Chapter 42: The northern lion. (7)

Chapter 42: The northern lion. (7)

Hu

Puff

Hu

Puff

Huff

Pu

Breaths too fast, lungs too rushed to properly draw each breath. Arms need oxygen, legs need it too, brain will shut down if ignored. Annoying, too many things that needed air, not enough breaths to go around.

Clank

Metal on metal, what a damn grating sound it was. It came from the left so it wasn’t the arm he used to hold his blade. Did he block? Hmmm, yes, seems like it. Grabbed the blade as it fell and pulled it aside. Effective, but now that palm and elbow hurt from the force. Gnats. Gnats. Gnats. Nothing but gnats on all his thoughts.The roots of this story extend from novell bìn origin.

Black eyes that looked at him from beyond a layer of armour. Hurt pride, traces of anger, unease, exhaustion. Name...Name...Name... Right, James, James something. He was getting tired from the fight. Lord knows how long it had lasted at this point, seconds and minutes already felt like the same.

Arms were heavy, but had to pull on the blade, couldn’t afford to let it go now. The clanking of metal as he stumbled forward. Good, come right to me.

Gotta swing the blade, give the helmet a good whack, make his head ring like a bell. Ring... His alarm always rang so goddamn early during training, that infernal bell ringing still robbed him of sleep sometimes. Sleep... It would be nice to get some sleep. Arms were heavy and head felt drowsy, yeah, a bit of sleep would fix that right up.

"Ghrk..."

Hm? That wasn’t the ringing sound. No that sounded more like... Ah, right, own voice. When did his knee reach my stomach? Did I get distracted again. Ah, whatever, since he presented it may as well take it.

Drop the sword. Cumbersome. Heavy. Annoying. The knee was right there so just had to grab it, coil the arm around it to secure a good grip. Lean towards him and sweep the leg, fall to the stage together. Ah, he was almost like a bed now that he laid on top of him. Would be nice to get some sleep here before the alarm rings like that infernal bell...

...Ah, bell, right, that’s what the goal was. Helmet... Helmet... there. Good, head still resting on the metal stage, must have knocked it a bit when he fell. Good, trap it between a rock and a hard place.

Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down.

Clank

Clank

Clank

Clank

Clank

Clank

That infernal bell was ringing again. The clock tower was ringing to evacuate the city and the Magic Tower was banging its damn bell to call their men to arms. Emergency, attack on the city. How annoying that ringing was, he’d have to cut them down first so that he would get some silence.

So strike. Strike. Strike. Strike. Strike. Strike. Strike. Strike. Silence that infernal ringing.

Clank

Clank

Ah, no, had to focus on the fight. It’s what he was good for so he had to do at least that. A dull blade was discarded, a dagger that couldn’t stab would just gather rust.

Legs were heavy, but they had to move so he forced them. Three left... Three left... Fast. Hit hem fast. Take them out fast. Conserve energy. Magic, a bit of magic and it would be fa... No. The order. He wasn’t allowed to eat them. Had to hide, had to keep hiding. A dagger was only useful while it was kept in the dark. And he was a good dagger, a useful dagger. Just watch, Alice, I’m a good dagger.

Hold the sword low, drag it along the stage. Offset the weight, don’t have to carry it. Once in range, swing upwards, look at the opening in their metal skirt.

A sword falls down to block. Yeah, expected. You covered it up with chainmail, but pain is pain and gnats are gnats.

Clank

Sword meets sword and the infernal bell rings again. He wanted to sleep but wasn’t so the bell couldn’t wake him, no matter how much it rang he would still find himself here. Let go of the sword, let it clank against the stage. Just charge forward, the moment the blade drops they’ll naturally drop their guard for an instant.

Clank

Pauldrons met cuirass, metal met metal. Just smash right into her, curl up slightly to focus the impact on her abdomen. Wrap the arms around her waist at the same time and keep pushing forward, lift her off her feet and slam her down.

A dull pain. His head was unguarded so it smacked into the cuirass as he charged into her. A gnat on his thoughts, a speck of rust. Another dull pain. This time from the back of his head. Size... larger than a pommel, harder. Did she hit him? Probably, he just beat the previous one... James...Jamie... Jaime, right, Jaime, he just beat him with his fist so there was no reason for them to not copy him.

Fast, had to act fast. Straddle her waist now that she was on the ground, ignore the sticky sweat that once again clung to the skin. Visor...Visor...There. Orange eyes, like living flames as they gazed at him. He burned under eyes like those. On the pyre, in the pit, in the orphanage, in the basement, on the battlefield, in the dungeon. He burned. He burned. He burned. Were all the eyes orange as he burned? Or was it just the fire? Ah, what did it matter, just strike.

Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down. A dull pain on his face. Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down. A dull pain on his face.

Gnats. Gnats. Gnats. Gnats. Gnawing at his thoughts, like bloated flies on a corpse, the locusts that scoured after the plague.

Visor, dented. Good. Stick the fingers into the eye sockets, curl them and tug. Still stuck, good craftmanship. Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down. A dull pain on his face. A sharp pain on his knuckles. Raise the fist and bring it down.

Again fingers into the eye sockets, curl them, tug upwards. Loosened, almost there. Dig the other hand into a gap made by the dents, tug with both arm. Visor finally gone. A round face, thin lips, pale skin. A straight nose.

Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down. Raise the fist and bring it down. A round face, puffy lips, red skin, a bent nose. Raise the fist and b...

"It’s my loss. I surrender!"

Lower the fist. Surrender, good, could save more energy. Roll off their body and stand u... hit the legs when they refused to listen. Stand u... Hit them again. Stand up.

Pick up the sword. Can’t lift it, have to drag it while walking. Can’t feel the legs anymore, that’s good, numbness was comfortable. World was blurry but that was fine, the body remembered where to go. Around here? Yeah, should be around here.

Something moved in his vision. A new enemy? Probably, should be. Good, only two left. Had to raise the sword. Hmmm... Couldn’t get it quite high enough, would have to settle by just pointing the tip at the enemy.

"Hellion Ravel. Knight-in-training of the Barong estate. Please... Just stop now, it’s enough."

Enough? No it wasn’t, there were still two more enemies, you being one of them. The order had yet to be completed. Vision got blurrier, something seemed to drip into his eyes. Sweating, he was sweating too much. Had to finish it fast before he started sweating more.

"Gabriel. Knight of Alice. Come."

Words like stones as they travelled up his throat. Precious air wasted. Would have to make up for it by finishing it faster. Ever faster, ever stronger. Had to go, had to act. Legs. Legs wouldn’t move, would have to hit them again.

Pomf.

A flash of red, and then... something soft. His head was resting against it, when did it get in front of him to stop his charge? When did he lean into it? But ah... It was comfortable... it was better than any of his pillows, better than the bed. Soft... Comfortable. Sleep would be good, could he sleep?

Scent. It smelled good, familiar. Why was that? Ah, right. It smelled of home. It was soft, it was home. Right, here it should be fine to sleep, it was home after all. Just a nap, a quick nap. Then you can watch, Alice, just a quick nap and then I’ll complete the ord...

Limp body. Then darkness. Sleep. Blessed sleep. No more infernal bell.