A Fight to the Death

Jorgen and Dean dismounted and walked into the ravine. As they got closer to the source of the pale smoke, Jorgen felt his steps getting heavier and heavier. The sound of walking on the grass piles was as harsh as a saw cutting raw meat. He imagined that he would only see two corpses. He put his hand on the hilt of the dagger, pulled out half of it and put it back into the sheath, as if afraid that it would not obey him at a critical moment.

"Always take the initiative." Jorgen recalled Sir Hackman's teaching, but this time Jalo had grasped the initiative from beginning to end. But now there was no way back.

On the left side of the ravine was a cliff, and a gust of wind blew straight down from above, bringing a smell of decay. Jorgen did not observe Dean's expression, thinking that he was suffering similar psychological torture. They didn't speak either. After passing through the woods for a while, they saw the person they were looking for where the smoke rose.

In the center of an open space was a cluster of dissipating pale smoke, the remnants of a signal flare. Beside the pale smoke, Dalia and Shelley were tied back to back to a pillar. The rope wrapped around their necks, waists and ankles at the same time, their hands crossed behind their backs, and their mouths gagged with cloth strips. Above the pillar hung a crescent-shaped blade more than three feet wide. The blade was pulled by a rope, the rope stretched tight, and the end was tied to a gray package on the ground containing something unknown.

Jorgen's eyes widened, as if sensing the darkness around him closing in. This was an execution stand. Once the rope pulling the blade at the top broke or the heavy gray package was removed, the huge crescent blade would fall down and kill Dalia and Shelley at the same time.

The two women saw them but did not struggle or cry for help. Because the distance was still far, Jorgen could not see their eyes, but immediately sensed that they did not react violently because they had been tied like this for quite a long time, without food or water, and their strength was almost exhausted. Not to mention the weapon hanging above their heads that could easily cut a person in half.

Jorgen couldn't stay calm. The danger that Dean sensed, he didn't sense. He rushed forward, even without listening to Dean's "Wait". The calmness he had shown for a long time and the forced suppression of his true feelings inside made him a rope twisted too tightly. Now this rope finally broke.

Jorgen wanted to rescue the two immediately. After all, there were less than 30 meters between him and the execution stand. He did glance at the ground in front of the execution stand first to confirm that there were no visible traps, and imagined that if Jalo suddenly kills out halfway, he would try his best to resist. But he estimated wrong.

When he was halfway to the execution stand, Jorgen suddenly felt something poke his right thigh, then heard the piercing sound of iron piercing the mud. He was forced to stop. Looking down, he saw a spear-like weapon of more than one meter pierce through his thigh, then stab deep into the ground.

It was a pain Jorgen had never experienced before, a kind of unbearable pain, without mental preparation for the intense psychological blow. He seemed to see his thigh muscles and nerves twisted into a mess. The spears were unevenly covered with barbs, hooked into the muscles and difficult to pull out, not to mention the other end stabbed deep into the ground. His face turned pale, his vision darkened, but he still had to use his left leg to support himself hard to prevent his body from leaning down - that would immediately cripple his right leg, or directly extend the torn wound to the femoral artery.

"I thought you were a man who would calmly avoid danger before taking action. It seems I was wrong."

With this voice heard for the first time, Jorgen saw Jalo jump down from the cliff behind the execution stand. That was not a very concealed hiding place, which made Jorgen have to curse his own recklessness. How stupid do you have to be to be subdued by the enemy before the battle even began?

Jalo stood in front of the execution stand. His only left arm was unusually sturdy, and it was this left arm that threw the spear at Jorgen. At his waist hung a curved knife, like a giant weapon hanging on the execution stand, remelted and reduced in size.

Jorgen saw Dean blocking in front of him, pulling out his twin daggers. He felt that Dean was forcibly staring at Jalo and not letting his eyes move to the tortured Dalia. But Dalia was looking at him, tears rolling down her dusty face. The cloth strip on her mouth rose and fell violently because she wanted to speak but couldn't make a sound.

This is their reunion after four years of separation, Jorgen thought, such a mess. I could have prevented the situation from being so bad. I'm sorry for them.

