Venatores Noctis: Bastard Inheritor: Chapter 2 – Willfully Down and Out

Chapter 2 – Willfully Down and Out

There are very few settlements in the world that are neither allied with the Church nor the vampires. These places are filled with beastmen, the faithful who have been disillusioned, and others who wish to be left alone. As a result of their being on neither side, they are taken over by either side or completely wiped out if viewed as a threat. The one that Nave finds himself in seems to be a fair and humble place where people work hard day in and out to survive off their small farms and through trade with wandering merchants. With a few pieces of gold that he has on him, Nave buys some fruit, water, and finds a quiet place under a tree to rest. He eats while watching people pass by and act as if he isn’t really there, which he doesn’t mind.

“I can work with this,” Nave says to himself before he closes his eyes to rest.

Seemingly no time passes until something wakes Nave up from his sleep. He overhears a tax collector coming to collect their share for the upkeep of the community. The specifics of the conversation are willingly blocked out by Nave who wishes to not be involved in it and assumes that the trouble to due to the poor nature of this kind of living. To his relief, the situation ends and nothing else happens. More time passes before something else wakes Nave up.

Soldiers and messengers of the Church come to offer aid and ask the leaders of the settlement if they will join their home with theirs. A debate starts among them with the soldiers of the Church walking around in the town since they can do nothing to add to the conversation and are only there to escort and protect the messengers.

One of the soldiers sees Nave, approaches him, and then asks, “Aren’t you Nave Meridies, the leader of the serf army?”

“It’s the beastmen army,” Nave corrects.

“Serf, beastman. It's all the same as far as I'm concerned. What are you doing here?”

“Nothing.”

“Keep it that way.”

Ignoring the soldier, Nave tries to rest his eyes for longer, however, this rest is short as a bestial child wakes him up.

“Huh? What do you want?”

“Aren’t you Nave Meridies? The wolves are trying to take over the town. Can’t you help us?” the child asks Nave.

“I probably can, but I won’t.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because it’s not worth it.”

“But aren’t you a great leader and humble servant of God?”

“I’m less than nothing as far as I know.”

“No, you’re not! You’re a hero to many beastmen and normal people!”

“Listen, if you want something to be done, here, do it yourself. It’s what I told my soldiers.”

Nave gives the boy his dagger.

“What? But I’m too scared to do anything!”

“Then run away or don’t do anything like I am.”

“I can’t do that. My family and friends are in danger.”

“If you have those, you’re a thousand times more blessed than you think. I don’t have the luxury of having such basic blessings. Maybe you’re meant to take over for me.”

“I don’t know. I’m scared. Are you sure you can’t do anything?”

“I’m sure I won’t do anything. If you want to do something, do it soon. Indecisiveness makes things worse.”

“Okay…Okay, I’ll do something! Pray for me.”

“My prayers mean nothing to God. Just be sure not to get too far away from me since my dagger will come back to me if you do.”

“Okay, okay.”

Closing his eyes again, Nave sleeps for a short while before a loud thud on the ground wakes him up to the sight of the bestial boy’s dead body being thrown in front of him by a vampire wolf dressed in the armor of a soldier of the Church. Seeing the boy’s lifeless body triggers something within Nave that makes him want to act especially when he sees the tears in the boy’s dead eyes, his cut throat, and bloody chest which makes it apparent that he was killed violently to make an example of him.

Still, Nave says as nonchalantly as he can, “Can I help you, sir?”

“This boy had your weapon. Care you explain how that happened?” the wolf says.

“Children can be reckless. What do you want me to say? I’m not responsible for what he did.”

The wolf looks at Nave funny along with the others. Nave’s manners give off the idea that he won’t do anything, however, a feeling within Nave keeps pushing him to do something. It doesn’t help that the boy’s body won’t stop appearing in his vision even when he looks away from him as if the boy is still asking Nave for his help. Seeing that he’s not doing anything the wolves continue subjugating the townspeople through force.

