Dear Fastian Warbek: Sins Cannot Remain Unanswered

All and all, Cedric wasn't in a bad mood. His anger had began to build up a while back, but overall, he was fairly good at... eliminating that. One learned quickly to have good methods. And the Vetr did, indeed, have good methods--methods perfected to keep him in his station and those around him relatively safe. There were the occasional buttons that could be pressed, and when annoyances got far too irritating, he would sometimes accidentally slip. But usually... usually he was able to keep things under control, restraining his anger and releasing it as necessary.

"Sir!"

A dark smile blossomed over his face. It seemed as if he was about to have a little bit of stress relief.

Quietly removing the smirk, he turned. "Iduneus," he greeted the man warmly. "What do you need?"

"Vetr, the behemoths you required have been chained down." The Iduneus saluted smartly. He had never run a mission like this, and was completely clueless as to the use of the restrained behemoths. Normally Ced's use of the beasts earned more than a few raised eyebrows from those who had never seen it before.

It was why he picked only the most loyal Stalkers for such missions--they knew what they could and could not reveal, and with every moment realized that Ced's personality was a facade.

And you could see the terror in their eyes as the points connected themselves.

"Wonderful," he replied, voice almost sickly sweet. "Oh, yes, most excellent. Happen to know where my Tiro has gone?"

He had a special lesson for Anton.

"I saw him over yonder, sir."

Ced nodded. "I'll go fetch him and finish up with these behemoths. You and the crew prepare for return to the Drakonborg."

Wandering off in the direction that the Iduneus had pointed, a small smile turned up the corners of his lips as he stuck his hands in his pockets and walked alone along the streets, blades hanging at his hips. A small breeze ruffled his hair, and the Vetr relaxed in the nice afternoon.

"That, old man, is for hurting your family."

And that was Anton's voice. Ced let out a sigh. What the hell was his apprentice doing?

Walking over to the source of the sound, the Vetr found Anton beating an old man against a side of a building. One eyebrow twitched upwards. He had killed people for beating old men before, but unfortunately, he felt like that could not be an option currently. Broken Tiros were enough of a problem without him contributing to their numbers.

"That's for starving the families of the village with your ludicrous prices."

An eyebrow raised, and Cedric had to stifle a completely inappropriate giggle. Of course, inappropriate in the fact that he should wait until the performance was over to critique it.

"And that is for threatening me."

He couldn't help it, the mirth bubbled over into a laugh. Not his normal laugh, though--a touch too... chaotic. Too melodic. Too like a child's. Any experienced Stalker knew to back away when that laughter came from the Vetr. Even those that did not know him so well got a little scared when he began to act in this manner--and they had good cause to be.

"Really?" he queried between giggles, covering his mouth with one hand. "Really. You really do have anger issues. But beating old men! And here I thought we might have a problem." His laughter had subsided, just as quickly as it started, and he shook his head slowly. "The only problem is that you're letting your anger reduce you to nothing more than a common thug."

There were the thudding pawsteps of a drake as Puck hurried over. As in tune with his master as the drake was, he'd probably heard Cedric's laugh and arrived to prevent the Vetr from doing something stupid. Fortunately for the drake, Ced wasn't about to cause any special mishaps. 

Ced strode forward, grabbing the terrified, confused man by the collar and casting him away from the building with one hand. The Vetr's muscles, in combination with the old man's confusion and lack of balance, sent him careening away. And, with one blue eyebrow raised, Ced pointedly stepped between Anton and his former prey, as if daring the boy to challenge him.

He hated humanity, but his job required him to put the honor of the Drakonrhedi before his own feelings.

"From what I understand, you're punishing this man with your anger because he's a jerk." He crossed his arms, squared his stance, and prepared for his Tiro to attack him. "Anton, in case you hadn't noticed, the entire human race is one collective jerk. And, as a Drakonrhedi, you are to protect that body, not beat them senseless." He raised his chin slightly, eyes glinting coldly. "We have a larger enemy to fight than the maladroit rabble that plagues the villages and cities, something that's a bit of a bigger fish to fry. Beating your average asshole like this one will do nothing but ruin our appearance to the populace and weaken our honor. We'll become as bad as the clans, nothing more than playing pretend at protecting."

