Chloe looked over the cart filled with produce that the farmer had placed near a small merchant's stand. The pair of men were deep in a heated conversation to decide the price they would settle on. The farmer was haggling on his end that his produce was the best available this close to the city while the merchant pointed out the few items of lesser quality in his argument to lower the price. The hunter didn't really care about what was transpiring in front of her, she had bigger worries in the back of her mind at the moment. She picked up a red apple from the cart and inspected it closely, she had to admit that it did look a fair bit better than what she'd seen at other fresh fruit stands. The apple had no bruises or cuts, she could even feel her mouth water at the prospect of biting into it. Despite the fairly normal setting, Chloe felt eyes burning into the back of her head. She had to fight against every primal instinct in herself to not turn around and face the small group of men that were glaring at her inconspicuously from far across the road. After letting Max know that she might've found a new lead on some interesting targets, she had taken the better part of the day trying to get noticed by the four men. Madsen had given her the name of the inn where the executioners had been staying and so the hunter had begun hanging around the area. Chloe had done her best to attract attention which she had to admit, hadn't been very hard to do in this city. Her name carried weight and most folks were aware by now that they had a famous hunter in Frauy. She'd walked around the streets in full view of the sun, letting her blue scar glow bright and making sure her trademark weapon attracted the eye. She had even spent a good twenty minutes sharing an adventure of hers to two young girls that had begged her for a story. A large crowd had gathered on the street before the hunter had finished her tale, the four executioners among them. The hunter had given the signal to the Impact who had been trailing her from afar and so their plan had now begun.
"…easure doing business with you Mav." Chloe's attention snapped back to the old farmer who was smiling broadly at the frowning merchant in front of him. "No doubt on who won this round of negotiations" the hunter thought. She looked down to the apple she held in her palm and made to place it back onto the cart. She stopped halfway in the gesture. "I am pretty bloody hungry…"
"I'll take this one." She walked to the merchant and dropped a couple of copper coins into his palm. The man flinched visibly when his eyes connected with her face, she could see them lock on to her blue scar. Chloe turned away from his frightened expression and made her way towards Shadow with a scowl. It was a nice reminder that not everyone loved hunters. She spotted movement from her peripheral vision and actively ignored it. The four men were now mounting their warhorses and talking amongst themselves. "You ready pal?" She rubbed down the side of her horses face and reached into the pack saddle to feed him a large carrot she had acquired earlier. The horse happily ate the food he was offered. Chloe swung over the horse and settled down on his back with a smile. "Just me and you… Just like the old days." She heeled the horse into motion, choosing a steady pace to make sure she didn't accidentally walk into another person. The sensation of being watched still made her uneasy but she shrugged her shoulders and kept moving towards the northern gate. There was nothing she could do anyways. Turning around and fighting was out of the question and alerting them that she knew she was followed would only trigger a hasty retreat on their end. So the hunter kept her back turned to the four men and hoped the executioners wouldn't be so bold as to shoot her with an arrow right in the back.
The metallic noise of the gate being lifted in front of her made Chloe grind her teeth anxiously. She increased her mount's pace and started towards the forest on her left, it was a good couple hundred yards away. The four executioners had followed her right up to the gate and Chloe felt more vulnerable than ever as she spotted them on their horses from the corner of her eye. Having your back turned to the enemy was a terrible feeling, it was a mix of vulnerability and weakness that the hunter absolutely despised. She kept on forward as the city grew in distance. Chloe didn't slow until she was satisfied that no guards could spot them or care enough to investigate from this far. Then she turned her head to look at the four men. All of them snapped to attention from their various states of relaxed riding. Four sets of eyes locked onto hers.
"Bloody..!" Chloe let a panicked shout escape her lips and she turned away with a fearful look donning her face. She kicked her heels into Shadow and took off towards the woods as fast as the large warhorse could muster. The hunter could hear the four men's shouts as they tried to catch her. She turned her head to make sure they were all following, she had to make sure none of them split off from the group. If even one of them escaped, the Raven Knight would be notified of their presence in Frauy. Thankfully it seemed that all four executioners were hot on her tracks, they probably thought that they had a chance at glory if they managed to take her down. Chloe unslung her crossbow and took the bolt she had hidden out of her hooded cloak's inner pocket. She loaded it and turned her whole body around on the saddle, her warhorse's sprints made her whole body shake and she felt a momentary worry at the prospect of falling off her horse at the speed she was going. She ignored it as best she could, there was no room for doubt when in battle. She lifted the crossbow towards her pursuers and loosed a bolt towards the closest foe. The executioner saw the attack coming and swerved to the left ungracefully which cost him some speed, the man behind him didn't get the chance to move. The blue streaked broad head bolt rammed itself right in the middle of the man's chest, sending him flying right off the back of his horse. She heard a loud grunt of pain when the executioner's back connected with the ground and she saw him roll and tumble against the uneven earth.
