Chapter 34

Auron attacked the hundred men, aiming the final blow towards the Tattered Prince. He swiveled left and right, slashing and stabbing his enemies.

After an hour of fighting, five soldiers are the only ones left aside from the Tattered Prince. Their morale has spiraled down long ago as they held their swords shaking thinking what kind of monster have they offended.

Auron was panting hard but his determination to see it through can be seen on his face.

He slowly approach the Tattered Prince and the five soldiers while they looked at him in fear.

It looks like they already gave up resisting cause they dropped their swords on the ground accepting their fate.

The Tattered Prince sighed in defeat. He's already old so he accepted his death quite easily.

He stared at Auron for a while and said, "It's an honor to die by your hand. With your combat skills, you can easily defeat the first sword of Braavos."

The soldiers made way for him, and when he stopped in front of the Tattered Prince, he said, "You'd be surprised, I already kicked his ass before coming in Pentos."

The Tattered Prince nodded and took a deep breath. Closing his eyes, he said, "Do it. Let me rest."

Without hesitation, Auron swung his sword striking the Tattered Prince's neck precisely. His head rolled on the floor stopping at his feet.

He turned his attention towards the five soldiers left who were tiredly kneeling waiting for their death.

He was about to finish them off when a sudden thought came up to him. If he wipe them out to the last person, then who's gonna be the witness of this unbelievable feat he just made?

After some careful thought, he decided to spare the remaining soldiers who will live to tell the tale.

"I will spare you five on a condition that you will spread in all of the free cities in Essos what happened here and what caused it. Do you agree?"

The five soldiers cried in tears with a new lease of life when they heard Auron will spare them.

"We will, Storyteller. We will make sure to make it known throughout Essos so you shall get all the glory you deserve."

"Hey quit the flattery, I'm not buying it. But let me warn you, if I hear something bad about me, you know what will happen, right?"

"Y-yes, we won't do anything stupid."

"Good, go on then and leave your gear and sword behind. You're no longer a Windblown."

The five soldiers hurriedly took off their armors before asking Auron for his permission to leave. With a nod, Auron shoo them away as he watched them leave and disappeared in the darkness of the night.

His work wasn't done yet because there's a pile of loot waiting for him.

He pulled each dead body towards the clearing and he pile them up like a log. He separated each officers body cutting off their heads. Then he put them into a spike displaying it around the clearing. The most prominent one was the head of Tattered Prince place in a the central spike with his body sitting at the base of the same spike.

He collected lots of gold coins that totalled thirty thousand. He kept the lute and arakh with him.

It took him four hours to do all this resulting him becoming drained. He rested in his position which is infront of the pile of bodies. He sat there as he couldn't move his body anymore due to the overwhelming stress in his body.

He leaned against his arakh and he didn't even noticed that he fell asleep. He wasn't worried for any wild beasts coming to him as the corpses behind him was enough to deter them. Animals will instinctively steer away from this place because of too much smell of blood. Instead of feast, it will look more like a trap to them when they smell it from the distance. In their minds, this place must be the territory of a ferocious beast who was enjoying his hunt.

--

Aidana was getting nervous ever since the pub owner found where she was staying at since there were only few inns in the city.

He knew that Aidana and her men are companions of the Storyteller so he let them know what happened last night the other day out of good will.

Learning that Auron has gone off to fight a whole army by himself, she became restless. She didn't know what to do. Hating the feeling of being helpless, she made up her mind to do something even if she have to beg and sacrifice herself to those lustful men of Windblown just to get Auron back.

She informed her ten guards of what she's going to do. The guards as loyal as ever insist to accompany her.

Then she went to the pub to ask for the location of Windblown camp.

"Moonshadow."

"Hello, I'm here to inquire the location of Windblown Camp."

The pub owner signed and said, "You do realize that you maybe sending yourself to your own downfall. You have to brace yourself, he's probably dead by now."

"I am. I'm determined to get him. If he's dead, I want to see his corpse and retrieve it."

"Sigh, it's really a pity. Very well, I will come with you and lead you to the place."

"Thank you, here take this. It isn't much but that's all I have."

