PreCursive

  I wasn’t sure how loly I worked to save Walter’s life, but it couldn’t have been long. The precision of my Aetherial sense and the ability to directly manipute the flesh below me meant that the process was surprisingly quick, if not incredibly mentally intensive. I couldn’t allow my tration to slip for even a moment. If it did, and I wasn’t holding the wound together through sheer mental pressure while I worked, Walter would likely bleed out and die.

  I kept in mind I likely didn’t have very long before it was my turn to fight and I had to leave Walter alone. He had to be stable by the time I left him. I couldn’t ask Bleddyn to watch him either, as it hadn’t escaped my attention who the st two sves that hadn’t fought were. It looked like Magnus wahe st fight of the first round to be Bleddyn and me.

  I was lucky that whatever was going on out there seemed to be the lo of the fights so far. My tration had nearly been broken nearly several times by the reas of the heartless crowd, with their cheers and their jeers. But eventually, I finished. I think…I’d do.

  Snapping out of my Aetherial seh a deep gasp of air, I nearly fell onto my ass at the wave of exhaustion that hit me. Instead, I fell bato Bleddyn’s legs, as he was still leaning over me. It looked like he had stopped holding down Walter by this point, as apparently, the teenager had lost sciousness sometime during the procedure. I felt my own waver from the strain of what I had done, nearly knog me out.

  Seds ter, I felt myself being shaken back to awareness. Slowly blinking my eyes, I found that Bleddyn had moved to crou front of me. He was staring at me with a ed expression on his face. “Oi,” He said lowly. “Ye ’t sleep now. I think they’re do there, and we’ve got to che the boy before they e for us.”

  Breathing deeply, I heless him. He nodded bad moved out of my way so I could i Walter. Well, he was breathing at least. It was unsteady and slight, but it was there. He’d likely passed out from the shock of both the wound and the impromptu surgery. He ale from blood loss, whifortunately I don’t think I could do anything about. I didn’t have any of the blood-replenishing potions that Magnus had forced down my throat.

  As for the surgery itself, it seemed like it had been a success. I’d mao stitch close both the wound on his abdomen, and the perforation on his rge iine. Probably not very well, though. The stitches weren’t very , and I’d likely used too much thread, but at least Walter wasn’t bleeding everywhere anymore. Instead, I was covered in his blood now.

  Tiredly, I tore off the remaining sleeve on my tunid started winding it around Walter’s stomach, with Bleddyn’s help. When I was done, I ched it off as best I could as a makeshift bandage.

  God, I wish I had some kind of medical training to tell whether or not I’d just saved his life, or doomed it.

  “I think I’ve done all I ow for him,” I said to Bleddyn lowly. “It’s up to him now if he pulls through.” Bleddyn me seriously and opened his mouth to reply, but didn’t get the ce.

  Behind us, we heard the tent fp fly open. Bleddyn shut his mouth and narrowed his eyes. I turned around to see what he was looking at to find another blood-soaked sve stumbling into the tent. This one looked rougher thaher of the first two winners, and multiple cuts lingering on his skin. He wasn’t followed by another sve, only the same guard that was assigo mind us. I let out a rough breath from my hat made two other sves that were likely dead by now.

  I didn’t get very long to pte the sve though, as the guard immediately turo Bleddyn and I. “Up and at ‘em, you two,” He said to us maliciously, before pausing at the sight of me. He smirked at my blood-soaked form. “Well, well, what do we have here? Could it be that one you is being a little…preactive?”

  Bleddyn stood up first and helped me up after him. He spat on the ground at the guard's words while I woozily tried to steady myself. “It’s proactive, ye dumb twat,” He said mulishly, causing the guard to scoff. “Besides, the boy already lost. Why would we try and kill ‘im now?”

  “I’m going to enjoy watg you bleed, sve,” The guard sneered. “Out, the both of you.”

  Out we went.

  ………………………………………

  Exiting into the inappropriately bright and cheery sunlight, I was surprised to see that another frontation was already taking pce. This time, between Magnus and Orinbar, the Seneschal. They seemed to be having a heated argument. Magnus was sneering down at him from his pce higher up on his pavilion. While Orinbar was standing at the bottom of the steps around the back half, with an incredibly frustrated look on his face. Iingly, Stonebreaker was standing up on the pavilion as well with Magnus. He…didn’t look very pleased.

  The croolitely pretending not to notiy kind of frontation happening, while at the same time very obviously paying rapt attention to the two dwarves.

