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Interlude 11: Aftermath Of A Bad Hunt
🕑 Added 2025-08-25 13:47:44 +0000 UTCAutumn set in full by the time Fredrik reached his home. He was tired, a different kind of tired than one would expect from the long trek, but tired nonetheless. Sadly for him, his father called him in and there was no chance for him to refuse. He handed what was left of his luggage and equipment over to some servants, then he took a rather swift bath to recover, before changing into some more presentable clothes. Urgent really meant ‘as fast as you can without breaking etiquette’, so he didn’t rush too much.
Now that he felt more like a man than an urchin, he walked over to his father’s study, surprised at how quickly he managed to fix the state of their home, yet still noting the lack of his siblings and mother. Once he reached said study, he went in and sat down under the scrutinizing eyes of his father and his uncle in anything but blood, Michal.
“Alright, boy, let’s hear your tale. Because the fact that you came back here, alone, and in this state…” His father, though not great with his affections, still showed clear worry, something that at least made the young noble happy.
“It’s… It’s a lot. Did news of Zielenec reach here?” Maybe it was the fact that he had to keep up a lie for a long time, maybe it was the fact that he was finally in a safe place… but despite his best intentions, Fredrik found himself subconsciously making himself small, his expression showing clearly just how worried he truly was.
“A lot reached here… If it’s about Zielenec I am guessing you’re talking of the human traffickers? Or about the rumors of a noble or maybe even a monster that used fire and darkness burning down a whole brothel and half the organization by himself, before the guard did cleanup work?” His father was unreadable as he talked.
“Yes.” The young man answered bluntly. “Apparently Edith spent her time going around, either passing without bothering anyone, or helping others. It took about three weeks just to catch up despite that fact… And when we did… The demonic lands would have given us a less deadly welcome.” He allowed a moment of tense silence, before continuing. “I am partly to blame for the failure, but I doubt I would have survived if I didn’t do what I did.” That certainly intrigued the two men. It was one thing to hear from a trader that heard from a peasant, that heard from his friend over yonder, and another was to hear from someone that did see everything.
“So you went through and helped the girl, in the end?” Once again, Fredrik was caught off guard and completely unable to read his father. Michal was… not angry, so it’s clear they expected it of him, but he seemed worried, so…
“I had to. It was simply not right. Father, I know that ideals don’t feed us, but that girl managed to help too many people to suffer for delivering swift, even merciful justice upon scum pretending at being nobles. I found out the situation. They sent her to her death, tried to rob her, and the older men were even worse! So many crimes hidden by the Count, all spilled like the ale we drank…” Fredrik could feel like he was covered in muck, his fingers unconsciously scratching at his arm.
“Even you and I are no better. You sent her to die and her group only took some coin and jewelry, and ultimately revealed the truth about your deal. They found a whole group preying on victims of war and innocents, they slaughtered them and left their remaining pieces for the guard to apply their laws and keep even a semblance of authority. They didn’t even take all the money they could, they left plenty for the victims to rebuild their lives.” He was stressed, despite Michal’s expression telling him his father wasn’t going to talk about his crimes… but even so, he was worried.
“So, what happened?” Once again, blunt, once again it made Fredrik worried.
“We found some people that fit what we thought was at least a part of their group. Two barbarians, a cow woman that used earth magic, a bird man that used wind. We quickly realized they were too weak to be the ones we were looking for… I didn’t hit them. I used my magic to strike next to them, tried giving them the chance to escape, but with so many sorcerers, they got hit. They lured a pair of local witchbeasts to kill one of our knights and even tire us, but we managed to catch them on horseback anyways…” He trailed off as his father raised a hand, leaning forward.
“Your magic alerted Edith’s actual group, right?” Of course, nothing ever escaped his father’s notice. Fredrik simply answered him with a nod.
