Varhi would have to thank Cyial later. The demon had been kind enough to stand still and give his boots a nearly full refill in Sairek’s stead after he had tossed the Prince to safety, acting as a backup for Sairek. He’d been wise enough to keep going after the Prince lost concentration after being tossed into the brush to make their escape.
Still, even with that small gift, he needed to be precise with how he handled this. He wasn’t at full strength yet. That was still a few more days away with proper food and rest which they’d all been sorely struggling with, and not only that, he had already thrown his ‘ace’. It rebounded off the soldier’s helmet somewhere near the coach, but that was over twenty five feet away, and it could have landed in the bushes somewhere. He couldn’t see it immediately in the darkness.
Oh well... This was par for the course by now.
After sending the other soldier flying when they tried to pursue Sairek and company, and having attacked the air behind to defend himself from a flank attack, Varhi understood that the only way to defend himself against being outnumbered was to keep up the pressure; to continue assaulting and intimidating the soldiers so they would not want to engage him. If he got surrounded or they had a moment to recollect themselves into any kind of coordinated attack, this would be over for him fairly quickly. Thankfully, if it’s one thing people in general seemed to do when he had to combat them, it was that they vastly underestimated the kind of damage a small pissed off mercenary with a giant sword could do...
...and they were about to find out first-hand the kind of damage he was about to tear asunder onto them.
Most Masirean soldiers had the same equipment in three different sets: A sword and shield, or a two-handed sword or spear, or a single sword with bow and arrows. Two of these guys had swords and shields, and the one Nayleen had shot which was furthest from him at the moment had a singular sword with a bow and arrows. He had to take that one out first.
Varhi repositioned his great sword from his swing and angled the blade at his right side, the handle of the sword in front of his hip. He took a big step forward, releasing a ferocious cry, swinging from right to left at the soldier in front of him again, feinting a terrifying swing to force them to back up. As much as he was holding back putting his all into the swing, the big benefit of having a great sword was that nobody wanted to get hit by such a weapon regardless and were more than happy to kindly back up from you when you swung it around willy-nilly. Out of the corner of his eye, Varhi saw the man he was truly going for begin to pull out the bow and arrow back from a quiver after sheathing his sword.
Perfect...
Continuing the momentum of his swing, Varhi angled the attack so the soldier in front of him would be forced to evade off to his side as he spun around with the momentum to ready his sword onto his left side and make the man dodge that way as well. When he was positioned, Varhi bent his knees and released a triumphant “Hah–!” He used the ethereal in his boots to leap past the soldier beside him and rushed forwards at the man that only just got a bow and arrow into his hands. The force of the leap was so much, that a plume of dust from the ground formed clouds where he had been standing a second ago. The man stared wide-eyed underneath his helmet at this child launching towards him, right hand outstretched for his head.
Varhi clasped the man’s face while he continued forwards, holding him in a viciously tight grip in his right hand as the momentum of his leap carried them both forwards and the soldier off of his feet, until finally, moving into the forest, Varhi followed it up further with a hard shove, tossing the man. The back of the soldier’s head, protected by a helmet as it may have been, slammed into a tree. Varhi twisted himself in the air to the left as much as he could manage to avoid the impact with the same tree, collapsing and spiraling into the brush. Even as he tumbled and grunted, coming to an abrupt stop through sticks and vines, he heard the satisfying sound of metallic armor collapsing into a heap onto the dirt closely behind him.
Righting himself up, he pushed himself back out of the bushes to examine his handiwork. Indeed, the man had collapsed. Unconscious and hopefully not dead, but he'd have to check later. He had put a lot of strength and energy into that. Enough that his right arm hurt a little and he rolled his shoulder to try and relieve his muscles a little. Varhi overlooked the road once he emerged back onto it. Both sword and shield soldiers were staring at him shocked at the impressive and intimidating feat of strength he had just pulled off. Varhi slowly, coldly, turned his glare towards the coach, where he saw Belgarion staring at him, even more shocked and intimidated than those two men on the other side of him were.
“If I were you Belgarion, I would start trying to run...” Varhi warned in a sneer, his glare remaining icy, “...because you are next.”
Varhi would have laughed at the terrified wail that escaped the merchant, had he not been so utterly pissed off. Belgarion hastily began preparing the horses to move while Varhi began to take slow deliberate steps towards the vehicle. When it did begin showing signs of moving with protest from the horses shrieking while Belgarion desperately whipped them to move, Varhi morphed his slow, threatening walk into a full sprint. He bent his knees and let out a furious cry of anger. He expended the remaining ethereal in his boots to make a leap towards the coach. The energy got him most of the distance, enough to reach the back wheel with the coach to his left, but he underestimated the remaining energy in the boots and it wasn’t enough to reach the driver’s seat. Varhi growled in frustration, and throwing all caution to the wind, tossed his great sword to his side into the wheel next to him. There was a horrible snapping sound as the wheel got struck and began to drag along the ground, unable to properly roll around with a giant sword lodged into it. With the extra weight of his weapon off-loaded and the coach slowed down somewhat, Varhi managed to sprint himself more ahead until he could jump up into the driver seat at the front from the ground in a single acrobatic leap.
Belgarion’s face was frozen with fear for a split second, staring at Varhi who had one knee up onto the seat, the other dangling outside as he grasped at the back of the seat and the front frame of the vehicle, his purple-trimmed black cape beginning to billow behind him due to the speed of the coach. Varhi gave him an icy, intimidating glare. Belgarion hesitated for a couple seconds and began hastily pawing at his belt, pushing his shirt up above the belt of his pants, where Varhi saw a firearm was holstered.
Varhi acted before he could fully draw out the weapon. He pushed himself forward leaping at Belgarion from his side of the seat, outright tackling the man off the still moving vehicle and slammed down on top of him in the middle of the road. Varhi pinned him with whatever weight he could, outright backhanding the firearm that Belgarion had in his grip with ease using his right hand. Varhi's teeth ground together in anger. Finally, having caught his prey, he let out as much of a viscous growl his adolescent voice could manage. He began to aggressively punch the man in the face with the use of both of his hands balled into clenching fists, over, and over, and over again.
“YOU SUNUVA BITCH!!” Varhi shouted at the top of his lungs. He threw a right-hook punch directly into Belgarion’s nose, which had no resistance against the half-plated fist. Then Varhi threw another one into his left eye. Then another right-hook against the jaw…
Blood was starting to get on his gauntlets…
...but he didn’t care.
