Gods and Guardians

Chapter 19: The Roads

Zola peered out of the window, and his heart warmed with tiny hope. Weapons materialized in the hands of the robbers. Three had advanced against Damian. One had a spiky ball hanging from a chain; one carried a lance; and one wielded a short curved sword. They advanced with the spiky ball on the right, the lance on the left, and the sword in the middle. Damian didn't let the whirling of the spiky ball distract him. His left hand was poised over his sword, still sheathed.

Damian faked a move towards the spiky ball and then withdrew. The attacker swung, aiming for Damian's head. Damian spun, caught the lance, and dragged the holder into the path of the spiky ball. As the spiky ball crushed the lance holder, Damian drew his sword and slashed the stomach of the spiky ball wielder. Finally, still holding the lance in his right hand, he thrust it into the heart of the man with the sword. All three fell the moment he stopped spinning, touching the ground at approximately the same time.

As Damian struck a new pose, Zola felt a surge of pride. The slayer of the riter. The leader wondered where this quiet killer had come from, but he didn't let his amazement show. Damian glared at him briefly, murder in his eyes. The leader understood the intensity behind those eyes and just smiled.

Someone with a medium-sized sword charged and engaged Damian. His attacks came rapidly and recklessly, fueled by a hunger for vengeance. Damian first amused himself by blocking and parrying, but his mercy wouldn't last for long.

Nimrod faced two opponents. Initially, he foiled their attacks with blocks and ducks, but soon a pattern emerged. Nimrod didn't get faster, but he perceived his opponents as moving slower. It was a moment of clarity. Nimrod stepped out of the line of their attacks with ease, his sword catching one attacker arcing towards his thigh. He turned it upwards and slit the man's throat with his own weapon. The second opponent paused impulsively, hearing the low groan of his dying companion, only to have his feet swept off the ground. As he fell, Nimrod flipped his own sword so it was tip-down and pinned the man to the ground. Nimrod rose quickly enough to blind a new opponent with his hair and delivered a kick that sent the opponent airborne.

The leader could see that Nimrod's movements were almost as deliberate as Damian's. Meanwhile, Damian picked up the lance of a fallen opponent, cartwheeled, and rotated it above his head and to his side, halting the two unlucky opponents who were facing him now. Damian retired the lance to his armpit and posed, waiting for their attack.

"Attack him, you fools!" ordered the leader.

Damian buried the bottom of the axe in one attacker's throat, causing the other's eyes to roll back. He hastened the first attacker's fall by sweeping his feet with the other end. Then he struck the second attacker on the head with a loud blow from the lance and buried the tip in the latter's stomach. Without wasting time, he vaulted with it and landed with a knee on the first man's neck.

He saw Nimrod stretch out an opponent with a deadly uppercut. Another wielding sickle-like knives appeared behind Damian. The leader coughed, as if to signal Damian, who then bobbed down and forward-rolled out of the attacker's reach. Damian rose with two scimitars and turned to face his attacker, brandishing his new set of weapons. He relaxed into an erect pose.

The distance between the two was now a couple of yards. The sickle man decided to utilize his impeccable throwing skill, and the sickle spun in a snaky line. Damian caught the sickle, rolling in one of his swords, and the thrower's eyes opened wide in surprise. Damian threw the limp sickle-knife back at the feet of its owner.

"Pick it up and fight," Damian commanded.

Nimrod dropped his sword and pummeled an opponent with a rain of punches. He made his opponent bleed from the nostrils and broke his lips. Excited now, Nimrod didn't mind whether the blood stained him or not. He finished with another uppercut and a spinning kick that threw the man away, leaving him stunned on his back.