I jerk my head around sharply and I freeze. I wait motionless, my ears straining to hear the sound again. There! I heard it again, the clash of steel on steel and the very distinctive ringing of a reverberating sword. I deep frown overcomes my face and my brow scrunches up in puzzlement. I'm startled out of my thoughts as I hear a voice cry out in pain and the thunk of metal colliding with flesh and bone. I hitch my bag up higher on my back and grip my staff tighter and make my way towards the sounds. Before long I come upon the body of a man sprawled across the forest floor. His head is in an impossible position and I realize his neck must be broken. I examine him from a distance and I think that this must all be some cruel prank bcause the man is wearing armor. Not the fancy spec ops stuff or anything like that, but real chain link and leather armor. The sword still gripped in his fist is a slender one hand broad sword.
I look up suddenly as I hear more sounds of fighting. I hear a blade collide with wood, probably a tree, and someone curses loudly but his words get cut off sharply. I start heading towards the sounds again and I hear someone talking and he laughs. He sounds like he's gloating. I stop as I find another body. He looks the same as the first man except he doesn't have a sword in his hand. It was buried in his skull. I look away quickly and swallow back the bile rising in my throat. I make my way around the body and head towards the voice.
The man sounds like he's getting ready to finish and he give a loud yell and I can imagine him raising his sword for a finishing blow. Instead of hearing his sword connect with flesh I hear it glance off steel. I hear a brief struggle punctuated with steel hitting flesh and a surprised grunt. I hear a body fall to the ground.
I swallow and realize I'm holding my breath. I let it out and start towards the sounds of heavy, labored breathing. I stop. Just ahead there are two bodies lying on the ground. Both of them lying close to a big tree. I look up a little and there is a man leaning against the tree watching me with sharp, alert eyes. He's not like the others. His armor looks like a bunch of wicked looking blades strapped all over his body. He isn't even holding a weapon. He is the weapon. I look closer and I see that he's bleeding from several deep gashes. He has blood all over the side of his face from a gash on his temple. I realize he isn't leaning against the tree. There's a sword that is caught in his armor and is lodged in the tree. I can see he's exhausted and if he weren't pinned he would just fall over. I swallow.
"If I ask you if you're the good guy or the bad guy am I going to get a honest answer?"
A whisper of a smile crosses his face and he says, "I guess that's all a matter of opinion now isn't it? I would greatly appreciate it if you could give me a hand though."
I smile back and I move over to him stepping around the body lying at his feet. I wedge my staff between the tree and the sword lodged in it and with a quick pull it pops out. I can see him almost collapse and I gingerly grab him under his arm being careful not to grab his sharp armor.
" Do you have someplace where we can go?" I ask him.
"Yes. My camp is just back there a ways. Hopefully none of these men trashed ruined my dinner."
He puts his arm across my shoulders and I notice that there are some convenient hand holds for me to grab onto to hold him up. We stagger back to his camp. There's a small fire pit with some fish cooking on sticks over it. Off to the side a bit there's a small bag and bedroll laid out and there's another body sprawled out near it.
"That was a pretty unfair battle eh? 5 to one are never good odds."
"They almost had me to. There was a archer back in the trees over there..." His words trail off and I feel him collapse.
I quickly lay him out on the ground and start undoing every buckle I can get at and start taking off his armor. I go over to his bag and dump it out on the ground. There's some clothing, an ornarate carved knife, some tools, and a pouch with what must be money inside. I swear under my breath and grab the knife and take off my long-sleeved shirt and cut it into strips. I look around the site more and I spot a stream off to the side. I gram the warrior and haul him over closer to the stream. The water is cold but not terribly so and a dump him in the clear water. I lay his head on a big rock and I use part of my torn shirt to scrub his wounds binding them as I go. I finish and I drag him back over to the camp and roll him onto his bedroll and I wrap him up. I move him a little closer to the fire and I remember the fish. I check them and they look done so I move them off to the side and lay them on a flat rock beside the fire to keep them warm. I spot a cup hiding near the fire where it must have gotten knocked over earlier. I go over to the stream and fill it. I prop the mans head up a little and hold the water to his lips and I dribble it in and he drinks it all. I lay his head back down and put the cup down and I notice that he's awake. His startling blue eyes are watching me intently.
"It's been a while since I've needed anyone to give me a hand lad." He says in a clear voice.
I smile, "it happens to the best of us I'm afraid."
He gives a short laugh and starts to sit up. I go to put my hand on his chest to keep him down but he deftly deflects my hand.
" I know when I'm well enough to sit up boy."
I sit back and watch him as he checks over my binding job and I hear him muttering something as he adjusts them.
