"Not a hero" - A Ledgic story

‘Not a hero’

Part I: The walking wounded

Ledgic slowly lifted himself from the bed, squinting as the sun shone down on him. He winced as he stood up and moved out of the room and onto the balcony. He rested his arms on the rail and looked over the bay with a small smile on his face. He may have been stuck there due to injuries, but he had really enjoyed the time away. No worries in the world, the business was being taken care of by Annie, nobody had come to bother him, and he had time to clear his mind of everything that had happened.

The fight with Iriden had not only been a test of his physical ability, his mental ability had been thoroughly tested as well. Since he had plunged his dagger through Iriden’s eye, there were some lingering thoughts.

Was Iriden the only person that could have truly understood what Ledgic had gone through as a child? Was he raised in the exact same way, treated like rubbish at every waking moment? If Iriden hadn’t of existed, would he have taken his place?

Ledgic shook his head; there was no way he’d have taken Iriden’s place, not in a million years. No matter how badly he was treated by the Caans, he never would have returned and murdered them all, he cared about their well being, but that was just him. He gave a damn, which was what had set him apart from the rest of them in the first place; he wouldn’t fight with other people in the village because he cared too much to harm them.

There was no way he could fathom that Iriden had similar feelings as a child, he was a true Caan, through and through. He lusted for blood, he hated everything, he wiped out his own people then came for the only family he had left, what sort of man can think that is right?

‘I’ll never be like tha’, no feckin’ chance’ he muttered to himself as he rubbed his forehead.

‘Oi Ledgic! Mail for ya mate!’

Ledgic peered over the rail with a wince to see Mack, he’d always show up in the morning and give him any important mail. He nodded as he turned and walked back into the house, wincing slightly with every step down the stairs before finally opening the door.

‘A’righ’ Mack, cheers fella’ he said as he took the letter from the man.
‘Still not recovered eh? Aint like you mate, you’re usually up and about in a day’ said Mack with a chuckle.
‘Shi’ ‘appens, mebbe I’m getting old’ he said with a grin.

He turned and closed the door behind him, peering at the letter in his hands as he slowly made his way back up the stairs. He was getting pretty annoyed with the amount of pain he was still in, it had been four days now and despite Tarc’s healing abilities, he was still aching more than he had in years.

He slowly sat down on his bed and carefully opened the letter, pulling the small piece of parchment out and unfolding it. He coughed lightly before reading it.

‘Ledgic,

I’ve been caught, a few people I had been keeping an eye on noticed me. I’m being forced to write this letter, because unfortunately they knew that I was working for you. They want you here, it seems they plan to take you out and gain control of the syndicate in the process. Normally I wouldn’t ask for your help, but they’re threatening to use mind control spells to get the whereabouts of my family from me, you know what that includes and where it could go.

I’m being held up in a camp in Hillsbrad, northeast, there is a dense forest there; their camp is in the middle of it.

Just like old times eh?

Signed,

Dawn’

Ledgic peered up from the letter before crumpling it between his hands. As he stood up, he dropped the ball of parchment on the floor, before making his way to his wardrobe.

As he slowly clipped his armour into place with a pained expression, he knew he had to get there as quickly as possible, he couldn’t guess how long it took for that letter to reach him, there was always a chance that they might have already taken the information out of Eothan. He couldn’t risk that; he couldn’t risk the lives of Rose and her parents and more especially, his children.

He took his two best daggers from the wardrobe and sheathed them on his belt before walking over to the bed again. He picked up the crumpled ball of parchment and smoothed it out, setting it down on the table nearby, taking a pencil in his hand he simply wrote:

‘Annie,

Turn this over and read it.

I’ll be back as soon as I can.

Love ya, take care.

Yours,

Ledgic’

He set the pencil down beside the parchment and hurried down the stairs, before walking out of his home and slamming the door behind him. He jogged through the bay, grimacing the whole time. He didn’t have time to be moaning about how much he ached, how much pain he was in. None of that mattered, he had to get Eothan back and protect his kids, there was no two ways about it, this had to be done. He sighed as he reached the flight master and paid him to send him to Hillsbrad.

‘Not a hero’

Part II: The forest trial

Ledgic let out a deep sigh as he walked out of the ruins of Southshore, he was fairly amazed that the horde had finally managed to damage the place, he remembered training as a member of the watch there, fending off horde enemies on a daily basis. He recalled a conversation with Omanos that had them both laughing, since Alliance watch or not, Omanos was doing the exact same thing on a daily basis.

Still, he didn’t have much time to hang around taking in the scenery, Eothan had managed to get himself into the shit yet again and he’d always turn to Ledgic to fix it, even if this time seemed a little forced. He scratched his chin as he began walking over one of the many fields of Hillsbrad. Just who were these people that had captured Eothan? How the heck did they know that Eothan worked for him and what did they want with the syndicate?

As usual, Ledgic was just full of questions with no answers to accompany them, so he knew exactly where he’d get those answers. Unfortunately for him, the letter that Eothan had written to him gave him no real insight into their numbers, their weapons or their general strength. It was time Ledgic snapped back into being a warden, if only for this period of time. He had been a scout and a tracker, as well as an assassin in the watch, he was the multi-purpose warden that Maxus was fond of, though his past was always a questionable part of his being.

Ledgic stopped in his tracks and sat down for a moment, peering ahead of him, he was certain of where Southshore was in contrast to the Northeast direction that Eothan’s letter had given him, so he knew where he was going. However, the pain was getting to him, the never ending aching that just seemed to get worse with every step he took, it didn’t help that he was weighed down with armour and weapons now either. It felt as though he was walking around in plate mail, the muscles and bones of his body were strained.

He let out a sigh and peered up with a bit of pained smirk, this was just like his life had been before Stormwind, before the syndicate and everything that built up to his life now. Walking around on his own, in pain, most likely from the multiple jobs he had done in the day to earn himself a little gold. Obviously this was different, he was going to save Eothan but he couldn’t help but wonder why.

Of course, Eothan was his friend, but he could have easily given the note to the authorities, sure, it wasn’t very him, but when did he become the hero?

‘Hero eh?’ he muttered to himself as he stood up.

