“One day, we shall put together our differences. We shall fight the real enemy of our peoples”

- Chief Praet, of the tribe of Bearkind.

Aki watched the horde moving across the flat ground of the plains. It was a true horde too, much larger of a force than was needed to take this small town. There were hundreds of them, all on horseback, and all waving around either short war bows or spears. Aki stared through the moonlit night. They were wearing animal skins and only the females wore anything on their upper halves. The females looked just as furious as the men, ready for attack.

One thing that Aki did focus on was a group that was the horde’s vanguard. He narrowed his eyes and reached out with his spirit. Something was different about them. They weren’t quite cultivators, but they were… something. Aki couldn’t quite place his finger on it, but he did sense they were more powerful than regular people. It was a group of about a dozen warriors, most with long, dark brown hair. Most of the people in the horde shared the same sort of features. Tanned skin, hard eyes and brown hair.

Aki looked back at the normally sleepy town. Normally this time of night it was quiet. The only people who were riding around were the few of the sheriff’s men who had pulled night patrol. Maybe a few causing problems in the tavern. By now, though, most people were in their homes getting ready for bed. Aki gasped and looked at the inn. Narrowing his eyes on the tall thin building, he thought of Endra and her son, Liam. Mana cycled quickly through Aki’s channels and he called upon the wind. With his cane in his hand, he ran down to the town and to the inn.

The horde was already on the outskirts of the town. Pulling people out of their houses and terrorizing the people. Some townspeople were outright getting slaughtered. He saw the sheriff gather some of his men from the building that was their office and even The Old Ginger Gang was out to help defend the town. They all had their cutlasses raised and were engaged with the nomads. They were getting slaughtered.

The nomads had the reach over them and were well organized. A man in a red scarf would fight a spear wielder and do alright only to be shot by someone nearby with a bow and arrow. The dozen vanguard warriors weren’t engaging with the townsfolk, instead they stood in the middle of the town outside of the saloon, watching their warriors wreak havoc.

That’s when Aki heard it, a scream coming from the inn. He pulled his straight sword from the cane scabbard and kicked through the door. Until now, he had gone mostly un-challenged. A couple of them tried to stop him and he’d engage in a quick clash. A few deflections with the cane, push some pressure points and he could dance away from the engagement before someone actually interested in the fight challenged the warrior.

He kicked in the door to the inn, and there were a few of the nomads. Two males and a woman stared at Aki with hatred in their eyes. They called to each other, speaking in a language Aki had heard nothing like it before. Few words were said between the three of them before they shared a deep guttural laugh that was full of malice. From behind his grizzled unkept beard, Aki grinned, and the fight was on.

The man from the East had stopped the men from doing something he simply could not allow. He saw through the window in the door before he burst in. The two men leering down at her while the woman watched. She was almost egging them on about, ready to grab the kid so they could do whatever they were attempting.

The woman was the closest. Her spear wasn’t her friend in this small room. She lashed out with the tip towards Aki. For the moment, he was trying to be a proper swordsman. Gone were the tricks of the cane and the element of surprise he normally had when he used it. It was good he read over the manual obsessively and tried to do the forms when he could. Admittedly, though, it was a lower priority than the rest of his techniques. He hadn’t honed the skill as well as he could have.

The metal of his sword scraped against the wood of the spear as he deflected the spear tip. Letting his blade slide down the shaft, he spun towards her, closing what little gap her spear gave her inside the room. Before she knew what had happened, he had struck at pressure points on her neck and chest, paralyzing her. Aki then sent an elbow towards her nose and she flew back into the wall before falling to the floor.

He saw Endra and her son now, in the corner on the floor of the room. The other two men were in front of her, trying to block the beggar from getting to them. Aki had to get into the fight outside of this building. He didn’t want them injured, and he didn’t want the young boy to see the bloodshed.

Endra was holding him close to her. If he had grown up in the empire with a father, the boy would already be learning sword positions, and possibly some sort of family style of martial arts. Aki still didn’t know Endra’s story, or who the boy’s father was, but he had never seen her with anyone. Never seen anyone be a father to Liam when he saw them around town.

