Ushi stood bewildered. His attack should’ve landed, given how close he had been to his target, but the Needle-maiden still stood unharmed in front of him. As he looked on in confusion, a trickle of drops fell onto the doe, seeping into her fur. The trickle quickly became a shower that drenched both the doe and him, matting their fur red. Confusion turned to realization as the taste of iron assailed his nostrils, briefly fanning his bloodlust before that was replaced by another overpowering emotion. Fear.

The Needle-maiden, despite her appearance, remained unmarred by his attack, or any other attacks for that matter, so she couldn’t be the source of that blood. This meant it had to be from someone else in the vicinity, and it wouldn’t be too long before whoever had caused the bloody rain turned their sights on him. He would be next; this he was sure of.

His instincts told him so, and they urged him to bring up arm and hoof in his defense. His body just wouldn’t move, as if fixed in that position. The doe seemed unaffected by whatever had restrained him though. She stood to her full height in front of him, and though Ushi still towered over her, it felt like her diminutive stature was just a ruse. It was as if a lion was wearing a doe’s skin, and though the furs hid its actual appearance, they couldn’t do much for its aura and the menace that lay just below the surface.

She lifted her gaze to stare directly at the minotaur, and Ushi felt a renewed sense of fear from the malice the glare communicated. Flecks of gold shone in those black pits as veins snaked across the whites, giving them a vengeful red tinge. A thick scent suddenly suffused the air and though he felt compelled to turn toward its source, the figure in front of him arrested his attention. Her off-white fur flashed a shade toward grey before his attention was yanked from her figure, and his body with it.

In actuality, his body had preceded the attention, defining the path of his focus. Blurry faces of many-a-taur flashed in-and-out of focus as his body flew across the space, only halting when back met trunk. An object followed in his wake, smacking his face with a wet sound on impact. As it slid down, a sharp protrusion from the object found purchase in a facial crevice, piercing through skin and flesh till it met bone. The initial damage was minimal, but gravity did the rest of the work, pushing onto the object’s fat end and as the object succumbed to the force, it exerted its own on the incision point.

Ushi felt the searing pain as the object slid down, carving his face. He made to forestall the object’s descent with a hand, but his right arm defied his calls to action, remaining numb and unresponsive. His left hand shot out a second too late to reach the object now laying in his lap. All he could do now was to at least confirm the object’s identity.

What he found there disturbed him. It was a furry, calloused limb that still twitched as the residual life slowly drained from it. Horror registered on his face at that sight, for the arm looked eerily familiar. He didn’t need to dig further for its owner’s identity, for the numbness at his shoulder died down as if triggered by the sight, plunging him into despair. He issued a bone-chilling scream as his system was suddenly flooded with the sensations that the numbness had previously shielded him from.

This was not the end of his retribution though, for the avenging beast that had propelled him across the space soon flashed to his position, intent on finishing what it had started. It retook the assault and Ushi’s screams were soon accompanied by the sounds of blunt impact, crunching bones and the squeals of fluids being expelled from the minced flesh that could no longer contain them. The screams eventually died down, but the abuse continued as the congregation watched in horror.

⯁⯁⯁

From most people’s perspectives, the likely target would’ve been Hochi the Fertile, and he wouldn’t have needed anyone’s assistance in dispatching Ushi had it ever come to that. As no one had expected Ushi to go for the Herbalist for his honorable strike, no one had been prepared to defend the unassuming ram. The fact Ushi had managed the attack in front of Hochi would remain a mystery to most, but that mystery had resulted in the loss of a huge asset to the Red Grove.

Still in shock, they hadn’t expected Ushi to swiftly withdraw the point and aim it at the next target, the Herbalist’s wife. When all thought her death all but guaranteed, her unscathed figure confirmed otherwise.

A fountain of blood had accompanied that surprise, and how he’d been relieved of his arm, most didn’t know, but they assumed it had been ripped off by the beast that batted him into the distance a second later. The brutality of it all was shocking, even to the war loving Taurs. They hadn’t expected the implement of abuse to be the victim’s own limb. To add insult to injury, the limb had been used as a projectile at the back of Ushi’s involuntary flight, undoing whatever spell had suppressed all manner of sound the bull might issue from his mouth.

What followed was a scene best scrubbed from one’s memories. The beast dismantled Ushi with a brutal efficiency that had no place outside of night terrors. Even though he’d brought this all on himself, no one deserved to go out like that, and the fact it had taken Red’s interference to halt the beast’s rampage removed all sympathy from the beast’s circumstances. It was too dangerous to keep around, and they hoped it would be put down for good.

Red had ground it into the ground in one smooth charge, breaking off a single horn in the process. The beast had still tried to get up, but Red had swiftly put a stop to the attempts by clipping the second horn to give it a matching broken pair. He’d instructed Hochi and two other colonels to file the stumps down to a dignified appearance, before rattling off commendations afterwards as if nothing unexpected had happened.

Zhou, the major had been promoted Lieutenant Colonel, whilst Hochi, the Colonel had been promoted 2 ranks to Major General. Though skipping ranks wasn’t novel, it became harder the higher ranked you became so this was quite the promotion.

As the meeting came to a close, everyone below Brigadier General was dismissed, leaving the seniors to the echoing cries of the mourning widow as she tried to whisper the Herbalist’s life back into his still form.

