Sacrificial Goat – Part 02
I ran through the back streets under the cover of night.
Akdios was a small city, connected to the outside world by a single suspension bridge. There were no places to hide from pursuers; anyone running away would inevitably head for the bridge. Naturally, the best course of action was to deploy personnel near the bridge and lie in wait for their target.
With Zero in my arms, I hid behind a building and peered at the suspension bridge.
One… five… ten…
“There’s fifteen people in front of the bridge.” A sigh escaped my lips.
“A warm welcome for us,” Zero said.
“Damn, I gotta kill fifteen people?” I didn’t just want to hold myself back. I really didn’t want to kill anyone at all.
Killing them would be easy. But I didn’t like killing. No, that’s not it. I despised the realization that I did, in fact, enjoy slaughter.
Remembering that feeling when I fought the priest made me want to throw up. I was enjoying our fight to the death. I was itching to rip apart his bowels.
There was no need to give myself over to such impulses outside of an actual battleground. The thought of losing my mind to that sensation and never coming back gave me chills.
“You are a mercenary, yet you avoid killing,” Zero said. “I find that rather strange.”
“If you ask me, mercenaries killing people just because they’re hired killers are the odd ones. It’s one thing to kill for a job you were hired to do, and another to kill for fun.”
My personal opinion, however, did not matter to the enemy. I listened closely to the soldiers shouting at each other.
“We’re up against a Beastfallen! Aim for its vitals for an instant kill!”
“Get the explosives ready! Archers, take your positions!”
They’re really out to murder my ass. Like the priest said before, most people didn’t treat Beastfallen like human beings.
“All right, let’s take this easy,” I said. “I’ll draw them away from the bridge. You then cross it while I have their attention.”
“A rather common strategy.”
“Call it a standard tactic. Once you start crossing the bridge, I’ll block your pursuers. If the bridge falls, they’ll be in trouble too, so they shouldn’t be able to go all-out. I think.”
I needed to get at least Zero across the bridge before the priest showed up. Alone, I could just swim across the lake and climb up the cliff.
“I’ll raise hell. Once they’re distracted, you race for the bridge.”
“I can fight, too.”
“That’ll be our last resort. If they find out you’re a witch, you’ll be hunted to the ends of the earth. All the more so when you have a conspicuous bodyguard like me. It’s my job to protect you, so just stand back.”
Zero nodded. Drawing my sword, I jumped out of the alley.
“Th-There it is! The Beastfallen!”
“Stand your ground! Kill the monster! It wants to harm Her Eminence!”
“All men on it! Don’t let it get away!”
“We’re bringing out the big guns. Call the gunners! A little damage to the city doesn’t matter!”
Humans were hunting creatures. They cowered when attacked, but chased their prey when it tried to escape.
I ran around the bridge for a while to draw enough attention from the soldiers, then turned tail. Focused solely on hunting me down, the soldiers didn’t pay any attention to the bridge. I checked over my shoulder to see Zero taking advantage of the opening to race towards the bridge.
Then all of a sudden, I sensed something off. The guardian deity statues, which should have been facing outwards, were now facing my direction. What’s more, their bellies had square holes from which black muzzles peeked out, dimly lit by the watch fires.
Statues given by the Church to protect the city. How did I not even consider that they were not just ordinary statues?
“A rotating turret?”
When I first laid eyes on the statues, I noticed the cuts on their waists. I thought it was because the upper and lower parts were made separately then assembled afterwards, but it was apparently a mechanism to rotate the built-in turret.
The next thing I knew, the soldiers around me had already dispersed, and I was standing alone in the middle of the street. Cannons were used against large targets, such as castles and whole armies, but in situations like this, they could be effective against single targets as well.
I couldn’t help but turn pale.
“Fire!” the gunner shouted.
A second later, the roar of shells rocked the town. Fortunately, they were old guns that hadn’t been used for years. Unfamiliar with operating older type cannons, the soldiers didn’t even adjust the angle of fire, causing the shells to go way off their mark, hitting the base of the church’s spire. With its base pulverized, the spire slowly toppled over—towards me.
“You dumb fuck!” I cursed as I crawled on the ground and hid behind a building.
The bell hanging from the spire fell and hit one of the deity statues, ringing loudly like I’d never heard before. I reflexively covered my ears.
A moment of silence followed.
The first words my ears caught as I listened was, “Did you kill it?”
“Our target is a Beastfallen. Of course, it’s alive! We have to protect the bridge… Wait, what’s that?”
“Somebody’s crossing the bridge!”
“Don’t let them cross! Damn it. We have no other choice. Cut the bridge!”
Shit. They saw her.
Grabbing my sword, I jumped out from behind the building with a roar, drawing the attention of the soldiers.
I climbed over the rubble and up the stairs, and knocked down the soldiers trying to go after Zero.
“Sorry, but you’ll have to wait until my employer gets across. Anyone with a death wish, come get some!” I shouted, sword at the ready.
The soldiers running up the stairs stopped in their tracks and stepped back. The bridge was only wide enough for two people to walk abreast. While the landing leading up to the bridge was wider, wielding swords meant only two people could stand there at maximum, me included. If it came down to a one-on-one fight, there was little that an ordinary human could do against a Beastfallen.
It was over if they dropped the bridge. I had to defend it until Zero made it safely across. How long until they see through my bluff? As I was wondering that, I heard the sound of an arrow cutting through the air, and I shifted my body. The arrow grazed the tip of my nose before sticking onto the bridge’s wooden panel. I quickly hid behind the statue.
“Looks like it wouldn’t be long.”
I couldn’t possibly stand against a volley of arrows. Also that guy could be here any time now. Perhaps I shouldn’t have thought about him.
“Hold your fire! The priest is here to back us up. Put out the fires!”
Orders to extinguish the flames rolled all around until every light around the bridge was out, leaving only a heavy silence.
I dropped my lamp back when I found the pile of corpses and didn’t pick it back up. It was too dark even with the eyes of a Beastfallen. I couldn’t deal with a situation like this.
Keeping my back to the bridge, I peered at my surroundings. No sounds of footsteps.
Suddenly, I felt a movement in the air—at my feet.
“Shit!”
A flash came from the ground. Something lunged at me with great force, grazing the tip of my nose. As I took a few steps back, the panels of the bridge creaked.
Clouds drifted away, giving way to a little bit of moonlight that illuminated the surroundings. A priest stood just a few steps away from me, as if one with the darkness, carrying a disturbing scythe.
“You’re looking pretty fine,” I said. “Looks like your injuries are all healed up.”
The priest didn’t answer. Instead he pounced forward in one breath. As the tip of his scythe drew near, I reflexively swung my sword and deflected it. But the blade still tore my arm slightly.
“Damn it. I can’t get the timing right!”
It’s hard to read his movements. No, I actually can’t.
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