Nia spent the night at Jaco's home. Well, his house is more like a large hut. It only contains 2 rooms, 1 large room holding a couch with a large table and chairs that lay next to a bare kitchen for food prep and with a fire pit that is hardly ever used, collecting dust instead of soot, and across from it is a bedroom with a single window and a bunch of animal pelts for covers. Nia slept in that room as Jaco waited for another assassination attempt.
He believes that Kaycon will not be willing to try kill Nia while he was near, so he would not dare hurt her in his own home. Jaco never sleeps well anyway, often he stays up late, hearing the wind dance through the city and the beasts of the wild echo through branches and leaves. But in this particular night, Jaco stayed up all night, his blade in his hand the whole time, he even spent some time sitting next to Nia when she was having a nightmare, his presence seemed to calm her however, the only reason he left her side was when she grabbed his hand by chance. He went a little red and decided to sit at the window for the remainder of the night.
As the sun rose, Nia awakes to Jaco sleeping against the wall, his sword laying on his shoulder as if it were a child he was sheltering from the world. She is already starting to see why he struggles to communicate with people, if he sees his only friend is an inanimate object made to kill, no wonder he never trusts anyone and prefers to be alone.
It is clear to Nia that he never truly leaves the battlefield, at least mentally, never going anywhere without his sword, it is the only thing he trusts or really sees as family. But she wonders what had happened to him that he would be so distant and feared by the same people he had been protecting and fighting for all his life.
His eyes snap open. He looks around the room then sees Nia is awake and was staring at him for a while.
"Morning Jaco." She smiles at him once he catches her eyes,
"Morning, I hope you slept alright." Jaco rises slowly, still half asleep and stretching out that sluggish feeling we all experience in the morning.
"I had a nightmare, but it actually seemed to fade quickly to a pleasant dream, it was the best sleep I think I've ever had in my life!" Jaco believed her, the idea that from birth she had to fear her oppressors and her own people, only being half asleep in fear someone would hurt her again, or whenever she did sleep the fear of what was to come tomorrow terrifying her. He understood it, and now she seems so much more alive than when he first met her.
"Alright let's get some food, I'm starving!" Jaco removes his chest plate and gauntlets to walk to the market. "We got a lot to do today." he throws her a bag and they leave the house and descend the steps.
The market is where all the trade in the city is made, most things can be either traded or bought with a currency agreed on by the clans, a 'Rwa's', Wrah's unofficial currency (Pronounced RI-WA). The west and central part of Wrah is more accepting than the east. They're used for purchasing the basics of Wrah like various meats and drinks to weaponry, armour and of course more popular trades like carvings and instruments.
Fang and Nia slowly pass through the crowds that gradually part for them as they progress through the stalls. Oh, that's nice of these people to let us past this busy street!
Fang heads straight to the food stands getting their breakfast of some Parthun meat with spiced vegetables all impaled on a stick, Jaco ravages the meal before Nia could even finish her second bite, Jaco notices her amazed stare
"I like my food." Nia looks at him with a raised brow, she smirks and says,
"I never noticed hahaha. Want mine? You seem really hungry Jaco" he smiles and declines her offer. He knows she will need it more than he needs seconds. They begin their little adventure around the market.
First Jaco gets a second load of food at the next stall as he needs fuel to stay awake from his night shift and to try to fatten up Nia.
They walk around gazing upon clothes and trinkets. Nia's eyes are transfixed by each item, from small medallions of various animals and symbols to the exotic clothes and dresses swarming the market, but her eyes are instantly glued to a beautiful bright green top with long sleeves and has a unique etching of a wolf on the shoulder.
"20 Rwa's please!" she snaps back to reality to see Jaco buying a bunch of clothes including that green top she would been staring at for the last 5 minutes,
"Here." Jaco throws the clothes to Nia, "better than wearing the rags all the time." He walks on as Nia struggles to quickly shove the clothes in the bag, stunned by this kind act, but before she can thank him, he is already buying hair bracers, sponges, and a smithys file?
Once they are bagged and Jaco grabs one last meal for them, they leave to descend to the barracks, where Nia could get changed.
