"Glory be to Minos, my nephew."

As I read this letter I stop and back away from the table to give myself a breather as I hear the sounds of mass flapping of wings and the clanking of metal before going back to the table to give the letter a second but more thorough read.

"What is it boy?"

Turning to look at the mayor I can only give him a grim shake of my head as I fold the letter and pocket it next to the other letter I found and started to hobble towards to the door to make my way towards the minotaur's and griffons outside.

"It looks like these minotaur's has just made themselves public enemy number one of the Griffon Empire, and they did it in the most overt way possible." I said this as I hobbled out of the office and asked one of the guards for my sword and I didn't even have to wait long for one of them to come back with my longsword in their talons.

Thanking the guard for retrieving my weapon I take it from his talons before making my way outside townhall and towards the major as he lands in front of the minotaur's just as several squads of griffons' land around them, swords, spears and halberds at the ready as the bull-people make their displeasure quite known with the encroaching military forces.

"Oye! What gives!" "Yeah! We did nothing wrong so move out of our way!" "How dare you draw your weapons against us! Do you know who we are!?"

With his saber drawn he rattles it a bit at the minotaur's as he flies over closer to them as his elite guards wearing much better armor with slight hints of gold lining the edges around the shoulders, spine and waist and clearly better weapons.

"I know exactly who you lot are! Your sorry excuse of flesh and blood have brought war to Talon's End in the search of a certain diamond dog who is aiding the empire. Before my eyes you lot are nothing more than vagrants who have just earned a one-way trip to the executioners block and there is nothing you lot can say about it!"

"Loyal soldiers of the Empire! Seize them! Bind them in irons so that they can pay for their crimes with their heads!" the major shouted and in unison the griffons all charged at the minotaurs as several of them attacked the bullmen's legs by using rope to knock them onto their backs while another group pounced on them from above and grabbed their arms and bound them in chains.

Watching the griffons attack the minotaur's I feel a grin slowly grow as they start to get their just desserts even though they struggle in vain to resist. One minotaur managed to throw a pair of griffons of his back before being tackled to the ground by another group as they wrench his arms behind his back and slapped a pair of iron clasps around his wrists and forearms as another pair of griffons quickly slap on bindings around his ankles. The rest of the minotaur's all met a similar fate as they get tackled and wrestled to the ground and restrained.

The minotaur's didn't even stand a chance as they were quickly taken down in a matter of seconds and as soon as I get to the assembled masses, they had the situation well in hand as the bulls were now bound and chained.

"You have no right to do this to us! Release us at once or face the wrath and fury of Minos!"

The major comes walking up to the head bull, sheathing his saber and as he stops right in front of him, I watched as he raised a talon and just slaps the bull across the face. Pulling back his talons I see that he didn't do it backhanded but actually left claw marks across his face as small blood droplets started to collect at where the claw marks cut deep enough.

"I have every right, bull, as you are now an enemy of the state who have done grievous harm to both the innocent citizens of this village and to the diamond dogs you have enslaved or killed for your expansions into their territory! I have seen the missive your 'uncle' has written for you, and the only minotaur with that amount of authority and access to that much pure gold is the current king of Minos. To think that the king of the minotaur's would do something so dishonorable and shameful as this, I am sure he will get the message across that his plan failed when we send you back to him in pieces."

After saying this many of the griffon and pony soldiers and citizens that are now surrounding start cheering at the major's words while others are throwing globs of mud and rocks at the minotaur's, all of them jeering and throwing insults at the bulls as the bulls take it, being unable to defend themselves with their arms behind their backs.

"Such barbarism! We would not have done the same to you if our positions where exchanged!" the lead minotaur said as he struggled against his bindings, finding it impossible to even move his arms as the bindings holding him in place are far stronger than he was expecting.

"Yes, you would have done the same if the positions were switched." I said as I stepped up beside the major, the grizzled griffon giving me a nod as he stepped back, my guess is that he was giving me the floor to speak.

"In fact, you would have done worse. We have read the missive your king has sent you, how he gave you the order to lure the diamond dogs of the Ruby Mountains Clan to destroy Talon's End so that you can then claim it for yourselves. By invading the Ruby Mountains and conquering the warrens within its territory you have declare war on the High Alpha of the Diamond Dogs and all of his clans, and as of last night, declared war on both myself and the Griffon Empire."

"And just who do you think you are or have the right to do this? You are nothing more than a mangey pup who stuck his nose in a business that doesn't concern it!" the bull shouted as his cronies behind him all nod and agree with him.