He wasn’t a hero, he wasn’t one for saving the lives of others on a daily basis, he wasn’t there to protect everyone, even if he wanted to. He lives to protect the people he cares about and he knew it, he really knew it. As he started walking again, the wincing returned, each step giving him another shot of pain through his body.
He needed to take his mind off it, but as he looked around, he realised there wasn’t exactly much to help with that. So his mind wandered back to his situation. There he was, walking across a field, feeling as though his arms and legs were about to fall off, all in the name of saving a life. He wasn’t strictly a bad person, he disliked killing people for nothing, though he had done plenty of that in his lifetime and he cared about everyone at the blade, but just running off to save a life?

‘This is friggin’ stupid, y’owe me big time Eothan’ he muttered as he shook his head.

He continued to walk until he came to the edge of a forest, he peered past a couple of large trees and smirked, it was incredibly dense, there was so much going on in that woodland that he could barely see past the edge. This had to be the forest that Eothan had mentioned, meaning that he and the people holding him would be in the middle of it.

Ledgic reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out some string bandages, he slowly wrapped and tied these bandages around each of his hands. He had met a Draenei female out in Nagrand during his days as a warden, she had taught him all about tracking and the ways in which to follow people or beasts without them realising. The bandages stopped any skin or smell scraping from his hands to whatever he touched, that way he could keep himself concealed, as long as he was quiet.

He knelt down to examine a few broken twigs on the floor, he blinked a moment to think about what that Draenei had told him.

‘The more snaps in the twigs, th’bigger the animal, anymore n’eigh’ snaps, ye’ve got yerself a person’ he muttered to himself as he stood up.

There was only four snaps in the twigs, so it was likely that a boar or something of that weight had passed by recently. He sighed a little at the fact he’d have to track them from scratch, but he couldn’t really expect anything like this to be easy. For all he knew, the people that had Eothan could track as well as him and covered their tracks with no problems at all.

‘Shit ‘appens’ he muttered before carefully stepping into the forest.

‘Not a hero’

Part III: Unwise words from a wise man

It had been three hours since Ledgic first stepped into the forest and he was still getting no closer to finding the people that had captured Eothan, as he continued through the dense woodland he could feel his resolve wavering. That feeling was confusing for him, he was always capable of just moving ahead regardless of what was put in front of him, he could only take a guess at it being the massive amount of pain he was in.

He slowly blinked his eyes before shaking his head, everything still ached, it was getting no closer to stopping. He wasn’t surprised about that fact, considering he should have been lying in a bed at that moment and yet there he was, climbing through trees and searching for tracks.

‘This jes takes the piss, I friggin miss Annie’ he muttered as he rubbed a palm down his face.

He lifted his head and peered ahead of him, the density of the forest was something he hadn’t really experienced before and it was insane. No matter which way he looked, all he could see was trees… and more trees.

It was at this moment that he couldn’t help but crack a smile; he really did prefer places like this to noisy cities. At least he could be at peace in a forest, he even found himself quite content in areas of Duskwood and this forest was a paradise in comparison to that shit hole.

He heaved a sigh as he leapt from one tree to another and continued repeating that process, his eyes darting between the space in front of him and the ground below. He couldn’t believe how seemingly hard it was to pick up any sort of human trail; the people that had Eothan obviously knew what they were doing. In fact, it was almost as if they knew what he was capable of and hid their tracks accordingly.

Perhaps they’d already gone into Eothan’s mind, it had occurred to him when he left that there was no way of telling how long that letter took to get to him but at the same time, how would Eothan even know about Ledgic’s abilities as a tracker?

‘This is startin’ t’become a bigger pain in th’arse than I though’, feck sake’ he muttered as he touched down quietly on a thick branch.

He lifted his head sharply and peered down at the ground below him, he smirked widely as he took in the view. He’d been so busy thinking about why they’d hidden their tracks so well that he’d completely stopped looking where he was going. His smirk quickly turned into a grin as he saw the camp and the men that occupied it.

Sure enough as he looked to the far left of the camp, there was Eothan tied to a thick wooden post. He looked fairly beaten up, his face was bloodied and bruised, his hair was down and all over the place, as if he’d been here for quite some time.

Ledgic moved along the branch carefully and peered across the camp. The camp contained four poorly made tents, most of which appeared to be comprised of nothing more than random pieces of cloth. He moved his eyes across the camp again, taking in the numbers, four tents and yet there were only three people inside the camp. Either one was in a tent or out hunting. This was a typical four-man cell, something that Ledgic had been part of in past activities, including his work for the watch.

But what interest did they have in him? He didn’t recognise any of the people inside the camp, besides the obvious bloodied version of Eothan. He peered at one of the men; he was large in size, very bulky and built. On his back he carried a crude looking mace, the weapon seemed to be in dire need of repair, though from the look of it, he hazarded a guess that it’d probably be better to just replace that pile of rust.

‘A’righ’, sa’ I need t’get in n’ get Eothan ou’, but ‘ow th’eck am I s’posed t’do tha’ wit’ a four man cell operation?’ he thought to himself, letting out a brief sigh of frustration.

Four-man cells were a group that operated on a simple basis. Three members of the cell would always be up and awake, especially if they are devoted to protecting something, in this case, that was Eothan. They obviously knew that he would try something simple, hoping that he could snag Eothan when they all decided to sleep. They had the advantage in that only one member of the cell would be asleep at any given time. This obviously didn’t make things easy for Ledgic at all, he was used to just taking out anyone that got in his way to get to the goal…

‘I can’t friggin do tha’ this time, not easily anyway, me’ body is still fecked up’ he thought as he gritted his teeth in slight anger.

Eothan slowly lifted his head and let out a cough as he peered at another of the cell, a man of average height, slim and athletic, he carried two blades on his hips.

‘You know, a little water wouldn’t go amiss’ he muttered, watching as the man stood up shortly after his words.

‘Water eh? Well, when you give us information on your friend, perhaps I’ll consider it’ he replied as he stepped towards Eothan slowly.

‘Information is my speciality, Ledgic looks terrible in pink’ said Eothan with a smug look on his face.

That look was swiftly punched away by the now angered man. He spat on the ground in front of Eothan before turning and walking back to his seat again. He sat down with a grunt and simply stared at Eothan intently.

Unfortunately for Eothan, he was used to this sort of situation, though this was the first time that he had been tracking someone that was already after Ledgic. He couldn’t work out exactly what they wanted either, which was also quite new for him. Eothan had always had the ability to read people, he could simply look at a person and gather what they had inside merely from facial expressions and words used when a particular thing was mentioned. There was one thing he knew though and that was for sure, these men were not looking to take the syndicate for themselves.