Jaco waits outside the changing rooms, thankfully since everyone was home, no one was looking to change into war gear, and if they did, he was right outside the door with a stern stare on his unfriendly face.
"I'm finished!"
She looks completely different. Her emerald top suits her dark skin very well especially with her black army style trousers. Her washed hair is now decorated with beads that resembles a wolf's paw. But what will really change her look is the shackles.
Now that she is changed, Jaco takes the file and jams it inside the shackle's lock. It rips at its insides and opens the shackles, the rusted and bloodied metal and chains collapse to the ground in defeat.
Her eyes build up tears and her smile pierces through her sad aura, she leaps at Jaco and hugs him, so appreciative of what he is doing for her. Jaco can only stand in silence because he is not used to this friendly treatment from ANYONE. That and he could not slip away like usual because she has a surprisingly good grip on him. Damn, she has a grab that could rival my father.
"Jaco you have no idea what this means to me, I look so different and those shackles… they are finally off!", she keeps gently rubbing her wrists and throat, the scarring still present and raw. But the fresh air and the heat of the sun are a welcome feeling to her freedom.
Jaco can see it. Life quickly coming back in her eyes with every change made she experiences. He didn't expect this reaction though, not many people seem so appreciative and grateful of their freedom.
"Well I thought since your free you wouldn't want to…. Uh be burdened or whatever." she gets what he was saying even if it took a bit of deciphering.
"Your kind, Jaco." Hearing this puts a lump in Jaco's throat, not used to being treated like this either. He shakes his head and focuses on being the Fang again.
"OK, next we are going to train!" Nia's smile vanishes.
"Train!? I'm hoping you mean to cook." Jaco laughs,
"No, I'm going to train you to fight." He walks away, grabbing training swords, which is just a wooden plank, and throws one towards Nia,
"No." she walks back a bit, "I won't fight this war!".
"This isn't what you think it is." He answers back, Nia stands nervously against him, her rear knee shakes and she cannot look at him in the eye. Jaco can see these signs of her fear, but instead of using it, he steps out of the Fang mentality and approaches it differently.
"I can't defend you all the time, you maybe don't want me around all the time either." She is surprised at the last comment,
"To defend yourself means you don't have to rely on me being around, you can do whatever you want without being afraid of anyone picking on you."
"Yeah, that's what I want." Nia let out a sigh of relief hearing that as she lifts the abandoned sword.
"First, you need to learn how to block, to defned." Jaco charges at Nia, before she can react his weapon hits her chest sending her to the ground. She is slightly winded, but gets up,
"Impaled, your dead, there you should have tried to -" Nia throws her sword at his gut
"Give me a warning or a sign next time!" Jaco's now flustered realising what he just did. That and now he is slightly winded.
"Ok I'll try a slow-moving strike" he moves forward, very, very, very slowly swinging the sword to her left.
"Ha, ok that just looks silly" she bursts out laughing. Jaco can only sigh and rub his neck, man, this training shit is harder than I thought then.
For the coming hours, or what felt like days, Jaco teaches her how to use a sword, while also teaching himself how to teach someone. He teaches her how to hold her sword, though she understood what he showed her, her fingers always seemed to loosen or even wish to purposely drop the weapon. With the appropriate changes, Jaco then taught her how to block.
After hours, it was going very poorly.
"STOP BLOCKING WITH YOUR ARM!" his temper finally gets to him,
"I'm sorry I just do it by instinct!", she drops the sword and tries to catch her breath.
"Most people would try to dodge by instinct! You've got the timing and your able to read an attack but -"
"I KNOW!" She growls, her temper rising for the first time, but Jaco sees an opportunity now.
"Ok, I'm going to punch you instead." Jaco walks toward Nia and clenches his fists.
"Wait what?!" he swings. But she blocks it, perfectly so. This even surprises Jaco.
And she is sturdy, it really is instinct for her!..
He doesn't stop, next he aims for the head, he repeats the same roundhouse punches which drives Nia back with each painful strike.
"Jaco, please stop for a se- a second!" he ignores her and punches faster, even going for straight jabs now. She blocks flawlessly but is getting even more pissed. Each strike actually brings a picture to her head, a slaver striking her for being slow.
