Chapter 28

FUCK, thought Knick as he smacked face first into a tree for the third time since leaving Nameless. I don’t know how he makes this look so easy. I can barely see my hand in front of my face tonight. He wiped at the blood from his nose as he moved past the tree and looked off to his right. He could see the orchard, but that was a problem. There were a good number of soldiers with torches picking apples amongst the orderly rows of apple trees. He did a quick count. At least ten then, assuming they all have torches. Knick crouched beside a tree and watched. Hmm, if they’re picking apples there probably won’t be any left in or around the barn. They’d have taken those first. Shit. Ten is a lot. Three or four sure, he’d take those odds, but with ten they’d start yelling for reinforcements before he could finish them all off, and as the orchard was right on the edge of town it wouldn’t take them long to get here.

He crouched on his heels with his forearms on his knees, holding studenti pose, as he considered the situation. What would Grandfather do? He suddenly felt a knife against his throat, and he froze perfectly still.

A familiar voice whispered so quietly that he could barely hear it save that it was right next to his ear. “Why aren’t you on your way to The Mountain already, boy? I assumed you’d be long gone by now.”

Relief poured through Knick. It was Grandfather. The knife moved away from his throat, and his grandfather crouched down beside him taking the same pose. Knick leaned over and whispered just as quietly into his grandfather’s ear. “Nameless wanted to scout the town. If there were few enough soldiers we’d planned to kill them. If there were too many we were going to steal supplies and be headed to The Mountain before dawn. Nameless is fetching Hammer some things from the smithy. I’m on apple duty.” He leaned back into his pose and watched the soldiers as they nonchalantly picked apples and joked with one another.

His grandfather leaned over and whispered. “There’s nearly one hundred men in town right now. I assume that’s why you’re here scouting the orchard?”

Knick nodded, then realized Grandfather wouldn’t be able to see that, “Yes,” he whispered back. “Nameless got cut up a bit taking out their swordmaster and crippling their leader, so we’re not looking for an all out fight if we can avoid it.”

He heard Grandfather chuckling quietly, “I saw those bandages on their captain and wondered which of the two of you did that. He got a swordmaster too, huh? At fourteen? Damn impressive, but then both of my students are.”

Both? Thought Knick, but he trained Mother too so wouldn’t she… “Then Mother is dead,” said Knick softly. He felt something in his chest clench, and he tried to relax, taking a deep breath.

“Yes,” replied his grandfather sadly. “There were too many soldiers between us to get to her in time. She was knocked down by a group of them, and one of the bastards snapped off a worthless iron blade in her head. She didn’t suffer at least. Could have been a lot worse for a woman during a raid.” The old man took a deep breath of his own and they sat and watched the soldiers across the road for a bit.

“I think I feel like killing these men now, Grandfather. Would you care to join me?” asked Knick coldly without looking away from them.

His grandfather snorted in amusement, “The fuck do you think I was here for in the first place, boy? I don’t think we can get that many before they give a cry for their friends further into town, but, if we rush it, we may get halfway through before they do. You can grab your apples from the baskets they’ve so thoughtfully picked for us, and then we run north before the reinforcements arrive.”

Knick was angry. He had long been taught to use his emotions as fuel to speed his movements but to never let them guide his actions. He used them now to speed his running as he sprinted full out across the street and into the rows of apple trees. He drew his primary and apprentice blades and bolted right in between two of the soldiers while holding his arms out wide. The soldiers' night vision had been completely destroyed by their torches, and they never saw him coming, but they did hear him and turned at the last moment to look in his direction, just in time to take his blades across their throats. He never slowed and continued deeper into the orchard, aiming for the next set of torches. He curved out wide and came at them from the side so he wouldn’t be back lit from the torches of the men behind him that were just now dropping them to try to hold their throats together. One of the men seemed to realize something was wrong and was starting to draw his sword, the second was still obliviously reaching up to pick apples. He hit the man drawing his sword with his thrown apprentice blade, taking him right in the center of his throat. He darted up behind the second man, reached around him, and drew his primary blade across the man’s throat before quickly lunging over and snatching his apprentice blade out of the first soldier’s throat with a twist and then darting back into the darkness looking for more torches, only to realize that the remaining six torches were all lying on the ground.

