Lyn tossed and turned in her sleep. There was no shelter form these dreams…
The bandits came, pitch black night their cover, their life force almost. If they made a single sound, the entire Lorca village would rise up to destroy them. These nomads were no trifle, and scary to boot. Lyndis was asleep. Her father was awake, looking across the fire at his wife. "So… What do you think? Should we take her there? Or should we let them come to us?"
The voice from behind the tent's wall was loud, angry, full of hate, and a lust for what the mercenary did best. "You let us escort her to the afterlife." The Beast leapt through the wall, his axe raised high, and with a mighty sweep, he cleaved Lyndis' mother in two. Her father screamed at the top of his lungs rousing the entire village. "TO ARMS!" he yelled.
Lyndis awoke, and was shoved away by her father. "RUN LYNDIS! RUN!" And run she did, no clue of what was happening. Ten others, all fairly young, went with her, they ran, and hid in a place only the Lorca knew of, a small tent hidden in a forest alcove. They waited there, for someone to get them. Then they left with the morning light, to see if the village was still at war. They saw the carnage. No survivors.
The flood of their pattering feet and tears rang across the Lorca's plains that day. They cried for fallen family and friends, but not Lyndis. She was to… enraged. She grabbed up an iron blade, the very one her father had used to fell so many of the Taliver, their yellow clothing giving the bandit gang away. She fell to her knees, and screamed, the bloodcurdling cry would make even the stoutest hearted man go weak at the knees. She called out to her Fellow Lorca, and held a meeting. "We will each of us go different ways, and each of us learn to fight. We will become the strongest on the plains. When you feel you are ready, gather up your allies, and try to destroy the Taliver. Leave not a one of them alive." She said, and each one of the last of the Lorca nodded, turning about, and walking off. Lyndis walked back to the tent, and began to cry.
Her first true tears of grief.
Lyndis woke with a start. "AHH!" She panted, the light blue nightgown she had on offered little protection from the cold night air, and she stoked the fire again, bringing the crackling embers back into a small blaze. She curled into herself, her eyes buried in her knees. Less than 4 days ago, she had a family, friends, and a purpose that didn't involve slaughtering an entire group of men.
Now she had nothing, but a wretched sword. Nothing at all. She screamed, and walked out side, preparing to scream up at the horse lords, to ask them why they were so cruel. But then she saw him, a young man, possibly only 15, maps scattered about him. He was lying face down in the fields. She quickly ran to him, and flipped him over, checking him for wounds… none. She then held his forehead, a slight fever… probably just exhausted. The cold air was making the blood sink into her flesh, giving her a very pale complexion.
The man awoke. If only for a short time, he could see. A woman, a blue, almost silky nightgown, her pale skin backlighting the gown perfectly. "An…. Angel?" he asked to no one, and fainted again.
He was hallucinating, Lyndis thought. She scooped him up, and glanced off in the distance, a Ger was rolling this way. 'Damn, when will the horselords let me wake up from this dream?' she thought, and carried the man back into the tent hidden by the forest.
Kai Awoke to see… nothing. Then he heard a voice. "Oh, hello, you just woke up I presume? My name is Lyn; I'm pleased to meet you. I found you out on the grass outside… you must have been exhausted, but I'm impressed, you overcame your fever in less than a night." He looked about, and the first thing he laid eyes on was a leg, visible through a hip high slit in a dress, attached to one of the most beautiful things he had ever laid eyes on, this woman named Lyn, a Blue haired beauty with a sleek shape. He gawked for a moment.
"My name is Kai, many thanks for saving my life." She held up her finger, listening to the wind. "Something wrong?"
"The Ger… they made a lot of progress last night." She heard the call of stop, and the wheels stopped creaking. She dashed outside, and growled. "Damn. That Batta… A cruel bandit. He's here to plunder, I guess…"
Kai frowned. "I cannot help you combat him, but I can help you in other ways. Allow me to accompany you."
Lyn frowned. "You can't even use a simple blade!"