“You serfs ought to join us, the true worshippers of God. Through your service, you will erase your sin of serving the vampires and ascend from your lesser nature. By sacrificing your baptized infants for God and becoming like us, you will gain you instant redemption and a sure ticket into Heaven. Resisting our will is a grave sin against God and is punishable by death,” a wolf says.

In the chaos of the wolves and beastmen fighting each other, Nave still tries to sleep and ignore what’s going on until his eyes seemingly open by themselves to see a bestial child crying as he is being held by the throat and taken away from his parents by a wolf for their blasphemous baptism for those who wish to be like them.

“That kid is more blessed than I. I only get to see my parents as spirits and even that rarely happens,” Nave focuses on.

The jealously that blinds Nave is lifted when the wolf gets its sword to cut the infant. This event forces him to get up and toss his dagger into the head of the wolf killing it and allowing the parents to take their child. Everyone is now focused on Nave who gets up and materializes his dagger back into his hand so he can fight. He manages to take down three more wolves before he feels overwhelmed by the other five who swarm him. That is until his guardian angel appears and kills them for him.

“It really is an Aurora,” one of the beastmen says.

“It’s Nave Meridies!”

“Our hero!”

“Tch,” Nave says while wiping the blood off his dagger, “I’m no hero. The corpse of the boy right there is proof. He’s dead because I wouldn’t help.”

This truth makes the beastmen hesitant to say anything else until another brings up, “But you still saved us and that’s what matters.”

“Get the Church to recompensate us for allowing this to happen to us. We are in their territory after all,” another beastman says.

“They won’t do anything for you not just because you’re beastmen or because you chose to live outside of their rule, but also because I have no sway over their decisions. Right now, they’ve kicked me out because I failed to protect the leaders from the wolves within their walls and the only way I can go back is if I reform the beastman army to fight in the final battle against the vampires that’ll happen within a week.”

A beastman steps forward and says, “Then I’ll fight with you. They’ll have to care about us if we help them win this historic battle.”

“Trust me when I say they won’t give you much if anything. It’s why I’m here and why what’s left of my army has abandoned it, but maybe we can… never mind.”

“What is it?”

“I was thinking about getting rid of the threat of the wolves within the Church, but-”

“We’ll do that then for nothing more than getting rid of that scum from the Church if they won’t reward us. I heard the wolves are rich anyway so we can take our spoils from them as our payment.”

Many of the beastmen agree with the virtuousness of this reason and the potential rewards of the secondary reason. They gather their blessed weapons and kneel before Nave to join his army and Nave feels that he has no choice but to accept their service. Afterward, they cheer and get ready to leave while talking of using their eventual victory to grandstand against the Church and possibly using it to get some respect.

Nave turns to his guardian angel and says, “I see how it is. God is making me move through a sense of duty rather than trying to comfort me in my pain first before getting me back to work, but I understand. I did sin against Him by saying what I said and I know I’m not worth comforting because of this life of suffering He’s making me endure for whatever plan He has.”

“You will find peace and comfort in this life.”

“Just not as much as I want or think I need. I know that.”

“You do have these people behind you now.”

“More people who will look up to me who I will eventually lose or disappoint or both. I know I shouldn’t say that and I’m sorry. I’m also sorry for what I said earlier and how I still feel. Well, since God isn’t giving me a break, I guess it’s time to get back to work. Just make sure my prayers don’t fall on deaf…make sure they reach Him.”

“They will.”

“And thank you for continuing to stay by me.”

Nave’s guardian angel embraces him before disappearing in a golden light. Tears almost form in Nave’s eyes, but he rubs his eyes before they can. The beastmen that can join Nave do so while those who can’t bury their dead and begin repairs done to their settlement by the wolves. With only a handful of beastmen behind him, Nave leads them to where he thinks his ex-soldiers might be. A dim sense of hope fills him as he marches with people like him. A sense that he hopes won’t leave him again.