The Borderlands The Memoirs Of Lord Tristan

Chapter III

The battle raged on. Doom and destruction rent the plains.
Soon, all I could see was the livery of the Raiders, and none of my own men. Aside from those who laid mortally wounded or dead on the blood stained dust.
I flexed my wrists. My hold on the grip of my sword was slippery, as my hands were covered in blood. I knelt down and rubbed a handful of grimy dust on my hands. My grip improved instantly. I swung my sword back and forth, testing my hold. It felt good. Now I was ready to avenge my fiancée. I took a deep breath and plunged into the thick of the fight.
Swords, spears, maces, and clubs swept through lines of men. My helmet had long since left my head and I felt vulnerable, though I still had a tight grasp on my shield.
My sword intercepted the deadly arc of a broadsword. The broadsword glanced off my one handed weapon and fell away harmlessly. I quickly began an unrelenting onslaught. Each of my strokes were met by his sword. Even when I feinted a thrust he was able to block my next successive slice. I was beginning to tire. I had been fighting this ruthless barbarian for what seemed like an eternity. My arms were sore with the exertion and my eyes streamed from the stirred up dust, and the gut wrenching grief I endured.
I blocked a slice with my shield, but the force of the blow was so powerful my shield flew from my grasp, a severe pain shot up my arm. It felt like I had sprained my wrist. Suddenly his sword came at me. I was disoriented and attempted to manoeuvre out of the way with a twisting motion. Steel bit into my right side, and the pain emanated. I began to pant in shallow breaths.
Only in that instant did I realise how unnaturally quiet it was. The only noise I heard was mine and the Raider's breathing. I risked a glance at my surroundings, my heart froze, or so it felt. The Raider and I were the only two left fighting. We stood in the middle of a vast ring of Raiders. That could only mean that all of my men were dead. The barbarian's broadsword came across hard. It glanced off my sword as I swiftly moved it into position. I tried to restrain as much movement as possible, so as not to widen the wound. The blow sent vibrations up through my stiff arm and throughout my whole body. I was shaky with uncontrolled fear and the heat. Sweat streamed off my body and I had to stop my teeth from chattering. I was strangely cold.
Then the Raider said one word in his own tongue. "Alive."
I knew the Raiders' tongue, but it took me a moment to process what he had said, and by that time it was too late.
Without another word, using the pommel of his sword, a second Raider knocked me unconscious.

I was awakened by a splash of cold water on my face. I shot up into a sitting position. Out of nowhere a fist slammed into my jaw. I was sure that I saw stars. The taste of iron flooded my mouth. I looked around. It was dark, perhaps a couple hours past midnight. I was encircled by a number of barbarians, each seemed to leer at me with gross satisfaction. The lead Raider, or that's who I assumed him to be, stared at me, smiling garishly with a knife clasped in his right hand. I started, I was still disoriented and couldn't figure out where I was or who I was with. Then a thought jarred me to my senses—Gena. My chest tightened dangerously. I had too many emotions at that moment. Should I cry, scream, fight? And what about the Manor, my mother, Avan, Pamella and all the others? Had the Raiders burned the Manor to the ground, taken the inhabitants captive, or could they possibly have ignored it?
I decided to start strong, and hopefully end strong too. I opened my mouth and tried to pronounce all the syllables clearly, but they still sounded somewhat garbled.
"What do you want with me?"
A roar of laughter escaped the warriors' lips. The lead Raider smiled eerily, a few teeth were missing.
"You know, some people would pay a hefty price for what you know," he said, twiddling the knife between his two hands. I watched the curved knife apprehensively.
"I don't know what you mean," I said, honestly.
"We can do this the easy way," said the Raider, holding out his hand companion like. "Or the hard way." He paused a moment to let his offer sink in. "So, where is she?" he asked, and took up his knife once more. I winced, I didn't want to answer his questions at all, hard or easy. And what did he mean by asking where she was?
"I don't know anything," I said a second time.
"Very well, you've chosen the hard way," said the lead Raider. He didn't seem bothered by my response.
Then I had a desperate idea that even a child would know better than to attempt. I ran, with all my injuries there was no hope of outdistancing any of them. I was soon overpowered and forced to the ground.
I will not go into detail, Reader, as I doubt you want to hear it in its full description, and I know I don't want to write it.
They once again encircled me, I was on the ground on my back. All of a sudden without a sign they all began kicking me. I curled up into a tight ball, some had metal capped boots. The brutal torture hurt more than anything I had experienced before. All of a sudden, I could no longer breathe. Each time I tried to inhale nothing happened. Then I blacked out.

I was awakened a second time with a cold splash of water. I played dead, my whole body screamed with pain, it took all my willpower not to squirm. A sharp jab to my ribs elicited a hoarse cry of pain. I was hauled to my feet.
"Are you ready to talk?" asked the lead Raider, with a leering grin.
"I can't talk if I don't know what you want," I managed to choke out.
"Very well."
He motioned for me to be seated. I didn't oblige him. I was shoved to the ground by another Raider. The lead Raider's hair hung in I thick dark dreadlocks to his chest, he threw his hair back and grinned.
Not again, I thought. One of the Raiders forced me to kneel after stripping my shirt off my back. In short, I was whipped. No more then ten times, but it was enough. My bruises had matured into dark spots on my skin, which made the whipping worse. I blacked out.