by M E Wolf
The wagon made deep welts in the regular road meaning that it was fairly heavy laden. Its cargo was most likely too heavy for three men of average strength to take everything, so these men were probably after gold or something to do with money. As Jacob was looking in the direction of the wagon he saw someone scurrying out from the back of it. He wondered if the bandits had noticed this as well. By now the bandits were on the wagon, but Jacob could not see what they were doing.
Out of the corner of his eye Jacob could see something moving towards him. He did not have to see them well to know that it was the person from the wagon. They were stumbling, tripping and stepping on and over twigs, branches and whatever else was in the forest. A lot of noise was made as the twigs cracked and branches snapped into the one running quickly through the forest. Jacob could also hear the bandits far behind this person in hot pursuit. Turning to face this person he could tell that she was about fifteen years old.
She had chestnut brown hair with a hint of scarlet in a few highlights and eyes of sapphire. On seeing him she stopped and her face turned white with fright thinking that Jacob was one of her pursuers. Looking back at her pursuers and then to Jacob she darted passed him. Moments later he heard what must be her falling into one of his many pits that he had scattered about the area. When the noise of the girl had stopped the three men abruptly stopped in front of Jacob.
The leader stepped forward, obviously cautious of Jacob’s towering height and spoke some unkind words,
“I don’t know who you are, but we will not be stopped from getting that girl. We have worked long and hard at the planning of this . . .”
The leader paused for a moment to catch his breath from the long chase.
“This caper, job or whatever and it will not be stopped by the likes of even you when we are almost done. You will let us pass or we will kill you on the spot.”
The tone of the man’s voice at his last statement told Jacob that he had never killed anyone before. It was the likely reason that they decided to stop to talk to him in the first place. An experienced group of bandits would have killed him on the spot and not given him the choice of stepping aside first. There was also evidence in their demeanor that they were intimidated by Jacob’s height of seven feet and three inches.
“What has she done to you?” Jacob said while standing his ground, and placing his right hand on his dagger.
“She has witnessed us robbing that wagon. We don’t leave any witnesses when we do a job. Of course that means that we are going to kill you too. Boys! Surround this fool. We are going to have some fun killing you, ah. Wild man!” The leader of the bandits chuckled as both of his men went on either side of Jacob.
The leader of the bandits unsheathed his short sword at the same time that Jacob unsheathed his dagger. Brandishing daggers and short swords each, the other two bandits engaged Jacob in melee. Jacob continued to dodge and parry their blows as they continuously hacked and thrusted with an unusual style that was amateurish at best. While Jacob was being kept busy from both flanks, the leader of the bandits lunged in for the kill.
Jacob stepped back just before the leader of the bandits would have made his killing blow. The leader of the bandits, not being very experienced, was not able to stop before being impaled by the other two bandits’ weapons. He died with a look of bewilderment on his face. Raising his bone dagger Jacob took advantage of the confusion as he plunged it through one of the ears of the bandit on his right.
Before he could get his dagger free, the last bandit slashed him across the chest with his short sword and stabbed him in the left thigh with his dagger. His chest pained him as though the bandit’s short sword had cut through his rib cage. The cut was deep and blood oozed from the wound. A dagger was still stuck in his left thigh and it took most of his strength to rid himself of it. Jacob remembered that he was about to remove his own dagger from one of the bandits’ skulls, but it was not in the skull nor was it in his hand.
Where was it and what had happened to the bandit that had probably killed him? Was he dead? He looked around for his dagger and found that it was thrust into one of the bandits’ chests. Jacob saw the fifteen year-old girl pulling it out of the bandit’s chest, and then he passed out.
CHAPTER FORTY FIVE
Delaigda was uncomfortable riding her horse into town receiving looks and whistles from questionable men on the street. She was still naked and needed some clothing and food. Hoping that she would not have to do something demeaning to get it, she reined in her horse and tied him to a post in front of what looked like a tavern.
Sliding off of the horse in a way that the men around the tavern would not see anything, she walked into the tavern avoiding the eyes of the men staring at her. Upon entering the tavern, she got many looks from waitresses and bar patrons. These looks were more due to her height than her nakedness. It was uncommon in these parts for a woman to be as tall as six feet and four inches. Most women were, on average, about five feet and three inches tall.
She dwarfed all women and most men, at least the men that frequented this tavern. Delaigda had no money, no clothes, no food, no drink and needed a way to get it, soon. Just as she reached the bar, a man about her size entered. At first she thought nothing of it, but in the end his attentions were on her. It appeared that he did not like it when a woman’s head was held higher than his. Naturally, he was about a head shorter than she was.
So, even sitting on the bar stool made her taller than him. No matter how she stood or sat she would always be taller than him and so he made the mistake of challenging her. Everyone placed his or her bets on the man, of course. He was known by everyone as the great fighter and never lost a bout. Winning all of his fifty bouts killing his opponent. Today, or in a few moments, he would fight his last and fifty-first bout.
