Conflict

From the shot before Mikael could roughly guess where the other archer was.

Knife in a reverse grip to exert more force onto the next strike, he rushed through the undergrowth.

'He should hide on a tree, the arrow was shot from an angle. I have to somehow get up there.'

Another arrow was directed at him, and this time Mikael didn't manage to entirely avoid it due to the distance. However he saw it coming, and his mail and thick clothes held up well enough to redirect the arrowhead, only gracing his shoulder.

'It was aimed at the spot from before.' he observed in that second.

'Not only do they have noticed my perception, but also the weakened part of my armor. Frightening for sure, they aren't just some small cultists, not to set on one page with dumb monsters.'

As he got through another bush, upon a tree around six meters high he saw another camouflaged person, the body proportion making him guess it was either a young one or a female.

"Come done and fight me fair and square!" Mikael bellowed with his relative childish voice, but only got a scruffy laugh.

'I got a way up, but to climb I have to give up my guard, and then I'm a simple target.' he thought about a solution, while his opponent drew his bow.

"Can't figure out how to get to me? sucks, doesn't it?" Came a high, female voice, sounding amused.

"I make sure to burrow lots of these nasty ones into your body to avenge my fallen comrad!"

Reacting fast before the arrow was let loose, Mikael hastened his step, rushing to the other side of the tree so she had to turn her position.

On the ground he found some rocks, around the size of a doorknob, as well as some branches he saw as potential projektiles. As he jumped behind another tree to escape the area the cultists could shoot, he gathered some of them.

'Hope my aim isn't too far off.'

Leaning on the bark, he took a quick glance, but the branch where the woman crouched before was now empty. Only the slight shake showed that she moved, and when looking left and right, he could make out her shrouded silhouette, a bit farther up and standing, still in the process of finding a steady foothold.

'She's fast!'

Her new position made it harder for him, but she also made herself vulnerable for a small time frame.

Going out from his hiding place, with the rocks and branches in one arm, he began throwing.

He used all his strength, and fortunately that was enough to reach.

Just arrived and taking a steady place, she looked at the incoming stuff, using her bow to block the things she didn't manage to evade in time.

As Mikael threw a particular big branch, swirling in the air around her bow, it hit her on the face, resulting in her falling off the branch.

Mikael witnessed her falling, her hands reaching out to possibly grab another limb to save herself. But all she accomplished was getting her arm trashed as it collided with one, her hands not getting a hold.

Her fall wasn't too deep, but the impact still looked in Mikael's eyes painful.

Underlining his thought was a excruciating cry, echoing between the trees.

Instinctively he closed on of his ears, the other still holding a stone, which he then let go.

She wasn't far away, so Mikael saw how impactful the fall was, and she met the ground first with her back.

After her cry she went quieter, between clenched teeth forcing out heavy breathing as she tried to use her healthy arm to stand up.

"Where is my bow? I need to kill that kid!" she mumbled, dragging herself around, glancing confused for her weapon.

"Why can't I feel my legs? I need to stand up." she turned, looking at her bottom part. Hitting her tights repeatedly, mumbling to herself in delusion, holding in her hand a part of the broken wooden bow.

Meanwhile, Mikael got closer, as he deemed that she wasn't a dangerous threat anymore.

"What was that about you avenging your comrade?" he asked, looking down at her. Their eyes met as she looked at him, now fear and frenzy decernable.

Crawling backwards, she tried to get away from him, spewing out words like "let me life, I beg you" and "you wouldn't kill a young woman like me".

But Mikael had already steeled himself.

'No pity for these cultists. Only begging when their lives depend on it. Wonder how René fares against them. Bet he already got it done.'

"You had your chance before, and wouldn't have let me life where our positions swapped."

"That isn't true, a child like you! I'd never have killed you! Injured, maybe, but not killed. Believe me!" she begged. Her hand still held the bow, the other branching off in a unnatural way while her legs laid limp on the ground.

