Nightwatch

The Watcher

I watched the bandits dig through the remains of the caravan, my steel helmet hiding my angry scowl. This was the fifth one this month and I was losing the patience that I had built up for seven years. I would have yelled at them for being scum, I would have taken the sword in my hand and driven it through their skulls, but I couldn’t. My voice had abandoned me when I had first come to this world and the enchanted collar around my neck prevented me from taking action lest the blue furred unicorn congratulating his followers channeled his magic into the amulet around his own neck, activating my collar and sending a piercing pain through my nerves to the point I wouldn’t be able to move.

To my side stood three other male humans, their naked forms in direct contrast to my fully armored body. I gave a bestial grunt and they all snapped their attention to me, ready to do as I did. The unicorn commanded for us to follow the group of bandits, whom had finished scavenging anything of value from the wreckage, and I did. The other males followed as well, though only because I followed and not the bandits’ foolish misconceptions that they were actually competent at training humans.

They followed me, the alpha. When I had arrived in this world I had come to quickly learn that humans here were no smarter than dogs in my world. They were pets, used as social symbols, companionship for when someone needed a friend, and ‘companionship’ for when someone had gone without for too long or to fulfill some sick fantasy, or for fighting. But even if they were too dumb to perform simple math, speak, or feel emotions like I could, they were still animals with instincts. They followed the strongest, me. I obeyed the bandits under threat of indescribable pain and death and, by proxy, so did the other humans.

We arrived back at the camp the bandits had set up a week ago and they quickly went about counting the coin and figuring out what was worth how much. A gryphon broke off from the group and herded us into an area with several large cages. Two of the cages were empty, my own and the other for my three followers. But across from them, immediately drawing my eyes, were three more cages, each with four women chained to the floor. Out of the twelve women, seven were noticeably pregnant, all of them by my seed. As alpha, it was only right that I have the most children. I smiled sadly behind my helmet, happy in the thought that I was a father.

But I knew what the bandits would use the children for. They would be sold off to the highest bidder, just like the last few.

I was shoved into my cage without resisting and the men followed suit into their own cage, quickly sitting in separate corners and going to sleep. The doors to our cages slammed shut and were locked by insultingly simple lift bars. But I didn’t let the gryphon know how stupid he and his fellows were as he walked away, for assuming that they were smarter than anybody else and that I was dumber than a rock, and simply removed my poor excuse for a helmet and placed in the corner with my equally poor sword and shield.

I sat down with a grunt and leaned against the bars of my cage, shifting so that the warped steel sheets that acted as armor didn’t stab into me. I wanted to take it off so bad but to do so would show that I had learned how to untie knots and unbuckle buckles by myself, which would then lead to either me being killed off by the collar or being sold to some mad scientist for a large fortune. I snorted at the irony that they didn’t bat an eye at my physical prowess in using my sword and shield without their instruction, yet would freak out at my ability to remove and put on armor. It only reaffirmed my extremely poor thoughts about their intelligence.

With the gryphon gone, I could finally interact somewhat with my little tribe. I gave a slight hoot and every one of the women looked at me. I smiled sadly at the dull looks in their eyes, nearly hidden behind the grime from weeks without bathing. At least they weren’t emaciated. The bandits fed us well, to keep the women healthy for breeding and us men for fighting, and for that I was grateful. I gently rubbed my hands across my belly and hummed, the women all doing the same. My smile grew as several of the pregnant women looked at their bellies strangely. The babies could feel their mothers and were kicking.

I gave another hoot and they all stopped, running their hands through their hair as I did the same. Theirs was significantly longer though and I had to awkwardly brush my hands through thin air so they would get all the way through their own hair. Another hoot and I started brushing the dirt off of my armor and face, with the women once again mimicking me. This was what I did every day with my group. They understood when I wanted them to do what I did but could never learn to do it themselves, so I had made sure to keep their hygiene relatively decent to the best of my abilities.

We stopped sometime after the moon had risen above the trees when I heard a scuffle beyond several tarps that separated our cages from the rest of the camp. I stood up and placed my helmet back on and picked up my sword and shield. I gave a harsh bark and the men in the cage next to me woke immediately, eyes darting back and forth and teeth bared to defend their alpha. The women, however, shuffled into the darkest corners of their cages, huddled together for some protection.

