The Forgotten King (Korin's Journal)

by Beam, Brian

  “What are we doing here?” I asked, unease filling me.

  Kait’ didn’t have to answer. Stepping out from behind thick trees ahead of us, a group of six men in mismatched leather armor gathered. Some held daggers, some held swords, and one had a bow with a feathered arrow nocked. Brigands.

  “Well, well, looks like we got company,” the forefront brigand called out in a twangy accent. Unlike the five men behind him, the bearded man wore studded leather armor, marking him as their leader. “I’m sure they won’t mind parting with their money.”

  My hand went to my sword, but Kait’ simply looked at me and shook her head. My hand involuntarily pulled away, the shaking of her head working as well as a spoken command.

  As the men approached, the leader gave Kait’ a lecherous glare. He whistled through the prominent gap between his front teeth. “Looks like we got some entertainment on our hands, too.” He stopped a few strides from where we stood, his men fanning out to either side. “It’ll be cold when we get those clothes off ya, hon’, but I promise we’ll warm ya back up.” He and his men broke into laughter.

  Kait’ gave the man a broad, sinister smile before turning to me, malice shining in her tilted eyes. “Attack them all.”

  Chapter 14

  Wasn’t One Enough?

  Drawing my shortsword, I prepared to rush into death. It’s not that I doubted my fighting abilities; it’s just that there were six of the brigands and only one of me. Kait’s casual posture was a strong indicator that I would be on my own during the fight. Nothing, not even the ellifil’s effects, could make me convince myself that I had a chance against six armed men alone. If this was how Kait’ and Eyebrows tested their new recruits, it was a miracle that any of them had survived, even after a successful implantation of one of the rocks.

  Kait’s teachings on how the rocks worked allowed me to hesitate before hurrying into battle. Without a timeline on the order, I wasn’t forced into an immediate attack. I knew I couldn’t run away, though. Whether I launched into an attack or not, these men were going to come after us. I’d been commanded to protect Kait’, so no matter what, I was in for an unbalanced fight.

  Knowing I had no real choice in fighting the men, I needed a plan of attack. I quickly assessed my situation. On their side, there were two men with swords, three with daggers, and one ready to send an arrow through me. On my side, there was just me with my decently sharp shortsword and a woman—one who had no intention of moving a muscle—wearing a malicious smile. My odds weren’t looking so good.

  “Looks like we got us a hero,” the leader laughed, spitting toward me through the gap in his teeth. He smoothed back his shaggy brown hair with one hand and pointed his sword at me. “Ya know, it’s rude to attack a man in his own home.” He gestured at the forest around him. “Men, teach him a lesson in manners so we can get to making the lass comfortable.” With that, four of his men charged at me.

  With my mind focused, I dropped into a crouch, feeling the wind from the bowman’s arrow as it sailed mere fingerbreadths over my head. The first man, a dagger in his dirty hand, closed the distance between us. Rising from my crouch, I used my momentum to greet him with an uppercut to his jaw.

  I twirled to catch a hook-nosed man’s sword with my own as it slashed down at me. The hook-nosed man threw a punch towards my face with his other hand, which I knocked away with a forearm. Bringing my forehead down into his face, I both heard and felt the cartilage in his nose snap. I’ll be calling him Hook Nose from this point on, though Broken Nose would’ve been a more fitting name after my attack.

  Being outnumbered six to one kind of makes the fighting styles my uncle taught me useless. When heavily outnumbered, you have to act without thinking. Instinct takes over, and you just go with the flow. Concerning yourself with multiple enemies doesn’t afford much time to strategize or coordinate attacks.

  Hook Nose’s sword dropped to the ground, and his hands flew to his bloodied nose. I stepped back and dropped into a defensive stance, sword at the ready. The first man was already recovered and slashed at me with his dagger. I barely deflected it with my sword, not noticing the burly man coming at my opposite side. The new attacker took advantage of my distraction and drove a fist into the side of my head. The ellifil kept me numbed from the pain of the punch, but blows to the head do more than just hurt.

