by M E Wolf
Well, she still had Gordon’s diamond edged short swords. She kept getting better armour, but she was restricted to light armour for her death matches. Today she was wearing moderately heavy armour that her personal armourer had called brigantine. It was made from cured leather strips fastened over chain mail. She wore this armour because it was designed to blunt an opponent’s strike with a slashing weapon, thus it should do well against her opponent Garth “The Lion”.
Delaigda looked up into the stands and could see many people looking down at her and her opponent. Their names were called and cheers went up as the number of bouts fought by each combatant was called out. Her two diamond edged short swords were still sheathed as she always preferred to have the crowd awed by the sparkling weapons and the fear creep up in her opponents when they saw them for the first time. This opponent was different because he already knew about the weapons after all he helped his brother make them.
To Delaigda Garth looked like a bull with his brows furrowed, bloodshot eyes and the bit of spittle sliding down the left corner of his mouth. He held his two handed sword in meaty hands as though it was a club and not a sword. Garth had no finesse in wielding weapons. Many times Delaigda only had to dodge to the left or right to avoid the clumsy ox’s swings. It was like he was trying to hack down a tree.
Every once in a while, Delaigda would nick Garth in the ear or the cheek or any other insignificant place on him just to irritate him into making a move more stupid then he was already doing. Whenever Garth got close enough to her, she would taunt him. Calling him names and seeing his face get redder and redder with ire for her gave her the deepest pleasure. It was too bad that she had to end the fight because she had never had so much fun before.
This match was taking more than half an hour to fight, in fact nearly an hour had gone by since they stepped onto the dirt floor of the arena. Her brigantine armour was very badly damaged, at least she still had most of the chain mail armour on underneath the leather strips that were just too battered to be usable and most of the pieces were on the ground from when Garth made two massive strikes across her chest and right thigh.
Already, there was a black, green and red bruise forming on her right thigh where the chain mail and any other protection were removed from that leg below the cut. The cut in the leg was still leaking blood profusely from a possibly severed minor vein or artery. Her left breast would have been exposed if it were not for her wearing a soft pigskin sleeveless shirt. Delaigda’s right leg was numb and she had to put most of her weight onto her left leg, which gave her only a few options in avoiding Garth’s heavy handed swings.
She was badly injured and because he had more bulk, muscle wise because he looked to have no fat on him at all, he absorbed more of her blows than she had originally thought of him able to do. He was leaking blood from various cuts she made in him. One of the cuts to the left side of his head was making his eyelid swell and shut and blood from a cut above his right eye made him blink from the salt in his tears and blood that dripped into it.
His arms looked tired, he looked tired and Delaigda was tired. She knew this fight could not go on for much longer than it had already gone on for. Waiting for Garth to make a lunge for her could be a fatal mistake on her part. Her right leg was throbbing with pain and any sudden moves could spill her to the ground. She knew that once she was on the ground getting back up would be impossible. Timing was everything and Garth knew this just as well as she and was more experienced than his brother had been when she had killed him. Garth knew the strengths and weaknesses of the two short swords that she had.
They were made more for thrusting and less for slashing, thus could not be used to puncture his heart like she did with his brother because of the protective ridge on his breastplate. Garth came in at a run like a charging bull, both of his huge hands were on his two handed sword. The sword blade was a good six and a half feet long, it had a much longer reach than Delaigda’s two short swords by at least four feet. That was a lot of tempered iron to avoid or bypass in order to get to her opponent.
It would mean her life or her death to make her every move count. Hopping from her left foot into a shoulder roll that took her out of the way of most of Garth’s lunge even though his sword did rip through her scalp leaving a trail of blood from where she was to beside Garth. She was conscious long enough to put the one short sword in her left hand through his abdomen and the other up through his chin and into his brain.
He fell to the ground dead and she was carried off the arena floor barely alive. The’d’r heard the officials calling for a herbalist so he and his brother went to see if they could help the girl that was nearly dead from the recent bout that made him nine hundred platinum richer. Everyone bumped and pushed The’d’r and his brother as they made their way to the money changers, and then to wherever Delaigda was.
When The’d’r and his brother got to a table that Delaigda was laid out on, The’d’r’s face went beet red when he had realized that she was completely naked. Her face was pale and she was still leaking blood from her wounds and he was not sure of what to do. So, he grabbed one of the books he had that were supposed to be about singing plants and people back to health.
He flipped through the pages carefully until he found the song that he was looking for, adjusted his round, thick lensed, horn-rimmed glasses on his nose and dug his small hand harp out of his backpack and began to play the notes from the book that his brother held out in front of him. Shortly thereafter The’d’r began to sing in a language that no one heard about in a very, very long time while he placed his right hand on her left breast,
“Oh Great and Mighty One, the one and only one. Come to us and bring your healing grace as I sing. This song when I am in need of you.
“This child in front of me, naked as when she was born. Make her whole again. I thank you for your wonders holy one, we all thank you for your wonders.”
