8: Legs

"I'm more than certain you chose the worst possible job available."

A line of thirteen people trudged through the forest in mostly silence, outside of a particularly nervous soldier who whispered to his senior, the two positioned at the back of the line.

"Miud, you're just being nervous. There's ten of us, we're all well equip and we only have to protect three people. What's a little trip into the forest really going to do?"

Miud grimaced, clutching his spear a little tighter. He glanced around the forest, swivelling his neck to get a full scan of the area around them before going back to his senior.

"I've heard stories, Telhin. A lot of terrible stories, although a lot of them could easily be lies."

"And?"

"I'm scared the stories that are real. Even if only one in a thousand of those stories are true, that means there are still hundreds of monsters out there."

Telhin chuckled loud enough that the noble's assistant turned to give him a deadly glare, although the old man didn't seem particularly bothered by the anger of a man who was half his weight. Once he had gotten his laughter out of him, he looked cheerfully towards the assistant until he angrily turned back to look at his parchment; despite going into one of the most dangerous locations in the continent, the assistant was still stuck doing the noble's finances.

"I mean, you're not wrong. Walking in here is a gamble, but we have pretty good odds all things considered. What I'm interested in..."

Telhin paused to take a peek over the shoulders of the other mercenaries between him and the middle of the pack.

"... is WHY we're here."

Miud did the same, although he struggled a little more to get a glance at their contractor. A plump, fat and short noble in his late twenties with greasy hair and a gaudy sense of fashion. Miud was surprised that the noble had the stamina to keep up with the mercenaries pace for so long, but he would keep that a secret until their job was over. Besides the noble was a moderately attractive woman; she had cute short hair and was decently healthy, but what stuck out to everyone was how tall she was. She towered over Miud, being almost a ten centimetres taller, only being shorter than Telhin and one other mercenary in the group. She was the main reason progress was slow; every half hour she would stop the whole group so she could rest, which meant that the group was only actually travelling for three quarters of the trip. The question that Telhin had asked bouncing around Miud's head, he continued marching forward, now slightly distracted by the possibilities.

Five hours since departure, the group finally came to a stop. They had reached a small gap in the trees where there was enough space to build a small house. The mercenaries all sat along the outside of the clearing, drinking water or starting on their rations. Miud sat next to a storage cart that two of the mercenaries had been forced to push along the way. Despite the pair getting extra pay, Miud wasn't envious of their position; navigating the cart through the roots and tall grass didn't seem appealing to him in the slightest. His curiosity getting the best of him, he stood up reached out and opened the top lid to see what was inside and was disappointing to find nothing.

Most of the mercenaries ate in silence, quietly watching on as the noble and the woman flirted in the middle of the clearing. In one glance, Miud could tell that Telhin was as uncomfortable as he was. It progressed for five or so minutes until eventually, the noble brought out a ring.

"Linya, will you marry me?"

Although it was obvious that he had tried to whisper it, his excitement had brought his voice to a volume loud enough that everyone could hear. Now the two mercenaries that had been chatting were also quiet, with the only sounds being the forest around the and the anxious chewing of stale bread. For almost ten seconds the group remained silent, everyone other than Linya being completely still, as if they were frozen in time.

"I don't think I'm ready yet."

Her words cut through the silence like a carefully maintained blade, with her tone being sharp enough to kill despite her trying her best to sound genuine. Miud quietly groaned, his remaining sliver of enthusiasm for the expedition escaping his lips. For another few seconds, everyone remained still, until the noble raised his hand to signal for an attack.

"Sever her neck. Anyone participating gets twenty silver."

At first, not a single mercenary moved from the stop, expecting a different command or for the noble to joke out into laughter. Linya laughed nervously, the only person making any sound, reality slowly closing in on her. Eventually three mercenaries stepped up, each holding their weapons finely tuned for murdering monsters high into the air. They each stepped forward at the same time, slowly but steadily, their eyes focused on their prey.

"No, no, nononononono."

The situation had finally dawned on Linya.

"Please, it's not fair."

