Dark Age Adventures

Second Chapter

''We need him in order to succeed. He is familiar with the area, and his swordsmanship is exceptional.''

Vedhas turned to the dark queen, who was standing about ten meters away from him. He took a deep breath before speaking. 

''Queen Maya, hereby I propose a duel. If my party emerges victorious we will receive your servants' services.''

''His name is Jim, and fine. But! If I win, I want you. The prince. No strings attached. Maybe I'll experiment on you.''

Maya chuckled at the thought, and nodded, A knight stepped forward from the group of formally dressed royalty. The knights name was Mohan, or so I heard. His armor, bright white of color, offered protection to the wearer to nearly every part of his body. He calmly drew his sword. I sighed, knowing that this would be a difficult battle to say the least. Not even bothering with armor, I waved the suggested pieces off. From a small collection of weapons I chose a katana. As I picked it up, I felt the way the weight of the weapon and the distribution of it. I gently put down the rapier I still had in its cover at my side. The blade of my newly acquired sword was, although not as broad as a normal sword, thicker than my rapier. The handguard was next to non-existent, but I didn't mind. The pack of people I stood in between split apart.

Before long the whole world seemed to be faded from my mind, the opponent being the only thing I saw. He took a deep breath and stared at me.

Without giving him the time to analyze me I ran towards him, weapon loosely held in my left hand. Closing the distance between us in a matter of seconds, I barely had any time to inspect him either. I struck his sword with mine, the sharp blade being only a hair away from his concentrated face. He pushed my sword back and started a counter-attack.

In a rhythmic, almost mesmerizing flurry of swings and stabs I almost lost in. Internally panicking at the amount of force put behind each attack, I had to change strategy. Instead of trying to block every swing I started moving back. Every move he executed made his sword came closer to my face. I saw him take a single step back. Immediately I jumped forward. And then I realized it. He took a step to the side before swinging his weapon at me. With my current momentum I couldn't possibly dodge it. An ice cold pain was all I felt when the white blade cut through my skin. The wound was far from fatal, but my entire cheek and lower face was covered in blood soon after anyway. Before he could engage me directly again I took the lead and started attacking him. I felt his defensive stance absorb nearly all of the energy that I put behind my attacks. Nearly, but not all. I kept advancing while furiously chaining swing after swing, my sword in an iron grip in my right hand. Just as he was about to block another I passed my weapon from the right hand to my left, and did it with so much speed that my opponent found himself unable to adjust his swords' position before I struck him. The long blade smashed into his side, causing sounds of bones breaking to echo through his armor. He screamed in agony, holding the protected yet pain-filled area with his left hand. But he kept going. Surprised and unsettled by the strength that remained in his attacks, I held up my sword. The moment I put my katana up to deflect his sword it was already broken. Only escaping direct injury by a hair I saw the entire blade shatter, leaving me defenseless apart from the handle that I held. A small piece of the blade had remained in place, and as it reflected I realized this was not going to be the end.

I evaded his attacks, and saw him become visibly exhausted by both his wound as well as by the weight of his armor. I spat out some blood that had gotten into my mouth, And inhaled before charging at him. I simply dived at Mohan, tackling him. He gasped, followed by a groan in pain. Right before I could hold my broken yet sharp weapon to his neck I felt a soft poke in my stomach. His left hand held a small dagger that he had hidden until now. I got up, and although I had the upper hand I dropped my weapon.

I helped him up, and bowed down to the clapping audience. With the power that had not yet left me, I started talking. ''See here, your victor! Knight Mohan has bested me in a fair duel, and as promised I will now grant you your request.'' Mohan took off his helmet and sheathed his sword once he got up with Jim's help.

Before turning towards my new leaders, I dared to look at my queen once more. I saw her smiling, and knowing that I hadn't disappoint my true queen I felt a confident face take place over the exhausted one.

A small group of mages and such quickly surrounded me and started almost pushing me to a white round tent. Once inside one of them started brewing some sort of potion, while the others looked at all the wounds I had from the fight. Within minutes they had restored most of face, and the scar that ran across my cheek to right on my nose was barely visible at all anymore. Apart from chanting spells and recipes there was another speaker. A well-dressed man explained me the objectives of my future journey, and told me all about the problems that went along with it.

''I am just going to fill you in real quick. I am prince Vedhas, but you will only use prince or leader. If you just call me Vedhas, or anything informal, I will personally make sure you suffer. Now, on to the expedition ahead. We have got to move. Sightings of dark mages and necromancers were confirmed to be true. We want to travel through the mountains in the east, if we are to make sure they don't become a threat. You will not separate yourself from the group at any cost. You will only engage whoever we tell you to. Got all of this?''

''Alright Prince Vedhas, let's do this!''

The prince leaves the tent, and soon after I get guided outside as well. Before I can make any remark about the fight I get handcuffed. The metal chains fit tightly around my wrists, and the cold feeling as it touches my skin gives me goosebumps.

I sigh, and follow the person who cuffed me into another tent. It is blandly decorated with only a few pieces of furniture. Already longing to be back home with my true queen Maya, I sit down on the hard wooden bench.

The person that led me into the room takes off its helmet, revealing the long brown hair under it.

''Sorry about those,'' She says, pointing at the chains. ''didn't really want you to do anything stupid already. Not my choice though, so don't look at me if you want them off.

Oh sorry! I totally forgot! My name's Kam, nice to meet you. You did really well in that fight.''

I took a deep breath before responding.

''Thanks. I'm Jim, as you already know. I assume you are my guard for the time being.

If you don't mind me asking, what is your weapon of choice?''