Chapter 9

A week of travelling with these two children, and the One-Armed Man was really starting to get agitated. He had to stop every time they needed to take a piss, but for his goal, he needed them. His sword slammed into the ground, yet he needed to wait for another of their little piss breaks. While they were out of his site, he was scanning the area for any dangers, thugs or bandits to try and jump him. Wild animals wanting to rip his neck apart with their maws.

Yet, boredom is all the man got while he was waiting for them and heard their approach from the bathroom break. Pulling the sword from its stabbed spot in the ground, he turns towards the pair, soon aiming the weapon towards them.

“That’s enough piss breaks, you want to stop again, it’ll have to be at the next town!” He barked at them.

“But w-“ The boy tried to argue back, but was met with the sword slamming down next to him.

The One-Armed man was soon rushing forth and slamming his knee into his stomach. He fell down, eyes watering with tears from the sudden impact as the man drew his sword from where it had landed.

“Get off your ass and stop the crying.” He shouted, placing the sword against his right shoulder, that one piercing eye staring the boy down.

The boy’s sister moves towards him, moving him on his back while he cries and coughs a few times. They were now starting to see the cruelty of the One-Armed Man and what he is really capable of. Not wanting to get hurt, herself, she was trying to help her brother to his feet, to be able to keep walking.

“Come on, Narraoh, we need to keep moving.” The girl said to her brother.

He was rising with her, and leaning on her shoulder while she helped him walk with each step. They moved along, trudging behind the man as he leads them along to their destination. Where he leads them, the two are unaware of at this moment. But he knows there’s another port town on the island, one he had yet to destroy.

“Where… where are we going?” Narroah asks him.

The One-Armed Man just looks back towards the two, a snarl on his face at the sight of their weakness while one was being helped by the other. He rolled his eyes and looked forward, once more, to keep an eye out for any danger along the road.

Everything had been quite along the path, just the sounds of their footsteps as they travel between the trees of the forest. The path laid before them showed constant travel, yet there was no one else to be seen. This worried the children, as they found the quite bothersome and wanted to hear at least something. With another heavy footstep, the One-Armed man stopped at hearing the crackling of dried leaves below his feet. He gazed down and slid his foot back, revealing some rope that had been covered. A sneer on his face and he looks towards the trees to see if he can spot the trappers.

“Reveal yourselves, and I might let you live!” He shouted, yet he has no intentions of letting anyone live.

No movements from around them, and this enraged him, soon stabbing his large sword into the ground. The children gasped for air as they watched his movements and tried to find the ones that are hiding from their view. Still no one showed themselves, and he was starting to let his agitation show. As soon as one of the children screamed, he turned around, both of them gripped by their necks with knives to them, threatening the lives of the children.

A pair of men are seen holding the children, one of them being five feet and ten inches, the other is five feet and eight inches tall. They are covered in greenery, and looked to have taken on dirt, almost as if they had hidden themselves as the paths people walked on. Their faces are obscured by their hoods, as well as the masks that hide their mouths. The two of them would look menacing to anyone else that might be easily scared, but not the One-Armed Man.

“Alright boys, we gots hostages, comes outta hiding.” The taller one said.

As soon as he spoke, seven more men appeared, all of them disguised as various foliage along the road or parts of the ground. They all chuckled under their masks, and each of them varied in height.

“Heh, we gots a good o-” The shorter of the men paused, as he looked around to try and count. “’Ey, we’re missing one, boss.”

That’s when the One-Armed Man drew the sword from the ground, blood trickling off the blade as he slams the flat end against his shoulder, once more. He grinned as he noticed the blood and seemed to take joy in snuffing out another life in his journey.

“Oops, my blade must have slipped from my hand and stabbed him in his heart. But think of it this way, that’s one less grave you have to dig.” He stated towards the men.

Out of anger towards the one that killed one of his crew, the taller of the bandits presses his knife harder into Narroah’s neck, as the boy groaned, feeling blood starting to seep from his neck.

“Hey, you best be careful, if you try anything, we’ll kill these two.” The leader stated.

