TCD // Chapter 51.66 // POV Bryan

Didn't manage to finish the whole chapter tonight. Going to start a new thing here for when I post Fracters (fractional chapters). I'll post what I have like I've been doing, but instead of posting the other half or whatever later, I'll update the first post and @ the Patreon Supporters role on discord to let you knew its been updated.

enjoy. EDITED 25Jan This chapter is extremely different from anything I've written before and I'm finding it very difficult. 

Degenerate Bryan

With every minute that ticked by the sweat accumulating on the back of Bryan’s neck. The sun had set a while ago and tension in the raiding party had been rising pretty quickly, everyone nervous and excited. Nobody knew too much about the plan outside of their own tasks and the general idea of what we were doing, but the Captain promised them a few answers. Just as he thought about it, the Captain of the Guard stepped in front of the 200-odd men who were awaiting his words to speak.

“Alright men, tonight is the night. Many of you in this crowd have been working this mission for months now, preparing the way for tonight and ensuring that this town of subhumans didn’t have too good of a time on our land. Tonight, that pays off.

“You all know your individual missions. Most of you aren’t used to fighting, I know that.” the Captain’s eyes wandered the crowd matching the grim look on his face, lingering on a couple men as if to prove a point. His uncaring gaze shifted as a smirk lit up the grizzled man’s face. “This won’t be a fight, so quit pissing your trousers.

“Many of you assumed so, some of you probably knew even if you shouldn’t, but I am here to confirm that we’ve had spies in the town since its inception. A few of them may have defected, become sympathizers for the subhumans, but for the most part our information flow never ceased. According to our last report, one of our informants within the subhuman cult had succeeded in converting most of their guard. They managed to make use of every man’s fear of death and need to know if there is something beyond. 

“These guards will be in the forest tonight. Now, we have reason to believe they have no way back out. The forest has been off limits after dark for a while now. Off limits to the point that the entire cult decided they needed to start their party while the sun was still up, and packed tents for overnight. 

“Now, we know that they are located within the forest so we are going to make this surgical. That is, surgical if surgery was performed with a sledgehammer and broadsword. Each of you has a group of four and an external building to target. We are going to hit them all and make our way inwards toward the forest. Our primary target is a halfling with blue hair and long ears. I’d prefer her alive, but if that doesn’t work out I want her head. 

“Apart from that, each human should be given a chance to bend the knee and pledge their loyalty to the rightful owners of this dungeon town, Ostlind. If they agree, tie them up and walk them back to the external team here in the woods. If they don’t, use your own discretion. Either way, they will be escorted back here if they are living. Indebted servitude or slavery doesn’t make too much of a difference here, just try to conserve human life if you can.

“We all know this is a human kingdom, and it’s time we remind these subspecies that. Do not let anyone slip out or escape, this needs to be an all or nothing. We have certain assurances from Eastreach that as long as this goes down right, we have nothing to worry about. We need to raze everything to the ground so that Lord Willehelm has no reason to question the ‘goblin raid’. Failure is not an option.

“If there are no questions, it’s about time we move out-” the Captain didn’t manage to finish his sentence before a hand shot into the air, six or seven men down on the left of Bryan. “What do you want, kid?”

    The wiry kid stepped out from the crowd to ask his question, allowing Bryan to get a good look at him. He was probably about 5 foot 8, sand hair and very young looking. The kid didn’t look a day older than 15 years and had no place on a battlefield. His knees were already knocking against each other just asking a question of his leader, there was no chance he would be able to withstand any resistance. ‘Heh, bigger split for me then.’ Bryan thought to himself as he shook his head, ready for the stupid question that would no doubt spill out of the child’s mouth any second now.

    “What do we do, uh, about the non-humans? C-c-captain.” Bryan didn’t think it was possible for the kid to make himself look any smaller, but in that moment he was proven wrong. The Captain gave him a withering look before laughing loudly and answering.

    “Whatever you want to do about them, kid. It’s not like any of them will be telling their story from beyond the grave. Of course, if you want to keep one of the animals you will have to pay a rehoming fee. 3 Silver for the first, 5 for the second, and 7 for the third. So on and so forth, paid directly to me. No pregnant bitches though, we don’t want them multiplying.”

    “D-do we really have to kill them all? Can’t they take the same loyalty pledge? Plenty of other towns have nonhumans living in them…” 

    “We aren’t other towns, get that through your head right now. Now stop questioning me before the next thing I force through your head is my sword. Everybody else, gear up and head out.”

    Finally, Bryan thought, they get to move on to the action. He grabbed his dagger and synched up with his team lead and crew before cutting their way to the first target. The kid fell to his knees behind them, his face devoid of color and eyes full of apprehension.

* * * *

For the last few months, Bryan had been assigned to vandalizing crops and stealing anything that wasn’t nailed down. It had been fun at first but quickly became a chore and didn’t pay very well. The goal was to keep the town weak and with low food stocks, maybe chase a away a couple newcomers, so that the invasion night would go more smoothly. 