Just as The’d’r finished singing the song of healing a bright light shone in the room from nowhere in particular and basked Delaigda in its light. Her wounds stopped bleeding and sealed themselves up without a trace of them ever being there. Everyone there except for The’d’r and his brother were in shock at what transpired in front of their eyes. Delaigda was getting dressed, oblivious to The’d’r’s staring.
He had never seen a naked woman or touched one before he set eyes on Delaigda because that was one of the forbidden things that he was not allowed to partake in, unless he was married. Being always under the judgmental eye of the so-called druids. If they saw him singing the songs of the ancients the druids who professed that violence is evil would kill him on the spot. As his thought triggered the police of the past someone came into the room with dire news carrying a bundle of things obviously belonging to Delaigda and spoke,
“Delaigda, word has spread about what has been done to you via these men. If you do not leave and take these men with you, all three of you will be hung in the arena until dead.
“I am warning you because you have made me a very rich man. I won’t be able to hold off the syndicate in their pursuit of you all. Delaigda your horse is ready for you in the stable. It is best to go while there is still time to do so.”
The’d’r and his brother followed Delaigda through an underground corridor to the stable. Once there The’d’r was amazed at the size of the horse that Delaigda had called Thunder. He did not know much about horses, but he knew enough to know that this horse’s shoes were relatively new and so was his saddle. Delaigda only had the one horse with two sets of saddlebags and a satchel that she slung over her shoulder.
She was surprised to see that The’d’r and his brother Gr’g’r both had ponies and a pack horse each piled with books and various other items since they did not appear to be that well off. They left the stable concerned that the pack-horses may slow them down, but The’d’r was adamant that he needed what was contained on the pack-horses. Two days into their escape from being hanged in the arena and they had noticed th
at they were being followed.
CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT
Their pursuers were not making any attempts at covering their pursuit, which might mean that there would be more in the woods or far up ahead of them awaiting to ambush Delaigda, The’d’r and Gr’g’r. The’d’r and Gr’g’r had no knowledge of ambushes and if not with Delaigda they would not even notice themselves being followed. If Delaigda was by herself their pursuers would have no way of catching up to her, but she owed The’d’r and Gr’g’r for saving her life in the arena.
She thought that she might be falling in love with The’d’r. Delaigda hoped that it was not just gratitude because he was not really that much to look at. She had the first watch of their camp. Posting sentries was her idea and she hoped that The’d’r was good with a sling and staff and Gr’g’r was good with the longbow and short-sword and dagger because one of them would have to take the next watch in a few hours.
Delaigda expected that some of their pursuers would try to attack one of the brothers on their watch them being more fragile looking than her besides her having a reputation in the arena for her death matches. After Delaigda’s watch it would be The’d’r’s watch. This was the first night that everyone would have a watch and the other two were nervous before their watches. The’d’r watched Delaigda get undressed by the firelight while he pretended to add more wood to their campfire.
He had already seen her naked and did not understand why she took off everything and then got into a light leather tunic when he could clearly see she did not put on small clothes and then laid her bed-roll at his feet and got into it and fell fast asleep. She had a weapons belt within reach of her, which puzzled him because he was not expecting any trouble from so-called pursuers that she had said were following them. The last two nights he had seen no sign of pursuers and yet she insisted on sleeping with him.
Sure they were fully clothed whenever they had slept together, but even that level of intimacy gave The’d’r goose bumps. Delaigda lay on her left side with her backside facing him, the curve of her hips calling to him. They were saying come and join us. It was his turn to keep watch and he included Delaigda’s hips in his watch and that made him have many lapses of what he was actually supposed to be doing. Sometimes he would find himself staring for the longest time at Delaigda’s hips and buttocks.
She was a warrior and he was not much of anything. Granted he was not fat, but he was not muscular either. Practically a twig all of his seventeen years of life and a phony with the staff that he was carrying. He had actually never even used it for anything but a walking staff. The’d’r hoped that he would not have to use the staff in front of Delaigda and look like the fool when it was found out how much he really knew how to use the staff.
At least his brother had some idea of how to use a sword and dagger even if it was just sticking the pointy end into the bad guy. The’d’r thought that he should not have too much trouble with his staff because it was not of the thick and heavy variety, but thin and light-weight with a small iron cap on each end. His weapon required an even use of both hands due to it having two main weapon edges, which happened to be where the iron tips had been placed on the weapon.
Gr’g’r lay on the other side of the fire from his brother, half asleep. He had trouble sleeping lately, which was probably because he could sense someone watching him from the woods and the fact that he was usually too tired to rake the ground of rocks and twigs by the time they all made camp at the end of the day. His brother could be seen from where he was laying on the ground. Delaigda was pretty, but Gr’g’r could not understand why The’d’r’s brains were going to mush regarding her.
