A Drink Before Battle [MxM] ✅

8: Oddly Fascinating

8: Oddly Fascinating

At the side of the courtyard, a crowd of soldiers had formed, setting up a cacophony of raised voices and the sounds of a struggle. Sevei pulled Yanek along to see what the fuss was about, and to make sure none of their own were involved. Upon seeing both Generals approaching, the crowd opened to make way for them, all standing to attention in salute.

In the crowd's center, a man in threadbare clothing and a soldier's baldric bearing the insignia of the Fourth Martial Line was held down on his knees by two men.

Some distance away, a group of soldiers hovered with concern around a youth who seemed far too early in adolescence for the army. The boy sniffled through tears, rubbing at a red mark around his neck, plainly visible beneath his short mop of dark hair, while the others tried to comfort him.

"What's happening here?" Urskatha asked sharply. The crowd fell into silence at once.

"This man stands accused of banditry," said one of the guards holding the kneeling man.

"He killed my family!" the weeping youth shouted. "Murderer!"

The captive man struggled in the grasp of the guards as Urskatha approached the youth.

"What happened?" he asked mildly.

The young man just broke apart into tears again. A companion pulled him closer and patted his back, giving General Urskatha a regretful frown.

"Nal came from a family of traveling merchants. Their caravan was ambushed in Devratha Principality last summer. His family was killed, and he and some others were taken."

"How did you escape them?" Urskatha questioned him, his voice kept low and gentle.

"Some soldiers rescued us..." the boy mumbled.

"And you think he was one of the bandits?"

"I know... he... my father... right in front of me..." Nal set to uncontrollable crying again and buried his face in his friend's shoulder.

"Nal confronted him today, and the bastard tried to strangle him behind the mess," Nal's friend said. "I saw it myself."

Shouts of corroboration went through the gathered soldiers. At the edge of the crowd, Yanek jostled Sevei with an elbow.

"He does look familiar," Yanek whispered.

Sevei strode across the clearing to the bound man, gesturing to the guards.

"Haul him up," he ordered.

When they complied, Sevei quickly unlaced the neck of the man's tunic and pulled the opening aside to reveal a large tattoo in the shape of a bird on his chest. Sevei looked at Urskatha with a grim nod.

"The Cliff Eagle Gang," he said. "We routed them last summer in Devratha. Killed most of them. I guess this fish slipped the net."

"You!" the man snarled, struggling again. He spat in Sevei's direction, but Sevei dodged the worst of it as the guards pulled him back.

With a few swift steps, Urskatha pushed Sevei out of his way. His sword flew out with a grating of steel against the scabbard, and he ran it to the hilt through the man's gut.

Sevei jolted at the suddenness of the act, glancing at Yanek, who returned his expression of surprise.

The former bandit had no time for surprise. Urskatha withdrew his sword halfway, then forced it in again with an upward jerk. The man's throat gurgled as blood poured out of his mouth and down his beard, and as the light left his eyes, Urskatha pushed him off of his blade, letting the corpse fall to the ground like a bag of turnips.