Of course, and Shelley. Jorgen's eyes met hers, though he didn't want to. Two seconds later he had to look away, because he felt Shelley was expressing accusation and disappointment in him - though that was not the case.

"Finally met, Dean." Jalo said. "I still remember your look now. Just like when you threw me down the valley years ago. Like a naughty child who wants to do bad things but can't make up his mind, huh."

"Let them go," Dean said, "then we'll settle it. This is between you and me."

"Tsk, the arrogance hasn't changed. I'm not just going to settle with you, I'm also going to settle with the confident detective behind you. To be honest, he's given me a lot of trouble. You're my main course today, he's dessert, understand?"

Jorgen reached for the hilt of the dagger but found his fingers almost unable to close together. The wound on his leg was rapidly consuming his strength. Hearing Jalo's insulting words, he could only try his best not to get too angry, because the first time he lost his reason allowed the spear to pierce his right leg, the second time he lost his reason might cost him his life.

"I didn't want to do those things to you. It was Panthonia who forced me."

"Don't worry. After killing you, I will naturally go to deal with him. Only it will require more preparation, and it must be combined with the great cause of our Syndicate organization, but this does not mean I will let you live another day." "I lit the signal flare where you fell, you know. I hoped you could be saved."

"What? You want to 'admit your mistake' after I've been betrayed for so many years? I've almost forgotten what it's like to have my right arm. If you think you can spare us that way, then you're pathetic."

Jorgen understood that Dean did not say these words to beg Jalo. Dean was just confessing the sins he had committed as a youth. This was voluntary and did not require the approval of others. He would never avoid a fight with Jalo.

"Later I went to where you fell, found no body, no sign of wild wolves coming. Knowing you might really be alive, I was really happy at the time."

"If you have anything else to say, you can say it in hell later. Don't worry, you'll have company soon."

"No, that's all I wanted to say. It's time to end this."

Jorgen could hear the calmness in Dean's voice from never before. This feeling was so strongly expressed in Dean today. Today, he was ready to kill the first person in his life, even though that person had died once eighteen years ago and completely transformed.

"Oh, wait, these nostalgic words almost made me forget something."

Jalo took a few steps back and stood in front of Dalia, raising his curved knife.

"Don't move," he said, "or she'll die before you. I could slit her throat now, but after hearing your honest apology, I've decided to give you a chance. You think this execution stand is for what? Let's just say this isn't my impromptu invention, but the most commonly used thing in our organization when executing traitors."

As soon as he finished speaking, he came to the rope pulling the blade at the top of the execution stand and stabbed the tip of the curved knife into the package tied to the rope, then pulled it out. Trickles of fine sand spilled out of the torn package onto the ground.

At that moment, Jorgen's heart almost stopped.

The gray package was a sandbag. As the sand gradually spilled out, the package's restraint on the rope weakened, and the blade at the top of the execution stand would fall and split the person tied to the pillar.

"Understand? With this torture device, our executions can be varied, and sometimes we use it for interrogation. This is my mercy to you. Try your best to kill me before enough sand leaks out."

Dalia and Shelley knew what was happening. Their weak bodies began to struggle, and their overly anxious and violent breathing indicated another crisis - they might suffocate to death before the blade fell from having the cloth strips inhaled too deeply.

"You bastard, you..." Jorgen uttered meaningless curses. He had gradually adapted to the pain in his leg, and the wound did not bleed too much, but now seeing this scene made his brain feel sick and dizzy again.

"I have nothing more to say either." Jalo pulled out his curved knife with his left hand. "As you wish, Dean. Let's finish this."

Dean looked back at Jorgen, then rushed up. The sharp clash of blades erupted immediately between him and Jalo.

Perhaps the best case was that Dean defeated Jalo and then rescued Dalia and Shelley. Then everything would be over, clean and neat. But Jorgen understood the meaning of the last look Dean left him: be prepared, once I fail, everything will be in your hands.

Jorgen took a deep breath, trying to calm down and forget about his restricted right leg, then reached out to try and grasp the hilt of the dagger. After several attempts, his fingers were finally able to close smoothly. He didn't like his fate being in the hands of others, but now all he could do was watch this duel and be prepared. Must not make a second mistake.