Chloe turned back the right way around on Shadow. The tall oak tree she was aiming for was approaching very quickly, a look behind her confirmed that the three men were still in hot pursuit. One of them loosed an arrow from horseback which whizzed by her head and cut open her cheek, she felt the warm blood seeping over her skin. "C'mon! C'mon! Faster!" She couldn't load her crossbow, it would take too long and put her in a vulnerable position. Chloe could only lay down flat on the horse and try and make herself as small of a target as possible. Shadow sped up, she could hear the horse panting from the effort but he didn't waver. The noise of hooves stomping the ground was the only other sound she could hear. Another twang of a bowstring and Chloe felt an arrow strike her in the top of the left shoulder. She let out a pained cry but kept her eyes focused on the huge tree. The three men weren't gaining on her but they also weren't slowing down.
"NOW!" Chloe screamed at the top of her lungs as she passed the tree at a speed that any average rider would find much too dangerous to use in a forest. She looked behind her to the closest executioner, he was in the motion of reaching for another arrow in his quiver. A motion that was interrupted in a violent way as the Impact who was hiding behind the oak turned from his hiding place and rammed his shoulder into the horse's side. The green scaled man's attack sent the horse careening into another tree head first. It had been going far too fast to stop itself. The animal's neck snapped instantly and its face crumpled violently into the wooden surface. The rider was sent forward as his mount stopped abruptly under him, his upper body launched like a stone from a catapult right into the tree at high speed. A loud crunch of bones snapping rang in tandem with a loud scream of pain. Chloe's warhorse was already slowing and turning back the way she had come as Madsen carelessly launched himself into the next horse's legs. Chloe flinched unconsciously at the animal's piercing wail as its legs shattered one after the other when they connected with the magical armor that enveloped her friend. Killing horses was always horrible but it was unfortunately the easiest way to take down an enemy on horseback. The large animal fell to ground in a heap with its rider, both tumbling in random directions from the momentum they had sported. The executioner landed hard but to his credit, he managed to stand quickly albeit a little shaken up. The last foe swerved on the other side of the tree and kept on riding away into the forest, he'd seen his team get ambushed and decided against facing them. He was probably going to leave and go warn the Raven.
"I GOT THIS ONE, GO AFTER HIM!" Madsen was pointing towards the man fleeing on horseback before he turned and charged towards the executioner standing in front of him. Chloe didn't look to see how that fight would play out, after seeing the Impact body a heavy warhorse like it was nothing, she had the utmost trust that Madsen could handle himself against one man. Chloe kept her momentum going as she corrected her course towards the rider ahead.
"Go Shadow! You got this!" As if the warhorse could hear the encouragement from its owner, he sped up even more. The black mount rode deftly on the uneven terrain, avoiding roots, rocks and holes in the ground all while maintaining his speed. Chloe saw herself catching up to the executioner ahead, the man looked back and cursed loudly. They broke out of the forest with a leap and kept the chase going in the plains. Chloe gripped at her enchanted blade between her shoulders and pulled it free of its sheath. She waited until Shadow brought her neck and neck with the man before turning to her side and throwing the blade without care in his direction. She wasn't very experienced in throwing a blade of this size but it didn't matter in the end. The green glowing blade's hilt wacked the man on the chest and it seemed he tried to smirk as he looked down at the failed throw.
Then Chloe launched herself at him. The hunter immediately felt pain as her side hit the man but the end result worked in her favor as the pair were suddenly thrown to the ground. Chloe felt her wounded shoulder hit the ground hard and something snapped in her left arm. She kept on tumbling, limbs flailing until her speed died down. The executioner was no better off, he was holding onto his mangled right hand and blood was all over the side of his face where his left eye had connected with a sharp rock protruding from the ground. Chloe stood up on wobbly legs and the man ran at her. He didn't get further than three paces before Shadow rammed into him and sent him back hard to the ground. Chloe walked over to the unmoving man and grimaced, his neck was angled the wrong way. She had been trying to keep him alive during the fight so they could use him for information. Her large black warhorse turned and stomped over to her, his nose bumped softly against her shoulder a couple of times before she looked up. She took a few second to inspect the animal for any bad wounds which he thankfully didn't seem to have. The horse would have a bruise from where his shoulder had connected with executioner's head but nothing more serious than that.
