The arrows left their bow strings, the whistling only lasting a second or two, before more screams echoed off the hills around them. Two more men stood without their manhood, while the third was pierced in his abdomen. The two men stood back and watched, as Glendon's last archer, Callum McInnis took aim once more. All the men watched in suspense, Callum's shot deciding a winner or not.
The arrow streaked the distance in a blur and missed its mark, hitting the man on his left thigh. Gleason's men cheered happily, knowing it came down to a tie at best now. Callum drew back on his bow and took aim again before his fingers released the missile. The man screamed in excruciating agony, as his pride was hit and embedded into the tree trunk.
Blood streamed from the wounded men, their cries of pain ignored without response, as they slowly bled out. Gleason stood in front of the clansmen and declared a tie was had. Everyone cheered, except Callum.
"If it's a tie, then whoe'er made the first hit should decide it." he opined.
"Aye, I agree, Callum. In that stead, Jacob was first, so we won." Glendon concurred, then turned to Callum and asked him a question that gnawed at him. "Why did ye use so many arras, Callum? Yer a finer bowman that that."
"Och, I could'ne help wanting tae inflict a bit more pain first. It was they bastards that came tae Ballachulish and killed everyone. All my kin and friends as well, were slaughtered, so what I ga'e him was a bit of retribution fer what he did." he stated forthrightly.
Glendon couldn't deny Callum's reasoning and patted his shoulder in acknowledgement.
"Aye, we'll let ye ha'e that one then, Glendon. Let's see how well ye do on the next one then. Killian, bring yer axe." Gleason called out.
A large, burly man of six foot two stepped from the crowd of men and stood by Gleason, his long handled axe slung over his shoulders.
Glendon shouted out for Gillie to come down from the wounded, where he stood guard over them. The crunching of branches and bush told them a man of great proportions was coming. In moments the bushes shook and a man of greater size appeared holding a large battle axe. He made his way to Glendon and awaited an order. The size of the blade had only one purpose, death.
"String up two in the trees, head tae the ground, if ye would." Gleason said to the men guarding the game pieces the prisoners had become.
Two were dragged screaming in terror to the trees and hung spreadeagled upside down.
"Yer tae use one blow and cleave yer man in half. We'll make it best two out of three."
Gleason's words raising the sounds of terror from all the captives. They watched, the shock of seeing the others' prides used for targets, still leaving its impression in their minds.
Gillie turned to Killian and shook his wrist and wished him good strength in his blow. Killian smiled back and wished him the same, as they approached the suspended men.
"One blow men, no more. He must be cleaved in two, to win. Are ye's ready?" Gleason asked, as the others watched in anticipation, the captives in dread.
Both men squared off to their targets and laid the edges on the juncture of their blows. The two men screamed in unheard pleas not to do it, as the axes were raised. When Gleason saw they had reached as far back as they could, he gave the order. "Swing away."
The whistling of air being sliced ended, as the axes made contact and began quickly severing the two men, instantly quieting their screams, but not those of the others.
Gillie's larger blade made a truer path of where he aimed and in a moment, two halves of the man swung apart, as his entrails gushed out and fell about the ground. Killian's smaller blade ran afoul and curved into the man's spine, lodging in a disc, his target lasting only a few more seconds in agony. Cheers rang out from Glendon's men, while disheartened silence was held by Gleason's men.
"Ye need a bigger blade like mine, Killian. That one is too wee tae do the job. Only good fer hacking off an arm or leg."Gillie told him, smiling at him through his thick, scraggly beard.
Killian turned to his men and asked for a bigger bladed axe. None had one, so Gillie shouted to his younger brother to come forward. Wee Abe, not much smaller than Gillie, came through and handed his axe to Killian. It was almost the same as Gillie's and Killian swung it a few times to get the feel for it. He judged its weight to be over a stone, as he hefted it in his hand.
"It'll do the job, it has before." Abe told him, winking with a smile, as he went back with the other men to watch.
