During night´s dark allure, a character with such a black purpose as the hillside descended to the valley. That was the night, the one that for once and for all the traitor would be hunted down for good.
The figure unsheathed his sword, and checked his edge. He knew what his dark action was for, a greater reward. He straightened the sword in front of him and readied his gear, companion of many tasks, for his very last chance to avoid the disaster that otherwise would strike the Confederation down.
He remembered his data. Hita was where his target was hiding, and it was expected to flee from there so that it would be out of the executioner´s reach. But its information and belongings were too precious, too valuable to let it go unpunished. And that night was the night.
Between the slow movement of the dancing flares something managed to disrupt the executioner´s concentration. His target, a horse rider, was trying to escape.
The executioner smiled. He stuck the blade on the ground and lit up a torch. Its light made a banner with a very familiar pattern visible. From his very own, he had risked his precious seal of civil immunity. Not only it was precious economically for those who managed to sell one of those, but its usefulness among the colonies was absolute.
As expected, the rider came closer, knowing what to expect from the situation, still, the reward was worth the risk. Upon sight, the rider dismounted and met the executioner, silently.
“Are you going to stare at me the whole night?” yelled the executioner at the rider, after a couple of minutes of silence
“You are not worth staring at” shot back the rider, recognizing who he was against
“What? I hail you as I shouldn´t, I greet you as best as I could, and I get to host this encounter, for you not to glance at me?” The executioner smiles with a kinky sight on the rider, but he soon realised he was not the one that was looking for “Then, at least you could explain to me why the guest of honour decided not to come, after I took the trouble to arrange this meeting”
“He´s not coming, that´s all you need to know. I´m here to claim what he seeks. I may, at least, thank you for bringing it to me”
“I´ve noticed you staring at my little precious treasure here” the executioner decided to break the ice in a bitter tone “I got it while I was an outlaw, just like you here. I bet you´ll be wondering how I, a law enforcer condecorated for hundreds of achievements, was once an filthy pesky annoying outlaw and got pardoned by the grand Order of the Execution” he continued conceitedly, moving around by few steps
His rival, noticing the executioner was getting distracted searched for his weapon, finding it stuck on the dirt. In a moment, he tried to reach for it, but the executioner foresaw the inexperienced move by the young son and kicked him back from the blade.
“I´ll let this one pass” the executioner warned, picking his sword back with his left hand “Well, then. Where was I? Oh! Of course! I was explaining how I got this precious little treasure of mine. Simple…”
The executioner raised his sword towards the kid, expecting him to finish his sentence, but instead he found him scared of an unfair move unworthy of a man of his rank.
“ I K I L L E D M Y P R E D E C E S O R”
The tone in which he had said that attuned the rest of the conversation. They both felt where those words were leading to.
“And now, I give you the chance to accomplish it today, in a fair duel” he put off the torch´s blaze with his gauntlet and dropped the unlit stick on the ground “Go ahead! Amuse me! Haha hahahaha!”
Somewhat startled, the boy hopped back to his mount, where he´d hidden a cattle pike and tried to charge while the executioner was laughing, but the executioner countered his move as only an experienced swordsman could.
“Haha! What is that? Are you trying to drive me to some barn?” the executioner laughed at the kid´s last resource
The first class of weapons was decisive, as it set the executioner in a battle trance and, for the looks of it, his opponent too. It wasn´t only about the banner, neither it was for the money. It wasn´t even about avoiding another bloody chapter in the ongoing conflict. It was about the wellbeing of a family, or the end of a haunting past. Big scopes were irrelevant now.
Still, even if the metal strikes were the main events, the raider lost focus in the middle of a charge where he had the upper hand. The executioner´s eyes flashed with the opportunity to end that skirmish. As the pike was ill aimed, the executioner swung his sword against the horse on its side, making it bleed out violently.
The wounded mount went mad, going away from the battle zone and falling dead with the raider still on. The fall of his mount caused him his left leg.
The executioner stuck the blade on the dirt again, and supported his arms with it, somewhat tired but proud of his achievement nonetheless. But he got curious about what distracted the rider, it made no sense at all letting his guard down on a moment like that. While catching his breath, he looked around until he spotted a small column of smoke. A bit shocked, thinking that he didn´t put out his torch, he approached carefully, leaving his sword behind.
The thin smoke cloud was being dissipated, as a darkened shape got spotted, but was overshadowed by a couple of vivid red blazes from right inside of its darkness, floating still. It sat there, watching the event, as if the creature was pulling the strings of that fight. Those blazes, those eyes.
“I am… too late?” the executioner cringed and barely exhaled, then he smiled in a grim mood
The tie of the both´s gaze left him motionless. Someone decided to end that spell early, tough. An arrow soared from the shadows, a hiss was heard cutting the peace of night, and the executioner fell with his hands trying to get something but not knowing how. Until his last second, he hadn´t stopped searching for an answer on those eyes. The Demon´s eyes.
His last words: “What have you done?”
The hitman got away from the hideout he was in, carrying the murder weapon and trying to reach for the kid. In his way, he looted the executioner´s remains: his banner, his weapon, his belongings. Finally, he picked the boy up pushing the mount away from the kid. When he got it to his shoulder, he could realise how white his son´s face was. “It´s all over. Is going to be OK now” he tries to calm him, trying to pierce the kid´s trauma and pain. His son was not answering, he was not even reacting to him, his face paralysed looking forward.
As anyone else, the temptation to watch was too much. He began staring at the light that brought each of those who´d stared at it long enough to their ruin. The creature. There it stood, sat down, staring at him, waiting for his next move. It has seen it all.
Another hissing was produced, from the old man´s bow towards the demon. Nothing changed but for cinders dusting on the creature´s visage. It´s eyes began blazing brighter, as their vision narrowed.
Before something else could happen, the old man picked his son up and fled from the crime scene during the last moments under the cover of night´s shroud.
The creature stood up a moment, to watch them go away. It made its very first step towards them but stopped right away. It could not leave. It was incapable of leaving the circle it had spawned in, not without its master´s order. But no master showed up.
The circle was now its prison. It was refined, clean and very distinguishable. Too much effort was put drawing it, so much indeed that the fighters could not afford it. Besides, both of them hadn´t realised its presence until it was late. The doubts the demon carried kept it awake for the rest of the night, accompanied only by the remains of the loser of a fixed combat, and the scavengers that were about to make the last use out of them.
I can get scared quite easily though).