She looked at Aki and gave a soft smile of relief while he grinned at the other two men. It only took a breath for him to deal with the first woman who attacked him. The spear was too big and too unwieldy in the small front room of the inn, with the large desk sitting there in the middle of everything.

“You want me? Come and get me,” he said with a laugh. He dashed out of the inn, going back through the front door. He was still confident in his abilities against these people. The ones he fought in the town and the woman were easy for him.

The two men chased him, shouting in that language of theirs. It was rough and full of consonants. When Aki went back out into the street, he saw the group that comprised the warriors leading the initial charge. They had left Aki alone and just watched. None of them had even left their horses during the slaughter and destruction of the town. They were clearly the ones in charge of everything.

The two nomads didn’t give Aki much time to look at their group of leaders before they rushed outside. They were using spears, but seeing how fast their female counterpart got beaten with it, they both threw their spears to the side and pulled small axes from their belts. They looked like they were well made. Polished handles and fine metal used for the small ax heads. They were almost like they could be used as throwing axes, but the two warriors held them firm. They stared at Aki and grinned hungrily.

Aki turned his back to the vanguard, figuring if they were going to attack him, they would have by now. He raised his sword and was thankful he grabbed his scabbard after he dropped it to paralyze the woman before running out of the inn. If each of these men had two weapons to his one sword, he would need everything he could get.

The two men looked up to the group still on horses for confirmation and from the corner of his eye. Aki saw the one in the front give a slight nod. Then they yelled in their language and rushed him. Aki met their fervor.

Dashing towards them, he met their yells with a grunt of his own. While they swung their small axes towards him, he parried one with his sword. Metal on metal rang out through the air as the man was on his right. It was good this one fought in a style where he used both of his weapons together, almost as if they were one ax. Both swings at the same time were easy for Aki to deflect or dodge.

The other man, though, the one Aki only had his cane to defend himself with, was more furious in his rage. He swung wildly. There was chaos in his movements and he picked the trio of men. He was pushing Aki back towards the inn and Aki did everything he could to keep up with him. His canvas footed feet sliding through the dirt as he retreated and tried to stay alive.

This was also the only man who ever landed a blow on Aki. Not bad, but enough to cut up sections of his robes. Aki dodged and moved as fast as he could, but this man was fast. Clearly the better fighter between the two men. If it was a one-on-one fight, Aki would probably have him, but like this. Well, it was time for Aki to fight seriously.

During the exchange, Aki could move in between the men and get to the other side of them. They were now closer to the inn. He wasn’t entirely sure this was a good thing, giving them an easy run to go back inside. Aki panted, and his eyes darted between the two of them. They didn’t care about going back into the inn, now they had their target. It didn’t look good for them. They hadn’t downed this single opponent yet.

Aki channeled the wind and cycled the mana through his channels. The wind picked up a little around their little spar area, which caused the leaders to look around questioningly. Before the next exchange of blows, Aki felt someone sensing his spirit.

None of that right now. He pushed the feeling from his mind. He didn’t even try to stop the spiritual scan. These men, while not cultivators, were physically strong. The three met once more. This time the small axes were flying about wilder than before and Aki had to rely on his physical body. He had to move like the wind now to dodge and sway and move in between their wild ax swings. His body weaved in and out of their swings, ducking, sliding, and parrying.

Up to this point in the fight, Aki hadn’t been able to go on the offensive. These men were tiring, though. Their mortal muscles tiring from the constant onslaught of their attacks. They didn’t have mana flowing through them, helping to power them. As they slowed, Aki could push his own attack.

For the chaotic fighter on the left, a swing went wide and Aki brought his cane scabbard close to his body. Mana pushed through his arm and it shot out. He knocked the man on the side of the head with the wood. Aki even heard a hard thud when it connected against his skull.

For the weaker fighter on the right, it was easier. Aki actually had a bladed weapon to fight him. Since the man was only swinging both of his axes together, Aki had already got a slash in here or there. Nothing major, nothing crippling, some simple cuts on the man’s forearms and one on the shoulder. With the man on the left dazed, Aki could lash out, his sword piercing the man’s stomach. The blade pierced the man’s gut with ease. As soon as Aki withdrew the sword, blood spurted with no shirt covering the wound.