He raised one hand, pointed at Puck. "Get on the drake. We're taking a field trip."

Hopefully his apprentice would not attack him. But in case he did, Ced was prepared to catch any punches and respond in kind.

"I'm a raging individual who happens to love being able to spill blood, and that opportunity looked like a fine chance."

Ced smiled brightly. 

"Well, I hope you're in the mood for some more blood, because that's where the Captain of the Great Drake is off to next." He swung himself onto Puck, Anton getting on behind him. "Giddy up and all that."

There was a rumble from the drake beneath them, then an expanse of white opened on either side and Puck launched into the sky.

A moment of straining from the wings on either side of them, a second of the power of a drake and the arduous work that drove forward the machine of nature. Cedric let himself relax, closing his eyes and breathing an unusually happy sigh as the trio climbed further into the air, wind ruffling his dyed blue hair. 

They would not need to climb far, as they were taking a very short flight.

Puck banked, coasting on a breeze towards the outside of town. Even this far away, two large lumps that were certainly not made of the same terrain as the ground around the village could be seen.

"Don't they look darling?"

He smiled affectionately. "Apparently cuteness inspires aggression. I can certainly attest to that."

Puck went into a descent, alighting on the ground beside the two massive lumps.

Closer to the ground, it was more obvious what they were: two pyropan, each chained to the earth with thick links of steel, bound multiple times by rope as well. There was an ominous, angry rumble from the beasts as the three arrived, the other Drakonrhedi having already vacated the premises. A rather wise decision, by the Vetr's reckoning, at least.

He practically skipped over to one, crouching down in front of its muzzle, wrapped in chains and bound to the ground. The beast pulled at its bindings, a deep growl emanating from it as the Vetr smiled at it.

"Hullo, dearest heart," he greeted the beast with a pat on the head. "Aren't you a fiesty little bigger? Soon you'll be a fiery little bugger too."

Frolicking over to the next, he stopped in front of it.

"And to you as well, mister. I saw you bite a man in half earlier." He crouched down once more, stroking it affectionately. "Didn't survive. At least you'll be dying on a full stomach, hmm?"

Ced turned to Anton with a bright, unnerving smile, clasping his hands in front of his body. "Well! Shall we get started?"

He scampered up the behemoth beside him, balancing for a moment before plopping down. "I don't suppose you've ever been able to sit atop a live behemoth's back," he called. "Get up here, then. It's an experience everyone should have before they die."

The flank shuddered beneath him with each breath, like a person so angry that they couldn't stop shaking even as they inhaled. And each breath was laced with a snarl, rumbling up from the deep cavity of the beast's chest to express its utmost distaste of the man currently pressing his ear against its warm side, smiling slightly as it strained against its bonds to kill him.

"So wonderfully helpless," he murmured. Sitting straddling the behemoth's back, he pulled out a pocketknife and wedged it beneath one of the beast's scales. The behemoth tried to shake itself free, rattling the chains as Cedric used the knife as a lever to pop the scale out.

He pocketed the knife and pulled out a box of matches. "Behemoths respond wonderfully to pain," he explained happily, striking one of the matches and bringing it closer to the writhing beast. "They also really love fire."

The beast had begun snorting and whimpering, and finally it screeched as he began to light its tender flesh on fire. 

Snuffing the match by jabbing it into the beast itself, he held out the box of matches with a wide smile and both eyebrows raised.

"Want to try? We'll get to the real parts in a bit."

Cedric was rarely one to get down to business without preamble, but that sort of flourish was cast aside in favor of the more enjoyable task at hand. Besides, even he was beginning to become annoyed with himself—usually quite a difficult endeavor, although it was not so hard to get the Vetr annoyed at the entirety of humanity. He held himself in particular regard, as he found himself the most amusing, after all.

