Matty thought that the bag of gold he had found hidden within the empty tree trunk was a sign from the gods that his life was taking a turn for the better. He wasn't sure what to make of the message the gods were sending when the band Skanish soldiers ran him down and took his belongings.
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The one-eyed man spoke first, his grizzly face looking Matteus over with a pang of hunger. "Do you speak the Skanish tongue? You have the look of one of us."
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The rat-faced one spoke next, his pale hair kept too long for a man. "He spoke. You answer. This is the official business of King Ander." He raised his fist as if to strike Matty.
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"I am Skanish, yes," Matteus said with a whimper.
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"Good, you'll live this day and our commander will be takin' half yer money."
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"Thank you, thank you," Matty cried, looking up with fear in his eyes.
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"We take his money and he thanks us. What have they been feedin' you lot down this way," said the one-eyed man.
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"Perhaps he's half Era, that'd explain the cowardliness," the rat-faced man said with a laugh. "The best part is that he's thanking us before we've even told him."
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"Har, dear boy we are no robbers. This money goes to fund yer arms and armor," the one-eyed man croaked. "You'll be joinin' the king's men, today boy. We need fighting age boys, skinny as they may be."
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"Please, I have to find my family."
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"What do you mean boy, we're right here."
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The line of boys was as pitiful as it was untrained and underdressed for the cold. More boys than Matty could count walking in front of and behind him, corralled by soldiers on horseback in armors of leather or chain, with helmets that covered their cheeks and noses.
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They had been walking for hours. Matteus didn't know where they were headed and was too scared to ask. At the head of the group rode a man with a horned helmet and long brown cloak with fur that bunched at the neck. Before long he ordered the men to halt and make camp.
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Matty was told to sit in the back by the prisoners as he showed the least promise. Around him sat three men, a lean and strong-looking man with red-brown skin, black hair and high cheekbones sat down next to him by the low fire, his face sour with discontent.
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"I hate you, people, first you take our lands then you force us to fight your wars. Tell me, can your lust for gold, power, and blood ever be satiated?"
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"I..I don't know what that means. That word you said with an 's' I've never heard it," Matty said trying not to stare at the brown man.
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"It's a shame I know your own tongue better than you. What's wrong with your voice? Are you some sort of half-wit?"
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"No, I no-"
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"Leave the poor boy alone, half-wit or not it isn't any of your concern," said the muscular boy that sat across the fire. He reminded Matty of Burrin if Burrin were to be born thrice as strong and twice as handsome. "And enough with the 'my people, you people' we're all here together now, all against our will."
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"We shall see," the brown man said with the wave of his hand.
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The four sat around the fire without a word spoken until sunset. Only the sound of wood cracking and distant conversation comforted Matteus until the plump boy with black hair spoke up. "Well, I figure since we're going to be working together we might as well get to know each other, yes? I'm called Declan, what are all your names?"
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"I'm Matteus, some call me Matty."
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"Well met Matty, I can see why they placed the two of us back here as undesirables, but these two I don't really understand you both have the look of true warriors."
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"You know why they put me here pig, I'll never be seen at the front unless it's to lead the van or perhaps the day my skin turns pale and splotchy like yours," snapped the brown man.
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"I'm not like them, I'm Eritanian, we hold no bad blood with any man of any kind," Declan said reassuringly. "I actually find you Apiatons and your customs quite beautiful."
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"I did not ask," the Apiaton said, trying to mask the clear surprise that ran across his face.
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"Well, I'll ask you then. What village are you from? I'm well-read on your people and judging by your free hairstyle I'd guess you are of the Tiagon tribe, yes?"
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"What does it matter to you, hungry boy? You'll die soon enough anyway. I doubt you last through the first battle."
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The look of irritation on the muscular boy's face seeped into his voice, "Are you always such a cunt?"
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"I've had enough of you pale bastards, do not disturb me," he said, laying down and facing away.
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Declan gave a look of thanks and relief. "Thank you for that, what was your name?"
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"Steig."
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"Well Steig, what has a strong man like yourself back here with us? It's certainly not for a lack of promise."
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"When they came to my city they took near all the boys of fighting age, tanners and smiths, bakers and masons, even pleasure boys."
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"So you were a prostitute? I'm not sure how that lands you back here with us, I'm sure many of them secretly envy you, nothing but beautiful women all day and night."
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"I was with a man when they came for me."
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"I see...well I suppose you had no choice in the matter, I assume you were sold as a boy?"
