The glow of the fire and slowly rising sun showed the two men from Kratos' squad. "Finally found ya," said the man who had challenged Kratos the day before. "dun go tryin nothing funny now," said the other man, as he drew another arrow and aimed it at Kratos. Kratos gritted his teeth, cursing his lack of resolve to end them when he had the chance. "We gotta score to settle. A rematch!," Spoke the first man unsheathing his sword, "more equal ground this time. No shield and if he thinks he should, he'll loose a arrow into ya." He nodded to the man with the bow, who nodded back.
"No funny business either or yer little half-lin frien will get the arrow," said the bowman, pointing his arrow at the tree where Mithos was hidden. The first man held his sword out in front of himself. "Like one of them real duels I keep hearin about," he said. "Touch yer sword to mine and we start." Kratos had no choice but to play along until he found an opportunity to strike back. He had already used his ace today so the risk of contamination was greater and ruled it out. He would have to just win the duel while dodging and blocking arrows aimed at himself and Mithos. "Easy," he thought.
He bent over to pick his sword off the ground. His hands grasped it and he felt the burn of cold steel piecing across his back. He gasped and straightened up as the man wiped Kratos' blood from his blade. Kratos knew there was no point in questioning the mans honor in this duel since this was no duel. He held his sword out in front of himself at the ready. The man held his blade out also and they clanked together. An arrow flew at Kratos and he dodged. The man stabbed his blade at Kratos' gut Steel clashed and the two blades reflected one another. The man swiped his sword at Kratos again. Kratos dodged and saw an opening to strike. The moment he readied himself another arrow flew and he almost didn't react fast enough to dodge.
Over and over the swords smashed together and bounced off, another arrow flew to keep Kratos from retaliating. Kratos felt he should have dodged every arrow the man could possibly be carrying only to have another wiz past his head. Then from no where something the size of a mans arm and black flew through the air and the man with the bow barely jumped out of the way. Kratos was almost to distracted to black the blow from the sword and they locked together.
He saw Mithos run by as fast as he could. He was in his fighter stance zig zagging as he charged the bowman. An arrow flew and stabbed into the ground. He tried to draw another when Mithos leapt into the air and smashed his knees into the mans chest knocking him to the ground. Mithos grabbed for the bow and threw it into the fire still burning. The swordsman was shocked at the sight and forgot his sword was locked with Kratos'. Kratos pushed as hard as he could knocking the mans sword out of his hand. He swung his blade and caught the mans face with the flat of the blade, knocking him to the ground and kicked him in the face to knock him unconscious.
He took the chance to grab a good breath and started walking to Mithos. The bowman stood and held Mithos off the ground. "dun you come any closer!" the man yelled as he pulled a dagger and held it to Mithos' throat. Kratos froze mid stride. His mind began racing to find a way to save Mithos. "yer comin with us." said the man," yer gona pay for what you did to us and the others. Now drop yer blade!" Kratos could nothing but comply. He dropped his sword. "Kick it 'ere," demanded the bowman. Kratos did as told.
"Good," the man said," now firs thins firs. This boy is gona bleed for makin me look the fool!" The man raised the dagger to plunge into Mithos. "Thud!" The dagger fell from the man's hand and he dropped Mithos. Mithos scrambled out of the way as the man hit the ground. Behind him stood Martel with a large wooden club. She followed the man's fall with her glazed over eyes. Kratos thought she looks still asleep. "Nobody," she spoke as she walked over the man and held up her club, "Hurts." Kratos saw what she was about to do and dashed towards her. "MITHOS!" she screamed as she brought the club down.
Kratos stuck his hand out to catch the club. His finger tips were knocked away by the force of the blow. The club smashed down on the man's skull and blood flew in all directions from the impact. Martel didn't move after she crushed the mans skull. She stood soaked in the man's blood, it dripping at the end of the club. "You killed 'im!?" yelled the swordsman, now trying to stand. Kratos knew things could get worse and made for his sword. Upon retrieval, he found Martel facing down the swordsman with the wooden club. The man stabbed at her with his sword. She pulled the club up just enough to block the blow and the sword stabbed into the club. She twisted her arm and pulled the sword from the man's hands and threw both club and sword past the tree line of the clearing.
