Wandering Warrior: Judge - Chapter 11 (Patreon)

Chapter 11

“And who might you be?”  I finished activating my bracelet, and the shield shimmered in place around me.  It wasn’t fully recovered from being broken last night, but it was better than nothing.  I noticed the newcomer’s eyebrows raise as he saw it snap into position.  “I take it you are the man in charge?”

“My name is Captain Cross.  I’m in charge of the Blue Branch of the Western Wardens, with a full company of two hundred men.”  The pressure in my chest doubled as he clenched his fist, and I heard Jess whimper behind me.  “Now, lay down your weapons, and submit yourself for judgment.”

“The judgment of a group that thinks it’s okay to hurt innocent people?”  I saw Leedy out of the corner of my eye wince as he shifted behind me, his sword still pointed at my back.  While I was pretty sure I could handle Cross and Leedy, I didn’t know if I could do so without Jess getting hurt.  Whatever the officer was doing, it affected the whole area, making my magic-eating sword useless to stop it.  It was also a pretty good indicator that he would have more spells that did the same.  Area of effect spell-users loved their big and flashy spells.  I really only had one viable option.

“Stop him!”  Captain Cross tried to catch me as I darted off to the right, sprinting between him and Murphy into the thick underbrush.  Corporal Leedy seemed shocked, rooted in place as I left him far behind.  I heard the sounds of pursuit slowly fade as I weaved between the trees, using all of my stat points to their full advantage.  Unless they had some form of transport spell, there was no way any of them were going to catch me.

After a few more minutes of not hearing anything, I slowed to a standstill.  The sun was still high overhead, and I was starting to feel warm as the humid forest increased in temperature.  I took off my ruck and pulled out a ration, picking through it for the items that were heavy in protein.  I would need it for what came next.

Circling back took much longer than my initial sprint, this time making sure I stayed quiet.  When I got back to the point where they had confronted me, I found a series of tracks that led in the direction of Greendown.  One set of hoof prints must have belonged to the captain, while the others trudged along on foot.  Another pair of prints had joined them for a time, and broken off to go toward the village I had left behind.  It must have been the tinkerers.  Whatever they had said to one another hadn’t changed the fact that Jess was still being held prisoner.

I started following them, leaving my shield bracelet turned off so it could charge.  While I walked, I practiced going through several of the more basic spells I knew, to test how effective they were in this place.  Almost universally, they were weaker than they should be.  Ice bolt, stone spike, and my version of magic missile were all about half as powerful as they were in world nineteen.  Another pang of sadness hit me as thoughts of world nineteen flashed through my mind, but I pushed the memories down.  Not now.

After running through a few more of my go-to spells, I stopped testing them to allow my mana to recharge.  I wanted to be ready for when I caught up to them.  Eventually, the trail split into two directions, one continuing onward to the east, with the second less-traveled path curving north.  The Wardens had taken the northern trail.

“What could be in that direction?”  From what Murphy had told me, there wasn’t much up there, and all the hunting communities were further west.  I couldn’t see the mountains in the distance due to the closeness of the trees, but I knew they were waiting in the distance.  The markings that pointed toward a waypoint were nowhere to be seen, so it wasn’t that they were looking for a place to stay for the night.  Something didn’t sit right with me, and the instinct that had kept me alive all these years was screaming at me that it was bad that they weren’t continuing toward Greendown.

I moved off the trail, deciding to keep out of sight in case they had stopped and made camp.  The sun was now creeping toward the horizon, and it wouldn’t be long before night fell in all its horrors.  While walking, I came across several faint game trails, some with signs of things other than deer and rabbit.  A goblin footprint looked the same, no matter what world I was on.

Finally, I caught up to the group.  And the reason for why I was feeling so bad was immediately obvious.  They had taken Jess here to question her, and they weren’t being very nice about it.

“I’m telling you, that’s all I know!”  Jess was tied to a thick post in the middle of a large clearing, at the base of a low hill.  A hill with a cave opening.  “Let me go!  I didn’t do anything!”

“That’s enough.”  Captain Cross, who was standing in front of her near the cave entrance, closed his fist as she gasped in pain.  “Either you tell me what I want to know, or we leave you here for the goblins.”