"Jaco, it hurts!" he ignores her again. The flash of one of her people hit her skull, then another of another slave child hitting her for no reason.
"Ah fuck this!" she waits to find an opening, right before he jabs her, she leans down and raises her fist up to his chin. The awkward uppercut throws him back then down, on his ass.
"Now I get it…" he barely gets the sentence out as he struggles for a breath,
"Oh no I'm so sorry!" Nia runs to Jaco, but he stands and smiles back at Nia,
"I'm fine, but I'm starting to get you now." He picks up the weapons and throws them aside,
"You are naturally strong." he pokes at her arms and shoulders inspecting the little muscle she has,
"Given a proper training routine and eating properly for a few months you'll be a powerhouse!", Nia has no idea what he is on about but still tries to follow his rambling,
"You launched me in the air! That's incredible, even if it hurt like shit.", he laughs slightly while processing Nia's great potential,
"And you have a habit of continually blocking with your hand anyway, I shouldn't be training you to use a sword", Jaco goes to jab Nia but she blocks it instinctively again, "Your more suited to kicking ass. Literately" He smiles.
"I guess we had practice getting beaten... never thought that it'd benefit in anyway." She backs up, tensing up at the memory. Jaco touches her arm,
"I'm sorry about going too far on you, this is a first for me too, this training someone else stuff. C'mon, we'll stop for today, since you aren't used to training for hours at a time, I can see your exhausted." He walks onward and she follows behind him, but as she takes her first step she can feel the adrenaline rush leave her body, her legs feel frail, arms ache from blocking and eyes struggle to stay open, she falls.
But Jaco catches her.
"Come on, you can rest after we get more food and make it back to my home. Can you walk alright?" Nia tries to stand but her knees give out.
She gets frustrated, it feels like she always did when she was a slave some days ago;
Being forced to work till her body just would not function and would collapse, the only reason she could survive those days of oppression was because of her mother, the only person who cared about her. She would sneak her food, at the cost of getting beat up. She would do her work load, so Nia could rest even if it were only an hour, she could sit in the sun, feel the wind flow through her hair and the rain numb her skin.
And she always felt protected. Her mother may have been suffering like her, but the way her mother protected her made her feel safe, she seemingly shrinking those childhood monsters with her still strong form and nigh unbreakable will.
But she is gone, dead before she could finally feel the freedom that I now feel.
Jaco lifts her arm over his shoulder, lifting her up to help her walk,
"Sorry, I should've have thought about your condition, I'll be more understanding of you in future. Come on."
Although he sees himself as a loner, Jaco has never felt so relaxed around someone, she made him laugh and she seems to understand him and his actions. He hasn't seen any fear in her eyes, she trusts him, and he could not be more appreciative, a friend, his first one. So, the least I can do is help her up.
"Don't feel bad about not being able to walk, you are still recovering from everything you have been through, I know you will get stronger and make a badass fighter, then maybe one day you can give me a challenge." He says with a smile as they reach the steps.
Nia is anxious of the idea of fighting, but his supportive feedback and unexpected enthusiasm for fighting is infectious.
"That's if you can keep up. I could take you right now." She says with a challenging look in her eyes as she relies on him for support up the steps of the city. Jaco lets a smile and then a laugh escapes.
He helps her up the steps, each step demanding more effort, but she powers through, even patient enough as Jaco gets some food on the way home. And when she finally arrives in his home, she happily collapses on sheets of animal pelt. Jaco is proud of her, but he takes his leave, sneaking out with his sword and leaving her with fresh pork buns for her.
He waits outside the house a few moments, noticing a familiar skull bob up the stairs.
The hungover Hik wanders up to Fang, slowly approaching him in case he is in a foul mood.
"Hik. I need a favour."
"Sorry, but I am not in a condition to spar with you, plus you take it too far." Jaco sighs, and ignores the comment.
"Look after Nia in there, till she wakes." Hik takes off the helm and the stench of alcohol fills the air,
"Who?" she tilts her head like a confused child.
"Just watch out for my house, in case anyone tries going in or whatever."
"Oh, sure Fang, what are neighbours for right?"
