Limbo between Kings

Day 8 - The kindest in the forest

Steel clashed like thunder, the fight louder than a brewing storm. Silas was lightning, striking the earth and setting blaze to all that dared near him. He moved with a dexterity Olivia had never seen. She once read of swordsmen such as him, thinking the stories were only knights tales made to lure young boys to the craft.

How wrong she was.

Blood drenched the earth below him, a perfect circle of warning. His right hand clenched the dry dagger, wielded but not yet used. His sword proved more than enough to fend the four that attacked him at once. The fifth standing far off on his left.

The jokester's eyes stayed locked on Olivia, stalking her with his black orbs. If she ever sided with Silas, now would be the time. The deserters made him seem docile in comparison. Safe. He was a predictable evil, only following orders rather than acting from his own malice.

The glistening tip of Silas' sword flew towards the sky, blocking a sudden blow directed at his scalp. His wrists slid forward, circling the oncoming weapon and reflecting it to the ground. A single slice and there were only three left attacking him.

There was a beauty in it, the dance of swords. The accompanying blood splattering across the ground like rainfall, coating the dry dirt that drank thirstily from it.

Without warning, the largest of the men charged Silas. It was a sloppy movement, a high strike that gave plenty of time to parry. Silas slipped the sharp dagger upwards, into the man's throat, piercing out the back of his neck. A gurgle left the deserter's lips, pouring blood down his chin before collapsed to the now muddied ground.

The first strike that touched Silas was a slice across his face, tearing at the thin skin on his cheekbone. The sword equipped in his left hand extended over his shoulder to deflect a simultaneous assault from the short-statured leader, a coward that attacked from behind.

The battle absorbed Olivia's attention, her very life tied in the outcome of it.

"Hello, darling." A voice whispered behind her left side. She didn't need to look to recognize the tone of the large blonde man. The crude jokester. Lost in the battle, Olivia had neglected to keep watch of him.

Without time to think, Olivia bolted into the dense treeline. Fire filling her lungs, burning them with each step she forced forward. She pushed through the cluster of trees and hurled herself over fallen logs. The darkness of the forest screamed at her, warning her of the danger of losing Silas. But there were far too many of them for her to attempt to call out to him.

Distraction meant death.

Her healing thighs split beneath her borrowed clothes, streaming blood down her legs. Gods, they burned something fierce. All the trouble Silas went through to patch her wounds were undone, festering.

"Idiot," She panted between steps. How could she have been so stupid to scream out to them? To a group of men, cocks in hand, joking about the pleasures of women. Did she think them to be priests readied to save her?

"IDIOT!" She screamed at herself once more. She deserved anything that would happen now, for it was of her own design. She had been safe with Silas, or safer than she had ever been with Henry. Another monster of his own, but more like the one chasing her than he was to Silas.

Are all men the same? Olivia wondered, Driven by their cocks and egos.

The sleeve of her loose tunic caught a low branch, halting her as it ripped the material down her forearm. Yanking the fabric from the wood, she felt the weight of a thousand bricks slam into her spine. The wind left her lungs, the bones of her ribs splintering with the force of the barbarian slamming her body to the forest floor. Every attempt to inhale resulted in a violent cough, her vision dark around the edges as she struggled to regain herself.