The Fall of the Society

Chapter 37: Desired Devotion

"She was incredibly beautiful, long black hair that was as amazing as the night is dark. Her eyes were silver, and her complexion was light and fair. She had an aura of elegance that was not warranted due to her background, and I wanted nothing more than to be near her, to protect her. This desire gave me new purpose, drove me to wish for greater strength than I had ever possessed in order to do so. I had gained some glory within the keep for my prowess on the battlefield and had even ruffled some feathers by stopping the enforcers from taking innocent prisoners. My hope was that I would be able to ask for her as payment, which I know was not an ethical way to go about things, but it was my only option other than a one-man war."

Rose sat forward quickly, "Was this woman a phoenix? Did he agree?"

"I am sorry if I mislead you, she was not the phoenix, but she was definitely special. While she was subdued and enslaved her powers were unable to manifest. He did not agree, but he did laugh in my face and demand his guards remove me from his sight. With lightning speed, I drew my dagger and placed it against his throat before anyone had known what had happened. His eyes lit up with surprise and anger before they moved to her face. I knew what was coming next, he was going to order the guards to place her in mortal danger to get me to back down. The room was well guarded, and any normal person would have been insane to do what I had done. There were three doors into the room, each with a guard on either side, both inside and out. The lord of the keep also had a guard on either side of him as well as two guards on the slaves he had in the room. This meant I would have to deal with ten guards in the room and six more that could make it in quickly. In one movement, I slashed his throat before he could speak and threw my dagger end over end, landing in the face of the guard closest to the woman."

"Lunging forward, I pulled the sword from the scabbard of the guard to my right. I spun and slashed the guard on the left deeply across the chest and he fell back onto the floor. Grabbing the guard in front of me, that I had taken the sword from, by the back of the head, I ran the blade into his stomach before pushing him back and off the blade as well. Two guards came from behind me, as the ones from other doors moved in. I ducked under the first one's attack, and parried the second, before slicing him across the throat and stealing his sword as well. Since I was much faster than any of the others, I spun around and brought both of my blades downward onto the sides of the closest guard's neck. He dropped straight to his knees as I withdrew my blades and flung them one after another at the guards approaching from my left. My attack hit true and hit the men with such force that it knocked them off their feet. Slipping slightly to my left, a blade passed where my stomach had been a split-second prior, and I clamped my arm onto the sword arm of one of the guards that had come from the right side of the room. The commotion had finally caught the full attention of the guards outside of the room and the doors burst open as I used the man's arm to parry the attack of his partner before slamming my forehead into the bridge of his nose. Blood sprayed from the man's broken face and he stumbled backward, loosening his grip on his blade, and dropping it as he went."

"Breaking the wrist I was holding onto, I took his sword and jammed it into his stomach before kicking him away from me. I retrieved the sword that had been dropped and slashed the throat of the man that had dropped it. All that was left was the six guards that had entered the room and one guard standing watch over the prisoners, who had placed his blade on the neck of the woman I had asked to be released. Anger washed over my face and I lunged at the men that had come from the door to my right. The man on the left thrust his blade at me, but I grabbed the blade and slammed my sword hard into his forearm, severing it halfway to the elbow. He screamed and stumbled backward; I was still clenching his sword. With a swift movement of my right hand, I swiped the right guard's sword to the side and kicked as hard as I could into his shield, throwing him off balance and he fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. Spinning the blade in my left hand in the air, I caught it and plunged it into the man that was still screaming about his arm, before ramming the sword in my right hand through the man on the ground. Two of the guards turned to run for it, but I could not let them escape. I once more disarmed myself by throwing the blades perfectly into the spines of the men trying to escape and they collapsed violently to the ground, sliding hard into the wall ahead of them and never moving again."

"Now there was just two remaining guards and the coward holding his blade on the woman's neck. Not sure what to do, they rounded on me, but kept their distance. They were terrified, ready to run for their lives, but also wanting to be brave and fulfill their duties. I took their fear to my advantage and lunged forward, swinging my right fist as hard as I could into the guard on the rights face. His head flew back, and his helmet left his head and slammed into the wall behind him with a loud crash. The guard fell straight back, unconscious. Ducking under an attack from the guard on the left, I kicked his right lower leg as hard as I could and it caused him to go off balance and fall forward, where my elbow met his jaw in an upward motion. His teeth exploded out of his mouth as I was sprayed with blood and spit. Following his motion, the man slammed headlong into the floor beside me, and lay quite still."

"All that was left was the man holding onto the woman, who was so terrified he had let loose the contents of his bladder and shook in horror. I was beginning to worry he may injure the woman just from the tremors that were moving across his form. I told him if he dropped the blade, I would let him live. He looked around the room before pushing the blade away from the woman and letting go of it. I had lied to him, lunging forward I caught his sword and buried it hilt deep into his throat." Sid hung on his words for a moment. "I do not regret lying to the man, he was a waste, but I do regret the way she looked at me in that moment. She was grateful for what I had done for her, but she was also terrified of what I was capable of and felt no need to hide the way she viewed the situation."

"Not wanting to leave loose ends, I crossed the room and retrieved a blade from one of the men I had knocked unconscious, ready to finish the job. Her voice was the sweetest sound I had ever heard, and it caught me quite off guard. She was pleading with me not to kill the men, but I did not understand. Did she realize what they had planned for her and the other women they were holding hostage. I expressed my concern about leaving them alive, but she plead even more fervently. It was not until she knelt before me and clasped her hands on my wrist, her head bowed down, that I agreed not to slay the men. Kneeling in front of her I pulled her into a standing position. I recovered the sheath for two swords and placed them on my hips before taking a blanket from the lord's chair and wiping the blood from my face and armor. There was a sack behind the chair, which I recovered and hurriedly packed some blankets and food from a table into. Moving back to beside the woman I told her we needed to leave, and she nodded her head, not saying anything else. While I knew she despised me because of the violence I was capable of, she followed me out of the town into the woods. We did not stop moving until the sun came up and I figured we had put enough distance between us and the keep. She was exhausted and hungry but did not complain."

"We found a small rock overhang and settled into the shade there, where I knelt in front of her with my head bowed. My gesture surprised her, and she did not know what to make of it. I told her that I wished nothing more than to serve and protect her, that I would do whatever she wanted me to do, be it let her leave without me or to follow and protect her for the rest of her life. She did not respond at that time but placed her hand gently on my cheek. Her gorgeous silver eyes bored into mine, leaving me feeling warm inside. I handed her the bag and she withdrew blankets from and settled onto the ground wrapped in them. Her intentions at that time were completely unknown to me, but it did not matter, I would protect her no matter where she went, or what she wanted to do."