The Fang grunts and descends the steps as Hik takes a seat inside his home and dozes off, her hangover beating her.
When Nia wakes up, she is back in Jaco's home, she still feels a bit stiff from training but she can walk now.
The sun is beginning to fall, and the clouds part to reveal its beautiful orange glow that matches her eyes. She goes to go search for Jaco, but finds another woman dozing off on his chair.
The warrior lays across his surprisingly fresh couch, long hair concealing her face and her intimidating helmet laying abandoned on the floor. But she is more entranced by her hair, she seems somewhat envious.
"Uh hello?" Hik barely opens an eye, and has to clear her face to look at this alien in front of her.
"Oh, you must be the girl, cool." She stretches and wakes herself up without even trying to close her eyes over again, Nia just stares at her scars and cuts all over her toned and built body. I wish I was as strong as her, she looks so fearsome and badass!
"The Fang went down to the barracks I think, probably off to train by himself, he does that a lot." Hik cracks her neck gently and bends down for her helmet,
"Oh I'm Hik by the way, nice to meet you kid."
"Nice to meet you Hik, I am Nia. I… really like your hair… wish I had hair that long…" Hik smiles and makes her way to the door.
"Then grow it out, takes time but just do whatever you want." Part of Nia struggles to believe she can, deep rooted fear prevented her before, its harder to pull at hair when it is this short though…
"See you around then Nia, I have to sleep this off, feels like a hammer is bashing my head." Nia laughs and follows her outside, before Hik takes her leave across the street, she says,
"Hey Nia, is The Fang and you…" she pauses and Nia just looks at her with her innocent eyes and a sweet smile,
"Never mind haha. Goodnight kid." I am not going to judge why she seems to like that… I just hope she is careful.
With that, Nia descends the steps and Hik finally makes it home. Her child, Tain, is already getting ready for his job as she collapses on the chair in front of a table filled with aromatic sweet buns.
"Hey ma. I grabbed those this morning, for your breakfast, or dinner."
"Aww, you're so sweet child, I appreciate it, thank you. This hangover is the worst I've had yet."
"You sure it isn't just your age catching up to you mum?"
"Ya know, if I wasn't aching all over and my head didn't feel like it was exploding, I'd chase you around the house for that." Her son grins and lets out a devilish laugh, the one Hik loves so much, it sounds so much like his father's. That reminds me.
"Has your father came home at all today?" her son drops a cup of water cup at her side, "Have you seen him Tain?"
"No, I haven't ma. He must be at the pub too, except you got home at least…"
"I'm so sorry honey. We agreed he was to watch over you as I caught up with the fallen's families."
"It's ok mum, anyway;" Tain kisses Hik's cheek gently and grabs his coat,
"I know you'll kick his butt for it, see you later mum, I love you!"
"Hmm, I love you too, son." Hik waves and puts on a smile, but it fades as Tain leaves and the thought of his irresponsible father Siz galivants elsewhere.
You are right son, I will kick his fucking ass once he gets back home.
The steps of the city streets go from the smooth sandstone to the stained concrete ground near the city's entrance, Nia sees a crowd of soldiers surrounding something near the gate, as she approaches the swarm of spectators, she can hear metal clashing and meat cutting.
Then the crowd falls silent.
All that can be heard is a wounded groan. The sound pulls Nia towards the source, but she doesn't know why. The crowd begin to scatter, and she can finally see what has happened.
Three, maybe four bodies all slashed, ripped and torn to bits across the ground and painting the ground into a gory art piece. In the middle, the surviving man kneels holding his hand, but his fingers are missing, his jaw hangs like pendulum of a grandfather clock. His tears blend into his blood.
Nia is horrified, nearly puking on the spot. She dares to look up at the monster who would do this to another living person.
Their chest is layered in blood, yet its eyes desire more. Their blade almost looks like it is salivating with the slow dripping stream of blood coming off the blade like a wild dog. The blade rises and separates the victim's head from his shoulders, the jaw finally plummets to the ground with the rest of the body following.