He was certain that they had used that threat as a further attempt to draw Ledgic out into the forest, a forest that these people knew quite well. By bringing Ledgic into unknown territory, they would have an even further advantage, making it quite blatant that Ledgic would have to kill the men if he had a hope in hell of getting both Eothan and himself out of there alive.

Eothan let out a groan, he was feeling the pain quite extensively, and after days of being beaten for information he didn’t even have. They had asked strange questions, such as where Ledgic was born, the name of his parents, his relationship to Iriden Caan. The latter was an obvious question and the answer was well within his knowledge but he figured it would be useful to keep that to himself.

He had a sneaky suspicion these men had been working for Iriden or at least working with him. If they had heard about his death and the name of the man that killed him, that would explain why they would immediately come after him.

‘So, how many more times do you intend to hit me? If you try hard enough, you might even make me shit myself this time’ said Eothan with a sneer as he stared back at the man.

‘You’re not all that smart, are you?’

‘Actually, I’m quite intelligent, vastly more intelligent than you. However, I like to abuse that intelligence far too much, perhaps being hit gets me all excited in the genital region’

‘You’re a twisted little bastard’

‘Mm, I know. Fancy hitting me again?’ laughed Eothan.

‘Not a hero’

Part IV: Yet another sacrifice

Another few hours had passed since Ledgic had discovered the Eothan-nappers and their camp. He had been sat in a tree in an attempt to keep himself concealed for long enough to formulate a plan but this was becoming seemingly harder as time passed. No matter what scenario he played in his head, it would result in him having to fight them. Fighting wasn’t usually a problem for Ledgic, it had never been a problem, he had been doing nothing but fighting since he was fifteen years old, but apparently he was a little more resilient back then.

He knew that there was no choice in the matter, he would have to go down there and fight them. Obviously he didn’t know the terrain, which was a serious issue for him, he always preferred to know the area he was fighting in, it gave him more chance of escaping if he ever needed to, which was rare and it allowed him to have an idea of where the enemy might go should they escape.

‘Stop thinkin’ like tha’ y’friggin’ plum, yer ‘ere t’rescue Eothan, na’ chase ‘is captors down like a bunch o’ friggin’ dogs’ he thought to himself.

He had seen the group switch who was sleeping four times since he discovered the camp, these people were a lot more careful that he had expected. In fact it was because of that degree of carefulness that he had absolutely no other alternative but to jump in there and start fighting.

He grimaced as he brought a hand to his ribs and clutched at the skin, he really was in no shape to fight at all. The days he had spent recovering in the bay hadn’t exactly been exerting either, he could barely draw because his arms ached so badly. That had eased up enough during that recovery period but not enough to start swinging swords around.

‘Stop bein’ a pussy, Eothan needs ye!’ he thought to himself, before shaking his head swiftly.

‘I’m not a bloody ‘ero, I’m a friggin’ syndicate leader, th’eck does everyone come t’me wit’ this shit?’ he muttered quietly.

He reached into his armour and pulled out several small knives, before reaching into his armour yet again and producing his cigarette packet. He began tying the cigarettes to the knives with small pieces of string, sighing with each one. There he was, trying to save the life of a friend and yet he couldn’t help but think about how much of a waste this was going to be.

He didn’t even have another packet of cigarettes with him, he had no idea when he’d get the chance to feel that splendour again.

He lifted the knives and held them out in front of him, so he could make sure all the cigarettes were firmly connected. He nodded in satisfaction and brought out his lighter, the one and only time he was thankful that gnomes existed.

He lit the first cigarette and flung the knife towards the first of the shoddy tents, before fling himself from one tree to another, he then lit the second cigarette and flung it towards another tent. He grinned as he moved to yet another tree and stared down at the new blazes that were beginning to spread across the camp. As he lit two more of the cigarettes and flung them down towards the camp, he couldn’t help but let out a quiet chuckle as he watched the cell members running around the camp like idiots.

Even though he was in a lot of physical pain and should have been lying down, he couldn’t help but enjoy being out and doing something, even if each and every part of that was causing him to whimper inside like a little girl.

He jumped to the final tree in his little plan and produced a packet of matches from his armour, using them to set his lighter on fire and threw that towards the camp. Fortunately the lighter landed in the fire and produced a small explosion, throwing the cell members into further disarray.

Using this as his chance, he leapt down into the camp and hurried towards Eothan. He crouched down behind the post that Eothan was strapped to and peered round.

‘Still alive?’ he said.
‘You think a bunch of idiots could kill me? You’d fall into that category by the way’ said Eothan with a slight chuckle.

‘Glad to see yer as lovin’ as ever, ‘ow abou’ I jes leave yer sorry arse ‘ere?’

‘Don’t be such a drama queen, just untie me and lets get out of here, we’ll have to move pretty quickly, if you don’t intend to kill these guys, they’ll just track us down’

‘Once I untie ye, run. I’ll stay n’ take care o’ these dick’eads’ muttered Ledgic.

‘You’re going to stay behind and fight? Are you completely void of a brain? You’re beaten and bruised, I’m surprised you even showed up! Now you intend to fight all four of them on your own?’

‘Wouldn’ be much o’ a rescue if ye didn’ get away, would it?’ said Ledgic with a grin as he sliced the ropes from around Eothan’s wrists. He span the blade around in his hand before standing up and moving around the post, to stand in front of Eothan.

‘Now, ye get out o’ ‘ere, I’ll meet ye on the edge o’ th’forest, if I don’ show up shortly after ye, go t’wha’s left o’ Southshore n’ ‘ead t’Stormwin’

‘You’re an idiot, I hope you’re aware of that. You’ve got kids and a woman you love back there and you’re going to risk all of that for me?’ said Eothan.

‘I’m not riskin’ anythin’, I don’ intend t’lose’ Ledgic replied.

‘Just remember that you’re not a hero, Ledgic. You’re a criminal, one with a surprising amount of heart, granted, but a criminal nonetheless’ said Eothan before turning around and hurrying into the dark woodland.

‘A’righ’ then lads, s’get busy’ said Ledgic with a grin, as he brought his hand to the hilt of the blade strapped to his back.

