Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: Interlude: Ashe

Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: Interlude: Ashe

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Commissioned by Shaderic

Wordcount: 2300

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The big city smelled terrible.

It was amazing, great, and large, but it smelled very bad.

Wet stone, dirty bodies, and dead wood filled my nose and I missed the smell of nature.

My home was much better. The houses were pretty and people walked around smelling very good, while leaves rustles from the surrounding forest. The wide streets made the wind of the valley flow through the city and swept away most of the bad smells. Only the places where things were made all the time did I think things smelled bad, but they were usually downwind and downriver, so me and my pack could avoid them easily.

Then, there were the people.

Everyone in Ylstu was happy and always doing something important. They went to work to build and make things, or tend to animals and plants, or record things for people to learn and use later. Merchants were eager to sell things to everyone, workers ran into their jobs and out of their jobs, and the people who made food, entertained, or helped clean everything were eager to help everyone. Everyone there worked together to make it be a better place where everyone could be happy.

In this big city, the people on the outskirts looked to work for people who looked down upon them, who wanted to mistreat them, and who wanted to be better than them. The merchants didn’t care about most of the people, only about themselves and those who had money, and didn’t want to care about others. The few people who made things all stayed in their fancy shops, never going out, smiling only at the rich, while telling those who couldn’t pay much to go around the back for scraps and work. Everyone here either wanted power or bent their backs working and groveling for what they needed.

This city didn’t feel happy.

The biggest city of the Kindred was amazing, but I liked my chieftain’s Ylstu the most.

But I still wanted to protect people from suffering, just like my chieftain did whenever he could.

So, I stayed quiet in the dark, peering in the city as the moon hovered high. I watched and waited covered in a big blanket that mixed with the darkness in the tower. My nose twitched at the odd and horrible smells, but I didn’t want to miss anything. It was my duty to be here, to smell, to see, and hear all that I could, while staying unnoticed, so I would

I watched the places where everyone suspected the traitors would go.

I watched the houses where everyone thought they were.

I watched the skies for any people who flew, who might take up cargo, and fly into the night sky even in skies claimed by Dragons.

I watched and waited… until I noticed something.

A sickly and sweet smell lingering beneath the currents of dirty bodies, wet buildings, and stale air. It was something that I never smelled before, something strange, and so I was suspicious of it and decided to make a move.

I took the small lantern that I was given and pointed it towards the tower where an Amazon watched for signals and lifted the cap on its light and closed it. I did it thrice before stopping as another light shone from that tower and I knew that my tribe knew that I was moving to investigate and were going to follow me.

With that, I made my descent from the tower upon the wall.

I clambered down with my claws finding easy purchase in the gaps between stone and followed the sickly scent through narrow streets and winding corridors by leaping from stone chimney to stone chimney. The Dragon I fought, who sought recognition from my chieftain, told me that the chimneys were sturdy and strong while the roofs would groan under my weight. I had listened and learned then, so now I pursued the strange smell whilst unseen.

I grew closer and closer to the scent, my limbs easily taking me to each chimney, until other scents reached my nose. The scent of oiled leather and steel, as well as steel strengthened by mana, reached me. There were no guards here, no people armed to protect themselves, so my suspicions rose and I strained my ears to listen to their whispers.

“Come on. Let’s go. Move!”

“I’m coming, dammit. This thing is heavy!”

“It’s heavy for me too. This bitch ate like a pig!”

“Why didn’t we get one of the Beastkin to do thing again!?”

“Because they’re morons! Now shut up!”

The creaking of a large box reached my ears and the scent of dried straw did as well. The sickly-sweet smell was strong, but there was something beneath it now. The scent of an unwashed, dirty body beneath wood, straw, and poison.

The traitors that we were looking for were here.

I wanted to find them and tear into them for their unforgivable crime. They kidnapped their cousins and sold them to be torn apart and used for weapons. It was the greatest crime that I could think of, the ultimate selfishness, as they betrayed their own kin for their greatest enemy for their own sake.

I wanted to attack them, but I knew that I couldn’t.

I needed to track them, follow them, and find out where they intended to go… and whether they were going back to a place where others were hidden.

So, I held down my anger, forced aside the flame burning within me, and kept my senses upon the suspects in the shadows.

Soon, because I have not returned to my post, Kunoichi will come to find me and with them I could speak to others, coordinate, and continue to track them down until they held no more secrets.

When they had no more to give, I will take everything else that they had.

…

The Kunoichi found me within the sewers of the big city.

It was a large sewer, meant to house people in an emergency against magical attack, like Henri’s place of the dead for Ylstu. It was a long and uniform place, damp but not very dirty thanks to many magics, and built of strong masonry so that it could hold up an entire city and protect all who sought it for protection.

In the sewers meant to protect the people of the big city, the traitors had a secret base made of planks of wood beside a large tunnel carved into rock. The base was manned by more than the two I followed. Fourteen other Kindred traitors were present, Dwarves, Drow, Tanuki, and Beastkin. They all worked together to become wealthy and powerful at the cost of their own kind.

They had twelve boxes, each with the same scent of straw, poison, and unwashed bodies within them, and they had a large cart ready to be loaded and enter the tunnel that led outside the city.

I’ve been taught to act on my own when needed.

I saw that they were beginning to move the boxes onto the wagon and that the tunnel ahead was dark and long without any sign of potential partners coming to meet them.

So, I decided to act.

I told the Kunoichi who followed me here to fetch the others, while I cast off my cloak.

