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Angelus left Cormyr in the dead of night armed with packs, two swords, a bow, knives, a map and his hair freshly shorn close to the nape. It wasn’t going to be easy, he knew his father would send for him. He would send all the spears hunting for his eldest son who held so many secrets. He would have to take the long way out of Cormyr, make them think he was headed to Cormanthyr so he could switch back towards Evereska. It was going to be a long journey west.In one and a half tendays he found himself trekking through the woods of the Savage Frontier, living off the land in a way he’d only read in books or was taught in the comfort of his home. But he was good at it, Angelus was a very good hunter. He sat close to his campfire pulling apart a rabbit he’d killed, skinned, and roasted. Its flavor left something to be desired but the half-elf was in no place to complain. Gold eyes kept watch over the surrounding darkness. He knew the smell would attract beasts, one in particular he’d felt stalking him for three days now. And Angelus had at least four rabbits.“Show yourself,” he uttered as he shredded the flesh with his teeth. “Let’s get this over with.”A shape appeared in the dark as if summoned, the shadowed silhouette of a wolf padding closer with eyes reflecting back a deep orange hue. Angelus watched it carefully, relieved that it was only a wolf and not a gnoll or worse yet something put into service by his father. The creature made a half circle around his camp before stopping to stare, head low to the ground. He considered the animal, wondering when the rest of the pack would appear but none ever did. If they’d been tracking him earlier he would have already been dead. This wolf was alone, much like Angelus himself. He threw a strip of meat at it, causing it to slink back in suspicion.“Don’t make me regret that,” he said to the wolf, looking at the discarded meat. He supposed he could brush the dirt off and still eat it if the wolf didn’t.Orange eyes stared at him, then it pressed its snout to the meat and took it into its jaws. The wolf swallowed it quickly and stared at him again, patiently. Angelus arched a brow. He finished what he wanted off the bone before tossing another strip to the creature.“That’s it, no more. Come for the rest and I’ll kill you,” he said to the wolf who simply padded back, melting into the shadows.The two maintained this ritual over the course of days. When he was traveling under daylight he noticed it pacing him at a distance that grew closer each sunrise. At night the wolf returned when he made camp and waited for his scraps. They never came near each other enough to touch but they watched each other from afar. When Angelus retired to his bedroll he could feel the animal settle nearby but it was always gone by morning. His nights were mostly dreamless save for the times he woke next to the slain bodies of heirs to another house. Angelus didn’t consider these nightmares, only disturbances. He never slept as well as he ought to for a young man on such a long journey.On the fifth day of companionship he began traversing a densely packed region of the frontier but his traveling companion was nowhere to be seen. Angelus thought nothing of it beyond perhaps missing the company. Out in the Savage Frontier with absolutely nothing but that which he could carry on his person, he felt truly alone. But that had its upsides too, he also felt free. Free from his family’s blood and gold empire. He’d left behind his house signet ring bearing citrines next to his favorite sword, a blade with a blood red hilt forged in the eastern realms. He would miss that sword greatly but it was traceable and Angelus did not want to be found. Except perhaps by that wolf.He shook his head as he entered an area with a visible path surrounded by dense trees. Traveled or trapped? It could have been either. He proceeded with caution. The farther he walked in the quieter the woods became which wasn’t a good sign. Up ahead he spotted a shadow out of place, the silhouette of a large wolf hanging from the trees by its hind legs, tongue protruding from its open maw. Its orange eyes were wide open and blank.“… …”The sight stirred a seething rage inside him. Angelus drew his sword to cut down his would-be companion immediately. The trap worked exactly as designed. As soon as he stepped within touch of the wolf he triggered a force that knocked him off his feet followed by some kind of burst of magic. Whatever it was knocked him out cold.—Angelus woke to the sound of a crackling fire where each pop felt like a stab behind his eyes. His head hurt fiercely and his body felt sore, particularly his right leg. His clothing had been removed and the blanket covering him was coarse. He stayed still, letting his eyes take in his surroundings first. It seemed like he was in a small cabin. This room in particular was windowless and barely furnished. His belongings were nowhere to be found. The fire was burning in the next room and there was a man stoking it. He appeared to be older, human and tall with long black hair. He was covered in leathers and furs. Some kind of huntsman.Angelus slowly made to creep out of the bed. Every movement hurt but he pushed through it until his foot touched the floor lightly. The motion pulled a chain with it that coiled down on the ground and caused an excruciating pain that shot up his leg. Angelus tried to bite back a cry.“I was wondering when you’d wake up,” the man in the other room called out. He smiled over at Angelus.