Chapter 23

We were walking companionably back down the road towards town when we saw it and stopped in our tracks. We weren’t quite in sight of town yet, but there were two wagons turned on their sides blocking the road. The horses that had been pulling the carts lay dead in the road along with the merchants that had apparently been driving the carts. Their guards lay strewn in pools of blood all over the area with ravens and crows fluttering about in between them. A few arrows stuck up from a body here and there. I tensed as I walked up to the carts and looked around. I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye and spun around, looking back north up the road as a group of men made their way out from the cover of the trees. Knick caught my move and spun nearly as quickly. It took Hammer a long second to notice the direction we were looking and turned to see what had drawn our attention.

Fuck, we must have walked right past them. I was too relaxed this close to town and hadn’t been paying proper attention. I counted thirteen at first glance but noticed some movement in a couple of trees, one on each side of the road. Looks like they’ve got their archers up there. Damnit, these guys aren’t fucking around. The men on the road were heavily armored with chainmail and the odd bit of plate mixed in. The noon sun beating straight down on their dark iron helmets cast their features in shadow giving them an evil cast as they grinned at us confidently. They had their swords drawn, long sinuous blades reminiscent of my snake blade.

“Fuck. Califondians. It’s probably a full on raid of the town.” I muttered. “When I make my move to take out the archers you guys get into the trees, and get some distance from the road. Try to draw them into the pit traps if you can before they engage you. I’ll be right behind ya. Rally at my hut.” I surreptitiously removed my sling from around my waist beneath my cloak and grabbed a couple of stones from my pouch. I glanced at Knick for confirmation, and he gave a tight nod without looking away from the soldiers, his eyes unblinking and his expression deadly serious. I glanced at Hammer to see his face full of worry, but he nodded as well.

I stepped forward and flicked my cloak away from my right arm. I spun my sling once before releasing a rock as hard as I could at the archer in the tree on the left side of the road. Before the first rock had even hit I’d already unleashed my second stone at the archer in the tree on the right side. I heard Knick and Hammer bolt into the woods behind me as I drew my axe out of its belt loop.

“Squads two and three take the runners. Squad one with me.” I heard the man with the nicest armor say in a language that was new to me. Guess he’s in charge, suppose that makes the language Califondian. I made a note to take him out if the opportunity presented itself. “Archers, take the shot!” The man said more loudly so the men in the trees could hear him. The archers slowly tumbled out of their trees and hit the ground with a loud crunch within seconds of each other. To their credit the soldiers didn’t hesitate, and eight of them took off at a sprint after Hammer and Knick. The leader glanced at the archers crumpled at the base of their respective trees on both sides of the road and glared at me. “You’re dead, boy!” He yelled in the common tongue with a heavy accent.

I smiled my well practiced killer’s grin and yelled back in Califondian, “And here I was just planning to maim or cripple you!” I held out my left hand and beckoned them towards me. “Come get some pain, motherfuckers! I’m gonna ruin your whole day!” I tossed my axe to my left hand and drew back out my sling, having loaded my last stone one handed. I casually spun the sling slowly over and over as they approached cautiously. “Archers! Shoot them in the back!” I yelled in Califondian as I looked past them. Two of them hesitated, but one of them actually glanced back over his shoulder. Love that trick. I launched my stone and caught him squarely in the side of his jaw. Teeth flew and he crumpled bonelessly to the ground. Wasn’t a lethal hit but he’d be profoundly unconscious for some time. I laughed as I turned and bolted after Hammer and Knick into the woods, tucking my sling into my belt as I ran.

They followed almost immediately but had hesitated briefly when one of their number dropped in their midst so I had a slight lead. Problem was, these fuckers were FAST. I was in the best shape I’d been in in two lifetimes, but I was still only fourteen. Just having longer legs by virtue of being full grown adults meant they were gaining on me even in full chainmail cuirasses. I passed a couple of corpses with slit throats as I ran. Looks like Knick is having himself a little fun. I pushed myself to run even faster, but they were getting close. I’d just made it inside my first ring of leg trap pits when I was forced to spin and confront them.