Tonight his target was one of the more problematic farmhouses. 

He sat there, crouched in the treeline hidden within the shadows of the sparse woods. To his left was one of his favorites to mess with, a human farm with a particularly worthless owner. ‘Hot wife though,’ Bryan thought to himself before turning his eyes forward again. It wouldn’t do well to miss this team lead’s signal because he was busy day dreaming about the smoking hot redhead next door. 

A shill bird cry passed through the night, signaling Bryan and his two accomplices to slither out from their hiding places and stalk across the open ground. When they caught up to the team lead he was standing outside a small shed, the kind that plows and hoes would be stored in to avoid the rain. From past experiences attempting to vandalize this farm, Bryan knew this was where the turncoat slept. The team lead should have killed him before they approached the farm as he was constantly on watch for vandals, ever since the first night they’d visited.

There was, however, a conspicuous lack of blood and corpses inside of the small shed. Bryan slid the door open slowly and observed the conditions the man was living in. It was a simple, single-roomed shed with a straw mattress in one corner and a small nightstand that looked like it had been self-hewed from a stump or something. There wasn’t even a pot to piss in, but Bryan guessed you wouldn’t need one when you lived so close to a forest. 

The man who’d been living in this shack was named Jeremy and was a previous guard of Ostlind before he defected to the subhumans, and was even responsible for leading them straight here to set up their little slum before the mayor of Ostlind could send a building party. Realistically, he was one of the biggest variables in tonight's expedition. A secondary goal and a possible sentry to be silenced before the attacks could start in earnest. 

Bryan tossed the shack, which consisted of moving the mattress and checking for hidden compartments in the crude drawers, yielding only a few copper and no signs as to where the traitor was located that night. The coins found their way to Bryan’s inner vest pocket before he exited the shack and approached his three party members.

“Well, do you know where he went?” asked the team lead, whose name Bryan had never bothered to learn. The only reason he was in charge of the team instead of Bryan was so that he could take the fall if they messed up somehow, a responsibility the young man did not want for himself.

“Not a clue. Maybe he is at the sabbath. He's never gone before, but everyone finds god eventually. Fuck, if I was living like a pet to a bunch of dogs without a single copper to my name, I’d want to find a higher meaning too.” There were a few nods of agreement as the others considered his theory and accepted it. Then it was on the main occasion, the farmhouse with the filthy beasts.

Despite all the filth that the fledgeling town had managed to accumulate, Annahmia had not yet attracted a locksmith. Or at the least, not a good locksmith. There was a single tumbler lock on the front door, which Bryan managed to make short work of with his kit. Looking through the very short gap between door and frame, Bryan could see a very small shape in the dark. He packed away his torsion wrench and pulled out a thin bar of metal instead, which he used to shimmy upwards and slowly knock the lock out of the way. It was a thin bar of metal that was nailed into the door frame and slid down into a slot on the door like a smaller version of the bars you would find on a wall’s gate, less effective than a chain lock but much easier to create and install. 

The bar slid out of the way and Bryan pushed the door open, silently gliding it on its new hinges. Bryan and his team lead made their way toward the upstairs area, assuming that was where the beasts slept while the other two in their crew went room to room looking for valuables to salvage. That was an important distinction, salvage, because you can’t steal from the dead or a burned building. You could only salvage what was left behind. Whatever wasn’t worth stealing was stacked into one of two corners of the house farthest from the staircase, and a fire was getting prepped to be coaxed into the fireplace. 

Like a ghost, Bryan and his team lead made their way upstairs ready to carry out their duty. There was a slim chance that the beasts would not be home tonight, rather they’d be at the inn with the rest of the targets, but they wanted to take no chances.  With the Beastman’s enhanced hearing and smell they were already at a disadvantage. Assuming the layout of the upstairs area based off past knowledge of which windows showed candlelight at night, Bryan knew one of the back rooms in this hallway were the bedroom.  First first door was locked, but only with a single tumbler lock again so it was easy enough to get through the door.

When the door opened it became pretty apparent that this was not the bedroom for the beastman and his wife. Instead he could see a few mostly assembled cribs scattered around the room, visible only due to the moonlight breaking its way in through the window set into the far wall. 

“Filthy animals, they breed like goblins. It’s a good thing we are taking them out before the infestation spreads.” Bryan’s lead whispered breathally into his ear. Bryan agreed with the sentiment but did not appreciate any additional noise during their operation, doubly so because it was so unexpected and in his ear. With nothing more than a nod of his head to acknowledge that he’d heard the larger man’s words, he turned back toward the final door in the hallway. 

The last door, much the same as the first two, had a simple lock that only took a few seconds. This one was also locked with the metal bar though, same as the first one, which told Bryan that the creatures were in. He signaled to the team lead to prep his weapon on the off chance of them had been alerted, he would finish unlocking the door and the lead would step forward swiftly to catch them unaware. Afterall, Bryan couldn’t have his weapon and lockpicks out at the same time.