The still dazed warrior tried to catch his comrade before he fell to his knees. Aki fell back two steps, his shoes sliding through the dirt as he gave the man room to fall. The one who wasn’t dying cried out for help to his elders. They watched, unresponsive to the man’s fallen brother. Another stab with the sword and the blade went into the man’s side. The way he was turned slightly away from Aki, Aki was sure he had pierced the man through the kidney. They both fell, holding each other, staring into each other’s eyes as they watched each other die.

Aki turned and looked at the group on horseback now and called out, “leave this inn, and the woman alone.” He was breathing heavily and was surprised how much of a fight that really was. He should have been able to defeat even the two of them easily. There were more to these nomads than really met the eye.

The dozen of them on their horses glared down at Aki and reached out for a sense of his spirit once more. He let it flare out, taking off any veil he had covering his power. His mana cycled furiously through his channels and the wind picked up around them. He met their glare.

The one in the front looked to be very tall. It was hard to tell since he was on a horse, but he still towered over the rest of them. Lean and well built, only wearing pants made of browned leather. He was covered in black and red paints around his body that Aki figured were war paint. Not that this was any kind of war.

He stole a moment and looked around the town, and what they did not burn down was emptied. They threw contents that were in the different shops out in the streets. The nomads took great interest in the doctor’s shop, probably raided all of his medicines and herbs for their own use. They splayed people out in the street, dead and ignored. He saw some of the Old Ginger Gang members on their knees, with the sheriffs and other law men along with random townspeople. Their prisoners.

Aki looked back at the brick shit house of a man and laid out his demands once more. “You leave this woman and her son alone!”

The leader grinned and then looked to the side, calling out words to some people running along in the streets. He sounded firm and commanding. Moments later, a few men came out from the inn, pushing and roughing up Endra. She was trying to fight them and the one that was pushing her along raised a hand. He didn’t have the chance to follow through.

Aki once more cycled his mana and pushed off. It took only a moment. No one else around even had much time to respond, but before the man could bring his hand down and smack the woman, Aki’s blade found one more nomad’s neck.

The boy was there too. Liam screamed and cried as the blood flew from the open stab wound. When Endra saw what happened, she went for her son. The other warrior woman who was with the man to get their prisoners stared in horror. She didn’t stop Endra from grabbing her son and embracing him. The worried mother pulled her son close to him and looked up at Aki pleadingly.

The nomad wasn’t even sure what happened. His hand fell limply, and he stared at Aki. Blood spurted out and sprayed into Aki’s beard and face. The cultivator stood stone faced though. The man reached for his neck and looked at his hand, seeing the blood. He took one more moment to look at his leader before he fell to the ground.

The woman now charged Aki, reckless and angry. Aki mused in the moments that she must have been the man’s partner. If these people had partners like Aki, knew them. If they were married, or shared a bed, or whatever the nomads might call marriage. She had a spear in one hand and another one of those small axes in the other. She swiped at Aki’s head with the ax and he ducked, narrowly missing her strike. He felt the wind swipe at his head. She might have even cut some of his hair off. Aki’s arms flailed out when he ducked and he brought his sword up into her armpit.

He stood back up and lifted his leg, kicking her off of his sword with a grunt. The sword went through her heart and she didn’t have time for the drawn out death like the last man. He looked back down at Endra and gave her a nod. Aki then turned and looked back at the leader with hate in his dark eyes. The leader laughed loudly. A full howling laughter that filled the air. Aki whipped around, expecting the man to finally involve himself in a fight, but he hadn’t gotten off of his horse. In fact, he waved away a few more men who had charged Aki and gave some commands before laughing once more.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Aki stood there, hagrid and panting, looking at him. He was still ready to fight the men who had charged, but he allowed himself to relax and calm when the leader stopped them. The leader looked down at Aki once he had finished laughing and narrowed his dark eyes.

“Your bitch?” He spoke out in a rough, broken common tongue. The language didn’t come naturally to the man, but he clearly knew some words.

“No, but she’s under my protection, as well as her son,” Aki said as he stood firm. He was trying to hide the fact that he was already tired after fighting the few people he had. He hadn’t been able to rest, and these nomads were stronger than he thought.