“What did you do to me,” the half-elf hissed. He pulled the covers aside revealing sturdy iron links that attached his right leg to the bed. The manacle was locked around his ankle with a bar driven straight through it. The huntsman was precise to have avoided spearing his bones and any major arteries. The man knew anatomy and that implied a lot of unsavory things.“Hurts like a bitch doesn’t it? Don’t worry, you can earn your way out of it,” the huntsman laughed and approached. He was big, taller than Angelus who was already tall for a half-elf.“I’m not earning anything. I’m leaving today,” Angelus growled.The older man clicked his tongue. He liked them fiery, it’s why he kept the chains around. His voice bordered a low purr.“I don’t think you understand, young man. You’re in my house, you’re going to play by my rules. We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere, no one will find you.”“Good. I’ll leave your corpse to the beasts.” Angeles took a step forward, testing the length of the chain. It seemed long enough to move halfway about the room.“You won’t get that far,” the huntsman smiled, arms crossed. He reveled in watching his prisoner move through agony. He was generous with the chain but knew it wasn’t long enough. “Here are my terms. Settle down, become my companion, and everyday you don’t try to cut my throat I’ll add a little more to your leash.”Angelus was stoic. “No.”The huntsman spoke plainly. “Then I’ll just use you up until I’m bored and butcher you as dinner for the next tenday.”“You should have tried that before I woke up,” Angelus snapped.“What makes you think I didn’t?” The other man’s smile turned into a grin.Angelus narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth. His body hurt all over and there were bruises on his thighs. “How’d you knock me out so hard,” he asked.“Smart. But you don’t get that knowledge from me today,” the huntsman shook his head, “be my little slave and in time maybe you’ll be my little partner.”Angelus felt the desire to vomit in his mouth. He stayed quiet and sat back down on the bed.“Better. Rest up. I put a stew on the fire, we’ll have supper together,” the huntsman clapped his hands, satisfied for now.Angelus drew his legs up to better examine the manacle on his ankle. Was this madman expecting his body to heal around it? Fuck. Angelus ignored his words but he would still spend the time observing his surroundings and planning his escape, thinking of a dozen ways he could end the man’s life.“I know that look. Think long and hard about your choices, boy,” the huntsman called as he stirred the pot.Angelus openly scoffed. He had been thinking about his choices since he left Cormyr. This was no different.Not long after far more silent moments, the huntsman poured a bowl of the hearty stew and brought it to the bedroom. Again he kept his distance, just out of reach from the chained length.“Here. Real food instead of whatever shit you were roasting in the woods.” He set the bowl on the floor.“What is it, your last visitor?” Angelus said as he sat up again. He wet his lips.“No, I finished her off months ago. She was a struggler,” the huntsman laughed, then his expression darkened. “Get on all fours for your meal.”The half-elf narrowed his eyes. This man wanted to toy with him. Fine. He crawled onto the ground on his hands and knees, edging towards the bowl.“Who fucked you up, hm? Body like that, it’s a shame your hide’s a mess.” He spoke with feigned sympathy and dark desire. “Eat it like a dog.”Gold eyes flashed up in anger. He said nothing as he crawled closer to the bowl. Angelus bowed his back and spread his thighs, pitching his bare ass higher while his tongue stretched out from his lips. He never once averted his gaze from his captor.“Oh. You’ve done this before. I knew I’d like you alive.” The huntsman smiled, hardly forgetting the violence reflected in his captive’s eyes.Angelus took one lick of the stew, detecting no trace of poison. Then he took a second lick, determining the vegetables and spices added. It wasn’t bad. It had to be venison. He lapped at it again and again, his hands coming around to frame the bowl.“Good. Eat up boy, I need you to survive the next couple weeks.” The huntsman’s grin was perverse. By will or by force, he was going to have entertainment for the immediate future. He stepped closer to Angelus, fingertips itching.Closer. Angelus swallowed the savory broth and failed to fight back a sigh. His performance was exquisite.“Grateful now aren’t you,” the older man took another step forward.Close enough. Angelus threw the bowl in hand at the man’s face. He followed with a wide solid sweep of his good leg, his foot glowing a rich blue green as it knocked the surprised huntsman to the ground. Then he pulled the larger body with all his might, as much into himself as possible. Angelus wrapped his limbs around the man in the tightest chokehold he could muster.“You—little shit!” The huntsman snarled. “Et al—“Angelus caught the start of an incantation. He was no match for a spellcaster in this state. The best he could do was shove his fist into the huntsman’s open mouth and counter it with the only cantrip he’d mastered.“Fulgor!”Lightning rippled through them both, made worse by the chain he’d half twisted around him. Angelus snarled through the pain but he could tell it was worse for the other man. He could feel his teeth shuddering against his knuckles, drawing blood. The huntsman’s body went limp as the electricity dissipated and smoke rose from their skin. Angelus could still feel a pulse. He wasn’t dead. He untangled himself from his captor to lay him flat on his back.