His apprentice scrambled up onto the back of the behemoth with a grin. It was good to see that this activity appealed to the youth—Ced was hoping that it would. He didn’t need the little one chasing after old men and beating them up any more, after all, it was detrimental to the Drakonrhedi. This method was probably much more efficient anyway.

"Most definitely. Wouldn't want to miss an opportunity like this."

Anton had snatched the matchbox out of the air eagerly, reminding Cedric of a snapping turtle or perhaps an eel. He’d struck a match quite quickly, clearly more than ready to get to work.

“I’m glad you have that sensibility,” the Vetr replied pleasantly. “Chances like this, even in our line of work, are few and far between. I’ve learned to savor them and take advantage of what they offer. I suggest you do the same.” He paused, lips turning upwards in a small smile. “Although it doesn’t appear like you’ll have any issues with that.”

He swung his other leg over to one side, crossing them and watching his Tiro go to work on the behemoth. Anton took a little bit to play with fire (something Cedric couldn’t blame him for without being a terrible hypocrite) before sending a match forcefully into the beast’s eye.

“Mm, I don’t think you’d want to be blind… But then again, you never give us what we want.”

Ced shrugged. “Won’t be blind for much longer.”

The Tiro had moved on, using his magic to cleanly cut away the beast’s hide and reveal the skin, much like his mentor had done earlier. Cedric could also attest to the efficiency of killing behemoths with magic—he’d done so quite frequently himself, although his favored tactics probably differed greatly from those of Anton. He was all about effect, after all, being the actor he was.

The Vetr swung his legs, watching his apprentice go to town on the behemoth and lightly kicking the flank of his own beast with each bored movement.

“So, mind if I ask what’s the point of all this? I mean, it’s fun and all, and they definitely deserve it… But why’s one such as you doing something as simple as this?”

Cedric sighed. “It’s a factor of my job, really. The stress that I’m under, combined with my already quite prominent hatred of humanity, often makes me slightly… grouchy when not given some sort of relaxing activity. Really, these behemoths are just a different form of stress relief that I find most suited to me. Kill two birds with one stone and all—get rid of stress, eliminate enemies of humanity. And fire is so much fun.”

He smiled in a way that usually chased away his agents out of worry for their own pitiful little lives. Anyone who said he wasn’t morbid was a terrible liar.

It wasn’t like Cedric was a cold-blooded psychopath, no. He was a little odd, yes. But the years of killing behemoths, killing people, and watching his friends get killed had taken their toll. In the beginning of his career, he would have never dreamed of such an act, but now he purposefully sought it out. After all, each Drakonrhedi had their quirk. Some were brutes that used sparring to release pent-up anger. Others became withdrawn and cold. Others tried to funnel their frustration into positive energy and help the world become a better place. Cedric just used it to burn things, watch them fall to the terribly beautiful flames that he started, see the fire devour his enemies and avenge the people whom he’d held dear. It was only through this that he felt, maybe ever so slightly, justified in his pyromania. He was careful, of course, not to hurt humans—despite how much he disliked men, it would be counteracting his own goal to kill people as indiscriminately as he did behemoths. Besides, as he had told Anton, there was a much bigger fish to fry, and that fish also happened to be a bloodthirsty shark that wasn’t too happy about the fact that you were this close to it.

Or, in this case, currently sitting on it.

He scooted down the behemoth’s backside a bit, taking out his pocketknife to pry out a few more scales, sending them tumbling to the ground with guttural roars from his current (very unhappy) makeshift bench.

“This time around, I brought a little bit of dynamite.” The statement was perhaps a little non sequitur, but that was alright, Anton could deal with it. “Sometimes I like to just watch them burn. Other times, I add a little bit of fun.”

He was prying away the scales in a small area right beneath the middle of the behemoth’s spinal cord, in the center of the nape of its neck and the tip of its tail. Hopping down from it, he walked over to where a small pouch lay on the ground, retrieving a stick of the explosive substance and, after cutting out a cylinder of about the same size, stuffed it into the behemoth’s back.

The beast, by now, was most unhappy with him.

“It’s not terribly powerful stuff, you know,” he continued as he turned the fuse towards the ground. “But it adds just enough spark.”