Unto the Ages

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“How dare yo-” was all Thak got out before Grud’s huge hand wrapped around Thak’s throat and effortlessly lifted him off the ground.

 

As Thak was suspended in mid-air and choking, Grud turned to the 2 sisters and said, “Go! Call Yara.”

 

Just as he finished saying that, Tala’s eyes went wide in alarm and shouted. “Look out!”.

 

That warning was swiftly followed by a stabbing pain in the bicep of the arm that was holding Thak aloft. When Grud looked back, he saw that Thak had stabbed his arm with a copper knife and was trying to drag it along his dense muscles.

 

Grud did not falter in his grip on Thak’s neck and immediately seized Thak’s hand that was still holding the knife, then pulled the knife, along with Thak’s hand, out of his own arm. After the knife was out of his arm, Grud increased his grip strength on the knife wielding hand. This made Thak start letting out a choked scream as the sound of his finger bones started cracking.

 

Grud looked back at the sisters and jerked his head to the door “Go. Yara.” taking that as their queue, the sisters scampered off. 

 

After the sisters left, Grud turned his attention back to Thak and looked into his fearful yet hate filled eyes. Thinking that he did not need to put up with the attitude of someone who attempted to rape women who he took a liking to and had actually stabbed him, Grud tighten his grip more while twisting Thak’s arm

 

Grud could see Thak trying to say something, but the grip around his throat only made him sputter with choking sounds, but Grud did not care. Grud kept on twisting and gripping Thak’s arm until he heard a crunching sound as he felt Thak’s hand in his grip give way.

 

This elicited more choked screaming from Thak, but Grud kept going. The next thing that happened was the sound of Thak’s elbow being dislocated by Grud’s twist. 

 

While Grud was breaking his arm, Thak was punching and kicking Grud with his other limbs to no apparent effect. That struggle stopped when Grud let go of Thak’s mangled arm and backhanded Thak across the face.

 

The force of Grud’s backhand sent Thak’s vision swimming, this was swiftly followed up by a slap to the other side of his face that sent blood and teeth flying out of Thak’s mouth.

 

As Grud was winding for another strike, he noticed the 2 men who were holding the sisters down were getting to their feet and with sticks in their hands. Grud did not even bother with them and used his mana to face-plant them back down to the ground.

 

The 2 men Grud face-planted tried to get up a few more times, only to be face-planted into the ground again with a downward blast of mana. Once they gave up, Grud turned his attention back to Thak and backhanded him again, sending more blood and teeth flying.

 

But just as Grud was about to slap Thuk again, Chief Jorah burst into the room, and when he saw Grud about to strike his son, he shouted at Grud. Grud did not recognize all the words, but he recognized the words “Son” and “Down” and got the meaning of the sentence. Grud released Thak and he crumpled into a sniveling pile.

 

After which, Grud just walked off the side of the room, only stopping to rip the tunic off one of the men he just crippled to wipe the blood off his stab wound.

 

—

 

Jorah ran to his son and saw the state he was in. his cheeks were swollen and blood was dripping from a mouth of missing teeth. His eyes went down to Thak’s right arm, the elbow looked out of place and bent at an angle that was not supposed to be bent.

 

Looking further along the arm, he saw Thak’s mangled hand crushed into place around the grip of the copper dagger he gave Thak upon his coming of age.

 

When the sisters came pounding on his door and told him and Yara that Thak attempted to rape them and beat up Grud, he did not want to believe it, but deep in his heart, he knew that all the complaints over the years were not all just hot air.

 

As he looked around at all the men on the ground, he recognized all of them as his son’s followers, he also noticed they were all armed with sticks.

 

Needing to know the truth, Jorah walked over to one of the crippled men who were still conscious. He grabbed him by the hair and dragged him out of the house.

 

Once the screaming man was well outside Yara’s house, Jorah drew his knife and put it to the man’s throat, “Tell me what you were doing in the witch doctor’s house, and it better be the truth, if I question another of your friends and get a different story, I will end you.”

 

Jorah saw the fear and panic in the man’s eyes as he started spilling all that he knew, and the more he heard, the more anger he felt, but that anger was for no one but himself.

 

By the time the man was done spilling all that he knew, even some irreverent information, some of the guards who noticed the commotion came over.

 

Jorah passed the man he just interrogated to the guards to hold and went back inside for another of his son’s lackeys, when the interrogation of the second man turned up with more or less the same answers, he hung his head in disgrace.

 

‘I have been a disgrace of a father. I was too scared of losing my only remaining son and letting him run wild, now he has become a rabid beast that just bit the tail of a monster.’ Jorah thought to himself as he knew what he needed to do, but did not have the stomach to do it.

 

Jorah looked up at the sky and thought ‘Ancestors… looks like my son is not fit to lead after all. I can only hope I live long enough to raise his son into a proper man to take my place as Chief.’

 

When Jorah went back into Yara’s house, Yara was there picking up the mess her house had become, the 2 sisters were helping her and Grud was dragging his assailants to where his son was still lying in a heap.

 

Jorah waved his men in and pointed at the piled-up men on the ground, “Bring them out of the witch doctor’s house.”

 

When Jorah exited Yara’s home, there was already a crowd of people outside curious about the commotion that was happening at the witch doctor’s home.

 

After gathering the 6 beaten men together, Jorah looked to the sky once more, and said a silent prayer to his late wife, ‘My love, as a father, I am sorry I have to do this to our son, but as a Chief of the village, it needs to be done. We cannot afford to offend such a powerful witch doctor, if he wanted to, he could have easily killed all 6 of them, but he left it to his hosts.’

 

He then turns to the crowd and announces “People of Riversong. Even though there were no lives lost today by the attack of the Tyrant, it grieves my heart to say they we will have lost 6 people today.”

 

There were whispers among the people, wondering who had died even though the chief said no lives were lost, “6 men, including one of my own blood, have perpetrated a grave offense against an esteemed guest of our land, the slayer of the Tyrant. Their heinous act of aggression and attempted dishonor upon two of our guest’s women, guests under our sacred roof, stands as an abomination to our principles of hospitality.”

 

Nothing was official yet, but Jorah announced it as so, practically already marrying Tala and Kaya to Grud.

 

“It is with a heavy heart that I decree their banishment from our village. Though one is my own son, no privilege nor bond shall shield him from the consequences of his grievous actions. Their presence within our community shall cease henceforth, and they shall find their dwelling beyond the bounds of our village.”

 

With that said, he asked Yara to set their broken bones and told the guards guarding the 6 broken men to throw the banished men out of the village with each a spear and a week's food supply when their bones had been set.

 

All the while, from the moment his banishment was announced, Thak and his lackeys had been begging Jorah not to go through with the banishment, But after giving them 1 last look, Jorah hardened his heart and walked away, leaving a crying Thak who was bemoaning his fate and cursing Grud.

 

When he went back into Yara’s home, he saw Yara sitting at the dining table while Tala and Kaya were hugging and sobbing against a calm but slightly confused looking Grud, but seeing that he was not rejecting the advances of the 2 women, Jorah took it as a good sign that Grud would accept the peace offering of marrying Tala and Kaya to him and proposed the arrangement as such.