A branch snapped behind him, and Vincent appeared, breathing heavy from having to chase Purdue. He tried to catch his breath and smiled. There was a small, wooden spoke in his shoulder. He must have set off one of the traps, but he didn't seem to mind. He looked far too happy to see Purdue. “There you are.”
Purdue took a step back and felt the terrain under his foot squish down under his weight. He was two steps away from that rancid pool of muck. Vincent didn't seem to notice the bog or the ruined castle nearby. He was staring at Purdue with murder in his gaze. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing around them. It was just the two of them and the swords they held in their hands.
“I have to hand it to those Templars...that's a beautiful looking sword you've got there. I hope the blacksmith that made it or the priest who blessed it got all kinds of rewards. Lands, titles, coins...whatever the hell else was a nice prize back then.” Vincent showed off the katana in his grasp. “From what they told me, this blade can cut through anything. Even the hardest and strongest metals. They say it shatters other swords on impact. I haven't gotten to see it for myself yet...” Vincent swiped at a nearby tree, and it cut through the bark with unbelievable ease. “So what do you say, Purdue? Maybe if I break that pretty sword of yours, that curse will be lifted.”
“I highly doubt it,” Purdue muttered under his breath.
“Of course, even if I do break your curse like that, I'll still have to kill you anyway. I do have my orders, and you still have to atone for what you did to my brother.”
“Seems I'm cursed either way then, aye? You kill me. This curse kills me. Looks bleak, doesn't it?”
“It appears so,” Vincent said, looking more and more venomous by the moment. “I do have to give you some credit for hanging on this long. All of this running and fighting. I've never had to go to the lengths to kill someone as I have had to go to get even a chance to kill you. You would have made one hell of an ally if you had just embraced the Order of the Black Sun.”
“I don't think I would have fit in,” Purdue said bluntly. “No offense, but you're all kind of the worst people I've ever met. Every last one of you is just a waste of human space.” He smiled and repeated again, “No offense.”
Vincent swung his katana, and it rang as it sliced through the air in front of him, like it was splitting the very atoms in its way. Purdue raised the Scarlet Sword to intercept the strike. The metal of the two swords collided, and for a moment, Purdue thought the legends about his opponent's weapon might actually be true. A vibration was shooting through his sword, like it was coming apart at the seams. Maybe that katana could shatter the Scarlet Sword to pieces. Thankfully, his sword held itself together and withstood the clash.
Vincent's expression twisted into a disappointed sneer. He obviously expected it to work, but the Scarlet Sword wasn't like most things that his katana could cut through. It had an even greater power than whatever was giving that katana such a sharp edge.
“What's the matter?” Purdue asked as he withdrew a step, away from the clanging shards of metal. “Things aren't going the way you wanted, are they?”
Vincent held his katana firmly and admitted, “Not exactly what I hoped for, no. But it doesn't matter. Not really. You're still nothing in a fight!”
That may have usually been true. On any other day, Purdue would have been easily bested in a brawl against a trained and seasoned killer like Vincent Moore. He didn't have the instincts or the experience in combat to be able to put up much of a fight. He would have probably been dead in seconds. But with the Scarlet Sword in his hand, he could keep up with the most gifted warriors in the world. He could pull off physical feats that other human beings couldn't begin to.
Still, Vincent was far from weak. He wasn't being as easily beaten as the others. He had enough pure skill in fighting that he didn't need any sort of blessing or advanced attributes to fight evenly with someone who had those benefits. One wrong move, and Purdue could easily lose to him.
It didn't help that Purdue was an amateur with a sword. As great as it was to have so much more power than usual, Purdue's sword wielding abilities were very limited. He wasn't exactly Zorro or a musketeer with a blade. He was a novice who was only alive because of the help the Scarlet Sword gave him.
The two men's ancient blades came together again and again as they dueled. Vincent was heavily focused on hitting the Scarlet Sword hard. He wanted to knock it out of Purdue's grasp, hoping to end the fight quickly by disarming him and giving him over to the curse.
