Tired of Waiting

Chapter 9

Kristopher looked over at me with concern in his eyes. He unsheathed his sword and Greyson drew his bow and an arrow, sitting at the ready. We all were scanning the forest around us as a group of about seven men drew in around us, bearing swords and bows of their own.

"What is your business here in the woods?" asked a man near Kristopher. He had a deep gravelly voice, dark skin, and was built like an ox. Intimidating as he was, Kristopher stood his ground and sat taller upon Ebony.

Kristopher looked at the man and replied with a hint of authority, "We are travelling to the nearest village. We mean no harm and would appreciate it if we could continue."

The man, who I assumed was the leader of the gang, stepped closer to Kristopher and pointed the tip of his sword at his throat, "Well, pretty boy," he said with a sneer, "you can leave as soon as you hand over all your supplies and give us your horses." The men all around him smiled at us like a cats would a mouse.

Kristopher shook his head with little sadness in the gesture, "Sorry Muscles, but that's not exactly what I had in mind." Quick as lightning, Kristopher smacked the sword away from his neck and hit Muscles over the head with the pommel of his sword, resulting in him falling backwards, unconscious. The rest of Muscles' hoodlums closed in the distance between us and we were engaged in battle. I had two at my right slashing for Chestnut with their blades, and I looked over and saw Kristopher was battling three on foot now, as Greyson sat upon Stanley, shooting with precision over Kristopher's shoulder. I slashed at the men who both outweighed me by at least a hundred pounds.

I turned Chestnut around and charged at them with a roar. They both ducked out of the way and I took the opportunity to jump off Chestnut. I charged at the smaller of the two and jabbed my sword into his calf. He fell to the ground with a hiss of pain and I turned around and rose my sword to stab the larger one's thigh when my bicep exploded with pain. I glanced down and saw that my wound had split open once more and hissed out a curse. I looked up again and saw that my attacker had his sword raised about to crash down over my head. I closed my eyes preparing for the searing pain of a sword slicing through my scalp, when I heard the whiz of an arrow.

I looked up to find the attacker with an arrow protruding from his abdomen. Blood started to trickle down his shirt and I turned to see Greyson reaching for another arrow. Kristopher was in an intense battle with the last thug, and I jumped back onto Chestnut and ran to help Kristopher. I stabbed his side from behind and he fell to the ground, showing Kristopher with a smug smile on his face and sweat glistening on his forehead.

Kristopher's smile turned to concern as he noticed my bleeding arm. He had a few cuts of his own, the main one reaching from his shoulder to his lower ribs on the opposite side. Judging on how little blood was on his shirt, it appeared to be only a minor scratch. He walked over to my side and examined my wound. It had started to stop bleed but still stung. Seemingly satisfied that I wasn't in any immediate danger he smiled again and jumped up onto Ebony.

Greyson and Stanley trotted over to us and we all had smiles on our faces from our victory. Muscles groaned and we all looked as he rolled over. We all took that as a sign that we should leave.

We started into the forest again and Greyson said, "We shouldn't keep going through the woods anymore. You have been attacked by thieves twice now and are lucky to be alive still. You can't promise that you'll be as lucky ne-" he was cut off by the sound of an arrow flying through the air and I watched in horror as it plunged into his thigh. He screamed out in pain and tried to pull out the arrow as blood began to stain the surrounding area. Kristopher glanced back and saw that one of the thieves had shot the arrow, however it wasn't one that we had fought. He had run off when the battle began. Kristopher ran toward the attacker and dove his sword into the attacker's thigh. He screamed and fell to the ground. Kristopher ran to Greyson's side and looked at the wound.