A New Beginning: Chapter Six: Karma Is A Bitch
So, yea, new chapter already, sadly, this is the last chapter I've got written in this story, so the upload rate is going to slow down a bit from here. Hope those reading enjoy, don't forget to comment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwvQy4XNT9M
His eyes were riveted to the gallows, what sounded like labored breathing reaching his ears as he watched, but it was not his own or that of someone standing in front of him... it came from his earpiece. He watched as a figure clad in an executioner's garb took his place at the gallows, followed by two guards leading a lone figure onto the gallows. The lone figure looked as if he had been beaten, obviously a prisoner for some time, but Alastar couldn't see his face as it was covered by a sack. He continued to watch as another figure, this one an older wolf probably in his late fifties or early sixties at least, stepped onto the gallows as well and stood to the right of the prisoner. Something about this wolf seemed familiar, but he couldn't place what it was, for some reason he felt liked he'd seen that face before... but try as he might he could not seem to place the where or who into his speculation. His attention left the sounds he was hearing in his earpiece as the wolf, obviously someone of some royalty judging by his garb, began to speak.
"This man who stands before you, beaten and alone this day came to this regal town several weeks ago, asking for assistance and information about an item that is nothing but a foolish superstition. At first, it was believed that he was just another insane creature among many, but then he began speaking of other things and speaking blasphemy against this land's king, saying so many outlandish things that it would not have been a crime to slay him where he stood that day. Alas, no one rose up to smite the infidel, and maybe, in a way, it was a good thing. Replying to one evil with another cannot lead to peace in the land, but this man was sentenced to death for his words, and tonight that sentence shall be carried out..."
Alastar watched as the wolf stepped away from the prisoner, but not before pulling off the sack that covered the prisoner's head. The drake gasped in surprise as the face, despite the distance almost literally jumped out at him. It was none other than one of the expedition that he was tasked to find, one of the soldiers to be precise that had been sent as protection for the scientists in the group that had been lost. He couldn't quite recall the coyote's name, but he had spent quite some time memorizing the faces of everyone that had been on that expedition and even in his condition, Alastar recognized the coyote's face like he did his own. One of the onlookers turned towards him and gave him a look that may as well have said "shut the hell up" for all the annoyance that was behind it. He lowered the hood on his cloak a bit more, debating whether or not to try and attempt a rescue operation... "Risky doesn't even cover this" He mumbled softly, getting another annoyed glance from more than one onlooker.
"Hey, you, quiet, the mayor is speaking, show some respect, fool!"
Alastar had to resist the urge to decapitate the lynx that spoke on the spot, his anger rising, but he simply nodded and apologized, not having any desire at the moment to draw any real attention to himself. Despite this desire to remain hidden, he began pushing through the crowd as gently as possibly, avoiding as much contact as he could, not like that was really saying anything. With so many packed so closely together, it wasn't like he had much of an option other than to force his way through the crowd of onlookers, which was exactly what he did, albeit slowly. Aside from a few curses, annoyed and or angry looks, and the occasional light shove back, he didn't seem to garner too much attention to himself, and luckily no one on the gallows noticed the cloaked figure closing in on them.
"I told you not to cross me, fool"
Alastar looked up in surprise, thinking someone was speaking to him, but once again he realized the voice was coming from his earpiece... then something else hit him as he gazed up at the gallows once more. The dragon knew that the coyote had an earpiece like his, and he had been hearing static from, what he guessed was this same earpiece, and now... that wolf was standing quite close to the coyote, leaning down ever so slightly... that's when it all fell in place. The wolf's face, it hit him like a ton of bricks, making him wonder why or how he had missed it. The wolf that now stood atop the gallows, sentencing the coyote to death was actually a member of the two man team that Devin and his own team of techies had lost contact with entirely. Damn... he couldn't recall the name again, but that sure as hell didn't matter right now, not when there was obviously something much bigger going on than he had anticipated... or just something much smaller? "Damn fool I am" he grumbled, easing past more creatures as he increased his pace, all the while keeping his eyes on the wolf and the coyote.
"Devin should have known not to cross me, I told him not to send anyone else, it is a shame he didn't listen. For your sake, you should have turned down his offer, Donavan. It's also almost a shame that it has to come to this, but I gave you fair warning, and you chose not to heed any of it"
Alastar continued to listen as the conversation switched sides, his eyes on the coyote as he spoke. While the creature's voice was weak, and the only reason he could even hear this conversation was due to the earpiece he wore, the dragon could tell by the fire in his eyes that he was far from broken, at least when it came to his mind.