“You should have seen your brother,” Purdue said between strikes, wanting to throw Vincent's focus off-balance. “He had this sword, and he still couldn't beat me. What makes you think you have a chance when he didn't? It's a bit dark, aye, but I was really happy when he started stumbling over himself.”
“Shut up!” Vincent hissed. “I'll kill you!”
A swift kick sent Purdue stumbling over into the muck. He could feel his feet starting to sink but couldn't worry about it. Vincent was already upon him, swinging his katana wildly. He brought Purdue down onto one knee. He could feel the bog trying to devour his leg, but he kept himself as steady as he could. He couldn't focus on the threat below. He had to deal with the one right in front of him.
Purdue remained on one knee, with his sword raised over his head, and he blocked blow after blow. Vincent was in the sludge too now, and he didn't even seem to notice. He stood over Purdue dominantly and smashed his blade against the Scarlet Sword as hard as he could. He kept trying to knock Purdue's weapon away, but Purdue refused to let go of his weapon, no matter how hard Vincent tried to bat it away.
The second the sword left his hand would be the moment he lost his life. If it wasn't the curse that got him from losing the sword, it would be from trying to defend himself against that katana with nothing but his bare hands. He could be moments away from his own death. It all depended on his sword.
The mud's pull continued trying to take him down. The two fighters were both sinking, and Purdue suddenly had an idea. Maybe it was better to focus on this bog rather than trying to beat Vincent in a fair duel.
There was only one way he could really even the odds and that was to get both of them on even footing again. Purdue blocked another strike before going for Vincent's legs. He threw his body at him, tackling him into the bog with him. The two splashed down into the brown mush. Vincent let out a shriek of anger, trying to raise his sword as they grappled, however, he couldn't break his arm free of the bog's grip.
Purdue struggled with the same problem, but he couldn't risk losing the sword to the bog's pull. If it got taken underneath, he might not be able to get back. That might even count as losing it, and he'd die of a heart attack then and there. It took all of his strength to pull the Scarlet Sword free from the mud.
The two men sloshed about in the bog, trying to get themselves out of the muck. The battle turned against the environment rather than each other. Both of them tried desperately to stand and pull themselves free, but the grip of the bog was too strong.
“Purdue!” Sasha was at the edge of the bog, reaching out for him. He tried to walk, but his legs were buried deep. It felt like he was being swallowed slowly by some unseen monster, or being buried in cement that was hardening much faster than it should be. “Take my hand!”
Purdue tried to reach as far as he could, but suddenly something cut across his shoulder. To his left, Vincent had managed to pull his katana free and was frantically slashing at Purdue but couldn't come any closer since his feet had been bound underneath the mud. He yelled and shrieked. He wanted Purdue dead. He didn't even care anymore about his own safety; that much was obvious.
Purdue blocked another swing with the Scarlet Sword.
“Stop!” Purdue yelled. “We need to get out of here! We're sinking!”
Vincent roared and ignored him, proving that he was too far gone. Purdue blocked a few more swipes before returning with his own hard swing. The Scarlet Sword smashed through the katan
a, snapping it in half. Vincent fell backward, with alarm all over his face and crashed down onto his back, splashing down into the bog.
“Come on, Purdue!” Sasha yelled.
Purdue flung his body forward as much as he could with his legs stuck and managed to catch hold of Sasha's wrist. She tugged, and he held on as tightly as he could. The force of her trying to reel him in broke him free from the mud's grasp on his legs. He was jogged free and made his way over to the grass. Even those last steps out of the bog were difficult.
Finally, he was out of the mud, standing beside Sasha. She gave him a hard pat on the back and smiled. Purdue was covered in sticky grime but was just happy to be free of the bog's clutches. It would have been a horrible way to die.
He watched as Vincent's body sank further into the liquid around them. He writhed and hissed like a trapped animal as he descended, and more and more of his body vanished under the mud. He stared at Purdue with hatred, but that anger gradually morphed into pleas for help as only his head remained above the muck. Though, his head soon vanished as well, and Vincent Moore was swallowed whole by the bog and would soon be joining his brother in the afterlife.
