For a tiny moment, Vir forgot all about his fear, stunned speechless at the beauty of this place.
Then a bandy pounced upon them. Then two.
From his awkward position, Vir tried to lob pebbles at them, but it was hard to hit things when you were being jostled around.
One took a bite out of Rudvik’s shoulder, while the other slashed a paw across his face.
“Gaaahhh!” The lumberjack went down, managing to protect both Vir and Maiya from being crushed by his weight.
Neel valiantly jumped into the fray, occupying the two bandies long enough for Rudvik to recover.
If the man was in pain, he didn’t show it.
“Listen! We can do this!” Rudvik shouted as he righted himself. “Only five of ’em left. I’ll handle the ones that come from the front. You two guard my sides. Keep yer backs together. Ya hear? We got this!”
Vir and Maiya nodded as the five bandies surrounded them. The beasts circled, eyeing them with both indignation and fear.
“Well, c’mon! Get on with it!” Rudvik shouted.
Not a single one responded to his provocations.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
All eyes turned to a stranger who emerged from the woods, slowly clapping.
“Well, well, well! And what do we have here?”
Vir felt they had a fighting chance against the bandies. It wouldn’t have been an easy fight, and he might have gotten injured, but they had a chance. The man’s presence was worrisome, but perhaps not a death sentence.
When Vir saw the emerald and gold of the man’s armor, all hope left him. Hiranyan military.
“It would seem that our dear priest has led us astray, after all. Captain Vastav was right to suspect him.”
“Who’re you?”
“A scout for the Third Knight Legion. You are Rudvik, I presume? The lumberjack? And this must be Apramor’s daughter, eh? Flaming red hair, rebellious attitude… And of course, our infamous Ashborn. Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused us, young man?”
Vir backed away instinctively. This knight was dangerous. He didn’t need the loud whispers in his head to tell him that.
It wasn’t just his vicious-looking poleax or his battered-and-mended brigandine armor. The man had a look that spoke volumes about the many battles he’d seen. Vir could tell. This man had killed before. Many, many times. Vir could practically smell the stench of blood oozing off of him.
He backed up another step.
“We’d been getting reports of an Ashborn in this area for ages, you know?” the knight continued. “No one really cared until now. Only, our new high priest is adamant that we bring you in, er, for protection.”
“If you’re trying to protect me, why would you sic your bandies on us?”
“Ya call yerself a knight in the employ of Hiranya, and yet ye point yer blade at children?” Rudvik shouted, pointing his axe at the man as he eyed the bandies encircling them.
The knight responded with a sad smile. “Friend, I hear you. Believe you me, I take no pleasure in such actions. It is,” he cut himself off with a sigh. “Orders are orders, I’m afraid. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to carry out distasteful acts in the name of the greater good. I reckon it shall not be the last, either.”
Neel, who had been growling at the soldier ever since he appeared, finally acted. He pounced upon the soldier, who calmly flicked a chakram at the bandy without even flinching.
“Neel! No!” Maiya shrieked, diving to protect the animal. Neel startled at the sound of his name. The flying disk missed by a hair’s breadth, coming to rest deep within a nearby log.
Maiya grabbed Neel’s collar and glared at the soldier. “You’re despicable.”
“Girl, I granted you a mercy by approaching you like this. I had hoped you would be reasonable. As I said, I do not enjoy this task. But as scout of the Third Knight Legion, I am under orders to use any means necessary to bring the Ashborn back alive. The lumberjack is hereby sentenced to death for obstruction of knightly affairs. The priest’s daughter will be brought to Daha and shall serve the kingdom for the rest of her life as penance for her parents’ actions.”
Maiya blanched. “What did you just say?”
“I do not enjoy this, girl. My duty is to protect our citizens, not to hunt them. As for you, I truly do not wish to harm you. Please come quietly. However,” he said, locking eyes with Vir, “traitors to humanity must be eliminated at all cost.”
Vir’s fright evaporated in an instant, replaced by an icy anger. Their talk of ‘protecting’ Ashborn had all been a lie. They meant to murder him. His anger blossomed into fury.
Rudvik stepped forward. “I will not allow it.”
The knight appraised Rudvik with a bemused expression. “You? Don’t embarrass yourself, lumberjack. What combat training have you had? Have you ever even taken the life of another man? Will you behead me with that ungainly tree ax of yours?”
“Ye know grakkin’ well I’ll do whate’er it takes!”
“Sic!” the knight yelled. At once, all the enemy bandies leaped at Rudvik.
The lumberjack was ready. He ducked low, barely avoiding the snapping jaw of a bandy, while he brought his ax to bear on another, gouging deep into its belly. His weapon was not an agile one. Built for hacking at trees, its weight was ill suited for combat. While Rudvik worked to dislodge the blade from the bandy’s body, two others ripped into his arms.
“Father!” Vir screamed. He desperately thrust his knife into the closest bandy’s hide, but a paw swipe disarmed him, flinging the weapon aside and making his fingers bleed. The bandy hadn’t even bothered to look at him…
Rudvik whirled, throwing the bandies off one by one, but not before they took a chunk of his flesh with them. Blood poured from several wounds, staining his overalls crimson.
“Run!” he bellowed. “I’ll hold ’em off!”
“You think we’d abandon you?” Vir said in indignation, picking his knife back up and charging a bandy with reckless abandon.
“Distasteful,” the knight said with an exaggerated sigh, taking two steps forward in the blink of an eye. With a casual—almost bored—motion, he thrust his poleaxe forward.
There was no time to dodge. No one had even seen it coming, despite the weapon’s massive size.
The speartip met with Rudvik’s chest, and like a blade through water, passed through unimpeded.
Right through his chest, grazing his heart.
Maiya and Vir froze, their eyes glued to the blade as it penetrated all the way through Rudvik’s back, stained red.
“Wha—Hngh!” Rudvik looked down in disbelief. Pinned by the weapon, he couldn’t move an inch. Most men would’ve crumpled right away, debilitated by the pain.
Not Rudvik. He grabbed the polearm with his left hand, preventing the knight from escaping. He swung his ax with his right.
He hit nothing but air—his reach simply wasn’t enough to hit the knight at the other end of his long weapon.
Rudvik grunted. He repositioned his grip on the ax, and with the last remaining bit of his strength, hurled it at the knight, forcing the enemy to let go of his weapon to dodge. The ax sailed just past his neck, nicking it, and embedding itself into a nearby tree.
“Vera curse you, backwater chal!” the knight roared and jumped away, hastily drawing his talwar.
The lumberjack crumpled to the ground, but not before locking the knight’s abandoned weapon in a death grip.
Not a moment later, the four remaining bandies set upon him, tearing into his flesh.
Rudvik locked eyes with Vir, and time seemed to slow to a crawl. “Run…” he whispered. His eyes glazed over, hands still holding his opponent’s weapon.
Unable to even shed a tear, Vir stared blankly at his father, transfixed.
The knight sheathed his sword and tried to yank his primary weapon from the lumberjack, one hand pressed against the wound on his neck.