Wandering Warrior: Judge - Chapter 29 (Patreon)

Chapter 29

As we made more progress, it wasn’t much longer until we reached the fork in the road where the bandits had created the artificial split in the trail.  Jess had been at the front with Murphy, and the pair stopped and looked back.  After a few moments of them conferring with one another, Jess shrugged and raised her voice.  “So, which way should we go?  The fake path made by bandits, or the original one that will bring us past the waypoint?”

I shrugged in return.  “I don’t really care.  Although, it might be better if we went the way we haven’t gone before, the one the bandits made.  I imagine there’s going to be some predators lurking around all those dead bodies by now.”

Nodding, the pair took the path.  Cross, Leedy, and I walked in silence, the three of us keeping alert for anything nasty that might be about.  Cross had the lead to his horse in his remaining hand, and the bedraggled creature kept nudging him for a treat.  The surly man ignored it.  After another fair bit of time, another pop-up filled my vision.

Title Upgraded: Lucky Instinct II

-Your instincts save you again!  Keep making good decisions, because staying alive for a guy in your position is a miracle in itself!

Skill Imparted: You become 1% → 2% more likely to follow your intuition in a way that benefits you.  Decisions made under duress will have a 0.5% chance in improving chances of your victory.

The title had been one I had first earned back when I had picked up my Paladin Class.  I hadn’t thought about it in a long time, mostly because I had written it off as just another useless title that didn’t have any purpose beyond pissing me off.  Now though, I was replaying the need to leave despite the rain.  And more importantly, what had I avoided that was so dangerous?  The urge to turn around and face whatever it might be was almost overwhelming.  I wasn’t exactly the shirking from danger type of guy.  But, as annoying as the title system might be, it was never wrong.  Maybe it just wasn’t the right place to face whatever was–

“Is there a reason why we stopped?”  Cross snapped me out of it, and I looked around to check our surroundings.  “Well?  Did the damp melt your brain?”

“Ah, thanks for asking, Cross, but I’m fine, buddy.  How are you doing?  Everything okay?  Any two-handed tasks you need help with?”  I didn’t wait for him to answer, instead turning away and walking again.  “That’s great.  Better keep up though, you’re only missing a hand, not a foot after all.”

His sputtering complaints fell on deaf ears, until Leedy came up beside me while Cross lagged at the rear.  “You know, you don’t have to needle him like that.”  He leaned in closer so he could keep his voice down.  “It may not seem like it, but I really do think he’s trying.”

“Trying to do what, Leedy?”  I motioned to the wet woods around us.  “Trying to save his own skin by hanging around?  It isn’t like I’ve forgotten that he was marked by a vampire somehow, and I’m the best chance he has at surviving that eventual confrontation.”  Leedy tried to argue, but I held up a hand to stop him.  “Look, I get it.  He even stepped in front of a spear meant for me when it was just him and I fighting together.”  I thought for a moment about how I wanted to say what I was thinking.  “Right now, he’s at a crossroads.  On one hand–pun intended–he could choose to be a new man.  The kind of man he was supposed to be, given his role in society.  On the other hand–still funny, sorry–he could become an even worse person.  Bitter, angry, and with just enough power and skill to ruin countless lives.”

“So why are you trying to make him angry?”  Leedy turned away from me.  “It’s almost like you want him to go bad.”

“No, I want to push him.”  I pointed a thumb at myself.  “I went through the same thing, once upon a time.  I was given a shitty bingo card in life in the first place, and interdimensional travel wasn’t even on it.”  I ignored his confused look when he turned back to me.  I guess they didn’t have bingo here.  Too bad.  “That was so over-the-top unexpected it didn’t even register.  Then, I immediately followed up that terrible life event with a series of nearly fatal mistakes because I was dumb, and didn’t understand how the world–well, worlds–really works.  I turned real bitter because of it.  I almost gave up.  I had to make a choice.  But to get to that point, I had to get pushed.”

“What?”  Leedy was clearly still stuck on the bingo thing.