  Staggering back, I swung my sword blindly, only parrying the burly man’s dagger by pure luck. While I fought to regain my balance from the dizzying blow to the head, another arrow zipped past me. The rest of the men were closing in, two of them skirting around to get behind me. If they were successful in surrounding me, I’d be dead in short order. I turned to escape to a more defensible position.

  Before I could retreat, a blood-curdling scream pierced the air, causing everyone to pause. I turned towards Kait’, who stood before the brigand leader, his body pinned to the ground by his own sword. His hand was clenched around the hilt, as if he’d stabbed himself. Unless my guess was wrong, one of Kait’s metal spheres was on the ground beneath him. His sword had likely been drawn to it, following a direct path through his body.

  Kait’s eyes flashed with dark amusement as the brigand leader struggled to pull the sword from his stomach. I could only imagine the pain of the sword tearing his insides as he futilely writhed on the ground to get away. Even after all I’d seen in the past month of my life, I found myself nauseated by the sight.

  Kait’s eyes rose to meet mine, a sickening smirk on her face. “Isn’t there something you should be doing?” My attention shot back to the four men trying to surround me. They were all stunned, staring at their fallen leader, unsure of what to do.

  The bowman, still a goodly distance away, was the first of the men to break from his stupor. He speedily released his next arrow, aiming at Kait’. Kait’s smile broadened as the arrow snapped off course and stabbed into the brigand leader’s chest instead, right where there was a metal stud in the armor. The brigand leader did not scream this time but gave a wincing grimace before going still. That stud had been right over his heart.

  “Now,” Kait’ announced loudly for everyone to hear, “I’m your new leader. Ten gold to the one who kills this man.” She raised a hand to point at me.

  The funny thing is, I actually felt like laughing. Not one of those “oh, Malki’s blood, I’m about to die” laughs, but an ellifil-induced, mirthful laugh, as if I were watching a comedic play acting out around me. I mean, who finds themselves as a slave following someone’s orders to fight at five-to-one odds against men who have been ordered by that same someone to kill them?

  Okay, maybe it wasn’t really funny, but the ellifil sure made it seem that way. At least the euphoric effects of the ellifil had waned enough for me to resist the urge to break into a fit of laughter.

  As the brigands closed in, the bowman nocking another arrow, I had a moment of clarity, most likely thanks to the drug coursing through me. I realized that the only way I was going to make it out of the situation alive was to surrender to the ellifil’s effects. Without it, pain and fear would cripple me to the point of succumbing to the brigands’ attack. With it, I had a chance at taking them on.

  My lack of fear and increased focus helped me recognize that I was most likely a more skilled fighter than any of the brigands. Brigands are not typically trained fighters. Their main skills lie in intimidation and a simple disregard for the lives of others. As long as I could keep them from all attacking at once, I’d have a strong advantage through sheer skill.

  Also to my advantage, due to Kait’s offer to pay the man who actually killed me, the brigands wouldn’t be working as a team. Brigands are not ones to share if they can help it. Each of these men would now only be looking out for themselves, concerned only with obtaining the gold for their own selfish reasons.

  Of course, I didn’t need the ellifil to come to these conclusions, but it did allow me to do so more quickly. All those thoughts hit me in the small handful of moments it took for t
he first dagger to come slashing towards my face.

  I didn’t bother to raise my sword and simply leaned back from the attack, using the momentum to spin around and dart further into the trees. Stomping footsteps crunched behind me, but I kept my eyes forward and sprinted as fast as I could away from them. An arrow flew a pace or two from its intended mark to my right. Still I pressed on, hoping to the gods that I was faster than at least two of the four men who were actively trying to catch up to me—I assumed the bowman would keep his distance, giving him the advantage of a steady shot, as opposed to trying to hit me while chasing me down.

  Finally, just as I started feeling that if I kept going, I’d be too tired to actually put up a fight, I stopped. Keeping a wide tree at my back to prevent being surrounded, I lowered my sword in a two-handed grip, ready to defend or attack as necessary.

  Now, this is why I’d hoped to greatly outrun at least half the men. It would give me time to prepare, and unless they were all running at the exact same speed, they wouldn’t be able to all reach me at once.

