Chapter III: The First Skirmish

Week 2, Day 1, Afternoon, Stormy

A long travel down the road and through the constantly-expanding landscape was what awaited us as we passed along, our bonds as traveling partners growing steadily closer. And yet, I couldn't help but focus on my sole goal, which was to restore my family name by any means necessary. Currently, my only task was to find a way to gather coin. Once I had said money, I could use that to garner favor with political figures, accost myself with lavish comforts, and eventually raise a small army to take back the lands that plagued my homestead.

A simple and unfurnished plan, I will admit, but a plan nonetheless.

"...And so I was askin' this fella, 'how is it that you was able to not only musically talk down a prince of this kingdom, but then completely win over his whole army and stuff with one speech? I swear, this guy was just talkin outta his arse!"

"Well, i shall concede though it sounds far-fetched, it wouldst not be-est impossible f'r such an outcome to occureth."

"Exactly!"

I had to reminisce on just how little of a grasp Dedric had on the Anglish language. Then again, Haedyr was speaking in such a silly manner, mixing up Rattlerodic Anglish so terribly.

"Hold up." I said, interrupting the conversation between Dedric and Haedyr. "Over there." I stated simply, raising my index finger and pointing at the derelict barn that presided in the distance, next to the road we were traveling.

"What about it?" Dedric cared to ask.

"It's been a while since we've taken rest. We should stop here for now and recuperate."

"Do what?"

"For Tog's sake- rest. We should rest here for now. Do your bones not ache with the burden of long-distance travel?"

Dedric grew silent, hopefully understanding my point.

"I doth concur, this armor is starting to weigheth heavily on mine own corse."

Togdamnit, he's back to it, I thought with slight dread as Haedyr's ghastly use of Rattlerodic grace my ears.

"Yes, yes, now, let's get-"

And without warning, an indescribably yet familiar feeling washed over me, its alien nature causing my knees to become slack. I fell to the ground as the powerful energy wrapped around my mind, images of the future blasting forth.

Ambushed, fighting ensues-
Corpses line the ground-

Shifty eyes, something to hide?-

Dead bodies-

Bandits, opening door-

Dedric falls, blood seeping-

And as suddenly as they had arrived, the images disappeared from my mind, leaving me to tremble on the ground.

"Fuckin' hell, are you good, Avon?!"

I was somewhat reassured to hear Dedric as he came to check on me, followed quickly by Haedyr.

Slowly, I came to take my hands off my head, as I had been previously clutching at my skull during the premonition. The recurrence of this bizarre phenomenon within my mind was terrifying to me, as I had no idea what the cause of such visions had came from. Was I diseased? An oracle of some sorts? Or...was this something else entirely?

Furthermore, I was disturbed by how powerful this premonition was. The last one had not felled me to the ground as this one had, and was seated for an internal discussion of whether there was a correlation between the gravity of a situation and the intensity of these visions. I also noted that this time around, the events that transpired out of my mind were out of order, almost like the timeline was mixed up in random.

"Oy, Avon! You alright?"

I was distracted from my pondering by Dedric's urgency, his face full of concern. I was surprised by the relief I felt upon viewing the apparent worry in his and Haedyr's expressions, but I quickly pushed them aside. There was a more pressing matter to address as of now.

"Yes, yes, I am fine. I...there is something I need to warn you of, friends."

I got up from the dirt, brushing myself off as I did so, and I noticed my companions' gazes follow me as I was in the process.

"Enough with the staring, now. Aside from that, there is something with which I must divulge urgently."

And so I proceeded to inform them of my 'vision', taking good care to elaborate on the detail of what I had witnessed.

"Forsooth, yond doest not f'retell well. What doth thee proposeth, Sir Avonnius?"

I took a moment to ponder. I had not yet fully deciphered the premonition, including the number of enemies we would be facing, their weaponry, and what type. Of course, it was clear that we would be facing human adversaries, which was a good bit more reassuring than other foe I had in mind.

"There's not much we can do. If we are to gain rest or travel further without fear of ambush, we must take down these bastards first."

"Can't we just sneak on by?" Dedric chimed in.

