Chapter 756: The Tribe Slayer
Titania looked around before answering in a quiet whisper. “I can try and break us out.”
Vela cocked an eyebrow. “How?”
“I have magic,” Titania tried to sound confident, though it came out more like a question.
“Right… The same magic those slavers were talking about? The one that did nothing and got you captured?” Vela asked.
“It wasn’t like that. I was just—” Titania stared at the ground of her cage and mumbled, “...Scared.”
“And are you scared now?”
“N-No,” Titania lied.
“This isn’t like your tales of heroes and monsters, princess.”
“I’m not a princess.”
“You’re a noble, aren’t you?” Vela didn’t wait for the girl to answer. “Out here, away from your fancy palaces, people die. I was traveling with my husband towards a nearby village when they caught me…”
Vela looked away and clasped her hands tightly. “We were taking what little crops we had from our farm to the market. The slavers killed my husband because he tried to protect me. That’s what happens in the real world. We don’t get saved. The strong prey on the weak. That’s it. We can’t fight back, not unless you wanna die.”
“You fought back.”
“Yeah and look where it got me.” Vela gestured at her own split lip and bruised face.
“At least you tried.”
“...You heard the warden. If you try to conjure any flames, it’ll burn the wooden floor of your cage. You’ll die and maybe take me with you if you’re not careful.”
“I have other magic.”
A glimmer of hope entered Vela’s eyes but it was quickly replaced with a skeptical shake of the head. “Can you break us out of here?”
“I think so? Can you lead us away from the camp? Somewhere safe?”
Vela glanced at the guard. He was still reading his book by the light of his lantern. Vela lowered her voice to barely a whisper. “...I guess. But what happens if the slavers catch us trying to escape? Can you kill them with your magic?”
“I’ve never killed anyone before,” Titania admitted.
“But can you?”
“I… I don’t know.” She was still hardly a novice. Though she loathed to admit it, her abilities were far from mastered. Even if they had been, if the moment came to it, could she take another’s life? She wasn’t sure.
Vela sighed. “Sorry, but I can’t help you. I’m not going to risk getting tortured for a half-baked attempt at success.”
“I’ll pay you! I have gold and jewels.” Titania reached up to her small horns, but their golden rings were wrong. Her stomach twisted in panic as a horrid suspicion dawned on her. “No…!” She ran her hands across her neck. The amulet was missing. “No, no, no!”
“Shh. Keep your voice down. What is it?”
“My necklace. It’s gone,” Titania said, anxiety dripping from her voice.
“It was probably taken by the slavers when they captured you.”
“Where is it? I need to get my amulet back!”
“The warden probably has it. Which means you’re never getting it back.”
“Why not?”
“I overheard one of the slavers say he keeps all his captured valuables in a chest in his tent, you know, the place where he sleeps.”
Titania licked her lips nervously. “We could sneak in, r-right?”
“Are you crazy?”
“My jewelry is there, too. You can have the rest of it so long as I get my amulet back.”
“It’s too risky. We can’t even fight one of the guards if they catch us, let alone the warden and the rest of the camp. No. You’re on your own, princess.”
Titania glanced back at the cage behind her. “What if we get him to help?”
“The Tribe Slayer? Are you mad?” Vela scoffed.
“He’s in a cage, too. I bet he’ll help if we help him out.”
“He’s more likely to kill us the moment we set him free.”
“Why?” Titania furrowed her brow.
“Do you even know who that man is?”
Titania looked over the chained man, hanging from the bars of his cage. “He’s a prisoner, like us.”
“He’s nothing like us. That’s Noct, the Tribe Slayer. He’s a terrible legend around here.”
“I didn’t know…”
“What do you know of the Rulus people?”
“They live in tribes that dwell deep in the desert.” Her tutors had taught her about the Rulus, the elemental species of the desert. They were said to have lived in the Aurous Realm long before the Sune people came to be, when phoenixes still ruled the land millennia ago. “The Rulus tribes are very secretive and their people rarely leave the desert,” Titania repeated her tutors’ words.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Vela said, somewhat surprised.
“Then that’s even more reason why we should help him, right? He’s all alone without his tribe. He’ll want to get back to them.”
