All of that takes us up to where you find me now. Hiding in some bushes with Damecus… spying on this prince’s camp and trying to work out exactly how the hell we are going to pull this off.
Damecus: “If the child is anywhere, he will likely be in the prince’s tent.”
Damecus pointed to a completely over the top tent in the middle of the camp. I have never seen a tent with multiple sections before… is it divided into rooms? It’s like a mobile house. I know he is a prince, but that seems unnecessary. They must have needed a cart to transport that thing alone.
Dwynfel: “I’ll never be able to sneak in there… not with this many guards. I’ll need a distraction.”
Damecus: “Will I not be distraction enough?”
Dwynfel: “I doubt all the guards will rush to deal with one lizardman… imposing though you are. They need to think they are under attack from multiple enemies.”
Damecus: “Alas, there is but one of me. Can you see anything we can use to accomplish this?”
I looked around their camp. It is pretty expansive. Since the slaver group left, it is nowhere near as busy as it was. But they still left a sizable group of guards behind.
They brought a large number of horses for the slavers to ride and multiple donkeys to pull the prison carts that they intend to put their new slaves in. Which also means that they have a very large quantity of hay piled up on the east side of the camp… we could use that.
Damecus: “What are you thinking?”
Dwynfel: “You appear from the north… start a fight, get their attention… then I set fire to the hay bales to the east with a fire arrow… the guards will need to split up to deal with you and put out the fire. That should leave me a safe route in from the south-west.”
Damecus: “Understood. And once you have the child?”
Good question. We need them to see Damecus taking him. And we can’t let them see me at all.
Dwynfel: “Try to fight your way towards the prince’s tent. Once I hear you outside… I’ll send the boy out. You grab him and run off the way you came… making sure they see you leaving with him… then we meet up at the rendezvous point that we discussed earlier.”
Damecus: “…and if the boy does not emerge when I arrive?”
Dwynfel: “Then I’ve fucked up… if that happens, then abandon the plan and get out anyway that you can.”
Damecus: “Understood.”
Dwynfel: “Are you sure you can take these guys on by yourself?”
Damecus: “The stronger ones left with the slaving party… those that remain appear weak. They will be no obstacle.”
Dwynfel: “Don’t forget your disguise.”
Damecus gave me a disapproving look. He dislikes dressing as a Viridescent Clan member. Which is unfortunate as the whole plan rather relies on this misdirection. Putting aside his irritation at this, he painted his body with the tribal markings and he put the skull mask on before looping round to the north. I just had to get into position and wait for the alarm to be sounded.
The beginning of the plan worked perfectly. The alarm sounded… the hay caught fire… the guards all rushed to deal with one or the other. I managed to sneak my way to the central tent. I could hear shouting coming from the central section of the tent… so I cut my way into one of the side rooms and made my entrance.
I seem to have cut into the bedroom. They have an actual bed in here… like a full-on bed. What the fuck? Did this guy seriously make them transport a whole bed here? And why are there ropes and shackles hanging from the support post in the middle of the room? There is blood on the floor… from multiple different people… Kiyui was right… this guy is sick.
I made my way across the bedroom towards the partition to the centre of the tent. The prince was sat at a dining table… seriously… they brought an entire dining table… he’s shouting across the room…
Petri: “Hurry the fuck up you insolent child! I care not what is occurring outside! That is no excuse for tardiness! I want my tea made immediately!”
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
I can’t see anybody else in the room… but he must be talking to the boy… he said child so it must be…
Boy: “I apologise, your highness. I am heating the teapot as quickly as possible.”
That came from the room across the other side of the tent. That must be some kind of rudimentary kitchen. Right… now’s my chance… the prince is looking in the direction of the other room. I need to make this look as brutal as possible… they can’t think this was an assassination. Nomius lent me one of his axes specifically for this. Right… here we go.
