Tales Of A HUNTSMAN

KNOWLEDGE SPREADS

In a manor located in a border territory of the Drakon empire, Batsa had just arrived on horse, “tell the lord Batsa is hear requesting an audience.” He spoke to the maid who had received him, the maid was dress in in a long grey dress, her blonde hair made into a bun and covered in a net, looking at her cold emotionless face one would feel uncomfortable. She went in and came back a few minutes later, “the lord will see you now.”

Batsa followed her into the manor, the manor was made entirely out of black wood a type of wood which only grew in the Drakon empire and was extremely hard to obtain, portraits across the walls would have given the manor a sort of eloquence and harmonious atmosphere, well that would be the case if the images the portraits portrayed in them were not so terrifying.

The portraits only got worse as one walked farther in, from depictions of the netherworld which was enough to make one uncomfortable to accurate depictions of torture performed to people of all ages. Some of the eyes of the people in the portraits seemed to follow you.

Batsa hated the manor for this reason, as whenever he went through these hallways he felt as though every step led him closer to death. He did not fear death, but the thought of dying a gruesome death without being able to do anything, to be completely powerless, now that… that was something he feared.

Whilst still stuck in his thoughts the maid before him came to a stop, before her was a wooden door she opened the door and ushered him in. Batsa moved in gulping as he did so, the study decorated in a different way and gave on a serene feeling contrasting with the rest of the manor. Batsa would have experienced this feeling if he was not watching a man’s skin being peeled of piece by piece, the man’s hoarse screams seemed to serve as a reminder he was still alive albeit barely, his blood dripped from his wounds forming a pool below his feet.

Batsa had experienced a lot of battles and thought he had seen it all, but the scene before him sent shivers down his spine. He could see the man had barely any skin left and some organs were even exposed but what really made the scene utterly terrifying was the fact that the one causing this as humming a tune and moving his blade as though sculpting.

The man noticed him and spoke up, “oh you’re here.” He stopped the round of torture placing his knife on a table by the victim which was revealed to have even more horrifying instruments of torture. “so sir Batsa, I do hope you come with good news the last man to bring me bad news is bleeding all over my floor”  the man spoke as he took a seat, he was dress in a silk robe laced with gold and a Drakon stitched unto her breast his outfit screamed noble, his wrinkles on his face along with the tiny greys in his hair revealed that he was far along in age with his smile one would think of him as a kind grandpa but Batsa knew better, even if he had not just watched the man skin a man he had seen him plot the downfall of countless kingdoms.

Getting down on one knee Batsa gave his report not a trace of arrogance could be found, “the operation was a success my lord.” The old man poured himself some tea and sipped some tea as he made himself comfortable in his chair. “did you encounter any problems?” Batsa was silent for a moment before deciding to speak the truth, “a huntsman appeared.” Hearing this the noble placed down the cup and had a look that showed he was intrigued “a huntsman you say?” “yes he killed my commanders and a number of my knights.” “and the wound on your chest I suppose. You can’t hide anything from me. did you manage to kill all the villagers?”

Batsa knew that this lord of his did not accept failure, as for the punishment…looking at the person before him who was barely breathing he lied thinking how much trouble could one child cause, “all dead.” The noble smiled and pat his shoulder “good job commander or rather… Chapter leader” “thank you my lord “ “you may leave” after Batsa left the noble sat by himself,  “a huntsman huh…seems things are becoming interesting “ before getting up to torture the poor soul while humming his tune.

……..

At this point the news of the m******e had spread to the entire continent every kingdom and empire was interested in respective of where ever they were on the continent. This news was big news, everything had been silent for the past few years but this changed  everything one of the empires had invaded one of the remaining kingdoms, everyone was waiting for the Greylan kingdom’s response.