"You double crossing son of a bitch! I should have killed you the first day I heard the rumors going around... then that fucking asshole stamped them out instead, so I ignored it!..." the coyote spat, growling, but he was quickly flogged across the head by one of the guards and remained silent, the pain obviously far too much for him to endure any longer... either that or he was simply trying to get his head in order after taking such a hit.
"I shall deal with them the same way I have dealt with you and your team. Devin was a fool to even think that he could control such power, let alone use it to bring about peace. You should have joined me, it would have been better than this, but you chose death over life, despite all that I offered you"
Alastar was definitely glad that he had that earpiece on, he could tell by how little the two moved and their postures that they were whispering what was being said, but the crowd didn't seem to notice... something he hadn't even been paying attention to while the wolf and coyote conversed was one of the guards reading the laws that the coyote had apparently broken, and once again, why he was sentenced to death by hanging. This speech was about as interesting as watching a dog lick itself and he ignored it completely, focusing only on the wolf and the coyote, but it seemed the conversation had ended...
"I chose the path of light over the dark path you offered, scum"
Or... maybe not... he listened, wondering if anything else would be said, but as the guard finished reading through whatever scroll of laws he had, the coyote, Donavan, was marched towards the noose which was quickly secured around his neck "Fuck..." Alastar continued to push through the crowd, his pace and urgency increasing with each second as Donavan stepped closer and closer to a quick death "Now or never" he mumbled, just as the guard stepped away from the coyote, along with the wolf.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-KO-nFyEn8
"Seth Donavan, you are hereby sentenced to death by hanging for your crimes of blasphemy against the king by the people of this town... may the gods have..." The guard never finished his speech, stopping suddenly and gasping in surprise. A soft gurgling sounded from the guard as he reached for the dagger in his throat before falling to the ground. It seemed like time stopped for the entire crowd, along with almost everyone else there that night as they slowly realized what had just happened. One scream sounded, quite feminine and obviously the first one to truly realize what had just occurred before the entire crowd broke into a panic, scattering like roaches. The guards took a bit longer to react, revealing that they obviously weren't trained very well, but react they did "Joshua!?!" one of them, a rather young looking lion asked, unbelieving of what he saw. The other guards all had their weapons drawn by this point and were scanning the crowd, while the mayor was quickly ushered away by his own personal guards within seconds of the body falling to the earth.
The panic was exactly what Alastar needed, it threw everyone and everything off of the track except the one who had caused it, even Donavan seemed to be rather stunned and still stood where he had been left, the noose still around his neck as he stared at the dead guard beside him. The drake leaped onto the wooden platform with ease and was at the coyote's side within moments of throwing the dagger. He kept one eye focused on the fleeing mayor, but more so on the guards that accompanied him... those ones seemed much calmer and more experienced, but their only concern seemed to be getting the mayor out of the area. Two of the guards spotted the drake as he cut the noose away from Donavan's neck with his short sword and quickly called out to their comrades "Just great" he mumbled, growling softly as he turned to face this new oncoming threat "Get out of here" he shouted, giving the coyote a shove in the opposite direction right after he'd slipped a single dagger into the coyote's paw. Donavan was apparently no fool and didn't stop to ask questions as he turned and bolted away like a jackrabbit, vanishing into the crowd in seconds. Alastar tapped his earpiece lightly, turning it off, he didn't need any other sounds aside from what was happening here and now, and he didn't want to listen to the coyote's breathing or anything else aside from the guards at the moment. If he survived this one... well, then he could work on finding Donavan, if not, he didn't really want the guards to have any chance of using the earpiece to track the coyote down instead... assuming they even managed to find it on his corpse. Those two reasons were more than enough to turn the earpiece off for now. He stood his ground, short sword held defensively as he faced his attackers. The guards all stopped a few feet away from the drake, not that they had any idea of his species as he'd kept his cloak on all the while despite the rapid movements.
"You! You're under arrest for the murder of an officer, surrender and die!"
"Don't you mean 'surrender OR die"
"Not after you killed my brother, you worthless cur!" the guard, a black bear, spat as he spoke, rage filling his voice "Stay back, I shall kill this pathetic creature" Apparently this bear was definitely high in the ranks, either that or he just had gained quite a bit of respect from his fellow soldiers, because they all took several steps back, following his command.
Alastar's composure remained, his dark blue eyes shining in the torchlight through his helm "Do not make me kill you as well, I have no quarrel with you and it would be a shame to spill your blood"
"You killed a member of my family! I shall return the favor. BLOOD FOR BLOOD!!!" The bear roared and lunged for the cloaked figure, aiming a rapid low thrust with his long sword at the figure's mid section, his body hunching down just as low so as to present a smaller target. The bear's stance and movements were on the verge of being those of a master, much better than any of the bandits the drake had fought previously... but his rage was causing him to attack without thinking.
