WQ - Blood for Blood • Private | Page 2

Scon raised his weapon to be level with the deranged farmer's face as he began talking - no, shouting (or raving, even?) at the cat. Scon responded in kind, yelling at a similar pitch that it didn't matter what they did. Something in the back of his mind tried to remind him this was a game - that he was arguing with an NPC and that there was nothing to be gained from convincing the man out of this predicament. But, more prominently, the raw emotion the non-player expressed seemed too genuine to not be affronted by. It was like a tear-jerking movie. Those films always made Scon angry.

"You don't torture people!" Came the deep voice of the Felis, level but loud; the way he always got when someone pissed him off. "Doesn't matter if these assholes killed your family, or whatever they did! You have to be better than that." But as he watched the unmoving face of the bloodstained maniac, he knew his words weren't reaching him.

Briefly, Scon tried to piece together the situation for these Faldarens. They must have done all this before the war ended - it didn't make sense to be razing fields after the war was lost. Therefore, Henry must have pre-meditated this scene Scon bore horrified witness to, planning to get the men from his buddies and have them taken here for torturing. Something like that. It meant the man wasn't in the heat of the moment - he was overflowing with rage.

As if to confirm his train of thought, there was a sudden crash as the previous hanging soldier sprawled out onto the floor. Scon swung his blade upwards in alarm, a reflex more than anything, meaning he swiped through thin air as he realised what happened. Henry was faster to respond, moving to seize the man by the throat. Scon had been concerned with how it happened, only now remembering Savannah's existence. She had done well to release the hangman, but it was his turn to act.

The felis broke into a brief run to close the gap to Henry, swinging one foot behind him as he reached the farmer. He brought it forward, leaping and coming just off the ground as he planted the base of his shin into the man's exposed side.So consumed with trying to hurt his quarry, the lunatic had been completely blind to Scon's kick, which sent him tumbling off the soldier. Scon was sure he felt a rib break, too, and pressed the advantage and towered over Henry, slamming the base of his Halberd into the downed man's temple and rending him unconscious.

"Good job on the rope. Is he okay?" Scon called over his shoulder, to Savannah and referring to the Faldaren, as he propped his foot on Henry's chest.

 

“This one is dead,” Savannah replied, her voice small and low. She was leaning over the two other bodies, the one she was inspecting being the solider whom had his eye missing. It came to her discovery that his trachea was also crushed and, apparently, he’d sustained a rapier through the chest. His chest refused to rise and fall and Savannah could only hope that there was some sort of afterlife for him. Granted, yes, he was an NPC, but in the heat of the moment, he might as well have been a real person for all she cared.

Sighing, she unceremoniously moved his body, allowing it to flop over onto its front. The body beneath him was still breathing, thankfully, even though the nose was broken and the hands had been bound. It looked as if one of his legs was broken as well. But what mattered was that he was still breathing.

“He’s alive,” she calls out, slowly sitting him up only to watch as his head lolls forward and blood bleeds from his mouth, dripping onto the floor. Savannah gives a pause and shakes her head, sighing to herself. “Betcha his tongue is gone though. Let’s get them back to the commander…”​