This time, instead of diving to the side or trying to trip his opponent or summoning a wall, Shiv dropped into a hole that opened up directly beneath him. He looked up just in time to see the giant charge right over his small hole.
Clang!
Shiv willed himself out of the hole while the sound of Big Farmer's collision with his metal wall rang loudly in the forest.
Shiv was behind the giant, who was momentarily stunned from his crash. Quick to take advantage of all of this, Shiv grabbed some dirt, turned it into an incredibly sharp dagger, and stabbed it into the giant's leg just below the hip, and ripped it out.
Blood sprayed and Shiv stumbled backward several paces onto the spot that had been lava moments before. The leftover heat was not enough for Shiv to even feel it, because he had been the one to summon the fire in the first place.
The wounded giant turned around with a roar, swinging a massive greatsword he made from a portion of the metal wall.
Despite having stumbled back several paces, Shiv still had to throw himself backward to avoid the long blade.
Big Farmer didn't stop with one swing. He stepped forward to swing again, but instead collapsed on his wounded leg.
Shiv moved forward immediately, putting his hand on the ground and manipulating it into spikes that crossed each other over the back of the giant, effectively trapping him. He moved from there to stab his blade into the same leg as earlier, and dragged it out in the opposite direction as before.
Big Farmer screamed at the feeling of his leg being completely removed from his torso, and Shiv walked around to look the dying man in the eyes.
"Eye for an eye, leg and life for a leg." Shiv said and stabbed his knife into his opponent's eye, killing him instantly.
Shiv sat there for several minutes staring at the long-legged corpse lying face down in front of him, then stood up with an expressionless face and returned to Feathertown.
***
"Shiv, there you are! Boss Briggs is looking for you." A man in brown cloth armor with a scorched arm greeted him the moment he exited the woods.
After finding out that Briggs was in the mayor's house, Shiv headed that way.
At the gate that once had two intimidating me guarding it, Shiv simply walked through the hole that had replaced it. He smiled, thinking back to the last time he'd been here, and how he'd sneaked in. Now he was strutting through the front gate like he owned the place. Well, the remains of the gate.
At the front door, Shiv knocked lightly on the door and took a step back in shock when a little girl opened the door.
"P-princess? What are you doing here?"
"I live here! Even with you ruffians barging in and pretending like it's yours, this is still my home." The spunky little girl replied angrily and slammed the door shut.
Shiv stood there, still in shock, for several seconds before shaking his head and tiredly knocking again.
This time, there was no answer. Shiv waited a polite amount of time, then just opened the door himself and asked the first soldier he found where Briggs was.
Walking onto the patio where he'd first met Big Farmer, Shiv glanced again at the starry night sky.
"Did you kill him?" Briggs asked, not looking up from the papers in his hands.
There was no reason for him to ask who Briggs was referring to. "Yes."
The short man nodded, then set the papers down. "In case you haven't noticed - the town is under our control. This was the last big farm supplying food to the capital. Now they'll be completely reliant on you. Are you ready for what comes next?"
Shiv took a seat next to him, a grim smile on his face. "Actually, I've never been more ready."
The answer satisfied Briggs, who responded with a grim smile of his own. "I'll get the men ready. We move out in one hour."
***
Several days later, Shiv was in the chaotic capital.
Except, the chaos was much more pronounced than usual, with people on the streets begging for food.
"Do none of these city folk know how to hunt?" Farhad asked, contempt evident in his tone. He was from a place where the people were far more independent and self-reliant than these. Shiv was curious about how much a challenge it was going to be to destroy them.
Briggs, at the head of the trio, answered. "There aren't enough animals in the nearby forests to sustain such a large population." He had grown out his bear and dyed all the hair on his head black. He seemed to doubt anyone would recognize him, but was an immensely careful and insidious man. He didn't like to take unnecessary risks.
Shiv looked at the beggars without emotion. He didn't feel numb since Blaze had been hurt, no - he felt resolve.
They traveled at a casual pace through the city, till they reached the castle. There, Shiv informed the guards at the gate that he was to be brought to the princess immediately. They laughed at first, but when he mentioned his vast stores of food… they changed their tune.
Shiv went alone while Briggs and Farhad made casual conversation with the guards that stayed behind.
The walk was long, but had far less stairs than the one before, and ended with him in the throne room. He was surprised to see Lucille there, sitting on the stairs leading to the throne. On the throne wasn't the king or the queen… it was the princess.
"Are you allowed to sit up there?" The words spilled out of Shiv's mouth before he could stop them.
He had been speaking to the princess, but Lucille responded as if the question were directed toward her. "Yes, actually. You should ask the new queen," she gestured at the princess, "if you could sit on these stairs as well. There's plenty of room, as you can see."
"Have you brought the food you promised?" The new queen spoke suddenly with an iron note in her voice.
"Yes." He barely stopped himself from continuing, not trusting himself to speak in the case that he said something that might land him in trouble.
All of his effort was for naught, though. "How'd you get the promotion?"
"My parents died, and I took their place. A lot has happened since last we spoke. I was beginning to think that you had forgotten about our deal."
"Hah! Of course not. Though I am honestly surprised that you held your end of the bargain up so well."
She hadn't. She had promised to help him gain a monopoly over the food crops in the capital, but when her suppliers had started disappearing, she had desperately searched for new ones.
Those suppliers had been killed or captured by Briggs and his men, of course. The last of them being Big Farmer.
Though she didn't know most of that.
"You doubted me? No. The past is irrelevant. Where is the food?" She asked.
"I'll deliver it in two days. Have my money ready, would ya?"
The princess had a vein bulging on her forehead, but she acquiesced nonetheless while Shiv was mentally cursing his mouth for not cooperating.
Their business done, he turned to leave, but was quickly caught up with by Lucille.
"I would love to show you a bit of the castle before you leave, if you wouldn't mind." She linked her arm with his again and gently pulled him along with sparkling eyes.
'This could actually be useful.' Shiv smiled and said, "actually, that'd be awesome. I'm really interested in maps and stuff. Do you know of any rooms here with a lot of those?" He wanted to take a look at the world he was going to destroy.
"I'm surprised you've ever even seen a map. They are priceless commodities, as you know. But there is such a room. Yes, I believe it is this way…" She pulled him down a hallway and turned several times until Shiv was thoroughly lost.
He was beginning to wonder if she was guiding him in circles for some strange prank, when they reached the cartographer's room.
It was… small and dusty, and tended to by a small and dusty woman who didn't even acknowledge their presence when they entered. She was too engrossed with drawing miniscule lines on a very small white parchment.
Neither of these things perturbed Shiv in his mission to set his eyes on a map, however.
Well, the dust did make it a bit difficult, but a quick puff and a few hacking coughs were enough to dispel that problem.
What lay before Shiv was his goal. Everything on the map in front of him was going to be destroyed one way or another.
And the amount he had to destroy was… surprising.