SLAM!
“YOU BACKSTABBING JACK RAT!!"
CRUNCH!
“AFTER EVERYTHING I HAVE DONE FOR YOU!?”
WHAM!
“Damn you...
DAMN YOU!!"
SLAM! BAM!
Varhi continued, pummeling the man punch after punch, each crunch he felt under his fists was wickedly satisfying, relieving...
After the ninth punch to the man’s face, Varhi pulled himself up and Belgarion up with him by the front of his shirt, letting out a frustrated cry as he tossed the man away to roll and sprawl on the road. “You stay put right there…! If you even try to escape I will hunt you down and kill you if it’s the last thing I do...!” Varhi threatened, his voice strained as he tried to keep it held together, lest it break apart. “Apparently my previous warning wasn’t clear enough for you, so you better listen to this one you traitorous piece of shit!”
Belgarion released… a sound. Varhi wasn’t sure what he was trying to communicate exactly, but at least he managed to refrain from killing him…
Belgarion was scum. Belgarion was pathetic. Belgarion was greedy...
...But Belgarion wasn’t evil...
He wished he was.
It would have made this so much easier...
“Damn you…!” Varhi repeated in a growl under his breath, turning back around and storming his way to the back right wheel of the coach as he pulled his sword out of it without missing a beat in his stride. He glared at the other two soldiers who looked like they were regretting some serious life choices right now, considering the absolutely savage beating they had just witnessed. And the cause of that savage beating was storming directly towards them.
Varhi’s breath was heaving ragged. This was anger—true anger. And he hated it…
It was too consuming.
Too overwhelming.
He couldn’t control himself.
He was actively trying to fight against it for control of himself but he just didn’t know how other than to just let out the frustration. And the more he thought about it, the angrier he became…
“GrrraaaAAAAGGHHH!!!” Varhi yelled into the night in absolute frustration as he began charging at the other two soldiers who began sprinting away from him outright.
Varhi gave no mercy in his pursuit. He was smaller, faster and more lightweight than them, fueled by even more adrenaline than their fear could give them against Varhi’s fury. Eventually, after over a hundred and twenty yards of sprinting, Varhi caught up to the first one and slashed at the less protected backside of a leg. As angry as he was, he made sure not to cut too deep and only used the tip of his great sword to render the soldier unable to run anymore and avoid the more critical parts of the leg—their boots only protected their front side, after all, unlike his which protected his legs all around.
The soldier barked out a cry of pain as they fell forwards under their own weight. Varhi ran over them and approached the second one.
Somewhat to the man’s credit, he turned back around to face Varhi with his weapons ready. As Varhi swung at his legs, he moved to block with the shield and pushed Varhi’s great sword away, deflecting him entirely, before positioning himself in a more defensive posture while backstepping away firmly, a pace Varhi pressed forward, keeping the distance even as he poised his great sword in front of himself, keeping the sword at an angle in preparation to either counter-attack or parry if needed.
“Yield to me or die...” Varhi warned viciously, his voice struggling like he was speaking in a quaver, which wasn’t helping him be more intimidating, but regardless, he was also glaring at the soldier in as intimidating of a manner as he possibly could anyway.
The soldier hesitated, but kept backpedalling his form away from Varhi, who kept pursuing him, matching his pace with slow steps forwards.
“Yield to me, or die…!” Varhi hissed more intensely, more hoarsely. “I will kill you if you do not submit.”
After several more seconds of no real response, Varhi was about to charge. He even clenched his teeth, took a deep inhale and took half a step forward, resigned to the fact he would have to kill, but he hesitated when the man suddenly dropped his sword and shield and held his hand up. “I-I yield!”
...Had he been a second slower…
Varhi exhaled his breath out slowly. “Turn around, back facing me. Keep your arms up...” He ordered in a growl, stepping forwards slowly. The man began to comply, and Varhi poised his sword and thrust the tip into the man’s leg, making sure not to pierce completely through. The man yelled in pain and crumpled down onto the road, rolling over to clutch at the injury with both hands.
“B-But I yielded!” The soldier cried from the ground.
“...I said I would kill you if you didn’t yield. I never said I wouldn’t make sure you couldn’t go yell and alert Cyvolta with reinforcements to cut my friends and I off from Krevest, now did I?” Varhi scoffed, turning around, he stormed his way back to where he had left Belgarion. “Honestly… no wonder why the Masirean military is garbage.” Varhi huffed. “Being in the military has too many benefits… Half of the Guard can’t even fight properly. Worthless…”
Belgarion was lying face down still. Varhi walked over to the pistol he had smacked out of the man's hand and picked it up wordlessly, tucking it into his satchel before shifting back over and triumphantly raised his left foot over the man’s head and pushed his weight down, crashing the silver plated steel foot onto him. He relished at the squeal of pain from this swine as he leaned down onto one knee to get nice and close whilst driving even more of his weight in.
“You are lucky… so damn lucky that I swore an oath to my captain that I would only kill when I need to kill… or you would be suffering such a slow death right now...” Varhi growled through grinding teeth. “But my promises to him never eluded about damaging someone and giving them scars… scars, that for the rest of your life, you, and everyone who looks at your face and body will see... See you for the traitorous, lying, backstabbing scum that you are.”
* * *
Varhi steered the coach down the road. It was taking everything just to concentrate on what he was doing and to prevent his racing mind from wandering away from the task at hand. He was almost there at the agreed upon rendezvous point, though he wondered if the others would have even made it in time…
They should have… He sure took his sweet time… Much longer than he needed to.
He had a gut feeling something like this may happen one day... His plans often had a habit of not working out, and Jimmy told him that happened extremely often in this line of work when he first started off…
Jimmy... had been right, of course.
Things rarely ever go as planned… It's a miracle if they go off without a hitch.
That’s not something unique to just mercenary work, either... It’s true that reality was often cruel and twisted and turned things even worse than you imagined, but that didn’t mean trying to prepare for the worst wasn’t pointless.
...Even if the thought of having to do so hurt so very much sometimes…
Plan A: Hire Belgarion to ride them to Krevest, then sneak aboard the ship and hide in his cargo after it had been cleared, then stow away on both Krevest and the Island ships to Malode, then from Malode walk their way back to Ceareste. Or get deported back there, whichever happened.