  As the guard directed us closer to the pavilion, we must have been noticed by Orinbar. If anything, the sight of us made him look even angrier. “Even the damn Butcher, Magnus?!” He shouted at the heir. “Never mind Azarus’s personal sve, you’re trying to get the town's only butcher killed?! How are we going to get our meat if we don’t have a Butcher!”

  Magnus scoffed and sneered. “Azarus doesn’t have a personal sve. What he has is a worthless pieeat that I’m loaning him. I do whatever I want with cattle that I own. As for the Butcher, what does it matter? This one isn’t even a real Butcher anyway. I’ll just assign another sve with Fleshcrafting to the job if it dies.”

  Orinbar literally shook in anger before he snapped. “You’ve gooo far this time, Magnus! As far as I’m ed, you’ve sabotaged this operation for the st time! You care more about your own base enjoyments than you do furthering the is of House Savoy!” He straightened his already vest. “I’ll be tag the Prio see about recalling you back to Vittolia. Perhaps he correct your behavior.”

  Magnus lurched forward with a snarl on his face. “Oh, are you now, old man? You pathetic weakling, you think I’ll let you? Guards!” He s the guards-dwarves who had gathered to watch the frontation. “Restrain the Seneschal, and escort him back to his office. Make sure he doesn’t leave. I’ll deal with him…ter.” He said ominously.

  Two guards hesitantly stepped forward to obey Magnus’s order. Both of them id a hand on Orinbar’s shoulders to lead him away. On the pavilion, Stonebreaker let out an audible snort of disgust that rang out from his helm. Orinbar looked at the hands on his shoulders disbelievingly for a moment before looking up at Magnus. “You ot be serious, Magnus. This settlement would colpse in a day without me.”

  “Oh, I’m deadly serious, Seneschal,” Magnus answered with a twisted smile. “Take him away.”

  The guards did as ordered, direg the shocked Orinbar out of the clearing and back through the gate. Before long, the trio had disappeared off in the dire of the manor. With a self-satisfied noise, Magnus turned back around to look at Bleddyn and I, who had been watg the show behind him. At the sight of us, an evil gliered his eyes. “Well, well. I believe this might end up being my favorite bout of the day. If it isn’t the rebellious Butcher and the cattle that survived two of my hunts.”

  Bleddyn already had a sneer on his face at the sight of Magnus, but his words only caused it to deepen. On my part, I was trying not to let my exhaustion from the surgery show on my face. If I showed any weakness at all, I’m sure that Magnus oun it.

  Magnus tinued. “You two maggots have the honor of being the st match of the first round, and I believe I’ve ged my mind. The way the other cattle sughtered each other was most pleasing to me. My order that you don’t o fight to the death is resded.”

  His words caused a stir among the crowd. Bleddyn didn’t show a rea, but I’m sure my dread broke through my mask. Even beyond the fact that Bleddyn was my friend, I didn’t think I would be able to take him in a fight even if I wasn’t exhausted. I might have had an active Status, but the impression I’d gotten for him over time was that he was just way more experiehan I was. Hell, he definitely had a higher level than I did, locked away behind his brand.

  “You will fight and die for my amusement this day, and I will enjoy it immensely,” Magnus said, log his eyes oh sick glee. “Guards, distribute the cu-”

  “No.”

  The entire cleari silent at the word, causing it to echo.

  Magnus’s eyes slowly drifted to my left, where Bleddyn stood with a smirk on his face. “Do you care to repeat that, cattle?” He said, disbelievingly.

  Bleddyn took a step forward. “I said, no,” He tinued forward with aep. He was now only around te from Magnus. “In fact, fuo. I’m not going to py yer sick little game, ye twisted t.”

  Magnus chuckled disbelievingly, gng around at the dead quiet clearing. “You choose to defy me? Here and now, when I’m surrounded by my soldiers and supporters?” In areme shift, he suddenly lunged forward and gripped the railing of the pavilion so hard it splintered under his grasp. “You court death, mongrel.” He snarled madly.

  From behind him, I saw something silvery drop into Bleddyn’s palm from his long sleeve. My lips parted slightly in silent shock. He must have grabbed it sometime during the surgery, but I hadn’t seen him do it.

  The khat had been buried in Walter’s stomach.

  Bleddyn grinned wildly up at Magnus. “Ye FIRST,” He bellowed, whipping his arm up and tossing the knife point first at Magnus’s face.

