Chapter 11. Dead Cells

The woman had clearly been crying, crying so much her eyes had become bloodshot. Her body was clearly weak as she held onto the cage for support. I could see quite a lot of hope in her eyes as she looked at me with the keys in my hand. I didn't wait much longer after looking her over, I moved towards the cage to unlock the gate. She watched at I unlocked the door and pulled the cage open. She held her chains out for me to free her arms and legs, I backed away and pulled my dagger. She looked at me in fear suddenly "I'm not here to hurt you neither am I here to free you. However luck may have it the bandits above are mad at me so I'm stuck down here and I'm freeing you in my free time. I wont unlock your chains until you had something to eat." I said as I moved forwards slowly. I had taken a few events into account, for one her mouth was sown shut so she clearly had nothing to eat. I didn't want her to take a chomp from me as soon as I freed her neither did I want her to eat the disgusting... 'Prisoners' instead. I reached into my bag and grabbed two apples from it, I bit into one holding it in my mouth as I put the other in my pocket. I held the apple I bit in my hand "I'm going to cut your... bindings. Once I do I want you to back away and I'll give you the apple" She nodded quickly as she shuffled towards me holding the gate to keep herself steady. I moved the apple in my into my other front pocket as I held the side of her head. Ther skull felt brittle, her skin was pulling against her bones from lack of water or food. I moved my dagger to slowly cut the thread holding her mouth shut. One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven stitches. She slowly opened her mouth and pulled the threads out of her mouth as she stepped backwards almost falling backwards. I looked over her again, she wasn't much older then me and she clearly looked both starved and dehydrated. Her hands were closing and opening randomly and her legs shuffled. I stepped back pulling out the apple I hadn't bitten into. After she had finished pulling out the threads she held her hands out in front of her as I put the apple in her hand. She began eating the whole thing, in seconds it was entirely gone, stem and all. She was clearly hungry as I pulled out the other apple and threw it to her. She fumbled a bit and caught it without it hitting the ground and began eating it the same way. This time it took a bit longer and once she had finished she slowly sat down while I leaned on the bars of he cage.

"Why are you here" She asked in a very weak voice.

"Doesn't matter" I replied. "Not to you at least"

"That doesn't mean I can't know" She said looked towards me again.

"How long have you been here" I asked.

"Doesn't matter" She said mocking me.

"Not only do you not have the strength to mock me but I also hold the keys to your chains" I said high and mighty.

"Fine, I've been here for three days. They shut my mouth and threw me in here three days ago" She said.

"Why" I asked.

"I was traveling along the road near here when I got attacked. They wanted everything I had and went I started to run I got captured. At first they were going to kill me but then I bit the damn leaders hand." She said as she chuckled remembering what she did.

"He said, 'Lets make her suffer for that' and dragged me down here." She said.

"Wait... So the bandits know about this place?!" I said jumping from my spot.

Only to confirm my words the trapdoor was pulled. The girl jumped at the sound, since it was locked it wouldn't open when you pulled it. But were dealing with bandits. I quickly looked around and put my head to work quickly making a trap for them. I dumped the buckets of blood below the ladder making the surface slick with it. I then moved a few rusted tools unter it, Sticking the to a board I had ripped off the wall. The tool poked out from under the board like spikes. I placed it under the trap door as well. I looked around for one more item however as I started the trapdoor broke from above. A bandit had fell through the trapdoor and fell I directly onto the spiked board. The man made a painful cry as the tools poked out from his body. It wasn't much longer tell the others moved in and attacked so I drew my sword and dagger and readied myself for an impossible fight. One by one men climbed down, however there was only for men that climbed down, After that no more showed up. Two of the four pulled out a sword while the others pulled out two handed axes. I took a moment to breathe the rotten air around me as I got ready to fight. They had all charged me at once however thanks to the blood covering the floor they all slipped or at least slid. To my luck one of the axe bandits even slipped and landed on his own weapon cutting open his chest. I took the chance and moved in a carefully as I could making sure not to slip on the blood on the floor. I moved towards one of the bandits who was still trying to get his balance and kicked his legs out from below himself. I quickly followed up taking my sword and stabbing him in the back of the neck. I didn't take anymore time on him, he was dead or soon to be dead. I turned to another bandit and used the same skill I had used in the orphanage, I had given a name since I begun practicing it along the way here. I called it heartbeat on account of how I moved in a single moment from one point to the next swinging my blade along the way. I could only move so far, and I tired myself out from using it to often in a short time. I cut through one of the bandits chest and when I turned to see how much damage I had done for a single moment the blood wasn't flowing from my attack, then all at once he fell and his blood started to spill. I turned to the other bandit only to be met with a large amount of pain in my shoulder. I could feel the cold steel and the hot blood moving from my should as the bandit cut my arm with his sword. I backed off from the pain and almost dropped my dagger. I slowly sheathed it as the man looked at me in rage. I tried moving my arm, I could but not without feeling a large amount of pain. My worry wasn't how much it hurt but how bad the wound was. I didn't want to risk widening it so I slipped my hand in my pocket using it to hold my arm to keep it from swinging around. I moved my left foot back and turned to face the man. I had practiced with only one weapon and found the only way I was going to win was if I countered and dodged... Especially since now he was picking up his fallen allies sword.