Girls always puzzled him in how they could make the brightest man act like a clumsy fool. It only happened to him once, but once was far too much for even him to handle. For some strange reason no bats or insects or even owls prowled the night and no crickets played their musical legs, not even one.
CHAPTER FORTY NINE
A branch snapped under the weight of something in the forest and then another and another snapped. The’d’r stood ready with his staff, Delaigda was up with her two short-swords. Gr’g’r rolled out of his bedroll shirtless holding onto his short sword and dagger. They all did not know what they were up against, but they hoped that they were ready.
The twang of crossbow springs and bowstrings were heard a moment before arrows and bolts were rained in on them. Their camp was not well fortified, actually it was not fortified at all, but the forest protected them from most of the bolts and arrows. Some arrows did get passed the canopy of trees and one bolt even stuck in The’d’r’s staff. His fingers still throbbed with the impact of the bolt. Delaigda inspected his staff and it was not damaged too much.
On a closer look at the weapon she saw symbols of an ancient origin. In fact, after she had taken the bolt out of the staff it appeared to heal itself as though it had been made out of living wood. She also could have sworn that the bolt should have gone into The’d’r’s head, but the staff moved of its own accord to intercept the bolt. Gr’g’r’s weapons had the same rune markings as his brother’s. This battle was bound to get very interesting and she thought she was protecting them.
It may end up being that the two brothers would protect her instead. A few moments after the arrows and bolts came down they were surrounded by men and women dressed in black from head to toe. The fire had gone out in the confusion of missile fire and thus the type of weapons could not be judged by the trickle of moonlight coming through the treetops into the camp. None of them had ever seen people in assassin’s garb till tonight.
If they survived a professional attack on their lives they still would not know where to go where they could not be found. It was hard to figure out their assailants’ numbers and could only focus on who was attacking themselves and not their companions. They got into a triangle formation back to back to back so that the fire or what used to be their fire was in between them. Of course they were distanced enough from each other to be able to wield their weapons efficiently enough without whacking each other with them.
The’d’r was surprised at his skill with the staff he was using especially since he had never had any training. For some reason he knew his opponents weaknesses and movements before they did them. He could see so well that he knew what part of the body and how much force or strength to put into his strike to get an end result that he needed. The fact that he and his brother had found the weapons in the ruins might have something to do with it.
Five assassins came at him, two at a time. The’d’r raised his staff vertically and caught the first assassin in the chin and twisted the staff clockwise and put the tip into the same assassin’s throat. Pivoting to the left, he shot the other end of the staff into the second assassin’s left temple. As the first two assassins crumpled to the ground, the other three rushed up with weapons extended. He disarmed the first with a tap to the wrist that produced a crack and a wail from his assailant.
While the first assailant of the second wave of assassins held onto his right broken wrist, The’d’r blocked the second assailant as he ran his head into the face of the third assailant as though he was a raging bull. He heard his opponent’s skull split as he came into contact with him. Head butting the third assassin brought The’d’r passed the second assassin, who was about to strike him in the back with his sword.
Swinging his staff in a two handed club fashion back and to his left The’d’r brought the one end across the back of the assassin’s neck and into the back of his skull sending the assassin forward into a half somersault landing on his back. It was very obvious that four out of the five assassins on The’d’r were either dead or so severely injured that they would be dead soon.
Recovering enough from his broken right wrist to pick up his sword in his left hand, the last assassin on The’d’r lunged at him in a way that he bypassed The’d’r’s guard or some of it because The’d’r was able to deflect the attack from his heart. It was not a complete deflectio
n because the assassin’s blade went in just under the right side of his collarbone. The blade broke off in the wound as The’d’r fell to his knees as the poison seeped into his blood stream.
Without a weapon the assassin stooped down over one of his comrades, picked up a sword and took off into the forest assuming the poison would finish off the poisoned. Gr’g’r was not as surprised as his brother was with the two weapons that he had gotten from the ancient ruins since he used them from an early age to keep nosy people out of the ruins.
Of course he had killed those that ventured too far into the ruins and they use to be friends of his, including the kid that he got exiled from Al’k’n for making his nose bloody. The so-called druids of his birth town could not understand when things happened as an accident. Since then, he drew blood on purpose. Understanding the irony of life, he did not and did not expect anyone else to understand it.
Being use to his weapons, he let them use him to defeat the six assassins that came for him. His short-sword slashed at the assailant to the right of him, opening his jugular. At the same time his dagger entered the sternum of the assailant to his left ripping up through the heart. As the first two assassins fell to the ground, two more jumped over them to find a dagger and a short-sword disemboweling both of them respectively before their feet reached solid ground.
The last two were smarter, but not by much, than the first four that went after Gr’g’r. These two assassins circled around Gr’g’r so that one was to his left and one to his right, facing his back. Reversing his weapons so that he could do a reverse thrust to the back of him, he rammed his short-sword into one of the assassins, but when he went to reverse thrust his dagger into the other assassin, it was parried.
