No Good Men: Volume One

Chapter II: A Merciful Death

A Dirt Trail in Southwestern Askarai

The calm voice of a man cuts into the void of a deep slumber...

"Wake up. Open your eyes. We're almost there."

The boy lifts his head up from his lap, and slowly peels his eyes apart. His torso rocks from side to side, and he dips his head back down as rain pours onto his head. His long black hair hangs in front of him, and he blinks intensely to get some crust out of his eyes.

To his surprise, his hands are no longer chained, but his feet are still held together by a heavy set of shackles around his ankles.

The boy glances up to see people sitting around him with shackles on their legs as well. He looks ahead to see a soldier whipping two steeds who slowly drags them along in a wagon. They sit in one of many in a seemingly endless line of other wagons. All of which are being transported through the rain down the edge of a hill surrounded by trees.

A man in front of the boy asks, "Do you know where you are?"

The boy looks straight ahead to see a bald middle aged man with a thin muscular frame and tattered clothes staring at the boy with sharp eyes.

His voice quivers, "N-no. How long was I sleeping?"

"Well. You've been out since they threw you onto this wagon. One of their mages must've cast a spell on you. It's been nearly a day, and not even the thunder woke you up.", says the man.

The boy looks down to see new clothes on his body, but they are ragged and torn. He asks the man, "Was I undressed?"

"We all were..." he responds, "The soldiers forced everyone to change into these rags you see on us all. A woman offered to get you dressed in order to prevent any of the soldiers from doing it. The disgusting men took her away afterwards. How cruel."

The boy nods and leans back against the cart. Each bump from the ground shakes the cart and rattles his body as they continue along. He lets out an audible cry and grabs his waist in pain after the wagon runs over a big rock on the right side of the road.

The man leans forwards and places his hand over the boy's mouth with a stern look in his eyes. He implicitly nods his head and turns to the front, gazing past the soldier and horses.

At the rear end of the cart, a chain tied around a metal hook stretches down to a man's ankle, with his naked body being dragged across the mud. His genitalia is mutilated, and dried blood is encrusted on top of bruises left all over his body. The man's eyes are gouged and his head is nearly severed off. A few remaining strands of skin and muscle in his neck cling onto his head as it bounces up against the mud and rocks.

Frightened, the boy turns back to the bald man, who slowly moves away and takes his hand off of the boy's mouth. The man whispers, "Don't be too loud or sudden. If the wrong person hears you...you'll end up like that poor bastard."

The boy looks ahead and quietly asks, "How much longer will we have to be here?"

"We ought to be near the Kohanna River. I overheard some soldiers say it's where we get off.", the man quietly responds.

"It looks like we're already here.", says the boy as he raises his arm and points ahead.

Through the thick fauna, tall wooden masts peek above the horizon. Rope and wire line the tall beams and make their way down to the deck of a large ship, barely visible through the trees. As the wagon curves around a final hill, the boy looks on in awe as large ships reveal themselves lined alongside a riverbank.