A jolting vibration shook Kadin’s arm and worked away across his chest bringing him awake with a start, one of his runes had activated warning him there was someone on the other side of the door, he quickly and quietly rolled out of the bed grabbed his cloak throwing it around him he was just reaching for his twin short swords when the door was blasted off its hinges, shards of the door

frame fell around the room the door its self a thick and sturdy wood flew across the other side of the room before slamming against the wall, one of the biggest men Kadin had ever seen stepped into the room - needing to duck under the top of the door frame; as he did this he threw something towards Kadin who lifted his cloak covered arm in front of him there was a brief flash of a rainbow of colours and a dull twanging sound as the object – a knife he realised – impacted the cloak and fell harmlessly to the ground. More men followed the first in to the room but Kadin didn’t have a chance to check them over as soon as he through the knife the big man charged forwards swinging a club that looked like it was sized for a troll. Kadin dove towards his swords and as he did he closed his eyes threw out his hand behind him and channelled a mix of air, fire and life magic which emitted a blinding flash of light that even through his closed eyes and from behind him – he could still see through his closed eyes. He heard one of the men call out a curse at him and another two at least stumble and trip over. He grabbed his swords unsheathed them and spun to face his attackers in one fluid motion while sending fire magic down the blades. The big man had recovered and swung his club in a wide arc that Kadin simply ducked under as he did this he had also took a step forwards and in a single motion swept his own sword up through the wrist of the big man then brought the blade across his neck, however he was surprised by the amount of resistance he felt, this the attack should have cut off the big man’s hand and head however he was left with a deep gash across both his wrist and neck, the big man blinked in confusion as the club fell to the floor and he brought up his other hand to his neck looking somewhat confused that it had came away slick and wet with blood. Kadin paid the man no more attention as he stepped passed, he was able to see three other men in the process of attacking him one with a simple wooden staff and two with pitchforks, no surprise that these were the same men from earlier that night, the man with the staff was on Kadin’s left and he thrust it straight towards Kadin’s face. Taking a side step and bringing up the blade in his right hand he caught the staff and used the momentum to swing the man around and into the path of the other two, with Kadin’s off hand he thrust his sword through the staff wielders neck. It was then Kadin was slammed in the back with what felt like a charging bull, his cloak absorbed most of the impact but there was still enough force to throw him across the room and into the far wall, where he quickly spun to put his back to the wall and see the room. The giant of a man was charging towards him club still in hand the other two men with the pitch forks right behind, also the staff wielder was beginning to push himself up off the floor and get back onto his feet. Kadin crossed his blades then swung them out sending a crossed arc of fire straight forwards at the charging giant, the fire blast caught the charging man right in the chest, throwing him back and burning through flesh and bone. Kadin charged forwards behind his flame attack towards the other two men, the one closest thrust his pitchfork towards Kadin’s gut, Kadin swung to the side just missing the prongs. His blade also caught the fork and he used the momentum to swing the fork round and impale the other man with the fork right through the chest, with his backwards swing Kadin also neatly decapitated the man who had just impaled his brother. Stepping back Kadin seen the staff wielder was back in striking range and swinging his weapon, Kadin caught the staff with a raised sword swinging it up and over head with his other blade cut the man’s arm off at the shoulder, swinging through with the same momentum he channelled power and strength to his legs kicked the man in chest with enough force that Kadin felt the man’s rib cage crack and fracture through his bare feet. The man flew back toppling over and rolled twice before coming to a stop several feet away – but even as Kadin watched he saw the man begin to push himself up with his reaming arm. Observing the room Kadin seen his 4 attackers stager to their feet and group together, one of the men with a missing arm and his chest caved in, one missing a head, another with a pitchfork still sticking out of his chest and the

last with a gash in his neck and the front of his chest having been burnt away to a black charred mess, as one in a deep guttural voice they shouted “For Diazola!” and charged forwards again.. Over the course of the next few minutes Kadin hacked all 4 to pieces and after each time he removed an arm or a leg or a head the bodies would still try to attack him until at last it was just Kadin and one attacker with just a head and a torso remaining he then growled some unintelligible words and Kadin saw a green fire start to burn in the mans eyes, as he watched to body began to swell and bloat it grunted two final words to Kadin “You lose.”

As he said that the body still continuing to grow and swell started to crack and tear open where green flames would escape and pour out ... knowing something was about to happen Kadin dived to the side of the room away from the man lifting the broken door to cover him and throwing a shell of spirit and life energy around his body when he heard a wet popping noise – then he was blasted by a wave of green fire that tore through the door as if it was made of straw, the blast impacted Kadin’s shield where dozens of cracks appeared and quickly spread across the whole shell, his cloak also flared as some energies were able to break through the cracks in the shield, it was when Kadin thought his shield was about to brake, that the floor below him gave out and he fell, the roof above him began to collapsed on top of him too – Kadin hit the ground hard then right after that was also pummelled with the roof and room above worth of debris. The shield collapsed and as the rubble slowed its fall Kadin blacked out.

As he came too he wasn’t sure how much time had passed but he heard frantic shouts coming from different directions, he checked himself over to see what damage had been done – his cloak absorbed most of what landed on him however there were several scrapes across his arms and chest there was also a strange itch at his side as he move his hand over it he felt two things, first a large piece of wood going right into his side, the second ... blinding agony. He focused a little life magic into himself to heal what he could but he could also feel the wood and knew that his body couldn’t repair itself until it was removed – gritting his teeth as to what would come next Kadin grabbed the wood and pulled. A muffled grunt of pain escaped his lips as he pulled he felt light headed and his vision began to swim and dim but the wood came free; he panted in relief as the pain dropped and he was able to heal his side, the blood flow stopped and his skin started to knit itself back together, he started to push back against the rubble and dig himself out of what was left of his room, one of his swords was still in hand the other was also close by so he was able to get his weapons and as he pushed the last of the debris off of him he found himself in the inn common room close to the fire place, the front of the building had also caved in as well as the rooms to either side of his own. He heard some muffled groans coming from the rubble to his left and he also saw people coming out of near by houses still in there night wear to see what the commotion was.