I sneaked forward until I was right behind him… I raised the axe and brought it down as hard as I could into the back of the prince’s head. It didn’t kill him instantly… he seemed stunned though… as the blood dripped down his head, he simply stroked his face… then looked at his bloodied hand. He tried to stand up, but struggled. He used the table to prop himself up and turned to face me… the axe was still sticking out of his head.
I went to try to pull the axe out, but he kicked me back and tried to make a break for the tent entrance. He looked as if he was trying to speak, but no sound emerged. I ran after him and tackled him to the ground. He attempted to fight me off but he was clearly getting very weak from the blood loss… or possibly the brain damage… probably both. I grabbed the axe with both hands… pulling it out of his skull. It made a repulsive cracking sound as I succeeded. I drove the axe into his head again… and again… and again… until his head was no longer recognisable.
I was out of breath, covered in blood and ready to collapse when I turned to see a small jackal stood behind me holding a small teapot. His face had not emotion in it whatsoever, but his head was tilted to one side, as if he was questioning what he was seeing.
I cannot stress how emotionless his face appeared. No horror… no distress… no disgust… nothing. Just a mild head tilt. It was as if he did not understand what he was seeing, but was also completely unfazed by it. The gore didn’t bother him… it is simply as if the idea that this man could be killed was bewildering to the boy.
Dwynfel: “Don’t freak out… please… I’m here for you.”
Boy: “Are you my new master?”
Dwynfel: “No.”
Boy: “Are you to take me to my new master?”
Dwynfel: “You have no master… I’m here to free you.”
Boy: “I do not understand. I require a master? My kind always have a master.”
Dwynfel: “Nobody can own another person… you are not property… you are a child and I am here to rescue you.”
Boy: “Rescue me from what? My kind are made for this purpose, nothing more.”
Dwynfel: “Look… we don’t have time for this… if it helps… then yes… for now… I will be your master… now I need you to do exactly as I say.”
The boy nodded at me with complete obedience. This worried me more than anything… what the hell has happened to this child to give him such little self-worth.
Dwynfel: “Soon there is going to be a big noise outside this tent. When that happens, I want you to run outside. There will be a lizardman there. I want you to pretend to be scared of him… he is going to take you away… I need you to try to fight him off… act like you are terrified. I will meet you again outside of the camp… when you see me again you can stop fighting… understand?”
The boy nodded again… then a large roar came from outside the tent. I pushed the boy towards the entrance of the tent and he ran straight outside. I can’t risk opening the flaps of the tent to look and see how the plan is going… if they see me, we are fucked.
So, I sneaked back to where I entered and left. I travelled back out via the south-west way that I had entered… the fire was spreading and the men were struggling to keep it under control. Some men went to evacuate the prince because of the fire and I heard them panic when they found his corpse. They instantly blamed the lizardmen… which is good… all is going as planned.
I took a roundabout route to the south of the camp in order to stay out of sight. Damecus and I had arranged to meet up underneath a bridge across a small ravine to the east. It was not too far from the camp… however… when taking the scenic route in order to avoid detection it can take a while.
I had been walking for a couple of hours when I saw the bridge in the distance. The side of this ravine isn’t too steep… I should be able to climb down in less time than it would take to walk around the side and enter that way.
I began to slowly step down the side of the ravine when suddenly someone swept my legs out from underneath me. I began to slide down the slope… fuck… this hurts… fuck… ow… my leg’s bleeding… fuck… who did that? I can hear the sound of somebody else sliding down the slope.
When I eventually reached the bottom, I managed to stand up again. Then the other figure arrived at the bottom with me. Oh, for fuck’s sake… it’s that fucking bunny again.
Kin’Ayesha: “This time, you die!”
Unfortunately, the AI could not comprehend my instructions about the boy fighting back, or the way that I requested for Damecus to hold him under one arm. But I am pleased with how Damecus turned out in this image. The AI seems to struggle with Damecus a lot for some reason. Particularly his scar... which it has removed... again. Seriously... I wish I had knew a human artist who could make this stuff. The AI programme is incredibly frustrating.