The drake's stance adjusted for the coming attack, his knees bending slightly, sword lowering as if he were preparing to block the oncoming thrust, but instead he suddenly leaped backwards off the wooden platform, leaving the bear to finish his attack on nothing but air "Sorry, my good friend, but I don't have time for this" And for once, he didn't. The drake's eyes drifted past the bear and the other guards, coming to rest on what looked like a full company of soldiers... "Maybe we could finish this later, my friend?" he said, bowing almost courteously to the bear before turning away and dashing into the crowd. Alastar was anything but a coward, but one thing about combat... you had to know when to retreat to avoid the slaughter, and if he stuck around and tried to fight all the guards, it would be a slaughter, his slaughter! He ignored the bear's words of mockery and rage as he dashed into the crowd, a few words wouldn't compare to what might happen if he got caught and after what he'd been through in the past... he was damned tired of getting caught! The crowd had begun to thin out a bit, but there were still plenty of creatures going in every direction as they sought some form of safety from an unknown assassin. The panic made it quite easy to blend in, just like before, but it also presented a few problems. Being trampled was one of those problems, the other problem was that while most of the town's folk's movements were erratic, he actually had a destination and knew that anyone that looked closely from a good vantage point would spot the fleeing cloaked figure from a mile away simply by the fact that his movements were anything but panicked. He heard a roar of rage and turned his head just enough to spot that black bear giving chase, literally bowling through anyone that got in his way.
"FACE ME, YOU MURDERING COWARD!!!"
"Ah shit..." Alastar's pace increased as he turned his head back to the current path. That quick glance behind him was all he needed to realize that every single guard was following the bear, who was following the assassin... "Times like this, I REALLY miss zombies" he grumbled, cursing as he tripped over a body. His attention didn't stay on the form for long, just long enough to know it was... wait... "Karma... you owe me for this..." still cursing, he turned around briefly to pick up the child's body, taking a split second to place his index and middle finger on the child's neck, checking for a pulse. The young fox kit couldn't have been more than seven, maybe eight years old, judging by the bruises on his body he hadn't been able to get out of the fleeing crowd fast enough. This was one of those times were he wasn't sure if he was glad the kid was alive or not... on one hand, the kid WAS alive, on the other hand... this would seriously slow him down. Turning away from his pursuers once more, he sprinted towards the city's outer wall, noting that the gate had already been closed, he was now extremely glad he'd taken the time to scout things out before stirring up any trouble. Another thing he was glad of was that he'd taken off his armor before entering the city. The guards on the other hand wore full plate armor by the looks of it and were obviously being slowed by the weight, all except the bear, whose rage was pushing him on faster than any of the others.
The drake spotted a single female, another fox, about to enter her house, or possibly it was just a door to somewhere she thought she'd be safe. He increased his pace, dashing towards her, relieved about this outcome. It didn't take the vixen long to hear the commotion and realize it was coming towards her, the drake winced as she screamed before turning back to the door, trying desperately to get inside, but apparently struggling with the lock. He reached the vixen within seconds, just as she was opening the door, and the drake was quick to grab one of her arms and place the child into her grasp "Hold this, please" He figured the kid would be safer with her than him, but the second he let go, figuring she had the kid, the young vixen fainted, and he barely managed to catch her and the child as she went down "FUCK!!!" he growled, cursing Karma now. Figures... the one time he tries to really do something good, and that bitch was going to fuck him over without a second thought. He hesitated for a brief moment before setting the vixen down and picking up the child once more, before dashing off in the direction he'd been going. Unfortunately, the guards had gotten rather close in the short time he'd taken to stop and attempt to ditch the kid, and the drake barely managed to evade the bear's sword as he once again resumed his mad dash for freedom. His destination was rather inconspicuous, a rather small alcove in the wall he'd come across, apparently something dug out by local thieves or something of the sort. The small recess in the city's wall didn't seem like much, but after checking it closely, he'd found a small tunnel in the darkness, just big enough for him to squeeze through. The problem was now in the child he held in his arms... He could ditch the kid, but the impression he'd gotten of this town left him hesitant to do so. He figured the guards had seen him pick up the small fox, along with trying to get rid of the child by placing him into the arms of the vixen whom he'd hoped had been the mother of this child... Chances were high they'd, or at least the bear, would try to use the kid as bait should the drake leave the young fox behind... at least, knowing his luck, that's what would happen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3dlPm6EuW0