WM [35] Mercy Runs Thin

Alaric Strider knelt down in front of the stall of the very same person whose familiar his pack tried to kill. Town guards and even the Jackrabbits had come to ensure he did not run away. There was suspicion he was working with the druids or some other nonsense. He lost good people to the hydra hunt and the trap that it led them into. They had to fight their way through the druids, monsters and even skinwalkers after a few of them managed to break free of their cages. Then they had to outrun the toxic forest fire the hydra caused which had spread around the region like a net.

He was a looming presence even in his human-like form. He was a broad man, a colossus of muscle that seemed ready to burst from his skin at the slightest flex. Tribal tattoos covered him from head to toe, each depicted battles with monsters and magic beasts the world over. The only places no tattoo was visible was that covered by his short white hair and long braided beard.

The battles etched in ink were mirrored by scars carved into his flesh. They were a testament to the ferocity and endurance that defined him over the decades. They were not just marks; they were badges of honor, each one telling a tale of survival and triumph. Even so now he had to lower his head in shame and defeat. His eyes, cold and calculating, scanned the horizon with a predatory intensity.

A man entered the perimeter imposed by the town guards and Jackrabbits. Alaric immediately recognized him even though he hadn't seen him in over a decade. Last he heard of him he finally retired from monster hunting, his fiery red hair shifted to silver long before Alaric departed the area with his pack. Still it was odd seeing his old friend in a business suit fit for an official instead of the armor of a warrior.

"Robert." Alaric said, his tone neutral as he felt out the situation. "Where is the girl and the demon?"

"That is all you have to say to an old friend? No, how are you doing, how are the kids or anything?" Robert said as he walked around the burly man and leaned against Joha's display for his spices. "Fourteen years and I don't even get a hello?"

"I heard what happened with Debra, you have my condolences, she was a good mate for you." Alaric said.

"Ah, she was better than I deserved. Much better than her idiot grandson that I am stuck babysitting nowadays."

"Alfred? Is he leading the Jackrabbits now?"

"Yes and no, but you know how the next generation is, they still need us old-heads to bail them out every now and then. We definitely had our fair share of times when we had to get bailed out back when your dad was in charge of the Striders." Both men chuckled at that. 

"With that you are right, we definitely had more than our fair share of foolishly charging into things." Alaric smiled as he thought back. "I think more than a few of my scars came from the belief that it was a good idea to listen to my human friend and his crazy plans and crazier hunts."

"Don't act like you didn't come up with half of those ideas." Robert said as his smile vanished from his face. "How bad was it? I know you didn't have anything to do with the druids but I know you encountered them."

"Otto, Heinrich, Wolfgang, Cassian, Wilhelmina and Ulrich." Alaric said solemnly. "So I ask again Robert, where is the girl?"

"Damn, were the druids that strong? With you there I thought… Wolfgang and them are dead. Wow, just, I don't know what to say."

"The druids weren't the only issue, they had a few strong people but the problem was the monsters flooding in and the skinwalkers once they managed to break out of their cages. It was something I had never seen before. Most of the druids fled once the bigger monsters started showing up and the toxic forest fire caught up to us. We were trapped between poisonous fire, skinwalkers and waves of monsters. Now answer my question."

"They are out to settle things with your gnoll friend," Robert said.

"Informant, not friend. He was a war merchant and not a trustworthy one either."

Robert sighed deeply, "And yet you followed him out here to attack a girl and her familiar."

"It is a hydra, you know what those things do." Alaric said with a growl. "Their bonds are poisonous to the mind. If it changes because of their bond it could become a false-hydra and then towns start disappearing."

"You don't know the wendigo people very well, do you? Did you know they have a higher affinity for familiar bonds than most, only beaten out by the druids," Robert said.

"Yes, that is pretty common knowledge,"Alaric agreed. "So, you know she is a wendigo?"

"I think she is changing her appearance and is hiding from something. Demons can not form familiar bonds, but wendigo also don't suffer negative effects from bonding, it is like having a familiar contract is their natural state. There are even nobles here that bind their children to dragons without being driven mad."

"Those are rumors," Alaric spat.

"No, they are very much fact. The Salstar domain isn't too far from here and they recently opened a magic academy. Their entire family has dragons, even their youngest who can't be older than twelve or something."

Alaric held his head down in shame. "You're saying that. This was for nothing?"

"The problem with being the old-heads now is we don't have our fathers to bail us out when we do something foolish. You should have talked to us before doing something like this, we could have worked things out."

"Are they alive?" Alaric asked, his stern voice wavered.

"They are for now, but I can't promise anything," Robert said. "The town gave Tanisha the right to execute them for their role in the attempted assassination."

"But they are alive right now. Where are they?" Alaric asked.

"That is none of your business, Alaric Strider." A female voice cut into the conversation.

The two men turned and saw Tanisha and her group walking towards them. Alaric's eyes locked onto the girl as she strode forward. Her golden eyes gleamed with a fierce intensity staring into his own unwaveringly. He noticed the magic circle tattoo on her neck pulse faintly with an unseen arcane energy, hinting she was ready to fight should he turn hostile.

His eyes looked at her other companions. The tiger demon was likely his match; he could feel the intensity in the demon's aura. He couldn't sense maya but was good at taking the measure of a person by how they carried themselves. He had never fought a rakshasa but he had fought demons before and those are not fights he wants to experience again.

The hydra was a little thing compared to how big he was going to get once he matured. Which made it all the more surprising at the power he contained. He was definitely a greater hydra, and he had genuine intelligence behind his eyes. The creature hissed loudly as they got closer, and Tanisha had to pet him to calm him down, although she didn't appear any less hostile than the hydra.