The eyes of the predator recede back inside, leaving behind the dead, bored eyes of the Fang…
10 minutes earlier
While Nia slept, Jaco decided to do more for her. He went to the blacksmith to not only maintain his sword but to get something made up for Nia as well. His blade had been heavily damaged from the night at the fortress and fighting off those men who tried to hurt Nia. Their bodies were gone when I looked over as Nia changed. So what the hell is the old bastard up too then?
Next, he spoke to his father briefly, Nia is strong, so she could earn money working in a forge, or help transport supplies around the city because she could eventually carry the heavier loads most people struggle with, he thought. The whole time Haygon was grinning throughout their meeting, Jaco was not sure why though.
Now he can begin his training again, his sword now back to fighting condition and Nia's future looking brighter gave Jaco a good feeling for a change.
He harshly shakes his head, trying to focus on his training. He wants to practice his dodging, his fight with Duhorn showed he was not as fast as he could have been, plus this would ready himself up when he would train Nia on dodging too. He decides to use revolving dummies. They are rotating fighting dummies that use the strike of the person to swing and use momentum to attack, this is to help fighters step up their countering skills with a more advanced practice.
Using his 2 handed stance, he swings left, lightly. Giving the dummy momentum to swing back to his right, he parries making it swing back to his left, he leans back and now properly swings at its centre. It copies his movement and it leans back for a head butt. He hits back with his own headbutt. It goes for his legs. He back steps and swings for the shoulder. It swings right and barely misses his stomach. He swings downward making it buckle under the pressure. It bounces forward, hitting his chest. He rises to swing upward, but it hits faster, his leg swept under him, he falls.
His knees ache from the impact, but he gets up once its movement dies down, he readies up again. I plant my foot firm but still too light, I'm rushing all of my movements and attacks then.
"Back at it again asshole?!", he turns around to see 5 solders approach him, all bearing weapons and looking for a fight. The leading man approaching is tall, long haired and decorated in beads and charms from the market, his armour although like Jaco's is a downgrade. Its plating more basic, not as protective and doesn't fit as well either. He clearly has a problem with Jaco. Just like everyone else apparently.
"You killed them!" Jaco lowers his sword,
"Could you be a little more specific?" but he has an idea of who they mean.
"You killed some of our own! Thee's own wolves, slaughtered!" the shouting beckons nearby solders and citizens of the city toward them, curious of what they were hearing,
"Lower your voice, you annoying bastard." Jaco is cautious, having killed 2 people in his own clan is controversial enough, especially since he has done it before in the past. Shit, it is happening all over again, they are all gathering around me…
"Just when we thought the Chief put a fucking leash on you, as soon as we let you have some freedom you kill our own people!" Jaco can barely see past the crowd, but he can see Kaycon watching from a distance, he issues commands and tries an attempt to break the crowd, but no one listens.
"What do you care?" The Fang asks, "They weren't exactly contributing members of the clan after all, just Thee's lackies! Plus, they were going to kill Nia!" Jaco had to stand up for himself, no one else was going to, or ever did.
"They had families! Jonem, the of the 2 you killed? His kid is now an orphan thanks to you. in the end they were part of the clan!" the soldier flails his arms around, expressing his anger and frustration, then Jaco catches the man's creepy grey eyes staring at him like a dead body.
"Wait. who the hell is this Nia!?" the women next to the angered solder caught on to what he just said. Shit. Now she'll get involved. She will be outcast. Like me.
That was when the group begin to spread. All of a sudden, they were a pack of wild dogs surrounding prey in front of a paying crowd. Fang feels his breathing get tighter, he is backed against a wall. Alone.
He raises his sword,
"Let's settle this then." They accept the challenge, all five solders ready up, varied swords and even a hatchet surround the fang, each out for his blood.
He knew this was just an excuse to try kill him, condemning him for all the terrible things he has done in and out of the battlefield. Maybe I deserve to die…
He quickly glances back at his uncle before they charge. Kaycon watches on, unable to help him in his time of need, always the same for you, Quillen and Haygon too. You are never here to help me.
His anger boils, I don't need ANYONE to save me. I didn't get this far with a powerful family or money; I made my name.
The back of his head starts to pound, veins flowing with rage and even his breathing grows heavy. It becomes beast like and can just be heard under the crowds combined roar of death threats and cursing,
I'll kill 'em all, AS I ALWAYS DO!