Losing to a woman would be the only thing remembered about him. The man’s name was Gordon, forever remembered as the first of many men defeated by Delaigda. Gordon chose his stance, a forward stance that gave his opponent less to hit. His right foot forward with the knee bent at a ninety-degree angle and his left foot back and to the left. It was a loose stance that had won him many battles before.
Being a veteran of war was in his favour in this fight or at least it should have given him a better chance to defeat Delaigda. All bets that were for him should have won, but for one thing. Delaigda was not from this world. The crowd that gathered to watch the fight protested that, if Gordon was going to use his twin diamond edged short swords with their dragon bone hilts then Delaigda should be given a weapon. Gordon figured that she could not use any weapons and thus granted the request.
She would have beaten him, even if she did not use any weapons. Of course, Gordon chose the weapon. He thought that he was being smart by letting her use a very heavy great battle-axe that weighed more than seventy pounds. A weapon that he had always had trouble wielding, but was mystified when Delaigda hefted the weapon with ease. He now knew that she was not a normal woman. Delaigda watched her opponent to see if she could find a weakness in his stance and his armour. She could tell that he was wearing a chain mail shirt beneath a thickly padded leather vest.
It also appeared to have bamboo strips across the leather to give the wearer more protection from slashing blows, while making it weak against piercing blows. She would have had a better chance getting through this armour with a dagger than the current weapon that was chosen for her, if not for its shear weight. The great battle-axe would be able to cleave through everything, even the chain mail shirt, but Delaigda wanted these things for herself. So, she did not want to do this.
Gordon was only wearing leather leggings, leather boots, iron greaves and a chain mail coif on the rest of his body. Delaigda decided that the best ways to defeat him were to either cut off his head or arms. She was still naked, but that would prove to be to her advantage. The tavern was not what she was used to and disputes were usually not handled this way. Before the fight started, Gordon and Delaigda were escorted dow
n a long flight of stairs to a ring in a back room.
If she had not seen it with her own eyes she would not have believed it. The room with the ring was big and she estimated that it could hold at least ten thousand spectators. Today, it looked empty even though there were so many spectators that arrived within moments of the declared fight. Delaigda figured that there were about three thousand spectators. The ring was arena style with dirt for a floor and a width and length of at least three hundred feet. Delaigda stood about seventy five feet from the center and about one hundred and fifty feet from Gordon.
Both had to wait for the trumpet to be blown. She had never been to a gladiatorial death bout and it made her laugh that her first bout would be without clothing and the fact that she was a participant. Despite all of her misgivings, she felt ready. If she were not ready, this would be her last moment as a warrior. The crowd roared as the sound of the trumpet was heard across the arena. Delaigda was nervous.
Gordon looked over confident as he quickly made his way towards Delaigda. Delaigda stayed where she was examining Gordon’s every movement. The odds were against her if she listened to the way the crowd chanted and cheered at every step of the proud Gordon walking towards her. She knew that he had plans of tormenting her before he finally killed her. Delaigda planned to live and to do that she had to stay focused. When asked if she would like to bet on her self at three hundred to one odds, she declined since she had no money to her name.
It was hard to stomach when she overheard a group of men betting on how she would die as to what type of deathblow she would receive. The prize happened to be her dead body, which disgusted her. As she came out of her reverie, one of Gordon’s short swords went down in an arc. She was barely able to step back from the slash, but it did not get her out of danger. The short sword cut an inch into her left breast just outside the aureole on the outside of her breast. Blood seeped from the new wound and the crowd went wild. Clenching her teeth, Delaigda brought up the great battleaxe to parry the other short sword.
While Delaigda’s great battle-axe was entangled with one of Gordon’s short swords. Gordon thrust his other short sword, which was still damp with blood, below Delaigda’s collar bone near her left shoulder all the way to the hilt just missing her heart and arteries but she still bled a lot from the wound. More blood spewed from Delaigda’s body covering her left breast and the left side of her torso. She was in pain at the hands of this butcher and her left arm was practically useless. Blood was everywhere and the short sword was still lodged in her body.
It was as though Gordon was using all of his strength to retrieve his short sword, but it would just cause her pain until the bone snapped that the short sword was caught on. In his frantic retrieval of his sword, Delaigda’s great battle-axe became free. The only weapon that could have severed a limb with its weight alone was the one that Delaigda was now wielding. If only she could lift its heavy weight high enough, she did not have the time because eventually she would lose enough blood to make her too weak to fight.
Once Gordon retrieved his short sword, she would be finished. Mustering up as much strength as she could, Delaigda swung the great battle-axe up high above Gordon’s outstretched arm. The blade of the axe came down hard on his arm severing it at the elbow. Gordon screamed in pain and staggered back. His blood sprayed everywhere and covered the ground between him and Delaigda. She was now covered from head to toe in his blood.
Cheers, chants and hurrahs rang out from the now boisterous crowd. A few yelled out for her to finish him, a few yelled out for him to finish her and a few fights broke out in the crowd. Arena security could not contain the crowd and soon the supporters of Gordon were outnumbered and their cries for him to finish her were drowned out by the cries for her to finish him.
