Pathfinder: Sacred Order - Chapter 47

 

“Whatdya want?”

The large man asked in a hoarse tone as he stepped forward to greet Jacob and his companions.

He did not sense any danger coming from the three of them, so he figured they were here for a loan of some sort. That or they were here to cause a little bit of trouble. That was not anything new in these parts, as the young children always liked to mess around.

“I’m looking for a man named Ash, you wouldn’t happen to know where he is would you?”

Jacob replied while looking up at the man.

Due to his small stature, the man chuckled. He could not take the little guy seriously, he seemed to be twelve years old.

Instead, he assumed that Jack was the leader of this bunch and the lady by his side was his woman.

Yet, he’d play along with the little kid.

Squatting down, he reached Jacob’s eye height making it easier to have a conversation with him. It was something he did to his boys when he gave them a stern talking to, or just wanted to have a conversation.

“I do know him, what do you need him for? You do not seem like the type to carry any money on you so are you here for a loan?”

“He has something that belongs to me”

Jacob led the man on causing him to be slightly curious as to what Jacob had to say next.

It worked like a charm as the man smirked.

“And what would that be?”

“His life for one among other things.”

The man thought he heard wrong, and it took him a second to understand what Jacob said. Those cold eyes of his, and that chilling voice. This kid in front of him was serious. However, he chose the wrong person to mess with.

Clicking his tongue, he waved his hand at Jacob.

“Beat it. I’ll let you go this time around but the next time you say something like that I’ll have your tongue.”

Glancing over, his eyes landed on Amelia.

“This here your sister? What is she ugly or something? Hiding behind a veil come let me see your face.”

As he spoke he reached his hand out to move Amelia’s veil.

Jacob did not know if this guy was stupid or stupid. Priests were widely known, and even Amelia’s attire gave away a holy appearance. Yet this guy treated her as if she was a common woman.

Amelia retreated, dodging the man’s hand.

“Do you always touch things that do not belong to you?”

Jacob asked the man while tilting his head.

Jack moved swiftly, sweeping the man off his feet, knocking him to the ground. It was unexpected and caught him off guard, but that was all it took.

Jack stepped on his chest, putting pressure down while he unsheathed the sword Jacob gifted him, pointing it towards the man’s throat.

Thugs like him were low level in Pathfinder, and it seemed to be the case here as well. They were common folk with barely any training at all, just brute force. For Jack who received training, taking him down was a simple task.

Although he wanted to move, he stayed still. Held both his hands out showing Jack that he gave up.

The difference in their ability was clear, and if Jack wanted his life he would have been dead by now. A thug he may be, but he was not going to risk his life for a woman.

Jacob squatted down next to the man.

“Where is Ash?”

The man said nothing, but his eyes told Jacob what he wanted to know. His green eyes kept glancing up towards the wooden hut.

“I just have one more question, which one of you did it? The woman you beat up and raped, who was it?”

Thinking long and hard about it, it finally clicked in the man’s head.

Smiling, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“That bitch! Did she hire you?”

Jack stomped on the man’s chest causing him to cough and breath for air.

“Just answer the question.”

Jacob told the man.

“I thought you were doing this because I wanted to touch her. If I knew you were doing this because of that bitch I would have cut you down a long time ago. She owed us and refused to pay, she got what she deserv-”

Before he could finish, Jack pierced his throat with the tip of the blade.

His mouth was filled with blood, and although his jaw was moving no words came out. Instead, it looked as if he was trying to swallow but failed. Soon, he stopped moving, breathing, and his eyes stayed open looking up at the cloudy sky.

Amelia gritted her teeth and clenched her fist tightly. This was the first time she saw someone die before her eyes.

“Did they just kill him?”

“Mind your own business pal, or you’ll be next.”

Faint whispered entered her ears causing them to twitch.

She turned and saw the citizens in this region staring at them, some with wide eyes others with a grin on their faces. This was the slums, a place that housed many and where the crime was high.

For majority of them, this was not anything new. The best way to handle themselves in this situation was to not pay it any mind and keep moving forward. They did not need any trouble as they had enough of their own.

That was the problem with this area. The citizens and government barely cared, patrols rarely came around. If you wanted to survive, you needed to learn how by yourself.

If Jack did not kill him, Jacob would have. This man was not innocent, who knew how many lives were ruined because of him.

As for Jack, the man was relishing in Amelia’s mother’s suffering, claiming that she deserved it.

He couldn’t help but recall his sister’s face, and the pain she suffered. To him, the man was not talking about Amelia’s mother, but instead his sister. At that time he was weak, but this time things were different.

Jack could do something, and he did.

He killed him, something he wished he could have done before.