There was something about Endra as well. She had to be related to the head of the Zhao family. That wasn’t a very common name, and the fact that her mother brought here her. The Zhao Patriarch had a questionable past with women and family. Endra’s mother had to have come here to run from him.

“You. You fight like the wind, but with ferociousness.” The leader nodded his head approvingly. “Like a cheetah, you might even fit in with us.” He continued in that rough speech he had and then motioned to the rest of them.

The attack on the town had subsided now. The town was in waste and the people who they let live were on the other side of the main square of the town, tied up with rope. Some women and the lawmen, only one or two of the red scarf gang, were there. Aki looked at the survivors and they all stared at him with their mouths open. They all knew him as some blind beggar who drank too much and wandered around the town begging for money. They had to have seen him fight the nomads and the lives he had taken.

Aki looked back at the leader when he spoke once more. “You want to claim this bitch and her son as yours? You must fight for them.”

Aki stared at the man. What had he been doing this whole time? He looked to the ground at the three bodies he laid here. He then looked back at the inn where there was the woman who he didn’t actually kill, but she had to have died from the lack of oxygen by now. “What have I been doing?! I’ve killed five of your men already!” He called angrily.

The leader nodded his head. “Yes, you have, but they were nobodies. To claim someone, you must fight one of the elders. A person the gods has chosen to give power to.”

Aki’s mouth dropped open. He meant one of these people on the horses. The ones with some sort of spiritual power that felt a lot like cultivators.

“You were touched by one of the gods as well, were you not? You are not from these lands. From somewhere beyond the sea, I think. I have heard tales of the power of the folk from beyond the sea.” The leader grinned menacingly.

“This is Hinto. You will fight him to claim the bitch and child. You win, you keep them and come with us. You lose and well….” The leader laughed. “Well, you won’t need her to keep your bed warm.”

At this, the man that the leader clapped climbed down from his horse with a grin. Along with the leather pants, he wore a vest. The man was smaller than the leader, but he seemed like he was more agile, quicker. Didn’t rely on brute strength like this leader did. He had a pair of those small axes on his back in a sling that allowed him to reach behind his shoulders so he could withdraw them. He did this now and then looked back at the leader, crossing his arms against his chest.

“Hinto will bring this man’s head for his disrespect for you Chief.” He spoke in the common tongue. He was probably trying to scare Aki a little. He also spoke it with more fluency than his Chief did. Hinto bowed his head towards his chief and then turned towards Aki with a wide grin.

The chief then spoke up once more. “Hinto should prove your equal, I think. He is fast and agile. Quicker on his feet, like the wolf. Deadly though, so do not underestimate him.”

While he was waiting the Aki cycled his mana and cultivated what he could. The wind was blowing around him so he could take in the aura and try to fill his core once more. He reached out with his spirit to get some sort of sense of this man, Hinto. He felt the same as the Chief did. Like some sort of cultivator with a different sort of aura about him. Not from the Kami, or the elements like he expected, but something more primal. More animalistic than he was used to.

Aki stared at Hinto and reached down to the dirt and picked up his scabbard once more. The wood was good to help deflect some blows from these people. He stood there now, looking at Hinto, who seemed like he was ready to murder Aki with his bare hands. Aki closed his eyes and breathed in, deeply calming himself.

When Aki looked up and around, he saw a figure on the other side of the town. All ignored the figure, like they weren’t even there. They were standing on a large black warhorse and Aki could see the large bastard sword on the person’s back. Now that he was staring, he could make out more of the person. A tattered black cloak with the cowl pulled over the head, the cloak over a set of deep black armor like the warriors used on the Western Islands. Aki sheathed his blade in his cane and took the figures form in.

Lilith was a woman that pulled from the symbolism of these people in the west. She was pale and had long black hair and her lips painted dark as well. The armor was to represent her association with the west. Her reapers were menacing in their cloaks and didn’t show their faces, but if you somehow saw one, it was just a skull. He was told that if she reaped you herself, her sword turned into a scythe to match her reapers.

