They had spent three days in total with Kasma, learning his language bit by bit and word by word. It was a difficult language for the human mouth to speak, with many syllables and sounds proving tough or even impossible to pronounce.
Dietrich could tell Kasma to eat some meat, or even a vegetable. He could say "Hello, my name is Dietrich Fischer" to Kasma in Thrask tongue and the felid was able to understand him.
It was the little phrases and words, greetings and goodbyes, which led Dietrich to grow a small fondness for Kasma. It was not anything driven by desire or an ulterior motive, but a sense of curiosity and familiarity when being near the felid.
There was so much to learn and understand about him and his species and Dietrich had been left dissatisfied with his inability to study new topics during the war.
He understood that beneath all of the violent actions, bloodlust, and lethal abilities lied an inquisitive and calculating mind. He had once thought about what his future would have held if Germany did not wage war.
Perhaps he would have studied science.
Maybe he would have been an engineer or a doctor.
But the more time he spent thinking of what could have been, he realized that he would have been was bored.
He was having way too much fun as a sniper to regard what could have been, and quite frankly, he wasn't particularly interested in being anything else.
But, even in the absolutely psychotic job that he held, it appeared that his calculating and inquisitive mind might have a chance to appear and flourish after all.
"Such a twist in fate that allows me to do both of what I want!" Thought Dietrich. He watched as Kasma danced small wisps of flames around the tips of his fingers.
For quite some time, he had been displaying many of his magical capabilities, the most interesting of them his abilities with flames. He had produced a magical smokeless fire, which gave them warmth and light, and a way to stealthily cook the meat that they had which already wasn't.
The flames flickered and licked at the edges of his fingers with the movement of the air around them in the forest. It was dark out, with the moon shrouded by clouds. The only source of light was a small fire in which the five of them were basking.
Dietrich was laying on his side with his rifle resting against a low hanging branch of a tree that they were nesting under. The group had decided that the new location was to be their temporary home base.
It was a nice place, only half a kilometer from the bandit camp and a little up the mountain ranges which surrounded the area. They had bedded down beneath the great and old tree, which was growing over a partial slope on a hillside.
Hudson, Hiroshi, and Katya also laid around the fire, with Hudson already sleeping next to his flamethrower. Hiroshi had doffed his foliage, and presently shared the same state as his former Marine adversary. Katya sat and was braiding her hair into a single rope, though she had stated that she was going to sleep soon after.
That left Dietrich and Kasma to stay up if they wished. During the past few nights, Dietrich had noticed that, primarily, Kasma was subtly nervous when the sun went down.
No one else seemed to notice, or if they did they never brought it up, but Kasma would peer around, his yellow feline eyes darting all over with the natural sounds of the forest. His ears would move seemingly on their own, shifting to better hear every branch shaking or twig snapping.
The Thrask, when going to bed, always seemed to put himself towards the center of the group and if possible, placing himself between two of them.
It never struck Dietrich as odd behavior, even after waking up to find that the Thrask had wedged himself almost under Dietrich.
At first, he believed that Kasma was trying to be wary of other Thrask, just as he would be wary of other humans in the war.
However, Dietrich began to speculate that Kasma's world might have held more than just the regular woodland animals.
"They have magic, so it stands to reason that maybe their magic is not the only unnatural order in this world." Thought Dietrich. He wasn't certain he could ask Kasma about it. Their language barrier was still wide, but he decided that trying was better than not.
"Kasma. Forest. Why you afraid? Animals?" Asked Dietrich. He fumbled when pronouncing the word for animals, barely able to produce the slight hiss needed after making a "ch" sound.
Kasma looked over at him, extinguishing the flames on his hand. He nodded, and began to speak.
"Yes. Big dogs. Serpents." Said Kasma. Dietrich have a tight lipped smile, understanding what the Thrask was trying to get at. It seemed that he was nervous of wolves and reptiles, a simple survival based instinct. No doubt.
But Dietrich's smile gave way as Kasma repeated a word: It was a title that had been given to Dietrich and his friends.