"Thank you…" Chloe rubbed down her panting mount affectionately. She looked at the corpse to her left and murmured under her breath. "Don't worry about killing him, we still have three other men we can extract information from." The hunter took a few minutes to compose herself before she grabbed her enchanted blade and struggled up to Shadow's saddle. It was much more difficult than she would've expected. Her left elbow was broken, leaving the rest of the arm pretty much useless. Her left shoulder was throbbing with an arrow embedded in the flesh and she had a sharp pain on her right side. She also felt short of breath and every deep inhale made her chest heave in pain. She guided her warhorse with her knees and flinched whenever he would take a hard step or turn too quickly. It took a good fifteen minutes for her to get back into the forest and reach the tall oak tree where she had left Madsen. The Impact turned when he heard her approach and a look of overwhelming relief took over his features. He had clearly been worried about her.
"What happened to you? What took you so long?" The hunter gratefully took his hand as he helped her off the horse's back.
"I needed to stop him quickly and take him alive so I jumped him when he was riding his horse."
"That explains why you look like hell. I notice he isn't with you." Chloe tried to chuckle.
"Shadow knocked him down and his neck broke from the impact. You looked pretty worried about me…" Chloe smirked arrogantly.
"Don't flatter yourself. I was worried that Max would hang me up by my toes if she found out I let you die on my watch. That witch can be downright scary when she wants to be." Chloe punched him in the shoulder in mock indignation and Madsen laughed loudly. He seemed to be no worse for wear despite being trampled by a horse and facing an executioner with no weapons. "I guess he is the weapon…" She corrected herself in her mind.
"Where are the prisoners?"
"Over there." Madsen pointed towards a medium sized tree a good forty yards away, Chloe could make out a couple bodies tied up by its stump.
"Only two? What happened to the third?"
"Dead. I found the one you shot with your crossbow further back. The bolt took him in the lung, he probably died shortly after hitting the ground."
"Shit."
"It's not the worst thing in the world Chloe. We still have two of four captured, that should be more than enough. I doubt the two dead executioners knew more than their fellow sword bearers. If this pair knows nothing, I'd say it's a good guess that the dead ones knew nothing as well." Chloe nodded. She breathed in deeply, the prospect of what they were about to do brought her no joy.
"Let's get on with it." The hunter tried to move past Madsen but he stopped her with a firm hand on her right shoulder. "What is it?" Chloe turned to look the Impact over, he seemed indecisive.
"Chloe… What I'm about to do. It's not something I take lightly and it's not for everyone. I won't hold it against you if you want to sit it out." The hunter blinked twice in confusion before she furrowed her brow in anger.
"You think I'm too weak to take a part in this?" Madsen took a step back and lifted his hands passively.
"No. That's not what I said…"
"Sure sounds like that's what you're implying!" The man passed a hand over his chin, rubbing his thick moustache.
"Chloe, even in my country we've heard about the Blue Hunter. I heard of your exploits the same way I'm sure you've heard of some of our great hunters as well. I say this to tell you that I'm well aware of how strong and capable you are. You're one of the best at what you do and that's no small feat. I saw you agree to be used as bait against some of the best killers Prescott could recruit and fight them with no hesitation, a weak person couldn't do any of that. I don't think you're weak." He rubbed a hand through his short black hair. He seemed to be thinking carefully on how to proceed. "But torturing another living being… It's different. It's something you can't take back, it's something I sometimes wish I had never been trained to do. You leave a part of yourself behind when you do it. I remember each time I've lain a hand on a defenseless man to bring him to his threshold. The screams, the begging, the blood, the snapping bones, the stories they tell you of their lives and their families to make you empathize… It takes a horrible, vile being to keep going through all that. It haunts your dreams and never fully leaves your thoughts. I had no choice in the matter back then, I'm giving you one now. I'll support what you decide but I want you to be absolutely sure about this because you cannot take it back. You have nothing to prove to me."
The Impact stopped his short speech and looked in her eyes. Chloe hadn't done anything like this before, her enemies had always been dispatched quickly and efficiently. She thought back to the blonde woman back in Frauy whose face and body were covered in scars. "Could I see myself do to another what Bokeh did to Kate? The executioners are evil sure… But they're just working for the Raven the same as a mercenary works for their leader. The same as Victoria and I working for the man who posted a contract. Frank had been a mercenary, could I torture someone like him simply for a piece of information?" Chloe shook her head and broke her gaze away from the large man in front of her. This wasn't her, Madsen was right. She didn't want any part of this.