Aki gasped. The person reached and lowered their cowl, exposing the pale face of the woman Aki knew, Lilith. She was the embodiment of Death. The horse neighed and kicked its leg like it was ready to move. He had met Lilith before, but her coming here now? It was a surprise. Was this going to be Aki’s end?

Everything slowed around him as he listened to the wind. Endra trying to control her screaming son. The men and women warriors around him were on foot or on their horses. The prisoners with their ropes on the other side of the square watching him. He heard Hinto slap his chest with the fists holding those axes. Then he heard the dirt under Hinto’s feet shift. The leather worn shoes these nomads wore. Aki breathed in deeply one more time. Hinto was going to be the aggressor in this fight. He could feel the man’s spirit, the rage in him. He had something to prove to the chief.

Aki opened his eyes, and it was like he heard. Hinto rushed towards him, looking for a quick end to the fight. One ax swung high and Aki ducked down, narrowly missing the strike. The other hand swung the weapon to Aki’s midsection and Aki blocked the attack with his cane. Something about the thud of metal on wood was always pleasing to his ears.

The Chief was still on his horse, and Aki heard him laughing at them. “He fights like a wolf, I tell you! He will get you!”

Aki blocked the sounds from his mind. They were staring at each other. Hinto looked down into Aki’s eyes while Aki was ducked down on a knee. Hinto brought back the ax he missed with and swung it down towards Aki. Aki pushed the ax back while he held the cane with both hands and then took one hand and reached out with a palm strike. His palm connected with Hinto’s forearm. The pressure and force from the blow and Hinto’s own strength in the attack pushed on the nerve and his hand spasmed. The ax fell from his hand before his slash could connect.

Aki jumped so that he stood on both feet once more. Hinto only gave a look of confusion for a moment before he growled and slashed out with the other ax towards Aki’s midsection once more. Aki leaned into the warrior’s attack. Arm reaching and wrapping around Hinto’s slashing arm. Aki grabbed him and pulled the warrior in close. Hinto struggled and fought Aki’s grip, his free arm reaching to punch Aki. Aki grinned widely though and stared at Hinto before he swung his forehead toward the bridge of the man’s nose.

With a crack, Aki heard the man’s nose break. Hinto howled out in pain and threw his head back. The nose instantly had blood flowing down the man’s face. When Aki pulled back, he felt a bit of the man’s blood on his own forehead. In one motion he let go of Hinto’s arm and with both of his hands he struck at the man’s chest, knocking him away from Aki. Hinto went staggering back towards the group on their horses.

The Chief reached a leg out to kick Hinto away and back towards Aki so he could get back in the fight. The townspeople who were tied to horses cheered a little, but they were beaten and silenced. Aki didn’t have the heart to think about the survivors. This fight wasn’t for them. He most likely could not change whatever fate they had waiting for them.

Hinto went staggering back towards Aki. It still dazed him from the headbutt. His eyes looked in Aki’s direction, but the man’s eyes weren’t focused. He moved slowly and bent down to pick up his other ax. He stared at Aki and shook his head. The daze finally wore off. Hinto ignored the blood flowing from his nose.

Before Hinto could fully recover, Aki pressed the advantage while he still had it. He moved in and simply swung the cane towards the man’s head with his left hand. Just as Aki sent the cane towards his head, though, he felt a pulse power come from Hinto. Power coming from inside of him shot out like a geyser exploding. The ax rose and blocked the cane strike.

Hinto’s other hand swung towards Aki’s head with the other ax. Aki had to raise a hand to the end of the cane and pull the blade from it once more. By the Kami he was tired of fighting these dual weapon users. His right hand pulled the blade and could move it to block just in time with the sword held in a reverse grip like he was used to.

Hinto had a new fury about him. Aki wondered if it was Hinto’s own power he felt or if one elder was giving him a little help. He supposed it didn’t matter. There were a lot more of them than there were of him. Hinto’s axes kept swinging and slashing at Aki. It was all the cultivator could do to not get gutted. He was getting to where he needed a burst of power like Hinto got. His muscles were straining, and he huffed.

