"Will you do it?"

"No... We will ALL have to do it if there is any chance at all."

"... You can't change it you know that."

"A battle is not won until it is fought."

"You can not change fate."

"I can try..."

They say you learn something new every day. Today I was learning that you shouldn't faint on a hardwood floor unless someone is going to catch you. It felt like my skull had split open and someone had replaced my brains for hot coals.

"Easy now, you had a rough fall." Said a unfamiliar voice.

I pried a eye open and was greeted by a gigantic knee spike not far from my face. My head almost popped off as I turned to see the rest of the person crouching beside my bed. It was the giant that had been guarding the council doors. His chiseled face held a small smile of amusement and when I met his gaze I did a double take. His eyes were mismatched. The right eye was a pale violet color while the left was a pale green.

I groaned out a sigh. "I didn't recognize you without your blindfold."

A grin split his face. "Well met Andrew. My name is Orpheus."

I tried to sit up and I felt my arm engulfed by one of his hands as he gently helped support me. I recalled something the elders had said to me.

"That's a interesting name, how did you earn it?" I inquired.

"It means skull. I earned it by crushing my enemies skulls with my bare hands."

I eyed his massive hand draped over his knee and I had no trouble believing that claim. I noticed Bryce standing to one side looking a little impatient.

"You well enough to stand yet?" He asked gruffly.

"Whats the hurry?"

"We have lots of work to be done." He then turned and left through the doorway, I noticed it was bigger then the door I had seen when I woke up that morning.

"Don't mind him" Orpheus chuckled, "he's had a rough day."

"So it would seem." I idly rubbed my black palm wondering what could be done as I gazed around the room. It must be Orpheus's house as the dimensions were much more spacious. He anticipated my question.

"You're at my house. Bryce didn't feel like living up to his name -"

"I heard that" Bryce called from outside.

Orpheus chuckled again. "My house is closer to the training grounds and Bryce is not one to wait when he is in a foul mood."

"I noticed" I said as I stood, grimacing as I rolled my head around to relieve the ache. "You people certainly don't waste time do you?"

My thoughts were interrupted as Orpheus stood up. When he finally reached his full hight I realized he was much bigger up close. I gaped up at him towering over me, easily reaching seven and a half feet. His biceps were thicker then my thighs and his pectoral muscles filled my vision.

He grinned at my stares, "don't worry you'll get used to it."

"I heard you had returned. Are the rumors true?"

"For the most part I'm sure."

".. I had hoped they were wrong for once.."

"Is it really such a bad thing?"

"I don't want to lose you again."

"We both know you could have changed that."

Full battle gear was truly a sight to behold. When I had first met Bryce, he had just been wearing "regular armor" as Orpheus called it. I don't think I could have imagined that anything could look even more deadly. Bryce stood in the middle of a small arena glittering, the sunlight reflecting off all the polished edges of the blades strapped to his body. Some of it was incredibly intricate and yet incredibly deadly at the same time. I realized there was someone on the field with him and I almost mistook it for a shadow. It was another warrior that was dressed head to toe in strips of black cloth, layer upon layer. I could see blades peeking out here and there as the breeze shifted the strips of cloth. Before I could examine the shaggy mass further, a bell rang and I saw why the odd garb.

The black warrior zig zagged towards Bryce, dancing back and forth closing the distance quickly. Every time he changed directions the mass of cloth would continue the movement for a fraction of a second giving the illusion that the warrior was where he wasn't. Bryce dodged to the side at the last second and swung at the black warrior but only caught a few strips of cloth. The black warrior hardly paused as he jogged in a little circle around Bryce, feinting, probing his defense and reactions. Bryce hardly batted a eye. He turned and took a step and in a flash the black warrior was upon him. Steel clashed in a flurry of blows quicker then I could follow. The black warrior spun away and aimed a quick kick at Bryce's knee and for a I feared he would snap it. I flinched at the loud snap as the armor at the knee joint locked together preventing it from bending backwards. The blow was hard enough to knock him off balance though and he took a few steps back to recover from the exchange. I couldn't take my eyes off them. The lack of sounds from the fight was unnerving – no yelling or panting. The contestants eyed each other for a second then the black warrior advanced once more. He feinted and aimed a viscous kick to Bryce's midsection. Bryce stepped back just avoiding the wicked heel spike and before the black warrior could finish his spin, stepped forward in a flash wrapping one arm around his neck and driving a knee spike into his back.

"Should I take it yet?"

"Wait.. We can't mess this up"

"What does it matter? They're surrounded anyways."

"We'll never find him if you screw this up."

The two warriors parted and bowed to each other, ending the duel.

"He certainly hasn't lost his touch." Orpheus said quietly.

I glanced over at him and blinked in surprise, he had donned full battle armor as well during the duel. How he did it so quickly and quietly was beyond me. I turned my attention back to the dueling ring as Bryce and the other warrior made their way towards us. The black warrior pulled off their hood and to my surprise it was a woman. I was going to get white hair if these people kept doing this to me. They stopped in front of us, they weren't even breathing hard, and Bryce opened his mouth to say something, but he paused as something caught his attention.