The Fang pounces forward, in a flash the leader is disarmed, his sword and dismembered fingers hit the ground, then Fang bashes his sword hilt is against his enemy's jaw. Before he can register the pain, the metal catches his jaw line perfectly and rips the flesh away, the bone severs and now hangs under his horrified face like a small tie.
A hatchet swings for his head, but Fang leans back and swings across, his reach just hitting the attackers guts, drawing blood. A sword comes from behind.
The Fang side steps the blade and grabs her, pulling her close to him as he pushes through her flesh, slicing her ribs, her lungs, her spine too as he then steps behind her and pulls the blade out from her back.
The remaining fighters stand in horror, unable to move as she screams. That hatchet swings for him again, but Fang dodges it again and punishes by dismembering their lead arm and finally kicks him down. Now he's done with him.
The final 2 have no intent to attack, only wanting to run from the monster before they are next, they drop their weapons hoping to avoid the Fangs wrath into the crowd around them. The Fang stabs his sword through one, then swings his sword, with his impaled victim, and continues to stab the last fighter. They cry and beg, but seeing his enemies fall and bleed push the Fang to keep fighting. He pulls out the blade from one victim but uses his palm to push his sword downward through the original one, splitting open his lower half. His cries quickly die off as the surviving soldier tries to run but a powerful swing cleaves him in half, his torso flopping toward the audience.
This brutal display silences the once furious crowd. All that can be heard is the cries of the leader, dismembered and bloodied, a reminder of what the Fang is capable of.
A shadow crawls into the leader's sight. The leader jumps in fear, knowing it can only be it. He looks to the crowd, his eyes pleading for a saviour to stop the monster, but the crowd just slowly step away, knowing what's to come and fearful that they were next.
The Fang raises his blade above his head, some blood slowly dripping onto his already crimson neck.
He lets gravity do the rest.
His mind calms, his veins slowly retreat into his skin again and his breathing returns to a steady pace. He is safe.
Fang looks up at the crowd dotted with the terrified and vengeful eyes of his companions, he doesn't let this conflict him, he watches the never-ending blood stream surround him as they scatter.
He doesn't get it, I do this to my enemies on the battle field, why is this different? THEY CAME AT ME!
"Jaco..."
He looks up, Nia's eyes are stained with terror, she shakes and can barely even look at Jaco, just trying to make out what is left of the Fang's victims. Right there his chest hurt, as if Duhorn stomped on him again. Maybe even worse.
He walks towards her. And she runs.
Her breath is heavy, her knees still ache from training, but she still runs, when the Fang went to move over to her, she just wanted to escape to the mountains harsh city, she needs to run from him till she loses him, she slows down, and hears a rhythmic drip of blood that seems to follow her. Oh shit, why can I still hear that!?
She sprints straight for a darker alley, the shadows hiding her fear, Jaco chases on, blood dripping onto the steps gradually.
Nia dodges the mountains inhabitants, bumping into the occasional mother or messenger, afraid to look back to see how close he is. Corner after corner after corner, eventually she ends up at the peak of the mountain, with nowhere left to run.
Jaco follows the traces of startled citizens. With each stride toward her trail the citizens take a moment to gaze upon the bloodied soldier and flee in moments, using the surroundings buildings and tents as refuge. He ignores them. Why is she running? Is something wrong?
She is around the war tents near the chieftain, her eyes dart from place to place, trying to find some way of hiding from Jaco.
Before she could make a move, a hand coils around her arm and she is yanked into a smaller tent.
Jaco looks left and right, under tables and over roofs, unable to find her, his mind is clouded, why do I feel bad, they started it!
He backs up into a puddle, it splashes up his leg, he looks down to see a puddle plagued by blood. He follows the drip it is made from, leading to his swords tip, up to the hilt, and he notices his arm is crimson, Was I cut in that fight?
He lifts his foot from the blood and gazes into it. No. He knows this is not his blood, and he realises why everyone is running, why Nia is hiding from him. He is a mess
Nia struggles, eventually thrusting her elbow back, the grip loosens, and she vaults forward, almost rolling out the tent. She stops dead at the exit, the bloody image of the Fang haunting her mind right now. She turns her head quickly to try identify her kidnapper.
