Joe took the moment to look around carefully, but the feeling of being watched suddenly slipped away and he realized that whoever was watching them had already ducked back into wherever they were. This… is not good. And I’m not going to spend time just waiting for them to get me. Joe took Garnedell into one of the side mazes they always went to, quickly planning for some form of ambush that Joe could end this with. Joe had Garnedell clear their path so that he could keep an eye behind him, but kept most of his focus on the itch in the back of his head. It was on clearing the second spark on the way to the first big room that Joe felt the flicker of being watched. It quickly faded away once again, and Joe chanced a looked back at the corner behind them. He looked around the corner and pulled back, maybe? Joe kept his eyes focused intently on the edge of the corner, and noticed a head of hair beginning to peak out around the corner. Joe quickly turned his head away, leaning nonchalantly against the wall while scanning the hallway’s both directions, although he kept most of his focus on the hallway behind them while maintaining a façade of faux boredom. They’re coming… gotta be careful! What are we gonna do… I need that room, or…
Joe waited for Garnedell to finish the kill then took him around the next corner quickly before pulling Garnedell quickly after him.
“Shhh! Follow. Fast!”
Garnedell blinked with some surprise but responded quickly and the two made it to the first big room where they would usually kill a couple dozen sparks. Joe ignored the sparks and began dodging around them, trying to stay outside the range that would draw them in for attack. They made about half way across the room before they accidently drew the attention of one of the sparks and Joe cursed a bit under his breath. Gotta hope Garnedell can handle it! Three quarters of the way across the room, they picked up a second, and finally a third that was guarding the hallway they were making for. The slipped the corner and Joe began to quickly consider his options, which all proved quite poor. Joe grimaced but gave the tied spoon spears to Garnedell and quickly pointed at the three sparks.
“Garnedell kill sparks. Three!”
Garnedell blinked in surprise and shook his head, denying his capability, “No, Zhoe. I no do!”
“Garnedell. Bad men coming. I kill bad men. You kill sparks!”
Garnedell froze, a bit of panic and fear taking him, but then nodded firmly. There was little else he could do. Joe then kept an eye around the corner, staring through the large room to the hallway opposite them. Around the corner, Joe saw a man quickly bob his head out then back in. There was no movement for a few moments, and the three sparks Joe and Garnedell had bothered continued to drift closer. The head then stuck out again, before walking out carefully, followed by another five men. Those three guys again? With friends? Alright… you’ve gone from assholes to wanting to die. There is no way I’m leaving you alive after this. No point in having you guys keep upping the ante. You’ve made your plans, now you gotta live with the consequences.
Joe rattled off excuses and justifications in his mind, but the squirrely butterfly feeling in his stomach kept him from finding any comfort in what he was planning. Intellectually, he understood that there really wasn’t a choice. Even legally, he found a bit of peace, since their actions had obviously not been enough to keep them in jail. Morally, Joe felt a bit more queasiness, but his intellectual morality still felt quite intact. The men had proven that they wanted to kill him several times now. Allowing them to live would only get Joe and Garnedell killed. He’d given them enough chances. But despite that, it was his emotion that paralyzed him. He took several deep breaths and made his move. They’ve killed themselves.
“Garnedell. Kill spark now. Move spark here,” Joe pointed to the hallway around the corner for he didn’t want any of the men to have line of sight to Garnedell.
Both Joe and Garnedell walked around the corner and Garnedell buried the dangling spoon spear into the spark, grounding it while walking backwards at the same time. Joe pulled out his bow and nocked and arrow, keeping it trained on the men while he remained partially hidden behind the slowly approaching sparks. Joe waited for Garnedell to gain the attention of the spark but waited for only two or three seconds before stepping past the spark and bringing his arrow to bear on all the men in the room. He glanced back quickly and saw Garnedell slip around the corner, although the spark was still plainly visible in the hallway. Good enough!
“Alright, guys. I’m tired of this. Why are you following me! I’m not going to take this very lightly. You’ve proven that you want to kill me, so I have no reason to think I shouldn’t return the favor.”
Joe’s eyes flitted across each of the men, taking their weaponry into consideration. Most had melee weapons, one had a shield, and three seemed a bit out of what Joe was expecting or what he could classify, although when one of them quickly pulled out a bow and nocked an arrow to it, Joe quickly realized what the man was doing. Even as the man’s arrow came up, a shout came from the men and three of the men began charging forward. Joe’s concern wasn’t for any of the three since his eye had quickly caught the action of the bowman and he sighted the arrow and let it fly, burying the arrow into the man’s neck and right through his adam’s apple. Well… crap! I hope the arrow is still useable!