"That's one tae Gillie and none fer Killian. String two more up, same size if ye can, try tae make this fair fer both." Gleason laughed out,
Two more men were cut from the remaining men and dragged to the trees screaming, not a face showing any sign of mercy, or remorse to them. Once bound, the two large men approached and readied themselves.
"Ready? Swing away." Gleason shouted and both men showed the brute force of their musculature, as they brought the axes to their marks.
This time both axes ran true courses through the bodies, but Gillie's jammed into his man's shoulder bone and stopped, while Killian's blade lodged in the ground, after severing his man cleanly in two. The ground became heaped with viscera, as their entrails fell upon the others.
Cheers rang out from both sides this time, Killian looked at Wee Abe and held the axe up, winking at him with a broad smile, blood still dripping from the edge.
"That's one a piece, so we need a tie breaker. Bring two more." Gleason asked his men, his tone showing an enjoyment in carrying out the deaths of twenty six men.
Glendon had never seen this side of his uncle before and wondered how he knew of these things. In as much as they were carrying out the Commander's orders, he knew what they were doing was still a vile act to commit on a man and Grayson would not approve it. It was becoming harder for him to draw the line between decency and brutality, as he watched the next two men become suspended, to decide the winner.
The screams from the two were drowned out by the shouts from the men on both sides, cheering their man on to do his best and win for their side. He looked at his men, then up to where his brother was being treated by Malachi, thinking of all that had been done. The men were to die anyway, by the blades being used on them now, so what true difference was held by the means they were sentenced to death. As he pondered the moralities of it, Gillie and Killian took their places and readied their axes. As the heads of the men dangled only a foot from the entrails below, they watched their executioners stand before them, ready to add theirs to it. Hearing Gleason give the order, they waited through the last two seconds of their lives in hopelessness, before the cracking of their bones ended their misery.
Gillie cleanly severed his man in two, his axe imbedded in the ground, Killian's axe doing the same. Killian's man clung together by the scantest of tissue and ligament, denying him the win. Walking up, he shook the branch and the tissue tore apart, the halves pulled to the sides, as the organs spilled to the ground. His men still cheered him for his efforts, as Gillie was congratulated heartily by his men for winning. Abe came up and Killian handed him his axe back, thanking him for the use of it.
"Aye, it's a good blade Abe, tae bad that bastard had tae ruin it fer me. I've a good mind tae chop his bloody head off fer it." he laughed out, then went to congratulate Gillie.
"Yer a good man tae ha'e in battle beside ye. I'd hate tae be against ye, so i would." he said laughing, but the truth clearly showed he was.
The two shook wrists and Gillie returned to his post up in the hill. Killian turned to Abe and asked what his brother's name was short for.
"Gillebruide, means brutal boy. Da, named him that after he nearly killed our ma gi'en birth tae him. Took three years tae convince her tae ha'e me. I was much smaller, so he called me Wee Abe, but I'm no wee anymore, but the name has stuck wi' me."he acknowledged.
"Only three years? That did'ne take long." Killian said laughing.
"Aye, Da poked her twice after me, so I must'ae made things easy fer him, but he got two daughters instead of sons. Tae look at them,ye'd no think we're kin. They're small, wee things compared tae Gillie and me." Abe told him, his hands showing the size difference.
"Aye, that's a good thing though, Abe. I don't think tae many men fancy a woman who can best them in a fight." Killian shot back.
"Any man wants tae be wi' our sisters, better know Gillie and me protect them from harm. God help the man who hurts them." Abe said with more seriousness.
Killian saw the look and knew it would mean a slow painful death if a man dishonoured them in any way. He shook Abe's wrist and wished him God's grace to spare him and his brother in battle. Abe wished Killian the same, then Gleason's voice rang out above the din of talking.
"The next test is fer the men who think they can wield a sword fast and true. Ye better hope ye sharpened it well fer this one. Three of yer best swordsmen, Glendon."
The men looked at him with anticipation, unnerving him that they were eager to be chosen. He chose Kenneth, Brice and Colson, he knew to be the best of his men with a sword. His men came forward with their swords, practising cutting blows in preparation, the sharp steel slicing the air in whirring spins.
