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Side-Story – Renn – Ginny and Lujic – Chapter One – A War’s Result

  A few hours after I had left the place I’d been camping at, heading northward alongside the river… I quickly realized I was wrong about the stink.

  Even after a couple hours, as the dark began to really set in, the strange stink still attacked my nose. In fact it even seemed to be growing stronger, if it was possible.

  I eventually left the river and decided to head through the now dark forest. Maybe the smell was coming from the river, somehow. Hopefully not, because then that meant I had eaten something that lived in such filthy existence.

  After another hour or so of walking… I eventually heard strange sounds. Sounds that weren’t common for a forest, at least not during the night.

  Birds. Not just birds chirping, but the sound of flapping wings… and…

  Following the sounds, I frowned as I heard what almost sounded like something being eaten. But not a large animal eating a smaller one… instead it almost sounded as if there were many smaller bites being taken at once.

  “What’s going on…?” I wondered as I rounded a cluster of trees, and found a large hill. I climbed the hill and at the top found I had left the forest proper… and found a field of death.

  Going still, I stared wide-eyed at the scene before me. There were clouds in the sky, but not enough to block the rising moon. The light it gave off was enough for me to see well enough to realize what I was staring at. A field of corpses.

  Hundreds of bodies were lying on the ground everywhere. Many of them were being pecked and prodded by tall dark birds, and the recognizable sound of flesh being torn answered some of my questions.

  “This is what stinks,” I whispered, a little shocked.

  So I had smelled death. I just… hadn’t realized what kind of death, nor how much of it.

  How old were they…? Sometimes I encountered dead bodies of humans, especially in the forests or near rivers. Accidents happened, of course… but…

  The closest body to me was down the other side of the hill and a few hundred feet away. It looked almost as if it was lying on a road… but between all the bodies, the random junk lying around, and what was likely stains of blood I couldn’t tell if it was a proper road or a trick of the eye. My eyes ran along the line of bodies, and eventually I found a rather visible dirt path. It was a large one, likely for more than just feet and horse hooves.

  “Some kind of battle,” I assumed.

  I’d heard stories of such battles. Not just from Witch, but my own family. Supposedly my own ancestors had fought in them… though not on the human’s side, of course.

  How did one even fight like this? How did such chaos happen…? And why didn’t I see anyone alive? Wouldn’t the victors of such a battle still be here? Not only had they not properly dealt with the dead bodies, it almost looked as if they all still had everything upon them. I saw the glimmer of weapons, armor, and more.

  “Maybe they all killed each other and no one won,” I wondered as I began to walk alongside the top of the hill.

  I had no plans to go down into the carnage. Not just because I had no reason to, but also because there might be a chance some of them could still be alive. I wasn’t stupid, those gleaming weapons could hurt or kill me rather easily even if they were wielded by half-dead hands.

  Still… I wonder what they had been fighting over.

  Humans were so odd. So many of them seemed willing to live and let live, then they just… did stuff like this sometimes.

  In my experience, when it concerned me, it was simply because of who and what I was. I was a non-human. A different creature, at least in their eyes. And that was… in a sense, at least, understandable.

  One could argue my ancestors, the things that had created me, were their enemies. So them hating me, attacking me on sight even, was believable.

  But what reason did they have to kill their own like this? It seemed so foolish.

  I tried counting some of the bodies as I walked along the hill, and quickly gave up once I reached several dozens and I had only counted the bodies nearby. I could tell by the shadows moving in the distance, the dark birds flying into the air, that the carnage went on for some distance. There were likely hundreds, if not thousands, of bodies here.

  “Whole villages,” I mumbled the thought, unable to comprehend it.

  Most human settlements I’ve been to, or seen from a distance, only had a few hundred people living at them at most. This battle was the same as if those whole villages had marched into war, and were slain during it.

  I couldn’t imagine a whole village just… dying overnight.

  What happened in such scenarios? Did other humans show up to live there? Did the buildings just remain empty? Slowly breaking and decaying over the years? Or did they burn them down, so no one could use them?

  The questions filled my thoughts even when the bodies began to disappear. As I walked along the hill, the hill ended and I had to descend to the dirt path nearby. Every so often another body appeared, either on the road or near it, and as I walked past one… I realized why they were out here all alone.

  They weren’t full of arrows. So it wasn’t as if they had tried to escape and had been hunted down. Instead… well…

  “You survived the battle, but not for long,” I said to the young man’s body.

  He had crumpled and a spear was lying nearby. He had likely been using the spear as a brace as to walk. His left leg was… nasty looking. Even in the dark I could trace his footsteps, and the blood trail alongside them, that led to his body.

  Maybe they really had all died then…? Or had there been simply so few survivors that there was no way they could do anything about all the carnage even if they wanted to? Or maybe the survivors, like this young man had tried to be, had been wounded and they had to escape as to get help.

  I debated for a small moment to check the young man for a bag of coins, or something valuable. I knew, what with all these dead soldiers, which some human settlements would likely be nearby. But I decided against it, just in case taking something upon him would get me in trouble later.

