Our second world- book one: Past beginnings

Chapter 17: Marylyn

I had woken to find myself warm for the first time in a long while. I opened my eyes to find that I had a blanket tucked around my shoulders. When I sat up, I found the blonde woman called Grace sitting silently near me, the man named August sat next to her. The two of them were looking at something. I looked over to find that the red haired beastman Haren was standing a few feet away. He was hunched over, and after a moment, he stood up again, and started going through some motions with a black sword, swinging it down on an invisible enemy. I recognized the sword as the same one that he had used when we fought the other night.

"Morning, Marylyn. Did you sleep well?" Grace smiled at me when she noticed I was awake.

"Oh...yes, I did," I answered, a little surprised she asked. Usually no-one bothered.

"Hey, Haren, we should get going soon!" August called to the red haired boy.

"Yeah, ok." Haren answered, walking over to us. He put his cot back on and picked up his bag." If you wanted to leave earlier you could have said something sooner."

"I would have, but Marylyn was still sleeping," Grace said.

"I'm used to being woken up, so if you want to leave early it shouldn't be hard to wake me up," I said, a bit confused as to why they hadn't done that in the first place.

"No, it's ok. As long as we can still make good progress it doesn't really matter when we leave," Haren said, handing me my dual sheath and daggers.

I was surprised to get it back. I hadn't expected to get it since King never let me near any weapons unless it was to force me on a mission. I took the belt and secured it around my waist.

While we walked, I walked next to Haren while Grace and August walked side by side in front of us. Haren seemed a little tense, so I stayed alert for danger as well. There were usually bandits in areas like this and I didn't want to take any chances. I hadn't made him mad yet, but I was not looking forward to being punished by Haren if I did. It was better to avoid it if I could.

At around noon, Haren announced that we were close. Surprisingly, I could hear the babbling of the rushing river after he had said it.

"How could you tell before we could hear it?" Grace asked.

Haren laughed and pointed to his nose; saying something I didn't hear, too distracted by the large river in front of us. We approached the wide river, probably at least 90 meters across, and stopped in front of the large bridge leading across. Grace's ears twitched and Harens' ears perked up at the same time I heard the high pitched call of a bird. I was surprised to find that the sky was empty when I looked up. Looking back to the other side of the river, a glint of silver caught my eye.

"Watch out!" Haren yelled, tackling Grace and I to the ground, narrowly dodging the arrow that flew past our faces, taking a bit of hair as it lodged itself in the ground less than a foot away.

Grace stood quickly and jumped up on the post of the bridge, firing back the arrow that had been shot at us with a blue bow that had appeared in her hands. There was a loud thwump as a man fell from a tree across the way, clutching his leg. The arrow imbedded just below his knee.

"Nice shot," Haren remarked, dusting dirt from his pants." You ok, Mary?"

I nodded," don't let your guard down, there's more than one," I warned, drawing my daggers. He nodded and followed as I ran to the other side of the bridge. August stayed back with Grace, protecting her from more arrows.

We stood ready as a group of about seven other men wearing leather armor emerged from the bushes.

"Can you handle the three on the left?" Haren asked.

"On it."

We made short work of the group, who didn't put up much of a fight, and watched as they fled into the trees. I made to follow, but Haren placed a had on my shoulder and shook his head.

"Don't bother chasing them. If they attack us again, we can deal with it, but for now we should just leave them," he said, handing Grace the quiver of arrows he'd taken off one of the men. She and August had crossed over to our side of the bridge when the attackers retreated.

"Thanks," she replied, setting it in place on her back." Shall we continue?"

He nodded," don't let your guard down."

With a small nod from Grace and August, we continued cautiously down the road, alert for any sign of returning bandits. Haren walked a few paces in front of us. Stopping suddenly, he held up his hand to signal us the same. It wasn't long before I noticed what he had.

A group of four...no five archers sat in the trees above us. A rustle in the bushes ahead gave warning to the advancement of a second group carrying swords and axes. The men in front of us parted, and a bear of a man stepped forward. He wore studded leather armor draped over one shoulder, and held a large steel broadsword. I noticed a long scar that ran across his nose and down his neck, disappearing under his black tunic.

"I'm guessing he's the leader of this little group," said Grace, notching an arrow to her blue bow.

The man smirked and pointed his large sword at us," I'll give ya one chance to leave everything and run. Refuse, and we might have to get physical with ya."

"Here's my counter offer: you can reconsider and leave with your dignity still intact," Haren replied, readying his black sword. August did the same.

"Hah! Don't say we didn't warn you. Men, attack!"

A wave of bandits swarmed forward. I knocked one to the ground with a hard kick to the side and raised my knife to cut his throat.

"No Mary!" I froze, my blade mere centimeters from its target." Don't kill anyone." Haren said. I frowned and flipped my blade. Slamming the hilt down instead. The blow knocked the wind from the man and left him out of commision.

I've been trained to kill, and always fought that way, so holding back was going to be hard. Haren and August had it easy; they were big enough to knock the bandits down with their bare hands. I clashed swords with another and struggled to push him down myself. I wasn't used to head on fighting.

Hearing a loud thump from behind me, I turned to see a bandit doubled over in the dirt, an arrow protruding from his ankle. Looking around, I spotted Grace perched high in a tree near me. She smiled and waved at me before firing another arrow. She had some major skill with the bow. Not one of her arrows hit anywhere that could be fatal, but they were expertly aimed to put many of our attackers out of commision. I guessed that, had she wanted to, many of them would be dead.

Turning back to Haren, I watched him take on three other bandits. Too focused on what he was doing, I wasn't able to notice the looming presence of their leader coming up behind me. I turned in time to raise my knives to shield my face from his heavy sword. I wasn't ready for the sudden weight, and staggered backwards. His sword smashed through one of my daggers and slashed my hand. The next swing I saw coming and was able to block it, but with only one good arm I was only just able to keep the heavy sword at bay. I was pinned, and he was pushing back. The metal of my blade creaked and groaned under the massive weight being pressed onto it and a large crack began forming on the edge. It wouldn't last much longer.

My arm was getting tired and he was pushing harder still. No matter what way you looked at it, I was at too much of a disadvantage. I couldn't see any way I'd be able to fight him off myself. Just when I thought my dagger would break, there was a flash of black and the pressure was gone. I barely had time to wonder what happened before I collapsed against a tree. my vision going dark.