“In truth, these two were actually part of their group, but probably weren’t involved with anything. They weren’t needed. It wasn’t multiple strong sorcerers… it was one. One strong sorcerer that looked like a giant dark beast, with one large, glowing eye that spoke in a terrifying tone. One that apparently cared for the barbarians and Edith… but not yet. Before we met him… Edith came out of the woods. You were right, in the end. She’s a witch of some kind. She used a sling, her right hand turned an ashen, hideous thing as she threw her stone, but then that stone did something weird. Deep red fire that rusts steel and turns armor to dust and broken pieces, but does nothing to skin. What kind of magic is that?” That certainly drew some attention.
“Her hand turned, right then and there…? And for a fire so strange… Chaos… We knew there was chaos involved, but still. What then?” Michal was the one to speak this time, clearly interested in the strange tale.
“They had her. There was too much magic pointed at her. She couldn’t fight everyone… So she stopped, and her burnt hand healed in a moment. It looked pristine again… And then, well… Damn. They were going to kill those beastmen because it was easier than doing the right thing, and they were about to capture Edith… So I struck the experienced sorcerers, hoping to buy her time…”
“And then?” This had both of the men looking furious instantly, which he expected, but was still surprised and worried by.
“I… and then she ran with the winged birdman while-”
“No, what was your plan after you attacked them?” His father’s fingers tapped a lightning pattern into the table, energy jumping across his skin. “What would you do when she runs away and you are left, ready to be captured in her stead and tried for your betrayal of going against a count’s order and your attempt at murdering nobles?”
“I… The beasts that killed one of our men… We only killed one, the other was chasing us, but was slow. I planned to weaken them and run right after, letting them to either be killed by the beast… Or suffer enough damage that I could finish them off.” Honesty was the only thing he had left. He had no good arguments, in truth. What he did was against all laws…
“And? Did that work? Then again, you mentioned the strange man that looks like a one eyed beast…” For a reason he didn’t understand, both men seemed to calm down, which at least made him smile… right up until he realized what he had to do.
“Father… I don’t know if there is a good way of saying this. I truly don’t. I spent the entire way back thinking of how that could have happened, but then, right when I got here I got my answer.” His father looked annoyed at the reply, tapping his fingers a bit harder than before.
“Speak, boy. I already need to figure out how to deal with this whole mess… When Count Bajor comes asking me about his men…” The man’s coming rant was cut perfectly by his boy, who just sounded exhausted as he spoke.
“Tranquil Water’s spawn was the one responsible for the incredible feats.” Frederik knew that it was a dragon, a small, young, lone dragon. There were not a lot of dragons on the entire continent, especially ones that were forced to use a heavy wagon to move around. He kept wondering about it until he passed by a group talking about the recent message that reached the kingdom as a whole. The crown prince of Vernia was going to parade around the infant dragon that was captured from the fleeing dragoness. Two of the child dragons escaped with the mother, one was captured, and the final one somehow disappeared, never to be seen again. That one, he knew it had to be that one, it would not make sense otherwise.
The men in the room stared at one another, then sir Michal looked like he was about to puke as he used Jan’s table to hold himself up. “Oh gods…” the older man said, before breaking into a half sprint, running off to gods know where. Jan, on the other hand, just looked at his boy, taking a deep breath, then spoke in a calm tone that only betrayed his shock when his voice cracked.
“Are you shur-” He coughed, clearing his throat, then tried again as if nothing happened. “Are you sure it was a dragon..?” It was the most scared that Fredrik had ever seen his father.
“Five eyes of different shapes and sizes, a head covered in jagged, uneven horns, three tails with blades on end, six legs of which two were hands and even a large pair of wings. He looked like a horse-sized version of Tranquil Waters and came in using complex and diverse magics after killing the bear hunting us. He turned a man’s head into mist with a pebble, ate the hearts of the wind attuned siblings, burnt the light mage alive and hunted down Roland, giving him the harshest fate of all. Believe me, it was a dragon.”