“No,” Vela shook her head. “Look at his arms. His legs. What do you see?”
The man’s yellow complexion appeared almost golden brown in the dark of the night. Cuts and bruises covered his body, but one thing caught Titania’s eye more than the rest. “Where are the tattoos…?”
“Exactly. Tattoos are sacred to the Rulus. They accumulate them throughout their life and yet he doesn’t have a single one. Do you know why?”
“I… I don’t,” she admitted.
“Because the Rulus people stripped them from him.”
“How?”
“How do you think? They ripped them off his skin.”
Titania shivered at the thought and rubbed her arms. “Why would they do something like that?”
“Because he committed the ultimate taboo. He murdered his entire tribe. The story goes that when the other tribes found out, they captured him, and stripped him of his tattoos, the marking of his people. But before they could execute him, he fought them off and escaped.”
“So he’s strong?” Titania asked.
“He’s a monster, princess. The only reason the warden and his guys were able to capture him was because he was hit by the midnight sun. Some of the slavers found him unconscious in the sand. Trust me, you don’t want to talk to him. You especially don’t want his help.”
“If not him, then who?”
Vela didn’t have an answer for that.
Titania crawled over to the other side of the cage.
“Wait—!” Vela called out.
“Excuse me, mister. Are you awake?” Titania whispered.
The chained man did not respond.
“Mister Noct?”
The chains rattled ever so slightly and the man raised his head. A vivid green eye looked at her from between blood-matted locks of black hair.
“Um. You’re Noct, the Tribe Slayer, yes?”
He stared at her for a long moment. “...Never heard of him.”
Vela swallowed and stared at his arm. “But you don’t have any tattoos.”
“I’m nobody. Now leave me be.”
“Wait. I have a proposition for you.” Titania leaned forward, “If I help you out of those chains and your cage, can you help me get out of the camp?”
He didn’t respond and closed his eyes.
“I’ll pay with jewels. I’m a noble. I have money. Lots of it.”
“Lady. I’m not interested in your gold or your jewels. Leave. Me. Be,” he said without opening his eyes.
“Why?” She pouted. “Don’t you want to escape?”
“I want to rest.”
Titania didn’t understand him. Were the stories wrong? Why would the Rulus who fought against his own tribes and escaped their execution just sit here now, doing nothing? “Don’t you want to be free?”
He ignored her and lowered his head, as if going back to sleep.
Maybe he wasn’t the Tribe Slayer after all, Titania thought. It didn’t matter. She didn’t need him. She just needed to escape.
Titania waited over an hour until the guard, Paul, had stopped reading his book and closed his eyes for a brief nap. This was her moment and she wasn’t going to let it go by.
Black magic was never her forte. The shadows in the dark had always unnerved her, but tonight she would be their master. With slow, steady breaths, Titania channeled black mana. Her shadow darkened into an inky blotch. A tendril, thick as her finger, crawled out from her silhouette and snaked past the cage’s bars and through the sand. The tendril was difficult to control and there was a moment Titania thought it would fall apart, but she prevailed in the end.
After an arduous minute, she had managed to send the tendril up the crate where Paul sat, sleeping. With precise, measured movements, she commanded the tendril to reach into his pocket and grab the ring of keys within. She held back a scream of triumph and settled for a wide smile.
With a simple thought, she drew the tendril back to her. Titania snatched the keys and released the spell, the tendril falling back into her shadow. Vela turned from her resting place and sat up in surprise as Titania fiddled with the lock.
“No way,” Vela whispered.
“...Got it!” With a click, the key turned, and Titania’s cage swung open. She crawled out of the cage and glanced at Paul, who was still asleep.
“Help me, please,” Vela begged, a spark of hope blooming in her eyes.
“Of course.” Titania unlocked the door.
“Thank you,” Vela whispered. “I didn’t think you’d… Thank you for saving me.”
“You’re welcome,” Titania shrugged abashedly. “Can you lead me to the warden’s tent?”
Vela winced. “You really want to risk that?”
“I have to. I need my amulet.” Her mother had entrusted the amulet’s runic key to her. She couldn’t lose it. She refused.