  The world nearly slowed to crawl at the rush of adrenaline I felt. In a freeze frame, I could see everything that was happening. The knife was flying through the air fast enough that Magnus couldn’t rea time. The audience was only barely beginning to react to the sight of the bde, and a great cmor was erupting from them. The various guards around the clearing were charging at Bleddyn, some of them drawing their bdes. Magnus’s eye’s widened slowly at the approag knife.

  Meanwhile, Stonebreaker moved.

  Time sped up.

  In front of me, Bleddyn was still standing with one arm outstretched from his throwing position. Suddenly, he began ughing wildly at something. “Ha Ha HA HA HA H-” He was cut off briefly by one of the guards tag him and wrestling him to the ground. His ughter picked up again though, uerred.

  Numbly, I followed his gaze to where he’d been staring.

  On the podium, Stonebreaker was standing just off to the side of Magnus, one arm outstretched in front of Magnus’s face at eye height. Pinched iween his gaued index and middle finger was the blood-soaked kit khat had nearly stolen Walter’s life. But…

  The entire knife wasn’t present before Stonebreaker’s fingers.

  Slowly, stumblingly, Magnus backed away from the knife in front of his left eye with a faint, but audible wet plopping noise. As he did so, Stonebreaker tilted the knife up just enough for everyoo see what was on the point.

  A ruined, punctured eyeball.

  Suddenly, Magnus let out a high-pitched scream of pure agony. The view of Magnus wasn’t blocked by Stonebreaker anymore, as he had stepped to the side, with a vaguely self-satisfied air. As suspected, Magnus’s left eye was just gone. In its pce was a bloody, empty eye socket.

  Some of the dwarven women in the audience screamed at the sight, while the cmor from the rest of the audience picked up.

  “You!” Magnus suddenly screamed through his wails at Stonebreaker, clutg his empty socket. “Why didn’t you stop it!”

  Over the din of the crowd, I still mao hear Stonebreaker’s reply. “I did,” He said, somewhat smugly. “Enough that it wasn’t fatal, at least. up, boy. You’ll get it grown back. Once you’re ba Vittolia, at least.”

  Oh. I see. So Stonebreaker was more on Orinbar’s side…

  Magnus must have realized that as well, because a rictus of hate suddenly stole across his face. “I’ll deal with you ter.” He snarled. Suddenly, he rounded ba the clearing where Bleddyn was being held down by the guards. In an explosive movement that cracked a wooden board beh him, Magnus jumped down to nd in front of Bleddyn. He grabbed him by the hair and yanked his head up to meet his eyes. “Try and kill me, will you!” He screamed in Bleddyn’s face, spittle impag him. “You’ll beg for death by the time I’m doh you!”

  Bleddyn gave a pained chuckle from his position on the ground. “I doubt that.”

  Magnus smmed his head ba the ground forcefully. He looked up at the guard that was directly on top of Bleddyn. “Take him to the cells,” He hissed. Standing up, he screamed at the onlookers. “Everyone LEAVE! We’re DONE!” He started hurriedly sprinting in the dire of the manor once he’d finished with his orders.

  I took a breath for the first time in a long time. I watched numbly as the guards picked up Bleddyn roughly and began to march him away towards the manor as well. Before he got too far away though, Bleddyn turned around to meet my eyes. First, he smiled at me, surprisingly tent for a man that was likely to be tortured to death soon. Then, he mouthed something at me, for the sed time that day.

  ‘The boy’.

  Walter…

  Suddenly gng around, I saw that the clearing was in a state of panic. The crowd was rushing out of it quickly, and the guards were preoccupied with them. Nobody aying any attention to me anymore. Realizing what Bleddyn had meant, I walked back to the tent we’d been held in as quickly as I dared. Onside, I sprinted over to where Walter was still ying in the dirt where we had left him. Putting my head to his chest and the bay hand over his mouth, I found that he still had a heartbeat and was still breathing, although both were weak. He was still alive then, thank God.

  Carefully, I began to pick up Walter as gently as I could and put him in a fireman’s carry. Standing back up, I ighe hesitant questions from the other sves. I didn’t care about people that would willingly kill another sve when they didn’t o. Poking my head out of the tent, I saw that the coast was fairly clear. Hurriedly, I made my way over to and outside the gate ued in all the fusion. Once clear, I rushed as quickly as I dared to the side path that led to Azarus’s house.

  Thank you, Bleddyn. I wouldn’t fet this.

  I swear, I won’t let you die in that house.

  That’s a promise.