Kai frowned as he stared at the woman. "No, I deplore entering any sort of combat. I've had my share of it, I am an apprentice tactician. I create battle plans, and strategies for those who do fight."
"But I'm only one person…"
Kai smirked. "Four can hold off an army of 150 with proper planning, and you're holding the sword wrong also. Your grip is to loose, a good whack to that blade and it's gone."
Lyn looked at him, maybe he was right after all, and it couldn't hurt anyway. "Alright, come on."
They stood together, watching Batta and his lone servant setting up camp. Batta let lose his war cry. "I AM BATTA! ANY WHO DARES TO DEFY ME SHALL FALL TO MY AXE!"
Lyn giggled, as did Kai. "A bit Melodramatic, don't you think?"
Kai thought for a moment. "I prefer cheesy, or corny, but melodramatic works. Let's see here… we need to close the distance."
Lyn nodded, and took off at a fast pace, her hand itching to bleed the men in front of her. Kai grabbed her by the dress, and pulled her to the ground, making her emit a sound of some strange origin. "Get down! We must not let them see us, or else we lose the element of surprise. Look, here comes that servant… stand up, be ready to fight, he will not attack first, seeing as like most bandits, he will admire your leg.
Lyn was confused a bit by this, and cocked a brow, but did stand, pushing her legs a bit farther apart than usual. The effect of the skin she was showing was easily apparent in the brigand's lustful face. "Batta would die to have a prize like you, wench."
Kai was a bit nostalgic, able to see the inside of her thighs from here, but no more… Any fifteen year old would have found himself running to the nearest private back alley for relief. Kai just simply trudged on. "On my mark, cut across his stomach, watch his axe, when it goes to his side, cut him in two, and be quick about it."
The brigand stepped closer, and Lyn began to realize something, her entire body could be a weapon, if she needed it to be. She smirked. "What's a big old man doing with that axe like that? Is he afraid of little old me?"
The brigand seemed to consider something. Only sluts or women who could fight knew how to tempt a man like that. Either one was fine with him. He knew how to fight anyway, and it would make dispatching Batta easier. She smiled as he came closer, inwardly anticipating the moment that he broke his stance.
The brigand did so, but only as he was reaching out to touch the soft thigh he had been eyeing. Kai Inwardly growled, Lyn was this easy?
Lyn then surprised everyone around her, the blade came out so fast, and the brigand barely had time to escape with both halves of his body. He jumped towards the girl who had cut him across his stomach so deeply that he now bore a scar on his ego also, aiming to cut her arms off.
Lyn quickly sidestepped, but that didn't stop the brigand's attack, he turned, his axe's flat side coming around to bust her in her side.
The attack was so… unexpected that Lyn was hit by it hard, flying to the ground, grabbing her side in pain.
The brigand was glad. He didn't cut that beautiful skin, and bruises fade. He would take his prize here and now. One hand idly strayed to his pants while his axe hung idly at his side, as he walked to Lyn's prone form.
"NOW LYN!" Kai yelled, and Lyn knew it was the mark. She thrust her sword up and forward and soon found herself a phallus shish kabob on the end of her sword, and she quickly lifted the blade, cutting open the brigand's stomach, and slammed her boot into his nut, flinging him off the blade as the rank smell of rotting meat emanated from his now gutless body. She stood up, quivering. "Kai… You have my knapsack, give me the Vulnerary." Kai did as he was told, then frowned, he was the one following orders now!
She drank half of the liquid, and then poured the rest onto the wound she had received, the large, black bruise would have been horrifying, if Kai had actually seen it, but, he had turned to spare Lyn her modesty. He watched Batta, nearly snoozing on his throne. "Alright, Lyn, I have a plan… save a little of that though."
Lyn looked at the empty bottle. "Oops." She said quietly, and giggled. "Too late."
Kai nearly collapsed. A Novice warrior and an apprentice tactician, that was all they were, how were they supposed to win now, against a Seasoned Brigand!
