the way of cut
the way of cut
(This is new work for me. Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated...)
(Warning: Violent and vivid content.)
cut paused among the rocks.
from here he could see them but they could not see him.
he loosened his sword in its scabbard but he did not move.
not yet.
he could not see the woman underneath the pile of bodies but he could hear her screams.
from the way they were dressed cut knew that they were snake people. snake people usually travelled in larger groups. he could not see others but they were close to the trees and the others could be lingering there, though snake people were not usually that disciplined.
he was too late to save her from what they were doing but they were snake people. they would kill her when they were done. snake people were not known for thinking ahead. they killed first and thought about it later. if they thought about it at all.
cut watched. and waited.
he could not see any movement in the trees. snake people were not known for being careful or smart. but this did not mean there were no others. they rarely travelled far from their camps. though he could not see or hear or smell a camp it did not mean that there wasn’t one close by.
he slowed his breath and visualized. there was enough open space between the rocks and the group to make it unlikely that he would get to them without being noticed. that would mean he would not make it to them without an alarm being called. if there were others in the trees it was unlikely he could defeat them all. if the camp was nearby the rest could be on him before he could get away.
cut could see weapons, but only clubs and bats. while his sword would give him an advantage he was likely to take some punishment even if it was just this group.
if there were more in the trees or the camp was close he would almost certainly be killed or captured.
far better to be killed by snake people than captured. they were cannibals, known for their cruelty, for their penchant for eating a human being limb by limb, keeping him alive while they did so. they did not take female captives. the women in their camps would kill a man who brought back an unknown woman or girl.
the problem with clubs and bats is that they could injure and subdue rather than kill outright.
and if he did not kill them all he would be hunted down.
even if he did kill them all the others from their camp might hunt him down.
and the woman would be injured. she would slow him down if he brought her with him.
still, he knew he would act.
even though there would almost certainly be terrible consequences he would try to save the woman because not acting would make him like the snake people.
cut stood up from his hiding place and began to walk towards them.
not run.
a running man could stumble and fall. that could be fatal.
he kept his breath slow and his gaze fixed upon the group as he walked.
waited for one of them to notice him.
watched for movement from the trees.
he got very close before one of them looked up and saw him.
cut looked into the man’s dull yellow eyes and kept walking as the man jumped up and called out to the others. they had time to pick up their clubs and bats before he got to them. the woman lay in the dirt without moving.
she might already be dead.
snake people would not hesitate to defile a dead body, whether it be a man or woman.
cut might be putting himself at risk for no good reason.
he kept walking as the others stood up and gathered their weapons. they did not look frightened or concerned. snake people were not so much brave as they were dim of thought and imagination.
as he walked cut placed his thumb on the tsuba, the guard of this sword and eased it slightly out to allow for a swift draw. he did this only half consciously, out of the habit and training going back to his childhood. He kept his posture upright and his head slightly down so that he could watch them through his peripheral vision, so that he could use all his senses when the fight began.
two of the snake men charged forward lifting their weapons to strike as they came at him.
cut kept walking and moved without thinking, drawing his sword and cutting the closest man across his raised arms and chest then the second man across the shins in one smooth motion. one single lightning swift slice in one direction and then a second arcing back smoothly from the first across the second and then the first snake man’s throat severing their heads from their bodies. A quick motion to snap the blood off of the blade and then he returned it, dragging the dull end and the flat of the blade across his sleeve to clean the remaining blood and then, without looking, without changing his gaze or posture in any way, returning the sword to its scabbard.
two down.
three remaining.
cut kept walking.
no movement from the trees.
no movement from the woman.
now the remaining three hesitated.
his cuts and then his return to the scabbard would have happened so fast that they had not seen much of it. even the dull minds of snake people would know, instinctively for the most part, that this was no ordinary man, that this was not prey. this was a predator of a much higher level than they were used to.
that gave even the snake people pause.
but nothing more than a pause.
their dull brains would not allow them to accept that they were not the predators here for very long. without reason or understanding they fell back on what they were used to.
they attacked.
cut kept moving and drew his sword in one liquid motion.
through each man’s flesh the razor sharp blade flowed in one direction and then the other. and then again. and then again. two fell and one remained upright. cut stepped to one side to let the spray of blood pass him as he flicked the blood off of his blade. returning the blade while wiping the remaining blood on his sleeve in one silk motion and then returned it to its scabbard.
his eyes fixed calmly in the distance cut stopped and waited as the snake man’s legs finally gave way and he joined the others on the blood soaked ground.
cut breathed. and waited. perfectly still.
he had come through it without injury.
all the snake men were certainly dead and none of them had called out loudly enough to draw others if there was a camp nearby. but years of training and knowing this world well had taught cut to be still and ready and fully sure.
the woman moaned.
she was still alive.
cut went and inspected each body to be sure that none had survived. only when he was done this did he look to the woman for the first time. she was barely a woman. still almost a girl. it was difficult to tell through her swollen and battered features but she may have been pretty, even beautiful, before the snake men had changed her forever. she would never be beautiful again. not in the old way. not without scars and disfigurement.
perhaps that was for the best.
pretty or even beautiful women did not fare well in this world.
at best they were taken as possession by one. more often they became the toys to many men and the subject and the object of cruelty by other women who would resent her for daring to not be as ugly as this world had made them.
she shoved down her clothes to cover her bruised and bloody nakedness and then struggled to stand. it was a strange gesture. modesty was not usual in this world. not for a very long time. not since cut was a boy.
cut watched the woman.
her body collapsed again and again but she refused to stay down or perhaps some instinct made her determined to rise and face what was sure to be the next assault upon her.
this was not a world where kindness existed, or, if it did, it would never have found her or anyone she knew. cut did not move. he would move on eventually and he would not harm her but there was no use telling her this. and her being a woman, almost a girl, did not make her less dangerous than others. some of the fiercest tribes were made up almost entirely of women, the men having been slaughtered by others or by the women long ago. she was bloody and battered now, and weaponless, but that did not mean that she would not attack cut if given the opportunity or if she was able perhaps for no other reason than to prevent what he would surely do to her.
nothing cut could say or do was likely to convince her of anything else.
not in this world.
certainly not after the snake people.
finally the woman made it to her feet and, while she wobbled and shook, her determination and nothing else seemed to keep her on her feet. she spit blood and a few of her teeth onto the ground and turned to face cut. she did not speak but the fierceness in her eyes spoke to cut that she would fight and she would die rather than let him do any more to her than had already been done.
cut took a water skin from his belt and threw it at her feet.
she did not move.
keeping her in the sides of his vision and giving her a wide berth cut continued on his way.
she picked up the water skin and just stood.
cut moved on.
cut always moved on.
the woman turned and watched him go.
she stood with the water skin dangling from her hands.
and then she began to follow him.
cut stopped.
the woman stopped.
she swayed and shook but she did not fall.
cut had no use for companions. but he was not a man who had use for words either.
he moved on.
and the woman, unsteady on her feet, followed.
surely she would fall at some point. and when she did cut would not stop.
he would move on.
cut moved on.
and, for now, the woman followed.
The way of cut
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