“Torsten?” Purdue asked, glancing around nervously for any arrows in the air.
“I got him,” Sasha said, and Purdue noticed the bow at her feet. It was a shame that he had to break that katana and let its pieces sink along with Vincent. Those artifacts deserved better than to be used by hitmen and then lost.
Everyone the Order of the Black Sun had sent after him was gone, and Purdue could breathe a little easier, but only a little. He wouldn't feel truly relieved until the Scarlet Sword was out of his hands, and he wasn't being struck by a heart attack.
14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN – THE HEARTBEAT OF A CURSE
There was hardly anything left of the Templar fortress. Old stone was strewn about the overgrown section of land. Weeds had wrapped themselves around the remnants of the castle, pulling them down into the dirt. One could easily overlook that there had ever been anything there at all. The once proud training ground of knights and warriors was now nothing more than a pile of ruins. Purdue tried his best to imagine knights in steel armor walking about the castle grounds, training new recruits and preparing for skirmishes in the countryside, but it was almost impossible to form that mental image when what remained was so rundown.
It made him a little sad. In this castle's heyday, the Templars were practically running the whole world. They were a formidable organization, not just a military faction. They had their hands in just about everything. From what he had learned, many of the individual knights they had were poor, but the order itself was one of the most powerful groups at that time anyway. As a collective, they were something incredible to behold. And yet...now this ruin was one of the only things they had to show for it, along with the Scarlet Sword, and a cursed blade wasn't exactly a great legacy to leave behind.
“Charming,” Purdue said, pushing through some of the overgrowth. “Someone let this place go to shit, aye? Though...I guess that happens with most of these old places I find. Abandoned. Secluded. Forgotten.”
“Not entirely forgotten,” Sasha interjected. “Not by people like us...and unfortunately not by people like Julian and his followers either.”
Some of the stone walls had toppled over long ago, but parts of the framework still stood. One chamber built into the earth was mostly intact. Patches of its walls and stone floor were gone, but much of it had stood the test of time. The workers who had built it centuries ago should be proud of their work, though they probably expected castles like that to last forever.
They stepped into that chamber. Wide rays of sunlight spilled into the place through the gaping holes that had once been filled by rock. It provided enough light to help see their surroundings inside. A broken staircase led up to a withered stone platform that looked ready to collapse at a moment's notice.
A silhouette stood on the far side of the room; a figure covered in threads of plants and brush. It was a statue of an eight foot tall man—an effigy of one of the Templar knights that perhaps once stood guard in that very spot. His hands were held out in front of his body. His gray fingers were curled around some unseen objects in his hands, like the statue expected to be holding something that wasn't there—the Scarlet Sword that Purdue was carrying.
The world suddenly seemed so much more hopeful. He'd made it to the place that could save his life. It was his chance to lift the curse, and it was only a few yards away.
“There,” Sasha said, pointing the statue out and confirming Purdue's suspicions. “Return the Scarlet Sword into the knight's hands, and the curse is over...at least until someone else finds it someday.”
“Let's hope not.”
Purdue walked across the debilitated chamber. The stone knight waited for him, looking ready to finally reclaim possession of the cursed sword. Purdue hoped that the statue would hold onto that sword for the rest of time. No one else needed to worry about falling to that blade's power. He'd never been more stressed than he had been since picking up that sword.
He was halfway through the chamber when he heard footsteps above. At the top of the broken staircase, a man stood looking down at him. He was dark haired, wearing a business suit, and his face was one that Purdue recognized—the face that he had been thinking about since losing everything.
Julian Corvus.
Purdue froze, looking up at the man that took his life. He hadn't been planning to see him for some time, still. He wanted to be ready and prepared for that fight, but that fight hadn't waited for him. Their reunion had come much sooner than he would have wanted.
