The Sword Maiden

Scratches and Capture

He reeled back, and for a moment I thought I saw hurt flicker in his eyes. Like someone you loved had crushed you. But it disappeared as quickly as my slap had come.

He didn't say anything, he just raised his sword and charged. I blocked and countered, fighting in blind rage. I was going to get out of this, and I was going to tell everyone I knew about the Ravager deception.

That's when it hit me. My danger was dumped on me and I felt my blood freeze in fear. Corban couldn't let me go, he couldn't let me live. He'd just told me one, in fact probably the greatest weapon the Ravager's had against us.

He was a much better swordsman than I.

I tried to back off, but of course he would not let me. I was trapped, and both he and I knew it. I was stuck trying to defend myself, and I knew I could only hold out for so long. I had no doubt that despite the fact we were childhood friends he would still kill.

His blows shook my sword. Sweat ran down my face, glistening in the firelight. His face was closed off to emotion, blank and seemingly uncaring.

My defense was becoming weaker and more sloppy. He pushed harder and I was forced to take a step back. I was cooked.

But I was also mad.

Really mad. I wanted to live. I wanted to tell my people of this deception.

So what did I do? I did something Derrek would have been proud of. The next time his strike came I reacted slow and let it get past my defense. But even as I did so I was already dodging his strike.

I threw myself at him.

Still not sure today why I did that, or thought that was a good idea. Even though we were about the same age he obviously was a lot stronger than me, and bigger. But I highly doubted he'd been trained for this particular type of warfare. I hadn't either, of course, but I wasn't going down with a fight.

I rammed my elbow into him, right into his neck. He went down with a garbled cry and I with him. Both of us let go of our swords.

Once on the ground I became a mad woman, seemingly having lost all sanity. My fingernails happened to be extra long, so I raked them across his face. Then I slapped him repeatedly.

He grabbed me but I reached over and bit his arm. He yanked it back with a yelp. I let out a wild screaming yell and raked him with my fingernails again. Blood welled up and dripped from the scratches.

Suddenly I was yanked up from behind and tossed aside. I brushed dirt out of my eyes as I tried to see what had happened. Could it be...

Yes it was! Father! He had his dagger pointed at Corban's neck. "So," he said coldly, "You're the traitor that brought this upon us." He grabbed Corban by his collar and yanked him up. Mother came out from behind a building. "There he is," she growled.

I scrabbled to my feet. "Father, he's not-"

I know today how he did it, but then I did not. Quick as a wink Corban moved. The next thing I knew Corban was holding a knife to my father's throat instead of the other way around.

Everyone froze. Corban's eyes glinted. "Everbody does what I say, or Mr. SwordCleaver dies." There was no doubt he would do what he said.

He jerked his head at mother. "Toss your weapons down."

Slowly mother dropped her sword.

Corban scowled. "Do you think I'm a young upstart? I know you've got knives. Throw them down." He pushed the dagger right up against father's throat.

Reluctantly mother reached inside her dress pocket and drew a short knife out. She dropped it. Then she reached down and drew out of her boot another knife and dropped it.

Safisfied, Corban jerked his head for mother to come to him and father. He then turned to me. "You come here."

Slowly I walked towards them. "You are all coming with me," Corban hissed. "And if any of you women try to run, he dies."

We nodded mutely, exchanging glances.

With that Corban turned around, dragging father with him. Mother and I followed meekly behind. I wanted to cry so badly. It was I who'd gotten us into this mess. If only I'd not listened to Derrek. If only I hadn't left the forest. If only....

But now was not the time for weeping. I straightened my back. Now was the time to look for a way to escape.

Mother touched my shoulder. "Derrek?" she mouthed, brown eyes filled with concern.

I smiled at her and mouthed back, "Safe." She smiled back.

As we walked I looked around the village that had been my home all my life. Many of the buildings were burning. Bodies lay littered everywhere, some of them still alive. More than half of them were Ravagers. We had not gone down without a fight.

But we were still conquered.

Up ahead Ravagers herded women and children, a few men, into wagons. It broke my heart. Women I recognized, women I knew, clung to their children, trying to shush their tears while their own poured down their faces at the losses of their wives and their sons. But the Ravagers showed no mercy, yelling at those that were too slow.

One of the Ravagers noticed Corban. "Hey Corban, what happened to ya? Ya face is bleedin'," he called out.

I bit my lip, working to fight back a chuckle. Was Corban going to admit that was caused by an angry woman's fingernails?

Evidently not. "None of your business," Corban snapped back. He shoved father forward and stuck the dagger in his belt. Since we were surrounded by Ravagers there was evidently no danger.

He gestured towards us. "Gerald, these are to be my personal slaves. They belong to no one else, and will serve no one else. So put them in a separate wagon. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," said Gerald a bit more respectfully, loosing some of his accent.

I ground my teeth. Just like that we went from equal to him to inferior. If he thought I was just going to serve him meekly, he had a whole other thing coming. A whole other thing coming.