Eros

Into the Wild - 62

The storm shadowed over Deadman's Bay. Lightings flashed in bright blue forks through the black skies. Sebastian and his ten soldiers stalked down a street empty of life. The outpour swallowed the falls of their boots, and the wind flapped their soaked cloaks behind them. Hoods pulled up, dripping over their features.

Bas halted them before a narrow two story house, between a saloon and a whorehouse. The lights were dead in both of them, the storm may have consumed the dawn, but none of the sinners lasted long past morning. He gestured to the house's heavy barreled, hardwood door.

Two men stepped out of the cluster with their comrades, pulling heavy axes from their cloaks. One was large and burly, and the other was short of height, but with a widespread back any lumberjack would envy. They swung with furor, one after the other, hacking the thick door down with frightening efficiency.

Sebastian breezed through its cracked remains in quick steps, and soldiers rushed in after him. A half clothed man, wobbled down the hall inside, perhaps awakened by the thumps of the axes, though these were masked well by the rage of the storm.

"Shit!" He cursed as he saw the black cloaked lot of them, striding towards him. The thug turned to run, but Sebastian chased him down, unsheathing his shortsword. He caught him right before he reached the turn, grabbed him over the mouth, and drove a handspan of steel through his back. Not Ebonsteel, that blade he kept in the scabbard. There was no need to reveal the hand of Anerock in the slaughter that was about to commence.

Bas choked out the thug's dying cry against his palm, then pulled the sword clear of his body. He resumed the fast pace of his stride, raising fingers and gesturing at each door they crossed.

The soldiers behind him separated to his command, drawing steel and busting in the rooms. Screams of death and panic soon echoed alongside the pitter-patter of the rainstorm against the rooftop, the thunders roaring to complete the dreadful symphony.

Four men kept behind him as he ascended the stairs. At the second floor, he was welcomed by a charging thug, slashing down at him with a handaxe. He swept the axe away with a swift flourish of blade, and slammed the back of his gauntlet across the thug's face. The impact tossed his head back, and in a flash of bloodstained steel, Sebastian slit his exposed neck. He stepped past the fresh corpse before it hit the floor.

The men behind him split into the rooms they crossed, and he continued to the door at the end of the corridor. Sebastian pressed down at the handle, but the door was locked in place. He stepped back, heaved his boot, and kicked. The door tore inwards, splinters of woods flying in the air. That brought him face to face with a crossbow.

"Step in the fucking room." Snarled the man who held it. Given the choice between declining and being shot, Sebastian obliged. There were five steps, and a desk, between him, and the boss of the operation house. He wore a black tunic, and clutched onto the crossbow with two hands, one beneath the body and one around the handle. The finger across the trigger was alarmingly tense.

"Tell me who you are. And don't move a bone in your body, or I will put an extra one through your fucking brain."

Sebastian gritted his teeth. The thoughts of attempting a maneuver or stalling until backup arrives both crossed his mind, but both were equally rejected by the fear of getting bolted in the head.

You're not going to die to a shit thug with a crossbow. He manufactured a smile beneath his black hood.

"I am your redemption." Bas said, and hoped his voice was as smooth as he intended.

"Huh?"

"You are the boss of this operation house, Gremon Eyebolt, are you not?"

"Yeah I am, and you're gonna find out what earned me that name if you don't tell me who the fuck you are."