‘I migh’ not be the ‘ero type but I’ve seen worse folk play tha’ lil’ role, guess s’my turn’ he thought.

‘Not a hero’

Part V: The Caan stain

‘I’m surprised you actually decided to show up’ said the large man as he stepped forward and swung the crude mace from his back, slamming it into the hard ground beneath him. He was massive; the only comparison that Ledgic could make was to Tarcus, this man made him look like a little girl.

‘Y’know, I get tha’ sorta thin’ a lot, I’m jes full o’ surprises’ replied Ledgic with a grin as he carefully removed the sword from it’s sheath and held it in front of him in his right hand. He was finding it a little hard to believe that he had chosen to stay behind and fight with these people. Deep down he was finding it hard to keep himself standing, let alone take up a fight against four people. There was also the lingering fact that he didn’t have a clue what these four people could do, he had gathered that the large one was obviously the powerhouse but the others, well; he had no clue at all.

‘So, the boss actually lost to you then, must admit I find that pretty shocking’ said the thinner man that had punched Eothan earlier before. He slowly walked forward to stand beside the large man and swiftly drew his daggers.

Ledgic raised an eyebrow; this wasn’t exactly what he’d expected. Of course, considering the past that he had led, there wasn’t much chance of him knowing exactly who their boss might have been, it wasn’t like he’d only killed two or three people in his lifetime, and he’d spent most of his own time killing people for gold.

‘Don’t look so surprised Ledgic, you didn’t think that Iriden would be away for that long and be all on his own, did you?’ said a third man, who walked forward and stood on the other side of the large man.

This man was a weird looking fellow, he was tall and well built, carrying no visible weapons at all, he was completely bald and had almost as many scars as Ledgic carried. The man grinned widely as Ledgic took a very small step backwards at the mention of Iriden’s name, yet another development he really hadn’t anticipated.

In the brief time spent actually talking to Iriden, Ledgic had never suspected that he would have anyone around him. Iriden obviously had the potential to have people working beneath him, but that would have only come out of fear, at least in Ledgic’s opinion. To have people that actually respected him enough to drag Ledgic all the way out to the middle of nowhere to get revenge? Apparently Iriden was as full of surprises as his little brother.

‘A’righ’, so I killed yer boss, big deal. ‘eck lads, ‘e was me’ brother, think I got th’shit end o’ th’stick there’ said Ledgic as he tightened his grip on the hilt of his blade.

‘We know all about you, Ledgic Caan. We’re quite aware that the boss left us purely to rid the world of you and your cousins. He’d been going on about that little plan for quite a few years, though every time he’d come out with it, he always finished his rant off with something about waiting until you were ready to fight him. Obviously he waited a little too long, which for you, is incredibly bad. You may have killed our boss, but we’re loyal until the end’ said the large man as he lifted his mace from the ground and rested it on his shoulder.

‘Indeed, you’ve taken his life, it’s only proper that we are the ones to take yours. You made a mistake not running with your friend, we’ll only dispose of you and chase him down anyway, you could have made it a little more entertaining for us’ said the thin man as he flicked his daggers around in his hands.

‘Wha’ can I say? I guess I’m a sucker fer a figh’, ‘specially wit’ a bunch o’ odd lookin’ feckers like yerselves. Now, we gonna keep flappin’ or can I kill th’lot o’ ye n’ go ‘ome?’ said Ledgic as he lowered himself closer to the ground and grinned widely.

He couldn’t allow himself to show any sign of weakness, the moment they suspected he was injured or in pain, they would make use of that. He’d had to ignore the pain and just fight at his full potential, even if it made the aching worse, he was out of options. He knew for a fact that Eothan would get himself lost in that forest in a few short minutes, so he’d need to be quick as well.

‘Ain’ this jes turnin’ into a cheery feckin’ day’ he thought.

Without warning the thin man leapt in Ledgic’s direction with his arms out-stretched. Ledgic readied himself, lifting his sword to cover his face from any harm and watched as the man descended upon him, the moonlight glinting against his daggers. A crash of steel echoed all around them as the daggers connected with the sword, sending a flurry of startled birds towards the sky.

Using the momentum of the man’s attack, Ledgic turned his sword and trapped the daggers in the spiked blade. With a smirk and a roar, he swung himself round on the spot, taking his attacker with him, before turning his own blade yet again, releasing the daggers and sending their wielder hurtling toward a nearby tree.

Ledgic turned to face the other two and grimaced slightly at the thunderous crack behind him, obviously he had just taken out the brash weakest link of the little group.

‘Befer the next lil’ skirmish, I need t’know one thin’. Yer a four man cell, I could tell from yer set-up, an’ I saw a lass on guard duty a couple o’ hours ago, where is she?’

‘So you’re not a stupid as you seem, fair enough. Lina, you can come out’ said the large man as he turned and looked to his left. A young woman stepped out from behind one of the trees and walked into what was left of their camp, she stood where the thin man had previously been standing and brought her hands to her mouth.

Ledgic could see that she was frightened by the whole thing; she was timid and visibly shaking. She was quite short, pale skin and thick black hair flowed past her shoulders. Not only that but she was beautiful, he was finding it hard to believe that a girl like that would be travelling with these people, helping them capture ‘innocent’ men and torturing them and of course, why would a woman like this be working with someone like Iriden? Not even Ledgic would have ever considered working with Iriden.

Without hesitation, Ledgic launched himself towards the large man, forcing his foot into his stomach. As the large man hunched forward from the blow, Ledgic slammed his palm against the ground and used the force of the previous attack to move himself in the second man’s direction.

The second man’s eyes widened as Ledgic’s sword inched closer to his face with every passing second, before finally piercing his face. Ledgic shoved the blade forward until he could see the bloodied end sticking out of the back of his skull. With a twitch of satisfaction on his face, Ledgic watched the man’s body hit the ground with a thud. He reached to the daggers on his belt and removed them from their sheaths, before turning to face the large man.

‘I really didn’ ‘ave time fer all this shi’, I’ve got a family t’care fer, a woman I love tha’s waitin’ back a’ ‘ome fer me. I don’ need t’be in this feckin’ place, I killed yer damn boss but ‘e was me’ brother, ‘e wan’ed me’ dead. Don’ make me kill ye n’ all’ said Ledgic with a scowl on his face.

