Born a Monster

184 Servant of the Axe, 84 – Survival, Not Always Simple

Chapter Type: Conflict (versus others)

The Jarl and most of the town were north of the gate. I had been left behind to clean plates, dishes, table, and floor. I was in the middle of that when it became a moot point.

“Fish oil. Your order of fish oil.”

I blinked. True... we WERE out of fish oil; I suppose I’d need to learn new recipes to make use of it.

“Oops!” she said, dropping the barrel. The lid came off, and it got EVERYWHERE.

“Gyah, my eye!”

“Burn, godless heathens!” cried someone. I saw a torch arc into the room, and then it was hard to see anything.

“Burn, burn!” came the chant. Mostly women, but not all.

Well, THIS was entirely too familiar. I’d expected it to happen in the jarl’s grand hall, and in retrospect should have expected the same to happen to the meeting hall.

.....

Ignoring the fact that my left eye felt like it was on fire, I made my way through the actual flames to the fireplace.

[You have received 8 points of Thermal damage; after ability activation, 5 points has been received. You have 17/30 health points remaining.]

I took another five points getting inside and up the fireplace, even as the front of the building, apparently already soaked in fish oil, also went up in flames.

I coughed, and gagged and sneezed, surrounded by hot ashes as I climbed.

Thank you, grey-crested hawk, for the evolution of your lungs, able to process oxygen so much more efficiently. I gave myself a few seconds rest to gasp and hawk up phlegm streaked with grey and black.

It was eight to ten feet to the next roof over. Crap. The arctic hare evolution required knees that bent the other way. Well, running jump and...

[You have taken three points of Impact/Concussion damage. You have 9/30 health points remaining.]

Okay, time for a healing potion! I rifled through my inventory. The potion, I remembered now, was in my backpack. Back in the meeting hall.

Well that was just... no, focus. Escaping now.

I ran to the edge of the rooftop, and kept low, creeping along the edges. The next roof over was just too far.

I needed to eat a vulture or some other bird of my size; then I could evolve all the pieces independently and have a bird transformation for the next time that happened.

Becoming a goblin wouldn’t do me any good, not in this circumstance. The next closest transformation was – human.

Okay, I could work with that. I was three hundred forty biomass short, which wrote that off for now. But I added it to a System List called Short Term Goals. Next time. Survive this, and have that trick ready next time.

I saw a few people, but none in view of the wall I was going to have to descend.

I lowered myself to the street, sprinted across, and climbed two stories to the roof of the next house. Again, to the edge. Okay, NOW I had a clear path of escape, toward the western wall.

Which, if I dared to angle southward, would take me by the building with the blue-tinted lanterns, the public pleasure house.

I dared.

#

The doors and windows of the building were broken inward; clearly I had arrived too late. Okay, breathe. Breathing in, breathing out.

There were people on the road, and I was obviously seen; how many reptilian visages were on the island? Yup, just me. None of them moved to stop me, though, which I counted as a plus.

I passed the gate guards.

“Shouldn’t you be going out the NORTHERN gate?” asked one.

“I need to gather some herbs.” I said. “Then I’ll be joining the jarl.”

There was a horn blown near the north gate.

“Best be outside then. We need to close and bar this one.”

“Wait, we don’t...” began the other one. “Why are you drawing your sword, Hrolf?”

“Because, you stupid fool. Help me close the gate or I have to kill you.”

I ran outside; they closed the gate.

Well, THAT was another something I should have predicted. At least there were no archers on the walls.

Wait. There were no archers on the walls HERE. That meant they were... oh.

I made haste north and west; I’d have to gather the herbs I needed fast, and that meant manually.

I didn’t have the four hours to attempt to brew a healing potion the slow way. At least I had the reagents, I told myself as I made my way east.

There was a desperate skirmish going on near the north gate, as the survivors of the household (which looked like most of them) forced their way northward among arrows that fell on both sides.

Whatever had set them off, it had come before all the fires were even laid out. What HAD that jackass done or said, to upset this many people?

Or had this been something that had already been just about to explode, and we just came along at the wrong time?

Or maybe the right time? Had THIS been Vaine’s plan, all along?

I tripped over a tree root and went sprawling. Maybe I should focus more on running?

Then, an arrow passed by from my left to my right. What, were the clansfolk getting in on this, too?

A quick look over at where the arrow had come from confirmed that they were. Or, at least, that one was.

There was no way I could escape; not across that much open plains; he’d move to the edge of the wood and snipe me from there.

If I charged him, I’d be hit long before getting close to him.

I mean, I had a shield... I charged. It was the only way to survive, foolish as it was.

[You have taken 12 points of piercing damage; after armor, 6 points has been received. You have 3/30 health remaining.]

Okay, that was it... I was really too terrified to know if I had any regrets or not.

The next arrow...

The next arrow...

The next arrow never came. I sensed CONTENT wafting from where the archer had been.

Puffball announced.

#

I collapsed to my knees. If I’d served a god, I’d have been praying to them, instead of thanking almost every spirit I knew. I even thanked Vaine.

I ruffled ears and gave thanks to creatures about the size of my forearm.

White Mask sent.

They looked at me, and at their mother.

she admitted.

“Whoof.” I said, not even half a minute later. Having a fatigue gauge limited to my current health was just...

I vomited the remains of breakfast. I had almost DIED, and I was about to do something STUPID and it was even more stupid because of my lack of health. One of these times, I was going to get knocked out and just not wake up again.

I was going to DIE.

I don’t know WHAT fired my resolve. Everything was coming apart. There were too many angry people, too many knives and swords and axes.

I was going to die, but I was going to complete this impossible quest first.

I kept moving, trying to get behind the enemy on the muddy track of land that might some day come to be a road.

I saw Odmund Kampen, arrows sticking out of his back, blood trickling from half a dozen wounds, fall. His two remaining huscarl gathered around him, and were swarmed.

One fell, and then the other. But they did not fall alone.

[Quest goal achieved: Slay Odmund Kampen; five quest points will be awarded. Finish quest to receive reward.]

Yay, team us, I guess. Today was shaping up to be a busy day.

I took a knee, used my mace to prop myself up. I was beyond tired. I could just roll up there on the torn earth and...

“There, the little one, let’s get him.”

Three muscular, if lean, boys (one of them old enough to shave) stepped along the road. They had an axe, a sharpened butcher knife, and two thirds of an arming sword.

Wait... I knew that sword.

“Willie?” it wasn’t his name, but it’s how I remember him. “Willie, just go away, this doesn’t need to happen.”

“Praise Vidar, vengeance is mine!”

He began to pick up speed, to charge me. Behind him, knife looked over his shoulder, and motioned axe back into the woods on the right side of the road.

.....

Movement speed is based on your Might statistic. Tomas Istre had more than Willie did. Even before he could reach me, Tomas had stabbed him in the lower back, and kept running. There weren’t many of the household warriors left, but the crowd wasn’t following closely enough to catch up by this point.

Somehow, they didn’t even catch me as I turned and ran alongside my quest-enemies.

#

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