We stayed the night in a single room in the trader inn near the main gate to Eastwatch in a room with a double bed. It reminded me of the first night I slept in a bed this large back in Hemwick, but hopefully without the fear of a fire or people coming to hunt us down. Hopefully, what that old woman says is true, that nobody would go after a bounty that high simply due to the fact that the price indicated the danger. The only people that could take my bounty realistically are the Black Hand and the Ravens, and both of them show no real desire to try, at least for now.
Kona and I lay in bed that night discussing what we should do next. We needed more money, and that Sand Fist bounty seemed like a good idea to get a feel for that price bracket of bounty. Also, getting 25,000 franks in only 2-3 days seemed much better than the work we had been doing. The only question was what to do about Nigel. If he was asking about my bounty and people have heard I was last seen in Reavens Rest, it's a safe bet that he went there to look for me, but at the same time, he said to meet in this city, so did he leave or not?
Kona came up with the idea of doing the Sand Fist bounty in the morning, spending two more days in this city actively looking for Nigel and then moving on if he's not found.
We departed the next morning, heading eastward out of town towards where the group we were after was last seen. They most commonly rob travellers on the main road, so we came up with a plan. I would walk down the main road by myself, and Kona would follow behind just out of sight. Her imposing figure might intimidate the bandits not to attacking me, a small man with a cloak and hood might look suspicious and dangerous, but with the addition of our travel supplies on my back, I suddenly look like an appealing target for robbery.
The last known location was only a few hours outside of the city on foot. It made me think that maybe these people are doing the same thing as I, hiding their identity and going to the city, but with so many that would look suspicious. The old woman mentioned that they probably have a camp somewhere in the woods; it can't be too far from the road, then, they'll need to watch it constantly for when someone comes along.
As I neared where they last were, I began to scan the treeline. Not long enough that it looked like I knew someone might be there, I hid the gesture as scratching my head or ass, adjusting the pack, or turning my head to fake a cough. I walked for a few minutes more and then heard a whisper.
"Right"
I glanced to my right and sure enough, my eyes locked directly on two men watching me from the treeline. I didn't turn my head when I looked, so I glanced away again instantly. They weren't moving and their clothes were dark, I shouldn't have been able to see them, but I did, easily. And that voice, that was Wrath. Is he looking out for me? Does he understand what we're doing? I looked in that spot before and didn't see anyone. I'm guessing he did.
I stopped, walked towards the trees to my left and put the pack on the floor. Stretching my arms and back to try and entice the bandits to attack while I'm standing still with my back to them. After a few stretches, they didn't make a move; if I stood around longer, it would look strange, so I put my travel pack back on and continued walking, hoping they might jump out once I had walked a bit further. I stopped only after a few seconds; if they didn't attack me now, they would spot Kona and back off. I really didn't want to do it this way, but I don't really have much of a choice.
I dropped my pack to the ground, turned and sprinted as fast as I could towards the two watching from the treeline. I had thought about saying something, but I didn't want to risk them running away and losing sight of them. I had to catch them now to find out where the rest of their gang is hiding.
One of the two men turned and ran while the other drew a sword. The one with the blade turned his head to look at the fleeing one. I don't know what was going through his head in that moment, but that was a foolish mistake. As I leapt over the bush he was standing behind, with his head still turned away from me, I managed to reach out and place my hand on the side of his head. With the force of my lunge and a hard push of my arm, I pulled him off his feet. I intended to knock him out or throw him to the floor to release his weapon, but with the angle I had approached from, there was a tree directly behind him, and I had already exerted too much force; he was lighter than I thought he would be, maybe even younger than me. In a blink, his head was pulverised against the tree, painting it a deep crimson.
I didn't have time to think about it; the other one was still running, so I gave chase. I scurried after the fleeing bandit for a few seconds until he tripped on a vine and fell to the floor. I slowed as he curled into a ball, gripping his head, cowering on the forest floor as he mumbled "Ne me tuez pas." (Don't kill me) over and over.
"I'm not going to kill you" I grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him to his feet.
"Shinya!" I heard from behind me.
Kona was pushing her way through the dense bush with the travel pack on her back. She stopped and looked at a tree next to her, then her head moved down to the ground before looking back at me.
"There's a headless man here"
I grabbed the bandit and walked him towards Kona.
"Yeah, I didn't mean to do that. I guess Wrath has been making me stronger."
"Were you angry? Did they attack you?"
I thought about it, I had only shown inhuman strength when I was about to die or in Hemwich when I was pushed into an uncontrollable rage. But this wasn't like either of those times; I was calm.
"No. I… I didn't think I would push that hard; it was a mistake."
As we got closer and the headless corpse came into view, the bandit I was pushing along caught sight of it and started to scream and wail in a panic, his face flushed pale, and after a few screams, he bent over and vomited. Clearly, he had never seen death before, but to be fair, it was a gruesome sight.
"Just be careful, hold back."
I nodded and pushed the bandit out onto the road as Kona followed. Bearing her axe, she approached the panicked man, placing a foot down on his chest so he couldn't run. I watched as she tried to interrogate him, learning who he was, where his base was, confirming he was a bandit and that his boss was wanted. I watched her do these things, but didn't hear a word. I was focused on a different voice, the one in my head.