Plan B: If they made it to Krevest, but couldn’t make it onto the boat, they would wait until tomorrow evening and in the darkness of night, slowly, painstakingly rowing the lifeboat to the islands and stow away on the next boat by sneaking aboard.
Plan C: In the case of an ambush, Varhi would deal with the threat while everyone else ran on ahead until they reached the end of the forest, then wait nearby close to the road in cover. This made it look like they were making a break for Krevest… but they would actually break it back to Cyvolta while most of the Guard there was out in search of them through the cover of trees. They would take advantage of the lower number of patrols in the city and steal Jimmy’s boat and make a desperate break for it. Varhi would do it alone, while the other three waited for him near the original beach camp location they had set up a week ago. Varhi would stop in the water and drop the rope ladder to pick them up before continuing the escape. They'd out-pace their pursuers from there.
Plan D: If everything else failed, they would go back into hiding, meeting up back behind the monastery in the cove if they got separated.
No doubt more than three soldiers would be on their way to find them. Varhi’s interrogation of Belgarion verified the unfortunate suspicions he had as soon as they were ambushed…
Belgarion had accepted a bribe from the three soldiers. If his plans had all gone according to plan, he would have received the bribe money, received Sairek’s money (which Varhi confiscated back), and then received the bounty reward all in one fell-swoop.
But it would not be long before three guards missing from their patrols and not returning would go noticed. It probably already was noticed, and when the soldiers get found, they will warn anyone that comes to check on them that Varhi, and presumably the three with him, went this way.
...But by then, they will hopefully already be too late to realize what they actually did.
Varhi pulled on the reins of the coach to drag the horses to a stop as he looked around at the edge of the forest. “HOOOIIII~!!” He shouted as loud as he could. He waited ten seconds, then shouted again. “HOOOOIIIIIII~!!”
He waited patiently, and a little more than half a minute later, he heard rustling to his right and looked over to see the trio emerge from the bushes, almost warily, with Sairek leading. He looked like he was about to speak as Varhi shimmied to their side in the driver’s seat, and jumped down onto the ground, but Sairek hesitated as he examined Varhi. “It… happened after all…?” The Prince asked him quietly.
Varhi swallowed and slowly nodded, then dug into his satchel to pull out the… now bloodied wallet Belgarion had on him. “Have it back…” Varhi replied hoarsely, tossing it to Sairek who managed to catch it against his chest, staring at the blood on the wallet, before he hastily pulled the seru out as he braced his staff under his right armpit and tossed the small wallet away. "And before you ask, no, I didn't kill him."
“Varhi… are you okay?” Cyial asked, almost timidly.
“...I’m—…” Varhi began. He couldn’t speak for a moment, and swallowed. “...I’m far from okay, Cyial…” Varhi finished barely above a whisper. He felt himself abruptly shuddering and hiccuping. He was confused as to what was happening to himself as water flooded his eyes and he heard himself release a wailing cry with a sharp pain within himself, like he had just been stabbed in the chest with a knife. He felt himself hiccuping again and released yet another wail. His legs felt suddenly weak...
He felt someone hold him and gently guide him downwards to the ground where he sat on his knees, the other three surrounding him and holding him tightly. “What… What’s happening to me…?” Varhi spoke through his hiccups. “This—This feeling… in my chest… I hate it…”
He wasn’t quite aware of what was happening around him. This feeling inside of him practically drowned everything out. It was like an unfiltered noise. Was this sadness? But he couldn’t understand why he was sad… or even if he did, why he was quite this sad… Maybe it was because he had just been betrayed by someone he knew for months—someone he considered a business partner... maybe even a friend? Someone he believed he understood and could trust…? He could understand why that would make him as angry as he had been before, which was why he had his outburst… right? But now why sad afterwards...? Like this, he could control himself less than he could even when he was angry...
Either way, the more he let out these wailing sobs and the more water that leaked from his eyes, the less painful the pressure in his chest was becoming. So for now, he just… allowed it, with the afterthought that he probably looked utterly pathetic right now. But he knew that the other three wouldn’t hold it against him at all…
The three of them were cheesy like that…
...and he trusted them. More than he trusted Belgarion. He hoped that trust wouldn't be betrayed by them too, just like what happened to Belgarion.
After a minute and a half of what he could only assume was him sulking on the side of the road while the other three desperately tried to comfort him, Varhi managed to get a good enough grip to slowly halt himself and regain a composure with a shake of his head, finding his face buried in Cyial’s robes as the world was starting to return to him… He didn’t know how or when that happened…
He sniffled through his nose, pushing himself back upright and wiping his face with the leather of his armor with his arm as best as he could. “Stop… I’ll be okay…” He tried to order, but his voice embarrassingly cracked from his emotional state. He looked down onto his lap, looking at the blood that was on his gauntlets as they remained seated there. “I… I don’t get why this is happening now… but I’ll be okay. We don’t have time… for me to act… like this…”
“Are you okay though…?” Cyial asked him quietly. “You do have a good amount of blood on—”
“No… It’s not mine…” Varhi mumbled, then glanced towards Sairek. “And no, I didn’t kill anyone… I don’t break my oaths…” He said with conviction. “Only those who don’t surrender and those who are wholly evil… That’s the code I live by.
“...Unfortunately, being a lying, piece of shit asshole isn’t the same as evil… I’m a mercenary… not some kid with a big sword that runs around going on strange killing frenzies—despite what most of the Guard may think.”
Sairek nodded at him slowly, but didn’t say a word. Varhi, with his strength returning to him, grunted as he pushed himself back on his feet. The others rose to join him.
“Okay… let’s get back on track… We’re doing plan C. Let’s stay off the road and make our way back to Cyvolta...” He announced, gently brushing past the other three. He began to walk towards the back of the coach, where he opened the backdoors. “First though, Sairek, take whatever is in here you think is super valuable or catches your fancy that won’t weigh us down. There’s some cloth and basic rations at the minimum we can use. It’s not like he will be selling any time soon.”
Sairek stepped over and pushed himself up inside the coach to begin opening some boxes. Nayleen jumped up to join him. They both rummaged the boxes as Cyial moved to join at Varhi’s side, watching them.
“...What even is half of this stuff…?” Sairek grumbled, pulling out a fancy looking knife, dagger… thing. It was a dark midnight blue with a golden yellow pattern.
