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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerulean_Wings" data-source="post: 3964932" data-attributes="member: 55060">Chapter 3 Blood on the roadVincent and Gilliam had traveled for three days on the road, the only one made for reaching the city of Seawall, situated at the coast. It was the safest way to travel, but that didn't mean that it was devoid of any dangers, since only the section closest to the port city were patrolled by guards. From that point and on, travelers were on their own in the wilderness. At first, they walked through grasslands, almost completely flat, filled with wild animals everywhere. Thankfully, none decided to attack the duo as of yet. Not that Gilliam or Vincent wouldn't be able to handle them, but neither man felt like adding unnecessary struggles to their trip. As they approached a fourth day of traveling, the flat terrain was transforming into hills, and the abundant grass was disappearing progressively. For the most part, both bodyguard and squire kept their conversations to a minimum, only engaging in small, trivial talk every now and then, when it was necessary. Vincent, out of fear of being assaulted with another moral dilemma from the ex-guard, and Gilliam... he simply didn't feel like conversing. However, an exception was made as they stopped momentarily for Vincent to re-adjust his backpack, which had a broken leather strap due to all the weight he was carrying, and the elf bent down to fix the inconvenience. “Do you know what's in the wooden case?”.Vincent looked up curiously at Gilliam. “You mean the scroll, the one for the hermit?”.“The one and only”.The squire stopped trying to make a knot out of the broken strap and stared at the backpack for a moment. “I know it's a message for the hermit, no more”.“And who's this hermit? What connection does your House have with him?” he asked as he stood next to Vincent, checking the surrounding area as he did.“I must admit I'm not sure; in all of my history lessons, I've only found out that this hermit has helped my House, but the transcripts are vague on the matter”.Gilliam sighed, as if he had expected as much from the squire of House Kashtar. “Is there anything that you actually know about the hermit, then? Where he lives, why we are traveling all the way to his house, in the middle of nowhere, or even what we are going to give him?”.Vincent was looking through his pack for a rope while he replied. “I'm afraid... that no, I don't have an answer for those questions. The hermit resides in a shack close to the Rainbow River, that's what I know” he looked up once again to look at his bodyguard “Why didn't you ask your employer about this matter, if you wanted to know?”.“Because my contract didn't involve me knowing more than what was necessary”.“Have you considered 'bending' the contract, every now and then, so that you may better understand your mission?”.Gilliam looked amused by this. “When I start bending the contract, that's usually followed by my employer doing the same – when we are discussing the matter of my payment”.“Oh” Vincent nodded and returned his attention to the backpack. He had found the rope, now he needed to cut it and tie the straps together.Both men remained silent then, Vincent giving the finishing touches to his backpack while Gilliam continued to observe the countryside. It was a peaceful afternoon, with clouds forming on the horizon, radiating a variety of colors, from gray to orange, and from purple to pink. The mercenary broke the silence, all of a sudden. “Good Gods, man, you've got no information on the matter, and you're obviously carrying out an important task!” he said, frustrated at his companion's lack of care.“Important? How so?” replied Vincent, still looking down, focused on the task at hand.Gilliam let out an angry breath and began to slowly pace around the crouching elf. “You were not given specifics on what exactly you're taking to this hermit, whoever he is. If you're captured and interrogated, you won't be able to tell a thing”.“Since you can't tell anyone about it, it's the safest way to carry this message in the wooden case you have, because you couldn't betray the contents of the scroll even if you wanted to, since you're in the dark about the whole damned thing”.Vincent merely kept tying the straps tightly with the piece of rope, and Gilliam practically wanted to scream at the squire. “I trust my House, Gilliam” he said, at length. Gilliam stopped pacing and stopped to glance sideways at Vincent.The mercenary mumbled something that Vincent couldn't hear, but he could guess it had to do with his loyalty to House Kashtar.“In any case, since you know the land better, have you heard of any Barbarians in these hills?” Gilliam asked, changing the subject.Vincent was done fixing the strap; he checked to make sure it would hold. “No, since they're only seen in the Gray Spears, the mountain range to the north. That's what I've learned from the historians of Seawall during my lessons”.“Is that so?” Gilliam turned to face the land to the side of the road. “Then I think I'm going to have a talk with your history teacher when we get back to Seawall, since current evidence proves otherwise”.Confused, Vincent looked up at Gilliam, then at the direction the warrior was facing. A trio of humanoids, Barbarians, judging by the way the savage way they dressed, were approaching them at a swift pace, trotting on the hills to the side of the road, from the north. “Maybe they're exploring” was Vincent's suggestion.