Merken moved first and yanked on the rope, trying to throw Chael off balance.
Chael twisted and let the force pull him forward instead of resisting and narrowly dodged a punch that would've probably knocked him out cold. He ducked, feeling the air shift as a fist swung just past his temple.
He wasn't fast enough to dodge the second.
A knee slammed into his ribs.
Pain exploded through his side and his vision flashed white for half a second.
Amidst the cheering crown, Chael's free hand masterfully moved over the man's belt - but before anyone noticed anything, Chael staggered back and gasped with his fist clenched.
Merken laughed, clearly proud of himself. He raised him arms and turned around to look at his buddies cheering him on and banged his chest twice with his fist before turning his attention back to Chael.
"Y'know, if I had met you under different circumstances, I would've thought you were a tavern wench or a brothel harlot." Merken teased.
Chael remained unreactive. If some had paid close attention to Chael, they'd noticed that his eyes subtly moving around. And they were. His mind was completely elsewhere. He was observing the structure of this cavern, how many of the mercenaries were asleep and how many were up, how much ration and water they had, their weapons, and much more.
Another punch came and he barely leaned back in time. The tether jerked, forcing him closer. His broken arm ached and his fingers screamed with every twitch. He couldn't block. He could only dodge.
'Damn, that hurt...' Chael thought to himself as he staggered back after a kick landed on his rib. He was brought to present for a second before he went back to calculating.
"C'mon chief! I thought the Ashwara were more fearsome than this! Gahahaha!" Garren rumbled in laughter.
"The notorious young princess - I mean, the prodigy of the Ashwara Clan is getting his ass beat by a loser like Merken. Who would've thought!" Another one laughed.
Another swing, which Chael barely ducked. Then, a fist grazed his cheek.
"There's no way this is the same man who got put a bounty on his head by the Crescent Sun Legion!"
Chael was barely retaliating. Under normal circumstances, he would have no problem trading blows and swinging to his heart's content, but every movement caused him unimaginable pain. Getting beaten up by Merken was much less painful than if he were to try and trade blows.
"Show us what you got, boy!" A mercenary laughed.
Merken was grinning as he came for another swing, "C'mon! Let's get serious here-"
Just as he entered his range, Chael's body twisted with unnatural speed - just enough to shift his weight.
Then he struck.
His elbow slammed into Merken's throat.
One calculated strike was all it took.
The mercenary staggered, choking, and instantly dropped to his knees, gasping for air.
The entire room went silent. Echidna who was watching lazily finally raised an eyebrow. She muttered to herself, "That's Ashwara for you."
Chael's pulse pounded. He had to follow up. He pivoted and used the tension of the rope to snap his body forward-
But before he could land another hit, the entire crowd rushed him.
"You bastard!"
"Tch. Son of a bitch! How dare you, it was just a show!"
Several of them jumped on him. Chael's entire world got disorientated as boots slammed into his side. A fist cracked against his jaw. Someone grabbed his hair and yanked him back, throwing him to the ground.
The beatdown was only amplified by the intense pain from his shattered bones and wounds he had received earlier, as they reopened and soaked his clothes with more fresh blood.
Fists. Boots. Elbows. Chairs.
Pain rained down on him from every direction. His vision blurred. He tasted blood. His ribs felt like they were caving in. His limbs refused to move. He curled inward, instinct screaming at him to protect his head.
The pain was distant now.
Then-
"Enough."
The kicks stopped.
He saw Garren step forward, looking down at him like a man admiring a broken toy.
"Tch. Lasted longer than I thought." Garren snorted. "Alright, toss him back in the cage before he dies on us."
They grabbed his body barely responding anymore. His feet dragged uselessly as they hauled him toward the cage.
Through the haze of pain, his fingers on his left hand twitched as something went up his sleeve.
Something was there.
It was a tiny arrowhead he was swiped from Merken's pocket, the price he paid being a vicious knee to the ribs.
They threw him back into the cage. The door slammed shut and the lock clicked. Chael lay there with his breath ragged and blood dripping from his mouth..
But beneath the pain, but beneath the agony and exhaustion, he curled his fingers around the arrowhead.
"Wow, they did a number on you, huh?" Echidna trotted up to his cage again, smoking her small pipe.
Chael groaned when he heard her voice. Without bothering to conceal his displeasure, he shot her a glare, "What do you want now?"
Echidna exhaled a puff of smoke and smiled at him, "Nothing much. Why? Am I not worth the Princess of Ashwara's time?"
"Kill yourself."
"How rude." Echidna made a mock expression as though she was offended.
Chael didn't respond and simply lay there like a sack of potatoes, reveling in the pain of his broken body.
"Do tell me though, what were you doing in that fight?" Echidna's face then grew serious the next instant as though she had taken off a mask. "Those fools didn't notice but I picked on some of your weird movements here and there."
Chael maintained eye contact with Echidna for a while before he exhaled, "Sun Tzu once said, 'In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.'"
Having bought up as a Village Chief, he was forced to study a majority of his day alongside training and other things. Though he hated studies in general, he had learned to find battle tactics and strategies interesting. Amongst his favorite historical strategists was a man named 'Sun Tzu' and Chael enjoyed his teachings a lot.
Echidna looked at him dumbfounded then chuckled, "Fine, keep your secrets, you little shit. You're not leaving my clutches anytime soon, anyway."
"You seem insanely paranoid." Chael sneered at her. "You shoot me while I was already subdued, you break my dominant hand so that I can't wield a weapon. And now you observe my every move like a little fangirl while I was fighting that oaf. What weakness lies beyond your cruelty?"
Echidna's smug smile slowly melted into a cold emotionless look.
Chael pressed on.
"If you're so afraid of me escaping, why don't you just kill me right here?" He said smugly but behind his expression lay a cynical insanity.
"In fact, I'm asking you to kill me," he added, tilting his head. "Not that it'd change anything. It's not like my life's worth anything now, anyway."
He didn't mean it in the way some men did. He wasn't pleading or desperate and he certainly hadn't even resigned.
Because whether he lived or died, it wasn't going to be on their terms.
Echidna furrowed her brows coldly, "Like hell, I will. I didn't go through with that hunt and lose two handfuls of men just to get your useless corpse."
With that, she turned and left.
Chael looked at her retreating figure and then let out a long sigh. The arrowhead peaked down from his sleeve and glinted with the orange hue of a nearby flame.
The hideout was quieter now.
The fire had burned low, casting flickering shadows against the cavern walls. Most of the Mongrel's Vow lay sprawled across makeshift bedrolls, their snores mixing with the occasional crackle of embers.
Chael sat motionless in his cage, his back against the cold iron bars. His body still ached from the beating, his ribs throbbing with every shallow breath. But his mind was clear.
His fingers curled around the arrowhead he had swiped, its jagged edge rough against his palm. It was small-barely larger than a coin-but sharp enough to do the job.
Carefully, he shifted forward, eyes flicking to the lock on his cage. His heartbeat slowed. His focus sharpened. He inserted the tip of the arrowhead into the keyhole and began working it, twisting, feeling for the mechanism inside.