The bandits were usually asleep around this time, so I assummed that someone was attacking. I was proven correct when one of the bandits, a minotaur this time, ran to our cages and all but yanked off the doors to mine and the other men’s cages. He yelled at us and flailed his arms in the direction of the main camp, wetting himself in the process. I nearly laughed at him until I realized that the only thing that made foolhardy, stupid, and boisterous bandits quiver like scared children was the military. I did smile at that thought and ran into the camp with my men following closely. What greeted me sent my heart soaring with glee.

A little less than two dozen Equestrian Guards, the purple armor of the dreaded Nightwatch contrasted by the bandits mismatching leather and cloth, were engaging the twenty five bandits. Already, several of the bandits had been speared or carved into by the multitude of levitating swords without a single casualty on the guards’ side, confirming the rumors I had heard of the guards of the night having better training than any other military. At least as far as actually fighting and killing went.

As soon as my little war band entered the scene, however, everyone froze. The eyes of every guard showed a slight amount of fear now, knowing that it would take at least three guards working in tandem to subdue an average human, even more when they saw me clad in steel and wielding a crude sword and shield nearly as big as them. The bandits, on the other hand, gained cocky smirks, now certain in their victory.

My eyes flicked across the battleground, hidden from my foes by the small slit in my helmet. I found the blue furred unicorn who held the only thing preventing me from joining the guard in slaughtering the bandits facing off against an earth pony wielding a spear and a Pegasus with batlike wings and little blades on their hoof guards. He glared at me, snarling with gnarled yellow teeth. “What are you waiting for? Slaughter them!” he yelled. His horn was surrounded by a yellow aura and the gem imbedded in his necklace glowed in turn, forcing me to a knee as shocks went down my spine in an attempt to spur me into a rampage.

I stood and roared with a primal fury amplified by the metal around me that sent shivers of despair down the spines of everyone present. The men behind me roared as well and charged at the guards closest to them. Once again the area was taken by the sounds of frenzied combat.

I charged through most of battle, batting away swords and spears and hoof blades while bowling over bandit and guard alike, making it as obvious as possible where I was going. The apparent leader of the guards, a bat winged mare with purple fur clad in more intricate armor than those around her, shouted to her subordinates. “Get that unicorn! He’s controlling the human with that amulet!” I grinned as six more guards descended on the already overwhelmed unicorn.

One of the pegasi dive bombed the poor stallion, pulling up as he dove out of the way. He scrambled to get back on his hooves as a spear threatened to gore his skull but failed to move quick enough to avoid two swords from flying around and slicing at legs. He tumbled unceremoniously to the ground as his tendons were cut and was immediately pierced by many spears. The necklace the stallion had been wearing had its chain cut and was sent fly right my shield hand’s palm.

Once again the battle ceased. Both side were looking at me with absolute terror now. The very thing that restrained me was now in my possession. I turned to survey the battle, noting that my men had been quickly neutralized, though at the cost of letting the bandits regroup slightly and a few extremely bruised guards. I was thankful to see that they were relatively intact, most likely taken down by a few neutralization spells.

Guard and bandit looked on in apprehension as I crushed the brittle gem in my palm, the fragments falling to the ground with an almost deafening tinkling in the silence. Then I charged the nearest bandit. He screamed in terror as the sharpened bar of metal ripped his head away from the rest of his body. Then the bandit next to him lost a leg before the one behind him found my blade in his heart.

I didn’t see any guards enter the fray after that, probably watching in some mute horror as I left a minotaur with a halfway bisected torso and kicked a stallion onto the ground before slamming the edge of my shield into his throat.

I grunted as one of the gryphons slammed into my back, forcing me face first into the ground. He tried to remove my helmet, probably to gouge my eyes out, but the ground and my face provide too much friction for it to budge. I let go of my blade and grabbed his writs, pulling him over me and standing in one smooth motion before I put my foot on his shoulder and pulled until I heard a loud pop. The pain was apparently too much for him as he immediately passed out.

