Disclaimer: Do I really have to say it? Well Ok, I don't own slayers. Eruk is mine, but nothing else.
First battle?
Run for it!
As the time passed Eruk had started to wonder why he never saw any of the people in town, near the house he and Sylphiel shared. He got his answer one day he arrived at the barracks for his training session. He had noticed that some of the soldiers seemed to have some sort of grudge against him, but they usually left him alone. This day was different though, before he could enter the barracks, he was cut off by a group of soldiers. " YOU" one of them shouted " you are no longer welcome here". Eruk was confused. The soldier continued "we have put up with you, and that witch Sylphiel for far to long!" "Witch?" Eruk didn't understand at all " I know she can do magic, but she told me that it wasn't that unusual".
"Why?" he asked, slowly preparing to defend himself, if things got out of hand. The soldiers eyes darkened "That bitch is the reason why, our beloved city, Sairaag, was destroyed 3 years ago". Eruk had heard the story from Sylphiel, who had lost her own father at that time. The town of Sairaag was in fact destroyed 3 years ago, but the reason for the destruction was not Sylphiel, but a copy of the great sage Rezo, the red priest. He had no reason to doubt Sylphiel. As far as he knew, she was terrible at casting any offensive magic. Eruk smiled a little, he couldn't imagine Sylphiel destroying an entire city, with her own version of the flare arrow, the "flare carrot".
"What about Rezo?" he asked the soldiers " I hear that he was the cause of destruction". The soldiers didn't seem to pleased by his version of the story. "I don't believe that story a bit!" the soldier in front of him said " I happen to know that Rezo, was killed a few months before our city was destroyed. Rezo the red priest was a great man. He cured my mother of her blindness when she was young. He did a lot of good things in this world. In return he was killed by Lina Inverse, one of Sylphiels friends!". Eruk went silent, he had heard Sylphiel talk about her past friends, but he didn't know enough about them to really defend her with that knowledge. Sure, he had heard the Lina was not exactly the most peaceful of people, and that she had enough power to destroy a city, and was even known to do exactly that, when she lost her temper. He decided that he would do better by not brining up any of the things he just thought about.
He looked around, it didn't seem like he would be allowed to walk away, no matter what he said. With that knowledge, he decided to end the little "conversation" before it got all out of hand. He looked the soldier straight in the eyes "I trust Sylphiel with my life" he said plainly. As he expected, this didn't please the men one bit. They started to advance on him, and he backed away. He didn't have his weapons with him, they were usually kept at the military armory. He looked the soldiers over, only two of them were armed, the other four wasn't. He knew that the odds was against him, but because of his special weapon of choice, he was superior in unarmed combat, but he didn't stand much of a chance against an armed opponent wielding a sword.
He didn't have more time to think, the first soldier was running towards him. He was a tall man, and looked fairly strong too. He didn't wear any armor. "That one looks like he was off duty, before he ganged up with his friends, I would do best to take him out quickly." Eruk thought. He got into a fighting stance, waiting for the soldier to reach him. Just before the running man came into reach, Eruk saw him preparing to make a punch with his right hand. As the soldier made his punch Eruk dodged to the right, easily avoiding the punch. He made his countermove, by making a fast, but powerful, blow to the soldiers ribcage, using both his strength, and his opponents velocity to knock him down with one blow. The man fell to the ground almost unable to breathe. " One down, five to go" Eruk thought, the fallen soldier had made the mistake of underestimating his opponents abilities, the others wouldn't do that now.
I the meantime a small crowd had been gathering, ever since the first soldier had started shouting. Eruk didn't take much notice of them at first, but as most of them seemed to agree with the soldiers, he knew that his situation could easily go from merely difficult to hostile and dangerous. He had to ignore the crowd for the moment. He figured that most of the people gathered there were weak fighters who would place their trust in the combat trained soldiers, before acting on their own. Another soldier made an attack at him, aimed at his stomach, much like his own counter attack from before, this time Eruk didn't have time to dodge. He quickly hardened the muscles in his stomach, hoping that it would be enough to offer some protection. He was hit, and stumbled backwards. The blow hurt, but he was strong enough to avoid loosing his breath. He regained his composure, silently thankful for all the extra sit-ups he had made on his own.
He made an elbow attack on the soldiers jaw. He did manage to knock that one down too, but this time he didn't stay down. The remaining soldiers rushed forward. Eruk cleared his mind. This was his first real fight. He started to defend himself, but he knew that he didn't stand much of a chance against that many opponents. It wasn't a real fight, it was more just a beating. Eruk was able to defend himself against most of the attacks, but he couldn't block all of them. He knew it was just a matter of time before he was unable to take any more hits. Out from the corner of his eye Eruk could see the first soldier was on his feet again, and was armed with a small hand-crossbow. Eruk knew that his life was in danger now, and he couldn't do anything about it. The soldier fired his weapon, and hit Eruk just above his right knee. He could feel the pain, and knew it was all over. He was barely able to move, and even less able to keep up defending himself. He was thrown to the ground, but even then he kept up some measure of defense. His last attempt at defense didn't help him much, for each hit he managed to block, he took five.
