Paid in Blood

A fantasy short story from the past.

Disclaimer: This story were written long ago, when I didn’t have absolute command of the English language, not now when I can write entire essays without a single grammatical misteak.

Kaiser knelt down and rubbed the wet patch of mud between his thumb and forefinger. Blood, no doubt about it. A week old at least if the smell was anything to go by. And the rains weren’t doing him any favours. He cursed the skies with a few choice words. It’d been so long since he’d been able to afford sleeping in an inn. People were stingy to Jaegers at the best of times.

Paid in a few bits of silver and an unhealthy dollop of disgust and awe for tasks even a hundred men would be hard pressed to do, Jaegers unnerved people in general. It was their eyes mostly. Unnaturally bright and like a hawk, they could stare at the Sun unblinking. Their eyes and the Geschichte Tapisserie on their right arm. A ‘story tapestry’ roughly translated. It was basically a carpet stitched onto their arm. A beautiful carpet which detailed the important events and deeds of their life woven with threads stronger than steel. It sometimes covered more than just one hand as a Jaeger’s life was long. There was only one Jaeger known to have died of old age and he lived for nearly four hundred years. However the nature of their work ensured that average life expectancy hovered at around 75 years.

They were mercenaries. Poorly paid and treated mercenaries capable of inhuman feats. The fact that they were the best at what they did didn’t make their job soul satisfying. In fact it was the opposite. Their job made sure they saw the very dregs of humanity and all other sentient creatures. Protecting humans from monsters, dwarves and elves or protecting monsters from humans, dwarves and elves or any such combination therein. Jaegers were men but not men, viewed as monsters by all, including monsters themselves in an ironic twist of fate.

This particular contract of Kaiser didn’t seem like anything special. But then, they never did. “The villagers are complaining of shrieking in the forest. Won’t venture out to. Bad for business. Get rid of it and 10 bits of silver for you. “ the village headman had said, measly with his words and measlier with his coin.

Kaiser straightened up softer examining the bloody patch of mud to see a setting sun half obscured by light rain. He decided to continue tracking tomorrow. One more night on the cold hard ground. The rains eventually died down. Kaiser lay on the ground and stared at the glittering night sky, his ice blue eyes seeming to pierce the heavens. At length, he nodded off.

Kaiser rose with the Sun and went through his daily routine. Unbuckle sword, sharpen with whetstone, polish, replace. Repeat for the assorted weaponry on his person. Remove armour, polish till it gleamed. Jaegers wore only light chain mail on account of the agility required to dodge tooth and fang. Besides, even three inches of Dwarven platemail would tear like paper before a wyvern’s claws.

A few hours of sharpening and polishing later, Kaiser was done. He squatted down on a log and reviewed his contract with his horse, Hothgar. Meaning he sat and talked to it while it chewed grass. On the road you aren’t likely to meet someone for weeks and when you do, it’s quite likely that they try to kill and loot your body or (if you happen to be a Jaeger) spit at your feet and look the other way. Company becomes precious. Small wonder then that Kaiser talked to his horse. People were known to do worse to their horses, having been far too long from a woman’s embrace.

“So. Blood’s probably from a human. Meat eater? And quite messy looking at how it’s rent this poor sod. Pieces of flesh lying all over. Best get to the bottom of this fast. I don’t want to have to spend another night on the road. “

Kaiser set off, leading Hothgar by the reins. Miles melted past as the lone Jaeger followed the trail over hillock and through meadow. The Sun had reached its zenith when Kaiser stopped. The blood trail had ended abruptly. This was a bit troublesome but nothing to lose sleep over. There was bound to be some clue nearby. A Jaeger’s training was very intensive and lasted nigh on 20 years. A long period of time spent honing the body and mind to the pinnacle of human ability. Only when a Jaeger had read ten times ten thousand books in the vast dusty shelves of Insel island, the secluded home of the Jaegers, were they allowed to leave. These books dealt with all manner of topics. Surviving in the harshest of climates, the machinations of kinds and obsessively detailed bestiaries on identifying, tracking and killing monsters.