Something unholy.
"Demons." Said the felid. Dietrich sat up slightly, remembering the chore that it had been to explain heaven and hell, and their occupants.
"What? Demons in the woods?" Asked Dietrich. Kasma shrugged, more or less, then nodded.
"Yes. Demons. Very bad. Very angry. Four legs. Two legs." Said Kasma. Dietrich understood that only over time would he be able to better understand what the Thrask was saying. But he was just beginning, and that was all he could understand.
"Where? Why they not here? Why no I see?" He asked, hating the childlike understanding of their language. Kasma looked off into the woods for a little, seemingly nervous, yet searching for an answer. He played with his fingers for a second before turning to look at Dietrich with those yellow slits.
"They know." He said. Dietrich looked at him incredulously.
"They know you. You bad. Very bad. Very evil. Very different. They afraid." Said Kasma. He flexed his hand and a glowing green circle formed around it.
"Spell show me creatures. All living things near. Not you. Never you." Said Kasma. He then pointed to the rest of the group, including the now sleeping Katya. "Never them."
Dietrich was at a loss for words with this new information. If he interpreted Kasma correctly, they had sidestepped strange beings in the woods and detection by the bandits because they could not be sensed magically. It was as if they were just not there.
"Demons scared. You new. Thunder sticks scare. Keep demons away. Afraid." That was the gist of what Dietrich could translate. A new sense of unease fell upon the man because he realized that there were creatures in the woods that posed a threat to them this entire time without his knowledge.
That simply could not be allowed.
"Kasma." Said Dietrich, waving the felid over. Kasma shifted himself to where he was sitting close to the man, in front of his chest.
"The Demons. Teach me."
XXX
"Who else uses magic?" Asked Dietrich. The two had stayed well past what they usually did, with Kasma trying to translate descriptions of the beasts which roamed the forest for hours.
Kasma frowned and drew a pyramid in the ground, cutting it into five levels before tracing another one and copying the levels. On the first, he pointed to the bottoms level.
"Workers. Poor. Many." He said. Dietrich nodded and leaned in, noticing that the fire began to die down. Kasma casually turned and flicked his fingers, letting flames engulf them. He then charged up the fire and it spewed forth from his palm, coating the pile of sticks and wood with bright orange flames.
"Workers. Poor. Many." He repeated. Dietrich watched as Kasma wrote what he guessed the word for workers was. He then pointed to the next level, above the workers.
"Merchants. Many." He said. He wrote the word and then moved to the next level, in the middle.
"Scholars. Smart. Rich. Have magic." Said Kasma. He wrote the word and kept going.
"Soldiers and nobles. Fewer. Rich. Power." He said. Then, to the final level.
"Rulers. Female. Always. Powerful! Richer than all!" He said. Dietrich sat up slightly, and began to mumble to himself.
"So, they work on a caste system, with a matriarchal society. Scholars use the magic." He surmised, quickly thinking to his schooling on history and social studies.
"Kasma...you are a scholar?" Asked Dietrich. He rotated himself to face Kasma, and the felid did the same. Under the dark canopy of the forest, the two sat with only fire lighting the surrounding area.
"Yes. Bandits took me many seasons ago. Kingdom cannot find. I...very important Thrask." Said Kasma. Dietrich nodded, and gave Kasma a thumbs up.
"Worry later." Said Dietrich. He pointed to the pyramid, and then drew a line from the worker caste to the noble one.
"Can move between?" He asked. Dietrich was interested in learning how their society worked. If he could get a comprehensive grasp, he will gain another advantage.
"Yes. Very hard. But not unable. Not discouraged." Dietrich nodded once more, and he rubbed a chin.
"Do bandits have magic?" Asked Dietrich. Kasma nodded and the man noticed how the Thrask tensed up at their mentioning.
"Does she have magic, Kasma? The leader?" He asked. Kasma nodded quietly, and grabbed his left arm with his right.
"Did she hurt you, Kasma?" Asked Dietrich. He leaned in towards the Thrask, coming to a distance that he was sure Kasma would consider uncomfortably close.
