Into the Fire

Hurry Go Round

"Drifter," Aram said in his land's strange tongue, raising his sword. "Are you going to mess with me?" Toyohisa glared fiercely at the enemy soldier and the atrocities he had wreaked upon the small village; the bloody corpses of unarmed elves, the living ones cowering in fear while a father grievously mourned his dead son.

"Screw you," Toyohisa growled in proper Japanese, gritting his teeth. "How dare you do all that? I don't want your head," he told the contemptible man standing in front of him. Beheading was too good for him. "Just die!!"

"So, that's a... Drifter...!!" the young elf, who had been facing Aram before Toyohisa's dramatic and violent arrival, said, stunned.

"Brother!" a familiar voice cried out.

"!!" he gasped, astonished and relieved to see his two younger brothers were running towards him, accompanied by another Drifter, who seemed to be guarding them, armed with a brightly colored axe. "Marsha! Mark! You were alive!!"

"That man... that scary man saved us," Marsha said, pointing to Toyohisa. "That Drifter!"

"And that pretty lady helped us sneak back into the village!" Mark added, pointing at Tori, who was scanning her surroundings and taking stock of the situation now that she had returned the boys to someone who looked responsible enough to be their guardian. "Ah!" he said, surprised when she took off before they could thank her.

"I can't understand!" their older brother said as he watched Tori quietly and stealthily make her way over to back up Toyohisa. They looked human. Why would they help them like this? "What are those Drifters!?"

"I can't understand what you are saying," Aram said to Toyohisa. "You barbarian who can't even speak. Very well, I will speak with my sword. Come, Drifter!"

"Aram is not like the other soldiers!" the boys' brother said anxiously as he watched Toyohisa continue to fearlessly stare down his enemy. "He is a real warrior knight and the local governor! Even a Drifter can't..."

With deadly accuracy, Toyohisa hurled his sword at Aram.

"Despicable!! Are you afraid of me!?" Aram asked darkly as he moved his own sword into position to block the blade speeding towards him. "You are—nothing!!" he boasted, deflecting the Japanese sword with ease. As it flew away from him in her direction, Tori quickly tucked her axe back into her belt, reached up and grabbed the handle of Toyohisa's discarded sword in the instant it took the samurai to leap off the ground and launch himself at his opponent.

"!!" Aram gasped in surprise as his eyes widened in shock when he saw that Toyohisa was suddenly hovering in the air right above him, only inches away. Toyohisa gritted his teeth in a sneer as he wrapped one arm around the man's neck and used to other to keep the arm holding his sword extended downwards to prevent his enemy from raising it again. "Wha..." Aram whispered hoarsely in astonishment from the chokehold he was in.

"Here I go!" Toyohisa said, grinning, as he forced the despicable man harshly to the ground, slamming him onto his back.

WHAM!!

One of the soldiers instinctively began to move when his commander and lord cried out in pain, but Tori quickly intercepted him, holding Toyohisa's sword at the ready, prepared to stop any who might try to interfere or attack the samurai while his back was turned. The soldier faltered when he saw the cold gleam in her eye, like the glint on a blade of a freshly sharpened sword, but he steeled his nerves and charged forward. She might be a Drifter, but she was still only a woman!