"That would be a risky bet, for they might have spotted us as we came down the road, or they might notice us as we travel along. Since Haedyr's armor clinks quite loudly when he walks, it's going to be more likely that they hear it and come out to investigate." I shook my head grimly. "Unfortunately, we must confront them here and now."

I noticed my comrades' expressions express worry as they were notified of the oncoming fight. I noticed both of them were shaking slightly, though Haedyr was a good bit better at putting on a brave face than Dedric, who was mumbling to himself.

I had to admit, that I, myself, was thricefold trembling at the thought of taking on unknown foes. And yet, my mind was racing, concocting a plan to gain the advantage over our enemies.

From what I could see of the derelict barn, the top open window that sat above the large, wooden double doors was blocked off with some barricade, which soothed my nerves as I realized that they had no height advantage over us, at least not with that barricade in the way. They could have heard us coming, but they had no idea how many, since we had not yet passed by the small open slots on the sides of the barn.

My mind finally came up with something of substance, and I addressed Dedric and Haedyr.

"Listen close, friends. Dedric, unsheathe your blade now, but do it silently, or as silently as you can. Haedyr, you will go up to the barn door and knock, attracting the attention of whomever's inside, and act as a knight that is doing routine checks on the surrounding area. Dedric and I will make our way to the edges of the sides of the barn, out of view of any individual that opens the door. If and when the individual tries to attack you, we'll intercept him as he's doing so, and we'll have the advantage of surprise on our side as we take out whomever else lays in wait inside the barn."

The two nodded in understanding as they took in my plan.

"Prithee, bid me wherefore I am the one addressing the brigands?"

"You're in full-plated armor, and thusly you have a far better chance of surviving a sudden attack than us."

"Oh...Ah, yes! Mine own task is clear."

"Then, let us execute this plan with swift victory in mind."
With that, Dedric and I unsheathed our blades in a way so that the blade swiping across the inside of the sheath would not release the rasp of ringing metal, and made our way towards the sides of the barn, with Dedric taking the left flank whilst I took the right. I ensured to watch where I stepped, so as to not cause any alarming cracks from another damn stick.

Once I had my back pressed against the side of the barn, I looked over and across from where I was to Dedric, positioned opposite of me, about 5-10 meters away. I then looked at Haedyr, who was beginning to making his way towards the large, wooden double doors of the barn, his armor clinking and shuffling as he did so. I could see he was clearly on edge, though he was trying to hide it as much as possible for the act he was going to pull.

From within the barn, I heard shuffling and faint voices, some of them seemingly in alarm as they heard Haedyr approach the barn doors.

Finally, Haedyr came to a stop in front of the barn door, hesitating to knock.

"Come now, Haedyr." I whispered to him. "We have your back."

Haedyr looked to me, his face softening slightly in reassurance. With one deep breath, he brought his hand up and knocked on the barn door politely.

…

…

…

Creak.

I whisked my head back just as the one of the barn doors creaked open.

"Whut?"

The voice that came from behind the door was scratchy and deep, laden with another one of those insufferably retarded thuggish accents, the same as the brigands that held me up around a week ago.

"Why, fine sir, I am Knight...Hardon."

Excuse me? I thought, flabbergasted by Haedyr's choice of a fake alias.

There was a snicker from behind the door, then another question.

"Whu've you goh' wit' us, Sir Knoight?"

"Well, sir, mine own squad and I art checking the local...er...ordinances-"

That is definitely not the word I was expecting, I thought to myself.

"-For dangerous persons. If it be true thee wouldst befall to knoweth of anybody matching yond description , I wouldst implore yond thee bid me."

"Seen no one o' that sort, sire-"

As the bandit pushed open the barn door a bit more, Haedyr's face contorted into horror as he witnessed something from within the barn. I could visibly see sweat begin to trace down his face.

"V-Very well, s-sir...I...uh-"

As Haedyr went on stammering, the bandit's voice suddenly dropped into a threatening manner.

"You weren't supposed to see that."

Then, out of nowhere, the bandit launched forward, ramming Haedyr into the ground and climbing on top of him, dirk in hand. I was about to intervene when Dedric suddenly jumped in, pulling the bandit off of Haedyr and throwing him to the ground, before sticking his dagger into the bandit's gut. The bandit cried out in pain, holding his wound as blood seeped onto the ground.

