Revenant's Resolve Chapter 11

Of all the odd experiences I expected to happen upon crossing the river…

I can certainly say this wasn’t one of them!

Reznik was currently bound tight around his limbs, an obfuscatory bag over his head that prevented him from seeing anything.

Keeping his body from struggling, trying to fight, or generally do anything felt almost like continually plugging leaks in an ancient ship. An endless game of shutting down his body’s instincts before they came to fruition.

“You know, if you told me that we’d be hauling a fucking Revenant back to the dungeon like a common bandit this mornin’, I’d’ve smacked you upside the head.” The guard holding Reznik’s right arm quipped in a hushed tone, clearly trying to keep the conversation from someone. Likely Sir Botezatu. “All the tales of these fuckers are used to scare recruits in training. Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea?”

“Nah. You’re not.” The soldier holding Reznik’s left leg hissed back before adjusting his grip. “Orders are orders, though. I may not trust this idea, but I trust Botezatu.”

“What about you, Sergeant?” the first soldier queried in a curious tone. “You’ve been weirdly quiet this whole time. Any thoughts?”

“Mmm,” an older, gruff voice grunted from Reznik’s right shoulder. “I’ve seen enough to make me willing to give this a shot. I’ve never seen a Revenant like him before. Most of the time, they get all… wrong.

“They mutate, get twisted into shapes that’ll give you nightmares.” The Sergeant sounded slightly out of breath, and like he’d been gargling sandpaper for the past decade. “But ‘im? He looks damn near human. Only thing that really gave it away was the eyes and skin. Even then, I saw his eyes - they’re a Revenant to be sure, but there’s something else there.

“The way he looked at me, and the commander, well… Even without the lad clearly talking with Botezatu, I’d believe it if you told me that there was still a person there. Lines up with what Geralt said, too.”

Well, that’s nice to know.

Whatever gods are out there, thank you.

I might not be able to really pray like this, but you’ve certainly done me a service.

This is the first step to really being a person again, isn’t it?

“So you really think we should be hauling him back to the town?” the first soldier scoffed back at the Sergeant, eliciting a throaty chuckle from the man.

“Oh, gods no. It’s just a bad idea. We should be taking him to one of the gatehouses on the river, and figuring out more there.” The Sergeant hung his sentence for a moment, as if to properly put together what he was about to say.  Reznik was enthralled with the conversation, however - any information was good information to have at the moment. “As you know, the Riverguard isn’t supposed to be fighting the King’s wars, technically.

“We can defend the border in the event of an invasion, but that’s it, at least according to the treaty.

“With the information that we’ve found, it looks like war is coming right for us, and it’s gonna take time for the King to get a real defense up. We’ve only got a few hundred men in the town that are trained to fight.

“Whatever the Bessarbans throw at us, we’ll need any advantage we can take. Like an army of our own. Or Prussan mercenaries. Or, in a pinch, a Revenant with a working brain."

The soldiers quieted down after that, much to Reznik’s dismay.

Reznik spent the remainder of the albeit short journey back to the city gates quietly focusing on doing absolutely nothing.

Nothing in the hopes of continuing his run of good luck, of not being seen as an immediate threat by the soldiers carrying him. He ignored the small, nagging voice that told him they were bringing him back with the intent to find a way to destroy him.

To kill him, and be rid of the problems he could cause.

He hoped that what he had offered Sir Botezatu was enough to buy understanding of his predicament - what little he could communicate of it.

* * *

Being a prisoner was a novel experience for Reznik, but he imagined it would’ve been far more comfortable in this dungeon if he wasn’t bound tight with a bag over his head.

He was beginning to worry, as his body began to struggle more and more despite his attempts to keep it quiet and tame.

It was hard to keep track of time like this, but Reznik would guess he’d been down here about a day, maybe two at most. Unfortunately, the amount of time he’d been down here with no one coming to talk to him felt… bad.

Though, I suppose Sir Botezatu and the Baron are probably busy figuring out how to defend the town, or even planning an evacuation.

If I was about to get attacked, I would probably try and get as many people out as possible, if for nothing else than they would be underfoot in a fight.

A door slammed open.

Or shut.

Then Reznik heard voices.

Worse, he smelled blood - human blood.

“…Of course I understand the situation we’re in, Captain. This is one that calls for drastic measures that the Bessarban’s aren’t expecting.” Sir Botezatu’s voice echoed into Reznik’s cell with a firm determination in them, despite the clear pain. “My scouts told me that we have close to two thousand soldiers bearing down on us from the north and the west right now. We -had- six hundred at most with the reserves I pulled from the river forts, and we couldn’t even hold the northern quarter. I stress the word -had- because it’s likely that that number has been more than halved now that they’ve breached the town wall.”

“Then why the -hell- are we in the dungeon, Sir?” a second, raspy feminine voice questioned archly. Her accent was thick, words rolling off her tongue in an almost liquid way. “Both your men and mine are out there fighting and dying, and yet we’re down here for some reason that you’ve thus far refused to tell me.”