‘You’ll have to kill me if you intend to get away, we are loyal to the end and I will now allow you to harm Lina’ said the man as he stood up straight and swung his mace violently towards Ledgic.

Reacting quickly, Ledgic lifted a dagger to defend against the mace swing, he frowned in pain as the mace collided with the dagger but did not stop the force of the swing. Ledgic was launched through the air, before hitting the floor and slamming against a nearby tree. He let out a cough that was accompanied by blood before slowly pulling himself to his feet again.

He could feel it getting worse; the aching was beginning to become unbearable. It was slowing down his reactions and this time, it allowed him to be hit by something that only made the aching even worse than it was before. He was starting to doubt his decision to stay behind and fight, the first two had been pushovers, but he had expected that from the moment they spoke.

The larger man, well, he was a completely different story. He was full of fire and rage and he was massive to boot. Not to mention he seemed as though he needed to protect Lina, something that Ledgic could actually relate to, as weird as that was for him.

‘Why does ‘e need t’protect ‘er?’ he thought to himself.

Ledgic lifted a hand and clutched his side again, the pain was getting too harsh to keep fighting for much longer and he knew if he wanted to catch up with Eothan and get out of the forest, he needed to retain as much strength as he possibly could.

‘Sorry fella but I ain’ got all th’time in th’world t’be doin’ this, s’not tha’ I don’ like this lil’ dance we got goin’ on, but I didn’ bring th’righ’ shoes, y’know?’ said Ledgic before launching himself forward and throwing the daggers ahead of him.
The large man grunted and groaned as the daggers pierced his stomach. He peered down at the blades and dropped his mace, before reaching for the blades. He gripped his hands around their hilts and began to slowly pull them out. He looked up slowly as Ledgic slammed his feet down just in front of him. In one swift motion, Ledgic launched a palm upwards and slammed against the large man’s nose, sending the bone straight up.

Ledgic couldn’t help but grimace at the sound of the bone piercing the man’s brain and shook his head hastily as the large man fell to the ground. His eyes darted to Lina as she made a sudden squeak. He chose to ignore her and walked over the corpse of the large man, yanking his blades from his stomach and sheathing them, before walking over to the other corpse and removing his sword.

With this, he turned to look at Lina with a tired expression.

‘Do we ‘ave t’do this? I really can’t be fecked’ he muttered as he sheathed his sword.

‘Y…- Yer jes like ‘im, y’know?’ Lina said quietly.

Ledgic raised an eyebrow at her words and more so at her accent, she spoke just like a Caan. With the sound of her voice came the realisation of the other Caan traits she held, the pale skin and the thick black hair should have been at least a small sign in the first place.

‘Yer a Caan?’ said Ledgic as he stepped forward, carefully stepping over the corpses until he was close to Lina.

‘Yeh, I am. Iriden was me’ Dad’ she replied as she took a step back, her hands still close to her mouth.

Ledgic eyed Lina up and down a couple of times in surprise. She was still shaking, though since Ledgic had come closer to her, she was pretty much vibrating.

Iriden having a daughter was yet another thing that Ledgic was not expecting and he was beginning to get frustrated with this little surprising trip. Why would Iriden have gone out of his way to try and rid the world of his family, only to come home to his stupidly timid daughter?

Learning that Iriden had a daughter at home opened up another can of worms for Ledgic. Maybe they were a lot more similar than he would have liked, Ledgic didn’t seem like the fatherly type to outsiders either and yet Ledgic tarred Iriden with the same brush. Something that outsiders did to Caans in general, something they had done to Ledgic countless times.

‘I couldn’ o’ misjudged ‘im, s’no friggin’ way. Yer Dad was a wanker an’ ‘e deserved t’die… an’ ye’ve gotta join ‘im’ said Ledgic as he drew a single dagger from it’s sheath.

‘W-wha’?!’ shouted the girl as she took another step back, letting out a slight squeak as she bumped into a tree. As Ledgic stepped forward, she pressed herself against the tree and closed her eyes.

Ledgic reached forward with his free hand and pulled her shirt to one side, there it was, the mark. She had the scorpion tail, just as he did, just as every Caan was branded with. So Iriden was carrying on the traditions of their clan despite abandoning them the year Ledgic was born, this was becoming more complex than he would care to enjoy.

‘Why do I ‘ave t’die?’ said Lina with a sniff.

‘cause we’re a stain, girl. There ain’ nothin’ good abou’ th’Caans, s’why I’m gonna make th’name differen’, s’why me’ kids are goin’ t’show th’world tha’ th’Caans’ve changed. But y’can’t be part o’ tha’, yer Iriden’s, yer jes t’dangerous t’keep aroun’’ muttered Ledgic as he lifted the dagger.

‘Please, don’ do it. Yer me’ unc-‘ said Lina, before being interrupted by the swing of Ledgic’s dagger. The blade swiftly pierced her eye, stabbing through into the tree trunk. Ledgic sighed as he stepped back, leaving the dagger in place.

He took a few moments to look at the young girl, before turning and walking out of the camp.

‘See? I’m no ‘ero’

‘Not a hero’

Part VI: The true Ledgic Caan

Ledgic walked slowly out of the camp, his hands clenched into fists. This is not how he wanted everything to go. He didn’t want to have slaughtered all of them and he had absolutely no desire to see more Caan blood spilt.

As he continued to walk he couldn’t help but continue to replay the murder of Lina over and over, each repetition bringing forth more anger to the surface. He stopped in his tracks and slammed a foot against the floor, so much had been happening in recent months, so much death and far too much of it being directly connected to him.

His fists remained clenched as he turned and swung for a tree, his right fist smashing against the thick trunk of a close tree. He stood for a moment, holding himself up with the out-stretched arm before falling to his knees.

He had always tried his hardest to make sure that nothing ever fazed him long enough to shape any part of his life. He always made sure to talk as much of his problems out with Annie and yet he would never truly reveal how much it had taken its toll. There was no way around it; all of the problems he had been dealing with surrounding the Caans and his past had truly weighed on him. She would always tell him that he carried too much on his shoulders and he was well aware of that, however there was even more on her shoulders than even she knew.