It is Quillen,
"AH! What the fuck are you doing?!" Quillen rubs his stomach after the punishing strike, regretting his haste action,
"I know you're running from Jaco, so I got your back. I saw him…" He walks to the tents exit, tying the exit shut to prevent someone looking in,
"The only reason he is covered in that much blood is 'cause he started a fight." he sits down and arranges paper work from the war room, Nia sits down slowly, keeping her eye on him at all times in case he is like his brother.
"Thank you." she whimpers, still in shock. Quillen piles the papers together neatly, but one slip is out of place, so he pulls it out and takes it aside well away from the pile. The paper is crinkled and heavy in writing compared to its siblings.
"Jaco isn't related to us, you know." Nia's jaw doesn't drop exactly, but she is surprised upon hearing this,
"So, you don't have to worry about me cutting you up like the Fa- like Jaco would." He takes a deep breath and gives Nia a sad look.
"My father took him in when I was young, we are around the same age and we do get along somewhat, but my father and I know he isn't good with people." he sits up, Nia's attention is undivided, finally getting to know of Jaco's story…
"When we were younger, like 2 or 3 years ago he killed one of the claws, oh sorry, one of our commanders in front of our men, like a whole battalion witnessed it. It sent a message to the clan, and later the rest of Wrah. The Fang was a threat to remember."
"Yeah but he always seemed strong to me when I first saw him, hasn't he proven that for years?"
"We're both 18 years old... he was still a kid when he killed him." Nia's jaw drops this time, "We joined when we hit 15."
He looks so much older, more mature, I guess being around war for so long does that. But this man isn't so old looking though. Does doing what he does really affect him like that? She sits forward, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"When my father had just become a chieftain, his first battle as leader ended with a good victory, but on his return the remaining enemies had raided a passing ship, a merchant one. There were not any survivors by the time we could help. Except one boy…" Quillen sist forward, his eyes the evidence of the things he seen.
"The river flowed with blood and burnt wood, bodies floated down stream and the forest almost became victim to the fire as well, neither the remaining enemy clan members or the crew survived that we know of, we couldn't even tell what the cargo was, it was ALL destroyed. All except Jaco." He stands up and grabs his shield as he inspects outside by peeking out the tent entrance,
"We found him in the water, I saw him as we were searching for survivors, he wasn't even fighting the tide and struggling to breathe, just floating. He has always had those bored dead eyes, even back then, but those eyes change… with every battle I see him fight in, it makes me wonder if saving him was the right decision… His eyes are a reminder that everybody he takes out beyond the battlefield, is because of MY action to call for help..." He takes a deep breath, the conflict clear on his face. Nia is in complete disbelief at this point, but he is not finished.
He returns from the entry and sits beside Nia,
"You won't know this, but his white hair represents "the mark." It is a myth, but one he might be an example of how real it is. In Wrahian culture, we experience war and death a lot, but to experience true torment and to feel true suffering and agony, those who live through it change. Like him. Supposedly." He stares forward, like looking at an invisible photo,
"Back then when I found him, we cleaned him up, and we saw his hair was white, it made my dad scared at first but he still took him in anyway. Then he killed a citizen the first week he was here. A women, who had just lost her own son, volunteered to take him in. after 2 days, we found her with a big chunk of her neck missing... and Jaco covered in blood… Dad had to adopt him in order to protect him from her neighbours. He doesn't see the monster because he's never seen him lose control yet. Only the aftermath."
Nia lets out a pained gasp, now understanding why even in this family, this clan, the Fang is terrifying.
"the mark means your mind is broken, but it does so to help you fight, our most basic instinct, right? Survival. I thought it was a myth to scare people, but after seeing him fight the way he does, and that horrible bloodlust that takes over him, I think the mark is true." Nia stands up, clearing her face of the incoming tears, processing this revelation.
She turns, "Does he understand what he does is wrong?"
Quillen cannot answer it,
"I don't know. And it's hard to see it as all bad in a war point of view, because it's better to have a monster on your side than as an enemy." He puts the bloody blanket away.