"I don't want your money girl! He's also considered my friend and I want to get his body to honor him for his passing."

"Thank you, we must make haste then."

The pub owner nodded and said "Let's go, I will close down the pub today."

When they went out and the pub owner was locking the pub, they were seen by people who frequent the establishment. It was the same people who helps Auron tie up the Windblown soldiers.

"Why are you locking up? Something happened?"

The pub owner grunted and said, "Yeah, I'm going to accompany the Moonshadow to recover the Storyteller's corpse from those cutthroats."

The people went silent. After a few minutes, one of them said, "Can I come with you?"

The pub owner was surprised.

"I also wanna see his corpse to pay my respects."

"Me too, I want to come."

While they were clamoring, the farmer coincidentally pass by riding his mule. He approached them curious of what the commotion was. Then he heard they wanted to get the Storyteller's body from Windblown Company so immediately wanted to come along.

"Let me go with you. This mule I'm riding came back this morning. If we want to get his corpse back, we need a wagon to carry him. Please wait for me." The farmer said.

Eventually, the pub owner nodded and waited for the farmer to get his wagon. It only took quarter of an hour to get it so Aidana and the pub owner started their journey.

They did not encounter any trouble along the way. Strangely, as they got closer to their destination, the animals they came across became less and less, even the most common birds were gone.

When they arrived at the foot of the hill after a day of travel, it was there that they smelled a thick stench of blood. Just behind the hill was the camp of Windblown company and they didn't expect such strange occurence.

They braced themselves for any unexpected encounter or any ambush waiting for them. They went around the hill and another strange they noticed upon the place. It was too quiet. The tents were there, and the supplies were there too but there was no movement.

Instead of sending one person to scout or inform the Windblown company they arrived, they decided to go together instead.

They entered the camp and they noticed there signs of fighting like one tent was ripped, some equipments were scattered on the muddy soil and the blood marks on the ground.

When they arrived at the clearing, they could swear it was the most horrifying thing they've ever saw and the most unbelievable moment they will never forget in their entire lives.

"Oh my gods...." Aidana exclaimed.

"What in the world happened here?!"

"I can't take this.. Blerggh."

Someone couldn't take it anymore and vomited throwing up the food they ate earlier.

All of them shook in fear and were stunned at what was infront of them.

At the center of the clearing they saw thousands of corpses pile up together forming a small mountain. It depicted hell upon the land. It was a complete massacre.

There were spikes around it and on top of each of them were the heads of Windblown officers while in the front was the head of Tattered Prince.

They got closer and they noticed someone was sitting at the front of the mountain of corpses. He appears to be leaning towards his sword and they didn't know if he was dead or alive.

"Hey look, who's that?" asked the farmer.

But then, Aidana instantly recognizes that figure.

Tears started to flow down her eyes and her expression was full of grief.

She couldn't take it anymore so she immediately run towards the figure despite some protests from her guards and the pub owner.

When she got closer, she was more than sure that it was indeed Auron. She crouched down as she cries more when she saw him bathing in blood.

She thought his wound was so severe that he died losing so much blood but then she noticed he's still breathing. He appears to be sleeping.

She exclaimed letting his companions know that the figure was still breathing. She embraced him tightly thanking the gods that he was still alive. She turned her head shouting for help.

"It's him! And he's still breathing! Quick, please help me get him to the wagon!"

When they heard Aidana asking for help, they immediately approached trying to help her lift Auron up from sitting position.

Suddenly, they heard a grunt and saw Auron woke up from sleep. Auron flutter his eyes before opening them, then he recognize Aidana, the pub owner, the farmer and the others came.

"Mmm you're here.."

"Don't speak, we're going to have a long talk later." Aidana said with a stern voice.

Auron could only smile wryly but it didn't stop him.

He turned his head towards the pub owner and said, "Please help me sell all of the armors and swords within the camp."

"I will lad, don't worry and rest up." The pub owner nodded his head rapidly afraid that if he angered him, he will be added as another body in this pile of corpses.

But the farmer suddenly asked, "Did you do all these alone?"

Auron answered it with a smile. But that simple smile send shiver down his spine. That smile alone was enough to confirm his question.