"Sorry, but I don't." Mikael answered, and real sorrow swung with it. This time he used his hammer, hoping to make her death faster than the previous.

'But where should I hit her?'

Her crazy gaze met his, full with emotions, and made it difficult for him to simply hit her head. But another spot wouldn't ensure a quick end.

'Why didn't the fall kill her, that'd have been so much easier.'

"Don't make it too hard for yourself." the deep voice belonging to his teacher came from behind.

"I know, but as you said, somehow this is vastly different from killing a Goblin."

He said without turning.

"Not really. It is good you feel that, shows you aren't a heartless bastard. Think of these persons as monsters. They had killed, performed perverse rituals and idolize a beast. A Goblin minding its own has less blood on the hands than this scum. And now the end is neigh, they hope for salvation? Don't deserve that, not even a fast death."

Mikael let this advice echo within him. The person before him grew also weaker, but still tried to appeal to Mikael.

"That is false, I was forced into believing that thing! Never participated in any rituals, either!,Only did stuff like this to safe myself!"

The voice grew weaker in Mikael's ears as he blocked it out.

"That doesn't make you less faulty. How many asked the same of you, and you never showed mercy?"

The pictures of his escaping friends and acquaintances, dead father and burning home flooded his mind, stopping the shaking hand that held his weapon.

Taking a step forward, he stood next to her body, her lashing out, throwing her broken bow at him.

Curses and insults flew at him, but it did not face him. Swinging his hammer, the head positioned between a tree trunk and the incoming, made short work about ending her life.

The backlash of that collision hurt also Mikael, but he accepted, almost welcomed that pain.

He turned his gaze away, not wanting to look for too long at the gory mess that was once a person.

René didn't say anything more, letting Mikael process the result of that deed alone. Together they simply went back to their cart, changed the wheel and went on their way. Apart from instructions and responses, they didn't talk until evening.

They had set up camp in the forest, one direction a hill protected, the other with a wide enough clear area.

A river flowed not far away and the path also was near, so René chose this spot.

Mikael gathered fire wood, right now making a form that it burns the best. René sorted some stuff in their cart, taking out provision and their cover, building another simple shelter.

Breaking the silence was Mikael.

"Is it always this difficult? Even if they deserve it, maybe worse?"

Without interruption René began assembling their tent, answering on the side.

"Most of the times, but often worse. When you have accepted the wrong mission and accidentally killed an innocent, that feeling will follow you. Same happens when you begin to use magic at the wrong time, the wrong scale, dragging others into the crossfire. This time the case and place was good, and we had no worry that they don't deserve death. You'll feel bad, not only today but for quite some time. This will either make you grow as a person, or teach you a valuable lesson."

"When you killed a person for the first time, how long did that last?"

René finished his work, walking over to Mikael, igniting the pole of wood within a moment.

He handed Mikael a box, containing some vegetables and bread.

"Not that long. Could eat normally again after some days. Never forgot who it was tho. A bandit group was the target that time. Well, not really, but as a result became it. Anyway, had to kill him to defend myself. Thing was these bandits were a bunch of soldiers who had fled from the battlefield, without a home to return to. They weren't particularly bad persons, just a bunch trying to get by."

René ate his meal unnerved, recalling the story as if it was just a normal event in the past.

"Do you regret it? Even if it was self defense?" now that he had calmed down, feeling more secure and without danger, the images of him slicing and hitting people, resulting in their death filled his mind. He barely chew his food, it tasted bland and swallowing was accompanied by a bitter taste.

"No, maybe in the beginning, but then I thought about it, and came to the conclusion that no matter who stands before me or what happens around myself, my own life is worth every sacrifice. Be it I or my loved ones, comrades or employers. These I'll protect, everyone else is an enemy should they oppose me. How you will cope with it is your thing. I can't look into your soul."

Mikael fell into silence. The fire crackled lively and the insects made their noises.

"What worked for me in the first stage was distracting myself. So try to practice again. Better do something as if to let eat everything inside yourself."

Nodding, Mikael began then his meditation, and René watched over him.