Swiss Arms
Chapter 131
-VB-
Hans von Fluelaberg
What was happening?
There was fire in the distance that I spotted as my triumphant soldiers and rangers came cresting over the last hill before eastern Fluelaberg. But instead of a sturdy wall greeting us warmly, we saw a fire burning its way through the city.
My eyes widened when I saw my castle on fire as well.
Isabella. Albert.
My heart pounded inside my chest as I abandoned all pretense of normality and sprinted forward. The ground beneath me rushed away like the tide with how fast I moved. Each jump cleared dozens of yards. Each strike at the ground left deep footprints.
My eyes snapped up when I saw Isabella at the highest tower as the fire caught up to her. She held Albert in her arms.
"No no no no-!" I hissed.
She didn't see.
"Isabella!" I shouted.
Too far.
She couldn't hear me.
She stepped onto the ledge.
The fire roared behind her, and I could see bits of her hair catching on fire. She was holding on as long as she could!
But -.
She jumped from a four story building, holding Albert tightly in her bosom as she fell and tumbled.
"NO!" I shouted as I jumped clear over the wooden walls and into the town's eastern city center right in front of my castle's gates.
But as I landed, I saw Isabella's body fall below the skyline. I didn't stop. I immediately jumped again… and I crested over the castle wall in time to see blood leaking out of her head.
I barely managed to land. I scrambled on all four.
I came to a skidding stop next to her.
She…
Isabella wasn't breathing. So much of her was burned. She …
I looked down.
Albert… Albert wasn't breathing. His head wasn't … it wasn't the right shape.
My jaws moved but nothing came out.
I reached out. I barely felt the shakes. Breathes came too quickly. Too much. My chest hurts. It hurts. It hurts…!
My hands slid underneath her still form and pulled her toward me.
I held her and rocked back and forth while fire raged all around me.
Why? Why was this happening? Why did she have to jump? Why was she burned?
I didn't realize I was crying until I heard something other than the burning and my cries.
It was the sound of screams.
Right.
My people.
My people.
I.
I slowly let Isabella down.
"I'll be back," I croaked out. "I promise…"
Then my hand stroked Albert's ruined head. Just touching it made my heart squeeze.
"Be good to your mum, yeah?"
With clattering teeth I stood back up and turned around.
I took a deep breath in as I walked over to the gate and pushed the giant double wooden doors open.
And the scene that had escaped me previously came to the forefront like a tidal wave.
There were soldiers I didn't recognize in my city. They were burning my city. They were killing my people.
My entire body shook.
My face split into a snarling sneer.
I ran forward as I drew out my cleaver from behind my back and struck the first enemy. My cleaver struck cleanly through him and I moved onto the next.
And the next.
Spears came. I broke them. Swords came. I grabbed and pulled them to me. I punched. I swung.
It became a blur.
"That's the witch!"
I stopped and looked up.
It was … I didn't recognize the man.
There were hundreds of soldiers behind him.
"It's the witch! He's what we're here for! We're here to cleanse this land of evil!"
No no no no. You burned my home for that? You made … you made Isabella wait for me until she couldn't? You made her jump?
My breathes came hard and quick.
My teeth clattered until I bit down hard.
You did this?
I screamed.
And I rushed forward.
---
My eyes snapped open.
A dark wooden ceiling greeted me.
I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.
… A nightmare. I let out a shuddering breath, and winced at how sweaty I was.
I pulled myself up carefully as to not jostle the bed too much. I knew that I was very big and weighed a lot. Not as much as I should for the kind of power I could put out but enough that normal beds might break if I sat down on it.
I got up and out of the bed and made my way over to Albert's crib.
My son slept soundly.
My hand brushed over his deformed skull -.
I shuddered.
'Just a nightmare. Just a nightmare,' I thought to myself in repeat.
Then Albert squirmed and started to whine. I gently reached down with my hands trembling, picked him up, and cradled him in my arms.
He squirmed and fussed a bit before he settled in, leaning on my biceps like it was a pillow.
… Oh, no. He thought that was Isabella's tit. He was trying to suck but all he got was hard muscle.
I chuckled as quietly as I could.
Bah. Babies.
I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.
Again and again.
I set Albert back into his crib and went for a walk.
Maybe I should do something about the lack of fire prevention and suppression. I didn't think that the meager prevention I had in place in the castle and throughout the city was going to be enough if someone really wanted to set my town on fire.
I supposed I now had something to work toward in the short term.
-VB-
April Fools. (original Patreon/Ko-Fi post date)