The Lieutenant

"Get up, mutt!" The man's voice was gruff and he looked at the small girl at his feet like she was a beaten stray pup abandoned in the rain.

The taste of copper filled the girl's mouth as she clenched her teeth, glaring at the man towering over her in silver-steel armor. She spit the blood from her mouth and used her bony, shaking leg as a support to get to her feet before holding a battered iron sword twice her height in front of her.

"Still got some fight in ya, huh?" the knight said, clicking his tongue. "I'll give you mongrels that; you've always had spirit."

The girl didn't reply. Instead she kept her ruby red eyes locked onto the man in front of her, ignoring everything else. She didn't blink, even as rain trickled from her short grey bangs into her eyes. Her body was covered in mud and every step she took felt like she was making it with bricks strapped to them. Even the rags she wore were so soaked she could hardly move in them. 

A flash of lightning ignited the dark sky, signaling the girl to strike. Though her body felt sluggish from the extra weight, she moved like a pantheress, leaping at her prey. As she neared the man, she somersaulted forward adding the momentum to her strike to make up for her weaker physique.

"That's more like it! And here I was worried that the Lieutenant had wasted my time when he asked to spare you!"

"DIE!" The girl's voice was shrill and raspy from exhaustion. Though she wasn't even half his height, the man forced her to fight him everyday with the promise that he'd free her if she landed a single hit. For three weeks she'd tried and for three weeks the man had battered her around like a practice dummy, beating her until her frail body couldn't move anymore before tossing her back into an empty kennel.

Her life hadn't always been like this. Coming from a clan of warriors who had served the AllFather family since the kingdom's creation, she had lived a strict, but privileged life. She had never known the pain of an empty stomach or known bite of a winter night. Those types of challenges were reserved for members of the clan old enough to take up arms in the AllFather's name. She was far too young.

"I like your spunk," the knight said, grinning as he casually deflected the girl's strike with his polished sword. "But filth like you should know its place." His thick, metal-gloved hands clamped around the girl's neck, squeezing it until she felt her red eyes bulge from her head. Her arms flailed, dropping the iron sword too heavy for her to swing and she beat her fists against the uncrackable steel shell encasing the man's arms until they were bruised and bleeding.

Blow after blow, kick after kick the girl struggled to break free, but her petite, feeble body was helpless against the man's god given power and soon her limbs hung limp at her sides.

"Tsk. Was that it? How has she gotten worse, Humphrey?"

"I cannot say," a middle-aged man, with neatly trimmed blond hair, in armor responded from the sidelines down on one knee. "Perhaps if she were given more time to re—"

Humphrey reeled, tumbling backward into the soaked dirt as the girl's ragged body bashed into his face. As he fell back, he wrapped his arms around her, protecting her from the crushing weight of his armored body. He spat several curses under his breath that he hoped the pattering rain would cover and gently laid the dark skinned girl beside him.

"Sir, if I had known you would treat her—"

"Her?" The man who had thrown the girl stalked closer to Humphrey. Rain drops splattered against his freshly shaved head and he glared with icy blue eyes. Compared to Humphrey, he was easily a head taller, with shoulders twice as broad, and on those shoulders rested a sword taller than himself. "It's not a person, Humphrey. It's lucky enough to be treated like a dog."

"Sir, regardless of her species, she's still—"

A heavy boot connected with Humphrey's nose and he fell back, sprawled on the ground. Rain and blood dripped down his face as he stared up at the flickering clouded sky.

"If you keep your mouth shut, I'll leave it at that, Lieutenant. But if you continue to disrespect me and, more importantly, the KING by defending that beast, I'll have you strung up from a tree next to her."

"Understood, Captain" Humphrey groaned through gritted teeth, rolling to his side to pull himself up. Before he could, the Captain's armored boot kicked him over again while the bald man laughed.

"I'm doing this for your own good, Humphrey. Mercy is a weakness. I've only kept that creature alive to teach you that. Now on your feet." Humphrey didn't say anything as he obeyed the order, his eyes glancing at the girl a few feet away. She was breathing, though barely.

"…What should we do with her?" he dared to ask, hoping his submissive tone would benefit the girl.

"I wonder… You're due for your promotional hearing soon, correct?"

"Yes, Sir," Humphrey replied. His nose had already swollen to the size of a strawberry and he struggled to keep his vision from blurring. "I'm being considered for the rank of Vice-Captain of the Royal Guards."

"Vice-Captain," the Captain mused. He swung his behemoth sword in front of him, the blade a hair's breadth away from Humphrey's eyes, before placing the tip at the mouth of a scabbard far too small for the blade. Slowly, but surely, however, the blade slid in, shrinking down until it was snuggly nestled in. Then, he drew a dagger from his belt. "That's an awfully big responsibility. I'd be a terrible superior if I didn't prepare you. How about I give you one final lesson?"

Humphrey shifted uncomfortably in his boots, his fists clenched at his side. His head ached from his broken nose and it took all of his mettle to remain standing. He had a sneaking suspicion at what the Captain was implying, but he wanted to believe otherwise. The Captain wasn't normally this cruel; by all accounts, he was a respectable and honorable man. It was only because of the girl's origins that he was acting this way and Humphrey was being punished for bringing her to camp.

"I would be honored to receive your tutelage," Humphrey said through his clenched jaw. "What would you ask of me?"

The Captain examined the flawless blade of the finely honed dagger in his hand before flipping it over and offering the grip to Humphrey. "Cleanse my camp of that demon filth."

Humphrey's hand hesitated before reaching the dagger, his eyes darting to the unconscious girl praying that she would wake up. Or maybe that she wouldn't. There was no way for him to disobey a direct order and he didn't think he could do it if she were awake.

"As you comman…!"

Both Humphrey and the Captain stared in shock as a head of choppy grey hair appeared between them. Neither could understand the turn of events, nor could they stop the dark-skinned girl from snatching the dagger and jamming it into the gap between the Captain's groin and thigh. She snaked the blade around the gargantuan man's joint, drenching the girl in a spray of crimson that showered from the night sky.

"You… Bitch!" The Captain groaned, grabbing the girl by the wrist. A soft crunch could be heard between his fingers and the girl yelped in pain. "I'LL FUCKING KILL Y-"

The Captain's final words were cut off by Humphrey's sword as it silently pierced his throat. His superior stared at him in disbelief, the man's eyes cursing the lieutenant with his final stolen breath. The death grip he'd had on the girl's wrist slipped as the last of his strength fled his body and he collapsed in a muddy splat on the ground.

"Why… Did… You… Do… That?" the girl asked, her red eyes struggling to remain open as she stared up at him. "I… Could… Have… Handled… It…"

Humphrey's sword quivered in his trembling hand and he couldn't tear his eyes away from the blood pooling from the Captain's body at his feet. He'd just murdered someone. Not someone, a superior officer! And for what? Child or not, no one would care because she was a demon. He'd be executed.

"Run," he finally said, looking down at the scraggly little girl beside him. "Run back to your people."

The girl shook her head vigorously, sending water flinging from her short hair and pointed ears. "No… One… Left…"

"Of course there's not," Humphrey said, smiling wryly and letting his sword drop from his hand. "Of course there's not."