His speech was rapid, fast and overlapping. Like a dozen or more voices speaking at once, but somehow I understood what he was trying to tell me. He explained that his attempt to take over my body had totally failed, that integration was not possible and that he would take on the role of a parasite. This was good for me, it means he won't take over any more of my mind, right? He answered again in the same incoherent manner that I somehow understood. He had tried to integrate as much as possible, and as such, I now had his strength, including those black clawed fingers from that time in Hemwick, but that would be more challenging. He said my body would change gradually to accommodate this new strength as I used it more, and as that happened, I would get stronger. As his voice faded from my mind, I felt something from him that he clearly didn't intend for me to know: that this was the most and longest he had spoken to anyone ever, and it was tiring. I suppose that's how things are going to be. I suppose he's going to take a back seat to all of this and just exist in there, only coming out when needed. Fine by me.
"What should we do with this guy?" Kona turned back to me, her foot still pinning him down.
"Do we get a reward for taking him in?"
Kona shrugged, "probably"
"Tie him to a tree, then, we can get him on the way back. You can lead the way."
We restrained the bandit and walked into the woods. I had to pretend I was paying attention to Kona's interrogation of the man, but in truth, I didn't hear a word of it. But she seems to know where she's going, so that's all that matters. I didn't want to tell her that the whole time I was talking with Wrath, it might make her worry, and I think she's afraid of him, or rather, his influence.
We trekked into the woods, following Kona for about three minutes or so before she suddenly squatted down. Following her lead, and crawled up beside her and looked through the bush into a small clearing where there were four men in a camp doing various things, cooking, skinning rabbits. One lying under a leanto and another sharpening a blade.
"Four? Wasn't there only five total in the gang?"
"The one I interrogated said he was a new recruit, remember?"
I nodded and crept forward to get a better look at the camp and the clearing.
"How do you wanna do this?" Kona whispered.
"I mean, we could just walk up to them and fight them. We're a lot stronger than they are, even with the numbers advantage."
She put her hand on my shoulder, shaking her head.
"It only takes a moment for them to get a lucky hit in, remember Hemwick? We both could have died in that alleyway."
I suppose she did have a point. My strength was greater than most people, maybe even more than hers now. My reflexes were sharp, and my awareness was heightened, but even still. I can't see in the dark, and I can't see behind my own head. Even though I'm strong and very hard to kill, I can still die.
"Okay, let's go either side, surprise attack and take one down as fast as possible. Then we each have a one-on-one, that should be easy."
She gave a nod at my suggestion as she began to crawl around to the right, and I moved towards the left. The fact that we had to run out at them and try to kill one right away before they had time to react seemed risky. Maybe when we get back, I might buy a crossbow or something.
I sat there for a moment, waiting for something to happen, when I realised we had completely forgotten to set a way to signal to the other, no way to coordinate our attack. I might as well just rush in then. As that thought crossed my mind, I watched as a faint glint caught my eye. The Soldier who was sharpening his blade suddenly had a small knife protruding from his skull, and he hunched over, dead. I guess that's the signal.
I leapt from the treeline and yelled to get their attention. The three remaining opponents turned to face me; the closest was the one skinning a rabbit, and with a knife already in hand was the main threat.
As I ran towards him, Kona emerged on the other side of the clearing, holding her axe up high and yelling out, casing all but my target to look away for a moment. The bandit held the point of the blade out towards me, probably hoping I would run straight into it and impale myself upon it. Swatting the blade to the side, I ran past him, reaching out to my side and running my fingers across his neck. I felt them change once more into elongated claws as they tore through the flesh. I felt the spurt of blood upon my hand. I moved towards the one who was lying down, now stumbling to his feet in a panic as Kona rushed towards the man who was cooking by the fire.
The moment I saw him raise his short sword above his head defensively, I stopped my advance. I knew the fight was already over. Kona brought her axe down and cleanly through the man's poor defences, wedging the axehead into his shoulder, splitting him down to his chest, killing him instantly.
The one remaining bandit stumbled back and fell, dropping his blade to the floor. He was the man on the wanted poster, Turok. I squatted down next to him as he locked eyes with me. I grabbed the hem of his shirt, lifted him slightly and punched him in the face. Blood spurted from his nose, but he was still alive. I shook my hand and looked down at my knuckle, rubbing it with my other hand as Kona approached.
"Did punching him out hurt you?"
"Yeah, it actually did."
She hurried over and grabbed my wrist, looking down at my knuckles, confused.
"That… actually hurt?"
"I was holding back"
Kona picked up the target, and we went back towards the main road to retrieve the other one we had captured and began the long walk back to Eastwatch.
All the while, I was confused about why my hand hurt when I punched earlier. That priest stabbed a knife through my hand, and I didn't feel a thing, so why did this hurt?
"You removed me from your hand."
Wrath whispered in my mind, and I understood what he meant right away. I imagined he was like a bug crawling under my skin; wherever he was, he was powerful, but I could get him to move away from an area and return to normal, as if he was never there. I wondered if he could concentrate his energy somewhere that wouldn't affect me at all, if I could return to being a normal person again. He answered twice; first, he stated he needed to exist somewhere, and the second was that even if he could, I wouldn't want him to.