Chapter 2
Introducing the Murder
It was hours before the battle was over but it appeared to take only minutes for the knight to kill every single Empire soldier and he seemed peculiarly pleased by his work. He swung his sword happily while the blood slipped off it, splattering everywhere.
I still stood at the top of the sand bank, staring at him with my eyes filled with the emotions of anger, jealousy, and inspiration. What he did was unspeakably amazing, a miracle. I have never seen anything like this in all my years of warfare. A man who could defeat anything that came across him, even an army. That was just unbelievable.
The young killer took a few steps forward, before stopping at a loyalist's body. He kicked the body over, revealing that the man was still alive. I watched in horror as the he plunged his sword into the man.
I covered my eyes, not wanting to watch any more of this massacre, but I could still hear the screams of the soldier he was finishing off and I flinched every time I heard the sword slice deeper and deeper into the body.
Finally, it stopped and everything was quiet except for the wind that was whistling. I slowly removed my hands from my eyes and noticed that the sun was finally coming out of its slumber and rising from the sandy mountains in the distance. Now, I could see the bodies and bodies of the Empire that lied dead. Now, I could see the killer clearly, his blue eyes, his blood soaked clothes, his malevolence smile. He stood there, looking down at the ground. I wondered what he was doing but as I was thinking, he turned his head towards me, still smiling and slowly his whole body turned to me. He took one step forward and without hesitations, I took one back. His smile softened into a frown and he began walking towards me.
I didn't know what to do so I did the very thing every normal person would have done, panic and run. But with my condition and in my clothes, running was almost in possible. I stumbled and tripped over something hard at my feet. I quickly sat up, realizing at my feet was a rusted sword.
The murder was close to me, just a few feet away. I grabbed the sword, seeing it as my only chance to live. I lifted it up and pointed it at him, but my hands were trembling and the sword was shaking, I wouldn't be able to fight him like this, he would obliterate me.
"Don't come any closer!" I warned him but even my voice was timid and I must have not sound very threatening. But he stopped a foot away from my feet; I could see his face perfectly in the sunlight, his smiling face that mocked me. And in a flash, his sword clashed with mine and it was forced out of my hands. I didn't even look to see where it landed, because right in my face was the tip of his sword, shining in the sunlight.
I couldn't think at this point, the only thing going through my mind was that I was going to die in the desert just as the Empire wished.
I closed my eyes, waiting for my end but it didn't come and as I peeked one eye opened, I noticed him looking down at my tattoo, the one the Empire places one you when you join them. The same one they placed a scratch through it to show everyone that I was a traitor. I opened both eyes and looked at him as he examined it. I tried not to move, still afraid for my life that he was going to kill me. But, suddenly, the sand begun to shake and move around and
from the sky, the dragon from before flew overhead and landed be hide me. I could hear it move around on the sand and come closer.
"Caim, what is the meaning of this?" I heard its oddly feminine voice say as it walked up beside me and looked up at the man. He pointed his sword at my tattoo, with a smile he looked over to the dragoon.
"So? She's part of the Empire. . ." she hissed through her teeth. "Kill her so we can leave this place."
He shook his head softly and frowned at her. It was quiet for a second as if there was some kind of inside joke going on that I wasn't part of, like I would want to be a part of it anyway. But all the same, it felt awkward and all I could wish for was to escape somehow.
"Oh, I see," the dragon whispered and turned its head towards me, quickly examined me then nodded its head at Caim.
Caim looked down at me and slowly took his sword away from my body, putting it carefully in its sheath. The dragon turned to me once again,
"If you wish to live, you will come with us, tell us all we need to know about the Empire, and help us destroy it." And before I could even ask, she answered my question, "If you deny our request, you will die."
All I could do was nod my head and Caim looked down at me and without any warning; he pulled me from the sand and placed me on my feet. I stumbled trying to stay up and without a word; he began to walk towards the dragon, he didn't even looking back at me. I hesitated; thinking of what opinions I might have left and as he turned slowly towards me, looking at me, I felt a cold shiver go down my spine.
Then, even after I had been threatened, I started to run away. I didn't even where I was running, I just started to run. I reached a top of a sandy mound when something pulled me down by my feet and I flew head first into the sand. I struggled to get up but it started to pull me down the hill and I thrashed about trying to grab onto the sand or something so I wouldn't have to go. It heaved at my legs and flipped my upright so the sun blazed into my eyes. I could make out Caim's dark shadow as he swiftly got on top of me with each knee on either side of me. He held his sword unusually in his hands, the blade in one of his bare hands and the handle he held in his other. Claim glared deep at me before bashing the sword's handle into my face causing my face to burst into pain and unwillingly, I screamed out in agony as I tried to cover my face with my hands. I begun to kick myself out from under him but it was futile, so I quickly reached towards him with my hands, attempting to push him off of me. I would do anything to get away from him but I seemed so weak, so feeble compared to him.
I kick and pushed at him, he did nothing but stare at me with his eyes that showed no emotions. He quickly grabbed my hand trying to stop my rustling and it work but it wasn't because he showed some response to my struggle, it was because I noticed the blood on my hands. I twitched when I realized that it was my blood on my hands, blood from my face when he impacted the handle to my head.
Claim appeared to notice my reaction to my own blood and dropped my hand. I started to shake as I placed my hands back onto my head, feeling the blood that was smeared across my face. I looked up at him and he held his sword in the same odd position as before. I knew what was coming but I couldn't move I was afraid of my own blood. He bent his wrists and struck me again with the handle of his sword then everything went black.
