Assassin's Creed: Valiance

III: Not Quite Knights

Rayford's reins unleashed snap after snap as he tried to get his horse to go faster, even though he knew it was at it's limit. It was actually getting slower, having finally tired.

He pulled back on his reins and his horse came to a full stop. He looked back to gauge the distance that the thieves needed to cover.

He then turned his horse around and broke into a gallop, this time he let his horse go slower so it wouldn't give up on him. With him going towards the thieves, their distance was being closed almost instantaneously. He unsheathed his longsword as they began to reach him, trying not to fall off his horse as he wrapped his hands around the sword's grip tightly.

The thieves turned the corner and were caught off guard by Rayford coming towards them. One tried to draw his sword quickly, but as Rayford's horse ran by theirs, a single swing was all Rayford needed to bring down one of his foes.

He used one hand to pull the reins back again and the horse came to a complete stop. He faced the remaining 4 enemies as they stopped and turned with their own weapons drawn.

"Just surrender! And I'll make it quick!" The leader jeered. All four of them got off their horses and began to walk slowly towards Rayford.

"I cant!" Rayford replied bitterly as he got off his own horse. He got into a stance and pointed his longsword at them. "There's someone I have to return to." He still had the promise he made to Michael that needed fulfilling. The moon began to illuminate the path that he and his foes shared, if he defeated these thieves, he could reach Naples again by midnight.

He let out a slow exhale as he began to focus, waiting for a single movement to occur. When it happened, two of them rushed right at him. He crashed his blade with one, sending sparks flying and the second one tried to exploit his opening, but he shot a leg back and his foot met their stomach, knocking them back as they fell.

He quickly pushed against the blade and got a quick punch to connect as he went back and created some more space, he couldn't be kept occupied deflecting this one sword.

He got some attacks of his own as he sliced some flesh of the opponent who fell, hitting his main arm and causing him to drop his weapon, Rayford quickly stepped on the weapon to prevent them from recovering it and the thief promptly retreated.

He picked up the sword he took and threw it directly at them, hitting them in the chest. He then ran up and pulled it out while they still stood up and with another swing, he put them down for good.

He saw one of the thieves coming behind him with a dagger. Thinking quick, he blocked it and then brought a knee to their gut, quickly following up by grabbing their head and slamming it against a tree multiple times until there was a spot that was completely red. Dropping them on the floor, they failed to get up, and he made quick work of thrusting his sword into them.

Footsteps alerted them and he barely dodged to the side as a dagger went into the tree. He tried to elbow them but they weaved under it and grappled him as he pushed him into the tree.

His head hit the trunk hard, he continued elbowing them wherever he could but they merely took the blows as they began to pull the dagger out of the bark it was encased in. When it was out, Rayford pushed harder, trying to break out of the hold he was in.

The dagger went into the bark again, cutting into his side, but avoided going into him. He pushed back once more and grabbed the knife himself, turning around as they swung a fist at him, Rayford dodged under it and used his momentum to fiercely stab the dagger into them. He then stabbed him a couple more times before leaving it in him and kicking him to the ground.

All that was left was the leader, but he once again began to run. "COWARD!" Rayford yelled out as he got on his horse and chased after them. When he caught up to him, he carefully stood on his horse's back until it was next to the thief. He then jumped and tackled them off their own horse. They hit the ground hard as they tumbled and rolled, leaving huge dust clouds around them.