“Listen, the important thing is, most people, especially tough guys, don’t like to take a long look at what’s in the mirror.  Actually see the kind of person they are, and think about what kind of person they want to be.  That kind of introspection doesn’t come easy, or naturally.  You have to be pushed down that path.”  I glanced back at the wet and miserable Cross.  “Luckily, I have no problem being the person pushing him.”

“So, you think the way to make Cross a better person is to make him want to kill you in your sleep?”  Leedy took an unconscious step away from me.  “Remind me not to share a tent with you.”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little.  “Basically, yes.  I’m the direct challenge to the way Cross used to see himself, to the way he was before.  If he can kill me, he can go right back to the mostly evil, egotistical man he was before, hiding behind a set of loose morals that poorly mask the kind of person he was on the inside.  But, if he can figure out how to move past this part of his life in a positive way, he can grow into a good person.  Maybe.  For someone like him, good might be asking too much.  Relatively decent might be a better goal.”

“That means, when he saved you, he made the choice to be a better version of himself.”  Leedy nodded in agreement.  “I knew he had it in him.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself there, skippy.  He knew, same as the rest of you, that as long as he wasn’t outright killed, I could heal him.  And after taking a spear for me, how could I not heal him?”  I shook my head, adjusting my cloak.  “His true test will be how he acts when we get to Greendown.”

“Because that’s when he can betray you?”  Leedy looked down at his feet, obviously thinking about how things might go when they reach the city.  “I–I don’t know what he’ll do.  It was hard to read him before you came along.  Now, it’s almost impossible.”  He looked at me with a frown.  “And don’t call me ‘skippy’ ever again.  I don’t skip.  Ever.”

“Sure you don’t.”  I waved away his glare.  “Don’t get so wrapped around the handlebars about things.  What will be, will be.  Every person has to choose their path for themselves.  Cross is no different.”

I looked back at Cross, and he was obviously doing his best to listen in on us while trying not to look like that was exactly what he was up to.  Leedy seemed to realize that he was listening to us and decided to change the subject.

“What are handlebars?  And bingo?”  Leedy tapped his sword hilt.  “Are they some kind of weapons from where you’re from?”

“Definitely.  Very dangerous weapons.  You don’t want to face down an elderly person with a bingo card if you don’t have to, especially if it’s a winner.  They’re lethal.”  He gave me a slow nod, obviously picturing some kind of super-weapon.  Sometimes, keeping a straight face was hard.  “Anyway, how far until the next village?  Do you think we can make it, or should we start looking for someplace to stop?”

Leedy looked around, paying close attention to the trees around us.  The path wasn’t as well-formed since it was bandits that had made it, and there weren’t any markings on the trees like there should have been to tell us how far things were.  “I can’t be sure, but I think we can make it if we hurry.  Cross could ride double with Jess, while you, Murphy, and I all run to keep up.”

I gauged the appearance of the others.  Even though we had just left a town, the others looked like they could use a warm fire and a dry bed.  The weather on this planet was the worst.  “Okay, let’s do it.  I don’t want to sleep in mud anymore than the rest of you do.”

Everyone seemed happy enough at the plan, and the three of us running had no problems keeping up with the overloaded horse.  We were all mud-splattered and nearing exhaustion by the time the walls of the next village came into sight.  Well, I wasn’t physically tired, but mentally I was ready to do something else.  Running can get pretty boring after a while.

The trail the bandits had roughly cut had barely been better than a deer trail at some points, and everyone had been slapped in the face by a dripping tree branch at least a few times.  It had put everyone in a bad mood, including me.  After all, who likes getting slapped in the face by nature?

I looked up at the gate as we approached the village, the setting sun providing enough light for us to see.  It was like a thousand other villages the worlds over, a wooden palisade built atop mounded dirt created by a shallow dry moat, but this one had a stubby tower next to the thick wooden doors.  A ragged-looking young woman poked her head up over the lip of the tower, and started waving a yellow flag with a black dot in the center.  It made us stop in our tracks, and I let out a sigh.

“Please tell me that doesn’t mean what I think it means?”  I looked at everyone’s faces, and saw them all grimacing.  “It’s a plague flag, isn’t it?”  Some universal constants seemed to always remain the same, and for some weird reason the symbols for warning people of sicknesses were one of them.  It may not tell me the exact disease, of course, but sick was sick.