“Sir, I don’t know about this.  She was only with the traveler for a few hours, and she hasn’t even had a trial.”  Corporal Leedy was standing off to the side, the normally robust Warden seemingly shrunken by the sudden turn of events.  “This is supposed to be the punishment for murderers, not–”

“Did I ask for your opinion, Corporal?”  Captain Cross stomped over to his subordinate, shaking his finger in his face.  He also moved far enough away from Jess that he didn’t notice the moment she started struggling against the ropes holding her.  “That traveler is stirring up notions and thoughts that we can’t let spread.  What he is spouting is a poison, one that infects everything it touches.”  Cross leaned forward, squinting in Leedy’s face.  “Did he poison you too, Corporal?  Do you need to be cleansed as well?”

“Captain, I’m a loyal member of the Wardens.”  Leedy swallowed hard, clearly afraid of the man standing in front of him.  “You don’t have to worry about me.  I swear.”

“We’ll see.”  Cross turned and looked at Private Murphy, who was standing as far away as possible while still being in the clearing.  “And you, Murphy?  Do you need to be cleansed of the filth that man was spouting?”

“I’m a Warden, sir.  Not a murderer.  This ain’t right, and you know it, same as we do.”  Murphy looked at his captain with pity, his strong hands unwavering on the haft of his halberd.  “Why don’t we all head for the Guild Hall, where we can talk this over with the others.”

Captain Cross, instead of exploding into a rage like I expected, seemed to deflate.  “If only it was that easy, Murphy.”  Cross raised his hand, pointing his palm at the Private.  “This is out of my hands.  The moment Leedy’s report crossed the Commandant's desk, it was too late.  I’m sorry.”  A pressure built up in my chest again, and I felt my ears pop.  Murphy dropped to one knee, whatever Cross was doing too much for the stalwart young man.

“Enough.”  I wasn’t willing to watch Cross hurt or kill Murphy, and the sun was already almost gone anyway.  It was time for me to step in.  “Even for an organization as twisted and diseased as the Wardens, this is too far.”

Cross spun to look at me, but the pressure on Murphy didn’t let up.  “I knew you would be back.  There is no way you would just run away, not after everything I’ve heard about you.”  He took a step towards me and raised his other hand, and I got to feel the same pressure Murphy must be experiencing.  “At least I can wrap everything up now, without more collateral damage.  I do hate this part of my job.”

“You know, I always end up getting some kickback when I get to a new place, but it usually doesn’t come around this fast.”  I straightened my back against the weight of his spell.  It must have been some kind of gravity manipulation power.  I would have to try and figure out how he did it later.  “The thing is, people like you never learn.  When the winds of change decide to blow, you either go with the flow, or get out of the way.”  I took three quick steps to close the distance between us, and his eyes widened in surprise.  “If you try to stop them, you end up getting destroyed.”

“How are you doing this?”  Cross clenched his outstretched palm into a fist, redoubling his effort to stop me and flattening the grass in a wide cone extending from his hand.  I activated my bracelet in response, and it flashed red as the bubble shield fought off his attack.  I still felt some pressure, but it was manageable.  “You should be on your knees!”

“Nah, I don’t want to get my pants dirty.”  I unhooked my mace from my belt and raised it to my shoulder.  “Now, I’m a little on the fence about how to deal with you.  Crushing your skull would be the easy way out, but I feel like leaving you alive to tell everyone what happened here will do far more damage to the people in charge.”

“I don’t think so.”  Cross released Murphy and shifted his other hand toward me, clenching it into a fist and increasing the pressure once more.  “Your winds die with you, like nothing but hot air.”

“Ha!  I gotta admit, that was a good one.”  I was really feeling the pressure now, but it still wasn’t enough to stop me.  I closed the distance between us, and I saw his eyes drift over to the post where Jess was tied up, most likely intending to use her to stop me.  Where she used to be tied up.  She had squirmed free about the same time Cross started crushing Murphy.  “Sorry, bub.  No hostages for you this time.”  I lifted my mace and smashed it down on his foot, pulping it with the help of his increased gravity.  He screamed, falling onto his butt and passing out at the backlash of his spell being cut off improperly.  I looked over to see Murphy climbing to his feet, while Leedy looked at me with shame in his eyes.  “Glad I caught up to you in time.  I would hate to see the two of you killed just for meeting me.”

“Captain Cross was just talking, he would never…”  Leedy’s words died in his throat, and he hung his head in defeat.  “None of this went the way it was supposed to go, and then it was like he lost his mind, and when we had to tie up the girl–”

“What he means to say is thank you.”  Murphy walked over and kicked Cross in the ribs.  “Some leader he turned out to be.  Do you want us to find out where the girl ran off to?”