Kaiser walked back and searched around in a big circle before finding the trail again. It was less of a trail and more of a scattering of droplets now. The beast could fly. That would explain how the trail went missing and the spread pattern of the blood on the ground. It didn’t take much longer to find the nest. It was dusk when Kaiser spied a large mourn on a rock shelf a hundred feet above. Kaiser climbed a nearby yew to see if he was right about the monster.

He was. Griffins. Two of them. Mates probably. And even as he looked the stench hit him. The stench of fetid, rotting meat. They must have been dead nearly a week. The mangled remains of a man lay nearby. After some tricky manoeuvring, Kaiser managed to make his way onto the rock shelf. He examined the man first. Not a pretty sight. One arm, no legs, half his innards on the ground and face contorted in extreme pain. Killed out of pure fury. Kaiser turned his attention to the dead griffins. One had died quite normally. Slit throat. Died peacefully in its sleep. However its wings were missing. The work of men no doubt. But the other griffin……. had had a strange death to say the least. Its body was pierced through with holes as wide as Kaiser’s clenched fist. Its claws and beak were red with gore. Human gore. Curiouser and curiouser.

Kaiser got off the shelf and walked back to Hothgar. “As I see it, this is what happened. The village headman sent his men to kill the griffin. Griffins can be a pain in the arse for trade and their feathers do fetch a pretty penny. So his men managed to kill the griffin in its sleep and made off with its wings, not knowing that royal griffins live with mates. And once she discovered her partner was dead, her rage knew no bounds. Ripped that man apart like a stuffed toy. But………….how did she die? No human is capable of doing that………… “ Hothgar chewed on a mouthful of grass, oblivious.

Maybe the dawn would bring new light. It was well and truly dark now and Kaiser made himself a small fire and stared into the flames, not daring to sleep. Whatever killed the other griffin was still out there. The Sun rose, heralding a new dawn. Dawn hadn’t given Kaiser any reason as to what might have happened. There just wasn’t enough information to follow up on. He watched the dying embers of the fire, looking as old as he actually was for once. Jaegers, physically atleast, were superior to humans in every single way and looked quite young most of their long life. Kaiser, of 50 summers, looked a boy just grown into a man, with his wiry body and raven black hair which he wore in a high ponytail. Only his eyes betrayed a hint of the world-weariness in him.

There was nothing to do but get back. Kaiser was stumped. He’d go give the village headman a sound verbal thrashing for telling him that cock-and-bull story about shrieking in the woods. Kaiser was nearly out of the forest when he groaned and realized that this meant no money and he’d have to spend a few more weeks at the least on the road. On the road, the day you let your guard down is the day you die. It was just pure chance that saved Kaiser’s life.

The molgyrote creeper forms thick and strong vines which grow right across forest trails and form natural trip wires. Animals often broke their legs when running on these creepers and ended up nourishing them. Kaiser wouldn’t have tripped if he was watching the road and even as he fell flat on his face he sensed that he’d had a lucky escape. He was up in an instant and drew sharpened sword from oiled sheath in one swift motion. He drew a hunting knife from his belt with his other hand to throw, whirled round to face his foe and found himself looking at…………. a tree. A strange tree but…….a tree. It had arms and legs of branches and a beard of moss.

And then light dawned on Kaiser. A baumgeist. Spirit of the forest in layman terms. However, this was no beautiful lady in scantily clad clothes as folk legends so often describe. An eight foot tall tree with massive arms and legs of wood. Jet black eyes with no pupil. Baumgeist’s were relatively rare compared to your everyday ghouls and ghosts. One would have to mercilessly abuse a forest for a long period of time before its hurt, anger and hate could manifest.

The baumgeist’s eyes were the purest black. Corrupted, beyond reason. This forest had taken a lot of hurt. Too much to ever recover from possibly. The forest had decided to fight back. And so it did. A branch shot out from a nearby tree with lightning speed and Kaiser just managed to avoid becoming Jaeger-on-a-stick for the second time in a minute.