It had many properties besides being dark. It helped suppress the scent of my flame and my fur, so that the Beastkin of the city with noses better suited for it couldn’t tell I was coming.

I knew it was well made because my approach was only noticed a few steps away from the group, and after my flame finished surging, wrapped itself around me, and melted the stone beneath my feet. Much of my prey used to run away from me, using their speed to get away from me even at the height of my power, but not now. I learned how to approach my prey so that they couldn’t hope to flee.

All they could hope to do was fight or talk.

This group decided to talk.

The Beastkin froze in terror at my arrival. They knew their place in my presence. They were nothing compared to me. Only my chieftain’s wife could compare to me in a pack and they weren’t even that to me. They were traitors who sold their own kind to be turned into slaves or consumed. No Beastkin would allow them to live for what they did and they knew that my arrival here meant their demise. Even the Tanuki, famed for their love of money and haggling, didn’t bother speaking upon my arrival.

The Drow spoke up while flanked by the Dwarves, her voice shaking as she realized what I was, and after realizing most of her people were deathly afraid of me to the point of being unable to move.

“H-hey, hold on. I don’t know why you’re here, but let’s talk this out. We can explain ourselves. All of this is to make sure that war doesn’t happen while we’re unprepared. Lady Roseanne knows we’re doing this.” The Drow spoke quickly and with barely a stutter. I knew her kind. Kurama told me of her people. Those who trained their tongues and mouths to sway hearts and minds. She told me they were best dead or broken, thus she taught me how to spot their lies. I could smell her fear and desperation, see the dilation caused by adrenaline in her eyes, and the tensing of her muscle beneath her skin. She stood rigid and firm, desperately trying to appear authoritative, as she plied her skills in hopes of surviving. “If you just give us a moment, we’ll prove it to you—”

I raised my hand towards the two Tanuki present.

“Imprisonment for you two. Death for the rest.” They slackened and fell to their knees, while the other Beastkin struggled with despair. The Dwarves eyes widened and the Drow was taken aback when I turned to them. I spoke again. “Surrender and die painlessly. Fight and burn.”

I spoke simply and concisely to make sure they understood my words.

They did… and they attacked.

“Fuck! Attack dammit! Fight instead of just lying down and dying!” The Drow spoke with power and strength. It was a form of magic born for experience which gilded her voice and gave them power. It reached the struggling Beastkin and raised their spirits. They rose and decided that they will die painfully. The Drow formed a bow of magic in her hands and drew a spectral arrow, as the Dwarves reached me with their charges. “Attack!”

Three Dwarves were before me. They were clad in steel and used maces and heavy shields. In their eyes was fear, but they decided to fight for their lives. Even traitors had their own form of courage… but it wasn’t enough for me to consider giving them an honorable battle.

I lunged towards the nearest one with an outstretched, clawed hand wreathed in my flames. Her helm broke beneath my claw and a moment later so did her skull. I kept true to my promise and let my flames surge into her skull to finish the job, while diverting to the other two.

They had both corrected their course, and their maces were raised to strike at me while their shields were ready to ram me back.

Fear filled them, they saw that their armor was nothing to me, and so desperation filled their arms as they struck.

They were slower than any of the Amazons I’d trained against, so I caught their downward swings, stopped their momentum and strength with my own, and brought their maces against their skulls even as their hands held onto their weapons. Their arms cracked within their armor and their shoulders popped, but I doubt they noticed as their own maces embedded themselves into their skulls and began to melt and carry my flames into them.

They stank of sin.

My very being told me that deserved the deaths I gave them.

That it was my duty to make these traitors of my kind suffer.

But, I held back against my desire to enjoy their screams, because I knew that my chieftain would disapprove of that. He would approve of the justice I gave, of my flames that burned damned more fiercely than any other, but not my enjoyment of it.

So, I shut it away and focused on the battle before me.

The charging Beastkin and the Drow loosing arrows upon me behind them.

The magical arrows struck my skin with significant force, like punches from Ur in training, but they did not make me stagger or cause any damage. They hurt, but they did not break my skin, harm my muscle, or threaten my bones and organs. So, against the torrent of fire, I just and arm to protect my eyes and face and approached the pack desperate to kill me.

That’s when, from the shadows, came a flurry of blades that whistled through the air over the dying screams of the burning Dwarves. The four-pointed, star-shaped blades coated in poison flew in curved trajectories, hiding behind my form before twisting from how they were perfectly thrown, and finding their targets. They embedded themselves into the Beastkin, finding purchase in vital spots perfectly, and soon enough poison coursed their targets and the roused pack fell.

The Drow had noticed the ones coming for her and with incredible skill fired and diverted the course of those coming for her. She also fired into the shadows behind me, forcing my allies to evade, but those actions were both mistakes.

By the time she diverted her attention back to me, I loomed over her and her eyes widened as the flame from my open my maw grew washed away both of our shadows.

In the face of my flames, which would inflict upon her the weight of all her wrongdoings and send her to the place where Demons lived eternally, she lost her nerve completely and tried to run knowing that she couldn’t hope to bear it.

But it was too late for her, the enslaver, the seller of flesh, and the traitor of all Kindred.

With a roar, my hellfire surged upon her.

The flame was so strong that her turned to ash in an instant… ridding her soul of any protection whatsoever against my flame.

It wrapped around her spirit, encapsulated her, and burned her very essence as it carried her into the depths where the damned deserved to be.

When she faded, I felt something inside me fade too.

Like I did my duty as a Hellhound, even though I didn’t know what it meant.

But I was sure that my chieftain would know.