The air left my lungs in a explosive "whoof" as he hit me in the chest. Time seemed to slow as I fell and I watched as an arrow seemed to materialize in the space my head had just been occupying. I listened to the zipping sound it made as it went by my face, and everything slammed back into motion as I hit the ground.

The female warrior became a blur of motion as she went into the village raising an alert as she went. Orpheus grabbed me and hauled me off the ground as I tried to get my breath back. I heard the clanging of bells ringing throughout the village and then chaos erupted. Warriors were rushing in every direction, strapping on armor and weapons. I looked past over Bryces shoulder and we watched as a line of soldiers advanced out of the tree line with swords drawn.

"Get him to the council chambers and protect him at all costs." Bryce told Orpheus in a low voice.

He had hardly finished speaking before we were on our way. I tried to keep up as Orpheus half carried me, Bryce close behind yelling orders, organizing a defense. I heard snatches of reports saying that there were soldiers coming from all sides, we were surrounded. I could see the council chamber coming up when we abruptly everyone changed directions and started taking cover. No sooner had we gotten under cover when a hail of arrows fell to the ground. It sounded like a hailstorm on the roof. Three waves of arrows fell from the sky then Bryce picked me back up and we finished the dash to the council chambers.

I collapsed on a bench still trying to catch my breath. Orpheus stood in the doorway silently watching everyone rushing around setting up defenses. Sounds of combat began to ring out all around us. I looked up at Orpheus and finally put voice to the question in my head.

"Who are these guys?"

"Thugs who think they can fight." He said as he spat on the ground.

"Who sent them? Why are they here?" I stood up and faced him so I didn't have to crane my neck.

He paused for a moment, listening to the pitched combat. "The pretender King sent them to kill you." He said quietly.

I sat back down. "Is someone going to tell me what in the world is going on here?"

Before he could answer, Bryce came running up. He was covered in blood. "We need to get out of here. They brought the whole stinking army." He turned to Orpheus and started conversing with him in low tones as I sat in stunned silence.

I was dimly aware of Orpheus leaving at a run as Bryce came over to me.

"Get up we need to move. Hey, Andrew are you listening?" He gave me a rough slap across the face and I looked up in surprise. "We need to move, get on your feet. I need you to do everything I tell you without hesitation if you want to get out of this alive."

I nodded at him as I stood up. He gave me a measuring stare.

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything once we get out of this mess, but right now I need you to concentrate on living long enough to let me, am I clear?"

I took a deep breath, wincing at the lingering pain in my chest. "Yes sir. Lets get the hell out of Dodge."

He raised a questioning eyebrow at my comment but let it be. I followed him over to the doorway and he paused. The woman in black from the duel came running up.

"Orpheus told me, he's rounding up some of the others in between cracking skulls. He said to start heading out and they'll catch up. I heard reports that the enemy lines seem to be weaker along the west side."

"Then we head south." Bryce said as we started out at a quick pace.

"They have calvary along the southwest, they're keeping them out of the village but they may bring them around to flank us when we break through."

"Go tell Orpheus where we're going and organize a diversion to draw off the calvary long enough for us to make the river."

The woman took off at a dead run to do as he said.

The sounds of combat drew closer as we arrived at the battle line. I began to see dead soldiers around, bunched together like animals at a slaughter. I finally saw one of the warriors, but by the looks of it the death toll was easily 50 to 1 if not more. A few more warriors joined us, each just as grim and bloody as Bryce. One of them handed a short sword to me and I reluctantly took it. Orpheus and the black warrior rejoined us to make the group 8.

We came into view of the battle line and I almost missed a step. Soldiers were still coming out of the forest. The warriors though were what caught my attention. In the street there were just a handful fighting off the army. The warriors were just flowing through the soldiers, cutting them down with every step.

I ran out of time to watch as our group started into a run, Orpheus at point, the warrior flanking me to each side.

Battle is a hideous thing. No matter how many books, or movies, or lectures you go through, it will never prepare you for the real thing. I expected to hear the brutal clash of metal on metal as our group finally hit the battle line. Instead I heard the sounds of swords being deflected, metal impacting on flesh, screams of people dieing a hideous death. Not a single soldier so much as swung at me before he was cut down. I saw a warrior on my left stumble as a sword slipped through his defense, gashing his leg. Suddenly there was one less on my right, I didn't see what happened to him. A soldier dashed through the opening and I swung wildly at him, but the woman in black beat me two it, dropping back to take him out. He outfit wasn't as fluttery as before, all matted from blood. I heard pounding hoofs and my heat dropped to my stomach as I tried to see where they were coming from. I caught sight of them, coming at us head on, soldiers frantically trying to get out of the way.

They were on us before I knew what to do. I caught sight of Orpheus lowering his shoulder almost looking as if he was going to ram the warhorse coming towards him. At the last moment he stepped to the side and dropped to one knee delivering a might swing at the horses front leg. With a crunching of bone the leg snapped and the horse became a train wreck heading right towards me. Bryce slammed into me from the side once again knocking me out of harms way.