  Leaving the dead man behind, I followed the path until it rounded a new hill. This time though the road hugged the hill so closely it even tilted a little, giving the road a small incline.

  “Almost…!”

  I stopped walking, and my eyes narrowed as I quickly looked towards the source of the voice. It didn’t take long for my eyes to adjust, and for me to see a large blotch of darkness near the hill. It was just hidden under the rays of moonlight, but even in such pure darkness I could see enough.

  There was what looked to be a pile of stuff. Stacked rather high, right at the end of the hill. And…

  “Luji…” a tiny whine of a voice made my eyes widen and my heart thump.

  That had been a young girl’s voice. A very young one. One in pain, and terrified.

  Stepping forward, I hurriedly glanced around to make sure I wasn’t walking straight into a trap. Thanks to there only being one hill, I was able to see most of the area around me. I saw no one else, nothing else, and nothing to cause concern. In fact it was almost a little concerning how normal the world looked around me at the moment. What with me having just been walking through a field of corpses.

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  Returning my attention to the sounds of huffing and movement, I focused again on the darkness. I saw what looked to be a small child. They had at first looked like they were kneeling, but upon drawing closer I realized they were just tiny. They were grabbing something, and it looked like they were trying to pull it out from under something large and dark.

  A horse. It was a fallen horse. One lying on its side. Was it dead…?

  It had to be. The boy was struggling with all his might to pull whatever it was from out under it, but for a moment I didn’t try to tell what it was. Instead I looked around for the source of the girl’s voice from earlier.

  I had definitely heard a girl’s voice. Or maybe that wasn’t a boy? He had spoken first, though, and it had definitely sounded like a boy’s voice. Though maybe it had just sounded strange thanks to their efforts. The strain had maybe made the voice sound odd, during that singular moment…

  “It hurts!” the girl spoke again, and I went still.

  No. I hadn’t misheard. Nor had I misunderstood. The child before me was a boy. And he was indeed trying to pull something out from under the dead horse.

  His sister.

  “Hold on… I’ll… try to dig some more!” the boy coughed as he stopped pulling on the girl’s arms. He fell down to the ground next to the horse, and I heard the sound of mush.

  Frowning I stepped forward. Why was a young girl stuck under a horse? And why here and now? Near a battlefield?

  The boy quickly began to dig at the ground, and as he did I heard not just grass and dirt tear and get flung… but the sound of squishy muck too.

  Muck. Alongside a packed dirt road. It hasn’t rained lately either, as far as I remembered. Why was it all mushy?

  “My legs hurt,” she whined, and the boy said nothing as he increased his efforts.

  For a small, almost impossibly tiny moment… I considered not helping. But before I could even let such a thought nurture and grow, and find reasons to support it, my feet were already making my decision for me.

  Stepping forward, I stepped off the road and approached the hill… and realized quickly why the area was gross.

  There wasn’t just a single horse on the ground. There were multiple horses, and people. Dead bodies were scattered around, and most of them were littered with arrows.

  Looking up the hill, I stared at some of the silhouettes up top. I quickly realized that the hill wasn’t as bumpy as it had looked originally. Those were other bodies up there. Bodies and arrows littered it.

  That meant if I crossed over the hill, I’d likely find more carcasses on the other side. Either that side had the continuation of the battlefield, or this was just another one entirely.

  No matter.

  “Lujic!” the girl shouted, almost a panicked scream, and I went still as the boy spun. He spun so quickly he fell backward, landing on his side with a loud oomph.

  I quickly raised both my hands, open palmed, and smiled… then realized the two likely couldn’t see much in this darkness. Even I could barely make out their finer details, though I attributed most of that to the muck caking both of them.

  “Let me help. My name is Renn… I can help her, if you’ll let me,” I said gently.

  Witch had always told me to speak calmly to children. Especially if they were stressed. That they could become calm if I was, or at least I acted so.

  The boy found his feet, and as he did I heard the sound of something metal. I squinted my eyes, and noted what was likely some kind of weapon in his hands. Though it wasn’t gleaming, so if it was metal it was some kind of dark colored one. Iron maybe?

  “Stay back…” The boy tried to sound intimidating, but I heard the whimper in his voice. A whimper that came from more than just exhaustion and strain.

  “I’ll not hurt you. I promise. Just let me help get her free,” I said as I stepped forward.

  He hesitated, but only for a tiny moment. He stepped forward, and suddenly he was between me and the girl.

  I came to a stop again, and couldn’t help but praise the boy. He wasn’t very tall, and even in the darkness and while covered in gunk, he looked scrawny. The type of scrawny that didn’t just come with youth, but a lack of food.

  If that girl was his younger sister, she really needed to be saved immediately. Especially since it looked like it wasn’t just a horse upon her, but all the stuff horses had on them when they were sent into battle. It had more than just a simple harness and saddle, it looked to have some kind of leather bags and armor too.

