Act 6

In that same spot, the masked man glues his blade tighter to Barnaby’s throat. It begins to drip blood as the black steel rubs against its delicate skin. At this moment, Barnaby is becoming conscious enough to realise he is being captive, as Ron is seriously desperate to the point he is certain to tear the scroll apart simply to get this over with.

But as the forest is silent, an arrow flies.

It sings.

By then, the arrow penetrates as the mask breaks on impact. The masked man immediately falls on the spot, dead.

One

Before their senses registered, another masked man lies on the ground with an arrow on his chest, and a pool of red spreads throughout the darkened soil as the other lay beside, adding more to their number of losses.

Two

Mortified, One of the masked hastily knocks her bow to shoot back, yet another arrow hissed and bursts her mask to shatter, revealing a puncture wound. With a loud scream, she falls to the floor clutching onto her bleeding face. In seconds of her death, it becomes clear that the arrows are meant for both of them and her own life.

Three

Ron throws the scroll near Barnaby as he grabs his axes again. The leader notices and runs toward him but Ron almost lands a killing blow. Her arms shake violently with the effort of standing upright as she stumbles forward a few steps from her great parry before regaining her composure. Ron taunts them with a fierce shout as if to distract their attention away from Barnaby and the godsent 'ally'. The leader takes small steps backward, their stance pales at the sight of such anger directed toward them. She slowly lowers her stance again, as though harsh energy made it into her both palms.

She breathes deeply, calming herself. “Take him out.” She commands.

With a coordinated assault, one closing in behind Ron’s back, Ron catches him at the last moment and turns, slashing wildly before he manages to escape their entrapment. Without a second more spent the leader appears in his sight as he quickly parries her strike back whilst hitting her stomach. It is not enough to take her down but it makes her stagger. Another raises his blade and makes their offence. With the help of covering arrows, Ron dodges the blade, swings down and knocks his weapon right out of the man's hand. The masked man retreats backwards onto the ground as another one closes in.

Ron charges at the closest one, pushing the man upward and holding him at bay while simultaneously using his other axe to chop the previous man before throwing him at a great distance. The third comes up behind again attempting a great stab with a concealed knife, however, the archer had predicted his movement as she makes another dealing shot.

Four, I’m getting rusty..

They keep Ron in a circle, awaiting further opportunity to kill yet their gazes fixed upon a distance with immense dread, seeking where the arrow would come. They clench themselves stiffly, but the one who holds her blade firm is none other than the leader herself. She stands up quickly, as though something has snapped inside her. She takes off her stance, letting her frustration take control trying to reach Barnaby as leverage.

Raging like a wild boar, Ron swings and strikes gashes of wounds to them, his untamed and primitive form prevents even the most cautious from moving a single step closer to Barnaby.

With their assault hindered by the dangerous missiles each time, one of the masked moves away from the group with intense spite. His footsteps rustle throughout the forest, as he after the archer's life..

..Her eyes would seek another victim, as she draws her newly acquainted bow in a serene, motionless-like performance. Her arm leads as she aims at the masked man, She releases her arrow as its string retracts with a raw, sharp sound.

Indifferent to whom it murders, it whistles the tunes of a marksman.

Five!

Ron takes the advantage and reaches the leader, yet they realise and soon both masked men lunge forward simultaneously, grabbing hold of his arms in a locking grip. He struggles against each hold desperately, but the clutch that tightens him is too strong even for the resilient Northman to break free. His body goes limp as he kneels yet still, he refuses to cease fighting. One man stands beside him and starts punching his face while another holds him to his knees.

He tries everything in his power to escape, but they hold fast awaiting for their leader to slay him. Just as she approaches Ron, an arrow lands a killing shot on one of the masked men, which frees Ron to shove the other as he grabs his axe to swing at the Leader..

Six

..Awakened from his painful slumber, Barnaby notices the disarray and quickly rises, ready to strike their leader as he keeps his dagger close, when suddenly a hand grabs him from behind, forcing him to turn around and receive a full knock-out from a hammer. His breath leaves his lungs as he loses his balance, crashing onto the forest floor.

The man stands above him, a dark grin decorates his mask. He bends down and places his foot on top of him. As he holds the scroll to his face, he speaks in his muffled voice,

"This isn't your cause."

He grabs Barnaby's dagger and raises it to strike down as an execution..

..With precise accuracy, the archer shoots her arrow into the man's rib, sprawling him with great pain.

Barnaby quickly grabs his dagger and parries the man's hammer hard to his side as he dodges him in swift agility, and before the man can reach him he punctures the dagger again. The man keeps his momentum but again misses his mark, Barnaby’s movements seemed to have been so timely that he was almost impossible to strike. Yet each thrust was like bolts of lethal lightning that left holes across the man’s flesh until he eventually bleeds out of his remaining life.

Running to where the other masked man was holding Ron down moments before, he witnesses that Ron had already been bound to the ground and that one of his axes has been dropped, not far from him.

He tries to run towards him, yet catches the leader who is wounded by Ron’s blow. She looks exhausted, yet full intent on finishing him. Barnaby takes his slim chance and rushes towards her instead, only for one of the masked to grab him and send him crashing into the dirt once more..

…

..Whilst Ron managed to land a wound on her, he took an almost fatal thrust of her blade. They hold themselves onto their stinging slices. With their limbs sore and their body aches from awful bruises and fatigue, both of them take a pause and exchange silencing gazes.

She stands sluggish, blood trickles down from her wounded chest and arms, she grips her blade strong and begins accelerating towards him..

..With her aim in its most true, the archer had positioned herself pristinely on a clear line of sight to shoot her point blank. She takes in every stride with her eyes and then releases her arrow in perfection.

Yet as it flies straight approaching the leader, a masked man shoves her away whilst holding one of the empire guard's shields, covering them from it.

The masked man turns to his leader, uttering a plea for her to escape. Despite her unacceptance, she flees away whilst the man tries to take a quick kill at Ron..

..Already knocking another arrow, she takes an immediate shot at the man, taking his life instead.

Seven..

…

..Struggling as the man holds his neck upward and reaches for the scroll around his waist, Barnaby outcries, "No!"

He doesn't answer. Instead, he pulls him up once again, this time throwing Barnaby across the ground.

Breathless, Barnaby tries to scramble away from the man yet again the man grabs and holds him upright to a tree. As he pulls his blade and points towards Barnaby's guts, an arrow embedded into the man's throat, cutting off it halfway just above his lungs.

The masked man gasps in shock and starts convulsing. Blood spurts out of his mask and stings Barnaby's cheeks. With the man's life leaving his body, the rest of his head slumps forward until it lies on Barb's shoulder, to which reveals Mila at a distance.

“Eight."

She calmly walks through the bushes.

Easing his trembling, Barnaby lets the man down as he looks at him, then back to Mila—who is standing by with her dirty clothes and mud smeared on her face, alongside her unchained wrist still iron-cuffed from when he found her. His eyes widened as he discovered a bow and a quiver resting around her back. Still catching his breath, he stammers his inquiry to her, "Did you.. do..?"

She says nothing and looks over the lying scroll that has fallen beside the dead masked. She picks it up, giving it back to Barnaby so he can finally hold it once more.

After all that has happened, Barnaby finds himself lost for words. yet just before he reaches for the scroll, is a sound of abrupt footsteps approaching him,

Ron immediately takes the scroll by surprise and grabs Barnaby by the collar. As he holds the scroll with hatred, he mutters with an intimidating tone.

"What the devil you have yourself into?!"