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"No I joined when I was seventeen of my own free will and I enjoyed all four years of it."
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"So you...you're-"
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"I enjoy beauty, the gods gave us eyes to see it and cocks to feel it; men and women both have beauty so why limit yourself to only one kind?"
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"I'm curious as to what kind of city would allow for such...liberties."
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Any brewing admiration Matteus felt now fled his body, replaced with disgust. No holy one that is certain, the gods will burn such a place in the end.
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"That city would be Torr," Steig said with confidence.
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No, no it's impossible. Torr is a holy place.
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"I expected as such from a place like Torr," Declan said.
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"I take it you don't approve. My being upsets your gods or something?"
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"Oh, I suppose I do sound rather standoffish, no, I have no gods and no quarrel with your...lifestyle."
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Matteus' face was plagued with disbelief and disgust. A bugerer and a godless demon worshiper, why have the gods seen fit to place me here?
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"What about you Matteus? I can tell by your face-"
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"I don't like it," Matty blurted out. "To lie with a man is unnatural, why would you not be discreet about it? and you," he said turning to Declan. "To worship demons is...is evil."
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"I'm not discreet because everybody already knows about me, they found me..mid thrust so to speak. I really don't care what you think is unnatural," Steig said with a glare.
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Declan spoke up to ease the tension. "As for me Matteus, I do not worship demons."
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"You said you had no gods."
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"I did and I don't."
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"If you have no gods then you must worship demons."
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"The world we live in is not so black and white Matteus. Is or isn't, must or mustn't these are almost never the exclusive answers. I believe in no demons and I believe in no gods. Thus, I have no gods."
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"So you believe in nothing!?"
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"Think of it in this way, I do not 'believe in nothing' I lack belief altogether. My faith is in the tangible and the testable, in reason and thought."
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I can't believe this, such blasphemy! "Then you have no morals!"
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"No morals because I don't share the same beliefs as you? Morals do not come from faith, they come from experience."
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"Aran tells us in the holy books how man and woman should behave."
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"And yet the exact morals and rules found in Arans works are found if faith's that predate it, if-."
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"I will hear no more of this! How dare you mock the gods," Matty said as he laid down on his side away from the two and closed his eyes."
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"Tell me stories of your travels Declan," Steig said.
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"Of those I have thousands. I have seen the Titans of Jhyr in combat when I visited the lands of Qabar to the east. I once met an Alorian woman that could make flame dance in her fingers and a Khidori scholar that had a collection of four thousand books. I have even...."
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Matteus covered his ears and prayed until he could no longer hear their voices.
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As quickly as his sleep came, it ended with a stern kick to the back. Matty looked up to find a soldier staring down at him. "If you need to relieve yourself go now before the prisoners."
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Matty scrambled to his feet in the fresh morning air and began his walk into the woods alongside twenty or so other boys with soldiers close behind. His relief was cut short by screams from two different voices, they went on for some time until only one voice screamed, then none.
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When Matteus and the rest of his group made it back to the road they looked around and made sure all were accounted for. Soldiers yelled and drew swords, attempting a formation only to be stopped by the sight of him.
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One of the prisoners exited the woods covered in blood and bits of bone and meat. His eyes told stories of horror and his hands were clasped together as he looked to the skies and did what Matty could only assume was pray.
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The soldiers searched the woods for hours with no sign of the missing prisoner and guard. They beat the man all day until the sun had begun to set, trying to get answers out of him but he only muttered one word.
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"Wilkolak...Wilkolak."
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The Apiaton stood next to Matty as he watched the man be beaten.
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"They're fools, you cannot beat speech from a man that doesn't speak your tongue and we've spent too much time here, these woods are cursed."
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Matty squinted in curiosity. "I wonder what he's saying."
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"Wilkolak, It is how his people, the Sylacians, say werewolf."
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"Werewolf," Matteus gasped.
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"These lands belong to me people, or so they did before yours came. The legends of werewolves came with you, such beasts do not roam these woods, I doubt they ever even existed. No, something far worse lurks here. Something hungry."
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As if summoned by the Apiaton's words a scream ripped through the evening air coming from all around them as if the woods itself cried out. It was the sound of an elk, then a bear and finally a man.
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The camps quieted and the soldiers froze. Matty looked to the Apiaton to find him frozen with fear too. That's when he saw it.
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Through the treeline, just within the shadows, a pair of antlers moved behind a tree.
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