Kadin slowly picked his way towards the bar where he also seen the remain of his recent bed, he found his pack and his armour after a brief search – by which time another person had also dug himself out the rubble and Bernard the big Inn keeper had descended the stair and stood in the door to the common room with a pale face as he absorbed the scene in front of him after a few second he seemed to collect himself and began to bark orders to the other towns people who had started gathering around, he demanded that they shore up the walls so no other parts on the inn collapsed and ordered others to start digging through the debris to ensure there was no one else hurt underneath, he also commanded one of the people to go find the village healer.

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After donning his armour and having cleared his head Kadin went to the other person who had dug themselves out of the rubble. A skinny middle aged man with a mop of black hair, he was bleeding heavily from an open wound in the side of his head, one of his arms hung limp and there were several cuts covering the mans body, the man was sitting being tended by Bernard but his eyes seemed to come in and out of focus and he looked confused as to what was going on. Bernard barked “ Where’s that healer!” as he desperately scanned the area around him.

Feeling somewhat guilty about this situation and blaming himself for not taking to a more secure and less populated area to spend the night Kadin made his way over, when Bernard seen him a look of relieve came to his face and he asked if Kadin needed any tending,

Kadin waved the man away and said “ I can help tend this man until the healer arrives, you can go see to your other guests”.

The big innkeeper bowed his head and rushed away to help with the people digging in the rubble casting a concerned look back, again Kadin felt a stab of guilt here was a truly friendly and generous man whos building had been substantially damaged – but he put that thought out of his head and bent to examine the man on the floor – his Arm was broken in several locations and his leg also seemed to have at least one brake in it, Kadin knew that setting the bones would be painful and given what the state of the man was Kadin reached into his bag and brought out a small vial with a cherry red liquid in it – he popped the stopper off it and spoke to the man making sure the he was focused on Kadin before saying.

“This is a health potion, it will stop the bleeding and dull the pain, it will also begin to heal some of the wounds you have suffered – once you drink it I will need to set your broken bones – it will hurt but if I don’t they will set the wrong way – drink and brace yourself.”

The man nodded then tried to reach for the vial seeming confused as his arm didn’t seem to respond, Kadin lifted the vial to the mans lips and emptied the potion, the mans eyes came back in to focus and the bleeding from the head wound stopped almost at once, Kadin looked at the man and said

“Ready?” the man nodded - so Kadin grabbed his arm and pulled to set the bone, the man screamed in pain before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out.

Kadin had a fleeting thought of ‘well that will make this easier, he set the mans arm and ripped sheets from a nearby bed and some wood from the ground to set a splint then did the same for the mans leg. As he was setting the bones on the mans leg Kadin heard a croak of a voice from behind him say

“Out of the way boy I will take it from here.” Kadin turned to see a woman hunched and shrivelled leaning heavily on a wooden staff looking down at him – her entire body seemed to be made up of wrinkles and her skin looked like dry leather – however despite that her eyes were sharp and cunning she shuffled up beside Kadin and spoke again. “I can tend this man better than any caravan guard or part time mercenary.” She said giving Kadin a once over noting his weapons and armour. Kadin moved aside to let the woman through, he explained what he had done and how he was in the process or binding his leg, she looked Kadin over in distain before finishing the binding then muttering about him being lopsided then went to recheck the arm Kadin had already bound after a

few second examining and prodding at the mans arm and leg she sniffed loudly and said “well it looks like you at least know something of what you are doing.” before leaving the arm as it was then went on and barked “go and check on the others, shout if you need help.” Before waving Kadin away

Taking that as as much as a show of thanks and respect he was going to get Kadin made his way over to Bernard again. The innkeeper was leaning against his bar looking over the wreckage of the building, his face red and looking somewhat worried. He got himself together as Kadin got to him and said. “The guest in the other room is dead, crushed by timbers from the roof, he was a minor merchant comes through a few times a year.. well he did.” Bernard finished nodding to a form covered by a bed sheet in front of him. Kadin spoke then

“I need a horse.” Bernard looked at him and in that moment gone was the friendly innkeeper Kadin had met earlier now there was a man with steel in his eye and hardness in his form as he asked

“Is this your doing?”

“No, this is the man I am huntings doing – I am trying to stop him!” Kadin answered

“What happened?” the innkeeper ask. Unsure on how much to reveal Kadin thought for a moment before deciding on his reply of:

“I was attacked with magic by the people I asked you about earlier..”

“Ables boys!?!” Bernard interrupted before going on “They do no have a magical bone in there bodys!”

Kadin held up his hand to stop the man then went on “Well they attacked me, the man I am chasing must have done something to them after the fight – they muttered some sort of curse and caused all this” Kadin finished indication at the whole in the building. Bernard looked at him long and hard and for a brief moment Kadin thought he might have another fight on his hands but then the mans eyes softened and he spoke.

“I think you be telling true.” He then nodded to the form on the ground he went on “He had a horse in the stables, you can claim it if ye need to.” He then shared a few whispered words with a boy near by who ran towards the stable then he spoke again “He will get the horse saddled and ready for you, I wish ye well master.” He finished before walking away to help with the clear up – Kadin caught up to him and handed him a small purse of gold and said it was to help with the rebuilding and to pay for the horse if it was due to anyone, he then turned and walked to the stable to get the horse and move on to the next village of Ashvale.