(Leif Blackstone)
We finally get to the village and see carnage. The old man is fighting off two of the warriors with his sword while Novac stands in the back watching with a smile. The elder is bleeding from several cuts and dodges most of their strikes by seconds.
My arm grabs Bardulf and pulls him close. “Bardulf, hang back and fire cover support for us. Do not fire until you see me strike first.” The bandits have not noticed we are here yet. Me and Bardulf sneak around one of the houses.
The village elder looks like he is in a tight spot. After pushing one of the bandits back, and his attention is fully on the elder, I charge him from behind. No reason to be noble in a life-or-death fight. I’m about a foot away from the bandit when I hear a shout from behind. “Watch out, fool.”
The guy doesn’t react fast enough, and while using all of my weight, my sword goes through his back and pops out of his front. He didn’t even realize someone was behind him until it was too late. My momentum pitches us forward, and we both end up on the ground.
In the ensuing struggle, the other bandit gets the upper hand on the elder and strikes him with his sword, sending his arm flying off. The elder collapses to the ground and lets out a wail as he loses his arm.
As the bandit starts laughing, he receives a large smack in the side of his face. A rock was hurled at speeds unknown from an angry Bardulf. We all see teeth and blood come out of his mouth as he falls down to his knees, unable to rise at first.
I untangle from the dead bandit and eventually yank out my blade. Not going to lie, it took two tries to get it out. The other bandit picks up his weapon from where he dropped it and rises up, holding his jaw. There's blood. Snot, and tears leaking down from him as he holds his jaw in place.
I’m pretty sure Bardulf broke his jaw. He mumbles something that I don’t quite catch.
“Wow, that looked like it hurt.” I say it as seriously as I can right to his face. That must have been the perfect trigger because he then rushes at me, raising his sword over his head with both hands.
Multiple events occur almost simultaneously. Another rock smacks him, this time right in the area of his right elbow. Everyone in the area hears the crunch, and his sword drops behind his back. While unable to stop his motion, he is still moving towards me this time without his weapon. He finally managed to stop right in front of me and realized he had made a terrible blunder. With no weapons in hand and an ‘oh shit look,’ I sweep my sword in a horizontal slash that cuts his neck like butter. His head goes bouncing on the ground, rolling away from his falling body.
Instead of worrying about what I have just done, I glance over at the elder. All I see is an old man in pain, bleeding nonstop where his arm used to be. Bardulf and I turn to help him when we hear swords clashing in a different direction.
Two of the village men were engaging with Novac while we were taking care of the two bandits. One, whom I know to be Garon, is lying on the ground, clutching a hand with cuts on different places on his body. The other villager who isn't faring any better gets bashed in the head with a headbutt. While disoriented, he gets run through the stomach, and we see a sword come out of his back.
“Dulf on me.” I shout to him as I move towards Novac.
“My name is Bardulf.” I hear muttered from behind me.
The first guy I killed had an intriguing shield. It didn’t save him when I stuck my sword through him, though. My hand picks it up as I approach Novac. He appears to be almost as big as me, but I know it's just my imagination. He's actually close to six feet tall. Probably the largest guy I've seen since my crossover. I've never practiced with a shield before. My fingers are sweating profusely, and I really hope my sword doesn't fly out of my hands.
Novac finally notices me approaching. "You weren't here before." So where did they recruit you from, warrior?" He says while flicking blood off his sword.
I bullshit him without missing a beat. “On the mountains of Hell Island. They train mighty warriors there in the mighty art of Tai Jutsu.”
His eyes take on a puzzled look. He's looking me over, wondering how much trouble I'll be. “I would like to strike a bargain with you, man from Hell Island. All of my other men were clearly too weak.”
He pauses for a second like he’s considering. “To lose to simple farmers. How low I have fallen. What would it take for you and me to team up and form a new crew? If it were just me and you, we could form the strongest organization in the area. How much gold would it take to sway you to my side?
“How much gold do you have? The villagers only promised me a little in the way of coins.” He smiles like I'm speaking his language, but I also hear Bardulf suck in his breath not four feet from me.
While turning around and walking backwards towards Novac. I'm taking a huge risk that he wouldn't cut me down while I was walking backwards. When I get to his left side, I stop. I'm hoping he needs skilled warriors more now since his whole merry band is dead now.
“Sorry, kid, you should have offered me more money.” I say while giving him a wink with my right eye so Novac can't see it.
Bardulf moves his head up and down as if conversing, indicating that he understands what I'm doing. Which was the wrong move.
