THE LAST KEEPER-Chapter 70: THE SEARCH
Salka did not know what he felt. Anger or excitement at the thought that someone had trespassed into his turf. It had been a while since the last slot of intruder dared to trespass but they had not been interesting enough. They were too weak. If what the cadets said was true then someone capable of taking down a grace scale would be even a worthy opponent to kill. He hooked his hooking rope on one of the tall trees and propelled himself. He did not need the hooking ropes anyway but with the excitement coursing through his bones he wanted to get there even faster.
Even when he used the death whistle to call his battalion he wished they could delay so he could be the first to lay hands on the enemy and have all the fun by himself. He moved fast through the trees in the direction the cadets had described. If the intruder could kill a gravescale by themself he must have been lethal enough to take out even the students and that thought alone made him go faster. It had been hours after the event took place and he knew for sure that with the rain the terrain could have gone cold yet he only hoped the enemy was stupid enough to stay around and watch his kill. Some killers or hunters tended to stay and watch the artistry and skill taken into killing their prey. He on the other hand found the act unimportant. It had long stopped raining but the leaves still held the raindrops and they fell on him, some flying behind him because of how fast he was going.
Whatever the intention of the intruder was, one thing was for sure. If he was still in the woods he was going to find him and kill him. Whatever his intention was, he was going to die anyway for daring to walk into his turf. After almost an hour of moving at top speed, he finally caught it. The smell of blood and death was so thick it made the intention of his heart grow even bigger. He pushed himself even faster and he could see the scars of the scene long before he reached it. The dagger marks curves onto tree barks and on the ground no doubt from the students trying to fight it. It must have been futile considering the hardness of the gravescale’s skin and the quality of the exercise daggers. They were of the lowest quality considering they would only be used to burst flask. He needed to punish them after he got back. They must have been very lucky to escape the scene but they had ignored the use of the red flare even after they escaped. that in itself called for punishment.
He did not have to go far to see the scene of crime. What the students described they saw at night was totally an understatement. Now in broad daylight with the morning sun breaking through the tree shadows the scene was quite a sight. guts were spattered everywhere. The gravescale lay still in the middle of the gore. it was massive and a beautiful creature or was before it was torn into shreds. Now it lay mutilated, cut deeply in different parts of the body. Its massive coils were carved open in long, deliberate lines, scale after scale peeled back as if the blade had been curious. The ground beneath it was ruined, darkened, slick, trampled into mud and blood caused by its thrashing.
The killer did not rush. Wounds were placed deliberately where pain lingered, not where death came fast. The serpent’s body twitched long after its strength failed, nerves firing uselessly, jaws opening. Its tail smashed stone and bark, as if it had tried to beg for death. Whatever killed it had taken its time. And enjoyed every moment. Salka watched from his position perched on a branch for a long moment analyzing every detail of the kill. He wanted to understand the motive behind the display but all he could see was the results of a fun kill and that disgusted him more than anything. Just like the boys had described it as dishonorable, it was far worse, this was a perversion. The opponent was obviously stronger and could have delivered the kill in a few swift moves but he had intentionally taken its time.
Salka breathed sharply retracting the hooking ropes and rolled them around his hands. he jumped down from the branch to take in the scene even more closely. he landed gracefully in a crouch before straightening to his feet. The cuts rendered to the beast were precise and deep. They had even torn through the hard skin of the beast like it was made of wet wood. He moved even closer and stretched out his hand to touch where the object had cut. It was one of a kind. Not many weapons he had seen were that sharp and powerful. He had heard rumors about weapons that could cut through metal and stone before but he had never wielded one. His weapons were of good material, sharp and durable but the weapon used against the gravescale was even sharper. He needed to tell Salka as fast as possible.
The cadets still had another exercise at night and whatever the intention of the intruder was, they needed to cause much less panic as possible. he held onto the scales and propelled himself to stand on the head of the beats, it had the hardest set of scales to protect its brains bit it even those had been crashed violently.
"Hey captain, you didn’t have to cause all this mess killing a mere beast." Yavaga’s voice was the first to reach his ears. He had heard his team coming but ignored them as he crouched to touch the scars of the blade yet again.
"Are you dumb? Why could the captain kill the beast? Besides, this thing has been dead for ages." Matasi groaned.
"Captain, what have we got here?" Kolu spoke, parched on a branch as the other two. Only lotaga was missing from the team because Salka had him on pet-tending duty till he fixed his behavior. The other three lowered themselves to the ground coming to stand beside the captain on the beast’s head.
"Some cadets were attacked by it at night." Salka explained.
"Which team was it? They are pretty fierce if they beat it like this." Yavaga chimed in and everyone groaned. him and lotaga were the youngest of the team but even Lotaga did not have such bad analyzing skill.
"It wasn’t them, look at the blade scars." Matasi explained.
"The students managed to get away but when they came back again the beast was dead. The ground supervising instructors only carried bows and arrows last night, but look at the wounds on this thing." Salka said and only then did Yavaga nod as if he was finally understanding what was happening.
"I see, so one instructor carried a sword and killed it." Yavaga analyzed again and it took Salka all his might not to beat him to death. Sometimes he wondered why he allowed the two delinquents into his team. Their skill in battle was unrivaled by many but they both had a way of getting under his skin.