“Not a lot of it is stuff we can use…” Nayleen muttered, pulling out some fancy looking silverware “There’s some generic wares here, but… he really had no intention of helping us, did he?” Nayleen asked, eyeing Varhi.
Varhi could only smile sadly at her briefly, before looking away, blinking his eyes clear.
“...Well, I’ll still keep these handy at least…” Sairek said, holding the knife up and grabbing it into his jewel, then he pulled out another one and held it by the tip as he pointed the handle at Cyial. “You should keep one too.”
“...Sairek?” Cyial asked, staring at the knife in confusion.
“For an emergency, Cyial. I’m not taking any risks if I can help it of course, but we need to prepare for every eventuality.” Sairek said, then glanced towards Varhi briefly. "...Like he did."
“But I’ve never… I don’t want to…”
“Cyial, please. I’m not telling you to stab someone willingly or even kill. Only use it if it’s absolutely necessary in self-defense. At minimum, extra knives will be good survival tools in case something else happens anyway. They look fancy; probably some collector’s thing but they’re still sharp enough to cut with and usable.”
“O-Okay…” Cyial conceded, reaching up rather timidly to take the knife and held it carefully in his hands, before pocketing it inside his robe.
Varhi had watched the exchange and saw Sairek look at him, to which he nodded approvingly. The Prince was starting to think smart and learning. If something had a use, take it. Even if the use was unconventional. It’s not like the knives were too cumbersome to carry, anyway.
There were a few more items Sairek grabbed. A few bits of clothes, too big for them, but they could always be cut up into strips to use as bandages in emergencies.
There was a box however that didn’t seem to be used for selling, but was a supply box. One sleeping bag, a good supply of rations and a tent. Varhi recognized the tent as Belgarion’s for when the man had gone on longer trips, not necessarily limited to Masirean, so this box wasn’t for selling, but survival and travel. Therefore, they took everything within it. However, everything other than that was fairly useless; mostly just raw material of crystals of the non magical variety, leathers, ores and the like. All useful things normally, yet useless to them, so they were all left behind.
“We’re done.” Sairek announced to Varhi afterwards, dropping down out of the coach to be level with him and Cyial. Nayleen quickly followed after.
“Good… Let’s hurry back. We’ve spent too long here as it is. More soldiers will be here before too long.” Varhi ordered as he drew his sword, and with a grunt of effort, he slammed the weapon into the back right wheel, damaging it considerably, making the coach look like it was too damaged to continue onward and they had to continue here on foot. Varhi turned around and stampeded with purpose off the road into the thicket of the forest with the other three following behind him. “We’re starting Plan C… We will head back to Cyvolta and take back my boat from that bastard.” He growled, before looking towards Cyial. “Ready up my boots if you would, please. Sairek will need every ounce of energy he can get to get you guys in position quickly.” He ordered, pulling off his helmet visor and stashing it away into his satchel for now.
* * *
Varhi slowly stalked his way on the southeast side of Cyvolta, then sighed in weary frustration. It was no surprise the city was abuzz with soldier activity by the time he got here. However, he didn’t need to get super sneaky. He just needed to get on the boat before anyone else did. And if anyone was on the boat, get them off of it one way or another. Though he was sure he could handle that part, the problem was he had to do it quickly to get the engine running and out into the ocean to prevent reinforcements or other soldiers managing to board it after him at the same time.
Thankfully, boarding it was quite easy and wouldn’t be in the manner they would expect for sure. Actually, it’s something he practiced many times before with Jimmy in case of an emergency… not that this kind of situation was what he had in mind with practicing. It was meant to be a quick retreat method.
His boots had enough oomph to get him from a dock onto the deck by just jumping up and over the edge. Something he may need to do, because as he surveyed the docks more closely, two soldiers were left behind to guard the ship. As Varhi observed further, it seemed that the ship’s anchor was in place as well as the boarding pallet. Both would take time to remove. Then there was also the initiation of the ship’s engines. It took a couple of minutes to fully engage and warm up. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue as it took time travelling back to the driving wheel anyway, but if you were in a hurry like he would be, then you were still stuck being relatively immobile for a time. He also needed to steer the ship out into the ocean. If he just engaged at full throttle, he’d crash and beach the ship into other boats at the docks. He needed to have it slowly turn around first before he could full throttle the engines out of here anyway. Even still though, the ship was pointing and docked facing the east, and he wanted to go west, but that did mean from his position, it made it easier to outright jump onboard. He wouldn’t be able to do it from the back. The distance was too high.
It was nearly two in the morning now. Varhi was exhausted; especially because of his outburst on Belgarion earlier. It turned out that exploding that much in anger was actually quite tiring. He’d make a mental note of that for next time to try and preserve more energy if that happened again. He still had so much more work to do, after all…
Okay, he was just delaying the inevitable at this point. No time like the present...
Varhi slowly kept himself within shadows as best as he could. He made his way closer towards the city, until eventually he was against the walls, then leaned his head past the base of the tower on the southeast end to get one last look at what was going on. He slid against it onto the other side of the tower and made himself try to look more casual and not as suspicious as he pushed away and walked towards the southern center side of town closer towards the boat. Street lights littered the walkways, but he kept his head down and occasionally glanced to a side, trying to have the light of them more downcast over his face whenever possible to make himself just that little bit harder to recognize at a glance. There weren’t many people on the streets. Those who walked by didn’t give him any attention or try to stop him, so he just kept going as he reached the end of the street and turned to his left closer to the dock, heading towards the north side of the boat.
He was expecting to be noticed any second now, as there were even less civilians here out at night and those who were would be mostly members of the Guard keeping watch over the boats. He got further than he thought he would before someone called “Hey, you!” In his direction, causing him to glance to his left a bit behind him as a soldier he just walked by moved from one of the civilian boats and was heading in his direction. Varhi glanced back forwards and pressed onward.
“Hey kid, I’m talking to you!”
Varhi calmly reached into his satchel and grabbed his helmet visor, setting it firmly in place on top of his head. With a few more hastened steps, he made it to the bow side of the boat, and with the soldier shouting attention, the two soldiers guarding the boarding plank of his boat turned towards his direction and began moving towards him as well to intercept and pin him in. Varhi paused as they began to approach. Letting them get further away from where they would be able to board the boat.
“Wait, that’s Varhi!” The soldier in the front called, recognizing him.