It took a while for his father to… well, function. He was frozen in shock for minutes, until finally he managed to gather his wits, putting on a thoughtful expression. “Tell me everything…” He said, almost like a whisper. Clearly the fact that a whole dragon passed through their territory and that he aggravated it enough to ransack his mansion was a wakeup call.
“There is not… much I can say. He spoke, quite well, with his own voice and no magic. His power was… Well, you remember how mauled some of the corpses were. He even killed the bear witchbeast chasing us… But that is not all. He killed everyone… well, everyone aside from Roland, and then even made a quick plan to escape.”
“A plan? Well, if it was smart enough to speak… But it should be far too young…” The worry Jan felt manifested as zaps bouncing over his grim expression, clearly uncertain on what to do from here… “Wait, Roland lived? Didn’t you say…”
“Yes, he did him worst because he lived, just barely… Some local young nobles hailing from anywhere between Zielenec, Krakow and Zakopane had a social hunting event happening in the area. It was the final day of the event when they heard my lightning and multiple loud roars. They weren’t originally thinking of annoying the local beast family, but used us as an excuse for some excitement. Well, they apparently stopped the dragon from finishing Roland. He told me to lie that the bear did this harm and that I managed to kill it. That’s why my armor was damaged to the point where even its enchantments failed, ruining themselves just to stop his claws from piercing through.”
Once again, Jan looked like he ate rotten food for the past week and Fredrik understood why. It was no secret to anyone that knew him that he prided himself in his own martial prowess. His own armor was worth about half of his mansion, his son’s matching that very same price. High quality steel, full plate armor with gold channels carved and melted into it, enchantments being carefully infused by the best wizards he could hire after selling one of the land titles he inherited from his grandfather in the Empire… To put it bluntly, his son’s armor was a piece of art and a military statement, which was very promptly ruined by a single, infant dragon that he had unknowingly antagonized…
“I… I can only thank the gods that you are a righteous boy.” More righteous than himself, clearly. “But, if this Roland boy lives…” He was stopped quickly by Fredrik before going on with his worries.
“He had his throat melted by the dragon, his wrists were cut by sharp blades and melted with acid for good measure, he had no way to tell anyone the truth… Even after his treatment, he showed no signs of getting better, just surviving longer than he should by virtue of his affinities and the medicine used. After his treatment it seemed like he would survive and slowly recover, but the next we woke up and he was dead. Not only that but he was reeking of death, his body already beginning to change… The other bodies weren’t much better and we didn’t have some proper flame, so they tossed them in a pit and left them to hopefully be eaten by the wildlife before…”
HIs father could only sigh in relief. Revenants prowling the world were never good, but at least they rarely spoke and even when they did, they had no coherence in their words. Fredrik did hope Roland wouldn’t come alive and hunt him, but even if he did, Jan was much more prepared to kill a vengeful monster than some boys his age play hunting.
“So, that was it? You met the dragon for a moment then it spared you and left? Nothing else troubling comes to mind?” His words made Fredrik think back to the night before Roland died… And the odd count of bodies in the pit, but before he could formulate his thoughts, Michal came in, panting as he put three broken but familiar horns on the table.
“Ha… hah… Finally figured out what these were… One of my men found these next to a house… Thought they came from some weird cow or something. Only reason I kept em this long was the wrong feeling I kept getting from them… Dragon horns. These were found the morning after our meeting with Edith. The dragon was right there, watching us.” That alone filled the room with dread all over again. Something that powerful should never be allowed to be stealthy, at least not in Frederik’s mind. He wondered if it was better or worse that he didn’t insist on going with the dragon to help Edith…
XXXXXX
It had been a long time since something stirred the old man from his rest. He slept for the past five years in this one quaint forest, in a grave he hid down below, using the local beasts as unwitting guards. And yet, those guards were dying. He ambled through the forest, now rudely awakened, and saw something interesting, namely death.
He passed close by a group that seemed to follow a trail towards his dead guards, but he didn’t care, for his scent would repulse the hounds too much to let others see him. He found the place with the most death, seeing mangled corpses and plenty of bloodshed. His lungs filled with the disgusting scent and he smiled. It had been too long.