The cultivator needed room. He had an idea to take the wind out of Hinto’s sails, but he had to remove some of these weapons from the fight. Hinto came in with a slash from the left and Aki tried the same trick he had before. This time, though, he used the cane instead of a palm strike. He aimed the wood right at Hinto’s forearm, wind swirling around the cane as he imbued mana into his attack. The wood cracked against the nomad’s forearm.

As his muscles instinctively let go, Aki slid the cane up the man’s arm towards the ax. He was aiming for the little area where the ax head and handle had a small area that he could use as a hook. The cane shot in this part of the ax and he threw the ax away from the fight. It flew out past the inn away from the elders and any of the other onlookers from the horde.

Hinto grunted and growled before he threw the ax he still held onto from hand to hand. “Why can’t you fight like a normal warrior?”

The beggar just stared at him for a moment and blinked, “uhhhh…” he wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. It was a fight. He eyed Hinto and cycled the mana to his hand. The technique was called Blossom’s Zephyr. It was a sharp blast of wind to knock the opponent back. Not the most flashy or dangerous technique, but it had its uses. The trick was to control how much wind you threw at your opponent. It was hard to manage. Aki just wanted Hinto to be pushed back a little, just enough for him to land a punch.

It was something he had been wanting to try, and while this fight probably wasn’t the best place for him to do it. He figured why not? Trial under fire was the best place to learn a new technique. To really get a grasp on it. Wind blasted from Aki’s palm and as planned, Hinto struggled back. Aki could time the blast, so it was right as the warrior was throwing it to another hand. The ax fell and Hinto struggled to regain his footing.

Aki had never successfully done the attack he attempted to do now. There wasn’t really a name for it, it was just a gut punch. The theory was that if you punched someone hard enough in a downward motion in a certain part of the gut, they would immediately throw up. It was a Dim Mak technique that he played with and used to make money here and there on the side with his knowledge of pressure points.

Dim Mak was a more direct fighting form than Aki usually practiced. It was a hard martial arts style. Aki dabbled in from time to time, trying to incorporate the style with his own. He cycled his mana and ushered the wind with him to help direct his motion and make it quicker, help him punch harder.

He felt his fist connect. Aki felt the shockwaves through the man’s insides move down through his pelvis and then when he pulled his hand back, Hinto only stared at Aki. It took only a breath, but Hinto struggled to lift his hands in time. His eyes opened wide as bile and vomit spewed from the man’s mouth. Aki was so surprised he had actually gotten it to work this time he almost didn’t follow up, but this was a fight.

He pulled the sword from the cane and slashed across the man’s chest. The nomad’s skin was cut open and blood sprayed once more on Aki’s robes. The cultivator lifted his leg and then thrust with the sword as he put his foot back into the dirt. The sword easily stabbed Hinto in the chest, running him through.

Aki heard the twang of the bowstring after he felt the arrow hit him on his breast. He staggered back, looking around, his mouth hanging open. Endra had yelled now, somewhere far away. Wasn’t she right there by him? She was right on the porch of her inn, just a few feet behind him. He saw the man who struck him with the bow. They weren’t on a horse. They weren’t an elder of the nomad tribe. He was young. Too young to be an Elder.

Aki turned his body towards the younger male. Then looked up at the Chief who raged at the boy. He stood there, still in his stance, a determined look on his face. Maybe Hinto was his father? Aki couldn’t tell. These people all looked like they might be related. Aki heard the Chief yell at the boy, scolding him, commanding him to lower the bow. The boy didn’t listen, instead he pulled another arrow and knocked it.

He never got the chance to pull the string back, however. The Chief was off his horse now, flashing over. No, the Chief leaped at the boy. Everything was looking fuzzy to Aki, who had now fallen to his knees. He could swear he saw the Chief turned into a bear? Or a bear came from the Chief? A bear mauled the boy. Whatever Aki thought he saw, he knew he saw that.

Aki fell now, his face in the dirt. He had landed on his side, the last thing he could consciously do to stop the arrow digging further into his insides. It was possible he could survive this, maybe, depending on what happened next. It dawned on Aki, though, why these people felt like cultivators, but different. They had animal spirits. Aki had heard of such things from travelers, but he considered it a myth. Then Aki’s eyes closed, and he passed out.