Lastly was Alfred, the man looked almost the same as he remembered fourteen years ago. He was still dressed as if he was going to a festival. With loose fitting breathable clothing and a far too laid back demeanor. He never really seemed like the type that would follow in Robert's footsteps, so it was all the more surprising that he did. 

"You are the one that attacked Bjorn and sent those assassin's after Tanisha?" the tiger demon asked.

"Yes, it was m—"

Before Alaric could finish his statement the demon's form blurred and the next thing he knew he was face first in the road. Not against it but face down a few inches embedded in the brick road. Pain throbbed through his body as he felt something grab his head while he was still dazed. He was a warrior, though, and it would take more than a cheap shot to keep him down. He whirled around, pulling himself out of the small divot he made in the road, striking out with his hands now transformed into claws.

The strike was blind—he didn't know where the tiger demon was—but he suspected this would give him a moment to assess the situation. That moment didn't come as he saw the demon avoid his strike by the barest centimeter, all while maintaining close proximity. The demon looked totally different, a black form dredged up from the depths of his infernal magic. Alaric didn't come to fight, but he wouldn't die here; he had to save his children.

The demon landed another punch, this one to his stomach which exploded with force that rocked his whole body. Alaric roared as his already large form started to grow even larger, silver fur sprouting all over as his beast-side emerged. He slashed at the demon with claws that could rend blue-steel like paper, moving with speed far greater than his humanoid form could manage. 

The demon dodged and weaved with a grace like nothing Alaric had ever seen, then shifted from a free-flowing grace to a sturdy wall as he allowed one attack to finally land. It was blocked by a forearm; although his claws cut flesh, it was a superficial wound, little more than a non-bleeding scratch. Then the demon seemed to blur again, his black magic surrounding him in a thick smoke so devoid of anything natural it was like looking into a void, a hole in the space around it. Alaric found himself face first in the ground again, his head slammed twice as hard as before, half of his body buried with a loud bang.

He felt something grab his foot and pull him out of the hole he had made in the street, blood freely flowing from his mouth. Every muscle ached, his vision faded in and out, and it was hard to maintain his beast form as he slowly reverted back. He hadn't been this overwhelmed in a fight since he was a pup, and yet the demon did it so casually. Wasn't he supposed to be a merchant? And this was the master of the girl he foolishly sent his daughter and son to incapacitate while they attacked her familiar. This demon was a monster; if he turned his attention to their pack, Alaric doubted they would be able to stop him, especially after so many losses.

The demon flipped him over, and he finally got a good look at him now. He was thinner, his fur as black as the dark magic he exhaled. Energy popped from the rolling magic like thunderclouds. His eyes were glowing and teeth long and jagged as he snarled. His horn split into six long barbed spikes every bit as dangerous as the rest of the demon. The rakshasa lifted a foot and with a stomp placed it firmly on his chest, the action knocking the wind out of Alaric.

"If we were just going to kill him you should have let me know." Tanisha said as she walked into view. "Is that the Sixth form?"

"Whether or not I kill him depends on what happens next." His voice was calm as he spoke to Tanisha. "And this is not the Sixth but instead a combination of the first, second and third forms. The sixth is too destructive to use around allies. When you are ready to learn that form, you will see what I am talking about. For now though, what did you learn from my use of the forms in this fight in comparison to yours with Sabec."

Tanisha placed a finger on her chin as she thought. "Hmm, in my fight, I treated the forms like two different fighting styles. I would switch between them, but transitioning led to me taking hits. I didn't see you switch; it just kind of flowed together."

"Sometimes avoiding everything is impossible. You have to decide which hits to take and which to avoid. Move to the attack while mitigating openings, or make them think you've left an opening so you can exploit it. Don't think of the forms as separate; they ebb and flow with the tide of battle."

Alaric couldn't believe he was just used as a training aid. The demon was so confident that he didn't even take this fight seriously enough to consider him as anything more than a tool to better his apprentice. Alaric coughed, feeling utterly outmatched. He knew there wasn't a damn thing he could do if they decided to kill him right then and there.

"I surrender." Alaric said. "Kill me if you must but please spare my children."

Their attention turned to him; neither of them had mercy in their glare. Tanisha rolled her eyes and walked back out of view.

"Tanisha wanted to defer to my judgment as to your fate and that of the two others I have captured." The demon heel dug deeper into Alaric's chest. His ribs were barely able to hold up to the pressure, several braking under the weight. "She feels her decision-making has been compromised, in no small part due to you and Sabec. I've decided to be more merciful than she would have been by giving you the chance to speak before making my decision. I warn you, Alaric, mercy runs thin with my kind. If not for my desire to avoid hunting down every member of your pack seeking revenge against us, I would have taken your head the moment I saw you."

"I came to talk." Alaric said.

"You came to us to get those two assassins that tried to kill my apprentice. While you and your thugs attacked the only family she has left in this world. Why should we do anything but kill you and them?"

"They were following my orders. My words. I will take responsibility. I will tell my pack not to seek revenge and to flee from here and from you. I forfeit my life for theirs."

"We already have your life, if you hadn't noticed." Tanisha said with a cold smile.

"I will give you anything our pack has left to offer." Alaric said.

Joha was quiet for a long moment while he considered. "I will give you the boy now, but the girl stays with us until we leave Yuhia. She will assist Tanisha in her training and anything else Tanisha needs of her."

"Then you will return her to us?" Alaric asked, clinging to a sliver of hope. "Unharmed?"

"I promise she will be returned alive. I do not guarantee her condition. We will do what we can to ensure she is whole, but as I am sure you know well, hunting monsters is dangerous work. You all are to leave this area and not come within fifty miles of us. Once we have left the border, we will release your daughter with instructions to return here. What do you say? It is time to make a decision, time to decide what happens next, pack leader."

"I accept your terms," Alaric said, his voice heavy with resignation. "Just... please, spare them."