Reznik felt the ground shake beneath him briefly. He listened carefully, but could hear nothing more save for the loud footsteps of the approaching pair echoing around the hallway.

Then, he heard the sound of a metal lock being thrown, followed by the quiet creak of a door’s hinges opening.

Ah. So they’ve finally remembered I exist.

Wonderful.

Sharply, Reznik was jerked up by his shoulders and set on something that felt like a bench. Then the bag was jerked off of his head.

Reznik found him staring up into the face of Sir Botezatu, who was flanked by a light-green skinned woman with bulging muscles that Reznik had only seen once or twice. She appeared to be wearing what looked like a nicer, cleaner, and better-made version of the town guard’s uniform.

“Officially, the Revenant you see before you is a secret of the King’s Royal Riverguard, and the inquisition of the undead lands.” Botezatu backed away from Reznik with a stern face, crossing his arms over his heavily-armored chest. He turned to the woman with a hard-to-read expression, and continued; “He’s also the one who warned us about the approaching army.”

“I’m sorry, I must not have heard you correctly.” The woman grabbed Botezatu’s pauldron and jerked it back so he was fully facing her. “Because to me, it sounds like you were illegally using my town to house an undead monster without my or the Baron’s knowledge. That can’t possibly be what you meant, was it?”

“It can, and was.” Botezatu reached toward her arm on his left shoulder with his right hand, but stopped midway through with a grimace, instead moving it to a spot on his side. Then Reznik found where the smell was coming from - Sir Botezatu had a large cut through his chain mail just below his ribcage that was dumping blood in a steady dribble onto the floor. “Argh, we have no time for this. I’ll deal with the King’s justice when it comes for me.

“For now, Revenant, I am placed in a precarious position.” Botezatu kept his hand pressed against the wound and turned to Reznik with a stony expression, his hard grey eyes locked with Reznik’s own. “I could be hanged for letting you free. I could be hanged for even keeping you alive, should the Inquisition disagree with my judgment fervently enough.

“I could also be shot by the Bessarbans as they pillage the town I’ve come to know as home.”

Certainly a damned if you do, damned if you don’t problem.

Though, I think I know where this is going.

Protect the town, and I’ll protect you. Or something like that.

“I’ve recruited enough young men to know that this is the time to be honest, and not to fill your head with lies. I have much to ask of you today, and little to offer in return.”

“I’m sorry, you’re drafting him?” The woman asked with a befuddled expression.

“Agatha. I brought you here because I know you’re level headed in a time of crisis. Don’t prove me wrong. Trust that I believe in what I’m doing.” Botezatu turned his head fractionally back towards her with a heavy exhale.

Agatha stopped mid-reply with a half open mouth, closed it slowly, and inhaled deeply through her nose.

Then she nodded.

“It’s on your head.”

“Always is.” Botezatu turned his stony eyes back to Reznik before they momentarily softened. “I’ve fought many of your kin before, and I know what you can do. The enemy is at our gates, and as my men die, the people are at the Bessarban’s mercy.”

Slowly, Reznik moved his eyes up and down, a slow, understanding nod.

“What in the…” Agatha muttered under her breath as her jaw quickly went slack.

“I ask that you do what you do best, and tear into the Bessarbans. I can’t promise your safety during or even after you’re done fighting, as the Baron or even the townsfolk may force my hand.”

Botezatu’s eyes flicked to the floor for a moment before he grit his teeth and looked back to Reznik.

“But you can do good this day.”

Reznik felt an immediate pang in his chest, something that echoed in every part of his mind. He lacked control over his body, but if all that was required of him was to stop a marauding force, something his body had done aplenty in the wastes - he could do that.

We’re -going- to do this, body of mine.

You’re going to be fed well today.

Just do as I say, and I’ll lead you to all the food you can eat.

And more.

You can stand up now, and break out. No eat those two, okay? Friend. Not food.

Reznik again bobbed his eyes up and down twice before his body stood from the wall-mounted bench. Practically every limb on his body was bound tight with finger-thick rope. His wrists were manacled to each other, cord was wrapped multiple times around his chest and abdomen, and down around his legs. There was also a pair of manacles around his ankles that was connected to a chain anchored on the floor.

“Good, now let me jus-“ Botezatu got out, reaching for something at his hips as Reznik’s body steadily began to push out. With a low, hissing groan, Reznik strained against the cord wrapped around him.

Oh, well, this is embarrassing.

Looks like we’ll have to wait for him to cut us ou-

The rope snapped with a loud pop.

Botezatu watched him with a concerned frown as Agatha gazed on in what appeared to be a mix of horror and confusion. Botezatu snorted and finished pulling the keyring from his hip before kneeling down to undo the manacles on Reznik’s legs.