Vela sighed. “I’ll lead you there, but then you’re on your own.”
“Understood. But first—”
“What now?”
Titania walked over to the Tribe Slayer’s cage.
“What are you doing!?” Vela whispered.
“I have to help him.” Titania unlocked the cage and stepped inside. Suddenly, she wondered if the guard’s keys would work on his shackles. There was no point in dwelling on it now.
Noct looked up at her as she worked on his right manacle. His countenance practically bled exhaustion. On closer look, Titania realized he was more injured than she first thought. How long had the warden’s men beaten him? She couldn’t leave him here to be tortured.
“Come on, let’s go before he wakes up,” Vela urged.
Titania clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes. “I almost— got it!” With a click, the first manacle opened, and the man’s arm fell over limply, along with the shackle that crashed into the ground with a loud clang.
Paul flailed awake, almost falling off the crate. “Hey! What the fuck are you doing!?”
Titania turned around instinctively at the sound of his voice. Her body went cold. The guard was marching towards the cage. Vela was nowhere to be seen. Titania turned back and hurried to try and unlock the last manacle. She had slotted the key into the lock and went to turn it, when a hand grabbed her shoulder and yanked her away. She stumbled and fell onto the sand.
“I told you not to resist. Why couldn’t you just listen?” Paul said.
Titania kicked him in the shin, but it didn’t slow him down. The man was a giant, perhaps even a dire. He lifted her by the ankle and slammed her back into the ground. She crashed into the hard-packed sand with a groan. Stars dotted her vision and her breath escaped her.
“Let her go!” Vela jumped out of the shadows and smacked the guard in the back with a club she had found.
He grunted in pain and staggered a single step forward. Paul spun on his heel and snatched the club away from Vela with ease. Vela leaped onto him and bit his forearm, but his bracer took most of it.
“Stupid whore.” Paul smacked her across the face with the back of his hand. Vela fell with a cry. “You just never learn, do you?”
Vela looked up at him, dazed, blood dripping from her nose. She glanced at Titania. “Run away,” she mumbled weakly.
“It’s too late for that,” Paul scowled and lifted Vela by the throat. Her feet kicked the air helplessly.
“No, stop!” Titania said.
“I’ll deal with you next, but first,” Paul grinned sadistically and squeezed Vela’s throat. The peasant woman’s eyes rolled up as she tried to gasp for breath.
Titania channeled orange and focused on a bolt of fire. She stretched out her fingers and commanded the spell to ignite. A spark erupted from her fingers and nothing more.
No! she thought. Please, work!
Titania cast the spell again. This time, a small flame flickered into existence around her fingertips before dying out.
“Run,” Vela gasped with her last gulp of air.
“Let her go!” Titania threw everything she had into her spell. Orange mana burned through her veins. Fire erupted from her palm and exploded backwards, singeing her hand and forearm. Titania cried out and fell, clutching her arm.
Paul looked over and scoffed in mockery before turning back to Vela. “Now, where were we?” He raised his other hand and wrapped it around her neck.
A hand, different than his own, reached out from the shadows of the cage and grabbed his wrist. With a quick twist, Noct snapped the guard’s hand. Paul howled and stumbled backwards. Vela collapsed, wheezing for air. Noct walked past her, his eyes never leaving Paul.
The guard snarled in a mixture of rage, pain, and fear. He drew his sword with his good hand and swung it down in a wide arc. Noct stepped aside in a fluid motion and closed the distance. Without slowing down, Noct swung his fist in an uppercut, straight into the guard’s groin.
Paul inhaled in agony and bent over. Noct clapped his palms into the guard’s ears, stunning the man. As Paul fell back, Noct grabbed the guard’s head and slammed his knee into the latter’s face with a deafening crunch. Still not letting go, Noct threw the guard to the ground and proceeded to pummel his face in.
Titania watched, stunned, as Noct’s fists smashed into the man’s face until it was nothing but a bloody flattened mess of torn flesh and broken bits of bone. The Tribe Slayer stood, his arms covered in blood, green eyes bereft of any warmth, and turned to Titania. “Get up.”