Polymath Redux

Chapter 6//Knight in Shining Armour

For the past fifty years Duncan had served dutifully as the chief of his village after having received the post from his late father- the previous chief. With an approximate population of only about a hundred-and-fifty or so it was a miniscule settlement skirting along the borders of their nation of ‘Xagontetia’. While it had never been the most exciting life one could’ve lived, there was a definite sense of fulfilment that he felt every morning as he woke up to greet the friendly faces of his villagers.

“Ah! It’s the chief! Good morning!” a few of the village’s children came up to him during his walk and greeted. They were young, perhaps only about seven or eight, but had already begun to help out their families in their respective occupations. For a moment, the chief nodded in satisfaction and delight. Yet, there was always a lingering worry at the back of his mind on how many of these children would continue to stay with the village into their adult lives. Not only was the village unremarkable, it was oftentimes dangerous due to its proximity to the forest. It couldn’t be helped if some of them would leave for the big, safe cities nearer the capital. Of course, sometimes they just wanted more in life than to waste away their time in this uneventful settlement.

“Good morning, children.” From the rough clothes and wooden sword hanging by their wastes, it seemed that they were on their way to go training with the local garrison. “Oh? Is it Tuesday already? I suppose you’re all off to the garrison for your lesson then?” there had been an informal arrangement with the captain of the garrison to teach the children on how to properly defend themselves and carry a weapon. It wasn’t a bad thing, especially when it came to life on the frontier where there would be occasional trouble with monsters.

“Chief, do you want to come too?” one of the girls asked as they gentled tugged on his sleeves.

“Well, I…” being met with their expectant gaze how could he say no? “Very well, very well,” he conceded with a chuckle and slowly tagged behind the children to the nearby training grounds. When they drew nearer they could hear the sounds of the troops practicing their everyday drill. Watching their efforts even the chief felt a little invigorated by their enthusiasm.

The garrison wasn’t anything spectacular; a moderately sized building attached to a square-shaped ground caged off by a series of wooden walls. The sight of young men all busily going about their exercises was a comforting sight for the elderly chief. At first, he never had high expectations for the troops sent from the capital; indeed, he thought they would just be the troublemaker type sent as punishment. However, this judgment had been proven wrong. Not only were they full of passion, their dedication had been warmly received by the rest of the village.

“If it isn’t the village elder,” noticing him and the children’s arrival, one of the garrison troops came out to greet him. This large and bulky man dressed in a fine set of chainmail had served as the garrison’s captain. His skin had tanned due to his extended time working under a particularly harsh summer, and his hair had grown out a little too much and looked to require a bit of a trim. In spite of his intimidating frame and scars running down his neck, his bright and friendly attitude had gained the respect of the village- especially the children. Even now they were trying to play around with him as they swung around on his rather huge biceps. “Did you come here for an inspection?” asked the captain.

“Inspection? No, no, I’m merely here because the children had invited me to watch.”

“I see, then please stay awhile,” said the captain as he guided the chief to a shady area on a small hill overlooking the training grounds. “So, you brats ready for your lesson?” he turned his attention back to the children.

“Yeah!”

“Teach us!”

“Come on! Quickly!” they all eagerly cried out for their weekly lessons.

Being children their training regime wasn’t too terribly straining: light jogging, push ups, sit ups and sword swinging practice. Despite the monotony of these repeated exercises, the children all merrily continued on with smiles upon their faces.

“Ouch!” one of the boys had accidentally hit one of the girls. “You did that on purpose!”

“Nu- uh!” the boy denied, but regardless of his intent was punished with a smack to his sides. “Oww! Come on, I said it was an accident!”

“Whatever! You deserved it anyway!” they continued to bicker.

“Hah hah hah… What a relaxing sight,” the chief commented to himself with a smile. A gentle breeze blew past him carrying the scent of freshly cut grass and dirt, but all of a sudden it smelt of rusted iron. “Hmm?” a strange, foreboding feeling prickled at his heart.

As if to confirm his warriors, two wounded soldiers, with one missing his left arm and being supported by the other, rushed through the front gates of the village and ran towards the garrison leader. “C- captain!” one of them cried out in a high pitched distress. Their chainmail had been tattered with blood smeared all over them. The amputated soldier’s arm looked like it had been violently torn off by a ferocious beast.

“What’s going on?!” asked the captain. “What happened on your patrol?!”

“It… a- a- a monster! A big one!” they tried to explain, but before they could give their reports the ground beneath us thumped audibly and powerfully. Steps of a giant echoed through the vast and open plains before our village as the birds flew away in fright. “Oh god! It’s already here! We- We have to evacuate the village!”