"Get up now!" He yelled at me as he scrambled to his feet, slicing through the defenses of a soldier trying to take advantage of downed opponents. I scrambled to my feet as Orpheus appeared through the masses, literally throwing men aside. I realized I didn't see any of the other warriors as Bryce and Orpheus stood their ground around me, stopping every soldier that came at us. I heard the horses coming back around but as I caught sight of them I realized their mounts were no longer on them, but warriors instead. The woman in black was making a beeline towards me and I got ready to get on.

"Orpheus give me a hand!" I yelled to him. I grabbed onto the womans hand as she came up and I felt Orpheus grab my ankle and I all but flew up onto the horse.

I saw Bryce getting behind another rider and Orpheus jumped up onto another mount as that rider doubled up with another. It almost looked as if the horse would buckle under him. A soldier grabbed my leg and I swung my sword at him hitting his helmet and he let go. Before anyone else had a chance to unhorse me, my rider dug in her heels and I had to scramble for a handhold without slicing myself open. I tried desperately not to fall off as galloped, knocking soldiers out of the way. I was able to look around and I noticed we had lost another warrior.

The crowd was thinning out as we put distance between us and the village, the soldiers weren't about to let us go though. They were hot on our heels, yelling for reinforcements.

I wondered what we were going to do once we reached the river, surely the army would have thought to at least guard any boats there. I was about to find out, I caught a glimpse of water coming up. I saw soldiers lining the banks, behind them a few rafts were on fire. We didn't stop. We hit the line by the bank of the river and a few of the warriors jumped of their their mounts to engage them. I was all but flung off the horse as my rider dismounted and I stumbled as I hit the ground. Bryce came out of nowhere and hauled me up.

"Common where are they." I caught him say as he looked past me up the river. A soldier came out of nowhere bowling into Bryce knocking him to the ground. Another soldier was right behind him and came at me with sword raised. The female warrior came up behind him wrapping a arm around his neck and viciously cut his throat with her forearm blades. The soldier fell to his knees in front of me grasping his throat. I couldn't take my eyes off of him as he fell over, his life draining away. Bryce was back up.

"Get into the river now!" He yelled and gave me a rough shove.

I tore my eyes off the dieing soldier and stumbled towards the water, wondering what I was supposed to do. I heard a zipping sound and I realized there was a raft on the river, coming downstream. There were two archers on the raft firing on the soldiers with deadly aim. I ran into the water and tried to make my way to the middle of the stream as fast as I could. I heard splashes behind me as the other warriors followed. I sputtered as the stream got deeper suddenly and I went under for a moment. I dropped the sword and started swimming as best I could. I tried to keep a eye on the approaching raft. It finally got within arms length and I grabbed frantically at the edge. One of the archers reached down and grabbed me, hauling me up over the edge. I lay there gasping for breath as the other warriors climbed on board. I noticed we were missing another two and I looked back and saw they were pacing us on the bank, preventing the soldiers from getting to us. Both of the archers were firing again, taking down enemy archers arriving on the bank. Some of the warriors took up paddles and started us moving faster down the river to get us out of range.

We sounds of battle gradually died off as we got further away. The archers kept a close eye on the banks.

"How did you know the raft was coming?" I asked Bryce.

"First lesson. Always have a backup plan." He rumbled back to me. "Are you injured?"

I checked over myself to make sure, "no I think I'm fine."

I saw Orpheus looking down. "Shall we take out the bridge?" He asked.

Bryce grunted. "Might as well, need to put as much distance as possible between us and their calvary."

They all took up paddles and started heading us towards the far bank.

"Better hurry," one of the archers said, "the calvary is already on the way."

Bryce swore under his breath and they paddled harder, the bridge coming up ahead. We hit the bank and Orpheus jumped off and ran to the bridge. He slammed a massive shoulder into one of the supports, bursting it into splinters. He hit the second support and it cracked but didn't break. He took a step back and then punched it with his massive fist, finally breaking it completely. He reached up and grabbed the piece he had just broken, lifting himself up. He grabbed a cross strut and yanked it out of place. I heard the bridge groan as I scrambled up the bank.

"Here they come." One of the archers said as he drew his bow and let fly a arrow.

I heard another support being ripped out and I could see the bridge start to shake a little.

"Is he going to take it down in time?" I asked Bryce

"I hope so, he helped build it." He said back. "They designed it to come down if needed."

I watched the calvary galloping towards the bridge, getting picked off one by one by the two archers. They reached the foot of the bridge and starting coming across.

"Now!" Bryce yelled.

With one last loud splintering sound, Orpheus came back out from under the bridge and came up the bank, turning to watch his handiwork.

The calvary had just gotten to the halfway point and and suddenly with a a great crack and splintering of wood, the span gave way, coming apart as it fell into the river. Soldiers were tossed off their mounts into the water and got dragged down by their armor. The archers picked off a few that made it to the bank.

"Lets move, we have to get out of here before they find a way around." The woman said.

The archers picked up some of the gear they brought from the raft and we headed down the road a little ways before Bryce led us into the forest.