He slammed his fist against the tree once again as he began to cry, something that always just made things worse for him, something that he hated with a passion. He was always so busy maintaining his image that every time he dared to let a single tear leave him, he felt as if he was letting himself down further. This was the true Ledgic Caan, a man with emotional problems, a man constantly haunted by everything he had done in the past, a man that relied on Annie so much he doubted he could even continue doing anything productive with his life if she wasn’t there.

He leant down further as he continued to cry, the fist slipping from the trunk and down to the ground. He began slamming both fists against the broken earth beneath him in rage.

Eothan peered round from behind a nearby tree and watched as Ledgic continued to hunch over, crying into the ground. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t gone over to try and take care of his blubbering. As much as Eothan enjoyed pointing out Ledgic’s emotional issues, he couldn’t bring himself to throw the arsehole card down at that moment. Ledgic had done a lot for him in the past; this was the second time he’d saved his life. He knew that Ledgic was in no condition to come and save him and that he must have been in a lot of physical pain beforehand, yet the man arrived and did just as he had hoped.

‘Let it out, sometimes you just have to’ said Eothan as he walked from behind the tree and moved towards Ledgic.
Ledgic turned around and stared at Eothan for a moment, his face damp with tears. He slowly rested himself against the tree he had been punching previously and drew his knees up. He let out a deep sigh as Eothan moved closer and sat beside him, a small smirk played across his lips.

‘I swear, if ye feckin’ mock me, I’m tyin’ ye back t’tha’ post’ mumbled Ledgic as he tried to regain his composure.

‘I’m not here to mock you Ledgic. You’ve done something good today, you came here and saved my life and all I do is take the piss out of you whenever I can. If anything, I am not someone that deserved to be saved.’ Said Eothan as he moved his hair from his face.

‘Yer a friend, wha’ kinda bloke would I be if I jes left ye t’die out ‘ere’ said Ledgic.

‘Someone that was wounded and bed ridden, someone that if they had an ounce of sense, would never have come. You risked your life to save me again, you left your recovery time, your children and the woman you love to come and save me. Ledgic, I’m an arsehole; I do barely anything to deserve your friendship. I’m the type of man that is only still with his wife because she’s pregnant, I have no real friends in the world’

‘Stop it, ye soun’ like a tart.’ Interrupted Ledgic as he wiped a hand across his eyes.

‘My point is Led, you put too much shit on yourself. You think because of what you are, that you need to carry the whole future of your bloodline on your shoulders. You don’t have to do that; you can’t keep putting everything on yourself. I saw what you did to that girl and considering you killed her father, I think you did the right thing. You aren’t a stain, Caan or not, you hear me? You’re not a hero, I stand by that but for a criminal you sure have heart’

‘Jeez, y’let yer ‘air down n’ all o’ a sudden yer a friggin’ woman’ said Ledgic with a smirk across his face.

‘Coming from the twat sat in the woods crying his eyes out’

Ledgic stood up and took one last glance at the camp before nodding to Eothan and moving forward. Eothan dragged himself to his feet and quickly followed, he was seeing from Ledgic what he had always seen. Ledgic had taken a moment to release the tension inside him and now he was back and moving forward, it was always the same.

‘So, why are we walking?’ said Eothan as the two of them carefully traipsed through the dense forests. ‘‘Cause ye wouldn’ be able t’keep up wit’ me if we ran’ said Ledgic as he carried on walking carefully.

Ledgic turned his head sharply at the sound of twigs breaking. He stared at the floor, peering at the broken shards of wood beneath Eothan’s foot before his eyes widened at yet another sound.

‘Eothan! Get th’feck down!’ he yelled as he darted towards him. This was yet another case of Ledgic’s time as a warden kicking in, he had never thought that the group he had killed would have laid traps throughout the forest, something that should have occurred to him at the very beginning of this whole ordeal. As he jumped in front of Eothan he could hear several blades ripping through the air in their direction.

Ledgic let out a loud yell as five knives pierced his right leg, forcing him off course and onto the floor. He cursed as his face slammed against the dead earth before all fell silent. He growled as he lifted himself away from the floor, turning his body and sitting down carefully. He stared beside him and peered at Eothan’s legs, it seemed he’d had a lucky break.

‘Heh, s’always me tha’ takes th’its eh? Yer a sod, couldn’ ye jes dodge?’ Ledgic joked as he peered up at Eothan. It wasn’t long before the real situation was made apparent. Ledgic’s eyes widened at the sight of Eothan’s body pierced by several knives, he was making small choking noises before wobbling and falling to the ground.

Ledgic quickly dragged himself to his feet and knelt beside Eothan, the blades had pierced his chest in several places, his right arm had been penetrated as well as an alarming blade shoved into his stomach. Ledgic’s hands quivered slightly as he rested them down against Eothan and bowed his head and began to shake it frantically.

‘The feck is all this? I saved ‘is life jes fer this t’appen t’im? Fer ‘im t’be layin’ there stabbed t’ell, what is wrong wit’ me? Why can’t I save anyone, why do I wanna save anyone?!’ he yelled inside his mind.

He lifted his head as his face formed a defiant look, he couldn’t spend any time going over his problems, right now he had to save Eothan again and the first step towards that was getting him out of this forest. He moved his hands and placed them beneath Eothan before lifting him into his arms. Ledgic wobbled with each step as he turned around and began walking in the direction they had intended to before. His leg was bleeding profusely; the blood dripped relentlessly and formed a trail behind him.

Ledgic let out a light cough as he continued to limp along, Eothan’s body hanging almost lifelessly in his arms. Ledgic’s eyes would continuously dart from the ground to Eothan’s face, making sure he didn’t step on anymore traps and giving him time to make sure Eothan was still alive. He was still breathing, he could hear that much, as Eothan would occasionally choke and squirm.

As he continued through the forest his mind began to wander again. He had joined the watch and learned these skills so he could use them to save people, though he had never admitted that to anyone in his life. He had joined the watch because he wanted to get away from the life that he had always lead, the life that he ended up back in the moment his time as a warden had ended. Yet even when he put those skills to good use, the same thing would happen. People were always hurt around him and despite making it a goal in his life to protect those he cared about, nothing ever changed.

He wasn’t the man he wanted to be, not anymore, too much had changed and broken him down. He couldn’t stop feeling sorry for himself these days and that was never the man he wanted to be either, he was stuck in an endless loop of self-doubt and physical pain.