Julian stared back at him, and his lips curled with astonishment. “Well, well. The rumors were true after all. I'm glad I get to see it with my own eyes. It really is you. Alive and well. I must say...you look great for a man who burned to death.”
“We've both had our brushes with death, aye?”
“We have,” Julian said with a little laugh, straightening his tie. “But you didn't have the power from the Spear of Destiny to thank for you revival. You had an altogether different power, didn't you?” Julian peered at Sasha venomously. “Disloyalty and betrayal were what saved your life that night.”
Sasha couldn't hide her fear. She was usually so bold and unafraid, but Julian's presence brought out something in her that made her so much more hesitant. That cold stare of his froze her in place when she usually had so much fire in her.
“Don't blame Sasha,” Purdue said. “You could have easily killed me yourself that night and been done with it...but you just had to have your big spectacle. You had to show off for all of your friends and show them that you should be in charge. The only reason I'm alive right now is because of the size of your ego.”
Julian let out another laugh, but it was clearly to cover the flash of irritation that crossed his face. “Perhaps you're right, Mr. Purdue. Perhaps I really am the only one to blame. As such, this time I'll be sure you are a corpse before I leave you be. I can put an end to your annoying interference for good. And it seems...all I'll have to do is get that sword out of your hand to do it this time. Easy enough.”
“Aye, that's all you'll have to do,” Purdue said, tightening his grip on the hilt. “But easy? I don't think it will be.”
Julian whistled, and a dozen Black Sun operatives rushed Purdue. They swarmed him like a pack of hungry wolves, knives drawn. Purdue raised his blade and everyone around him seemed to grow a bit slower. He got to work cutting down the Black Sun agents with relative ease. The sword's power helped him avoid each and every blade and fist. He was a small storm in the middle of the crowd. One by one, his enemies were disarmed or dead, though Purdue did his best to only maim them. Between his dodges and parries, they couldn't touch him. They weren't even afforded the enchanted weapons the other assassins had been given. Julian was just wasting his own men.
Within minutes, all but one of the dozen men were lying in a pool of blood on the
floor. The final one backed away in fear but found himself being choked out in Sasha's arms. Purdue stood among the heap, his cursed sword dripping red drops.
Julian stood at the top of the broken staircase, laughing and even clapping like he was having a great day at the theater. “Look at you, Mr. Purdue. So much fight in you now. Where was that when I took everything you had?”
Purdue pointed his sword at him. “I guess it just took having nothing left to give me some motivation. Like I said...you kind of did this to yourself.”
“You have become a beast,” Julian said. “I didn't believe it when they told me you killed Victor. And then I heard you beat the rest of them too. It seemed impossible. You, the spoiled rich boy hopping all over the world to try and give your life meaning, somehow brought down some of the best fighters I'd ever seen. It was a bad joke. But now...now I can see how you pulled it off. That Scarlet Sword really is something.”
“I didn't kill Victor,” Purdue corrected. “I just took the sword that you gave him to kill me.”
“Is there really a difference when disarmed and dead mean the same thing in this case?”
“In a roundabout way, you killed him. You gave him this sword in hopes that he'd run me through with it. You knew the curse that was on it, but you let him use it anyway. I'm not the murderer here, Julian. I don't want to kill you. Even after everything you did to me and my friends. But...if it comes down to it, then there won't be another choice. This needs to stop. Right here. Today. For good.”
There was no one Purdue hated more than Julian Corvus. He had nearly destroyed his life. He had taken and tormented his friends. He was a sadistic monster, hardly even a human being at all. He deserved to die, and not just to fulfill Purdue's revenge. The entire world would be safer with Julian Corvus gone.
Julian raised his arms. “So what's your plan now, Mr. Purdue? You have come all this way and obviously have vengeance on your brain. Here I am, ready and waiting to receive the retribution you must have been planning for me. You want this to end today? Stop me then. Because if you don't...I may decide to kill Dr. Gould tonight.”
Order of the Black Sun Box Set 10 Page 32