Varhi smirked. His reputation preceded him, it would seem. “Yes. That's me. I’ll be taking my boat back now.”
Bending his knees, Varhi grunted in effort as he jumped up thirty feet into the air, angling himself towards the front of the boat. He reached both hands out to grasp the railing, though he was still travelling upwards, allowing him to vault himself over the railing and landing on the deck with relative ease, then dashed his way towards the steering wheel.
“Hey! He’s stealing the boat! Stop him!” He heard someone shout down below.
Varhi skidded to a stop as he grasped the steering wheel to stall his momentum, he quickly reached the levers and did the series of motion inputs with them to pull the boarding plank back from the dock. He heard the metallic sounds of it pulling in and then two people letting out short-lived yelps before two splashes of water were heard down below. He cracked a mild smirk of amusement as he imagined what it probably had looked like.
He did another series of inputs with the left lever to begin to pull up the anchor of the ship up, then pushed himself off the steering wheel while the anchor was being withdrawn to go inside the ship, dashing through the hallways until the end where he reached the spiralling stairs, grabbing the pole in the middle, ge let himself practically drop down to the floor with a heavy grunt from the landing. Then he dashed towards the engine levers, pulling all of them up and hastily set the engines to all be active. While the engines were beginning to roar to life slowly, he made his way to quickly dash back towards the stairs and climbed back up them with haste.
When he was sprinting down the hallway back towards the deck again, the ship suddenly shook hard from the anchor settling back into the ship’s hull. It made him stumble and collapse down onto one knee. He had to grip the sides of both walls in the hallway to prevent himself from falling flat on his face. When he recovered, he stepped back out and ran his way towards the steering wheel, maneuvering the levers and the wheel. He was pushing the engine despite the fact it wasn’t fully operational yet, but he knew he didn’t have a second to spare. The whole city was no doubt going to be on alert now and every guard in the city would be after him and getting ready to hunt him down, if not preparing to commandeer other ships in order to pursue him and dock on his. If they managed to make his ship stationary and began boarding quickly, this was going to get much more difficult and messy very quickly. He couldn’t do much to drive the ship while fighting more soldiers than he could probably deal with, even if they were of the Guard; as untrained and lazy most of them were.
Varhi first caused the ship to back up slightly away from the docks and began turning it, hearing lots of shouting down below. He stopped reversing and turned the wheel back around the other way as he cranked the engine towards full throttle. He just began moving when he heard a sudden boom and then the ship tremored so violently, he was thrown off of his footing, sliding and rolling off to the side several feet away from the steering wheel.
As he collected himself, he could hear the engine of the ship sounded… wrong, and he pushed himself back up and leaned over the side towards Cyvolta to try see what—
“Oh for fuck sakes…”
They had brought out several harpoon guns and fired them into the ship, piercing the hull. No doubt some of the engine was damaged on that side, and the harpoons themselves were probably jamming some gears as men tried to literally reel him back in. Though the ship had a fair bit of weaponry and firepower, it was almost only built for maximum speed and travel and not much else. It wouldn’t take a lot to cripple the ship. Any real aggressive force could tear apart the hull with relative ease.
Varhi clenched his teeth tight. He retreated back to the steering wheel, revving the engine down to suspension before more damage was done to the machinery, then inputted a series of inputs with the levers as he rotated the ship to the side to face the docks. As he finished the series of inputs, compartments on the ship opened up on the left side facing towards Cyvolta, where a series of cannon barrels emerged. Varhi ran back over to the railing, cupping his hands to shout. “I’ve got cannons and I know how to use ‘em!! If you know what’s good for you, you will release MY ship!!”
“Your ship!?”
Varhi looked down towards the direction of the voice and his blood boiled as he spotted Avotash staring up at him from the docks. He was surprised the older man was still lounging around in Cyvolta...
“Yes, MY ship!” Varhi snapped back, his voice cracking in anger. “Jimmy and I paid for it to have it built with OUR money! I am not a citizen of Masirean you stupid pompous—” He was cut off as another volley of harpoons was fired into the ship, causing him to stumble and he would have fallen had he not been gripping the railing so hard in anger.
“Fine…” Varhi hissed under his breath. Though he was too far for anyone to hear, his violet eyes glared down below towards the dock at Avotash in anger.
He pulled back and stormed his way back over to the steering wheel with purpose. He gripped it with two hands and shoved the wheel inwards, then rotated it slowly to the left, causing the cannons of the ship to begin to lower their angle downwards towards the docks.
“This entire country is nothing but a sham…” Varhi growled under his breath.
“He’s firing! Scatter!” He heard someone shout. A few seconds later, Varhi gripped his right hand into a fist.
“...I’ll smash it into dust!!”
Varhi pounded the center of the steering wheel with the side of his fist like he was slamming a button down. Only fractions of a second after his fist connected, there were multiple blasts and crashing noises coming from his left side in the direction of the Cyvolta dock as a volley of four cannons were released into the dock, destroying a good section of it where he had aimed his cannons at. Varhi pulled back on the steering wheel to disengage from the cannon controls, and maneuvered the lever again to force the ship into full acceleration once again, now that the engines by now would be fully engaged. The harpoons would no doubt be attached to the ship still, but at least there would be no harpoon guns themselves pulling the ship in to cause much resistance now, especially at full throttle with the engines fully warmed up. Varhi felt the balance of his weight shift as the boat began to move. He steered the wheel hard to the right to try and get it turning as much as possible.
“Don’t let him get away! FIRE!!”
Varhi heard Avotash’s voice make the command, and he nearly lost balance as there was a similar boom like from his own cannons, and then a hard shudder against the ship instead almost immediately after.
“Damn it, MY SHIP…!” Varhi swore, switching the ship back into cannon controls again, and this time he maneuvered the right side of cannons to reveal themselves as the ship slowly turned around to face the west. Varhi lowered the cannons and slammed his fist into the steering wheel again to fire, just as a volley down below was fired as well, causing massive shuddering, and crashing sounds. The engine of the ship let out a protesting groan. Varhi was a bit wary to even look at the damage. He could tell the ship wasn’t accelerating at normal speed, but he was pulling away now at a decent clip at least. He just needed a few more seconds...
Varhi pulled out of cannon controls again and followed a series of inputs to drop the sail, needing every extra bit of movement he could muster as he began to pull the ship away from the dock proper. He heard more cannons firing, but there was no shuddering this time, just the sound of splashing which could only barely be heard behind him above the hissing sounds coming from the ship and loud creaking of metal.