"That is where you are wrong, I am Sir Ian Wilkinson, knight of the Griffon Empire, Mentor for Clan Fel Brass, Alpha of Clan Halistro, and I am the architect who designed and helped build the water mill and the fisheries within this village. But you, you good sir, are nothing more than a mulling little blue-blooded cow who has never accomplished anything in his life, a mewling calf that has never contributed anything to society and lived a lavish lifestyle never knowing what hard work is as you had everything was handed to you on a silver platter. Unlike you I have put blood, sweat, tears and time into getting to where I am today, so yes, I have earned the right to judge you." I said with a hint of a sneer as I looked at the bullman, clear disdain for the beast visible in my eyes as the griffons surrounding us keep their weapons pointing at the minotaurs.

"You, bull, are charged with the crimes of Conspiracy to commit Mass Murder, Mass Murder, Bribery, Bribery of a Knight, Illegal Poaching, Inciting War between two foreign powers, False Identification, Espionage, Plot to Assassinate a Knight, multiple accounts of Attempt of Enslavement, Slavery, and Instigating a War for personal gain." I said with finality as I stepped before the lead minotaur and placed a hand on the pommel of my sword.

"And by the power invested in me by his imperial majesty, King Guto of Griffonstone, I hereby sentence you to death. May the gods have mercy upon your soul for I shall show you none. Now, normally it would be an executioner who would be doing this but as my father always said, 'Those who make the sentence should swing the sword', and I am a man of my word." And as I said this I turned around and walked towards a pair of griffons that were standing off to the side.

"You two, go find something that shall serve as the executioners block, many of these bulls are about to find themselves an express ticket to meet their god far earlier than their scheduled arrival." and with that given order the two griffon soldiers gave me a salute before flying off in search of a suitable slab of wood that will serve the desired purpose.

From behind me I heard several of the minotaur's begin to struggle with their metal bindings, doing all that they can to try and free themselves from what awaits them but to no avail. Several of the guards holding the minotaur's in place had to resort to beating the minotaur's with the blunt part of their weapons just to get them to stop resisting with many of them being lifted off the ground and slammed into the dirt to force a measure of compliance upon them.

After a few minutes the griffons came back carrying a cut section of log that was from the watermill, the first tree to be tested to see if it was working properly and with a bit of a heave the two dropped the heavy circular slab of wood onto the dirt road and landed next to it, gasping for breath as it was a little too heavy for the pair to handle on their own.

"Now before we get started, there is one thing I want to know from each of you..."

"We will never betray our nation!"

"I was not going to ask you stab your country in the back to spare your lives. I was going to ask what your station is back home? Were you a noble's child? A commoner like the rest of us who saw this as a means for quick cash? A merchant who saw the opportunity to expand his trade? Or are you simply a soldier sent to protect that one minotaur right there?"

"For what? So you can blackmail our families to get them to betray our homeland for our safety or to ransom us back? We minotaur's are a proud race and we will never succumb to such underhanded tactics!"

"No, so that I can properly write this in my report back to King Guto back in Griffonstone. He does love reading these whenever I send the finalized reports to him, even more so when it is of interesting stock."

"A bureaucratic knight, you really are the worst combination of all that is sacred upon this world." one of the minotaur's said as a few snickered, even a couple of griffon knights snickered as well as I turned my head a bit to look back at the kneeling bulls.

Glancing at those who were snickering the griffons silenced themselves while the bulls kept on going, I guess they know now that their fates have been sealed and are now just enjoying the ride.

"Since you are taking this as a joke then I will simply say this, which among you is of the lowest station? Which among you is part of the lower stratum of your society?" I said as I kept glancing back at the kneeling bulls, none of them said a word nor made a move, only shuffling a bit in the dirt, that is until one of them spoke up.

"I am of the lowest rank amongst the group!" the minotaur in the back of the group shouted as, a vain attempt to raise his hands up so that he can be spotted was cut short when a minotaur beside him elbowed him in the ribs, forcing a pained yelp to escape from his lips as he curls in from the sudden impact.

I motioned for the guards to bring forward the minotaur who spoke up and after a few seconds I heard the rattling of chains and the cloven hoof steps behind me before I heard the bull fall back to his knees.

Looking down at the minotaur brought before me I realize that I have seen particular bull before.

"You're the one who was carrying their belongings when you all first arrived here. A porter, I believe your occupation to be, am I not correct?" I said as I raised an eyebrow at the minotaur as he began to shake where he is kneeling, fear creeping up his spine.

"Yes mi-lord." the young minotaur said as I loomed over him, and it was just now that I realize that he was the shortest one of the group and yet he was the one who had to haul all of their shit around for gods knows how long it took them to get here on hoof.

"Your job is to carry their belongings, make sure none of it is lost or damaged while in transit, and I am also going to assume that you had to do other menial tasks that the rest of the group saw as beneath them?" I said as I helped lift him up and brought him to the side, nowhere near the chopping block as he looked confused yet relieved that he wasn't going to get executed.