“And your point? You act as if I care what happens to these two children.” A harsh tone on his breath, as he seemed to be using the pair as bait, now.

“You should care, they’re your travelling companions, are they not?” The leader asks him.

“Oh, they might be with me, but I am not their guardian, they must fend for themselves. If they were so easily caught by you, then they deserve to die.” The One-Armed Man argued back.

With a sneer still on his hidden face, he nods towards the shorter one, and even he starts to press harder on the girl’s neck. They have a feeling that if both lives are being threatened, then maybe he would lay down his arms. Instead, before he could actually draw blood from her neck, the bandits would see the sword flying through the air. The shorter of the two primary bandits didn’t have the chance to react, as the sword flies through his skull, cleaving it in two and forcing him to drop to the ground. The girl fell with him and felt the weight of the corpse falling on top of her.

“Holy shit!” The leader shouted, dropping Narroah in that moment.

As soon as he hit the ground, Narroah reacted with a donkey kick right to the leader’s crotch, forcing him to fall down, hands covering where he had been hit. Narroah starts to help his sister lift the person that was on top of her. While the two move the corpse off her, the One-Armed Man was busy fighting off the bandits that surrounded them. He rushed for his sword as it was on the ground, where one of the bandits made It to the weapon, first.

“Can’t fight without this, now can y-“ As soon as he tried to lift the sword, the bandit was cut off.

When the man tried to lift the weapon, it felt like the weight of one thousand suns was weighing him down, yet the One-Armed Man could lift it with ease. As soon as he saw the man trying to lift it, the smirk was on his face and he rushed forth with a drop kick to the man’s head. On impact, the head exploded into pieces, shattering bits of skull and brain matter all over the place. He had picked up enough speed and with the full suit of armor, it made things worse.

“What the hell!” One of the bandits shouted.

Half of the remaining bandits were already starting to flee when the One-Armed Man lifted the blade off the ground. He spun around, the sword held out at an arm’s length as he tightened the grip on the blade.

“Gutless cowards!” He shouts.

As soon as the weapon was pulled forward a powerful gust of wind is felt. To those who were running, they didn’t see the slice towards the air, but they did feel it. Right at their torsos, their bodies started to split in half, leaving the upper half of their bodies falling to the ground, while the lower halves take two last steps and fall over. With only four bandits remaining, he decides to stab his sword into the ground, once more.

“There, that should even the odds a little bit more.” The One-Armed Man said.

The leader was still on the ground holding where he had been donkey kicked. This left only two of them standing, and the children were soon free from the corpse that was keeping the second in command down. Covered in the blood of the man that lied on top of her, the girl vomited on the ground, wiping it from her mouth shortly after.

As soon as the two of them had themselves back to the current situation, they were looking back towards the One-Armed Man. They couldn’t believe what he was asking them to do, now. Wolves were one thing, but to kill people, this was something completely different. They looked back to their enemies as they had their daggers and short sword drawn. They were short, just a little above four feet. And yet the eyes showed age, an age that would equal to that of adults in their thirties.

The Halfling duo soon tightened the grips on their weapons and rushed the children. Narroah, with his twin sickles, was soon moving to protect his sister as the Halfling with two daggers took the charge. He met the daggers with the handles of his own sickles, as soon as the daggers stabbed into the handles, Narroah was moving the blades of the sickles down. This is life or death, and his life is on the line. Once the blades of the sickles touched the man’s clavicle, he winced and pulled back.

That’s when the one with the sword rushed in, seeing his friend needing the assistance. His sword slash was met with the handle of the scythe blocking the attack. The impact vibrated the sword down to the man’s hand where he withdrew himself or tried to. The girl spun her weapon and slashed down on him, where it created a gash along his chest, forcing him to fall down to one knee.

The children already have the upper hand, and were now the ones rushing in. They took their steps forward, and yet didn’t know of the traps that were set down. As soon as they touched the dried leaves, the rope trap sprung, pulling them off the ground and hanging them upside down by a leg, each.

“Oh… seems someone has forgotten there was traps here.” One of the Halfling’s said, with overconfidence in his tone.