  Too much weight for such a small thing.

  “Luji…!” the girl said his name, and I noticed the strain in her voice. He did too, and he turned to look down at her.

  A cloud shifted, and I got my first good look at the boy’s face. It was covered in gunk, as was his hair, but I could see enough to know he was definitely the girl’s brother… or at least, thought himself as one.

  He was looking down at her as if his whole world was falling apart.

  “Please. Just let me help,” I asked gently. Nearly begging. If he wouldn’t let me even after this, I’ll need to force the matter. Hopefully I could knock that weapon out of his hands without hurting him too badly.

  However I didn’t need to do such a thing. He simply nodded and stepped back.

  Relieved, I hurried forward to get a better look at the situation.

  Once close enough, I found a pair of tear-filled eyes staring up at me. She was stuck beneath the horse at an angle, lying somewhat on her side, and was buried from her waist down. The ground all around her had been dug at and torn apart, likely the boy’s efforts, but it seemed he had dug more-so in front of her than actually under her. Most of the digging looked to have little to no affect.

  And, upon closer inspection… there was also a body on top of her too. Or well, on top of the horse that was on top of her. It looked as if he had either slid off the horse as they tumbled down the hill, or the boy had pushed him off. But he was only half off. Enough of his body was on the horse that I was sure the weight was pushing downward on the girl as well.

  Shifting a little, I felt the soft ground underneath. It really was muddy… and through the stink of death I could smell the metal. I could taste it, even.

  The blood soaked ground was the only reason she was still alive, likely. It had allowed her to sink a little into the ground, and not just get outright squished.

  “Lujic?” she groaned a worried question as I studied the girl’s situation, and I decided to just lift the horse itself. If I pulled on her I’d likely just hurt her more than help her.

  “I’m going to lift the horse. You pull her out,” I said as I stepped over to the horse and girl.

  “Okay!” the boy agreed without hesitation as I kneeled and got my hands under the horse. I made sure to grab at the horse itself, and not the stuff upon it. I didn’t want to grab the saddle or something and have it snap and break off as I lifted it. All that would do is possibly get the girl hurt even more.

  “Ready?” I asked as I firmed myself. I could tell already that I’d be able to do it, though I wasn’t sure to what extent. How heavy were horses anyway?

  “Ya!”

  Without hesitation I lifted. I pulled with my arms, and pushed with my legs. And for half a moment I panicked, thinking I wasn’t strong enough to lift it at all… but then the thing raised upward rather quickly. So quickly in fact I panicked for a new reason, as the horse and everything on it began to shift and move in a direction I hadn’t wanted it to. They began to slip from my hands, falling backward thanks to the angle.

  Stepping closer, I got more of my arms under the horse and solidified both my hold and the carcass. I breathed a small sigh of relief, having not dropped the thing, and then realized it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

  “She’s free!” the boy shouted behind me, from several feet away.

  I glanced back to verify it, and sure enough found the young girl and boy both on the road. They were on the ground, with the girl holding him and crying. She was likely hurt, but at the very least no longer stuck under the horse.

  Letting the horse down, I felt some of the muck splatter from the drop. It splashed me all over, but I ignored it as I stepped away from the dead bodies and back to the road.

  I had lots of questions, and worries… such as of course, obviously, why a pair of kids was here in the first place… but for now all I cared to focus on was the fact the crying girl had gone quiet.

  “Ginny? Ginny!” the boy panicked, noticing it too, so I stepped closer and knelt down next to him. I lifted the young girl’s head from his lap, and found she was just unconscious.

  “She’s asleep,” he said worriedly.

  “Yes. Here… let’s get her checked. You too,” I said as I went to pick the girl up. The boy didn’t argue at all, and in fact seemed to help push her into my arms as I lifted her up.

  The small girl was impossibly light in my arms… and I blamed it on the most recent thing I had lifted. Hopefully that was all it was, because she felt far too small. Were all children like this…? I couldn’t remember my little sister feeling this tiny. Though maybe it was just that long ago…

  “Is she going to be okay?” the boy asked as he stood up too.

  “I hope so,” I admitted, and glanced around.

  Where should I take her? I knew that river I had been following was nearby… but maybe I should take her to a human settlement instead? Though what if by doing so I just got these two killed? I had no idea what had happened, or how and why… there was no telling what their relationship with these dead bodies was.

  The girl twitched, and I glanced down to find her arm trembling upon her chest where it laid. Trembling in a way not from cold… but pain.

  She was hurt. Not a surprise… having been squished by a horse.

  “This way. Let’s get her cleaned up first of all,” I said as I decided to go to the river first. I’ll tend to the two of them tonight, and if I can’t help them enough to satisfy my worry then I’ll risk taking them to a nearby human village.

  “Hurry…!” The boy agreed, but did so as if he was in charge. He stepped in front of me, while staring up at me and he hurried to keep pace. He did so with such surety and urgency, that I myself broke out into a small run as well.

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