“Or maybe they're here to slit our throats and drink our blood. Stay on your guard” Gilliam replied as he subconsciously checked his equipment to make sure it was battle-ready. His swords were in their respective scabbards, and his leather belt held exactly ten throwing knives.He didn't have to say any more to convince the other warrior. Vincent understood the potential threat and stood up, hoisting his backpack over his shoulder, and it seemed as if his earlier work had been successful at repairing the strap. He placed a hand on his back, grasping the spear's shaft firmly, feeling it's solid wood for reassurance. His iron shield had to be re-adjusted to his right arm, as he displaced it while he was busy with the backpack. Vincent didn't have to confirm if his heavy metallic armor was ready for a potential battle: it was always with him, like a second skin, only taken off when going to sleep.    The three Barbarians were now at fifty feet from them, and all of them had weapons in hand. One was an orc who he had a battle axe. His companion, a human, was carrying a trident along with a leathered wooden shield. The last one, a half-orc, looked no less impressive with his two hand axes, one held firmly in each hand.At twenty feet they stopped, and the half-orc took a step forward to speak. “You” he pointed at Gilliam and Vincent “Where you go?” he asked, his words and pronunciation way off, but clear enough for the duo to understand well enough.Vincent was about to respond when Gilliam placed an outstretched arm in front of his chest and whispered “Let me handle this”.Taking a step forward, like the half-orc did, Gilliam responded “We go to adventure. No more”.The orc growled something in the tongue of the Barbarians, and while neither Gilliam nor Vincent could guess what he had said, his companions understood it well enough, and the half-orc pressed the matter. “You, eh, go to hermit?”. Vincent stuttered something incomprehensible. Gilliam's mouth hung open a couple of inches, a trickle of cold sweat crawling down his neck meanwhile.“How do you-” Vincent began to say, with Gilliam trying to cut him off, but it was too late. The half-orc understood the meaning of the response well enough, and yelled one word in his native tongue. The command was very likely tied to the lives of Gilliam and Vincent, for the three Barbarians howled with abandon and charged forward, weapons at the ready.“Wait for them with your spear!” commanded Gilliam in a low voice. The mercenary drew his two swords in one smooth maneuver at the same time and looked to the side to see if Vincent was holding his spear as he had instructed. The sight of the young squire charging forward greeted him, instead, and Gilliam cursed under his breath.The clash of weapon upon weapon resounded in the otherwise quiet afternoon, as Vincent's spearhead was parried by the half-orcs axe. His other hand axe was ready for a strike, and it was through sheer luck that the elf brought the shield up in time to prevent his head from being split in two. Shield or no, Vincent felt the force of the impact, and he could tell that the Barbarian was quite strong, maybe even stronger than him. He probably had more battle experience, too, and that certainly didn't help him with his survival. Seeing that his companion was about to be flanked (and subsequently brutally murdered), Gilliam had to dash forward and reach the other two foes before they reached the squire. The bodyguard managed to go around Vincent and the half-orc just as the other two were about to reach them. In a second, he was forced to fend off the horizontal blade from the battleaxe with his left sword, followed by parrying and deflecting the trident's head away from his body with the right one. The half-orc screamed like a wild beast, shaking Vincent somewhat, but the warrior steeled himself and forced his mind to stay still, like he had been taught to do in his sparring sessions countless times. Attacking his opponent with no strategy in mind would only lead to his early demise, Vincent realized, lifting his shield-arm once more to block an axehead from impacting his arm. He used the opportunity to take a step back and stab forwards with his spear, aiming for the half-orc's groin. At the last second, the second handaxe came down upon the spear, and the weapon went off its intended course, missing the half-orc entirely.“He's good” Vincent admitted under his breath.Gilliam was somehow faring better off than the elf. He whirled around the two Barbarians, moving his swords around in sharp angles, changing directions in the last moment, attempting to create an opening. So far, the opportunity hadn't presented itself, but neither had the two brutes managed to land a hit on the evasive mercenary.“Come on, you big oafs, why don't you run me through already?!” he taunted, banging the flat of his blades together to increase the effectiveness of the insult.Predictably so, both human and orc shouted in fury, letting go of their attempts to surround Gilliam and going straight for the man. That was the biggest mistake of their lives. Gilliam was running away from them, but he pivoted and slashed diagonally with one sword, forcing the orc to stop an inch short of the extended blade. The human, confident in his skills, jumped high in the air as he pulled the trident back in order to add momentum to the attack. Smiling like a maniac, he fell upon the seemingly unprepared mercenary, and stabbed forwards with full-force. His trident met only air. And his stomach was greeted by Gilliam's second bastard sword, running him through, with the end of the blade jutting out of the man's back. Gilliam kicked the dying man's body to retract the sword quickly, and he was able to pull the blade free in an instant. “One down. How are you faring, Vincent?” Gilliam asked quickly as he observed his remaining opponent, the orc that no longer looked confident of an easy win.The response came in the form of a cry of agony, distracting Gilliam for a second. He looked over and saw the half-orc scoring a solid hit on the squire's shoulder, biting deep through the metallic shoulder, cutting skin at the best, bone at the worst. It didn't seem like he would recover quickly enough to prevent the additional axe from dealing the killing blow, and Gilliam thought of running for his companion's aid for that instant. His intent and his life were almost