Chapter 50: Poking the beast
As captain Marshal marched through the forest, he couldn't help the glare on his face. It had been a month and a half since he decided to hunt the mutants, three weeks since they left, and they had not yet found a single trace of any mutants. The glare wasn't from not finding any mutants though, it was from the words of his men following him.
"This long and no freaks yet, don't ya think this is starting to be some wild goose chase?"
"The captain says they're out here, but he only has that rumor to go off of."
"Is he starting to lose it? I've never seen him so obsessed with something before, well that one girl in Lawrence city maybe."
These comments and more had started to really anger Marshal. He would think the same thing normally, but the constant 'find the mutants' whispering in his mind was telling him they were out here. He had even started to believe he was receiving a divine message, and it was a trial to become a champion. He wouldn't dare tell his men that though, lest they think he had lost it or they try to steal the chance from him.
What he didn't realize, was that while it was a message from a goddess, it was a trial for someone else and he was merely fodder for them. Artemis had considered him of such little importance, that she even forgot his name and placed her message on an auto loop to continue driving him. Hopelessly ignorant of his true circumstances, he continued onward.
As the day continued stretching on, he finally called a halt to set camp for the night. The men grateful for the reprieve, dropped their packs and started setting up camp, and cooking the nights meal. One thing they didn't mind though, was that while there were several beasts in the forest that wanted to make a meal of them, as a group of two hundred they were able to easily take care of them. As a result of the constant beats attacks, they also had a constant supply of fresh meat.
Marshal was standing in his own tent looking over the maps of the region. Due to the fact that people weren't able to survive up here, there was barely any information to gather from them. There were only geographical info, such as obvious mountain ranges and large rivers, but other than that there were few details. Any details preset on the map were actually added by him and his men.
As the moon rose, he could feel the message growing in volume. He looked up in surprise, and decided it meant one of two things, either he was getting close, or it was the moon goddess that was guiding him. He thought about it and decided that he was on a "hunt" so it must have been the goddess. Marshal quickly exited his tent and looked up at the moon, he placed his hands together in prayer,
"Moon goddess Artemis, I thank you for this chance and hope that this one will not disappoint the expectations you have placed onto me. Please accept this humble offering when I purge these worthless mutants in your sacred name." He had layered on the compliments hoping to appease the goddess, but when she heard his prayer she felt only disgust. These were the types of fools she wanted to avoid, and the only reason she involved him was for one of those "worthless mutants". When comparing the two, she concluded that she made the right choice with Leo as he never backed down in front of her unless she gave him no choice. This thing on the other hand was groveling for her favor on a guess.
The next day, Marshal was motivated by what he hoped was a successful prayer to the goddess, and was convinced that he would find them today. When his men saw how eager their captain looked, they thought there must have been some kind of clue to the mutants whereabouts and became more motivated as well. They continued their slow march through the forest, and around noon, froze when a branch snapped overhead.
Marshal looked up and saw several pairs of eyes looking back at him from the branches. There were several people looking down on them with surprise on their face. The most noticeable was a woman with a third eye, and a recently matured girl with fiery red hair. The one with the third eye confirmed Marshal's goal in finding mutants wasn't a wild goose chase, but his attention was on the redhead. She reminded him of a woman he longed for in Lawrence city, but she already had a husband who was a retired soldier. Suddenly he had an idea, and shouted out,
"TAKE THEM MEN!! ANY YOU TAKE ALIVE WILL BE YOUR PERSONAL SLAVES!!! AND WHOEVER BRINGS ME THE REDHEAD WILL GET THEIR PICK OF ANY FIVE GIRLS OUT OF THE LOT!!! Hearing his shout the men suddenly became more motivated, and let out a loud cry in response.
"YYYYYYEEEEEEAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
And they readied their arrows and let them loose. Due to Marshal's dismay however, almost all of them aimed for the redhead. He despaired that she would be killed and was about to reprimand his men, until he saw her dodge almost all the arrows aimed at her. They then turned and started running away. He believed the moon goddess was favoring him though, because the one arrow that hit caught her in the calf and caused her to fall into the brush below.
He wasn't too upset by this though, when they tried to run he realized they were using chi. Due to the fact that only the military was allowed to use magic, and non were allowed to truly train it past an adept level, he was quite curious as to how they learned it. As a chi user, there was no way such a fall would kill her and they had a healer. Looking forward to the night he was going to have, Marshal called the shooter over. A young man walked over with a proud expression on his face, happy he was going to be the one to receive the reward.
"Go get her from where she fell, and you'll get your pick of five girls when we take the village." The young man ran forward eagerly, and Marshal looked up to monitor for any mutants that might still be close by. Now that he knew they were close they only needed to find the village. While he was thinking the mutants suddenly reappeared from wherever they were hiding. He prepared to give the order to defend, but they never moved. Then he heard a sound from the man he sent to retrieve the girl.
"NO NO! PLEASE HAVE MERCY!!!" After that was a sickening noise, then silence. Marshal and his men looked in horror, then the girl casually walked out of the brush. Normally the fact that she was walking fine despite taking an arrow in the calf would be enough to shock them all. Everyone's attention however, was glued to the fact that she was partially covered with blood, and the young mans head that she had in her grip. It looked as if it had been ripped from his body, and she gripped it by the hair.
Marshal turned pale from the brutality of the girl and looked at her eyes, only to see that they were a brilliant orange. He thought that this was her mutation, and was in shock of her act until,
"As much as I want to kill you right now, I'll take my leave. I'll be sure to report the things you said to my husband though, I'm sure he'll love to meet you after this." Leaving behind her words, she threw that head towards them and leapt back up to the trees. Just like that, the first clash with the hidden mutants ended.
Marshal gave his men the order to march on though. They couldn't be bothered by the death of one soldier, and they figured that the only reason he died was because they sent him forward alone. They continued forward, and Marshal thought back to the girls words. He decided that it would be entertaining to behead her husband in front of her before taking her as his bed slave. With that thought he continued forward, not aware of the sleeping monster he had just provoked.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Harry_Dresden Thanks for reading!
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