89 (IN) Chapter 11 - Rudon and Waxer Part 03

"We're going through" Rudon swiftly mounted his horse as he signaled to the men behind him that they were cutting through the Tarasque's burrow.

But as the four young ex-bandits under Waxer were about to follow Rudon, Waxer's muscular arms halted their advance.

Shouting: "Are you crazy?! We're not going through there!" Waxer exclaimed as he pointed in the direction where the terrifying howl came from.

"Oh yeah? Then you'd rather get eaten by wolves instead, huh. Is that it?" Rudon pointed out the wolf howls they heard after the Tarasque's howl.

"Well, I'd rather fight off wolves than get smashed ta shreds by a fuckin' dragon! Me and my boys won't be going in there" Waxer angrily challenged Rudon. And he had every right to do so. In fact, even Foot and the two other hunters behind Rudon were starting to doubt whether they should follow Rudon through the Tarasque's burrow. It was a Tarasque, after all, a large turtle-like and Earth-Bound low-level Dragon that was the stuff of legends, especially among the southern parts of Brune where Tarasque are said to migrate and leave their eggs behind making the South a breeding pit for the beasts.

But of course, since Rudon had never made a mistake when he led them back when they were just small-time village Hunters, Foot and the two hunters behind Rudon stayed, giving him a false sense of security as he chewed Waxer out, saying: "Fine, you and your boys won't cooperate? Then don't. You go that way, we go this way. Just don't expect us to save your sorry asses when the wolves eat you up alive. Heya!" Rudon angrily ordered the team to split up as he couldn't stand Waxer's nagging, riding his horse faster through Tarasque territory.

But before the Hunters from Rudon's group separated, Waxer threw them the extra supplies Rudon had ordered them to carry, shouting back to Rudon: "Fine then! But don't expect us to carry this shit. We've got enough baggage slowin' us down... We don't need yours" Waxer angrily snorted.

Rudon and his men swiftly rode through the Tarasque's territory as fast as they could, trying their best to be as quiet as they can.

Sadly, in order to get a full rundown of the Area the army was supposed to pass through, Rudon and the other Hunters had to get at least the basic layout of the terrain, even if they only needed to pass through.

Their snooping however didn't go unnoticed by the already awake Tarasque as it hurled at the first chance it got in ambushing the four Hunters.

*ROOOOWLLLL* An angry high-pitched roar came from the serrated teeth-filled beak of the beast.

"Beast in front!" Rudon shouted as he informed the riders behind him, anticipating that they would've met the beast one way or another.

Rudon and the others rode and rode as quickly as possible, luckily for them, the 20-foot tall adolescent beast was slower than the gallops of their horses.

Unluckily for them, however, because of the adolescent nature of the Tarasque coming after them, it was much quicker due to its youth than what Rudon had expected, as it nearly caught the slowest one of the four with a great large stomp of one of its enormous mountain-like arms.

*BAMMM!*

A large thud came from behind the fourth Hunter as he struggled to keep up as most of the supply bags discarded by Waxer's group got dumped on him, making his luggage the heaviest and slowest.

"Foot! Get Danny's share of the load!" Rudon ordered.

"Danny! Hand over some o your luggage!" Foot shouted back at Danny, the fourth Hunter behind him.

Danny threw some of the heavy supplies he had at Foot, but as he was about to throw the second batch, the Tarasque's swift large head creepily extended, chomping off Danny's arm in an instant.

*ARGHHHHGHGHGHGH!* Danny shouted as he instinctively threw the rest of the supplies halting the Tarasque due to curiosity, buying Danny and the other Hunters time to temporarily escape the Tarasque.

"ARGHHHGRAAAUGHHHH!"

Danny's loud screams echoed throughout the forest, loudly piercing Rudon's earbuds.

*Tch* Rudon snapped at the grave situation he led them to.

Rudon and the Hunters behind him kept riding and riding. Danny's cries finally subsided. Rudon and the other Hunters didn't know if he was still living as his body was crouched close hugging the horse he was riding as the beast followed the other horses.

Rudon could still hear the great footsteps of the Tarasque behind them getting closer one fast step at a time. Rudon knew it was just a matter of time before they were caught by the endless stamina of the Tarasque, [Danny's probably first to go, huh] Rudon regretted to himself.

But as all hope seemed lost to Rudon, sounds of men and some wolves fighting could suddenly be heard.

[A chance...] Rudon thought as he directed his peers towards the scene of the battle.

What met Rudon and the three Hunters behind him was a dismounted Waxer and four other youths fighting a large group of wolves. The ex-bandits horses visibly missing.

Rudon saw Waxer and a gleeful feeling yet devious feeling welled inside him.

[If I sacrifice these bandits and these wolves to the Tarasque, me and the boys might just escape] Rudon selfishly thought, and rightfully so from what these bandits put him and his family through.

But then a flash of pure innocence came to his mind as the memory of his young daughter, smiling, came to him. Then Rudon saw the young faces of the ex-bandit youths, some not even 16 yet, forced to this life of wretchedness, and a surge of selfless altruism was ignited within Rudon to temporarily forgive.