"I should put you on pet-tending duty with lotaga." Salka said on a serious note and Yavaga’s eyes widened with fear.
"so it seems we have an intruder." Kolu said crouching low to touch a scar where the weapon had cut so deep smashing the gravescale’s head in. He was the calmest and the strategist of the team. His eyes did not miss anything.
"We have an intruder!" Yavaga exclaimed looking around as if he was expecting the person to fall from the sky.
"The boys did not fire the red flare even after seeing this?" Matasi wondered. "And why did they purposefully come back if they had just escaped its jaws?"
"One was injured by it and the recruit said he knew about healing so he came to get herbs here." Salka explained and there were sharp inhales.
"How careless, even I, couldn’t engage it if not necessary or come near its nest after I escaped." Yavaga said and unfortunately what he said made sense and it could have been the wise thing to do for the boys, yet they didn’t.
"I will punish them later. Let us spread out and see if we can find a trail." Salka said, itching even more to find him.
"It seems that the killer just enjoys killing. Stay on alert and don’t engage if you find him." Kolu added and they all nodded before they scattered in different directions.
Salka proceeded in the direction deep in the woods. He searched and searched for hours but it was as if the intruder had disappeared. It was almost midday and yet there was still no sign of him. He blew the whistle to end the search and gather his team back at the gate. They needed to search other places too. It seemed the intruder could be anywhere in the outer district nonagon and that did not sit right with him. After the team gathered he released them to rest for two hours before they resumed the hunt. All he needed to do now was inform Salka and gather all instructors to brief them and take countermeasures before the gate at night.
"We have an intruder?" Senraki shot to his feet after Salka explained to him what had happened.
"It could seem so." Salka said, itching to go out and search once again. "Even his weapon is rivaled by yours or sharper." Salka said and Senraki’s lips pulled back in excitement.
"So if I kill him I get to have such a deadly weapon?" Senraki rubbed his hand together as if he had not heard anything else except how deadly the weapon was.
"We need to take countermeasures. Get your head from between your legs." Salka snapped standing to his feet. "I’m going back to the woods to search again. get fuwuka to debrief others. Salka hated that someone had broken into his turf and he had not found him yet. He did not have time to deal with senraki and his empty head.
"Salsal you..." Salka didn’t care what senraki wanted to wine about before he pulled the door open and smashed it. He had intentionally said more about the weapon to make senraki curious. The man had a lethal weapon and just imagining a better sword than his, did not sit right. His mission with senraki was done and so he went searching in another section of the woods. No matter how hard he searched he could not find anything and as night drew by he chose to head back.
A commotion drew his attention as he walked through the fourth year pentagon. it was almost time for the exercise to begin and he wanted to rest for a bit before he headed out again. he was not going to rest until he found the intruder no matter how long it took. He did not care much about whatever had conspired between the recruit and the tamelku twins at the moment but even he could tell that things were going to be even more entertaining in the hunt. He had not also expected lotaga to be there but he again was too tired to punish him at the moment. Besides, they needed all hands on deck tonight.
"You boys should join the others at the central pentagon. and recruit you better have a better explanation after the exercise or we are going to have a problem. Again. Your teammates, involved." Salka said and he meant it. he was going to punish them anyway for failing to use the red flare but there was no need of causing even more tension before the started the exercise
"Yes captain!" All the boys answered in unison including lotaga. He was trying to get away from captain salka too. Salka did not have much patience after the search and as he watched Lotaga try to escape it was all he could not to break him in half.
"Lotaga, if you leave through that door you will not only be tending the pets but you will sleep in the kennel too." Salka groaned, not even turning around.
lotaga stopped and turned around quickly.
"I was just escorting the boys. What did you need, captain." He ran back in front of Salka and saluted. Salka wanted to rest and so debriefed him quickly.
"You might not already know since you were on pet-tending duty but we have an intruder or intruders I cant tell. We have been searching the whole day but we haven’t found even a trail."
"Why didn’t you tell me sooner?" Lotaga accused and salka could smell the excitement coming from the guy. He was good at finding trails and he never lost one.
"That is why you will be one of the watchers tonight. we need all hands on deck." Salka instructed. After seeing the damage the intruder caused to the gravescale more than anything he did not want lotaga to go looking for him alone. he was the youngest of the team. he was curious and careless and if salka appointed him as a supervising instructor the guy could for sure go looking for the intruder alone and he was still not a match for the amount of damage the intruder was capable of. he could be able to hold his own but salka was not going to put the boy in the front line. Only seasoned senior instructors were going to be ground supervisors and that was undebatable. he had not talked to fuwuka but he knew the man could assign duties the same way.
"A watcher?" Lotaga’s voice was full of disappointment.
"Yes. unless you want to be on pet-tending duty." Salka said and lotaga nodded vigorously.
"I know you want to be out there but I need you on the wall to watch the backs of those supervising on the ground. You will be in charge of the watchers." Salka said with finality leaving no room for debate.
"Yes sir!" lotaga saluted before running off. salka sighed lowly. He needed to freshen up, eat a whole cow and rest for an hour or two before he went out again.
"I just hope nothing goes wrong" he breathed before he headed to the instructors wing in the central pentagon
