a hesitant nod. He stepped forward, "He's the King's younger brother, Count Jannik Iona Udreth."
I was surprised when he punched the helpless Count.
"I'm guessing you caught on to our little ploy to draw out any assassins. To believe the Count was involved, it makes my skin crawl…the bastard," Luca punched the Count again leaving a blackened eye behind.
Jackal began to make his way to the river only to be stopped by Veronica, "I need to know what you truly intend to do, Einor. Do I have your word that you have no intention to bring harm upon Lady Udreth?"
Jackal glared at Veronica's hand with sheer intensity that I thought he'd cut it off. With a calm yet sharp tone, "The princess has nothing to worry about. Though she has proven to be quite irritating, she is not my enemy for now."
He broke free from her grip and continued forward, "Get things ready, we move after I clean up."
He then half turned to face me and extended an inviting hand, "You coming along?"