Yet.

"Y-yes, mi-lord."

"Good, what is your name?" I asked the young minotaur just as I spied a glance towards the rest kneeling, all of them are giving both the minotaur with me and myself a seething death glare, their eyes trying to bore holes through our heads.

"My name is Horace, porter for Lord Blackwall of the Stonehammers." the young bull said as he quivered a bit as we walked away from the rest of the minotaur's, with many of them being riled up knowing that one of theirs decided to save their own skin than to cover for their boss.

"Then that means that you get to deliver a message for me to your king." I said as I gave him a pat on the head as I motioned for the guards to take him away. The two guards that brought him before me picked him back up and started to take him to the village's jail house for his own safety.

As the guards took away the young minotaur to the jail house, the minotaur's began to yell and try to break free from their metal bindings to try and get to the young bull who was given a mercy, to silence him before he can tell me everything I need to know. The struggling went on for a few seconds until finally one of the bulls behind me let out a loud roar of anger and rage as he managed to break free from the griffons holding him down and broke out from his restraints before making a rush towards me.

My only warning that he was coming towards me was the thundering hoofsteps approaching from behind, and those steps was all that I needed when I recalled the training I underwent, more specifically the information regarding minotaur's.

'Minotaurs, when charging at their enemy with their horns lowered and posture dropped, they cannot stop quite so easily, and they will have a hard time turning themselves in the case their intended target moves out of the way. The best way to counter this is to dodge to the side and to attack the back of their legs to cripple them than move in for the kill.'

With a deep breath and an exhale, I steeled myself for the bull to get a little closer as I rested my right hand on the grip of my sword and held it firmly and just as I felt the bull was close enough, I reacted.

Taking a step to the right I spun around as I unsheathed my sword and gripped it with both hands as I brought it over my head and brought it down right behind the bull's head and cleaved right through his neck. I watched the thick, corded muscles that were bulging out as he was glaring at me with rage, that immediately turned to angry surprise as the blade went through fur, flesh, muscle and bone before finishing my step around and sheathed my sword as quickly as I unsheathed it.

The minotaur took several more steps forward before slowing down and finally comes to a halt as his body falls to the ground and his head fell off a few seconds after.

As soon as the dust settled and the silence in the air began to rise, I made the first move and let out a wet cough as blood came from my mouth and dripped onto the road before being promptly wiped away as I hobbled to the now-dead minotaur and picked up its head and brought it over to the rest of the group.

"Hobbled and injured as I am, I am still a threat not to be messed with, as shown by this idiot's passing. Now..." I said as I walked over to the stump and placed the bloody head onto its unmarred surface.

"Shall we begin?" I said as I turned to face the group of minotaur's and griffons, their eyes all on me.

And like that, the magic was broken.

The minotaur's once again tried to escape from their restraints, struggling in vain as the griffons were ready this time and proceeded to beat them with wooden batons to suppress them and with a few griffons even having to resort to using maces on the back of their legs. A few of the minotaur's ended up with either bruised or broken legs and had to be dragged to the stump for their execution.

"Oh no, not you, you are going last. You get to see what your hubris and scheming has wrought upon you." I said with a grin upon my face as the leader of the minotaur's, Blackwall of the Stonehammers, started to struggle in his bindings even more just as more griffons came in to drag him away and secured him in place, forcing him to watch the parade of death.

"Now, before we get started, do any of you have any final words?" I asked the first minotaur on his knees on the chopping block, the bull glaring at me the entire time with concentrated hatred.

"No? None at all?" I said with solemn look as I slowly pulled the sword from its sheath and began to raise it high above my head.

"You won't get away with this!" Blackwall shouted from his place away from the minotaur's as the rest of his kin looked on.

"Oh really? From where I am standing, I already have." And with a cheeky grin I raised the sword to its zenith and looked down at the minotaur kneeling before me.

"When our king gets word of what you have done, all of Minos will rally behind his banner and invade Griffonia!" Blackwall shouted as he once again struggled in his chains and for his efforts his reward is a blunt sword to the back to drop him back down to his knees.

I simply stopped what I was doing and turned to face Blackwall, a bored look on my face before it slowly began to shift and change to that of a shit-eating grin.

"Why are you smiling like that? Nothing you say or do now can stop what is about to happen!" Blackwall shouted as I kept on smiling at him.

"You really don't see the bigger picture here? Fine. Let me paint you a pretty picture so you can see what is about to befall you, your people, and your nation from this action alone." I said as I lowered my sword and made my way over to the beleaguered bull.

