Chapter 13

Lawrence and 2 other soldiers stood where Anna and Daniel had just been recovering. Lawrence wasn't in his usual full armor, and he wasn’t wielding his usual two swords. Instead, he was in leather armor and had the usual swords on his belt, one on either side, and an extra one on sideways across his lower back.

"Mage, dealt with." He said as he sheathed the drawn sword onto his back and drew the one from the right side of his belt.

He stepped toward the 2 members of ember who had been next to Anna and Daniel.

He wasn't even looking at me, but I was frozen in fear. The memories of him killing me for the first time. What it had lead too. Not again. Please. I spotted Anna and Daniel near the cliff low cliff walls. Scott ran to them immediately and began checking on Daniel. They must've been blown over there by that blast. Neither of them were moving. Simon moved before I did. He ran around to the edge of the small clearing, trying to make it back to his sword. Lawrence turned to him and instead of closing the distance, he sheathed his sword and drew the one on his left. His radiant armament. I knew it had two powers. A burst that sent him in the opposite direction, and a ranged air slash.

"Simon! Dodge it!" I called out, surprising myself.

Simon turned to see him swing the sword. I thought he would be killed for sure. Instead, Simon leaned back and slid on his knees over the stone. The barely visible slash of air clipped a stone overlooking the ledge and chipped it. Simon continued his run, dove for his sword, picked it up during a roll and stood pointing it towards Lawrence. He was now next to the other 2 members of the embers on the opposite side of the clearing from me. The other rebel was next to me and had pulled out a sword at some point. I remembered I was still holding a spear and pointed it toward the trio in the middle. We had them outnumbered, but I still felt we didn't have the advantage. Especially looking at the smile on Lawrence's face. Lawrence sheathed his sword as he spoke.

"Simon. I told them you had a strong will and couldn't be broken down there. They should have just executed you."

"Yeah, they should have. Now you're going to die for it."

We had to make the first move. If Lawrence had multiple radiant arms, we were seriously disadvantaged. And more than that, I really wanted to get back at him.

I charged forward, spear aimed at Lawrence's back. One of the other soldiers saw me and stepped between us. He drew his sword and I stopped my charge. It was frustrating. Wyvern knights were elite, skilled, and confident. But they had light armor so they could ride wyverns. I had sparred against them before, but never won. They were fast with good eyes. Did I stand a chance?

Simon called out, "Don't doubt yourself, William! Trust your own way of fighting."

My own way of fighting? No way that would work against people like this.

Lawrence shook his head at Simon. "Another one, Simon? Why are your students always the most weak and pathetic people you can find? I'm beginning to think you enjoy seeing them die."

"You're the pathetic one. She was your ally and you murdered her!"

"Murder is a strong word. She was a casualty of war. A hero even, which is more than she deserved. Her life for 4 demons was well worth it. If I had warned her I was going to attack, the demons would've dodged too. Her sacrifice will be remembered as long as her name is. By the way, what was it again?"

"Sasha was 10 times the knight you will ever be. I won't let you trample her honor, and I won't let you kill another of my students."

"You're welcome to try and stop me, but... Sorry, you might be a bit late on that last part. Will and I have already been... acquainted. Hahaha."

Simon moved first, followed by the cloaked men next to him, up against Lawrence and a wyvern knight. I had to make a move too. It was 1 wyvern rider against me and 1 rebel. Simon had bought me time to think. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, I just needed to hope the rider moved the way I thought he would. I aimed the spear towards his chest, and charged. While getting closer, I made sure to aim it more to his left side. He stepped right to avoid it. Exactly as I thought he would! I was ready and moved the spear with him, keeping it at the side of his ribcage. The thin armor wouldn't save him. I saw his face scrunch up in frustration. His sword arm came down at lighting speed, using the handle to slam the spear just behind the metal tip. As expected, he was too fast and that was his only option in the situation. The look on his face changed from frustration to surprise as he realized I had already let go of the spear. The tip of it sparked as it hit the stone below. I grabbed his arm and held it tight so he couldn't swing it. He tried to pull me off, but I yanked and twisted him around. He was stronger and faster. In a few more seconds he would’ve had me thrown off. A sword suddenly stuck out through the front of his chest. He fell to his knees, dropped the sword, and fell the rest of the way. The rebel pulled his sword free and nodded at me. I picked up the sword the rider dropped and looked back to the fight with Simon.

One of the rebels, was laying motionless on the ground and the other was locked in a fight with the other rider. Simon and Lawrence were in a fast-paced battle in the middle.

Lawrence swung up from below. Simon deflected and countered with a downward strike. Lawrence turned, and the blade just touched his leather armor. They swung on each other, with every blow intending to kill. Each movement was perfectly calculated to survive and gain an advantage. I never knew Simon was this good. Though as good as he was, he was exhausted. Growing slower, taking small wounds over time. But still managing to land a few of his own on Lawrence, who seemed frustrated by it. It was something I could never hope to match. Would I even be helping if I joined, or would I just get in the way? The rebel ran to help his friend that was still fighting the other rider. I turned to look at Scott, who was tying a bloodied shirt over the wound in Daniel's chest. Anna wasn't bleeding from what I could see, but she hadn't moved at all. I wanted to run to her to make sure she was ok, but I couldn't.

"Scott! Help Anna too!" I screamed.

I thought for sure he would continue to focus on Daniel, since that's the only one of us he seemed to care about, but he actually looked at me with shock or fear on his face and moved to help Anna.

I ran to help the rebel members take out the last rider. Maybe with all of us, we could handle Lawrence.

We surrounded him, but even still, he put up a fight. I didn't have time to plan anything out. It almost looked like he was flailing around wildly, but it was practiced and effective. Like a dance. He didn't have an opening to make any attacks on us, but it was a decent defense. If he had only been up against 2 people, he might have been able to hold them off. But the three of us managed to find opening after opening until eventually one of the embers members disarmed him and finished him off.

The three of us turned back to the fight between Lawrence and Simon just as Lawrence landed a deep cut on his right leg. Simon yelled out and stumbled back. He went down to one knee, panting heavily while glaring up at Lawrence, who smiled back at him like he was enjoying himself greatly.