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He saw his grandfather illuminated by two torches on the ground near him where he was grappling with the last two men, he had an arm around one of the soldier’s throats and a leg around the other’s. He quickly drove his blade into the base of the skull of the man he was holding with his left arm and then released him to pull himself by his leg to the second, where he put his blade through the man’s eye. He adroitly released the man and did a one handed cartwheel to land on his feet. At the very moment that he ceased moving and looked around, an arrow sped down from the second floor of the house and struck him in the stomach with a noise like a wet slap.

His grandfather fell to his back but was quickly pulling himself into the darkness using only his arms, and then Knick heard a commotion coming from the house. It looked like there were more than just the ten they had seen. Knick made straight for the house. They still hadn’t raised the cry, and it might be possible to kill them before they did, although he wasn’t particularly hopeful. Mostly he was simply furious that they had dared to shoot his grandfather with an arrow like cowards. Just as he approached the house though two men stumbled out and fell onto the floor of the porch. Knick noticed an axe in the back of one of their heads, and he slowed. Nameless flowed out of the dark door, put a foot on the head of the man he’d apparently just killed with his axe, and tore it out with a wet sucking noise. Nameless moved silently down the steps to Knick where he stood in the darkness at the edge of the orchard. He grabbed the pack off Knick’s unresisting shoulders and pushed him towards where his grandfather had fallen. Knick moved quickly and arrived at his grandfather’s side to see him lying on his back, holding a piece of his shirt tightly around an arrow where it entered his torso just below his ribs. Knick crouched down beside him, studenti.

“Took ten men in the open silently, boy. I daresay we did better than I expected.” He coughed wetly and some blood flecked his lips. “Didn’t expect that damn coward archer though, and judging from the fact that I can’t feel my legs he hit my spine.”

Nameless silently joined them and took a knee next to Knick, setting a pack full of apples down in between them. “My apologies, Sir,” said Nameless. “You had already taken off when I got here. I saw the archers in the windows and tried to get to them before they could take a shot, but there were eight men in there, and it took longer than expected, even though I caught four of them sleeping.”

“Damn, Nameless. You may only be expert level with the blade, but you truly are a deathmaster if you can kill that many men that quickly and quietly. I only got six myself, and I heard about you taking out a swordmaster as well.” He coughed and more blood spilled down his chin. He turned to look at Knick. “Boy, you’re a blooded blademaster from this day til the day you die. Remember this final lesson well.” He paused and then smiled, amused. “Getting shot with an arrow is a shitty way to die. Might be something to the idea of armor after all, or at least some torso armor.” He snorted, chuckled quietly, and then winced. “Now do me a favor, boy. Don’t let that asshole archer be the one who killed me.” Knick, just as he was trained, didn’t hesitate. He whipped his blade from its sheath and planted it to the hilt in his grandfather’s ear. The old man spasmed once and then relaxed into death still wearing a slightly amused grin. Knick pulled out the blade and used it to cut his grandfather’s belt to remove his sheath. He slid his bloody primary blade into it and tucked it into the back of his own belt before taking his family blade from his grandfather’s hand and sheathing it on his thigh. He grabbed the pack of apples and slung it on his back as Nameless watched him wide eyed in the flickering light of the dying torches nearby.

They stood together and started running north. I finally have it, thought knick as he brushed his fingers reverently over the ruby studded handle. He’d hoped to find his grandfather alive or to at least find his family blade. He hadn’t expected to kill him though, and felt slightly conflicted about it. He ran his grandfather’s final lesson through his mind to distract himself. Armor, huh? Well, at least I know a good smith, he thought.