The moneychangers were frantic, since there was no one that had initially bet for her to win. It was a common rule that if there were no bets on the winner, all betting proceeds went to that winner. Hearing the crowd cheering for her gave her strength. Gordon had lost a lot of blood and was still losing a tremendous amount of blood. Delaigda had long since dropped the great battle-axe and was now trying to pull the short sword from her body, while dodging most of Gordon’s slashes and thrusts. Despite his apparent loss of blood, he fought with vigor and skill unmatched by any of her previous opponents.
Delaigda was wounded numerous times before she finally removed the short sword from her body. Her legs, arms and upper torso were nicked every few seconds. She was bleeding profusely and knew that she could not survive if she took anymore of Gordon’s attacks. With the short sword free and in her right hand she stood a better chance of defeating this seemingly unbeatable opponent, after-all he only had his left arm and his right arm was still spewing blood.
Her winning strategy could prove fatal for herself, if her timing was off. She had to wait for him to do a thrust and lunge at him at exactly the same time. Delaigda’s left arm was numb and the bleeding had stopped shortly after she pulled the sword out of the left side of her chest. Every time Gordon shifted his feet, moving his left foot towards the rear away from Delaigda, he would lunge forward. Just as Gordon began his lunge after shifting his feet, Delaigda lunged forward wincing as Gordon’s short sword was thrust into her abdominal cavity above her right hipbone just below the ribs. Delaigda’s short sword was thrust through Gordon’s heart.
Delaigda could not hear the crowd’s cheers nor see the fear in Gordon’s eyes as he died from her thrust to his heart. Everything was a haze as tears and blood clouded her vision. She did not feel the hands that gently picked her up and carried her off and out of the arena, but knew that she was in some way moving. The sword was removed from her side and her wounds mended, but she passed out before they had finished.
CHAPTER FORTY SIX
Thorinjian needed to find some clothes. The basics would have to be stolen because no matter what amount of money he may have had on him, Thorinjian still needed clothing to enter a shop to purchase anything. It was a good thing that he had the ability to turn invisible, thus he could easily take the clothing he needed from anywhere. Having five men’s essences inside him was strange, but at least they knew the area and could tell him what shops to go in and what amount of money the item was really worth.
They had also gotten him out of the tunnels and into the light of the city. It was a grand city and it was much larger than the place that he came from. The shops would not be open for a few hours and he was not tired at all. One of the men inside him, Kurt, informed him of an alleyway that would have some decent clothing on a line that could probably fit him. Guided by Kurt, Thorinjian finally made it to the clothesline in question. It had various types of garments on it.
He took a sleeveless tunic and a short pair of trousers, but he would have to go bare foot, but that bothered him not one bit. The only thing that was open at this time of about four in the morning, a couple hours before dawn and the new day, was a tavern that was only known by its reputation. Impressions gotten from those inside his skull showed that those reputations were not good. Charles had relayed to Thorinjian what had been said to happen in the tavern, which was named Goblin Carcass because of what had happened one evening long ago.
A hundred years back or so goblins came to claim the land. No one understood the goblins, but figured that the tavern had been built on what was said to be goblin land. This incident happened a few nights after the tavern was built. Many had died goblin and human alike. Not even the worst thieves would go there now, so the patrons consisted of those hunting goblins and those that were the worst type of low life that you would find anywhere. Thorinjian had not eaten for more than two days and desperately needed some nourishment.
CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN
The’d’r made it to the city or town called Heroes of the Shield with his brother Gr'g'r, who was named after their great grandfather who had wrote the book so long ago, just in time to see a death match between two gladiators. The strange thing about it was one of them was
a woman. He asked an event official why he had a woman in the bout and was told that she was challenged for killing many other challengers in other bouts similar to this one.
She was not favoured to win any of the other bouts just as she was not favoured to win this one. Her name was Delaigda. He was told that she had already won more than twenty sanctioned death matches, but everyone including the official figured that this would be her last bout. The’d’r was not sure who would win this bout even though the betting odds were lower for Delaigda. The other man was known as Garth “The Lion” Joba.
It was said that he liked to dismember his opponent in the death match and keep them alive till he took off all of their limbs. Garth appeared to have a large two-handed double-edged sword. Much detail could not be discerned from The’d’r’s position up in the stands. Every once in a while someone would stand up in a lower seat and block his already limited view.
He had no idea of what constituted proper attire for this type of event and could not tell the difference from a hauberk or a set of greaves and only knew enough to say that Garth was lightly armoured and Delaigda was moderately armoured. Her weapons were sheathed so they looked no larger than daggers to him, at least from where he sat anyway.
Him and his brother each ordered a mug of ale just as the death match between the two combatants was being announced and missed what was being said ’cause of the loud cheers and him having to order their drinks by shouting. The’d’r put his money on Delaigda considering she paid out ten to one. Those odds were good odds to him because Garth only paid out three to one.
His brother complained that he was putting too much money on the girl and should have bet that Garth would win, at least he did not mind when he had only spent one hundred platinum pieces on her. This match was like any other duel that she had had to fight. Garth had challenged her to a death match after he had found out that it was her that had killed his brother Gordon.