Reznik’s body was currently struggling with the manacles at his wrists, however. As Botezatu removed the ones at his feet, Reznik’s body twisted its arms against one another and pinched the chain of the cuffs.

Quickly, they gave way with a sharp ping.

Then, his body turned its hungry eyes to Botezatu and began to gnash its teeth.

No, stop it. Bad.

Reznik blinked once, growling in a disgruntled way, and brushed past Botezatu.

“So that’s how it’s going to be then, eh?” Botezatu chortled as Reznik heard his heavy footfalls fall in behind him. “Keep straight and up the stairs. I’ll get the door for you.”

Reznik made it to the top of the stairs without sprinting, and his body came to a stop with a short, wheezing rumble. It faced the door ahead of it motionlessly, as if waiting for something it didn’t fully understand to happen.

“Sir Botezat-oh SHIT!” a voice shouted as the door was ripped open ahead of Reznik, a tan-skinned youth in city guard clothes sprawling then scrambling back after coming nose to nose with him.

“Don’t mind him, boy, he’s on our side. I think.” Botezatu informed with a touch of humor before falling into a rattling fit of coughs.

With the door opening, however, came sounds.

Barked orders.

Gunfire.

Screaming.

The air also smelled acidic - like it had become the vented gas of a fired gun.

Holy hell, that dungeon was incredibly soundproof.

How in the world did we not hear all this? If we couldn’t heal as fast as we do, I imagine our ears would be ringing for weeks just by standing here!

“Pas- -augh- Past that door, Revenant!” Botezatu choked out, stepping around Reznik and pointing to a door on Reznik’s left. “You’re free to kill any Bessarbans in the city. I would appreciate it if you could find and kill their Mages as well.

“They’re a nuisance and keep hurling spells over the walls, where my men struggle to return fire.”

Reznik took a moment to analyze the hallway he found himself in. It was crowded with women and children huddled tight to the edges, as if praying the walls would protect them from whatever destruction lay outside.

And right now, every eye in the linear atrium looked to him, wide with fear.

How much of that is just them scared of what’s outside?

Another explosion shook the building, sprinkling white dust down from the ceiling as dozens of heads hunkered back down reflexively.

I must be in that big administration building by the square. It’s where I would send the people in an emergency like this. It looked sturdy enough from the outside.

As Reznik slowly panned his eyes around the room, he caught a pair of wide, dark blue eyes.

“You…” Luminita muttered from where she knelt beside her wounded father a short distance away. The man looked unconscious, and was bleeding through a set of bandages wrapped around his otherwise bare chest.

Right.

Soldiers nearby first.

Then we get to go hunting.

I know how much you love hunting, friend.

It’s been a while since you ate a Mage, years I think.

Go now, food on the other side of that door!

Reznik’s head snapped to the left and tilted before sniffing the air quizzically. Then, as if jolted on the rear with a bolt of lightning, it sprinted towards the door through the clear aisle in the center of the throng at full speed.

“No, don’t break the door! We nee- oh for…” Agatha shouted after him, but unfortunately for her, it was too late. Reznik slammed through the front door of what he recognized as the concrete administrative building in the center of town.

One of the doors remained in place, but the other snapped off its hinges, fell atop Reznik’s head briefly, and then clattered mightily to the floor.

Oh hell.

Smoke billowed from multiple fires in the town, and multiple craters were blown into the cobblestone square. Dozens of soldiers knelt behind short sandbag walls set up seemingly with no rhyme or reason in front of the building. Rifles poked out of the windows of buildings, and dead men seemed to simply be left where they fell for now.

There was also an odd menagerie of fighters in the square. River guard, town guard, citizens all armed with an eclectic assortment of weapons.

Swords, rifles, axes, pitchforks, pistols, and even a man in flowing robes who held nothing but a torch.

Most of the men here looked to be hastily-inducted volunteers, bringing whatever they had on their person or in their homes.

The fight sounded like it was coming from everywhere around Reznik, as if death lay just beyond the buildings at the edge of the square.

"What the-” one of the town guardsmen at the base of the steps was watching Reznik with wide eyes, jerking between the Revenant and the shattered door. Shakily, along with other soldiers, weapons were turned from the coming fight and towards Reznik.

Food!

Food on the other side of those buildings!

An entire feast of Bessarbans!

Leave the guard alone!

Like pulling sharply on a set of mental reins, Reznik put concerted effort into directing his body away from the guard with the sword pointed his way. As if to punctuate his mental command that the people in the square weren’t his prize today, a spiky column of ice slammed home into the center of the square in a steep downward arc, shattering the gallows.

Yeah friend, that’s right…

Reznik’s entire body turned towards where he thought the wintry spire had been flung from with a low growl, the threat from the guards seemingly forgotten.

Big, scary Mage over there. We should take those rooftops, maybe grab a snack along the way, eh?

Reznik’s body let out a low, rumbling growl that slowly grew in intensity to a wild, shrieking howl before leaping out into the square.