12-09-2009, 11:44 AM
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 It was a grisly business dealing with the dead, but Jantus saw now that Anselm had done his fair share of that himself. Having noted the beheaded bodies, he supposed that this was proof positive that his comrade-in-arms had been from Inferni. It didn't surprise him, really: the fact that anyone from this place could fight in that manner implied that they wouldn't be from one of the weaker groups; the fact that he hadn't been full wolf was another strong indication. Still, he'd hoped it weren't the case. The last thing he wanted was to help decorate Inferni's obscene fence of heads, though he was glad that Anselm had only defiled his own kills, rather than Jantus's. The giant was a practical warrior, it was said: not so honor-bound as Skoll had sometimes seemed (though he knew better than to think that the golden warrior wouldn't take an advantage when it was offered...no one fought with one hand tied behind their back and survived for very long), but he still preferred to respect the dead when it could be afforded. What he was doing today, besides being a little disgusted by the decapitation of two of the decaying bodies, was checking to make sure that no one had stumbled across these in the interval between his battle and now. For the first time he was feeling well enough that he thought he could repeat the combat if he needed to, so even if he met some friends of theirs, he felt it was okay to return to the scene, provided he wasn't so foolhardy that he didn't check the air first. The bodies had already endured most of the worst stages of their corruption, but they still wreaked. The good news was that he hadn't smelled anyone else other than Anselm, which meant that these five either didn't have any other friends in the area, or if they did, they weren't terribly concerned about them. One way or the other, it seemed like the time to fear retribution had passed. The site had been (mostly) left alone, and he would be able to sleep a little easier knowing that. Then again, this was the place where entire litters of puppies could be slaughtered by someone half the size of their parents and not be avenged: maybe the same tendency was holding true here. Given the stories he'd heard, no reaction here may just be a lack of courage rather than a lack of friends. He walked away from the alley where they'd all been killed and decided to take a short walk down a less foul-smelling road. He supposed they could have buried them, a good deal of the area was concrete, and they'd both been pretty tired, not to mention beat up, after the fact. Besides, burying a body didn't do much to hide it, so short of respect (which these guys didn't deserve too much of, he'd give Anselm that) there wasn't much reason to go that far. Digging up a hole big enough to pile five bodies in while his entire right side was throbbing would have been rough, and he didn't think he owed them that much. He'd walk a short circuit around some of these ruins, and by the time he returned, he'd decide if there was anything left to be done, and then leave this place. Probably the last time he'd be through, he imagined. |