She directed her cries towards the men who approached, but they responded with silence and a step forward. They were almost within a comfortable swinging distance.

"I'll... I'll marry you. Please, make them stop."

She turned towards the noble and pulled lightly on her shirt, her legs limp and her body trembling like a tree in a typhoon.

"No."

As the noble answered, an axe sliced cleanly through Linya's neck and it fell onto the grass with a soft thud, rolling a few times along the ground like child's ball. The group remained in silence for a few more seconds before the noble's assistance spoke, putting away his work for the first time in the expedition.

"Cut off her legs and put them in the cart. Grab the head too. Leave everything else behind, we won't be needing it."

Without a word, the three mercenaries who had stepped up went to work. Two chopped cleanly through a leg each and the trio placed a piece of her body into the cart before going back to their positions in the circle.

"Ten more minutes until we move out. We've got to catch up to schedule."

The assistant raised his parchment once more, completely engrossed in whatever numbers were written onto it. The noble sombrely approached the cart, looking into the opening on the top and sobbing.

+++

By time they began to return, it became clear to Miud what was really going on; the expedition was to loot corpses and for some strange reason, take their severed head and legs back with them. They ran across the bodies of three soon after the incident with Linya, which ended in four additional legs and two heads being added to their collection. The third body was too mauled to bring back with them; something had ended up impaled into his face and one of his legs had been ripped off already. After another two hours without success, it was decided that they were to turn back and follow the path they had taken.

"Thanks for covering for me, Telhin."

Miud's senior turned towards him, seeming more serious than usual.

"It's fine if you're still a little squeamish. It took me a while to get used to blood too. Plus, I'd rather not have my cute little pupil stain his new gloves with some nasty rotten flesh.

Miud punched his senior in the arm, which Telhin nodded at. He deserved that.

"Anyway, I'm glad that nightmare is over."

Telhin raised an eyebrow towards Miud's remark, a sombre grin creeping up onto his bearded face.

"I hope you're not letting your guard down. You were the one who was so paranoid about the monsters in the forest, weren't you?"

"After seeing... that thing... I'm a little less scared of the forest. I wouldn't say I've put my guard down though."

Telhin slapped Miud heartily on the back, now grinning from ear to ear.

"I've seen a lot of stuff in my years and that's been up there on the disturbing side of things. I'm glad you're still with us."

Miud chuckled nervously in response before moving his eyes back towards the forest around him.

+++

"Halt!"

The order came from the middle of the group, the whiny voice of the assistance being strenuous on Miud's ears. Quickly, they formed into the second formation; Telhin and Miud moved towards the side of the noble while the four mercenaries who were at the front approached the danger. Quickly, the four made their way to the object on the ground before raising their spears around them, back to back, looking into the forest. Quickly taking a peek, Miud could recognise what was on the ground instantly; a corpse, fresh and a clear sign of danger.

The remaining six approached the corpse slowly, each mercenary looking out carefully for any monsters but failing to spot anything. As they came closer, Miud sneaked a better look at the corpse, his curiosity getting the better of him. It was a man, around his early twenties, wearing a hat and coat made of what looked like bear fur and a white loincloth. His arms were ripped messily, with pieces of bone and flesh scattered about onto the withered grass beneath him.

"Alright, one of you cut him up. Everyone else be on guard. We're picking up the pace."

The mercenary who had severed Linya's neck turned around and stepped back, raising his axe in silence. As he held his position, the other three mercenaries quietly shuffled around him, covering for their reduced numbers. After a few seconds, the mercenary began to swing downwards, until a dark streak of something jumped out of the trees and latched itself to the mercenary next to him.