⯁⯁⯁

3 Days later…

Ugh, groaned Grey, finally returning to the land of the living. He didn’t know how long it had been, but from the way his stomach begged for attention, a substantial amount of time had passes. Memories of what had happened flooded him unbidden and try as he might to weep his father’s loss, he couldn’t muster the courage to honestly face what that loss meant to him.

He chose to focus on his mother’s pain as a distraction from his own, finally making to get off his back to search for her. His efforts were abruptly halted by the chain tethering him to the wall behind him. It was designed with enough give to allow him to sit upright, but it would jerk him back into the wall the moment he exceeded those parameters.

One hand shot up to nurse his aching head, while the other shot to his neck to feel for the offending restraint. One callused hand met cold steel at his neck, whilst the other felt new protrusions just off the left side of his forehead. These were quite weird as he’d never had horns till now, and even considering a sudden growth spurt, their texture and thickness defied all the standards he knew for one as young as he.

My father…, he trailed off at that thought before resolving to finish it. Even my father’s horns weren’t this thick at the base, and he’d been around more years than I.

His father’s horns had been short and simple, unlike the curving masses that curled up and behind his head; or at least they were supposed to. His efforts to trace the full shape of those horns met a sudden end, and he knew at once they’d been filed down. Not only was the texture a tell for the filing that had occurred, but the supposed points of the horns were too thick and irregular to fit in with his expectations. This would explain the headache, as his previous collision with the wall at his back shouldn’t have impacted him that much, given how hard his skull was.

“Hey, son,” came a voice, interrupting his thoughts. He looked up to see that bulky colonel, Hochi. He’d always found the boar’s moniker misplaced, seeing as he couldn’t picture the man wielding a hoe, much less using it to productive ends in a field; but whatever reason he’d received the name for didn’t matter right now, seeing as the man needed a bit of correction.

“I’m no son of yours,” he responded. His intent and wishes seemed to have been lost in the delivery, for the croaky words did not dissuade the man one bit.

“I understand, son,” Hochi continued, “let us get those manacles off you shall we, and we can sort out all the other issues after.”

Metallic objects jingled and his cell door opened. As the cell was too small to accommodate the boar’s form, he went on a knee and reached for Grey’s collar, releasing it with a click as he’d done the door. Grey got up too fast and the ground below called his impatient and dizzied form to it. He never got to satisfy the floor’s summons, for the boar’s arm caught his falling form before it could make it past a tilt.

He accepted the help out of the cell and Hochi guided him to a stump, where he sat him down before offering him a water skin. His parched throat wouldn’t allow him to refuse the offer, so he took it on the chin and thanked the man with a nod before emptying its contents in one go. Once he was done quenching his thirst, Hochi accepted the water skin back and Grey, having calmed down and now truly grateful, thanked the colonel.

Hochi corrected Grey’s address, informing him of the changes that had occurred while Grey was… incapacitated. The man mentioned all the relevant promotions, as well as the fallout of Ushi’s actions. Even though they wouldn’t be coerced into an ‘honorable death’ like their father had, all his living and enlisted descendants would be demoted a single rank to make up for their father’s dishonor in his final moments. The Needle-maiden, Grey’s mother, would be afforded a better life as compensation, and Hochi as the Major General had called in his own favors to have her placed with him for protection. This would deter Ushi’s remnants, should they want to place the blame for their circumstances on the Herbalist’s family.

He questioned the man’s motivations in acting as a shield for his mother, but he was still glad he’d offered to help. One thing stood out from all the things the Major General had explained though; Where do I fit in all this? He’d asked himself mentally, before verbalizing his question to the boar.

The boar had taken a few seconds to consider his answer before explaining Grey’s circumstances. He started with how he’d taken Ushi’s life in his fit of rage, dismembering the minotaur in the process; How due to the brutality of the act, his soul had been accompanied to the Great Beyond by a mangled incomplete corpse. Normally, this would’ve been deserving of death and Grey would’ve been summarily executed, but there were extenuating circumstances in his case. He would be acquitted of all charges save for that of turning against his betters.

This part had confused him, so the Major General had patiently explained to him what the perfumed were, and why he’d had to get his horns docked. Grey hadn’t missed the peculiarity in his case, and he’d brought it up the moment the boar finished with his explanations.

Why had he had both horns docked instead of one?

The boar had seemed taken aback by the question, exhibiting an expression as close to flustered as Grey had ever seen on him. After a minute of contemplation, the Major General had fumbled through his justification, choking it out to the heat of the moment. Grey had seen through this, but knowing he was at the Red Groove’s mercy, he accepted it with a nod, choosing to put the answer to the test in his own time.

The boar had concluded their conversation with the decision on his treatment. He, like his mother would be absorbed into the Red Grove, as had been planned at the back of the Herbalist’s service. The crime of his misstep against his betters would be forgiven on condition of his immediate enlistment into the military chapter. He would be assigned to a roving battalion for two years before formal placement, and should he avail himself well within the first, he would have the option to switch battalions, even to one proximal to his mother should he wish it.

As this wasn’t up for debate, Grey accepted it with grace, requesting a short talk with his mother before his immediate departure. He’d meant for the flash-decision to put the boar off-balance, but he seemed none-too-surprised by it. He accepted, and immediately escorted Grey to his mother’s new quarters.