“Heh, seems we overestimated you two with those lucky shots.” The other said, sounding just as overconfident.

“Let us down from here!” Narroah shouted at them, his weapons having fallen to the ground.

“All right, I was going to beat the snot out of your leader and get some answers from him, but I can’t let this go on any longer.” The One-Armed Man said.

He approaches them, while dragging the leader of the bandits along with him, a bloodied and bruised face from just pounding the face in. He tosses the leader to the two remaining men, letting him roll along the ground and stop at their feet. Staring the Halflings down as he stood before them, now.

“Now tell me, where can I get a ship?” He asks them.

“You… you’ll need a port town, there’s one just down this path here.” One of the Halfling’s confessed to him in that moment.

The One-Armed Man nods his head and looks towards the children, moving their weapons out of the way. He pulls a dagger from his grieve and tosses it towards the rope, to release them from their bindings and fall back to the ground. His gaze soon shifted towards the remaining bandits, staring them down in that moment.

“Go on and tell the rest of the bandits what I look like. And inform them you were bested by the One-Armed Man.” He told them.

The eyes of the bandits widened and scrambled to their feet, knowing the man of infamy only leaves survivors when he needs witnesses. The children pulled themselves back to their feet and watches as the bandits ran off. They picked their weapons up, and soon looked towards the man that was watching over them. He looked down on them and was starting to walk in the direction of the town the bandit pointed them towards.

“Let’s get moving.” He said towards them.

The three of them were moving towards the town, with Narroah moving to approach the One-Armed Man. His one eye shifted down and stared towards Narroah when he approached him to look him in the eyes.

“What?” He barked down to Narroah.

“Well… it’s just… we’re going towards a new town, right? One you haven’t destroyed yet? I was just thinking… maybe Qarroag and me could go into town first, and then get a boat to meet you at a location.” He suggests.

“Absolutely not.” He said.

“But… we could do it and not a single person has to die. I mean, we’d need people alive to get a boat, right? And if it’s just the three of us, we can get a small boat, to get us where we need to go.” He retaliates.

“We need a big one, with a crew. If the children weren’t in that town, then they left on a ship full of fools.” He said back. “All right, but only you go inside, the girl stays with me. This is to ensure that you don’t try to betray me. You’ll have one hour to get a ship and meet us down at the beach to the west of the town.”

Narroah nods his head towards him and rushes on ahead. He moves towards the town and the One-Armed Man and Qarroag lost sight of him. He leads her down towards the beach that he had spoken of and stabs his sword into the ground, leaning against the metal weapon. He’d cross his arms, if he had two of them, but he only has the one, and used it to press against his chest.

“He better not take long, or you’re dead.” He spat towards Qarroag.

Time passes, and Qarroag was resting on the beach, drawing into the sand with her scythe, having been silent for a while. She even took the time to clean herself off, and the sun was starting to set. She was starting to worry that Narroah abandoned her with this monster. But just before the sun set, a ship was pulling up towards the beach, with a small dingy being rowed towards them.

“You got lucky, this time.” He said towards her.

As soon as the dingy rowed ashore, Narroah was soon waving them towards the boat, and the man slung his sword over his shoulder. He approaches them and sees the insignia on the ship, one that can only belong to the Privateers in these seas. He glared towards the men that were waiting on the dingy for him, and soon stood at the dingy, a foot resting on the dingy and still looking down at them.

“So why did you agree to help the kid.” He asked.

“Because he said he needed help finding some kidnapped children. If there are kids being held captive on the seas, then they’re being held by pirates. And us being pirates ourselves, sort of, we can’t stand undocumented pirates.” The Privateer answered.

The One-Armed Man just nodded and let Qarroag board the dingy, with himself giving it a light kick to send the dingy back towards the ship. He hops on to it, once it wasn’t ashore and let Privateers row back towards the ship. Finally, his plans are back in motion, and his hunt for the children, Gaslyrok and Jasfu, continues. He just needs to ensure Narroah and Qarroag are ready for the encounter, so that they can fight and weaken the children.