The fastest one of them never slowed as he lunged straight at me with his blade extended. I dodged to the side and brought my axe down two-handed on his extended arm. The fine steel axehead sheared through his chainmail and then his elbow with a jangling tearing sound of metal on metal. I felt a hard jolt as it cleaved his arm off entirely. The man stopped where he was and gaped at the stump where his arm used to be as it spurted blood an unexpected distance. I lunged towards him and with a one-handed backhand took him across the throat so hard it nearly severed his head. I held my axe at the position I’d ended in, with my arm extended, and watched the three remaining men slow cautiously and surround me. They were obviously pissed about their very dead comrade at my feet. Damn, their leader almost stepped in one of my traps but narrowly missed putting his foot through it.

“When he-,” began their leader. I didn’t wait to find out what he wanted them to do as I dashed towards the one on my right and feinted an uppercut blow at his face with the blade of my axe. He moved his sword to ward off my blow and started to step backwards, just in time to take my axe’s spike through his stationary foot as I reversed the direction of the axe and ducked under his sword to slam it home. I yanked the spike free as I sprinted past him, narrowly avoiding a wild slash from his sword. I felt a burning across my back as I ran. Ok, maybe I didn’t entirely avoid it, but it didn’t feel like it cut very deep. Just a shallow cut across the back of my right shoulder blade that didn’t seem to be hampering my movement at all. I ignored the pain and sped deeper into my traps, but I could hear them following close behind. I ran a quick serpentine pattern through a dense patch of leg catcher pits, and finally I heard the telltale crunch of small branches that camouflaged one of the pits, immediately followed by cursing in Califondian.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I smiled as I spun around. I hadn’t realized one of the soldiers was so close behind me though, and I nearly took his sword through my heart. I managed to twist my torso at the last second but took a deep cut across my right pectoral. I kicked off the man’s knee to get some distance between us and nearly lost my foot in the process, just barely managing to draw it back far enough to avoid a hit from his quick backhanded swipe. I’d hoped to hear the crunch of cartilage when I kicked his knee but barely got a grimace out of the man. I saw the leader was swearing loudly and trying to pull his leg out as hard as he could. Wrong move asshole, that’ll just drive the spikes deeper. Although with that much chainmail on his legs I didn’t know how much damage it would do. I could see the soldier with the hole through his foot doggedly limping towards us in the distance. Shit, I don’t have a lot of time before I’m outnumbered again.

I couldn’t spare him much attention though as the unwounded soldier stepped in and swung hard at my neck. I ducked the blow, and tried to take his hand off, but he pulled back and my axe merely clanged loudly against his sword. Shit, this guy knows what he’s doing.

He obviously thought he had me dead to rights as he smiled darkly under his helmet while examining the deep nick my steel axe had left on his iron sword. “Rejoice, boy, you have the honor of being slain by Crud, the swordmaster of Califond City. Your skull will make an excellent addition to my collection.” He taunted in heavily accented common tongue.

I backed up to the nearest tree and drew one of my snake blades with my off hand. I smiled right back and responded in Califondian, “Rejoice, asshole, you have the honor of being slain by some nameless brat from Tiga, and I’m gonna leave your corpse here for the animals to eat so they can turn you into literal shit.” I beckoned him with my knife and smiled wider as rage painted what I could see of his features under his helmet.

He came at me with a flurry of strikes in an odd pattern that was difficult to predict. I dodged around him in a circle, occasionally feinting at him to try to force an opening, but he was too damn good to let me get close enough to hit him. He had more reach than I did with my axe, and as fast as I was he was right there with me for every move. I tried to take a foot when he spun around, but he deftly shifted his weight so my axe missed by a hair’s breadth, and I barely managed to move my head back fast enough to avoid a fatal blow. As it was, he split my left eyebrow in two lengthwise and blood flowed over my eye. I couldn’t blink fast enough to clear it and couldn’t take the time to wipe away the blood. I backed off and found myself on the edge of one of my large pitfalls that I’d dug in hopes of taking a bear.

