Chapter 17 - Eagle (+18)

Eldric said goodbye this morning, to fulfill the mission he was given.

We headed towards the Last Hearth, the headquarters of the Umber house, and instead of taking the Kingsroad, we decided to go through Wolfswood.

On the journey, we came across something that would change the worldview we live in.

[ !!!WARNING!!!, SENSITIVE CONTENT FROM NOW ON OUT, SCENES OF R*PE, GORE, AND TORTURE ]

We saw one of mankind's oldest pleasures, cruelty.

As we were walking through the dense forest of Wolfswood, Kevin appeared in our path saying that he spotted a camp just ahead.

A few meters away, we spotted the camp, but not only that.

The camp was on the side of a small mountain, and piercing it was a cave, and in the doorway of the cave were some wagons, possibly the result of robberies.

Three men stood at the entrance, talking and laughing, possibly on guard.

But what disgusted us the most was the pile of corpses beside the wagons, several corpses of women, men, and children.

All the women, and children were naked, clearly victims of abuse.

"Control yourself, as difficult as it may be, control your emotions and act with wisdom and caution, keep these images in your minds, this is what we are fighting against, the world is not a gentle place, we will be faced with the same scenes or worse from now on, show no mercy to humans like these, if they can be called that, they are the disease of these lands, and we will be the cure" I said.

Everyone's expression emitted anger and sadness, Sigurd held the handle of his axe so tightly that I thought it would break.

Perseus was trembling all over, his eyes bloodshot, he was biting his mouth so hard I could almost hear his teeth breaking.

Astrid emitted only coldness and hatred in her eyes.

Rhoslyn closed her fists so tightly that her nails tore into the flesh of her hand, and blood began to trickle out.

Kevin's face was imperceptible, as he hid it beneath a hood, but it was clearly filled with rage.

I tried my best to keep my emotions in control, but all of this was also new to me, as much as I had been instructed in how the law of the jungle worked, I had never encountered such corruption.

The smell in the air, didn't help the situation at all, the smell of wet woods mixed with the smell of blood and putrefaction.

"Get ready, let's purify the world of these vermin." I spoke.

Everyone drew their weapons and prepared for the attack.

"Kevin, how many can you eliminate at once?" I asked.

"Two" Kevin replied, with anger overflowing in his voice.

"Okay, on my signal kill the two on the left, I'll take the one on the right" I spoke.

Kevin nodded to me, I grabbed a throwing knife attached to my leather armor, and got a little closer to the bandits.

I used the shadows of the trees for cover, and got close enough for the knife to reach.

With my left arm stretched forward and my right arm beside my head, with the knife in hand, I made a count sign with my left hand, 3...2...1

At the end of the count, I threw the knife at the throat of the bandit on the right, as soon as the knife made contact with his throat, two arrows pierced the skull of the other two.

"Good job Kevin, let's go into the cave, and remember, control your emotions." I spoke to them in a serious tone.

Entering the cave, we could hear female screams and cries, I unsheathed my sword, and prepared myself for whatever might come.

"Wait here, I'll see what's ahead" I said.

Going deeper, the screams and cries became louder, and I held my sword even tighter.

After a few meters, I reached a spacious place, the place looked like a slaughterhouse, with more bodies and blood scattered about, to the right of the entrance were some wooden cages with women and children trapped.

There were a total of 15 men inside, some drinking, some raping, in the center was a man sitting on a chair in the center, he was dirty looking, with scars all over his face.

"Come drink and fuck boss, Hahahahaa" spoke one of the thugs, to the man sitting in the chair in the center.

After getting the information I needed, I turned back to the group.

"There are 15 men inside, everyone is distracted, it's the best time to attack, it's the biggest number we have faced so far, so be careful, and kill them as fast as possible, don't kill the man sitting in the chair in the center, I have something special for him"

Reaching where the bandits were, I turned to Sigurd and spoke:

"Now is a good time to take the mushroom" I spoke.

Following my advice, Sigurd takes from his pocket a vial of liquid and takes it, after a few seconds, his pupils dilated, his breathing became heavier and he started to emit a growl.

Sigurd is in Berserk mode.

'Now I have become death, the destroyer of worlds'

"Let's go"

We quickly entered, heading straight towards the bandits.

Kevin entered already shooting arrows at the heads of two bandits.

I went straight to their chief, slamming the hilt of my sword into his neck.

"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!!!" Shouted one of the bandits.

After hearing the man's shout, three of them near the entrance tried to find their weapons, but Sigurd was faster, with a swing of his axe he cut off the head of one, threw his axe into the chest of another and tore the trachea of the last one with his hands.

Perseus ran towards two of them, jamming his sword into their hearts, pulled the sword from the man's chest, and drove the blade into the other's eyes, blood, eye fluid and brain matter dripped from his eyes.

Rhoslyn with the dexterity of a shadow-cat, slashed the throats of two others.

Astrid with her shield and sword in hand went to the guy who managed to grab his sword, making a vertical cut with the intention of splitting it in two, but Astrid dodged the attack with her shield, and jammed her sword under the man's armpits, his death was slow and agonizing.

Kevin shot two more arrows, one hitting the inside of the mouth of the screaming one, and the other hitting precisely the ear hole of the man who was searching for his sword among the bodies lying on the ground.

I ran at the last two, decapitated one while thrusting the sword from his chin to the top of his head.

The whole action lasted about 2 minutes.

"Help all the survivors, treat their wounds, water and food" I ordered, even though I didn't need it, for, Perseus went directly to them.

I grabbed the leader of the bandits and pulled him by the hair out of the cave, with Sigurd following me, while the rest provided medical attention.

"Get a rope," I told Sigurd.

I stood the man up on a rock, Sigurd brought the rope and tied the man's hands and feet so that he had his legs and arms spread.

I went in front of him and slapped him in the face to wake him up.

"Wake up, Motherfucker"

"What the fuck, let me go!" Experneou the man said.

"You're going to have to stay awake for this, so don't die first," I said in a cold tone.

I walked up to his back, took my knife and ripped his clothes off.

I walked towards the burning fire, and let the blade heat up.

After a few minutes, the blade started to turn red, I took it from the fire and went back to the man.

I came up behind him and cut his back from top to bottom with the boiling blade, the man started screaming like a pig, but I didn't stop, after cutting, with my hands, I started to open his back, until I reached the spine.

"Axe" I spoke.

Sigurd without blinking passed me his one-handed axe.

Taking the axe I began to strike from his coccyx to his rib cage, separating each rib from his spine, with my hands I opened his ribs in a way that resembles wings, I stuck my hand in until I felt his lungs and pulled them out.

The man's scream was so loud, that all the people still alive in the cave began to come out, to see what was happening, when they saw what he was doing, some began to vomit, but most remained watching, with a smile on their lips, as if all the pain he had caused them, was slowly being repaid.

"Those who wish revenge, take a handful of salt, and throw it on their backs." I spoke.

Slowly, each one took a handful of salt that was in a barrel and went to the dying man, throwing it on his back.

The man couldn't stop screaming from the pain, but no one here felt an ounce of remorse, hen all ended, the man died in pain, I looked at Sigurd and spoke:

"Tie him to the trees, that same way."

"Those who bring destruction, suffering and death where they pass, will taste the blood eagle."