Kai turned on his heal, only to be blinded by the light shining off the now bloodstained iron sword. "That's it! Quickly Lyn, listen, we have no time to lose. You will stay as low as possible, and follow the draws on the plane, until you are within ten to thirty paces of Batta. Then you will rise, and challenge him, as he rises, hold your sword up to the sky, and lean it back a little… try to reflect the light into his eyes, and when he is blinded by it, quickly strike at any part you can that would injure his ability to fight, arms, legs, or even kill him. The choice is yours. I'll just stay here and watch."
Lyn nodded. She dashed off, for some reason, trying to prove herself to the stranger. She smiled, fifteen paces was as close as she could get, but the draw was sharp, she could easily surprise the sleeping Brigand. But she choose not to. "Well well Batta, it's time for you to die."
Batta smiled behind closed eyes. His rotted teeth gave off a foul stench as he talked. "Not before I strip you, and make you my concubine." He said, and stood, towering over Lyn. She was… in a strange fighting stance.
"Is Batta so underappreciated that they send a little girl with a pig sticker to negotiate with him? HA! BATTA THE BLOODY IS UNSTOPPAB- ARGH!"
The light hit him square in the pupils, and she leaped. "KYA!" She yelled, her sword cleanly severing the blinded giant's arm. Then she turned; her blade sinking hilt deep into the bottom of his jaw. "Batta… Shut up." She said, and jerked the sword out, spraying blood and bone fragments, not to mention teeth, away from the bloodied mass of what was once a word-hole and breathing hole. She had not a drop of blood on her, nor any bones or the like as she walked back to Kai.
Lyn stood over the cook pot stove. It had been hell for Kai to convince her to stay at the tent for one more day, before they set out to sell off the loot they got from Batta's Ger. Then, he had said something that earned him a rather large lump. "And besides… A lady is not supposed to be a warrior, they are supposed to stay home and clean…"
-WHAM-
The lump was painful and swollen. He had apologized, but the fuming girl looked like she was going to use that sword on him. He was damn glad she didn't. He hadn't even finished his sentence. He sat there, wincing, his head was pounding. He watched her cook, and even though he was focusing on his feet, the farthest thing from his head, and his pain, he couldn't think of anything but what dreadful circumstances she had lived though. He sighed for her, and continued to watch his feet, oblivious to the sweet aroma of her cooking. "I'm going outside." He said, and stood, his feet quickly carrying him that way.
As he stepped outside, he pointedly made his way to the place where he could see Lyn's shadow. "A saying in my home country Lyn. The best laid plans are the worst laid traps, and one is never better than his adversaries, only more skilled. No mission is the most holy, and no mission is the most evil. Each has his reason, and each has his wants. All missions are based on opinions." And he walked a little farther away from the tent, and then stopped. "By the way, the last part of what I was saying before… Unless they have a god given mission of revenge or to protect her child. In that case, I completely condone killing and even outright murder. Blood for Blood, Life for Life. As it is from the ash of the fallen that the new ones are born to become ash again, it is the old ones, who place the new ones in the ground to become ash." He sighed. "But pay me no mind. The dreams which must torture you so are nothing compared to my guilt, my angst…"
Lyn ran out as she heard him walking away from the Tent. "Come back Kai, you haven't eaten; besides, you're getting your cut of the gold." Kai continued walking. "How did you know about my dreams?"
Kai stopped… how had he known about them? Was it that look in her eyes? The fact that she had something in common with him? He didn't care; he truly didn't give two shits about this woman, just another beauty. He turned around and looked in her direction, pulling out something out of his satchel. He looked at it, and peered through the center hole. It began to glow as he pointed it at Lyn. He remembered his father's last words.
"This seal will guide you to your destiny. When it glows… Your life awaits. You are twined in the fate of destiny it's self. Go to Sacae. Find the one whom the heaven seal reacts too. Use it when you… leave…"
That's what father had meant. His destiny called. He turned around and walked back towards Lyn. "I will be your loyal tactician, and friend, if you permit me, my Lord."
Lyn smiled, and then went inside, happy for the company, and glad to eat.
Kai was also happy. He had found his destiny.