He spoke his spell and his mana burst forth to obey his will. He observed the faint, illusionary outline of those now laying dead at his feet. Through that magic he saw what caused this death and was intrigued. A brutal showcase of draconic pride and might… He’d need to look for the critter, eventually. It would be incredible materials, but also a fair bit of trouble to deal with earnestly. But before he could even think of any of that, he was happy to have an immediate project looming.
He ignored the sight of one heavily burnt body getting up, looking at him with a pale, terrified expression, then running off to who knows where, to do who knows what. He didn’t care, for that man wasn’t a corpse, and any more thoughts of the living would leave a sour taste in his mouth. His eyes moved lower, eager to earnestly examine these victims, but then he heard the group returning, so he bid his time.
It was a lucky thing he did, because after the camp was made, inside a tent he saw the most beautiful thing yet, a corpse that was begging to be a corpse, but not allowed by others. In the darkness of the moonless night, he went into the dead man’s tent, smiled as the corpse looked at him with terror, then he carefully pushed one of his treasured gems down his ruined throat, ignoring his final struggle. Death was clinging to him already, as did hate, so his gem quickly pushed him over the edge, undoing the little healing he did receive, making him rot and then grow anew in a crueler design.
He left and waited, watching as six corpses were put into a pit the next morning, where the death mana could flourish. Once his corner of the world was empty, he got to work, expanding the new grave and using it as a laboratory. He weaved their deaths together, mangled their bodies to get the best results, mixed and matched pieces of a once living puzzle... It did annoy him that there were two missing cores, but he made up for it in different ways. In the end, a new revenant was born, an unholy amalgamate that stared at him with rage meant for another before walking away, crawling out through the dirt, then stepping through the snow as it followed its one twisted desire… Snow? He had worked much longer than he thought and now he was tired again. He hoped his creation would have fun and bring him something interesting from its hunt, but for now he needed to find a new grave to rest in. At least this was the first snowfall of the season so it shouldn’t impede his travel for long.
Comments
NoLifeNeeded
Well, all that's stated is a "heavily burnt body" so that should narrow it down greatly. The Light Sorcerer, who Heart only threw a fire based breath attack at as he was fleeing, before focusing on running after Roland, is the only one ho survived this properly, even if scarred.
Pedro Henrique
So two of them survived, for a given meaning of the word. The last one is some corpse golem revenant thing presumably controled by whatever is left of Roland's mind, but who was the first that left on its own?
NoLifeNeeded
"A corpse that was begging to be a corpse" is intended, in case you were worried about a typo. He sees Roland as a corpse even while he wasn't actually dead. As he said, he wasn't being allowed to be a corpse, unlike the one burnt body that got up and ran away on its own power because he survived, Roland was at death's door and this quirky old man doesn't really see the difference between death's door and death. And yeah, there's a reason Heart is very iffy about death and life magic. Two very esoteric things that just some guesswork is hardly enough to properly wield them. And the thing an experienced mage can do with these elements... yeah. I might do a world snippet on how exactly Jan stabilized the household and what he could do with the horns. Maybe.
MagicWafflez
[ a corpse that was begging to be a corpse ] I feel like one of those corpses should be something else~ well, thank god that jan isn't a suicidal idiot that wants to continue antagonizing heart. lol heart broke his armor so it'd be convincing, but that armor was a way bigger deal than expected~ it's *more* suspicious that something could fuck it up to that extent lol. well, they got 3 dragon horns that probably make up for the cost incured... but they're difficult to liquidate covertly... if they even *want* to... yeah they had to sell some art, but if this dragon survives to adulthood, they'll have some prestige pieces to show off. and if it doesn't, *then* they can sell them. thank god this sleepy undead guy is sleepy~ of course it's death magic, the one kind heart worries about lol~ Roland will probably pop up at the worst time and ruin everything but hey, at least the entire kingdom isn't after heart~