She reached out and wrapped her fingers around the man's throat and somehow found the strength to lift him off the ground with one hand. "Martel, you don't have to kill him!" Kratos yelled. The man's face was turning blue as he kicked at her and pulled at her fingers. She wouldn't let go. "Yes! I do!," Martel was almost growling as she spoke, "He 's a human and humans should all DIE!" She yelled the last word.
Kratos grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look him in the eyes. "I'm human too!" he yelled. "Then, you die too!" she yelled and grabbed grasped Kratos' throat with her empty hand. He felt her attempt to lift him as she had easily done the swordsman but her strength failed and faded. The man fell to the ground, gasping for air. "No," Martel said backing away from Kratos, "Kratos is different." She jerked her head up and found Kratos with her eyes. "He's like Neil!" she yelled as she turned and ran into the now sun lit woods.
Mithos grabbed for her but she didn't hesitate to keep running past him. Mithos stood and ran after her despite her rejection. Kratos watched as they both vanished into the trees. He felt anger building up inside him. He gave him a resolve he hadn't felt for sometime and decided to put it to use. He turned and charged at the swordsman laying on the ground, still rubbing his throat. Kratos grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him to his feet. "Take a message back to your masters dog!" he spat in the mans face, "Specifically to General Krelis. If he wants it back the he has to come for it personally. Any other man will be left in a pool of their own blood on the road. Just like him," he pointed to the body just yards away.
"One more thing," he said quickly right into the mans face," If I ever see you again, I will kill you. No threat. A promise." He attempted to the throw the man back but only forced him to stumble a few yards before he hit a tree. "NOW GO!" he yelled after him and faking to draw his sword. The man ran into the watched and listened until he could see nor hear him anymore. Only then did he walk back to the coach and pull a shovel.
It was late morning before Kratos finished digging. The man had tried to kill Kratos and Mithos and would have done worse to Martel given the chance, but Kratos still pitied him and could not leave him on the cold ground. He laid him into the grave and pulled a canvas from the coach over him. Kratos then set the man's bow on that. He then began filling in the hole. After the grave was reburied, Kratos took the other man's sword and stabbed in at the head of the grave. It was almost midday now and Mithos and Martel were still no where to be found. Kratos ventured into the woods after them.
While searching, his mind drifted again. He found himself rubbing the back of his hand again. His mind rambled from one topic to another. If fell on Martel and would could have possessed her to cause such and personality change. Then he began to wonder how it was even possible for her to possess enough strength to lift the man off the ground with one hand, when even he could throw him with both. He stopped and looked down at his right hand. "Could she be like me?" he asked himself out loud. He started walking again, his pace quickening until he was almost in a run. He knew there had been others, but hadn't heard what became of them. Was it possible he wasn't the only one to escape? Every part of him hoped he was wrong. He had to find her. He had to know and as if summoned by his thoughts, he heard weak sobbing in the distance.
He ran to the noise as fast as possible with out tripping over the roots and trees. He found Martel on her knees, her arms covering her face. Mithos was standing in front of her looking in the direction Kratos had just emerged from. Kratos thought of all the things he needed to ask but when his eyes fell on the two together, everything else seemed unimportant. He breathed deeply and closed his eyes, feeling the air around the area. He unattached his sword from his belt and propped it against a near by tree and then sat himself against it. He reclined and rested his the back of his head on the tree and sat in silence. After a while, the sobbing stopped and the only noise was the air rustling the leafs in the trees.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Martel asked aloud. Kratos knew there were things he wanted to know but now didn't seem like the time. Martel didn't need to be interrogated. She needed to be comforted. "Nothing to say," he replied. "I almost killed you!" she yelled back, "How can you sit there calmly when you know how much I hate humans?" Kratos looked up at the sky and said, "If you had truly tried to kill me, I'm sure we wouldn't be having the conversation." He stood and picked his back up. "Besides," Kratos said as he reattached his sword to his belt, "You said I'm different." Martel looked back at Kratos. He gave her a warm, comforting smile and started walking in the direction he had arrived. "Heimdall isn't coming to us," he called back as he walked back to the camp site.
Martel looked to Mithos for a final answer and found it. He was watching Kratos leave grinning. "I haven't seen you smile in a while," she said happily. Mithos flushed and traced his grin with a finger. The he lightly touched Martel's lips and traced her own grin. "Yeah. It's been just as long for me too. Let's go." she said as she stood. She took Mithos' hand in her own and began following in Kratos' trail.