The Golden Circle (on hold)

Chapter 3

Arman froze in silence as he heard the frigthtening voice leap out from the dark bushes.  The sound of the horses was coming closer but his ears became numb to them after he heard  those words.

"Make another move and I promise you, you will regret it." Said the voice again.

The voice was that of man, an older gentlemen or at least one with an aging vocal fold.

The man slowly walked out from where he hid behind in a small bush a few steps from where they  were. He took his time getting out and walking towards Arman and his daughter.

Emily stood motionless, she saw the look on her father's face, it was one she had not seen before and would never forget after that night. Arman's face  was covered in sweat yet so pale at the same time, as if he was experiencing a heat wave and a freeze  simultaneously.

The sound of the horses drew closer, the voices of the men riding them became more noticeable and it was just a matter of moments before they would arrive.

 The tree and bush filled forest seemed to have betrayed Arman that night. He contemplated running but in one direction there was the men on the horses, in another one stood the man they had encountered, the third direction had the figure that was watching them earlier, and finally the last direction was dead end that led to a river.

The man from the bushes finally came in at a close enough a distance for them to get a good look at him, he was at least six feet tall, dressed in torn bloodstained clothing along with damaged armor. Half of his face was covered in his dirty blonde hair and his mouth was hard to distinguish because of his thick beard. He had a couple of scars on his face and looked like he had not washed himself in weeks.

 Arman looked at his daughter in disbelief, he really believed he would at least get her past Galespear, or at least keep her safe through the night.  But in any case he never imagined they would be in this predicament . He knew the man with the beard was some outlaw, and In Kameras everyone knew what outlaws did. They were raiders of villages, particularly the weaker and smaller ones. They killed the men of those villages and took in the women as their personal sex slaves.

Arman at that point knew it was over, but he was not about to go out without a fight especially in front of his daughter.

 He clenched his fists slowly to avoid being noticed, it's as if his body took over his brain at that moment. Arman had no idea as to what he was planning to do but did'nt seem to care, anything at that point seemed better than nothing. 

The man stepped a few inches closer and at this point one was a couple of  steps away from  Emily. Emily then started to slowly proceed towards her dad before she heard a sudden noise.

"What do you think you are doing young lady?"  said the man.

He then made an attempt to grab her. It was at that split second when Arman knew he had to react. The thought of that outlaw laying his hands on boiled Arman's brain with anger.  The whole lead up to that point felt like as if time had slowed down for Arman, and yet when the outlaw made an attempt to grab Emily, Arman suddenly felt a jolt of urgency. 

Arman took a deep breath and immediately lodged toward the man who was about to grab his young daughter. The man saw this and immediately started to withdraw his sword from his left holding socket.

"Emily run!"  Shouted Arman as he was just about to collide on to the stranger with his full weight for the impact.

It happened very fast but Arman managed to propel himself onto the stranger before the man completely drew his sword out. Arman opened out his arms and used them to clench on the outlaw before they both hit the ground. Arman however, had his head hit the man's elbow during the impact and that caused him to become unconscious. 

Emily heard her father's warning and managed to run off in time before the stranger untangled from her father and  got back on his feet.

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It had been almost half an hour since Arman went unconscious before he started to wake up. His brain had no recollection of any of what just occurred. He eyes quenched to gaze up at what was in front of him. At first it was blurry, but the more he looked the more it had appeared to be the look of faces staring at him.

It was faces that were staring at Arman alright, several faces stared at him that moment. Seven to be exact.  Arman was tied up to a tree by those outlaws. He was still in the same location where the altercation happened.

 The blow to Arman's head gave him a minor concussion. He immediatly sensed a pain when he moved his neck to get a better look at the faces infron of him.

"Where am I, who are you." Asked Arman as he battled the severe pain in his upper left forehead caused earlier by the earlioer blow given to him by the outlaw.

"Well is that not convenient, it seems like he cannot remember what just happened." said one of the men, the other's chuckled at Arman for a moment.

Arman then turned his head in both directions to look around. 

"Where is my daughter?." He asked as his heart started to pound rapidly again.

"Where is she? " he repeated.

"Well, Is that not the question of the day. Because we were about to ask you the same thing." answered one of the men.

"Well to be fair it would not really be a question coming from us, because If you don't tell us we will slice you into piece's and feed you to the wolves tonight. So it more like an order ."

One of the men then pulled out a knife from his pocket and pointed it towards Arman.

"So let me ask  you this again, and this time don't give me that amnesia nonsense."

"Where did your daughter run off to?" he said as he slowly started to press the blade on Arman's neck.