"WAXER! WAXXERRR! Get ready! The Tarasque's coming!" Rudon shouted to inform the ex-bandits in front of them.

Rudon and the Hunters behind him, managing to pick up Waxer and the four youths managed to time a quick miraculous maneuver as they strafed to the side, making the narrow-sighted Tarasque pursue the wolves instead.

The Hunters managed to find shelter in a cave that night. Gathered in silence around a small campfire.

Waxer and Rudon sat down while the other older Hunters tended to the heavily wounded and bleeding youths from the fangs of wolves, and of course, Danny's arm was given some first-aid. Sadly his life was still 50-50 from this ordeal.

Waxer himself was tending to his heavily bleeding wounds, finally breaking his silence with a silent chuckle: *Huahaha...*

"What's so damned funneh?" Rudon snapped.

"I guess the supplies were useful..." Waxer quipped harmlessly, earning the ireful and scary stare Rudon silently made, making Waxer instantly meek.

After some time when the air finally relaxed and the other Hunters were fast asleep, Rudon resignedly sighed as he admitted to Waxer: "We should've never went out at night..."

"Wha-?"

"I said you were right!" Rudon snapped at Waxer again, thinking Waxer was playing deaf to make him repeat his shameful admittance of defeat.

Sadly for the confused Waxer who was indeed truly slightly deaf, he didn't know what Rudon was getting fussy about.

Rudon: "If we followed your route, we could've fought off the Wolves, instead of that..."

Reading the situation, Waxer answered in earnest: "No... Maybe if we, if I... Followed orders, our unit could've easily outrun the Tarasque..." [Especially if the supply baggage was equally distributed] Waxer painfully tried to admit his own mistakes. Well, at least he tried to. Sadly the rough years of solitude in the toxic environment he grew up in prevented him from saying his apologies.

"And besides, we're already out've Tarasque territory... After some sleep, we can finally report... back" Waxer sighed as if finally signaling the phyric success of the scouting mission despite the grave wounds incurred.

The Army's meeting point was just up ahead. Before daybreak, the group of Hunters could probably easily report back to camp since they've now got a gist of the local geography.

The group even successfully managed to redirect Duke's army from going straight into Tarasque territory, which would've probably killed everyone if the Army was to accidentally pass through. A Tarasque, even if still a juvenile, was a monster capable of tearing down hundreds of men. A testament to how small humanity is in this dangerous world.

"Well... Get some sleep, we're returning tomorrow" Rudon ended the conversation cordially as he himself went to bed.

"Did you find him?!" A soldier shouted.

"No!" Another soldier shouted back.

The next day, back in Pendragon Army, everyone was searching everywhere as Waxer, a dangerous war-criminal was missing from his normal quarters in the Hunter's area.

*Leaves and bushes shuffling* When Waxer finally returned early along with the four youths behind him, they were immediately surrounded by soldiers and was confronted by Duke.

"Where were you last night?! I knew you'd try to escape you piece of scum!" Duke angrily lashed. He still hasn't forgiven Waxer for Annie's sad and early fate, and maybe Duke never will...

"We just scouted ahead milord!" One of the youths answered in place of the silent Waxer.

"Scouted... righht... Where's Rudon?..." Duke fiercely looked at Waxer, filled with suspicion.

Luckily for the ex-bandits, Rudon and the other three veteran hunters came at that exact right moment.

"Milord! We've just come back from a dangerous night of recon, and have proudly scouted out the full path our Army will take..." Rudon proudly reported to Duke, whilst Duke's initial menacing demeanor went back to his usual friendly self.

"Ah Rudon, there you are! you made me worry goddammit! How bout' them? Where they part of this 'nightly' recon?" Duke asked in a joking manner.

"Ah, milord! I am not worthy of your worries!... And yes milord, they've contributed greatly last night, saved out sorry asses right in the nick of time..." Rudon bowed greatly, followed by the other Hunters kneeling.

"Excellent job as always Rudon!" Duke praised, but then slowly looking at the direction of the bowing Waxer.

"You too Waxer... good job"

And for the first time in Waxer's life, he heard someone's compliment, without the malicious intent lurking behind the honest words.

After Duke and the other soldiers left to prepare for march, Waxer and the other Hunters were ordered by Rudon to go back to their stations. Leaving Rudon alone to put the little remaining supplies back to the storage cart.

As he was loading the supplies back, Waxer approached unexpectedly, saying:

"Hey... I'm just here, to say... A-Thanks, for what you did back there..." Waxer tried to articulate his words as best he could, holding out his hand as a sign of friendship, still subconsciously happy about the things that happened earlier.

But Rudon instead just looked at the stretched-out arm, ignoring Waxer's deluded gesture of friendship.

Gravely saying to Waxer:

"I don't know what you think you're doing, or what friendship you think's between us. But don't get me wrong. We are NOT friends. And we will never be. And I have NOT forgiven you. And I never will..." Rudon walked away. Leaving another Waxer let down for thinking that even once he had the chance to build something for himself.

Waxer should've been used to disappointment by now, by all accounts, him and his life has been nothing but disappointment all throughout.

But for some reason, this one stung a little bit more than usual...