Jacob tapped Jack’s shoulder freeing him from his daze. Pulling out the blade that had its tip soaked in blood, Jack swung it splattering blood on the ground.

“We should move. His voice was loud, Ash more than likely heard him.”

Jacob mentioned while he walked towards the wooden hut.

Jack followed and so did Amelia. When they entered, they saw two men, one short and plump the other built like a brick.

From the description Jack gave him, the plump male was Ash.

Ash froze in place, money in hand and a sack in the other.

“What are you stopping for? Continue.”

Teasing Ash, Jacob motioned with his hand for him to continue stuffing the sack with coin.

“You!”

Ash’s white face turned red. He looked at the well-built man.

“Go, kill them!”

Grabbing the two-handed large steel hammer, the man charged forward.

Jack took it upon himself to move and deflected the blow while moving his sword down the shaft of the hammer cutting into the man’s hand. The hammer fell breaking through the wooden floor and the man screamed in pain.

A quick cut and the man fell down leaving Ash all alone.

Beads of sweat started to form on Ash’s forehead.

Tossing the money forward it landed in front of Jack.

“Take it! Take it all! Just spare me.”

He pleaded.

“You think we want your money?”

Jacob questioned him as he walked forward.

“Take it! I’ll pay you double no triple of whatever you were paid.”

“I do not think you understand.”

As he walked past Jack, Jacob grabbed the sword in his hand.

With each step he took, Ash retreated until his back was against the wooden wall.

The entire hut was small, inside was only a desk, chair, and a chest. This was where he did his business, so he did not have weapons here. Most people in the slums were scared of him and those that protected him.

He had nothing to fear.

“I-if you t-touch me Daniel will have y-your head!”

Jacob stabbed forward with the sword, piercing Ash’s right shoulder while he screamed.

“Never heard of him. Have you?”

Jacob turned his head glancing at Jack.

Jack shook his head.

“Amelia, come here.”

Amelia hesitated for a moment but eventually approached.

Removing the blade from his shoulder, Ash slumped down to the ground. Jacob pushed Amelia forward and placed the sword in her hands.

“Look at him, this is the man who harmed your mother. What do you want to do to him?”

Her hands were shaky, and under her veil, she was biting her lips.

Ash’s face was pale as a ghost, tears in the corner of his eyes. He just kept saying spare me over and over again.

Jacob kicked Ash in the chest all while saying shut up.

“Did you spare her mother? Did you spare all those women? How many people have died by your hands?”

“I’m sorry!”

“That’s not good enough.”

Jacob was like a devil, tempting her with sweet words. Except his words gave her rage, she could not help but recall the scene with her mother. The past she enjoyed, the hope that she was filled with. All shattered by a single moment.

Her mother’s lifeless body, bruises covering her body.

This man caused it, he had to pay. Blood for blood!

Jacob raised his hand towards Jack who opened his mouth to speak.

This was Amelia’s justice, she needed to handle it on her own. That is what Jacob believed, and neither of them had a say in the path she took.

Raising the sword up high over her head, Ash just kept pleading and crying.

“AHHHHHH!”

Amelia roared as she swung the blade down.

Her breathing was heavy, her body felt heavy. She dropped to the ground and shed a tear.

Jacob patted her shoulder.

“It’s ok.”

He told her.

Reaching down, he retrieved the sword in her hand.

“You just have a sacred heart. You are not meant to be a killer.”

It hurt her so much, her heart felt like it was being torn apart. The person who harmed her mother, the person who was in her life for the longest and raised her. She could not kill him for what he has done.

Amelia had a dream, a goal that she wanted to achieve. Her mother fully supported her and wanted her to have a better life. She could not toss it away for one man. Years worth of work all gone in a flash. And for what?

Her mother wouldn’t be avenged, her mother would not feel better. Instead, she would be saddened by the choice Amelia chose if she killed him.

The pain she was feeling hurt so much, all she wanted was for it to go away.

Jacob was glad Amelia did something that others would find hard to. Others would be fueled by hate and kill Ash, he knew that if he were in her shoes that he would have done the same thing.

If anything like this happened to his fiancee, Jacob would have hunted the person down to the ends of the earth to make them pay.

That was why he told her she had a sacred heart.

Ash would pay, but not by Amelia’s hands. Jacob took the sword and stabbed him in the chest.

What Ash did, the type of things he has done. Jacob could never forgive him.

He was no hero, but he surely would not be a villain.

Jacob watched as the life left Ash’s eyes before he removed the sword.

Turning his attention towards the desk, he opened the drawers. There he found documents and a key.

“Take the sack and head back to the temple.”

Jacob said as he passed the blade back to Jack.

“Where are you going?”

“To do some collecting.”