“She’ll be back, don’t worry.  Just give her a few minutes to circle back around,”  I bent down and started stripping the equipment off of the unconscious Warden.  “As for this guy, don’t take it too personally.  He was under orders to do this.”  I pulled off the bracers around his forearms, noticing an interesting set of engravings running along the edges of the inside.  I set them to the side for later inspection.  “Who is the person in charge of him?”

“That would be Commandant Beck.”  Seeing what I was doing, Murphy started helping me take off the rest of the captain’s armor.  “He’s in charge of the Blue, Black, and White Branches of the Western Wardens.”  When I didn’t respond, Murphy pointed to Leedy and himself.  “We’re in the Blue, so we travel across the lands to keep the peace.  The Black do the same thing, but in cities where their abilities help with more than just fighting.  They put out fires, keep rioters under control, and keep vermin out of the food stores.”

I nodded along, making mental notes.  The Blue were like their analogs for police, while the Black were firemen, guards, and government inspectors.  “And what are the White?”  I looked through the coin purse the captain had been wearing.  There was a lot of gold in here, with a silvery piece that had to be platinum.  Nice.  It would certainly help supplement my funds.

“The White are…”  Murphy paused as he yanked off the breastplate, flopping the captain onto his face.  “There aren’t many of them.  The White track down murderers, uncover corruption in the Guilds, and capture the people corrupted by power.”  He thought about what he wanted to say next for a few seconds.  “They’re the executioners.  The people who punish the criminals beyond redemption.”

“And what color does the Commandant originate from?”  To me, it sounded like the White were this place’s version of a detective, bounty hunter, and special forces all rolled into one.  I would be shocked to hear if the higher leadership echelons were from any branch but the White.

“They always appoint someone from the White to Commandant.  Black and Blue hold all the Captain positions.”  Leedy had finally come over, his eyes still downcast.  “The Generals are all members of the Green.”  Before I could ask, he finished filling me in.  “The Green are the strongest of us.  There are never more than ten, and each of them are a force by themselves.  Magic, fighting, knowledge, they are the best of the best.”

“Any other colors I need to know about?”  I shook my head, amused at the classifications these people came up with.  At least it wasn’t a bunch of ‘A-Rank’ this, and ‘S-Ranked’ that, like I had seen in several other worlds.

“The Eastern Marshals use different colors.  Red, yellow, orange, and purple, but I haven’t met one, so I don’t know what they all mean.”  Leedy looked up sharply, where a rustle was coming from the nearby trail.  “Someone is coming.”

Before anyone got too worked up, Jess walked into the clearing leading a horse.  It must have been the one that belonged to Captain Cross.  I stood up and brushed my hands off before walking up to her.  “I’m glad to see you’re okay.”

“I knew you’d be back.”  Jess looked worn out, but she was still whole.  No fingers snipped off in some misbegotten form of torture.  “I was waiting for you to show up before I made my move.”

“You did a good job.  Now, let’s get the captain tied up to this horse so we can get out of here before the residents of that cave decide they want a fresh meal.”  I made it back as the two Wardens finished stripping their leader.  Cross still wasn’t awake yet, but it was only a matter of time until he recovered.  His foot was dripping blood into the dirt, so I took a moment to bind it tightly.  I could heal him if it looked like he was going to bleed out.  I tossed him over the horse and tied his hands to his uninjured foot to hold him in place.  “Okay, are we forgetting anything?”

“Nope, got it all.”  Murphy had placed all of the gear and armor in a sack that he hung from the back of the horse’s saddle.  “What are we going to do with him?”

“Make a spectacle at Greendown.  If we announce what he tried to do in public – kill an innocent girl alongside his own men – the Wardens won’t be able to touch you.”  I looked back at the post Jess had been tied to.  “At least, not openly.  You will have to watch yourselves if this was truly sanctioned by your Commandant.”  I made the hand motions for a fireball, and cast an orb of flame the size of a golf ball at the post.  It lit on fire with a whooshing sound, and I turned to leave.  “No more using that for punishment.  Okay.  Let’s get out of here.”

The glint of eyes from the cave opening watched us as we left, and I returned their gaze with a wink.  Nothing followed us back to the trail.