"I didn't ask if it was useful in war Quillen…" Nia has to stop her unexpected wave of rage surfacing in her,
"You and I have seen the little bit of humanity in him, there is some there, but he can't seem to let his guard down, even around family." He walks to the entrance, "You should be good here, I'll be out all night and Jaco will be with me till I return.," he looks Nia in the eye, "Please fix him. Cause I can't do this anymore."
He disappears outside.
Quillen finds Jaco cleaning his blade with his scarf, the blood just slides off, he looks at Quillen, still drenched in his ally's blood. Quillen hands him a cloth and jug of water from one of the nearby, evacuated stalls,
"I'll grab you a new shirt before we leave", Jaco raises his eye brow, "An outpost is under attack by some raiders, they need us". Quillen walks down without Jaco, he just stands looking at his scarf, how much blood has this cloth cleaned over the years? He stares into it, seeing a very feint red tinge on its edge. It slowly spreads up the scarf like a disease.
Nia stayed where she was that night, and rested there for the coming days as well, Jaco and Quillen are called upon to support an outpost near the border of the clan, so Nia spends her time training by herself, and thanks to an unknown person, she was summoned to start her new job of lifting and transporting building materials around the city, getting paid very well too. But her mind was on how the citizens and even solders are beginning to treat her like an old friend within the clan. Children play with her between jobs and the mothers chat with her and give her advice and help for the future if she wanted to stay. IF I stay.
She enjoys her job and the people are starting to grow on her, and she can slowly feel her strength returning, for the first time she sees some muscle develop on her legs. Though hard work, she was given water to keep her going, she had breaks and a free meal for doing well and she got to know many of the people she worked with, they invited her to eat and rest with them.
She had time to think about Jaco, or 'The Fang', she didn't want to just abandon him, with what Quillen told her she thought about how he felt like an outsider, she understood his childhood somewhat, unable to trust anyone. One mistake ended up with him being further outcast by this place, his innocence was already stolen from him if The Mark was true, he would've been so scared, that he would kill ANY threat to his life. That is what I believe.
He was scared. He still is. He can't trust anyone in the clan in fear anybody would try to deceive him or some grieving citizen seeking revenge. Or just attack, like they did that day.
And that was all over those soldiers who were out to kill me, he protected me, yet nobody knew. He didn't start that. I used to be terrified that an orc would kill me for fun, or a starving Wrahians would use me as food because they were starving. but I couldn't fight back because no one would believe me, or defend me.
What do I do? Is it ME who can save Jaco from The Fang?
When delivering the last order of steel and leather to the blacksmiths at the barracks, they return.
But not to the triumphant cries of victory, but the dreaded wails of defeat.
Nia quickly runs to the returning group, she can see Quillen, his whole right arm black and awkwardly bandaged, he is driving the cart carrying a lot of bodies, a mix of solders AND civilians. When the cart goes past her, she sees Hik sleeping back to back with Jarjo, who just hides his face as the cart rocks back home. She looks further inside and sees Jaco deep inside the cart full of bodies. His head hangs as if in shame, he is drenched in dried blood and every bump seemed to be agony to his body.
Once the gate closes, Jarjo and the grumpy Hik began to carry the dead off and announce the casualties as the wounded are hurried to the barracks for recovery with Quillen, even though there are not very many to see too.
Jaco, still in his own world, stumbles into the crowd, but they don't care, more worried to know if their family and friends are ok.
Nia follows him, but he fades into the crowd and Nia loses sight of him.
Instead she jogs towards Quillen, who is in the barracks recovering on his knees, placing his arm in freezing cold bucket of water, this is used to numb burn wounds, he looks up at her, the despair clear in his eyes.
"What happened?!" Nia kneels beside him, hoping for clear answers over the vague ones the soldiers are giving outside about crows and surprise attacks from the bull clan.
Quillen can only speak through pain, his teeth clamped shut from the freezing water consumes his arm.
"Our outpost was attacked by deserters of the bull clan. They wanted the outpost for themselves." he winced in pain, "but that was not what did that." He nods to the bodies and lowered his voice.
"The Crow..."