  Only one of the men, Hook Nose himself, was anywhere near me, and I was barely winded. Either these men were really out of shape, or my drugged body was supercharged with energy. Either way, I still had several moments to anticipate Hook Nose’s plan of attack. Given the clumsy overhead swing of his sword as he came upon my position, it was several moments more than I needed.

  I lazily lifted my sword horizontally above my head to parry his attack. Holding the hilt with both hands and tensing my arms, the impact was minimally jarring and allowed me to push upwards to slide his blade off to the side. I followed up with a side-swinging blow to Hook Nose’s head with the pommel of my sword. He dropped limply to the ground just in time for me to prepare for two dagger-wielding brigands who reached me at the same time.

  The first sliced diagonally towards me, while the second went for a side-armed stab towards my neck. With a simple spin around the base of the tree, I avoided both attacks. I turned to catch a second slash from the first brigand with my blade, my ellifil-enhanced concentration allowing me to spot the second brigand darting around the tree to come at my back. I threw my foot forward in a kick to the first man’s knee, knocking him off balance and giving me time to spin to meet my backstabbing attacker. I’ll just call him Backstabber.

  Backstabber hadn’t anticipated my quick reflexes and wasn’t prepared when I caught his wrist as he stabbed his dagger down at me. He also wasn’t prepared for the punch to his face from my sword hand. The ensuing nose-breaking crack was barely audible over his gurgling scream. His hand reflexively sprang open and went to his nose, dropping his dagger into the dead leaves blanketing the forest floor. As I twirled to meet my first attacker, I swept my foot out to kick the dagger away from where it landed, sending it further away under the leaves and making it nearly impossible for Backstabber to find it before I brought my attention back to him.

  The first brigand, still on his feet, charged at me with a guttural roar. He started slashing at me wildly, forcing me into a back-stepping retreat. Defending against a small weapon such as a dagger is just about impossible when the wielder is basically flailing the weapon around like a madman.

  In the periphery of my vision, I saw the fourth brigand nearing the fray, meaning that I had very little time to take care of the dagger-wielding attacker before me. Killing him was not an option in my mind but striking a nonlethal blow was.

  With the brigand’s careless assault leaving his defenses wide open, he was in no position to stop my sword from stabbing shallowly into his right shoulder. He let out a vicious snarl, releasing his dagger with an involuntary spasm of his hand. Chasus would’ve been disappointed with these brigands’ inability to hold on to their weapons, even if caused by a natural reaction to pain. I withdrew my blade and, as I had with Backstabber, quickly kicked away his dropped dagger.

  Then everything started to fall apart.

  My knees suddenly buckled, nearly taking me to the ground. Violent pain exploded behind my eyes and branched through my chest. Profound weakness and weariness seeped through every burning muscle in my body, forcing me to gasp in lungfuls of air due to my sudden windedness. I would later learn that heavy exertion is a good way to quickly flush ellifil from the body. At that moment, however, I was only learning that there wasn’t much of a comedown from the drug; one moment its effects were present, and the next, they simply weren’t. The toll of the physical exertion I’d put my body through, coupled with the head and chest pain caused by the rock, hit me all at once. My vision went white from the agony. I was able to feel fear again. And I felt a whole mess of it.

  Only the sound of crunching leaves gave me warning of Backstabber’s approach from behind, giving further credence to the moniker I’d given him. I started to turn to meet his attack but dizzily dropped to my knees instead. Backstabber’s fist, which had been aiming for my face, soared over my head, his forward momentum sending him tripping over me and taking us both to the ground, his body pinning my sword arm. Backstabber let out a scream of pain. It wasn’t until I felt the warmth of blood on my hand that I realized my sword had stabbed completely through his thigh. Backstabber rolled away, wrenching the sword from my hand.

  The fourth attacker, the burly brigand who’d punched me in the head earlier, finally arrived, looking ready to finish the fight as I lay unarmed on the ground. Murder smoldered in his eyes and glinted off his dagger. Just as the brigand reared back his arm to attack, luck reared its Thilis-blooded head. Thilis is the god of luck, by the way, and one I was sorely tempted to start worshipping after what happened next.

