The Witch Yeti (4)

The Great Oni

Volume (1) Benoni Chapter (10)

"Hey, little girl—set me free and I'll help you escape!"

Yeti turned and saw the massive iron door. After a moment's thought she decided an ally was better than none. She fetched the keys and opened the cell.

Inside stood a towering Westerner—about six-foot-five—gaunt from malnutrition, body covered in healed knife scars, yet his bone structure and the remaining cords of muscle looked formidable. Mud streaked his handsome face; long golden hair hung in tangles, but vivid blue eyes still gleamed.

She barely reached his mid-chest. He smiled, patted her head.

"Smart choice, kid. Good. Now stick close."

Gripping a confiscated longsword, he led the way—deeper into the prison.

---

Elsewhere, the priest rubbed the half-healed scar on his cheek, frowning.

"They should have arrived by now. What's taking so long? Don't tell me those dogs are having fun with that bitch…"

Annoyed, he summoned two soldiers and ordered them to check the cells.

The pair saluted and headed off.

---

Yeti glanced around the dim corridor. "Aren't we supposed to go outside? Why deeper?"

The Westerner laughed. "Relax, little girl. I know a secret route."

She hesitated but followed; alone she'd never find a way out.

Moments later the two soldiers reached the cell block—and found two corpses and an open door. Panic flashed across their faces.

"Go! Ring the alarm bell!" one hissed. "I'll shadow those two. If that monster's free, they're taking the secret path. Move—now!"

One soldier sprinted for the bell; the other dashed after the fugitives.

---

Aboveground, impatience gnawed at the priest. While he considered sending more men, the alarm bell clanged:

*DONG! DONG! DONG!*

Sweat broke across his palms.

"Move! Half of you to the dungeon, the rest guard every gate. Shut the city doors!"

As both head priest and brother to the garrison commander, his word was law; soldiers scattered to obey.

---

After a maze of turns the fugitives reached the rear passage. But at the exit stood the priest with roughly fifty soldiers already in line.

The priest smiled at Yeti—until he noticed the blond giant beside her. Fear flickered in his eyes; the rank-and-file soldiers also stepped back in dread.

"Don't be afraid!" the priest barked. "If he were still the demon he once was, we'd have felt it—look at him, skin over bone. Attack!"

The Westerner—"Artha," they called him—grinned, then spoke to Yeti.

"Watch the side gate, kid. People may try to slip past you. Handle them. I'll take the ones out front."

Yeti swallowed. "Can you really manage?"

Artha nodded. "Trust me. See how they're already scared?"

With no better option, she turned to face the reinforcements charging down the narrow alley inside the gate.

"CHARGE!" the priest's troops roared and rushed Artha.

The smile vanished from Artha's face; his blue eyes flashed like ice.

*SWISH—*

He moved—one instant at the line's edge, the next inside it—sword flashing. The first soldier tried to parry:

*CLANG!*

The shock numbed his arms; before he recovered, Artha's second stroke split his breastplate—and his torso—in two. Blood and entrails spilled onto the stones.

A collective gasp—soldiers sucked in cold air, staring in paralyzed horror. Artha pressed his advantage, carving through another man, then three more in barely ten seconds.

He was a tiger among lambs; the square became a slaughterhouse.

Yeti, seeing that, took heart. The passage let at most two soldiers engage her at once. One cocky spearman, smirking at the small girl, swung lazily with one hand. Yeti exhaled, slank the blade with all her strength:

*CLANG!*

His sword flew, embedding in a stone wall. Her follow-up stroke severed his neck. The next soldier raised his weapon with both hands, but her speed doubled his; his head left his shoulders before the guard finished the swing.

The cramped space favored her; within moments seven soldiers lay in a widening pool of blood.

The survivors balked, refusing to close.

Artha, meanwhile, had cut down nearly twenty men. He glanced her way, eyes once more alight, and smiled.

"Has the child awakened a martial spirit too?" he murmured under his breath.