The Thrask nodded and Dietrich saw his eyes moisten and redden with tears.
While emotional communication would never be his strong suit, Dietrich did feel that he had a way to somewhat ease Kasma's suffering on the situation with the bandit leader. He placed a hand on Kasma's back and softly began to rub it up and down the Thrask's cloth coat.
"Worry not. She will be in pain soon. I take her skin from her." He said. He watched as Kasma's head sprang up and he had the most horrible look of revulsion on his feline face. His muzzle was crinkled upwards in a terrible snarl.
"Wha...you...wh-" Kasma was unable to properly form words, gasping and sputtering. Quickly, the feline began to try and crawl away, but Dietrich placed pressure on the hand against his back, keeping him in place.
"Leader hurt you. Many moons, yes? Hurting there?" He asked, pointing between Kasma's legs. "Doing things you do not want?" He questioned. Kasma's lack of answer proved to be one for Dietrich.
"She deserves. No one else but her. Must be punished." Demanded Dietrich. He fell silent, thinking about the magic that their leader used. If she had any extra lethal threats to him and his friends, he needed to know.
"What magic she use?" Asked Dietrich. Kasma looked off into the direction of the bandit camp, then back to Dietrich.
"Fire. Storms. Living things. Same as me but more too." He said. Dietrich nodded. "Some others do, but only those near her. No one else." Said the cat. Dietrich nodded once more, and asked what he believed would be the last question for the night.
"Who other prisoners in building?"
XXX
Morning had come, with Dietrich waking up to find that a thick fog had settled upon the forest. He looked around, blinking to let his eyes adjust.
He saw Hiroshi and Katya looking at him from the same spots they fell asleep in. He felt an odd pressure against his chest and looked down to see that Kasma was sleeping against him.
"Dietrich...what is he doing there?" Asked Katya. Dietrich sat up softly, waking Kasma in the process. The felid moved over slightly, and then went back to sleep.
"It is because he is afraid. We have not been alone in these woods. There are...many creatures of unnatural order in these lands." Said Dietrich. Katya raised her brows, eyes going wide.
"We have been vulnerable? We should have set up sentries!" Said Katya. Hiroshi audibly agreed and Dietrich brought his hand up, asking for silence.
"They stay away from us, because according to Kasma, the creatures can somehow sense that we are unnatural to this land. Their magic...the Thrask...it cannot detect us. They have spells which show living things. It never shows us." He said. Hiroshi perked up, pointing a finger at Dietrich.
"Perhaps you are correct, German. Perhaps we truly are dead in the afterlife." He said. Dietrich shrugged and motioned back to the bandit camp.
"I have learned quite a lot about their society from him. Our luck is innumerable. He is a scholar of sorts, an important person, to a kingdom somewhere. A master of the craft of magic I assume. He was captured by the bandits many seasons ago, and the bandits have grabbed more and more over time." Said Dietrich.
By now, Hudson was waking up, yawning audibly and rubbing his face. Dietrich looked at him, then back to the group.
"The bandits have a few magic users on their side, mainly the leader and a few of her closest allies. I can only assume that their magic will not affect us, but I think that we should assume that it will." Said Dietrich.
Hiroshi nodded, wiping the brim of his military cap with a thumb.
"A smart idea. Is our plan still the same from before?" He asked, unsheathing his katana. Dietrich watched in admiration as the officer stood, and practiced a few swings and stabbing motions.
"Correct." Said Dietrich, drawn to the sound of the blade slicing through the air and the fog itself.
"Good. So it shall be." Said Hiroshi.
XXX
Dietrich currently sat behind a bush with Kasma, watching over the bandit camp from a concealed location.
"They burn. Hiroshi human lock them in barracks. Hudson human burn." Said Dietrich. The two watched as an amalgamation of branches, foliage, and leaves seemingly ran across the thickly fog shrouded ground in their direction from the barracks.
It took no less than twenty seconds for the mass to reach them, be t stood up from its crouched sprint.