He looked in front of him and let out a sigh of relief as he saw the edge of the forest, soon he’d be out in the fields of Hillsbrad again and even though that wasn’t the best place to patch up Eothan, it was better than being stuck in a forest full of traps.

‘Not a hero’

Part VII: Broken man

Ledgic gently rested Eothan down on the grass before almost falling to the ground himself. He grimaced in pain as he sat himself down carefully and peered down at his leg. The knives had pierced him in five places, moving from the bottom to the top of his leg. He turned his head and peered at Eothan, who was still choking every now and then. Seeing the lifeless look on Eothan’s face was enough to show Ledgic what he had to do, his wounds didn’t matter now, he had to do what he could to save Eothan’s life.

He shuffled over towards Eothan, being careful to keep his own wounded leg straight, before reaching for a pouch attached to his belt. He unclipped the pouch and placed it on the floor. He wiped his arm across his forehead before opening the pouch to reveal medical supplies. It wasn’t enough to save him for certain but he hoped that he could patch him up well enough to get him back to Stormwind.

He reached over Eothan and slowly pulled the first knife from his arm, he murmured apologetic words as he saw Eothan squirm in pain. He threw the knife behind him and reached down into the pouch, pulling out a small bottle of alcohol and opening it. As he dipped a small clump of cloth into the bottle he sighed in anger. How did he always end up in these situations? It was like there was nothing else left in the world for him, that he would always be forced to do things that any normal person could avoid.

He pressed the damp cloth against the first knife wound, before delicately wiping at it. The whole process was going to take a long time, he knew that he would have to clean and stitch every wound Eothan had and that even then, there was no way he could get him on one of the gryphons, he wouldn’t be able to keep him strapped to one.

He grunted in pain as he flicked the cloth behind him and took the needle and thread from the pouch, he was doing all he could to ignore the immense amount of pain shooting up his own leg. With another defiant look on his face, Ledgic pierced Eothan’s skin with the needle and began stitching up the first wound.

‘You’re not a hero, I stand by that but for a criminal, you sure have a lot of heart’

‘You were wrong Eothan, totally feckin’ wrong. I ain’ got any ‘eart left mate, only thin’ tha’ makes it beat anymore is Annie, she’s th’last decen’ thin’ in me’ life. Not even me’ kids can give me tha’ now, I know I ain’ righ’ fer ‘em, wha’s ‘appened wit’ ye t’day ‘as made tha’ all pretty damn clear’ Ledgic mumbled.

He continued to stitch the wound as a tear rolled down his cheek.

‘I’m useless mate, I can’t even walk ye through a feckin’ wood’

Ledgic leant forward and bit the end of the thread before tying the end neatly.
Ledgic continued to remove the knives and stitch up Eothan’s wounds until the dead of night, completely ignoring his own wounds and the pain that came with them. The time came where he had finally done all he could do for Eothan and yet he was still not satisfied.

He peered down at Eothan’s bloodstained body, knowing that there was a very strong chance he was bleeding internally. This was something that he really couldn’t help with, he wasn’t a doctor, and there was no way he could be certain he’d saved him. There was one thing Ledgic knew and that was he would not let Eothan die before he got him to Stormwind and handed him over to people that could really help.

Ledgic turned away from Eothan and peered at his leg as his thoughts twisted between Annie, Iriden, his children, his niece and the people of the blade. His very own band of misfits and murderers, people that he had to get back to because he couldn’t just die.

‘I promise ye lass, I’m not jes gonna leave ye, I ain’ gonna walk off one day n’ end up dead. S’jes not me, I care abou’ ye too friggin’ much’

He would get back, he had to, and he refused to break the promise he made to her.

He reached down and began pulling all the knives from his leg, letting out loud cries of pain with each one. After the last was removed and thrown away from him, he let out several pained breaths before rolling onto his side. He breathed heavily as he clutched his leg with both hands. The adrenaline that came with fixing Eothan had passed and all of a sudden he realised how much blood he had lost in the process.

He rolled onto his back and carefully reached into the pouch, producing the rest of the bandages. He sat up slowly and regained his composure before beginning to apply all the bandages to his own wounds. He was completely out of thread due to the severity of Eothan’s wounds, so bandages would just have to do.

If he had to lose his leg, he’d do it without blinking if it meant that Eothan was returned safe and alive. His mind began to wander tiredly once again as he bandaged himself. All he could picture was Annie, the sadness on her face at the thought of him not returning.

He wondered how she might feel and react if he was gone for too long, would she just believe he was dead and move on? As painful as the thought was for him, he knew that if he ended up being trapped for any extended length of time, he wouldn’t be able to blame her. He loved her with all his heart but she was almost as messed up as he was. She would react badly to the entire situation, just as he would if it was she in his shoes.

‘Wait fer me Annie, I’m beggin’ ye, I’ll do everythin’ I can t’get back t’ye, I promised ye I wouldn’ die, I intend t’keep tha’. I migh’ be a messed up lil’ fecker but I keep me’ damn promises, I’ll come back t’ye’ he thought as he tied the final bandage around his leg and fell backwards, falling asleep on the grass out of pure exhaustion.

‘Not a hero’

Part VIII: One more sunrise, one more victim

Ledgic spent a few hours unconscious on the field beside Eothan before he was rudely awoken by light splatters of water patting against his skin. He slowly blinked his eyes open and pulled himself away from the ground. He was instantly struck by pain throughout his entire body; it was becoming clear that his body was falling apart. He had never allowed himself to recover completely after the fight with Iriden, he was still in massive amounts of pain when he had left to save Eothan. He had since received several stab wounds to his leg, something that would slow him down on the journey back.

He turned and looked over at Eothan, he was still unconscious, which came as no surprise considering the injuries he had sustained mere hours before. Ledgic carefully checked over the wounds he had stitched up, luckily for him they were holding well. Now all that was left was to get him back to Stormwind, back to people that could really help him.

It was one of the first times that even Ledgic was considering dropped down in the Cathedral and allowing himself to be cared for. He blinked slowly as he carefully got onto his feet again, the shooting pain throughout his body had extended so far that even blinking was taking effort, bringing forth pain and aching.

With one deep breath, Ledgic shook the pain from his mind, he had been taught how to push pain to the back of his mind during his training with the watch and now was the perfect time to put that to use. He bent down and lifted Eothan from the ground, swinging him round to prop him up on his back.