Picking up my blade, I once again turned my attention to the other bandits. There were a few pegasi, the minotaur who had released me, a unicorn, and several more earth ponies. The pegasi immediately flew off, hoping to escape my wrath, but were just as quickly captured by the bat winged guards. The unicorn looked about ready to lose all control of his bowls. The only ones not scared shitless were the minotaur and earth ponies and even they were hesitant to attack.

I gave them no choice.

The earth ponies lowered their spears as I charged and the minotaur prepared to cleave me in two with his bastard sword. It was all for naught. The unsteady spears bounced off my shield and the sword imbedded itself in the earth as I sidestepped, my own blade burying itself into the bull man. A bright green bolt from the unicorn slammed into my side, making me stagger for only a moment. It was long enough for the earth ponies to try and gut me once again. Like before, the spears bounced off my shield and scraped along my armor. I was much more effective in my counter attack.

My blade cut a deep gash across the face of one of the bandits before moving on to lop off a leg from the mare next to him. I ignored the next spear wielder as another magical blast hit me, once again being far more useless than it had originally been intended, and charged the unicorn. He shrieked and let loose several uncontrolled blasts, only one hitting me while the unicorn’s comrades were blown to pieces.

His horn was surrounded by the green aura for one last attack but disappeared as his horn and most of the left side of his head were removed. He stood as still as a statue in shock for a second before gravity pulled him down.

I panted for a moment as my body dealt with the stress of moving in full armor faster than it should have been. My legs burned from carrying so much weight but I didn’t care too much. The only things that hurt more than my legs were my cheeks from the huge grin I had. In little more than a couple of minutes I had freed myself and slaughtered my captors, avenging my lost children and the many innocents I had been forced to hurt.

A branch snapped behind me and I spun around, holding the point of my blade towards the group of guards. They all stopped, shaking under my gaze after having seen me mercilessly slaughter the bandits with no trouble. Well, most of them were shaking. The mare in charge just watched me with calculating eyes. She watched as I slowed my breathing to a more acceptable pace, curious with my apparent control over myself. Then we locked eyes.

What eyes! They were red, redder than anything I had seen before. But in them I saw a sharpness so alluring I could barely tear my eyes away. But I did, turning to go make sure the women were alright. I could see from the corner of my eye as the guards watched dumbfounded as the beast that had so casually slaughtered a dozen bandits turn its back on them.

I wouldn’t attack them. I needed them. I needed them to protect my little tribe from other threats. We couldn’t stay here, not with other bandits roaming the land and my reputation in this area. We would be hunted night and day and I would eventually tire. No, the guard would take us as ‘recovered goods’ and restrict my freedom again. But the sight of my women, chained and dirty, pushed that thought away.

I grabbed the ring of keys hanging on a post and quickly went about freeing the women, gently pulling them to their feet. With only a few stumbles, I herded the twelve women into the camp proper where we were met with most of the guards cleaning up my mess and several unicorns holding chained iron collars in their magical grips. I scowled but allowed them to place the collars on the girls, only grabbing the last collar that was about to try and worm itself under my helmet. They tensed and, when they decided I wasn’t going to do anything else, one of the unicorns broke away from the group and went to whisper something to the bat mare with red eyes. She once again shot a piercing stare at me, one I returned with an intensity only she seemed to notice.

“Leave him be,” she said in a silky smooth voice. “If he acts up, I trust the six of you can quickly subdue him.” The unicorns gulped for a moment but nodded, not arguing with their commanding officer. I and the women were taken away from the camp, three pairs of floating swords and several subjugation spells prepared for any wrong move from me. Several large chariots waited for us with an even larger wooden wagon with a barred door most likely for prisoners. The bar was lifted and the doors opened to allow us to get in, also allowing me to see the men also present and chained. I waited until the last woman was on before I climbed in myself, barely fitting my bulky frame, shield, and blade. The doors slammed shut, plunging the space into pure darkness.

With every one of my little tribe crammed into the wagon, ready to be flown back to wherever the guards took us, I couldn’t help but let a content sigh escape my lips. I was moving from one master to another, of that I was sure, but I was sure my situation was improving immensely.

With the small spark of hope in my heart steadily burning, I allowed my eyes to close.