Grappling to his face, the mass of tentacled muffled out the screams of the mercenary, who almost immediately dropped his weapon in shock. As the other mercenaries turned, they looked on in shock and confusion, not entirely sure what to do. After a few seconds of muffled screams, one of the mercenaries swung his axe towards his comrades head. The tentacled parted and his axe met the other mercenaries face, cutting deep enough that he died instantly, the side of his skull split and brain beginning to leak out once he hit the floor. The tentacled creature immediately jumped to the assailant and latched onto the side of its stomach, which now had a noticeable glow coming from a flame in the centre of it. The second mercenary screamed in pain as a burning sensation began to eat away at his side, almost immediately collapsing to his knees and begging for help. The mercenary who had been about to cut off the man's head readied himself and threw his weapon to the floor, lunging towards the creature but was met with the leg of the 'corpse', which had sprung to life and kicked in upper chest, halting his movement. The tentacled creature leapt towards the mercenary who still stood, wrapping itself around its neck as the second mercenary desperately attempted to put out the ghostly blue flame that clung to his skin, searing his flesh and growing by feeding off his body. The third mercenary grasped at the creature around his neck but failed to wrench it off of his body and he began wheezing and choking before collapsing to the floor, dead. The final mercenary, who scrambled to get up from the kick from a 'corpse' was met with another sweep of the leg. Within a moment he found himself in a leg lock around his neck before he was pummelled from behind with another man's skull. After being bashed five times in the back of the neck, he collapsed, either knocked out or dead.

The man who was still armless slowly stood up while the tentacled creature 'waddled' its way next to him, becoming larger in size and more translucent. Its blue flame danced in the cold winter air, with it obviously having grown in size compared to before. Miud, who had finally taken his eyes off the gruesome scene that had occurred in the last ten seconds, first glanced towards the noble and then his mentor. The noble was shivering in fear, taking unconscious steps backwards until he bumped into the cart that had been left on its own to stand upright. Telhin on the other hand stood tall and strong, but Miud felt like his eyes told a different story.

"Get back, you monster!"

The noble's words seemed somewhat brave, but his voice cracking and his sudden high pitch said otherwise.

Without a word, the two took one step forward.

The noble quickly scampered behind the two mercenaries who had pulled the cart, pointing at the pair from behind them.

"Get rid of them, now!"

The two mercenaries looked towards the noble with a look of both annoyance and exhaustion. Miud felt like he understood what they were thinking. What were they meant to do against a threat like that?

Without a word, the two took one step forward. The tentacled monster jumped into the air towards the man and shrunk, landing neatly onto his forehead as a ball while he looked up towards the sky.

Without warning, the noble began a mad dash directly away from the assailants, in a sprint that was honestly impressive for a man of his physique. Before he could get far, the man took a final step forward and rocked his head forward with enough force that it launched the tentacled mass towards the noble, leaving his forehead slightly singed in the process. The tentacled creature quickly landed on the ground behind the noble and bounced forwards towards him, latching itself to his back and enveloping his flesh in flame. As the noble ran off into the forest screaming, the tentacled mass returned, this time preventing anyone else from trying to escape.

"Hi. I'm Nem."

As the strange man spoke, he extended out a stump, which Miud swore had grown longer since he had last seen it. Telhin stepped forward and lowered his sword, placing it on the ground. He knelled with one leg up as if the strange man was royalty, looking up with the same look in his eyes as before.

"I don't care if you take my life, I just want you to spare him."

Telhin's finger pointed directly at Miud. For a moment the pupil was shocked, but as soon as it wore off he quickly jumped forward and dropped his weapon next to his senior, knelling in the exact same way.

"I would like you to spare him instead."

Nem seemed somewhat confused on what was, but after the tentacled creature clicked and groaned a few times from behind the group, he seemed to return to his original task at hand.

"I'll need you and you to stay behind. I can't be having the bloodied in a peaceful future."

Nem pointed towards Telhin and then the assistant, making sure he was as clear as possible towards who he was pointing. Still knelling on the ground, powerless and afraid, Miud's heart sank.

The three mercenaries walked away from the screams that echoed behind them. The assistant seemed like he was most definitely afraid to die, but Miud could tell that Telhin hadn't let out a single sound. Each of them empty handed outside of the money the could take from the nobles pockets and Miud with his mentor's sword, they marched onward. Out of the forest and into civilisation, where they would all have a very, very long drink.