End him.
“You killed my friend,” Angelus growled. His fist glowed brightly before he sent it cracking into the man’s face multiple times, destroying flesh and bone with each punch. He pulled his hand from the hole left in the skull and shook off blood among other bits and fragments. Angelus immediately searched the body for keys and pulled a ring where none of the keys fit the lock on his ankle.“Son of a bitch!” Angelus yelled angrily and searched the huntsman’s body again. Nothing. No key no picks. Nothing. He took the dagger from the man’s belt but the blade was too large for picking and too weak for sawing metal. The half-elf yelled again, this time bordering rage. When he could feel hot tears in his eyes he stilled his body. He didn’t want to cry. Angelus took deep steady breaths and looked at the hole in the man’s face, then at his chain.He knelt over the chain and focused, fist glowing brightly once more. These blows would have to be more powerful and more precise to funnel the point of impact. He leveled his bloodied knuckles over one specific point in the links. Then he punched it hard, sending a small ripple through the floorboards. He raised his fist and repeated the action three times until the links finally cracked open. Angelus stood up immediately and continued searching for a key. There was no time to celebrate. He needed to unshackle the manacle if he wanted his ankle to heal properly. His main hand was a fucking mess and his body hurt all over but he continued tossing and turning every corner of the cabin. No key.“Fuck,” Angelus cried out in front of the fire. The hotness behind his eyes was coming back. He shook his head, telling himself not to do it. He needed to move on. Forget the key. He’d have to travel to the nearest town as soon as possible. And how far would that be? It was going to be fucking miles. Angelus squeezed his eyes shut as he began to cry. He didn’t cry just for the harsh circumstances he found himself in, he cried for the choices he made that led here. The price of steering his own future. Everything hurt. He slumped to the ground, his face in his off-hand, and he sobbed through his fingers.Don’t you want to live?Angelus curled up on the floor, chest heaving. Of course he wanted to live. That’s why he left in the first place. He squeezed his eyes shut and thought about the other times he came so close to death.Have your cry, then get up and keep going.He nodded through shudders.Eventually Angelus rose to find water and wash his wounds. He found his belongings in a storage room filled with the trophies of past visitors. He took what he found useful and packed what he could. Angelus couldn’t afford to be weighed down in his condition. Putting his clothes back on was a struggle, he had to wrap strips of cloth around his raw knuckles and the manacle wouldn’t fit in his boot. He fashioned a cover out of clothing he’d found and took a sandal as well. It wasn’t ideal but it’d have to do. He found a walking stick to use as a crutch. Outside the cabin, he found a shed enchanted to stay cold with meat and other parts within, including the severed head of the wolf he’d traveled with. He brushed his fingers along its muzzle to the broad space between its thick ears, bidding it farewell. The last thing Angelus did was drag the man’s corpse out of the cabin to the forest floor where it was certain to attract scavenging animals. A crow landed to peck at the bloody face hole immediately. He took pleasure in that.Angelus walked and walked. He called upon his fey ancestry to keep sleep at bay, just long enough for him to detour where he felt there had to be a settlement. Somewhere green not far from a river. On the third day his eyelids felt heavy, his stomach was empty, his pierced ankle had reddened, and it itched. Not good at all. He pushed forward through a coverage of trees until he reached the edge at a shallow slope to a valley. In the valley were mounds with windows and smoke rising. Angelus stumbled and slipped on the terrain in his hurry towards modest signs of civilization. Once at the bottom he limped towards the nearest home where a halfling man was tending to vegetables with a child. They saw him approaching before he could speak.“Hilna. Go inside and get your mother,” the man said to the child while his eyes locked on Angelus. The child complied quickly and ran towards the door.“I need healing,” Angelus breathed. The man had a kind face and he hoped he had the goodwill to spare. The blonde half-elf felt his eyelids grow heavier and he fell to the ground.“Sylleigh! Come quickly!” The halfling called back.As Angelus laid there he thought he would see the bodies of slain heirs again. Instead, off in the distance he saw the wolf at the edge of the trees, standing tall with ears alert. It looked at him, bidding him farewell, then it turned to walk away into the forest.“Not today, friend.” Angelus apologized under his breath, “I want to live.”“At ease, young man.” A wide palm reached out to feel his forehead, assessing his temperature. “Gods you’re burning up.”Angelus couldn’t protest being touched even if he wanted to. He let his eyes fall shut completely as he repeated the words over and over to himself in silence.
I want to live.
I want to live.
Featuring art by @pankadoll on twitter that I commissioned for this story, thank you so much!