Frozen Summer

Chapter 36

Dodging yet again another arrow, Richard rolled on the ground and laid down on his back behind a fallen tree. In his run he had lost sight of Konnor who at some point ran in another direction. A thick fog had settled and rendered evading even more complicated, their opponent obviously knew the terrain perfectly. " I need to find the boy again and then we need to reposition. " . He slowly peeked over his cover to look for either his ally or enemies, he saw something shine in the distance and instantly ducked back into cover, a second later he saw an arrowhead pierce the wood right next to his head. " There is a sort of liquid on it. Poison arrows ? Oh no .. ". Realising he had been grazed before by one of those arrows, he decided he had to move quickly before the poison took effect. " I need to find the kid as soon as possible ". His opponent was fast, smart and deadly accurate in his shots, every one of his moves could be the last. Richard unclipped his cape and threw it to the side while he started sprinting in the other direction, instantly an arrow came out of the fog and pierced it, he only had a few seconds before the enemy could draw another one. Running from tree to tree he was also trying to pinpoint the location of the ambusher but it seems they were moving from one branch to another.

" Konnor ! "

While running he kept on trying to find the young man, despite the fact he was almost invincible he knew this could be his downfall too. Dodging yet another projectile by sliding under a fallen tree, Richard sensed he was having trouble moving, the terrain was the same but each step felt harder and harder to make, as if he was moving in deep mud and his legs were made out of cotton. He took a rest against another tree, his vision was getting blurry, he suddenly was overcome by a nauseating sensation and puked his breakfast. " Dammit, where is the boy ? " .

" Homemade recipe "

The voice of an old man resonated through the forest. Richard started looking around for the person and noticed some faint movements coming from the top of a tree, the second he spotted it, a hooded figure started jumping from tree to tree. " I'm going to incapacitated soon, so my best defense is offense. " He started chasing after the shape, whoever they definitely knew their best chances were to remain out of range, trying to knock them down. Richard started throwing his knives at the man but a strong sensation of vertigo was starting to take over him and making him miss his target. Out of nowhere, the man started running on the ground but they were slower than Richard, his vision was almost completely gone, in a last attempt of desperation, Richard kneeled and focused his magic on his body, the ground around him started shaking, the leaves previously on the ground were now suspended in the air. He took a deep breath and released all the stored energy to launch at his ambusher to close the distance and tackle them to the ground. The two men rolled and wrestled on the ground for a few seconds, in a normal fight Richard would have had the upper hand but the effects of the poison were making him way weaker than usual, the old man had used his legs to push Richard away. At this point all he could do was cough heavily and try to remain conscious, what he saw next was the old man kneeling next to him and he heard his voice echoing like it was a dream.

" The poison will knock you out for a few hours. Stay away from here, you and your little friend. You won't find what you are looking for here, I will protect her sanctuary from all of you. "

Richard tried to speak but his mouth wouldn't move. " Her ? ". His last thought before he lost consciousness was of Isabella's. " I will find you ... "

" Richard ! Richaaaard ! "

Running through the forest, Konnor was still looking for his friend, the fog was making recognizing any landmark difficult, he was completely lost. He suddenly heard a sort of whistle through the air coming from behind. He turned around and got hit right in the chest by an arrow which bounced off, luckily his opponent had not realised that nothing could pierce his skin. Looking straight ahead, he spotted the old man looking at him from the top of the trees dumfounded by what he just witnessed. He started running to him and kept on getting hit by arrows until he reached the tree, with the accumulated momentum he shoulder bashed the tree hard enough and made it shake. The old man lost his footing but was agile enough to roll safely once on the ground, he barely had any time to stand up than the young man was already trying to tackle him back onto the ground. One had the strenght of youth, the other had the experience of his old age. The old man managed to dodge the first attack by ducking under a kick and tried countering by stabbing the leg with an arrow only for it to simply damage the fabric the young man's pants. He was now sure after seeing it upclose that this person's skin was impenetrable , having already incapacited the most dangerous one of the two, his current objective was to run away but the boy was not letting him out of his sight. Each of Konnor's hit were getting diverted by the old man's bow. He was getting more and more impatient the longer this fight lasted. The old man kept on running away and suddenly stopped, he started using his bow like a club to throw rocks and dirts at Konnor, once he got close enough, he blocked the incoming blow with his bow, used the boy's momentum against him and place his arm in a lock to throw him on the ground. He kept his right arm in a tight lock until the boy stopped struggling.