"Those fish ready?" He asks me.
"They just finished I think" and I go over and put two on a stick and bring him one. He takes it and starts eating and I start in on mine.
After eating in silence for a bit he asks me "you have a name boy?"
I look up at him and pause for a second. "My names Andrew. I would appreciate it if you called me that to."
He glances up at me and grunts. "Where you from?"
"Not from around here I think."
"You think? You're not from anywhere I've ever been," he mutters as he eyes my shoes and cargo pants.
I grimace, "ya I kind of figured that.." I put down the remains of my fish and look around at the surrounding forest. "I'd ask where here is but I have a feeling the name would mean nothing to me."
He doesn't respond and I glance at him to see those intense blue eyes staring at me.
"What?" I ask.
He doesn't respond for a second. He suddenly looks away and throws the remains of his fish into the fire and I hear him swear under his breath.
I hesitate "that can't be good.." I say softly.
"That's all a matter of opinion" I hear him rumble. He suddenly stands up and goes over to where I had put his armor and methodically starts strapping it all back on. "Put out the fire we've already stayed to long."
I arch a questioning eyebrow at him but he ignores it so I go to do as he says. By the time I get the fire out he's already packed up.
He holds his hand out to me and I stare at it for a second wondering what he wants then I remember the knife. I grab it out of my pocket and put the handle in his hand.
"In the future you would do well to not touch that knife again," he says to me.
I arch an eyebrow at him again but he ignores it and tells me to follow him and he heads off into the darkening woods. I give a deep sigh and follow after him.
I catch up to him and we walk at a brisk pace well into the night. He says next to nothing to me except to mention that it good that I step softly. "A good skill to have come naturally" as he put it. For my part I keep asking questions now and then but the best responses I got was a grunt here and there.
Sometime late in night he finally stops and tells me to get some rest. I lay down on a pile of leaves i swept together and I look around for him but he has disappeared into the darkness.
I wake up to the smell of roasting meat and the strange warrior has a pair of rabbits skinned and roasting over a small fire.
"You sleep far to much" he says to me.
"You sleep far to little" I say back.
He grunts a short laugh and i see a little smile pull at the corner of his mouth.
He uses one of the blades strapped to his forearm to split open some of the meat and it looks ready. He deftly slices off a leg and hands it to me and gets some for himself.
As I'm eating I study his odd apparel. His forearms are sheathed in long study blades. One blade running along the side extending from about 5 inches beyond his fingertips, right back to extend in a wicked spike about 8 inches beyond his elbow. Along the top of each arm shorter, two more rod like blades run from the wrist back to the crook of his elbows. I noticed also that his left arms blades were different. Whereas the spike on his left arm extended back from the elbow, the one on his right arm was opposite running parallel to his upper arm. I assumed that this was so that you could use the left arm for more defensive maneuvers while the right provided a means of an aggressive attack. His shins were sheathed in a similar design. His torso was enclosed in a more conservative design allowing for fluid movement while allowing for maximum defense with the ability to provide attack points.
As I examined his armor I realized that this man must be a elite warrior of some kind. His armor practically screamed it . Everything he wore and did spoke of brutal efficiency backed by hard muscle and unspeakable skill.
I can't hold back my questions anymore. "You're a elite warrior aren't you? Someone of unmatchable skills with years and years of training. Are you a like bodyguard for a king or emperor or something?"
He stops eating and stares off into the fire and I can see his hard features soften a little.
"You got kicked out for some reason didn't you?" I ask him.
He gives a deep sigh and sits back putting down his meat, "you're not going to give up on this now are you."
I smile a bit and shake my head.
He looks off into the woods and takes a deep breath. "Yes was an elite warrior. But not just an elite, I was the elite of the elite. I trained for four long hard years, twenty hours a day, every day of the week. I earned these weapons through blood, sweat, and tears. Killing is all I know. Ever since I was old enough I was in the army. I've been in more battles then anyone has right to."
He pauses staring off into space.
"What about that knife? Why is it so important? Who gave it to you?"
He ignores my questions. "Yes you were right. I was a bodyguard to the king. The elite of the elite of the elite as it were. And I was good. Very good. I became number one. I was in charge of all the royal guard. But kicked out? No I wasn't kicked out. Not officially anyways. No, I was sent out on a grand quest. A fools quest everyone said. And I knew it to. But I had to do as I was commanded." He mutters something else but I don't quite catch it.
"That doesn't tell me what the knife has to do with it." I point out.
He stands up and starts kicking out the fire. "Its time to go. If you can keep going all day we'll have a bed to sleep on tonight.
