บท 12: Chehin's Demise
Red.
It was red everywhere.
A reflection of a blood-red moon reflected on the gushing pool all over the camp of the Mariyah Clan. Claws ripped the tents to shreds, bite marks nailed every carriage around the campsite, and blood splashed every nook and cranny of the once quiet place.
"Aaah! Help me!" said a servant whose limb had been torn by one of the wolves as he crawled away from his stalking predator.
"P-Please! No!" screamed a woman whose face and back were littered with bite marks. Blood trailed wherever she went, yet no one paid any attention to her.
The cattle and the pigs erupted into a frenzy ever since they heard the howls of the gigantic wolves. But their pleas for freedom went to deaf ears as the shrilling screams of the servants overpowered them.
One wolf knocked a torch down. The flames scattered from the ground to the pieces of ripped tents everywhere. It only took one torch to set the bloody camp into a raging inferno.
"Fire! Fire! Please, save me!" A servant rolled to the bloodstained ground as the flames devoured his clothes and skin. He rolled and screamed. Gone was the fear he had from the wolves as the pain of his skin being melted wracked his mind.
Animals or humans, in this scenario, everything and everyone were equal in the eyes of the starving monsters of the deadly Valley of Trial.
It was a one-sided massacre.
Theta's stood atop the tree a few meters away from the bloodshed. Her hair flowed along with the stench of blood laced upon the gentle night breeze. A pair of amethyst eyes gazed at the inferno before her with no feelings reflected on them – it was as if she was watching a show, not her entire household being slaughtered by wolves.
Neither excitement nor fear.
"Sadly, the theatrical show has barely begun," muttered Theta under her breath.
Theta watched everything as she relished every single detail of the beginning of the Mariyah Clan's demise.
She turned around and eyed Ruka who was leaning against the tree's trunk. "Double the number of wolves."
"Are you sure? They will die at that rate, you know."
A ghost of a smile lingered on Theta's lips when she turned to look at the hell she was responsible for. "No matter how weak they are, as long as they are cornered like a stray dog, they will fight to the end. That is the beauty of hope… and when they will think everything is alright, I will shatter their pathetic hope to pieces."
Whistling, Ruka shivered from the intensity and the malediction he felt from the petite girl standing in front of him. "Remind me not to cross you. The least I want is you becoming my enemy," said Ruka, "Well, then. I will deliver the fiercest mutts to your campsite. Be at ease and enjoy the charade."
Before Ruka could finish, Theta's figure vanished from the tree.
A screaming soldier ran toward the snarling gray-furred wolf. A meter away from the wolf's head, two wolves jumped on him from both sides. A sickening sound of a neck being cracked from a wolf's powerful jaws made the two women flinch.
"M-Mother!" Axue pulled her mother's arm. Gone was the sophistication of the so-called 'ice queen of Amina' as her snot covered her chin. "I don't want to die! Waaah! Why does this happen to us of all useless people in the capital's slums? I don't deserve this! Waaah!"
"Hush, my dear. Your brother is here and he is one of the best in the Amina Kingdom. We will be alright. Your father and brothers are coming." Madam Rea's heart cracked from her daughter's plea. Hugging Axue to her side, her gentle expression turned sinister when she shifted her attention to the remaining warriors and servants around them, encircling them to safety. "Stop being idle and kill those monsters or I will kill you myself! Don't you ever forget that I can sell you to the slavers!"
Torn between the wolves' canines or the chains of the slavers, the ashen and wounded soldiers and servants fought the wolves one by one. They fought bravely and now they died with the dignity of a free folk – or so they thought.
"Help!"
"Save me!"
"No! I don't want to die!"
"Madam, please! I want to live!"
Their pleas fell on deaf ears and every surviving slave saw how Madam Rea and Axue watched with no guilt – it was as if their lives were equivalent to an ant. The mother-daughter pair failed to realize the growing malediction from the oppressed servants and soldiers.
Theta watched from the sidelines. Behind a fallen carriage, Theta watched everything from afar. The heat from the sea of flames, the stench of the pool of blood, and the symphony of the dying filled her senses – and a hint of satisfaction wafted her like no other.
'Mother, this is just the beginning of the great opera I am preparing for you from up there,' thought Theta. 'I wonder if those loyal mutts realized how wrong they were to trust Rea and her children. I wonder if they relished the pain and regret until they drew their last breath.'
Theta would never know.
Her attention shifted to the young man clad in his armor plates, a bloodstained spear on his right hand and a crossbow on his left one. The air of a seasoned warrior surrounded Chehin Mariyah. The more Theta stared at his back, the more she was reminded of the scumbag father she had.
Chehin Mariyah lived up to his name as a young prodigy with a bright future in the military. He slashed the wolves' necks into two with a swing of his arm. He pierced the wolves' forehead with a crossbow in one précised shot. And he made use of the flames to protect his rear and corner the wolves toward one direction.
The yelps of the wolves replaced the cries of the dying.
It was utter madness and Theta etched every detail in her mind. She did not want to miss anything in her revenge. She wanted to see their faces as they died in anguish. Theta wanted to see them cling to what was left only to be trampled back again to the abyss of disparity.
As the last of the wolves dropped to the ground with a crossbow piercing its right eye, Axue cried in joy before she leaped toward her brother.
"Chehin!"
"Careful," said Chehin. Axue clung to his arms like a leech with tears falling from her brown eyes; a display of vulnerability filled her small face – arousing the sense of Chehin's protectiveness.
A single tear fell from Madam Rea's eyes as she watched her children a few meters before her. Without an ounce of guilt, she stepped on the fallen servants and warriors. The pounding of her heart started to dwindle upon seeing the last of the wolves' demise.
"Chehin, my son!" Madam Rea hugged her son with pride and joy. Patting Chehin's back, she looked up at him with the widest grin she could muster.
The vice-captain of the warriors, who was among the survivors, reported – a black hawk on his left shoulder. "General Ronin and his party are on the way, Third Young Master."
Everyone sighed in relief. Though Chehin was indeed a master swordsman, no one could beat the experienced general who had slain countless armies during his peak.
"What a happy scene," murmured Theta. Her jeweled eyes gleamed with malice. "But not quite."
On cue, the ground trembled followed by a series of howls. Compared to the howls they heard earlier, this one was far more sinister. It was as if the god of death had descended on the remaining people of the Mariyah Clan.
"Is this the reinforcement?" The vice captain's face was ashen as he drew his sword from the sheath again.
Chehin gritted his teeth. With his depleting energy, the hands that held the crossbow and the spear started to shake. "Let us end this quickly." He gave the order quickly. By prolonging the battle, the probability of survival would decrease. Chehin knew this and he could not fail.
All his life, Chehin wanted to be someone who could walk side by side with his father. And this task, to guard the campsite while his father was away, was his first step to be the hero he always wanted to be. Losing his father's task was the last thing he wanted to do and he would rather die than fail General Ronin.
"Vice Captain, take my mother and sister away," said Chehin, "Intercept with my father and brothers. I will hold these bastards as long as I can."
Madam Rea realized the gravity of the situation. "What? No! You must come with us! Let them handle the wolves!"
"Yes! Yes! Mother is right, Chehin!" Axue did not trust anyone to protect her safely but her brother! She did not want to die here!
But Chehin did not pay them any attention as he nodded to his vice-captain. On cue, the vice-captain pulled Madam Rea and Axue away from the group of six that was left at the campsite.
As the howls grew louder, Chehin tightened his grip on his weapons.
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