"The doors are barred. Any patrolling guards have been silenced." Said Hiroshi. He raised his sub machinegun, a Type 100 as he had called it, and fixed the long bayonet that he had worn on his belt.
"Hudson will begin his burn soon. Take any runner or straggler as you find them." Ordered Dietrich. Hiroshi nodded and slinked off into the woods behind them.
After a few silent moments, Dietrich and Kasma watched as another shape stood up from the foggy forest floor. Immediately after, a stream of flame erupted from in front of the shape, coating the left barracks building in fire.
The stream stopped and then resumed again, this time coating the right barracks building in flames.
A series of deafening cracks split the air around them as Dietrich recognized the sound of an SVT-40 firing. Hudson once again lit the buildings up with a stream of flames.
Soon, the fires were roaring as they burnt the wood huts. At first, the flames were small as they barely danced over the wood as they seemingly tried to keep aflame.
But as if a switch was flipped, the old and dried wood of the barracks ignited like a wildfire, spreading fast upon the two buildings with a roar.
But the roar of the flames was soon overtaken by a sound which Dietrich had grown used to hearing: The sound of wretched screaming from the inside inhabitants.
Dietrich was able to see the barracks physically shaking as they pushed against the barred doors; walls swaying with the movement. But they did not give. Hiroshi and Hudson's handwork proved their worth as the flames grew wildly.
He looked to Kasma to see that the cat's eyes were wide with horror, his ears moving of their own accord with the sounds that haunted them. He shook slightly and Dietrich took the time to physically grab the felines head with a hand and turn it to face him.
"Come with me. We grab others." Said Dietrich. He stood up and began to walk to the barn, P38 in hand.
Kasma lagged a little behind him, seemingly in a want to keep a safe distance from the man. Dietrich kept scanning the fog laden area near him for movement. The barn was close to them, only about fifty or so meters in front of them, but Dietrich wanted to take no risk.
Katya fired more shots from her distant position of overwatch, and then Hiroshi fired his Type 100. Dietrich heard the signature sound of rapid fire pops and assumed that the officer was punching holes in a bandit.
He didn't know what Hudson was currently doing, but when he heard some more pistol shots, with a deeper and punchier sound to them, he guessed that some Thrask had fell victim to the Marine's 1911.
Dietrich reached the door of the barn and he waited for a few seconds to let Kasma join him. He looked down at Kasma, taking in his shocked appearance. The feline seemed to be dazed, his yellow eyes completely zoned out of the moment.
Dietrich grabbed him by the shoulder, softly, and shook him a little.
"Any inside?" Asked Dietrich. He placed a hand on the door, noticing the lack of lock and chain. The Thrask shrugged and Dietrich smiled, softly pushing the door open.
The wooden door to the barn sluggishly opened with a whine as rusty hinges rubbed against each other. The air swished as the door displaced it, revealing a clear space to the man.
Several Thrask, with the number being above ten, were chained messily to a wooden bar which ran across two balconies on either side of the barn.
The Thrask were battered and bruised. Their treatment had been harsh from what Dietrich had seen. They were thin, with Dietrich being able to see their rib cages and bones and their fur was matted and disgusting, covered with dirt and other material he didn't really feel like figuring out.
Blood was pooled in some areas along the dirt flood and splattered on the wall sparsely. Flies buzzed around them as they looked towards him in utter terror at his alien appearance.
But the sights never bothered Dietrich. Hunting and war had long since desensitized him to violence and decrepit conditions.
It was the smell that overtook his nostrils in hostility. The air smelt of pure death and literal shit.
It was no way for anyone to live, which is why when his eyes fell upon the singular guard that was standing in the middle of the room with a whip in his hand, he decided to kill him on the spot.
He took two steps in total, watching the guard turn to face him.
The look on the guards face went from confusion to absolute fear as he noticed Dietrich towering over him, and Dietrich saw this.
He raised his P38, placing the muzzle directly between the guards eyes and pulled the trigger, sending the back of the feline's head all over the bound prisoners.