I smiled my wide killer’s grin and chuckled. “You call yourself a swordmaster? Can’t even kill a child from what I can tell. Let’s finish it right here. Come at me with everything you have, and I’ll make you look like an idiot as you die.” I chuckled at him, ignoring the blood sheeting down the left side of my face.

Crud snarled at me, “As good a place as any for a worthless brat like you to meet their end!” He dashed towards me at full speed while I crouched, appearing ready to take him head on. At the last second I threw my knife at his face and dodged to the right as he awkwardly twisted his head to the side to avoid the blade. I felt his sword slice across the side of my thigh, but it didn’t feel too deep, and then I heard the crunch as his foot went through the camouflage of the pitfall. He swung his sword arm in a wide circle trying to regain his balance on one foot, so I slammed my axe through his wrist as hard as I could, the chainmail barely slowing the blow. His swordhand, still holding his sword, fell to the ground at my feet, and he tumbled, flailing, into the pit.

I’d dug that pit a full dozen feet deep. The surrounding trees' roots formed the walls, and I had lined the bottom with a dozen four foot iron wood stakes that I’d bought from Dog’s former owner in town. It was designed for a big fucking bear after all, one of six large pits I'd dug over the years. I heard him hit the stakes, and when I glanced over the edge saw that his chainmail had proved ineffective against the incredibly hard wood. He’d been pierced by no fewer than three of them, and, given the one sticking out of the back of his neck, he was very clearly dead. I sheathed my axe and reached down to pick up his sword. It was pretty nice for an iron blade, with what looked to be a gold plated hilt covered in beautiful geometric designs and an ivory handle capped with a golden sphere pommel. I pried the hand’s deathgrip off the handle one finger at a time as I walked back to my knife. It had landed a couple dozen feet from the leader where he continued to struggle to free his leg. I picked up and sheathed my knife.

I glanced up and saw that the soldier with the hole in his foot had only closed about half the distance between us during our fight. Huh, it seemed a lot more time had passed than that, guess time really slows down when you’re fighting for your life.

I looked down at the leader who had begun to struggle even more frantically to free himself, realizing what danger he was in. I walked towards him calmly, still smiling as I held Crud’s sword on my shoulder. When I got close he drew his sword and held it out wardingly with both hands. I lunged towards him and slashed across his left hand where it held his sword. The sword, along with a couple of fingers, fell to the ground. He cried out in pain as I spun the blade around once and took an uppercut slash at his head, trying to split his skull from the bottom up to avoid his helmet.

Just as the blade neared him he leaned back, and while he took a deep slash across his face from his chin to his left eye, it wasn’t enough to kill him. At the same time he’d drawn his own snake blade from behind his back and thrown it at my throat. I REALLY wasn’t expecting that, I’d thought I had him dead to rights. Should have learned my lesson from Crud’s mistake.

I twisted and leaned back as hard as I could. I managed to avoid the point of the blade, but it still carved a shallow gouge across the top of my cheek, over my eye, and split my left eyebrow in two again, perpendicularly this time, before sailing past me.

I jumped back and felt my eye with my free hand. Fuck, he cut my damn eyeball! I was blind in that eye. SHIT! I heard a man roaring and saw that the soldier with the hole in his foot was charging at me regardless of his injury. He was closing quickly now. Damnit, I don’t have time for this. I turned and ran, although I did quickly stoop to scoop up the leader's knife when I happened to notice the jewels encrusting its hilt and handle. He may have cost me a perfectly good eye, but it cost him an eye of his own, two or more fingers, and the most expensive dagger I’ve ever seen. Hell, if I was really lucky it might cost him a leg too.

I glanced back over my shoulder as I ran and saw the soldier had stopped to help his leader. I smiled through the pain and ran on, dodging through my maze of pit traps. Can’t say I didn’t warn him.