Sorrow Of The Wind (First Chapter)

Blindfolded

Prologue

It burned. She was burning in it all, a raging fire stronger than the gods of flames! The fire took everything.

***

A man knelt in a room, his face towards a thin wooden door which was twenty feet away from him.

His eyes closed, hands in lap and a sword placed in front of him on the ground.

A candle burned on the floor, arm's length away to his left. By his right was a small table, and on it was a dark strip of cloth.

He heard the door smash in, but he did not open his eyes.

Footsteps followed.

Still the man did not open his eyes. He picked up the dark strip of cloth. He began blindfolding himself with it. Men began filing into the room, and formed a half circle. He couldn't see them, yet feel their life force, and hear their hearts beat.

"I once called you all brothers, now I will kill you." He finished blindfolding himself, and put on his dark hood. He heard the rapid heartbeat of the man in the front of the door.

"Stop this madness and come back with us," their leader said, standing in the middle of his men. He'd been a friend once. Not anymore. "The First Brother insisted that we bring you back alive, Ravien."

"And, what about you, Felix? I presume you don't want me harmed too, just like before?" Ravien sneered. "Is that why you came yourself this time, armed men with you? To ensure that I am not harmed?" Two men started moving towards him. Hands on the hilts of their swords.

Ravien grabbed his sword and leapt.

They were slow to draw their swords in time. Ravien sliced the leg of the man on his right, he went down screaming.

Ravien heard the rasp of a blade leaving it's scabbard, then weapon cut through the air. Their swords met. Ravien deflected. He slid his blade, and thrust the point into the neck of the warrior.

Before he could hit the floor, Ravien stabbed the other man on the floor in his chest. He could see their life force seeping. He desired it; he felt it calling to him. The power burned through every fiber of his body.

Two down, three to go.

A boot scraped, and another one of his former brothers lunged at him, axe raised.

Ravien lurched aside and brought down his sword on the axe-bearers back. The warrior fell onto all fours, his axe wedged in the floor wood, and he was struggling to get it loose. Ravien's blade glanced off the back protected by the some kind of armour. He brought his sword up to finish the axe-bearer and flung it down to be rewarded with a clean slice through the throat.

He trickled a drop of his own life force, his muscles burned with the energy. For a moment he forgot the men trying to kill him, but the bliss was short-lived as a kick connected with his side, sending him reeling into a wall.

His grip on the sword slacked, and it fell onto the ground. Pain blossomed in his side. He fell to the floor, avoiding the sword that sliced the air where his head had been a moment before. He pulled a knife from his hip, spent a second seeking out the man's hot throat, and lobbed it towards him. It struck the man in the neck.

Pain in his ribs flared, he had underestimated the kick.

"Oh poor, poor, Ravien. You're like a chicken running around without a head," Felix said, still standing by the door, sword unsheathed.

"You snake!" Ravien snarled, his hand slowly falling down to his hip. "You stabbed me in the back! Why? That sorry excuse for a First brother betrayed me too, didn't he?"