Chapter 31

8 guards had formed a half circle around Katsumi and Ruri and had them backed up to the edge of the river. 3 of them had spears pointed towards them, but giving them a generous amount of space, and 3 behind them with swords, and finally, another 2 with bows well behind them. Two more guards were lying in the grass close to the center of the clearing. Dead, judging by the amount of blood pooled around their bodies. The remaining guards seemed hesitant to push them, but they weren't the only ones struggling. Katsumi had shallow cuts on her arms and body, and she was panting heavily. Ruri had it worse, though. She was lying behind Katsumi, wincing in pain and clutching an arrow that had pierced her shoulder. The clearing had become a battlefield. The ground was raised in places, and sunk in others. Thick stone pillars stuck up from the ground in spots around the clearing, with pointed ends somehow. I could only assume there was, or had been, someone using earth magic.

Another arrow soared toward Katsumi. She smacked it out of the air with that sword. I looked over at the archers. Another arrow loosed, but it fell quite short. Their hands were shaking badly.

"MORT! IF YOU MISS ANOTHER ARROW, I'LL HAVE YOUR REPLACEMENT PRACTICE ON YOUR SEVERED HEAD!"

That voice from the argument outside the tavern yelled out from the far side of the center of the men. He yelled some more.

"KEEP THEM LOCKED DOWN! PICK THEM OFF! NICE AND EASY! IF YOU DON'T SCREW UP, YOU'RE ALL GOING TO BE MORE CELEBRATED THAN THE HEROES AFTER THIS!"

The archer closer to me took a deep breath to steady his hands and drew the arrow back. Katsumi tried to get more aggressive on the ones surrounding her, but one move made all of them push in and forced her to defend from multiple angles. I sprinted toward the archer and yelled to throw his aim off.

He looked at me, and his arrow went way off to the left. I tackled him. He was a scrawny guy, probably only a year older than me. I had my axe in hand. Was it OK to kill these guys?

I brought the axe down hard on his chest. The sound he made scared me. I wondered if I would regret this later, but I quickly decided that I would regret not doing it MUCH more.

I looked at the other archer, who looked back at me, terrified.

"KEEP YOUR POSITIONS! DON'T LET HER USE THAT RADIANT ARMAMENT! IT'S JUST A BOY WITH AN AXE! DARYL AND JASON! DEFEND YOUR ARCHER!"

The 2 swordsmen on either side of the man yelling ran over and positioned themselves between me and the archer. They were also not much older than me, but they didn't seem nearly as scared as the archer had been.

I pulled my axe free and stood up. I started thinking about how I was going to approach this when that loudmouth shouted again.

"NOTCH ANOTHER ARROW, YOU WELP! IF YOU'RE SCARED OF HIM, WAIT AND SEE WHAT I'LL DO TO YOU IF YOU DON'T MOVE!"

The archer ran a few feet further away from me and fumbled with another arrow. I tried to move around the swordsmen, but they stayed between me and the archer. He notched the arrow and fired it. It soared toward Katsumi. This time, when she swiped it out of the air, one of the spearmen made a move. She managed to knock the arrow away, but was late in deflecting the attack. It cut into her as she turned to minimize the damage. It probably hurt like hell, but it wasn't fatal. She tried to counter by using the turn as momentum for a spin, but the other spearmen pushed forward and forced her to leap back closer to Ruri and the ledge above the river.

"EXCELLENT WORK! KEEP THAT UP! AVOID THAT BLADE! TAKE YOUR OPENINGS! COVER FOR EACH OTHER! DO NOT GIVE HER AN INCH!"

The archer notched another arrow. I couldn't get to him, but I had to do something. I reared back with my axe above my head, took a long step forward, and launched it between the 2 swordsmen and toward the archer. I prayed to every god and monarch that it would hit. Both the swordsmen turned to watch it sail toward the archer, who wasn't paying attention to it. The blade didn't hit, but the heavy head of the axe slammed into his ribs and crumpled him immediately. He yelled out in pain, clutching his side. It had definitely broken some ribs.

The swordsmen were still watching him, while I ran toward them. They turned to me just as I leaped to tackle the one on my right. Unlike the archer I had tackled, he put up a fight. I held his sword arm down and threw punch after punch at his face, while he returned a few and tried to push me all.

A sharp, burning pain shot through my side. The other swordsmen had stabbed me. Before I could react, the one I was on top of hit me in the face, and I fell back, pulling the sword free, which hurt even more. I held my hands up to shield his punches, but instead of his fists, he raised his sword and brought it down through my chest.

There was that familiar feeling of becoming colder, along with the darkness that crept into my vision. I could hear Katsumi yelling something, but it was drowned out by that one guard yelling even louder. I couldn't make out the words of either of them, though.

When I woke up, the 2 swordsmen who had killed me were jogging back toward the rest of the guards.

"FOCUS UP! SPEARMEN HOLD HER BACK! DON'T GET HIT BY THAT BLADE! PICK HER APART! DO NOT GET GREEDY!"

I had to get there now! I rolled over and got my feet under me and felt a lot better now. None of the exhaustion or pain from running through the woods and wiping out repeatedly. I was just going to run straight into them and try to give Katsumi an opening, but the loud one, I assumed was their commander, spotted me almost immediately.

"HEY! YOU DAMN IDIOTS! YOU DIDN'T KILL HIM!"

"We- we DID sir. I stabbed-"

"DOES HE LOOK DEAD?! I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT DEAD LOOKS LIKE IF YOU MESS UP AGAIN!"

"SORRY, SIR!"

"DON'T APOLOGIZE! GO FIX YOUR MISTAKE!"

Those same two swordsmen looked at each other, then started back towards me. I made a show of clutching my chest where I was stabbed and limping towards where my axe had landed. I wished they'd move faster. I didn't have time to waste, but I also had to do whatever I could to beat them. I picked up the axe as they got close.

The moment the one closest to me raised his sword, I twisted and made a stabbing motion with the axe. The flat head slammed into his nose. He dropped his sword and fell back, clutching his face. The other swordsman was surprised, but it didn't slow him down. He tried to stab at me, but I brought the axe down towards the handle of his sword. Probably because they had to walk long distances every day, they all had very little metal armor on. Aside from helmets and weapons, it was all cloth or leather. The axe easily cut into his wrist and forced him to drop the sword before it could make contact with me, while stumbling back, clutching his wound. He realized his mistake immediately, yelled, and tried to lunge for his sword, but I stepped forward and brought the axe down on his back. He didn't move after that. The other swordsman was still recovering. He was trying to get his feet under him, but was wobbling around. I ran up to him and swung down onto his back as well. Not wanting to waste any time, I pulled it free and prepared to throw it with both hands over my head again, aiming for the remaining guards. I thought if I could hit one of the spearmen, Katsumi would get free. I threw it as hard as I could. It spun through the air, headed right for the center of the middle spearman's back.