If I had time to shake my head at the scenario, I would have done so, but Novac begins to draw his sword up while still standing next to me. I react quicker, whacking him in the head with my shield as hard as I can. Blood spurts out of his nose, and he starts tearing up.
“Is he crying, Dulf?” I say while backing up. “It looks like he's crying.” I taunt Novac. “Ah, did the little baby get a boo-boo and needs to go cry to his mommy?” I mock in a baby voice, adding more fuel to the fire. It worked on the first guy.
All Novac sees is red as he charges me. There's no skill or outmaneuvering as he plows me over, and we go rolling on the ground. Where our weapons go is anyone's guess. He winds up on top and gives me a bloody nose as well with a good punch. He gets one more in before we start struggling. Damn, he's just as strong as me. He starts to choke me with both his hands on my neck. Stars and black spots are all I'm starting to see. Is this how I die again?
Then I hear another thunk, and Novac topples over me. Apparently he forgot about Dulf.
“Bullseye,” I hear my little buddy shout. He nailed Novac right in the center of his back. I can finally breathe. Spots are still dancing around my eyes. Come on, you need to move; sitting here will get you killed. My hand looks for my sword, which was knocked out during the tackle. The only thing my hand finds is my shield.
Bardulf yells out. “Watch out.”
I manage to get up to one knee before my shield collides with his sword. It cuts deep into my shield, splintering it, at which point he gives me a strong shove and I tumble backwards. Does he train with bears or something? He is defiantly more stronger than me. As my body is flipping over and going backwards, my shield goes flying out of my hands; luckily, Novac's sword was stuck in my shield as I flipped ass over end.
“You could have had money and power. What's more important than that?” Novac yells at me while pulling out a long knife from his side.
“How about my soul?”
“I don't know what that is, but it's nowhere more important than money.” His argument done, he charges me with his knife.
I notice my sword behind him as he charges me. My shield is in bits, with a sword lodged inside, and it is too far away to help me. Fear sets up inside my heart as I consider this to be the end. A blur passes directly beside my cheek and misses me by a hair's breadth before striking the bandit leader in the right eye.
He drops the knife and grabs his head with a loud scream. Novac stumbles back a few paces. I guess he forgot about Bardulf again. Wow, these bandits keep forgetting about this little guy.
"Holy shitkicker, I’m going to murder you, boy. The number of gods in this world is not enough to save you. I'm going to burn this entire village to the ground and torture everyone in it." He retreats a few paces and seizes my sword that was lying on the ground. He keeps his dominant hand that was injured at the cliff before we even started this fight over his hurt eye. Using his left hand, he directs my swords at Bardulf. In turn, Bardulf has finally run out of rocks and is desperately searching for more.
Novac eventually turns his attention to Bardulf. He rushes at him, gripping his blade as tightly as he can. My body moves before I can think about it. My hands push Bardulf out of the way, and a blade passes through my stomach.
The most agonizing pain I've ever experienced floods through my body, and I can see in Novac's eyes that he believes he has won. My legs immediately want to fall over. Not again. I have one move left. Do not fail me yet, body. My arm raises with what little power I have, and I plunge Novac’s own knife into his good eye. His brain switches off immediately, and the lights in his eyes go out.
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"Hah, take that, you bastard." I get out, coughing up some blood. We both tumble sideways from each other. Damn, this hurts. At least with Roman, I don't remember the pain. Bardulf runs over and leans me up slightly. He pulls out his blade and slings it to the side.
'You can't die, Leif. I've never had a friend like you. Please do not die.You can call me Dulf as much as you want." My consciousness is beginning to fade.
"Bury my body, Dulf. Please do not burn me." My people believe in burial." I stress this to him. Nobody told me what would happen if my body was burned while I was trying to get back. There is no other way around this. I wonder if I'll get to see Dulf all grown up. That is my final thought before I pass out.
I'm dreaming yet again. This time, I'm using a bat in the batting cages. Mark and Wade are cheering for me. I swing too high and collapse because I'm already too intoxicated. While stumbling out of the cage, it's Mark's turn. He smacks one clear across and into the back. Then misses two of the hits and gets the rest of them.
"Two shots are required." I mock him. He throws back a shot that Wade pours for him. And then another.
Wade laughs and takes a shot after glancing at me. While roaring with laughter as well. Just three guys fooling around and drinking and having fun on a Saturday night. As Wade walks in, Mark starts making strange noises. The first thing I notice is that Mark's shirt is crimson. It appears that he has been stabbed and is bleeding through his shirt. Small at first, but then a large pool of it emerges from his stomach.
