28 Arc 3 - Benjen "Frosteye" Snow
Benjen "Frosteye" Snow is a man of average height, approximately 180cm. With dark hair and simple features. His left eye is brown but his right eye is the color of ice, hence his nickname.
`Heterochromia, I have never met anyone who had it before. And the first person with heterochromia I'll ever meet is the man who almost killed me two weeks ago. The man I am going to kill.`
Ikarus transforms into one of the bandits he slaughtered the night before and enters the village .
***
`People are wary of me and they are quite afraid`
The man he transformed into is 174cm tall, quite ordinary in appearance, with neither scars nor particularly ugly facial features. The only thing that could be threatening in his person is the sword at his waist.
`They know who he is. These villagers know that this man was a member of Bloodbrothers`
Which confirms his suspicions.
Like Fjorn, this village is under the control of the gang.
`At least there are no corpses in the village square`
He winces as he remembers the massacred family.
`Poor souls. I will fulfill my promise`
And that is the main reason Ikarus embarked on this hunt, to fulfill the promise he made to Mina, Lucan, and Alys.
The bounty on Frosteye's head is a bonus, and ridding this world of this scum is a bonus.
It didn't even cross young Senju's mind to go after the bandits on his own behalf, as revenge for attacking and nearly killing him. No, for him this mission is a search for justice on behalf of the murdered family. On behalf of all the innocent lives taken by these monsters.
`A man is as good as his word.`
***
Ikarus circled the village twice and did not find the bandit.
`He has to be here!`
But his certainty diminishes with each passing hour, doubt creeps in. He begins to doubt the information Torrhen gave him, and worst of all-he begins to doubt his own judgment.
`What if I'm wrong? What if Torrhen is not a good person? And if I condemned those women to more tortures for trusting the wrong person.`
"The Ship!" He exclaims as he looks out to sea.
The drakkar is the only place he hasn't looked.
He begins to walk towards the dock with a firm and quick step.
He ignores the fishermen and heads straight for the drakkar.
Next to the boat sitting on the docks are four men.
`Bandits`
The weapons on their waists give them away.
"Harrion!" One of them greets him.
`Harrion` salutes them back.
"What are you doing here? You should be at camp!"
"The boss! Where's the boss?!" Ikarus speaks urgently, feigning fear.
"Why are you looking for him?" A man with copper-red hair and a nasty scar on his face looks at him suspiciously.
`Harrion` leans closer and whispers.
"Smallfoot attacked the camp! I barely made it out alive"
The four bandits get up and quickly enter the drakkar.
"Come on! What are you doing standing there idiot?"
"Aye, the boss will want to see you!"
`Harrion` follows them.
The red-haired bandit opens a trapdoor and goes down into the drakkar's hold. The others go down after him.
The hold is only one and a half meters high, the men have to walk crouching.
Once inside, a bandit closes the trapdoor.
"How much did that dwarf pay you?" The redhead asks as he pulls out a dagger.
Ikarus notices that the others are also drawing their weapons.
`Shit. It was a trap`
"I-I don't know what you're talking about brother!" Ikarus feigns nervousness.
"The boss ordered that no one approach Oakwood, NO ONE breaks Frosteye's orders."
"The only person scarier than Frosteye is his son."
"Stop playing games Harrion, you never had much luck to begin with."
The shinobi sighs, realizing he's not going to get out of this talking.
`Frosteye is close, and these assholes know where. I'll have to use force.`
He channels his chakra throughout his body and moves like a blur.
Before the bandits can react they are all disarmed.
Ikarus drops their weapons to the ground.
"W-what?"
They are stunned.
The shinobi grabs the bandit near the trapdoor and throws him at the other three.
Ikarus walks towards them twirling her dagger between his fingers.
`Interrogating them will be bloodier than interrogating a frightened villager. Curiously, I don't feel disgusted by what I'm about to do.`
***
Ikarus exits the drakkar, once again hidden under a henge.
`To much blood in my clothes. Need new ones soon`
He calmly walks through the village until he comes to a two-story house.
`I didn't find him in the village because he is hidden. Torrhen did not lie.`
His mind settles, he no longer fears for those women`s sake.
`They'll be fine, Torrhen will take them home.`
The house is identical to many others in the area, with wooden walls and thatched roof.
He looks around and sees several people.
He keeps walking. He turns into an alley and after checking that no one is watching him he scales a wall to the roof.
Once on the roof he jumps from house to house until he reaches his target.
`The bad thing about thatched roofs is that they are not very solid. Bad for them, good for me.`
Ikarus cuts a square in the ceiling, channels chakra into his palm, sticks the piece of ceiling to his hand and lifts it up. He sets it aside and looks inside.
A simple bedroom with a bed, a nightstand and a closet.
The shinobi enters through the hole, lands on a beam and gets down silently.
He quietly opens the door. He walks out into the hall and to another door.
He channels chakra into his ears, improving his hearing.
He hears someone snoring in a room, opens the door and sees a man sleeping in a bed. He has blonde hair.
`He is not Frosteye but he must be a bandit`
He approaches the man and quickly slits his throat.
He leaves the room and goes downstairs.
He sees three doors, one facing the street.
The other two he doesn't know where they go, maybe the kitchen, maybe a living room.
He transforms into the man he had just murdered and confidently walks into one of the rooms.
It is a living/dining room. There is a fireplace with two comfortable chairs in front of it, a table with six chairs, and various other pieces of furniture.
Sitting in one of the chairs by the fireplace is a middle-aged man, in his mid-forties, with dark hair and heterochromatic eyes.
`Benjen Frosteye`
"Have you already woken up, love?" His voice is soft and caring, nothing like what he expected from an infamous killer.
`Love? This man is his lover?`
Ikarus was not expecting it. He logically knew that there are homosexuals and bisexuals in this world, Renly and Oberyn being the most well known. So he is not surprised that he knows one.
What surprises him is the care and love in Frosteye's eyes.
`Even monsters can love`
Benjen is a monster, what he did to Mina and her children is proof of that. But even the shinobi found it too cruel to kill someone using the face of a lover.
Or maybe he wanted the last face the bandit sees to be his own, Ikarus Senju.
Ge drops the transformation.
The bandit's eyes widened in shock, his hand moving to the letter opener on a small table next to his chair. But Ikarus is faster, he quickly approaches the bandit and plunges his dagger into his chest.
He puts a hand over his mouth to muffle his scream.
Within moments Benjen Frosteye is dead.
***
`I was expecting something more.`
Ikarus leaves the house at dusk, exiting through the hole in the roof. He carries several bags with him. One of them contains Frosteye's head and the others all the valuables things he found in the house.
`Loot is loot.`
***
NOTE:
New story - Prince of the Desert
Harry dies and is reborn as Doran Martell. Lots of politics. Exploration, Magic,...
