Sashalia lay perfectly still. Hubert grabbed one of her pointed ears and drew a dagger from his waistband with his other hand. He brought the knife up under her earlobe and sliced away the lower half of her ear.
“I don’t really owe him anything, but let’s call that payback for what you did to Cyril.” He flicked the bit of flesh aside. With a sudden burst of energy, Sashalia lifted herself onto her elbows, and with as much force as she could muster, brought her left knee up to strike him between the legs. She was still determined to fight back, even without a weapon.
Unfortunately, Hubert seemed prepared for this, as well. He clamped his thighs down on her leg as she kicked at him, stopping it in its tracks with a disgustingly smug sneer.
“Hah! Girls always resort to that one. Man, I can’t even remember how many times I’ve seen that move by now. Looks like I’ll need to punish this naughty leg of yours.”
Hubert reached back to his waistband, rummaging around in a hip pouch before withdrawing a vial filled with green liquid. “Ever heard of a ‘sea snake’? They’re this magic beast that lives in the southern ocean.”
“Their venom is...used as an...anesthetic...”
“Smart kid. That’s right. It’s used as a painkiller, too. Only problem is that it works a little too well. Know what happens when you apply it?”
“It causes...permanent...nerve damage...”
“Very good! It doesn’t just kill the pain—it kills your nerves, too! That’s why doctors don’t use it anymore.”
Hubert slowly lowered his dagger to Sashalia’s left leg. He stabbed her in the calf and dragged the blade upward, making her twist and groan in pain. She struggled to get away, but could not wrest herself free.
“And now for the venom...” Hubert tipped the vial, pouring the green liquid into the cut he’d made. It burned as soon as the venom made contact with her flesh, but soon the pain dulled into a warmth that spread up to her knee and down to her ankle.
Hubert looked up from his handiwork to face Sashalia. “Now, for the next legggh!” He was met with a nasty surprise; Sashalia lifted herself up once again, this time to headbutt him squarely in the face. Even after the way she’d been beaten and pinned down, all of Hubert’s torture had not taken away her will to fight back.
The headbutt had caused Hubert to bite down hard on his tongue. He fell backward and rolled around with his hands to his face, making muffled screams of pain. Sashalia saw the chance she’d been waiting for and made her escape—or at least, she tried to. Her left leg wouldn’t move, and she couldn’t feel anything at all below her mid-thigh.
However, this didn’t stop her from trying; she rolled over and scrabbled at the grass, trying her best to crawl away on her hands and her one good knee. Hubert roared behind her.
“You goddamn little thit! That’th it! I’b gonna gut you like a pig!”
Sashalia continued to desperately crawl away as Hubert rose to his feet. He slowly stomped over to her, deciding what part of her he was going to break next. This time, there will be no escape—both Sashalia and Hubert had the exact same thought. His shadow crept over her...
With her face down near the ground, Sashalia was unable to see what happened at that moment, but she felt the wind as something leapt over her to land between her and Hubert. Sashalia struggled to open her swollen eyelids as wide as she could as she struggled to turn over and look behind her. When she saw what—who—it was, her eyes burned, and tears flowed down her bloodied face.
By struggling with all her might, Sashalia had bought herself the time she needed. Hubert’s screams of pain were the signal she needed so that he could find her. Her refusal to give up, even when all seemed lost, ended up saving her.
And in one brief moment, it was over. Hubert’s hands were severed from his arms, still holding onto his mace, followed immediately by his torso tumbling away from his legs. Both cuts had been made quite literally in the blink of an eye.
Hubert let out a strangled, bizarre scream even as his upper body fell to the ground, an expression of blank shock etched on his face.
“Miss Sashalia!” Gaius yelled, dropping to his knees beside her. Sashalia knew she’d never forget the sight of him running to her, calling her name like that—not for as long as she lived.
There was so, so much she wanted to tell him. She wanted to cling to him and never let go. But she pushed all of that down, and instead cried, “I’m okay, sir...! Emon needs you! The villagers fled into the woods, but they’re being pursued! Please, they all need your help more than me!”
For just a brief moment, Gaius wavered. But he nodded to her, stifling his own urge to cry. He stood and took off running at blazing speed.
Sashalia listened to his footfalls for as long as she could before collapsing back into the grass. Her body and spirit had both reached their limits. Her vision and her consciousness faded to black as her eyes closed. Sashalia sank into a deep, deep darkness.
＊
Gaius had saved the kobolds that fled the village, restraining the two adventurers that pursued them. Only Cyril had managed to escape. After returning to the dried riverbed, he found ten dead adventurers...and six fallen kobolds. Although their plan to ambush the humans had been successful, their tactics could only go so far towards making up for the huge disadvantage that kobolds faced against humans. It appeared that some had failed to outrun their pursuers, while others had been forced into combat. They’d successfully defended the village from the Ryburgh Adventurers’ Guild, but not without losses.