“A challenge? Alright then…not like I have a choice,” Thalys said with a shrug, walking towards the parting line of soldiers. They encircled the two in a massive ring, leaving plenty of room for the two combatants. “I have to warn you, though. Don’t underestimate me for my size,” the nobleman said, drawing his sabers.
“Oh, I assure you…I know how powerful I am, and it is too much for you,” Jowl replied.
“Well, you’re obviously a modest one…” Thalys remarked sarcastically. Just then, the big man lifted his sword and went into a full-out charge. Thalys rolled his eyes and readied himself for a quick dodge.
At the proper time, the nobleman dived out of the way, but Jowl didn’t stop to change his momentum. Instead, he stopped and slashed his sword anyways, sending dirt in the air from the collision of dirt and blade.
Thalys turned to find a growling Jowl barreling through the dirt cloud. Thinking on his toes, he leaped aside once again. This time, however, Jowl extended his right arm, snatching dodging nobleman’s foot. Jowl heaved Thalys up in the air and slammed him against the ground, knocking all of the breath out of him. Not stopping, the commander dragged Thalys across the ground and flung him in the air.
Flipping around helplessly, Thalys tried desperately to stabilize himself and regain his breath. He hit the ground with a loud thud. Grumbling, the resilient Thalys stood to his feet, taking in gasps of air.
“Why is it I keep getting beat up by all these weird people…?” he mumbled between breaths. Once he could breath properly again, he looked up to find Jowl waiting on him. Shaking off the pain, Thalys readied his sabers only to find that he had dropped them when he had his breath knocked out of him.
On came Jowl again, and the frantic Thalys looked around desperately for a way to avoid the oncoming attack. He suddenly remembered that he still had the two long swords on his back, and he drew them quickly. Just as Jowl swung down with his great sword, Thalys jumped to the left side, holding his two long swords in an X formation to absorb the sure-to-come attack.
Just as expected, Jowl redirected his blade and came across with a horizontal sweep. Twin long swords connected with the single great sword in a loud clang. Suddenly, the long swords both snapped about the midpoint, and Thalys fell backwards to avoid the flying shards.
Tossing his now useless blades aside, Thalys scrambled to all fours and crawled right between Jowl’s legs. The commander spun around to strike out, but Thalys was on his toes by then, sprinting towards his sabers. Hardly caring, Jowl lifted his great sword in one hand and hurled it at the fleeing nobleman. Hearing the whistling sound in the air, Thalys felt like turning to see what was going on, but instinct told him to keep running. A blade swiftly sank into the bottom of Thalys’ flowing cape, slamming into the ground hard and close-lining the nobleman. He leaped to his feet and turned to see a great sword sticking out of the ground, his cape pinned underneath. Yanking with all his might, Thalys still failed to release the sword. Jowl, however, gently plucked it from the ground, causing the jerking Thalys to fall head over heels. Persistent, Thalys rolled backwards, somehow avoiding Jowl’s downward chop, and came up beside his favored sabers. He quickly picked them up and grinned.
“You’re going to have to do more than charge if you plan to beat me. I know you movements now,” Thalys warned, spinning his blades comfortably in his hands.
“Do not worry, little rich boy, I can do much more than run with a sword,” Jowl responded.
With that, the commander gave a surprisingly quick horizontal sweep of his great sword, that of which Thalys ducked under easily. Moving much too quick for his size, Jowl snapped his gauntlet arm back and launched it forward. He stopped his fist short, to Thalys’ relief, but then an extremely powerful blast of neutral energy slammed into Thalys, sending him flying backwards a good twenty feet. He barreled through the party crowd of soldiers and skidded to a stop some yards out of the ring. He looked at his right saber and thanked it quietly. Had it not been for the saber’s power absorption abilities, the blast would have killed him. His feeling of luck quickly ended as he saw Jowl casually walking towards him.
With a heavy sigh, Thalys sheathed his blades and brushed off his pants. “Am I ever going to win a difficult fight?” he complained to himself.
Seeing the nobleman’s intentions, Jowl quickened his pace to intercept Thalys before he could flee. As usual, Thalys proved the quicker. Clapping his hands, Thalys produced a huge orb of darkness over himself and Jowl. Leaping out of the orb in the direction of the hills, he spun around and created a burst of shining light to blind all who started to pursue him.
Laughing, Thalys spun around again and darted into the hills.
“Get him! Don’t let him escape!” Jowl roared, storming out of the orb of darkness after Thalys.
“They would start chasing me…stupid soldiers…stupid big guy,” Thalys complained to himself as he ran through the rock covered hillside. With his faster pace, it would be no time before he’d outrun the slower men.
**********
Faux was at the end of his patience by now. The three had been traveling all day, and still no sign of food for them.
“Do not worry, Faux, I can see the river from here…we’re almost to civilization,” Kara said, noticing Faux’s grim expression.
“Oh joy! I’m hungry, not thirsty…” Faux replied.
“Yes, but there is bound to be a city in this area if there is a river,” Kara countered.
“That may not be the case,” Ezekiel added in.
“What do you mean?” Kara asked.
“This river is the Deldose. Very few populate around it because of the danger it presents in this particular area. You see, this area should be near the deepest part of the river, and who knows what could be lurking in there?” Ezekiel explained.
“It doesn’t matter…I just want food!” Faux grumbled.
“I think you’ll have your wish,” Kara said, a smile forming on her face.
“What? What is it?” Faux asked, turning towards the river that was coming into view.
Just in sight, a boat was docked at a small station. It was of fair size with one large sail and a small one in front. Along the side of it were intricate markings which made little sense to Kara or Ezekiel, but it meant a lot to Faux.