"When word gets out that a clan of diamond dogs has attacked a griffon settlement and nearly destroyed it the griffons will want blood for what was done to them, and naturally the king will order a legion or two to snuff out the diamond dogs to avenge his slain and captured citizens. But when he finds out what was the true instigating force behind this attack his gaze shall instead turn to the true enemy that lies in the shadows just north of him, instead of the mountain range to his northeast. Naturally talks between kings will be happening while forces will march to the borders and be rattling sabers and spears at one another, peace talks will break down than the war will begin, and a vast quantity of lives will be lost on both sides of the conflict."

"That is what you are expecting to happen, an eventuality that is all too crystal clear and one that you know will happen should nothing else get in the way of that particular path of destiny." And with each step I take I begin to slowly circle around the minotaur, passing him as I lay before him every single step of what is to come from this turn of events that have befallen the village and the nation without missing a beat before stopping right in front of him.

"But...you forgot one little thing."

"And that is?" the minotaur said with a snarl, and with a grin from me I slowly pull out two letters from my pocket.

Lord Blackwall's eyes widen at the sight of the two letters, the wax seals on them broken and contents within exposed for all to see.

"This, was written by your uncle's hand, your King of Minos, was it not?" I said as my shit-eating grin only grew wider to the point of bordering on becoming just like the Joker's.

I didn't even wait for him to reply as I pressed forward.

"This, this right here is damning evidence against both your king and your kingdom, and we now have you, the hostage lynchpin, the center piece to everything happening here! That is why I need you alive at this moment, so that you can damn yourself in front an audience of those infinitely your greater!" I exclaimed with excitement and zeal that nearly bordered on fanatical, but before I could lose myself to excitement that was destroying someone's hopes and dreams right before their very eyes.

"Now if you will excuse me, I have an execution to commence." and with that said I returned to the chopping block and waved a hand to the guards to bring forward the first to be executed.

And like that it was a slow process of dragging a minotaur to the wood stump, forcing them down so their head rests upon it, ask them if they have any final words to say, and with muted silence from them for a minute I then unsheathed my sword, raised it up high, and with perfect form I brought it down at the middle portion of their neck, cleaving through it and embedding itself a bit into the wood.

Every single minotaur execution was the same, silence, no last words, just an angry glare towards me and a snort before my sword finds purchase in the stump beneath them.

It was the same process over and over again.

Loud cloven hoof stomps to the stump.

Thick, muscled knees collapsing into the mud.

A pair of talons forcing his head down and keeping him in place.

A period of silence and heavy breathing.

Then a low sound of meat being parted from meat and bone.

And then silence.

Several heads collectedly lie on the bloodied chopping block, one minotaur bound in irons to watch it all while another is sitting in a cell away from the grisly sight of his executed comrades.

Wiping the blood from my sword I walk over to a griffon and as soon as the blade is sufficiently clean, I sheath it before taking out a saw-toothed dagger and handed over to the griffon soldier. He looked for a moment before noticing me jerking my thumb back to the severed heads.

"Go remove their horns, their actions were dishonorable and brought death to those that have been taken too soon. Once you are done, put the horns in a sack, they will be going with our young minotaur porter when we send him home." I said as I walked past the griffon who gave me a look of puzzlement and confusion before finally shrugging his shoulders and got to work sawing the horns off the heads of the minotaur's as I made my way over to Blackwall.

To say he was angry beyond belief would be an understatement.

His head was so red that it looked like that it would explode at any moment, he was snorting so hard that steam was coming out with each exhale, shaking with barely restrained rage and fury, in all he was the very definition of anger.

"YOU! You will pay for this!" Blackwall shouted at me as several griffons held him down, so he doesn't get up and attempt to strike me down and kill me.

Shaking my head at him I just grin and smile down at him.

"No, I won't be paying for this, and do you know why?" and with a smile on my face I lay it out for him.

"Because all of this that has just happened? It will be tied around your neck, and you will be the one to bear the weight of it all when it is time for you to meet your maker." I said with a grin before turning to the griffons holding him in place.

"Take him away, make sure he is watched at all times and that he is kept alive and fed. We cannot allow him to die just yet, he will be answering for his crimes before the Council of Nations next month and we must ensure he stays alive until then." I said this with a shite-eating grin on my face as I look down at the defeated bullman as realization sinks in for him.

The cold, horrible realization that he has just brought true, monumental dishonor not on just himself, but upon his very nation and his uncle.

With that the guards saluted me as six griffons formed up around the quiet minotaur as they hoist him up and dragged him away to put him in a cage as I turned around and began heading towards where the diamond dogs are being held.

'I guess it is time to face the music and see what awaits me.'

I am finally back to writing, aside from catching Covid and dealing with the shitstorm that is a badly understaffed Walmart I am now trying to devote my days off to writing so I can get this story back on its tracks.