Varhi centered the steering wheel before quickly dashing back to the railing towards the direction of the land and peered over the side, gauging how fast he was going, which he estimated to only be about a dozen knots or so. Not very fast at all considering he had put full power into the engine and it topped out at around fourty to fourty-five.
...Just how badly did they just tear into the ship...?
Varhi glanced down and hissed a slur of swearing. He saw a gauging hole in the side of the hull. It was well above the water line so sinking probably wasn’t an immediate concern, but they had definitely been aiming for the engine. Parts of it were exposed to the open air. Varhi quickly ran back over to the steering wheel, and pulled slightly away from the coast line to start moving away and returning the wheel back to a neutral position as he ran back to the other side to examine the damage there as well. Indeed, the harpoons were still sticking out of the hull, but this side had a hole in it too, though not as big as the other side.
This was going to cost an absolute fortune to repair… And with how extensive it was, most of it could only be done in Kior, as well…
And that was just only the hull damage he could see. He hadn’t actually examined the engine room itself yet on the interior, but he couldn’t do that. He hadn’t actually gotten away quite yet. He was still moving faster than most of the other ships could, but he wasn’t out of immediate danger right now. Besides, even at this speed, it wouldn't be too long before he reached the pick-up point he set for the other three.
Varhi sighed. He was feeling exhausted from running around in his armor like this. He glanced around his surroundings, or more specifically, the ship’s surroundings. It looked like they were preparing a pursuit indeed in Cyvolta, with what they could with the dock he left in shambles, but Varhi could still probably out speed them as long as the wind remained favorable. It would take them a few more minutes to actually even be able to start a pursuit. The reality of his cannon volley was that all he did was splinter and destroy the dock and left a mess and make it hard for them to start a naval chase. His intention wasn’t ever to fire into the city itself. Harming and getting innocent civilians into the crossfire was no good.
Still, he needed to go down and assess the damage and do whatever basic repairs he could and see what he had to work with. Gaining a knot or two of speed back if possible was essential. Inhaling a breath, he began sprinting himself down the hallway again. He was about to make it down when suddenly the captain’s door at the end of the hall abruptly opened, with a swinging fist.
“Ough!” Varhi barked out in a grunt as the metallic fist slammed directly into his face, causing more impact considering he had been running right into it. His sprinting was cut to an abrupt halt as he rebounded off the floor backwards down the hallway a couple of feet, laying on his back, stunned and dazed. He groaned in pain. The world and hallways of the ship were sideways as his right cheek lay on the metallic surface of the floor and his left throbbed with heated pain.
Before he could regain his senses, he grunted in pain again, feeling a heavy weight pressed down onto his chest, and the sound of a brandished sword. He only just managed to roll his head to look upright before his vision was filled with the tip of said sword pointed at his head. Even still, Varhi had to wearily blink his eyes a few times, trying to clear his vision to get a good view of what was happening. As his vision began to recover, he looked down from the tip of the blade up towards the figure and clenched his teeth.
“Ah… You didn’t get enough of punching me in the face before, did you…?” Varhi groaned, looking up at the soldier that had so gracefully tortured him on the ship before they had made their escape the first time. He supposed it wasn’t out of the question that some people may have been sleeping on the ship they commandeered instead of using the inn… especially if they already had equipment on board. He should have realized that… No doubt all of the sounds and shaking had woken at least this guy up from his slumber. He didn’t bother checking any of the rooms—he had no time to.
So… just how many are on board? Just this guy? He hoped so or this would turn very sour very quickly...
The man was armored in full plate, which was dark gray, almost black; his full helmet had a dragon shape crest on the front, sticking on top in front of the helmet, almost like a horn. No ounce of skin was exposed. If the man had been sleeping, no doubt he had taken time to fully redress himself which may explain why he had not engaged Varhi immediately; dressing this amount of armor took a considerable amount of time, especially alone. The man was clearly a captain, which meant this was not going to be nearly as easy as the other goons he dealt with at all.
That, and the fact he was currently on his back, pinned with a damn sword pointed at his face.
Though Varhi didn’t believe in luck, the ship suddenly shuddered and there was a loud snapping sound that caused the ship to violently shudder. Enough that the captain lost his footing a little and slightly stumbled backwards. Varhi took that opportunity to react. He reached both of his hands up to clap both sides of the man’s blade with his protected palms and shoved the blade off to the left side while bending his right knee up between both the man’s legs and shoved his foot into the midsection of the man hard with a grunt of effort using all of his strength in an attempt to force his opponent backwards and up off of him.
It worked. The man stumbled more at the loss of footing and Varhi planted his hands behind himself and shifted his weight with a bit of a hard push with his left foot that was still planted on the floor, rolling himself backwards upright onto his feet, quickly grasping for his own sword behind his back as he moved to sprint back onto the deck, quickly assessing what was happening to cause the shudder. He realized as he came back out into the open that the right side of the ship was currently grinding into a rocky pillar in the middle of the water, with the cannons taking the brunt of the impact which was… actually fortunate. It was better it was the cannons than the hull, at any case, he wasn’t sure the hull could handle much more before the integrity of the ship would break apart. Still, it was causing the ship to slow down and doing damage so it needed to be addressed immediately. Varhi quickly steered the ship hard to the left to maneuver the ship around the rock, causing the ship to rattle and shake in its abrupt swerve. Because of his turn, the back end of the ship turned and grinded against the rocky wall and then he steered it back right again to swerve best he could around it, breaking free from the rock.
He was aware of thudding footsteps behind him even over all of the noise just as he was finishing. He clenched his teeth as he spun around, swinging his sword defensively at the captain who was charging at him, forcing the man’s approach to a halt. Varhi readied his great sword to his right side, preparing to swing again if he must, but the man wisely did not approach. Though he couldn't see the man's face, he could feel he was being sized up, and did the same.
Appraising the man’s weapon, it looked to be a large long sword. Or to be more precise, a one-and-a-half handed sword; a somewhat versatile weapon that could be used in either one or two hands fairly comfortably. However, the man didn’t have a shield, not that Varhi could see anyway. So the man may just like a faster two-handed blade, which was understandable given the amount of full armor he was in. Too heavy of a weapon would be extremely physically demanding and draining, even for the strongest warriors. Given their size differences though, Varhi’s great sword was almost of equal length, though more wider, but it was still fairly light considering the type of sword he was using.