“What exactly are you telling me is coming?”

“I- I’m not sure what it’s… called…” the soldier’s breath had become haggard and the complexion upon his face whitened as a sheet of paper from the blood-loss. “It might be some kind of undead ogre, I’m not sure… it didn’t have a head, but we couldn’t even scratch it with our swords! Even if we gathered all the soldiers, I don’t think it would be enough! Sir! We have to evacuate now!”

The captain quickly turned to address the elder. “Chief, we’ll start evacuating the settlement, so please go first.”

“A- are you sure?” it wasn’t that the chief had doubted the injured soldier’s words, but in this part of the region monster attacks were never that rare a thing. They had repelled every one so far, but for some reason the chief’s foreboding warned him that this wasn’t like the others.

“Yes, please take the children. I’ll have my men round up the village and escape through the back gate.”

“U- understood,” he nodded and gathered the children. “Let’s go, quickly!” he told them. Though they were very frightened, they did well just being able to cling onto the elder as they made their way through the village to the back gate.

Thankfully, due to village’s relatively minute population it hadn’t taken too long for all to assemble by the back. There were still whispers and mumblings of fear and confusion amongst the villagers, but they all paid attention at the behest of the village chief. “People, people! This is no time to be panicking right now. As we speak the garrison is trying their best to buy us time for our escape, so we should quickly move out and…” but before he could finish explaining their plan, the horrific monster reared its demonic visage. It seemed to have rushed past the soldiers and came straight towards them. “But why?” he wondered but now was no time to be pondering. They had to escape quickly.

It was a tall monster standing at almost four or five metres. Completely covered by fur as black as the night sky, and at the ends of each of its arm were thick, ivory claws stained in blood. As previously described by the wounded soldiers, it possessed no head but where the base of its neck should have been was a gaping mouth with rows of shark-like razor teeth. At the centre of its body was a singular, large eye that peered out to the world with a look of disdain.

It belched a most threatening roar from its stomach and slammed its fists violently down onto the ground. As easily as a pile of sand, the ground split apart as large chunks of debris flew all about the place, destroying buildings left and right.

“That monster just rushed past us! How come?!” the garrison soldiers finally managed to arrive on the scene to confront this very terrifying picture of death. Even the village chief, who had never seen much combat in his life, knew that this monstrosity was way beyond what these local soldiers were capable of, yet still they valiantly stood in the way to protect the innocent civilians.

Unfortunately, feelings alone were never enough to halt reality. A single swing of its mighty arm flung them away- as though it were swatting away a pesky fly. Several soldiers were sent smashing through buildings. It would be a miracle if they weren’t left on the brink of death after that kind of damage.

“Ugh! How dare you run, coward!” the shouts of the garrison captain echoed from the distance.

With a bit of physical exertion and some magical enhancements, he managed to close in the distance of about a few dozen metres in a few seconds as he thrust his sword into the eye of the monster. Yet, his attack had been easily intercepted as the it raised its furry arm to block the attack. There had been a subtle ‘ping’ sound as if the sword had struck against steel. The monster did not take the attack without retaliation however. Immediately following the captain’s failed attempt, it swung its log-like arms, only barely managing to miss a fatal hit.

However, the monster proved more cunning and faster than expected, as the next moment the captain’s bloodied body was tossed in the air. No one could even track what had just happened, but in all likelihood the monster used its free hand to extend its attack and catch the captain off guard. His body flew for a good few seconds before brutally slamming back onto the earth. There was a massive gaping slash across his chest and it was exceedingly likely that he wouldn’t survive.

“Captain!” the elder shouted for him, but that’s all he could do. It suddenly cocked its body and focused its sight for the villagers that were nothing more than food for it. It released another ear-piercing grumble from its stomach, however, instead of going for the hapless villagers, it actually returned its attention back towards the downed captain. It raised its arm like a guillotine, ready to pulverize him into fine meat paste. “No!”

Without any hesitation or mercy it slammed down its fists onto the helpless man… or so that’s what one might've normally though, instead, something miraculous happened- a rescue.

A young man adorned with a long white coat that fluttered behind him like a cape came to the rescue. He moved too fast for anyone’s eyes to track, but with one swing of his mysterious, transparent blade the monster was cleft cleanly in two. Straight down the middle. With a loud ‘thud’ the two halves of the monster fell the ground and a massive torrent of blood started to spew.

The young man then crouched down before the captain. “Sorry, I was a bit late, but I’ll save you now.”