"Go for a walk in the forest. I'll handle this." The Impact placed a sympathetic hand over her shoulder for a moment before his skin gave way to dark green metallic scales. He turned away from her and walked towards the two tied up prisoners. Chloe turned away and started to walk in no particular direction. She hastened her pace when a loud gut wrenching scream pierced through the silent forest.
It'd been a little over two hours before the hunter made her way back to where she'd left Madsen and the two prisoners. Chloe had given herself ample time to make sure that whatever had transpired between the Impact and the executioners was dealt with. It seemed she'd been right. When Chloe walked to the oak tree, Madsen was already sitting down and cleaning his arms with the water gourd from her pack saddle. They were stained a deep red and the flowing water didn't do much to help. She made a mental note to make sure to remind the Impact to cover them before they reached the gates. The guards would ask too many questions at the sight. Chloe walked to the tree and lowered herself next to him slowly. Her side had turned a dark purple shade, Chloe was pretty sure she had a broken rib. Madsen looked her over and offered the gourd which she took appreciatively. She drank a large gulp of water and coughed.
"What did you find out? What this even worth it?" Chloe couldn't help but feel somewhat skeptical of their plan since she had left Madsen to his devices. What kind of leader would let their grunts know important intelligence? The Impact smiled widely.
"Definitely worth it. They didn't know much about Prescott's plans but…"
"How can you be sure?" Chloe interrupted him but he didn't seem to mind.
"I know the difference when a man is telling the truth and when he tells me anything to make me stop hurting him." The unwavering way with which the Impact spoke quieted whatever doubts Chloe had. "As I was saying, they didn't know much of Prescott's plans but I sort of expected that. The good news is that they were able to give me intelligence surrounding their commander." The way Madsen's eyes shone excitedly reminded Chloe how just how much the Impact wanted to lay hands on him. "They were supposed to meet back up with the Raven in Fireheart Castle if they found nothing. It's owned by one of Prescott's generals. It seems that he's hiding over there instead of Arcadia while he recovers from his wounds. He brought with him a whole garrison of death squads, they were a bit fuzzy on the details but anywhere from forty to fifty seems like a good assumption."
"Recovers from his wounds?" That made Madsen smile even wider.
"It seems that the witches under the High Lord thumb aren't very skilled at healing… Something I'm all too familiar with already…" His face darkened somewhat as a memory replayed itself in his mind. "The Raven was partially healed but he's very weak at the moment while his body fights off the lingering effects. The two said they barely saw him out of his rooms and not for very long at a time."
"Why isn't he hiding in Arcadia? Hell… Fireheart Castle is closer to Frauy then to the capital, it makes no sense."
"Apparently, the High Lord isn't happy with his son's failure back in Beorf. He told him to go and bring back your heads and not to come back until the deed was done. That's why he's sending his executioners scrambling all over the place trying to find us. You remember what I told you happened in Beorf?" Chloe nodded her head, they'd discussed it at length with Kate, Victoria and Max. "Bokeh, the general and his soldiers that were sent to the city, were all there on the High Lord's orders. The Raven had nothing to do with it, he's lost Prescott's trust."
"This is big. If he's recovering outside of Arcadia, we could strike at him when he's weak. He won't have all his death squads protecting him either since he only brought a small fraction with him." Madsen tightened his fists unconsciously.
"We could knock down two birds with one stone. He's hiding with one of Prescott's generals. If we take them both down at once, it'll be a major blow to the High Lord. This will be a great victory on our side." Chloe frowned slightly.
"I thought you told Victoria you didn't care about the High Lord, that you were only staying with us until the Raven was killed?" The man seemed deep in thought for a moment. He spoke up hesitantly.
"I've… changed my mind. I like the whole lot of you, I consider you friends. Leaving Kate, Max, Vic and you behind to fight these madmen… It leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
"So you won't let yourself die at the end of this?" Madsen sighed.
"This still changes nothing. I need to honor my failure at protecting the Queen's niece and once this whole ordeal is dealt with, I'll still walk to the executioner's axe with my head held high. But… I won't leave you all when the Raven falls. I'll stay until this is resolved." Chloe frowned but didn't speak up. It wasn't her place to question the man's view of honor.
"At least we have a plan of action for when we're ready to leave Frauy. Seems our next stop will be Fireheart Castle." Madsen nodded and stood up, offering her a hand. Chloe took it but groaned in pain as she was helped up.
"We'll need to see Max about healing your wounds." Chloe grimaced, this time it wasn't from the pain.
"I was hoping to avoid that but I guess the whole group should know what we found out as well. They won't like hearing about what we did today." Madsen grinned.
"It won't be that bad." Chloe raised an eyebrow at him and he stumbled a step. "At least I hope so…"