"Why, Leif?" How come you didn't save us? Mark begs me. Overcome with horror, I close my eyes as tight as I can and count to three seconds before opening them again.
Wade and Mark are no longer there. They have been replaced by the dark knight. With his large, longsword resting on his back, he stands there gazing at me. My horror of that night comes back, and I begin to flee as quickly as I can. He starts laughing at that point. My legs keep pounding, but it's a deep, frightening laughter that nearly stops me cold. Terror is all I feel. My inner voice is telling me I should run faster. That's when he blinks in front of me, and I crash into him and fall to the ground. He pulls his sword from his back and raises it above his head.
“Not again.” I whimper. Then he slams it down.
My eyes open. I'm lying on a mat made of straw. My stomach is killing me. Wait, what happened? I recall every detail of the dream as if it had happened in real life. My eyes scan the hut, expecting to see the dark knight pop out from somewhere.
After not seeing anything for a minute or two, I examine my wound. The Novac fight comes back to me. In the end, that might have been a dumb idea. The next time, I should try not to get stabbed in order to kill my opponent. At least I managed to save Bardulf. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make. He must have rubbed off on me more than I thought. Where is he? I hope everyone else made it out okay. The air leaves my lungs as I attempt to sit up, and I collapse onto my back once more. There's no use in trying that again, then. My body is experiencing a brand-new pain that is sending shockwaves throughout. My stomach, where I was stabbed, is burning, and I begin to sweat excessively.
“Hey, is anyone there?” I manage to croak.
A little blonde girl with her hair in pigtails pops her head in. She's still standing outside like she's about to bolt. “Let me go get Bardulf.”
She scampers off, and about five minutes later Bardulf walks through the opening. He almost hesitates to talk. He opens his mouth and closes it two or three times.
“Just get it over with.” I tell him, ready to hear the bad news.
“So, even though you saved the whole village. The townspeople do not want you here.”
I give him my best questioning look. Sometimes silence is better than an answer.
"So we think you'll live. The medicine lady assisted you, but when she saw the wound, she announced it was fatal and nothing could be done. The old crone kept waiting for you to die while we kept watching. You developed a fever, which worsened with sweating and blood flowing from your body and lips. After two days of going through all of this, your fever finally broke. There has been no more bleeding from your stomach." He gets out in a rush. He gives me a look like asking me, what are you?
"All I can tell you, kid, is that I'm a bit more resilient than most people."
Truthfully, I don't know how I didn't die this time. Maybe I can ask one-armed next time we meet. He seems to know what the hell is going on.
“The entire community has been informed by the medicine woman that you ought to be dead, and nobody in the town has ever seen someone as tall as you. When these two factors are taken into account, most people believe you to be a spirit or anything other than human. Some people even believe that one of the gods was one of your parents. In any case, despite the fact that you just saved everyone's life, most of the villagers don't want you here. They would all like you to leave as soon as you are well.”
Well, this sucks. It's not that I don’t understand; also, I cannot even come up with an explanation of why I didn’t die. I thought I would at least have Bardulf and the village elder on my side. Wait!
“So what happened to the village? Did the elder live?”
Bardulf gets real solemn. He rubs at his eyes like he's trying to hold it back. “His wounds were just too much for the old guy. He told everyone in the village that he loved them. Then he informed Garon that he would be the next chief.” He tears up a little, and his shoulders start to shake. I feel for the guy; first his parents, then the elder. He's not had much luck.
“We lit the fire for them yesterday. We were waiting to see if we needed to add you to it, but you pulled through.” He gives me a sad smile.
“How many days have I been out?” He gives me a head tilt and then shakes his head.
“Four moons now.”
“How is everyone else?”
“Only the elder and Mano died from our village. After the mountain pass incident, Garon and Mano grabbed some weapons from the dead bandits and ran to catch up to us.”
He pauses to take a deep breath. It's more to hold back the tears, though.
He resumes after taking a couple of breaths. “They attacked Novac hoping to end it right there. He was too good with a sword, though. Garon only lost three fingers. Mano didn't make it and died. Your dagger killed Novac instantly. You also saved my life, and I don't know how I will ever make it up to you.”
“Don’t worry, we had each other’s back out there. You saved my life; I don't know how many times in that fight with Novac. You are a pretty mean sniper.”
He gives me another look that I am coming to understand. I said something strange. “You do know you say words that no one else understands, right?”
Guess some of my words don't translate very well. Sometimes, I have gotten so used to their language in my brain that it sounds like my own, and I will slip one of my native words in if it has no translation for it. Basically, I’m using words like sniper or cuss words that I understand, but they do not.
