Chapter 8:
The Barrister From Beyond
We spent nearly thirteen hours traveling; occasionally going so fast that I had to grab onto parts of the carriage in order to avoid falling. Amber, who had busied herself by looking out of the window and talking about the farming techniques employed by the locals whenever we passed through the countryside, had been asleep for the last four hours. Her breathing was a soft, steady rhythm, a stark contrast to the rattling of the coach.
Jaeger opened the partition slowly and peered in with his large, keen eyes. “We’ll be at Feldheim in about two hours, sir,” he rumbled.
“Sounds good,” I replied, nodding.
He shut the divider again, leaving me to my thoughts as the only sounds I could hear were the steady thud of the horses' hooves, the turning of the wheels on the dirt road, and the soft mumbling of Amber as she drooled all over the plush velvet cushions. The peace was palpable, almost hypnotic, after the long journey. I began to relax, thinking about the comfortable beds and warm meal that awaited us in the town.
Suddenly, the horses neighed so loudly that the noise seemed to tear through the quiet night, and the carriage came to an abrupt, violent halt, throwing Amber off her sofa with a muffled thud.
“Huh—” she grunted, instantly awake and disoriented.
I rushed over to the partition and opened it from the inside, looking outside to see that Jaeger wasn’t in his driver’s seat. My heart leaped into my throat. The sense of foreboding was immediate and chilling.
“Amber, Jaeger isn’t there anymore,” I cried out.
“What?” she rubbed her eyes, trying to get up from the floor, her expression shifting from sleepy confusion to alarm.
“Stay inside, I’m going to look,” I instructed, my voice tight with urgency. I opened the heavy carriage door and shut it behind me, stepping out into the cold night air.
The only light came from the carriage lamps underneath, casting eerie, dancing shadows. Wheatfields lay on each side of the path as far as the eye could see, a vast, whispering darkness. I walked up hesitantly to the front of the carriage, where I finally heard faint grunts and the distinct sounds of metal clashing just up ahead.
“Goddamn you robbers!” Jaeger’s voice roared. I saw his massive silhouette just ahead, picking up a person like a ragdoll and throwing him into the wheatfield. Three other men, whose descriptions I couldn’t make out in the gloom, surrounded him, trying to lunge at him with what appeared to be swords.
My feet froze for a second. My heart raced and cold sweat started dripping from my forehead, but I pushed myself to go towards the commotion. I couldn't stand by. I couldn't let someone else injure themselves, let alone die, for my sake or Amber's.
I rushed towards the fray, taking one of the armed men completely by surprise as I punched him from behind, a wild, desperate swing that connected squarely, knocking him to the ground. I immediately reached for his weapon, a heavy, ill-balanced sword, before being kicked hard in the chest by another armed robber standing right beside him.
“NO, SIRE, GET BACK—” Jaeger cried out, his voice laced with agony before his words drowned in his own scream as a robber managed to stab him from behind in his lower thigh. He grunted, a sound of profound pain, and fell heavily to the dirt. Jaeger, however, managed to block the next swing with his arm, taking a shallow cut but using the momentum to push the robber to the floor. I lay there, coughing the air back into my battered lungs, as the two equally battered men surrounded the two of us.
I tried getting back up on my feet, but a robber quickly slashed at me, his blade cutting a deep gash into my forearm as he expertly maintained his distance.
I let out a raw yell, clutching my arm. Blood streamed down, rendering it practically useless. The searing pain was a white-hot distraction.
A robber tried desperately to close the distance between Jaeger and himself, reaching for him with his sword, but my body moved on its own. With a surge of adrenaline, I clamped down on his exposed forearm with my teeth, tearing his flesh away. The coppery taste of metal and blood flooded my mouth before he punched me away violently.
I stumbled, trying to regain my balance, but just then, I felt a sharp, cold pain spread through my stomach—the chilling sensation of metal pressing against my insides.
“SIRE, NO—” Jaeger cried out from behind me, his voice hoarse, as he desperately tried crawling toward me despite his severe leg injury.
My vision turned blurry. I had lost all remaining strength and fell to my knees, but just for a second, Amber’s face flashed in my mind. My heart began to race, my blood boiled at the thought of what would come of her if I let these men get to her. I couldn't fail her now.
I wanted her to run away, to escape, but knowing her, she wouldn’t. I wanted to protect her and I needed her to be okay, so I gritted my teeth, grabbed the blade embedded in my stomach with my hand, and lunged at my robber. I hit his nose with the crown of my head, throwing him backward and momentarily disarming him.
The second robber tried swinging his sword at me, but Jaeger, even crippled, managed to grab him by the neck and pull him down. The Orc began to hit him on the head mercilessly, a desperate fury driving him, until a sickening crunch sealed the deal.
Only two robbers remained, but neither I nor Jaeger were left in any condition to fight. My vision was too blurry from blood loss, and I was losing blood far too fast. Jaeger was incapacitated, unable to walk at all. I dropped to my knees, leaning heavily on the ground, and looked up into the sky, praying Amber would run.
“I hope you got your justice,” I whispered, my voice a ragged gasp.
But just then, the two remaining robbers in front of us started to drop to the ground, their forms collapsing lifelessly. Behind them, Amber stood with her hand outstretched, a pure, intensely purple light emanating from her fingertips. Her face was set in a mask of fury and concentration.
“Amber,” were the last words I managed to speak before dropping completely to the floor, the world around me turning utterly black.
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