This was going to be interesting… but certainly not easy.
“I’m going to only ask this once: Yield to me and toss your weapon overboard, or I will kill you...” Varhi threatened, raising his sword up from his right side to be more centered in front of him in position to get ready to fight, giving himself as few weak points as possible as he spread his legs out to balance his weight to be able to move in any direction he needed to at a moment's notice.
He waited for a response, but the man gave him none, nor did he drop his own weapon. The ship rocked slightly as it crashed through an opposing wave in the water.
Varhi waited ten seconds, then another ten. Then another ten…
“Fine then...” Varhi growled. “However, I’m warning you, it’s not going to be so easy this time now that I’m not crippled and unarmed!” He shouted in threat whilst he sprinted forward to engage. Each footfall he made thudded heavily, yet rapidly against the wooden deck of the boat. The captain took up a defensive posture in response. Varhi responded as he got within contact range with the momentum of his sprint into a thrust attack, trying to pierce the defensive stance which the captain side-stepped to Varhi’s left. Varhi twisted the grip of his great sword and then his body to follow up his thrust into a slash towards that side, and felt resistance as the captain’s blade intercepted his own in a parry. Varhi rebounded off the blade and used that momentum, sliding his boots on the wood of the deck to spin himself around with a viscous cry to try and attack the captain’s other side, only to once again connect against the man’s weapon, though rather than rebound off of it this time, the captain move to redirect the weight of Varhi’s attack off to the side, causing his momentum to carry on through, and leave Varhi’s left side exposed. The captain followed through as he pushed forwards in an underhanded swinging motion, an attack that could tear Varhi’s hip and up.
Varhi gritted his teeth, tossing his weight to his right side as he dropped himself down into a lopsided roll, rolling back upright onto one knee and his left hand planted on the deck of the ship, which he then used to push his weight forwards into another roll as the missed underhand swing connected into an overhead one that would come crashing down on top of him. Varhi twisted himself around and pushed himself off the deck to his left, performing a sideways roll and bounced back onto his feet to face the captain, who was still putting on the pressure by initiating yet another attack by charging forwards, committing to a series of three slashes going from the man’s left to right, then a downward-angled swing from right to left, and rolling his arm back into yet another overhanded swing on his left side angled towards his right.
Varhi blocked the first two attacks using the flat of his sword, and dashed forwards to avoid the overhead swing and to counterattack, slamming as much weight of his body as he could into the man with a grunt of effort.
Unfortunately, the man barely budged. The armor was too thick and heavy for his smaller size and lightweight kit to make any impact. Varhi realized it was a mistake almost immediately, but the captain seized the opportunity just as quickly. A metal fist grabbed the coif of chainmail around his neck that was connected to his cape and lifted him up off the ground a few inches like he was nothing more than a bag of potatoes. Varhi let out a brief choking sound at the sudden pressure on his neck, but that was actually the least of his concerns as the man began walking him towards the edge of the boat. The intention to throw him straight off overboard was pretty clear.
Falling off the ship was a death sentence. There was no way with him being equipped the way that he was that he would be able to swim above the surface of the water for long if he was tossed overboard.
Varhi grunted, kicking his weight forwards and planted both of his feet against the man to kick off of him, then twisted himself around rather than trying to pull himself off of the grip on the nape of his neck, using his smaller size and weight to his advantage in an attempt to get up and behind so he could get leverage again. However, the maneuver attempt didn’t have enough strength behind it, and the Captain followed Varhi’s momentum to simply toss him overhead. Varhi flew a dozen feet in the air and he barked a yelp of pain upon impact, crashing and sprawling onto the floor of the deck, though he was relatively unharmed otherwise than the spill he just took. It was a trade-off he was willing to accept if it meant he was free once again. It hurt a bit, sure, but nothing that would slow him down or prevent him from continuing as he had been.
Varhi picked himself back onto his feet, looking around himself briefly as he caught the wind back into his breath. Then he suddenly dashed backwards towards the steering wheel of the boat, and slammed the acceleration lever down to neutral, then quickly began inputs to begin to pull down the sail. He only just managed it when he glanced to his right side and saw the captain charging at him, sword poised.
“Ngh—!” Varhi let out, diving backwards, but not in time. The sword ripped through his leather armor and sliced into his side, enough to nearly cause him to cry out, but he managed to suppress it to merely a grunt of pain. He felt the hot rush of blood pooling into his armor around the wound as he staggered and fell onto his back, left hand gripping his right side as pain tore at him. He clenched his teeth, fighting through the pain, releasing his right side as the captain stepped up towards him with haste in his walk, sword poised again to thrust down at him. Varhi rolled from his back onto his front with his hands and knees planted as best as he could whilst still holding his sword, scrambling away with a pained grunt of effort to even move that much that quickly. He practically collapsed back onto the deck of the boat on his left side as he tried to stop his momentum.
The captain was relentless, still pursuing after him. Varhi reached with his left hand into his satchel and when the man thrust the sword at him again, he gripped his pot lid by its handle and out in front of him like it was a buckler, stopping the thrust and causing the blade to scrape downwards and thrust the tip of his sword into the wood of the deck, mere inches from both his already wounded side and his right arm.
Varhi roared furiously, both in pain, but also anger as he pressed his weight into his back to raise his legs up from the floor as high as he could go, sending a harsh kick with the toes of his left boot into the side of the man’s full plate helmet to knock him off balance and daze him momentarily.
Finally Varhi found some brief purchase as the captain pivoted around off balance and staggered, allowing Varhi to twist himself around onto his front again and he once more scrambled upwards, once more diving towards the steering wheel as he discarded his pot lid onto the deck to grab at the levers again and do a series of movements to cause the rope ladder on the boat to extend downwards.
“Th-There…!” Varhi huffed to himself, feeling sweat coating his eyebrows and beading onto his forehead. He’d done it. Now he just needed to survive the next few minutes for the others to arrive…
Varhi turned himself around and back stepped away as the captain rushed towards him, swinging his sword from right to left. Varhi clenched his teeth as he raised his great sword to deflect the blow, but staggered, and only just had enough strength to block a returning swing from left to right that caused him to completely lose his footing and fall backwards onto his rear. The attacks weren’t even that hard, but with his side wounded as it was, and fighting through the pain, he just couldn’t brace for the impacts at all. He still managed to scramble backwards and get himself back onto his feet in time before he was attacked again however, breath sucking in through clenched teeth as the pain and bleeding at his side was becoming an unbearable anguish to combat through like this. He was nearing his limit.