“That’s the symbol for the twisting sickness.  We need to get out of here, right now.”  Cross turned the horse, trying to lead it around the village.  “They should have placed markers farther out, so people know to avoid this place instead of risking getting so close.”  My vision went fuzzy, and suddenly I was all the way back on my first world.

The moaning of so many people kept me from getting any sleep.  I was no doctor back on my world, so I had no real idea of what I was dealing with.  Vague memories of smallpox and scarlet fever images from pamphlets during an emergency room visit made me think that might be what I was trying to heal, but this could be something completely different.  Each world would certainly have their own terrible forms of disease.

Given that I could do magic now, maybe it was even a magical sickness.  They all had a high fever at the start, and a red rash that spread across their body by the end of the second day.  After the fourth day, they couldn’t drink anymore, their throat and tongue too swollen for liquids.  It was only a matter of time until they died after that point.

My spells could heal people, but I didn’t have enough energy to do more than a few every hour.  More if they didn’t have the rash yet, fewer if their throats had started to swell.  Waiting for my body to recharge so I could do it all over again was a lesson in agony, one that I learned over and over again as they brought more people to the tent where the guards had set me up, next to the river so it wasn’t so hot all the time.

A shout by the entrance forced me out of my cot.  I had been in a state of permanent exhaustion for weeks, stick-thin and nearly as pale as my patients.  The line of people waiting outside weren’t happy about someone cutting the line, but no one was willing to attack the King’s Royal Guard while they traveled in such well-armed groups.

“Healer!”  The man wearing a steel breastplate edged in gold pushed aside a young man sitting on the floor next to his sick mother’s cot.  “Where are you?  I need to speak with you immediately.”

“What’s the rush?”  I tied the belt of my white robes closed, covering up the stained and worn bluejeans that I had been wearing when I had been sucked into this world.  “I know the line is a problem, but like I told the last set of guards, I’m healing people as fast as I can.”

The guard grabbed me by the shoulder with his gauntleted hand, squeezing hard enough that I felt my collar bone creak in distress.  “You are coming with me.  Your King has need of you.”

“Get off me.”  I jerked free of his grip and took a quick step back.  “I’m no subject of the King.  I’m not from here.  I’m just a wanderer, trying to help where I can.  And as you can see, I’m very busy.  Now please leave, I have work to do.”

“One of those types, eh?”  He motioned to his men, and they all unsheathed their weapons.  “Don’t like to do things the easy way.  That’s fine.”

“If you hurt me, your King will get no healing.”  I stood strong, not backing down an inch from the imposing man.  “I’m not saying I won’t go and see him.  He’ll just have to wait like everyone else.”

He smiled, his eyes dead as a shark about to strike.  “Oh, I know I can’t hurt you, little healer.  You’re too valuable.”  His dagger cleared its sheath faster than I could move, and he buried it in the eye of the woman on the cot next to him.  Her son shouted in disbelief, and tried to tackle the guard, not paying attention to his men waiting behind him.  He never saw the sword that hacked into the side of his head, and he dropped to the ground bonelessly, dead before he hit the ground.  “But, I can kill all of these people, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

I stared at him in shock, still too new to understand that I wasn’t on my world anymore.  Rules and laws didn’t mean anything if no one was willing to enforce them, if there were even rules and laws to begin with.  He laughed at me and motioned once again to his men.  They spread out as they raised their weapons, every one of them prepared to kill as many innocent people as it took to get what they wanted.

“Wait!”  I held up my hand, motioning for them to stop.  “I’ll go.  Just… just don’t hurt them.”

“See?  Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?”  The guard motioned for his men to sheathe their weapons.  “Let’s go.  The faster you do what we want, the faster you can get back here and heal this rabble.”

As we left the tent, I looked back and saw the puddle of blood growing beneath the butchered mother and son.  Both were victims of the tyrant I was about to see, and I swore to myself that I wouldn’t heal his sorry ass, the hollow promise meaning nothing to the dead.

“Stop.”  I grabbed the reins of the horse before Cross could get away.  “We aren’t going anywhere until I know more.”