One sword vs two, this was a bad match already. I would need to use all my skills and tricks. The man charged me and swung, I quickly hopped back as he followed up with his other sword I deflected it with mine. I kept myself mobile, not stopping in risk of being rushed again. The bandit would swing or thrust every now and then trying to catch me, however I was fully focused. For a moment I thought this would be a stalemate before he began something reckless. He charged me with a thrust from his right, I moved out of its way by turning and stepping back a little. He followed up with his other sword as he swung however he swung from his right shoulder so instead of ducking or jumping back I moved up closer to him as I slashed him across the shoulder. I might as well had taken his arm since I could see I cut halfway through his arm. I had my sword in my right hand and pointing to him however once he thrusted I stepped back and pulled my sword back across to my other should to keep it from harm. Then since he swung from his other arm his elbow would be heading towards me which meant two things. One his is right handed and Two his arm can't curve around me so it can't harm me by pulling his sword across my back. This meant I had the advantage so I move forwards and with the force of pulling my sword back as well as swinging downwards I cut halfway through his arm. The bandit quickly jumped backwards however since he had jumped and not stepped he slips and hits the ground with a thud. Since he was both blinded by pain and rage he hadn't been paying attention to the area as he hopped backwards onto an empty bucket. His head hits the ground first and I don't give him the chance to realize what happened as I step forwards and plunge my sword into his throat. With the gurgling noise of his death I pulled it out from his throat and add a coat of blood to the already slick floor as I fling the blood off my sword and sheath it. I reach for my open wound on my should to find it's not as bad as I thought. It was about as deep as my finger and was limited to my shoulder, Either that man was weak or and idiot who can't use a sword.

I turn my attention to the woman still chained up "I've never seen someone take on so many men in such a short time" She said in wonder. "That wasn't a short time it must have been a few minutes at least" I responded as I got the keys from my pocket.

"I wish I timed it, It must have been at least two minutes" she said again holding her chains out.

"No it was more of 11 minutes, Your timing must be off with you being down here for so long" I said as I went to unlock her chains.

"Your speed is awe inspiring. You truly must time yourself someday" She said.

I unlocked the chains and stepped back and out of the cell. "I'm not that fast, It's just the weapon I use" I responded.

"Then how do you explain that strike that cut his body open" She said while point to one of the bandits bodys.

"Alright, that is one thing I can't explain. I guess it's a natural talent, all it is, is moving forwards and swinging" I said.

"If you moving that fast forwards I'm curious how fast you run" She says as she starts taking wobbled steps from the cage. I swear shes trying to flatter me with my speed but I honestly didn't feel that fast. The swing itself took around 3 seconds for me to get from one spot to another. "...And that man to, I've never see someone cut that deep from moving so fast" She said just to top it all off... wait hang on. Let's say she right, lets say I am much faster than normal. It might explain how I was able to do heartbeat as well as cut through that bandit's arm halfway. But are they any other examples... First there's the orphanage so I could use heart then that bandit fight... What about all the sword swings that bandit did with his longswords. They were unique and I had the speed to react and jump back to avoid them... I'll keep this idea noted but keep with the idea of I'm 'Normal'. Finally the woman had made it next to me at the ladder leading to the bedroom of the bandit leader. "I never got your name" She said suddenly. "My name doesn't matter" I said. She looked at me for a moment with a glare before looking at the broken trapdoor. I climbed the ladder and looked at the floor above. I didn't see any bandits but what was more interesting was the noise I could hear outside. The noise of weapons clanging together.