He’d need to do something desperate…
But what could he do? Still, the captain was continuing his assault, wearing him down, and he had no choice but to barely keep up blocking, and with each blow he blocked while the Captain continued to attack, the harder it was becoming. The assault continued, until finally as Varhi went to block an attack, it wasn’t enough, he felt the grip of his sword be forced out of his hand as the captain slashed at him, sending his sword toppling a couple feet away, and the slash continued on through, slicing into the side his upper right arm. It was almost like slow motion as he saw drops of his own scarlet blood flying through the air, splattering in thick droplets onto the floor of the deck in an arc as the pain flashed up his arm and sent signals into his brain, before time seemed to come back into motion for him.
“AHGGHH...” Varhi gasped out, staggering back a few steps and his left hand clasping onto the bleeding wound of his arm. He furrowed his eyebrows, looking more… frustrated and annoyed, than in pain or afraid. He was conjuring up a brash plan, but hopefully one that would work...
Varhi knew he was reckless for sure, but he wasn’t usually this reckless. Regardless, he was getting desperate...
He abandoned his great sword and allowed it to remain on the floor. Instead, he charged at the captain again, releasing his bleeding arm as he jumped up.
The man was reasonably caught off guard at Varhi charging at him suddenly despite the wound he took; and unarmed at that. The surprise factor allowed Varhi to get close, climbing up the man’s armor to reach his helmet, where Varhi gripped it and grunted in effort to wrench the thing off of his head before quickly tossing it away to the side.
Recognition hit Varhi’s eyes. He remembered this guy when he came back from delivering the message and before he went to Ceareste. “Hawkins”, wasn’t it…?
It made sense. The guy had been completely silent and obedient then. Always at Avotash’s side...
Hawkins grabbed Varhi, and pried him off. Varhi grunted as he was thrown back, colliding his back into the railing of the ship behind him, and only managing to keep himself on his two feet due to throwing his left arm to grasp the railing for balance. Man… He almost couldn’t even stand without the railing itself anymore. This was going to be it... Hawkins was already moving to approach him slowly, and Varhi knew he was trapped…
“...There shall be no mercy for those who don’t yield…” Varhi muttered to himself. "That's... what I promised him..."
Varhi reached into his satchel to pull out his third weapon—a weapon he had just gotten only a couple hours ago when Belgarion attempted to use it against him... and so, he pointed it at Hawkin’s head...
The man, which had been expressionless, not even speaking, reasonably hesitated and froze as Varhi held this fairly small but extremely dangerous weapon in both of his hands at the man’s now exposed head. This small, bleeding boy that didn’t even reach five feet tall, barely able to stand, shaking slightly in his aim from the pain in his right arm and the adrenaline coursing through him, now had him completely pinned down. Any move he made, would be a losing one.
Varhi knew that expression.
Defeat.
Varhi’s violet eyes narrowed slightly into a long, cold, piercing and heartless glare. The man, up to now, had been trying to kill him. Would have killed him. Was going to do it not even five seconds ago.
He spoke clearly, but quietly with a rumble in his throat.
"It's too late.
I warned you.”
BANG !!
BANG !!
click...
click...
click...
Varhi kept pulling the trigger over and over again, but after the second shot, the weapon had already jammed and just clicked uselessly. Varhi breathed heavily through clenched teeth, seeing the man’s eyes roll back into his head, flopping backwards and crumpling into a heap on the floor. Even when he lay there, Varhi kept the jammed gun still pointed, ready to fire at his body, shoulders rising and falling as he panted for breath, struggling to stand as blood dripped from his arm and sides, pooling underneath himself. He just... stood there, weapon trained on him as if waiting for any movement, even as a minute passed, and then another minute…
“Varhi—!”
Varhi finally snapped out of his daze, looking up to see Nayleen running towards him from the rope ladder he had deployed and sprinting her way towards him. Then she hesitated at seeing the body on the ground and the weapon he was holding and the amount of blood he was covered in and had dripping from him. Cyial was quick to follow behind her, holding Sairek’s staff before stopping similarly, and then followed finally by Sairek, who stopped, staring horrified at the body on the floor with two bloody holes in the forehead, but he just shook his head quickly and pressed on past the other two, with Nayleen following behind him shortly afterwards.
Varhi half-heartedly tossed the gun away off to his right side and gripped his right arm and his right hugged loosely at his left side, allowing his legs to slowly give out from under him at last as he slumped down onto his knees into a puddle of his own blood, releasing an exhausted, pained exhale and squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. Nayleen and Sairek bent down to make sure he was okay. “What happened—?!” Nayleen asked.
“...A close call… He was asleep on the ship… I didn’t check the other rooms, so he caught me by surprise…” Varhi answered between bated breaths. He opened his eyes, violet pupils turning to the side in Sairek’s direction. “I gave him one warning… that I would kill him if he didn’t surrender. He still chose to fight… So I...” He whispered, then he felt his stern expression that he was trying to force crumbling in on itself.
“...It’s the hardest part of doing this, Sairek… Please—Please don’t think of me as a monster…” Varhi pleaded hoarsely in a whisper. “I didn’t want to—I didn't...”
Sairek visibly swallowed, looking back at the body, then glanced back towards Varhi, examining him closely as he slowly nodded. Sairek then wordlessly moved his arms around the older boy in a reassuring hug, careful to avoid where the wounds obviously were.
Varhi felt something in his chest when Sairek did that, but he didn’t know enough about emotions to recognize what it was… but he liked the warm feeling that was there, even if it was subtle…
But there was a lot of bitterness in there too that was separate from that warm feeling and it was overpowering at the moment. Varhi closed his eyes, inhaling a few deep ragged breaths. “I'm... sorry… Today has been… much harder for me than usual… I... I must be having an off-day...” He tried to apologize with a forced chuckle. It wasn’t working at all. His voice was starting to break as he spoke again. “I… I don’t know why… or what I am feeling… right now… I-I’m—”
“Relax…” Sairek shushed him quietly, holding onto him tighter, allowing Varhi to sag into his form. “Relax…”