‘Not somethin’ I ever imagined I’d be doin’ wit’ ye, mate. Piggy backin’ a twat like ye eh?’ he said with a slight chuckle in his voice.

Ledgic began to slowly limp across the field, his face a picture of pain with every separate step. He cursed the rain as he continued to walk, occasionally stopping to lift Eothan a little further up his back. Unfortunately for Ledgic, Eothan wasn’t the lightest man in the world; he was surprisingly well built for a man in a robe.

Ledgic peered down at his feet as he walked, his tattered boots slapping against the drenched ground with a sickening noise. As Ledgic slowly lifted his head to look ahead of himself once again, his eyes caught the sight of a person in the distance. He began to hasten his walking, trying with all of his will to push the pain to the back of his mind again. He couldn’t help but allow himself to think that this person would be able to help him, that he could ask them to help him with the task of getting back to Stormwind in one piece.

As Ledgic came close to running, a sudden strike of pain in his wounded leg brought him down on one knee. He let out a violent cough and peered down at the bandages he had hastily placed around the leg. He closed his eyes and shook his head at the sight, the bandages had already begun taking the colour of blood, and the wounds were not healing in the slightest. What did he expect? He may be a man with a strange talent for healing his wounds, but this was far too fast considering the damage.

‘I ain’ lettin’ this stop me, I’ve gotta get back t’er, no matter wha’!’ he yelled in his mind as he slowly stood up. He began to run as fast as he possibly could towards the figure in the distance, with each step he would curse the pain in his mind, willing it away from him.

As he got closer to the figure he watched as it fell to the ground, hidden by the tall grass of the seemingly never-ending fields. ‘Oh, fer feck sake!’ he yelled as he continued to run, only to eventually skid to a halt at the person laying on the ground.

He carefully laid Eothan down on the field and turned to the person, kneeling down beside them and turning them over onto their back. His eyes widened and dared to fill with tears at the sight before him. The person he had been running to was Omanos, the boy he had raised and convinced to become a paladin. The boy that became a symbol of hope for the people of Stormwind, a boy that had saved the city from a demon onslaught with a single hand. Yet there he was, bloodied and beaten on the ground beneath him.

Ledgic brought an arm up to his eyes and quietly sobbed into it, he wasn’t even sure why he immediately started crying. The fact was that he was being broken down in body and mind by the entire ordeal. He was being shown that even his physical strength would not prevent him from falling. He took the arm away and rested a hand over Omanos’s chest. Tears ran down his cheeks as he felt Omanos’s heart beating, the boy was still alive.

Ledgic looked away and into the distance towards the road he would have to take, the road that would lead him into Arathorian territory. That was only a small part of the journey, in fact getting out of Hillsbrad was probably the quickest part. He looked back to Omanos and sighed at the plate mail clad boy. Suddenly a smirk appeared on his face. ‘Guess Eothan bein’ ‘eavy is th’least o’ me’ worries now, eh?’ he muttered as he checked the severity of Omanos’s wounds.

As he carefully looked over him, he could only find one large gash across his chest a few small cuts over the rest of his body. He reached for the pouch on his belt and let out a sigh as he realised he had no medical supplies left at all. The only stitches he had were used on Eothan. He rubbed his forehead in frustration, why was all of this happening at once? How could he save both of them when it was quite clear that Omanos’s wound had to be stitched if he had any chance of making it home?

‘Ye’ve got a wife at ‘ome kid, she’d be devastated if ye died, y’know tha’? I… I’m not gonna let tha’ girl cry, I ain’ lettin’ ye fall, I promise’ Ledgic muttered as he leant forward and rested his forehead against Omanos’ for a few seconds. As he leant back up he let out a deep sigh and unclipped some of his armour. He grabbed at the undershirt and ripped it at the side. He peered carefully down at a stitched wound across his ribs and grimaced.

‘This ain’ the nicest thin’ I’ve ever done, but ye’ll be better off either way’ he muttered as he glanced at Omanos momentarily. He carefully reached for the end of the stitching across his ribs and began to slowly pull at it. With each pull he let out a low growl and began to bite down on his own hand. The wound on his ribs was close to healing but the removal of the stitches now would surely prolong it. He let out a sharp breath and leant forward as he yanked the last of the stitching from his side.

Ledgic began breathing heavily and pressed a hand against the wound before taking it away. The wound had already begun bleeding once again, as was evident by the blood on his palm. ‘Worth it… gotta… keep ye goin’… kid’ he muttered between breaths.
He reached back into the pouch on his belt and removed the last needle, he carefully thread it and began to work on Omanos’s wound. He knew that if he took too long getting back to Stormwind there was a good chance that the kid would have an infected wound on his chest, but this was easily better than it becoming infected while wide open.

The rain continued to pour down on the crippled trio as Ledgic stitched away at Omanos’s chest, hearing his occasional whimpers and trying to soothe him. It had been a long time since Ledgic had found himself in this position with Omanos. He could help but let him mind wander as he sealed the wound, all of the memories of teaching the kid how to fight and control his anger. Something that Ledgic had never truly learned, something that he likely would never learn. He smiled as he sat up and clipped Omanos’s armour back over his chest before putting both hands over his face.

‘If I’d known ye were out ‘ere kid, I woulda come t’elp ye n’ all, jes… please don’ feckin’ die a’righ’?’ he mumbled before taking his hands away from his face again.

He lifted Omanos onto his back with some effort before turning and doing the same with Eothan. Ledgic’s wounded leg visibly shook with each step he would take with the two of them on his back, his blood loss would be incredible and yet he would continue to walk.

Though Ledgic would not have to fight anything besides stray beasts on the journey to Stormwind, he would collect many new cuts and scrapes, furthering the amount of pain he could feel no matter how much he tried to rid himself of it.

But Ledgic Caan would strive on, all because he had one thing on his mind and in his heart. A woman named Aniane Fox, the woman that he loved, the woman he had made a promise to and the woman that he would never allow that broken promise to fall on.

In many weeks time, Ledgic would arrive in Stormwind and place both Omanos and Eothan in the Cathedral for care before leaving for the Smoking Blade, just for a chance to see the woman he loved. For him, the wounds came second, he could heal them anytime he wanted but seeing her wasn’t possible for all those weeks.

Ledgic Caan, last son of the Caan clan, broken man, broken father and hero?