I ran up to Haedyr, ensuring he was not wounded.

"Have you been stabbed? Injured?"

"Nay, friend...Though I profess, I nearly soiled my nappers."

I chuckled a bit at the joke. I was plentifully worried that something might've gone wrong, but it turned out we were-

SLAM!

My head swiveled towards the door to see a large man barrel out and towards me. As I got up, I felt a hard hit into my ribs, flying backwards a few feet and hitting the ground with a hard impact.

"Errrgghhh…." I groaned, feeling my ribs ache with bruising. I looked up to see a large, swarthy man, wearing a large ragged hoodie over his face. He gazed down at me with anger in his eyes. I felt fear pervade my mind as I realized that I had underestimated the number of foes.

I witnessed Haedyr tackle the large brigand from the side, the two falling out of sight of my limited vision. As I heard their struggles, I took this opportunity to try and recover from that brutal attack, looking up to gauge my surroundings.

Another bandit had followed closely behind the large foe, and had engaged in a clash of knives with Dedric, who was on the defensive. Metal screeched against metal as their blades swiped, slashed and stabbed.

Luckily, it seemed like no one else had come out of the farm, and now we were left with two foe, who were engaged with my allies. I decided to take advantage of this situation. I looked over towards Haedyr and the beast of a man, who had a cudgel in his hands and swiped it, hitting Haedyr's helmet from the right

CLANG!

The sound made me cringe as I imagined Haedyr's head reverberating inside helmet. Between Dedric and him, he was definitely starting to lose the battle. Thus, trying to ignore the bruising of my ribs, I struggled up to my feet and ran towards the brigand, brandishing my knife. As the brigand raised his cudgel over Haedyr, I was cursed with imagining Haedyr's head caving in. The morbid thought invigorated me with anger, and I thrusted myself forward, shoving the knife into the bandit's side. A booming yell of pain reverberated in my ears, and I felt myself swung to the ground as the bandit turned his side quickly, causing the hilt of the blade in my hands to throw my grip off. As I hit the ground once more, I made a mental note to hone my footwork, for fear that I might start becoming familiar with the feeling of smacking into the dirt.

I looked up and, to my fortune, the bandit's turning had been a fatal mistake on his half, as the force of my grip upon the blade before I was swung off combined with the knife blade already in his stomach, which had caused the entire blade to slash open a wide cut that spanned from his side all the way to his belly.
What happened next I was terribly unprepared for. As the wound opened up, a large portion of his inner guts spilled out of the wound, along with a fountain of blood, cascading onto the dirt below. The large brigand looked down in pain and shock at his exposed innards, falling to his knees. As the life literally drained out of him, he weakly tried to cover his gaping wound with his hands, to little success. Within moments, his body drained of the vital fluid, he fell face first into his own pool of blood and guts, dead.

The very sight of it caused me to immediately vomit to the side, utter disgust encapsulating my senses. I could barely focus on anything as I tried desperately to rid my mind of that horrific sight.

However, with what I could barely comprehend in the moment, it seemed to me that the battle had ended, and in our favor. For a moment, I was afraid that Dedric might've been bested in his duel. My fears were dissipated as I heard him groaning and cussing wildly, filling me with relief.

After a few moments of recuperation, my eyes and head rotated slowly towards Haedyr, and I noticed he seemed to be dazed as he was laying on the ground. His limbs moved around slowly and confusedly, which conveyed to me that his head must have definitely taken a hard bash, especially considering the brute that had done it.

Finally, with considerable willpower, I resisted the urge to vomit and got up from my place, my legs shaking wildly as the after-battle effects started setting in. I looked towards Dedric, noticing he was bent over as he sat next to his dead foe. He seemed to be holding what looked to be a knife wound to his side, though thankfully, it didn't seem to be leaking too much blood.

However, seeing as Dedric was mentally functional, I decided to make my way over to Haedyr, who was less so.

I took a knee beside him, and went to remove his helmet. As I took it off, I cringed at the swollen sore surrounding the area on the right of Haedyr's head.