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The next one was a man that seemed to be waving his arms while speaking. The speech had a strange vibrato resonance to it that actually seemed to pulse with the very air and objects around it. Joe felt his own body begin taking on a form of sympathetic pulsing to the chant and really didn’t like what that meant. His second arrow took the man in the eye. The third ranged attacker didn’t seem to be doing anything, a look of shocked horror seeming to overcome him even as he turned to his two downed compatriots. Sorry buddy, can’t afford to have you trying to take potshots at me with whatever you’ve got while I’ve got three guys pounding on me with swords and shields!
The third arrow took the man from the side since he’d been running towards his compatriots, but still in the throat, piercing through both carotids and his throat. With the other sparks in the room adding obstacles to the charge, Joe found he had time for another shot and took out one of the guys without a shield. Joe chose the spearman. Too much range and they can keep me back! When Joe turned his bow to the next and reached his hand to grab another arrow, he stopped and realized the sword and dagger fighter had already closed and he wouldn’t be able to defend himself if he kept the bow in hand. Dropping the arrow back into the quiver, Joe flipped up his bow over his head, sheathing it while simultaneously bringing out his spear. His bow hand had slipped into the shield and Joe actually had time to tighten the forearm strap before his opponent closed.
The man took the opportunity to hit Joe’s shield with a full body slam, simultaneously pushing Joe back a bit while also getting inside Joe’s spear range. Joe didn’t mind and took the hit, then pushed back, shoving the man towards one of the sparks that Joe and Garnedell had accidently bothered. It still hadn’t gotten close enough to the hallway, and the man leapt back at Joe not realizing how close to death he’d come. Joe let the man close in while he backed into the hallway which was narrow enough for him to easily command its whole width with his spear. The man’s swords struck against his spear and shield, as he maneuvered back, pulling him into position to block the last fighter. After having positioned him at the entrance of the hallway, Joe firmed his defense and did not retreat anymore, weaving his spear in a tight defense before him.
After exchanging a dozen or so blows, Joe was surprised that the man seemed to follow a simple rotating pattern. The pattern of strikes were not always repeated in the same order, but each pattern that the man did use was always repeated almost exactly. Each pattern of strikes were so perfectly repeated that it was almost uncanny how perfectly the man was able to shape and angle his strikes, despite Joe’s increasingly deliberate attempts to jar the man’s stance and balance. The man seemed to be able to always strike in exactly the same way.
The absolute perfection of each repetitive pattern struck Joe with such surprised shock that he found the man’s expertise for his forms seemed to greatly outweigh his expertise in actual combat. The man was able to actualize his forms perfectly, every single time, regardless of the difficulty of his stance or position. Yet, he did not vary any of his patterns and once Joe was able to identify the pattern, he was able to predict every single strike, swing, dodge, and flourish perfectly. He really can’t be that stupid, right? You do the exact same thing again and again, and you WILL get hurt! Joe let the fight go on for another few moments but found nothing new. Caution began to rise in him, the stark dichotomy of his perfected forms at odds with his foolish repetition of easily identified patterns. He quickly analyzed several of the patterns that the man seemed to favor, and found one that he would be able to exploit without harm coming to him, although his counter would be a minor but bloody wound. But any wound in battle was always deadly, especially when one was so evenly matched. Bloody wounds were especially disastrous as bleeding would completely remove the option of time and caution.
As Joe expected, the man began the pattern Joe was looking for and waited for the enemy’s right handed cross body strike to his own right shoulder. The man would then follow through with a spin, continuing the momentum his cross body thrust had given to him while dropping to his knee and reach out his left hand to sweep with the left hand sword aimed for the outside of his left knee. The first time Joe faced this strike, it had caught him by a bit of surprise; surprise that the man was willing to show his back to him and surprise at a wide sweeping strike to the left knee. He had had to drop as well to interdict his shield as the strike would have passed below his small round shield. Since then, he would block with the haft of his spear or sometimes his shield when he found himself out of position to use his spear.
The man’s thrust for his shoulder came and even as he slipped to his knee to sweep his left sword out for a strike at Joe’s knees, Joe stepped into the man’s strike and stabbed quickly to his right shoulder while simultaneously kicking out at the man’s back hard. His spear bit deeply into the man’s shoulder and then sliced painfully down his shoulder blade when he was kicked forward to fall flat on his face.
The dual wielding swordsman screeched in pain and scrambled forward as he tried to gain distance. Luckily for him, Joe’s caution saved the man’s life as Joe also leapt backwards at the same time. While the dual-blades-man scrambled forward, the sword and board fighter stepped in to take over the fight.