He’d have to put this baumgeist down. Fast. The longer it was left alive, the stronger it would become. Eventually it would be able to bend the entire forest to its will. Kaiser threw his knife. It struck the baumgeist dead center between the eyes. The baumgeist was unfazed. Shit. He’d need to burn it down. He dropped his sword and broke a low hanging branch while scrabbling in his pack for a tinderbox.

The baumgeist wasn’t kind enough to wait for him. And thus Kaiser ended up frantically dodging branches while trying to light his makeshift torch. A branch whistled past, cutting his cheek. And the Jaeger lit his torch. The flame crackled and the forest went very, very still. Kaiser was just wondering if he’d just made a very big mistake when the baumgeist’s eyes changed. Not the light blue of a summer sky which would have meant a completely rational baumgeist but a dark blue of the depths of a lake. And it spoke. A rasping voice that set Kaiser’s hair on end.

“Leave.” It spoke. “Why’d you kill the griffin?”

The baumgeist’s eyes darkened. Almost black again. “She was a magnificent beast. Both of them were. How her feathers gleamed in the light of the Sun. She went mad with grief after her partner’s death. She would’ve laid waste to the forest if I hadn’t intervened. It was necessary. For the good of the forest.”

“The rage of the griffin only just managed to waken this forest. The humans have much to pay for. They have hewed countless trees, young trees with life bursting through their shoots and old trees, with the wisdom of the ancients in them. If they ever set foot in this forest again and harm even a single tree, I will know. And I will make them pay. With their lives. Now leave.”

Chilling words. Kaiser believed them. Now he was torn. On one hand he could listen to the baumgeist, leave the forest, tell the village headman not to enter the forest for atleast a few decades. That would mean trusting in the words of a monster teetering on the brink of insanity and believing in the good judgement of humans. Foolish choice indeed.

On the other hand…… he could kill the baumgeist. He was fairly confident he could with the torch blazing brightly in his hand. He could do what he was contracted to do. Earn his coin. However that would mean damning the forest to more pain. Another baumgeist would rise soon enough. And it wouldn’t settle until every last drop of blood of the humans was out of their veins.

Kaiser made his choice. He strode forward, firebrand blazing. The baumgeist’s eyes darkened to a shade of obsidian………..

“20 bits of silver. Pay up.” Kaiser told the headman, dropping the baumgeist’s head into the table. “What is that monstrosity? “. His face paled but regained its colour the instant he realized he was being asked for money. A true haggler this one. “And why should you double of what we agreed on?”

“Because you lied to me. You don’t lie to Jaegers.” Kaiser slid his sword ever so slightly out of its sheath. “You didn’t mention that you had a griffin killed. You fed me some bullshit about shrieking in the forest. And this head here? It’s because of what you did to the forest. If you continue abusing this forest it will rise again. With a vengeance. So have a care. “

The headman barely heard him. The money was all he cared about.

“You expect me to pay you when you haven’t even solved the problem I contracted you for? My my, aren’t you prideful. Your kind deserves to be strung up on a noose.” He spat at Kaiser’s feet. Mistake. The Jaeger’s eyes narrowed. Quick as lightning, he had his sword at the headman’s neck.

“If you do not pay me 30 bits of silver right now, there will be two heads in my horse’s saddlebags tonight.” He said as sweetly as he could manage. The room was silent as coins were counted onto the table. Each making a oh-so-satisfying clink.

Kaiser was not in a cozy bed that night. “I only killed the baumgeist because it would’ve gone mad soon enough. It would’ve laid waste to the entire village and more. The forest had taken too much hurt. It never could have recovered. It couldn’t have. It couldn’t have……….. “ Even Hothgar seemed to reproach him. Kaiser did not sleep well that night. Or for many nights after.

If it wasn’t obvious, this story is basically Witcher fanfiction. I don’t know why I went to the trouble of coming up with German names if I was simply to going to rehash stories from The Witcher. Goes to show how much I enjoyed playing the game.