"Urgh…" He mumbled, before trying to speak incoherently to me. I worried greatly that he would become mentally retarded from this event, though I had to keep headstrong and have faith that he (or at least, his skull) was strong enough to prevent any egregious damage to his mind palace.

"Come now, we've won the skirmish, my friend. We should reap the rewards of our...victory."

I hesitated to even call it that. The damage that had been done to us by two mere bandits signaled to me a sense of naivete, subpar combative skills, and a general aura of 'what in the hell am I doing?' within our group. Nonetheless, we were still standing (at least, one of us was) at the end of the battle, and considering that none of us were the poor bastards laying in the dirt, I marked it to be a shaky victory.

"Is your being well, Dedric?" I shouted over to the still shady-looking individual part of my- erm, our entourage.

"It feels like the devils of Hell are shovin' their fiery cocks in my wound."

"...I shall interpret that to be a 'yea'."

Minutes passed by as I went to work treating the wounds of my comrades, occasionally groaning loudly as I did most things physically, my bruised ribs calling for me to cease active movement. I ignored the cries and kept on.

Finally, with Dedric and Haedyr treated, I went to the task of looting the bandits' bodies for useful items, taking great care to move my mid-region as little as possible. I was somewhat surprised to find a sizable amount of coin on their persons, along with some traveling supplies.

"3 shillings and 80 pence...these must've been successful highway robbers." I thought aloud. Considering that one could buy a good axe for 25 pence, this was quite a haul for just a couple small-time highwaymen.

"Oy, Avon…"

I looked over at Dedric to witness him walking up to me, holding his bandaged stab wound. I was not particularly bothered by his injury compared to Haedyr's, as it would only take a few days at most for the wound to heal. Oddly enough, Moneians were often more resilient than other nations' natural-born citizenry. Then again, most humans in general were very resilient compared to those 50 years ago, mainly as we've had to adapt to being in the same world with such monstrously large titans, and the strain from dealing with the magical environment around us built up a tolerance and physical adaptability. This in turn enhanced our-

"Avon. Hello?"

I was disrupted from my train of thought by Dedric, who I inadvertently gave a look of irritation.

"The hell? Whut's got yer rocks off, mate?"

Still not the correct usage of a phrase, I thought in disappointment.

"That look was unrelated. Now, what did you need, friend?"

"What's we gonna do now?"

"What?"

"I said what's we gonna-"

"I know what you said, I'm thinking currently."

"Well…" Rulf looked around, concern written on his face. "We should be doin' somethin'. I'm feelin' a bit...paranoid."

I was about to dismiss his remark, especially considering that I did not get any premonition of forthcoming danger, but an idea sprang forth into my mind.

Currently, we were still in Drakmenis, and as much as I wanted to stay in familiar territory, I was terrified of those monstrous cretins that had ravaged my father's estate making their way up to us. Unfortunately, I would have to rely on the kingdom's military force to dispatch of those bastards.

However, I was unsure of whether or not Dedric and Haedyr would be just as willing to go along with me to another province. Hell, I would not bat an eye if they were planning to drop me off at the next town and dispatch.

And yet, I could not have that happen. This impersonal relationship with these two was profitable for me mainly because they didn't cost money to keep with me. I had no idea what motivated them to keep on continuing with me without any pay. Maybe there were fueled by personal reasons, wanderlust, or some other force of human nature, but they were nearly invaluable to me in this moment, as they proved in battle just now that I could trust them to have my back, both while I slept and in combat. All this without the incentive for pay meant that, ultimately, they must be...my...friends?

Nonsense, I thought to myself. There must be another, more selfish pragmatic reason for their behavior. But now's not the time for rumination.

I turned to Dedric, trying to imitate an expression of grim warning.

"That feeling is not remiss, Dedric. I have just received another premonition only seconds ago. We are in grave danger if we stay within this region."

Unsurprisingly, Dedric's eyes widened in fear as I falsely confirmed his paranoia.

"W-Wait, really? Oh, Tog!" However, something came to his mind as he was in the midst of panicking. "Just a second. Shouldn't you have fallen to the floor if you received one o' those 'premonish-uns', like before?"

"The intensity of these visions is based on how close the danger is. I've only been warned that the beasts that attacked my father's estate are heading westward, towards us."