We discuss more about the battle we just fought. Mainly about the impressive moves we managed to pull off during it. Like two kids who just learned a new skill. For my first real battle, I thought it went pretty well. I'm not going to count the incidents with the wolf and the Roman. We eat, and I get some more rest. After two more days I am mobile. My recovery is nothing short of amazing. Bardulf makes me a walking stick to help get around, and I’m not able to stand up for very long, but it gets me to where I’m going.
The night air is starting to get kind of cold, though, but it reminds me of growing up in my childhood home in Alaska. The waters were so cold there, and we played in them during the summer. We would dare each other to jump in the waters during winter. My sister was always chicken, but I always welcomed the cold water. It's the best wake-up call in the world.
All the villagers have started giving me strange looks. Like they are scared of me or something. I’m trying to not let it bother me. They would like me to leave as soon as possible. They have not said anything, but I keep getting the looks as I hobble around town. The children avoid me, and I’m pretty sure their parents told them not to talk to me. Which is okay, I guess; as soon as I am strong enough, I will leave.
Four days later, Bardulf and I eat and lay down to sleep for the night. “I think it's time for me to leave tomorrow.”
“Which way are we headed?” He asks like it was already known to both of us that we would head out together.
“Well, I didn't really have a destination in mind.” The only pull I feel is to go South now, but I do not want to deal with that. He’s future Leif’s problem.
“After we get out of our mountains, we should head either East or North.” Bardulf says.
Which literally tells me nothing. I do not know where I am or what I’m doing.“Why those two?”
"To escape Roman authority. We might have to wait a few moons, but eventually the towns will no longer be ruled by Rome, and we will be out of their control.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. The Romans have not been kind to me anyway. We may have to make a stop on the way if you don’t mind.”
I tell him about the town where I was killed by the Roman. It must be somewhat near here. In addition to omitting the dying part of my story, I'm hoping he'll be able to identify which one it was. It might be my last time to pay my respect to the statue. Who knows when I will be able to see it again? He knows exactly what town I caught a glance of. We plan our journey as best as we can until sleep takes us.
The next day, Bardulf explains that we might as well take the stuff we got off the bandits and sell most of it in the next town.
“Won't the villagers need it?” I ask Bardulf.
“In a way, they don't want to be associated with any of the items. They believe it to be cursed material.”
We fasten various leather armor and vests on. We look like proper travelers. Mine is a little tight, but at least it fits.
Bardulf looks at me and smiles. “We look like real mercenaries now. We just need to throw on a cloak or two and we are good to go.” After throwing the cloaks on, I reach for the sword that the elder gave me and hesitate. Someone must have pulled it out of me at some point. It's just my luck to get stabbed with my own sword. Is it really okay for me to be using it?
Bardulf gives me a look, then notices what I am reaching for. “He gave you that weapon, so it's yours now.” I hesitate for one more second and get rid of my doubts. While I'm strapping the sword on to my side, Bardulf grabs the bow from the archer that couldn't get a shot off. He has apparently been sneaking off to practice with it the last couple of days while I was resting.
"The village is opposed to taking anything from Novac, including the horses." I ask to be certain. We seem to be stealing everything, which could be beneficial to them later on.
“No, the elders are a superstitious lot. They will not take anything from bad people. They think the items are cursed because bad people did bad things with them.” Bardulf warns.
“What about you?”
He gives me a smile as he straps on an extra dagger to his arm. Like that's all the answer you need.
After loading the horses, we make our way to the village's edge. Everyone has come to bid Bardulf farewell. Some provide him with a blanket or additional clothing for the trip. Their love for him is evident in their eyes.
Should I force him to stay? To be honest, I enjoy his company a lot. Even though he can be a dolt at times. However, he has already made up his mind. Most nights, he has talked about traveling to other places and meeting new people. He kept me up most nights, asking me whether I had seen any exotic places.
How do I tell him? I have been to cities that if you're standing in the middle of them, the buildings block out the sky. That we have explored every piece of land and mountain. We even know most of the creatures that are below the ocean depths. That we have achieved flight and can travel across lands in a matter of hours. I don't believe he would believe the things that I have seen. The saying believing is seeing has never felt so true as it does at this moment. Maybe one day I will try to tell him of the world I come from, but that day is not today.
He walks back towards me with a solemn smile. “I’m ready.”
“Are you sure I ask him?” Hoping he will say yes.
“Yeah, let's go before the women get any more weepy.” He gives his village one final look, and we walk the horses down the road.
(It would be the last time he ever saw his village.)