He felt something warm approach him. It couldn't be….
It was a flare arrow, the one Sylphiel used. The soldiers stopped their attack, and turned around. Eruk turned his head in the same direction. Sylphiel was standing further down the street, her expression was a mixture of anger and shock.
She slowly approached the crowd. " Let him go", her voice was cold, there was no trace of her usual gentleness. "You just stand back, bitch" the soldier, who had fired the crossbow, growled "that pathetic excuse for a flare arrow is no use here". Sylphiel was still cold as ice, "I know, my flare arrow couldn't even scratch you. But I swear if you don't let him go, you WILL be able to feel my dragon slave". The crowd stopped dead in their tracks and started laughing loudly. There was no way Sylphiel, a shrinemaiden, a caster of white magic, could do something as devastating as the dragon slave. The soldiers didn't seem impressed, "nice bluff" they shouted "If that flare arrow was the best you could do, let's just see how you can mess up a dragon slave. We all know, that the only dragon slaves you have ever been near was cast by Lina Inverse".
Sylphiel stopped walking.
Darkness beyond twilight.
Raised her hands above her head.
Crimson beyond blood that flows
A wind of power began gathering around her.
Buried in the stream of time, is where your power grows.
The wind turned into a storm.
I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand.
The crowd started to sense, that this was the real thing.
Before the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hand.
They were now trying to scramble to safety.
DRAGON SLAVE!!
The spell fired off perfectly, but she didn't aim at the crowd. She aimed high, she didn't want to actually hurt someone. The people who witnessed the display of force were stunned. Eruk used the situation to stumble away from it all. Sylphiel recovered from the casting and started running towards him. There were none, that dared to stop her. She caught him, before he could fall over, and let him use her as a support. Like that they made it back to Sylphiels home, there Gen was waiting for them. "Good, you made it here safely" he said. He helped getting Eruk to sit down.
While Sylphiel was healing Eruk, Gen told him all about how the townspeople had blamed Sylphiel for the destruction of Sairaag. The only reason they had for not chasing her away before, was because of her healing magic, and his own work to keep them from doing her any harm. "But I'm afraid that there is nothing more I can do" Gen said "For your own safety, you have to leave Sairaag". Sylphiel looked shocked, she had known for awhile that it only was a matter of time before things got out of hand. But that the time to leave was now, was still hard for her to grasp. Eruk stood up, having recovered some of his strength, "If you have to leave, so will I" he said, looking at his friend. "Sylphiels eyes went wide " Eruk! It is me they want, you have noting to do with this".
He simply shook his head, looking at her " That incident out there happened because I stood up to defend you. Perhaps if you left, I could still live here, but it wouldn't be pleasant. You helped me when I needed it, It's my turn to help you out" Sylphiel was silent, but her attitude still expressed doubt, and confusion. Eruk continued " I know, I'm not the best bodyguard, but at least I can guard you from the loneliness. You are my only friend Sylphiel".
She managed to smile, but inside she was sad. Gen stepped up "Your only friend, kid? What do you call me then?". That comment caught Eruk of guard, "Well…. Gen…. I… Of course you are my friend too, but still….". Gen didn't seem to really mind after all. " I'm just glad you made the decision to follow her on your own, kid. I wouldn't want to beat you until you did." Both Eruk and Sylphiel were equally amazed. They knew the old soldier was a big joker, but that he should make jokes now, were beyond their ability to imagine.
Gen turned serious again "Why the surprised faces, boy? Niece?" he said " I wouldn't have bothered brining these, let alone have them made, if I wasn't sure you would take care of her". He threw a pack of clothes at Eruk's feet. Eruk was surprised, but proceeded to pick up the bundle. It somehow reminded him of the wristblades he had used during his training, but there was no blade to be seen. "Surprised, boy?" Gen laughed, but then turned serious again. "This looks like a normal pair of leather gloves, but there are 3 magically hidden blades in each. Try them out". Eruk did. "Now just flex your muscles, and prepare for battle, just like the focus I taught you during training".
Once again Eruk made fists out of both hands, and prepared for battle. Just as Gen had said, three blades sprung from the top of both his wrists. "Take it easy with those blades kid, even though they are masterfully crafted, they wont stand up to all kinds of abuse, but if you take care of your weapons like I have taught you, they should do nicely. Now get moving!" That worked like he had hoped for, both of the youngsters snapped out of their state of shock. They moved quickly, and gathered a few items that could be of some use to them on the road. After ten minutes they had whatever they could think of. It didn't matter if they were ready to leave or not, now they started to hear angry shouts from people who approached the house. It was time to leave. Sylphiel and Eruk ran towards the wood. And Gen stalked back to the barracks, hoping nobody had seen him.
Authors notes: So Eruk and Sylphiel are on the run. Where will they go? And what is in store for them in the future? You'll have to read the next chapter to find out, 'cause I'm not telling.