"What doth be this...about visions and danger, comrades?" Haedyr interjected, his speech a bit slurred and his sentences a tad mumbled and hesitant, as the bash sustained to his head was making itself present in his behavior.

"You heard me clearly. Those red-eyed, bony, monstrous demons are headed in our direction. We need to make haste out of this country if we are to survive."

I could see Dedric was absolute in his decision to leave, though I felt a pang of worry as I read Haedyr's expression of hesitation. I was amazed he could even talk normally with the heavy-handed strike he had taken to his cranium, much less think.

I decided I could not take the chance of letting him ponder the decision for too long. I closed the gap between us, much to his alarm, and came up towards his face, hovering my head only inches from his. I stared ominously at him, seeing the fear and trepidation in his eyes.

"Wh-What is...the matter...Sir Avon?"

"Have you ever been stabbed before, Haedyr?"

"I-I cannot say I have…"

"Imagine. A hot, piercing pain within you, setting fire to your innards as your mind screams in pain. The very feeling evokes terror just from the sight of it. Surely, you have at least witnessed a stabbing before?"

Haedyr fell silent, only nodding his head.

"At the estate, when my father's land was being laid to waste by those monstrous creatures, I had the terrible displeasure wrought upon me of seeing the citizenry, guards, nobility, servants, families, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters being preyed upon by these vermin. Ripped to shreds. I witnessed the monsters rake their claws across them, impaling them with their elongated arms, then tearing them in half. I was witness to a mere 7 year old boy, crying out for his mother, jumped upon by a pack of these hellspawn and torn from limb to limb mercilessly. They're morally bankrupt cretins from the depths of Hell. If the mere idea of stabbing is terrifying to you, what do you think you'll feel when your innards are raped and torn apart by those mangled claws? When your head is bitten off, your eyes gouged out, your head cracked open like an egg and your brains devoured? And yet you still desire to stay here, where these unspeakably horrible monsters are going to travel to in hordes?!"

"NAY! NAY!" Haedyr blubbered, tears streaming down his face as his mind was filled with the horrors of the images I had sent through his head. He fell at my clothes, grasping at the edges of my coat in terror. "Please, Sir Avon, let us not stay here a second longer! Please!"

I was satisfied, though feeling a bit guilty, of my successful attempt at fearmongering. Of course, I had made up the spectacle of seeing anyone torn apart or killed. After all, I had just come back from a trip to a neighboring town only to witness the aftermath of the ravaged lands, and even then I had not stayed but a few moments before leaving in a hurry.

Nonetheless, I had them both under wraps. Dedric, who had already been convinced before, had turned pale over the course of my little speal to Haedyr, shaking violently.
"Tog help me...Tog help me…"

I felt that maybe I had overdone the act. Nonetheless, it was time to mobilize.

"Come now, friend, there is no need to fear. I know of a plan to simultaneously rid ourselves of these morbid beasts and rid those beasts of this blessed world."

Haedyr's face came up towards me, his eyes turning like a tide from fear and desperation to hope and salvation. I was almost mortified with myself for mentally breaking down this man and promptly offering solace.

"P-Please, Lord Avon, please! The fate of which you described is nothing that I want a part of! Deliver us from the evil whence you proclaim!"

"I-I second that…" Dedric muttered, slinking over to me. "Let's get the hell out of this damn place, if it's gonna be attacked by those bloody devils…"

I nodded, looking to the barn.

"If there are any horses in there, we can saddle them up for travel."

The barn did indeed have some horses stocked away, most likely the bandits, or maybe victims of their robbery. Nonetheless, we would now make use of them.

Within the hour, we had finally gotten everything squared away, our horses saddles and our supplies refurbished, at least a bit, from what the brigands had on them. We would definitely need to visit a few towns and villages along the way, but generally, we were ready.

As I mounted my horse, I urged my horse to canter up to the trail where we would be heading off and looked over the horizon, beyond the treeline. Vast swaths of forestry, mountains and nature awaited me in the distance. I suddenly felt a pang of excitement and wanderlust, the desire to explore this untamed world swimming around in my chest.

Thinking of the possibilities, the opportunities, the ups and downs of my future endeavors, I felt...

Free.