  The first attacker, the one whom I’d stabbed in the arm, apparently wasn’t going to let the late arrival get the gold for killing me. He tackled his fellow brigand to the ground—a remarkable feat given his injury—and wrestling for the dagger ensued.

  With the debilitating pain and weakness coursing through my body, I didn’t feel that I had the ability to do anything but lie in wait for whichever brigand won the chance to murder me. However, my arms started moving of their own accord, pushing me to my feet. My body was acting on Kait’s order to attack the brigands. The explosive pain in my head distracted me from using her earlier advice, and so all semblance of self-control fled my mind.

  Once to my feet, I looked down at Backstabber, who’d seemingly passed out. I hoped he was unconscious due to pain and not blood loss. If my sword had pierced an artery in his leg, he could’ve easily bled out enough to lose consciousness already and soon be dead.

  The rock’s magic didn’t allow me time to dwell on Backstabber’s fate. I turned to the tussle between the other two brigands. The brigand I’d stabbed was on the ground, the other straddling him and pummeling his face with his fists. I mechanically stumbled over to where they fought and punched the man doing the pummeling as hard as I could in the back of his head. He fell over, unconscious. The brigand he’d been beating muttered incoherently through a mouth full of blood and broken teeth, his face a bloody, ruined mess. He didn’t look as if he’d be getting up anytime soon.

  Before I could appreciate the fact that the four men who had come after me were all out of the fight, my legs started back towards the road. I couldn’t comprehend why until an arrow zipped past my face, close enough that the fletching sliced across my cheek. Kait’ had commanded me to attack all the brigands. I’d followed that order with the four men behind me. That still left the bowman and the brigand leader for me to attack. My legs were taking me towards them.

  My natural instincts for survival, coupled with my orders, sent me into a sprint towards the bowman. I could just barely make him out with my eyesight blurry from pain. Despite my pain and weakness, I darted side to side in an attempt to keep the bowman from having a clear shot at me. The next thing I knew, I was upon him.

  He let an arrow fly as I reached him. The arrow caught my cloak, twisting me to the side as it ripped through the cloth. Amazingly, I kept to my feet and reached out to grab his bow, my intenti
on being to rip the weapon away from him. Instead, the bow remained firmly grasped in one of his hands while his other cracked into my jaw, sending me reeling backwards onto my ass. The bowman already had another arrow nocked and aimed directly at me. He released the bowstring.

  My eyes squeezed shut, anticipating the feel of an arrow ripping through my body and ending my life. Instead, I heard a grunt followed by a soft thud and the crackle of dead leaves. I warily opened one eye and saw the bowman’s body lying on the ground, the arrow that had been meant for me jutting out from his chest. The man gasped for breath as he vainly tried to pull the arrow from his body.

  Kait’ stood behind the man, holding one of her spheres of metal in her outstretched hand. She’d apparently drawn the loosed arrow’s point towards it, keeping the bowman between the two.

  Rising to my feet, my legs took me to the downed bowman. I gave him a swift kick to his ribs as he lay there dying. It disgusted me to attack the dying man, but I was in too much pain to concentrate on doing anything but strictly follow Kait’s orders.

  While the bowman continued to choke and groan, I walked over to where the brigand leader lay dead and drove my foot into the side of his head. My task fulfilled, I let weakness and pain take over and collapsed to the ground. Tears ran down my cheeks from pain—both physical and emotional—and frustration. Though I felt like the men had gotten what they deserved given what they’d planned to do to Kait’, I was sickened that one of them was possibly dead by my own hand and by my complete lack of control in the situation.

  “Well done,” Kait’ lauded as she stepped up behind me.

  “Why?” I asked through clenched teeth.

  Kait’ stepped in front of me and crouched to meet my eyes. I would’ve given anything to punch the grin off her face. No matter how I’d been raised, I didn’t think I’d have any problem breaking Kait’s nose if the rock in my chest would’ve allowed me to.