cleaved in two by the orc's battle axe as it forced the mercenary to raise both swords in an “x” to defend from the attack. The distraction had almost cost him dearly and he had to forget about Vincent for the time being. The squire would survive, Gilliam told himself, and decided to leave Vincent's fate be. As he struggled with the orc to push the weapons forward and prevent the other's from falling on his head, Gilliam had the rare chance to admire the orc's weapon quality: it looked like it was bought from a blacksmith, rather than crudely fashioned. “How in the Hell's did they get these?” he wondered out loud.If the Barbarian understood his words, no one could tell, but he did notice Gilliam's attention fading for an instant, long enough for the orc to gain the edge on the struggle and push down with all his might, yelling all the while. Gilliam's simply strength wasn't enough, and he had to twist his body to the side in order to preserve his head intact. The edge of the weapon cut through the links of his chain shirt, however, making Gilliam feel a searing agony by his chest.Gilliam finished the evasive jump and performed another one for good measure, to keep some distance between himself and his opponent. The orc's weapon was now thinly coated in blood, his blood, and he used the chance to look at the wound. It didn't seem serious, even if it broke a section of the armor, but it didn't feel quite right at the same time. He could still fight, but he doubted that he could take more hits like that and remain in the same condition,From behind, he could hear Vincent's voice, yelling something that he couldn't quite make out in the heat of the battle, not that he really intended to so anyway. One distraction was more than enough for one battle, Gilliam told himself. There was also the sick sound of metal piercing live flesh a couple of feet behind him and hoped it wasn't the squire's body that had suffered the assault. By now, the orc had changed his fighting stance and decided to approach the mercenary with greater care. Instead of charging, he trotted and started coming from the left, axe held to his side with both hands, gaining momentum for the attack. Gilliam opted to meet him from the opposite direction, both swords held low on the right side of his body.When they were about to clash, the orc shifted directions, side-stepping to the right swiftly and changed the angle of his weapon to strike diagonally. But Gilliam was far from surprised, for he had seen the feint coming. He met the orc's axe with his two blades, sandwiching it in-between, and twisted on the spot to drive them out of the Barbarian's hands. The orc held steady to the axe's shaft, but while he had  rescued his weapon from being tossed away, that action cost him his balance, making it impossible to avoid Gilliam's twin swords. The bastard blades cut him in the forearm and in one of his legs, both wounds starting to bleed profusely. But the orc rejected the notion of defeat against any odds and he slashed at Gilliam one more time, only to find out that he wasn't standing up anymore. Gilliam had crouched low right after his attack and came from below with one sword, stabbing the savage orc's throat, ending his life.Gilliam was about to clean his blades as he usually did after a battle, when he recalled Vincent's predicament. He spun in a half-circle and couldn't believe his eyes. Vincent's spear was laying on the floor right next to his body, laying face-up on the ground horizontally. He wasn't moving“Vincent!” Gilliam screamed, running after the squire and dropping his weapons in the process, forgetting all caution.He bent on one knee and shook him by the collar bone with his hands “Vincent! Answer me, say something!”The squire's mouth opened and he mumbled something.“What?” Gilliam shook him once again and placed his ear right next to the squire's mouth to hear better.“Gi-Gilliam...” Vincent called, sounding weak and distant.“I'm here Vincent, I'm by your side. I know you're strong, I know you can make it with me to the hermit and back” Gilliam reassured him, shaking him some more as he did, trying to drag him back to this world. “Could you please...” added the weakened elf.“Anything, my friend. For you... anything”.There was a moment of absolute silence in which it seemed to Gilliam that the world had stopped as he waited for the dying man's request.“... stop shaking me around? My head hurts”.Gilliam stopped the movement and dropped Vincent's upper torso altogether, which fell to the ground and made the squire grunt.“You- you aren't dying!” Gilliam accused, standing up with a jump, perplexed and relieved at the same time.“Of course not. I killed the Barbarian and fell back, hitting my head and practically blacking out in doing so” he replied weakly, trying to get up as he did. The movement brought him pain, making Vincent grasp his injured shoulder. The mercenary felt slightly silly at hearing the explanation  “Oh” he looked to the side and saw the half-orc's corpse, which was 'resting' in a weird position, one of his axes stuck on his head.  “You killed him...”.“With his own axe, yeah” Vincent groaned, still in pain, but managed to sit up “I dropped my spear after he cut me on the shoulder, but I was able to snatch his weapon and use it against him”. He looked towards the Barbarian's corpse as well “I didn't know they had such fine quality weaponry, truth to be told”.“They don't” replied Gilliam, his tone serious. Vincent looked up from his seat. “But, you just saw them-”.“Use the weapons? Yes, but what I'm saying here is that they are not their own. Someone provided them with the axes and trident”.“They could've stolen them”.“And then going after the two lone travelers who happened to be journeying to see a hermit?” Gilliam shot back.Vincent could only stare at the bodyguard, unable to to formulate a better theory. The Barbarians had been sent to kill them.</blockquote>

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