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| Shards of a Broken Heart | ||||||||||
| By Richard LeBlanc | ||||||||||
| Chapter Nine: escape | ||||||||||
| In the dark hours in the night - a battered Nathan was resting by a campfire. His mind was a blur of all the things that had happened to him since Bethany went missing. He gritted his teeth as he leaned against the tree behind him. | ||||||||||
| "What a mess this is," he began as the weapon he had taken from a solider slipped from his fingers. "She didn't run off - she was taken," he muttered between gasps. His mind began to swim as all of his injuries caught up with him. | ||||||||||
| Roughly a day - slightly more before - Nathan was on a cart bound for Bethany's home. From what he was able to overhear from the soldiers that were paying no mind to him - someone had sent notice to her parents saying that their daughter had been abducted. | ||||||||||
| "I wouldn't want to be in his shoes when the duke gets his hands on him," one stated. Nathan gave up on trying to convince them of his innocence. Instead he focused on picking the locks to his restraints. | ||||||||||
| At first - I thought these invaders were here for me. But this is just too messed up for that. Nathan thought. He heard a faint click - one lock was loosened. But - if not me - why set all this up? Wait - what if I wasn't the intended target? But that would mean that. He began but stopped the train of thought. | ||||||||||
| "She was the target," he muttered under his breath. Just then - the convoy was ambushed! Nathan watched as dozens of soldiers viciously attacked his captors. He shed his restraints and hopped aside as an axe slammed down where he was. He rolled to the side and watched as the two sides fought. His captors were barely holding their own against their foes. | ||||||||||
| "Do not let him get away!" one of the savage attackers bellowed - pointing at him. Nathan rolled over and took the weapons from one of his dead captors. Two raced at him - a strong punch knocked one attacker aside - a long arching slash almost severed the head from the other. It was then that he saw a growing shadow. He rolled aside - just as another attacker smashed his large axe into the ground where he had just been. | ||||||||||
| "I am getting a little tired of that," Nathan remarked. He grabbed the long handle of the axe and flipped himself up - kicking the savage soldier so hard that his secured helmet was knocked clear off. Nathan let go and landed by the cart. The savage soldier shook off the attack and charged at him again. Over his shoulder he could see another soldier getting ready to attack him from behind. "Later," he muttered. The axe came arching down - the soldier behind him dived - Nathan somersaulted forward. The axe came crashing down on the man that was attacking him from behind. Before his would be attacker could fee his weapon - Nathan stabbed him through the back. | ||||||||||
| "You might as well give up now," a voice stated. Nathan spun around and saw that all of his would be captors had been slaughtered. Nathan muttered a silent curse as he looked at the dozen some odd barbaric looking soldiers that were starting to circle him. | ||||||||||
| "What do you want with me? I thought the girl was the target," Nathan fished. | ||||||||||
| "Well - she was. And she is in good hands now. Unfortunately - you are a loose end that our master wants cut," a soldier remarked. Nathan kept a close eye on the soldiers that were subtly trying to slip around him. | ||||||||||
| "Master? You mean - Damien is here?" he asked seriously. The recognition caught his attackers by surprise. "Never mind - you already answered," he added. Another soldier smirked. | ||||||||||
| "It doesn't matter that you know. What good will that knowledge do you where you are about to go?" he pointed out. | ||||||||||
| "Hmm - perhaps. But - if I do fall - I swear - I will take a few of you with me," he retorted as he took a deep breath and took on a defensive stance. He closed his eyes. The soldiers attacked! | ||||||||||
| Nathan opened his eyes and fought with a fury that none of them had ever seen. Anyone that got too close was struck down with a focused kick, punch, stab, slash or thrust. His motions had almost a fatal grace to them - like a dance that brought death to any who dared near him. | ||||||||||
| "Back!" one soldier warned. The five remaining soldiers hoped away. Nathan glared at the survivors. "He knows the demon dance!" the soldier warned. Nathan smiled - not taking his eyes from the soldiers. | ||||||||||
| "I want answers - why is Damien interested in the girl?" Nathan demanded. One of the soldiers he cut down twitched and forced himself up from the blood soaked snow. | ||||||||||
| "She is the one," a soldier remarked. Nathan tilted his head to the side in sheer disbelief. | ||||||||||
| "The one? The one he had been going on about since god knows when? The one that inspired him to slay the royal family - drive the lands to holy war - and by some act of the dark gods bring all of that here? Bethany - is the one?" he asked in disbelief. He shook his head and looked up to the sky. "You are a very fickle god!" he shouted in disgust. | ||||||||||
| "You know quite a bit - you aren't from around here. Who are you?" one of the soldiers asked - now noticing his comrade getting ready to pounce. | ||||||||||
| "A dead man. I don't have a name anymore," he replied coldly. | ||||||||||
| "But - you are known as Nathan - a name none the less," he stated. Nathan tensed up - he could see by the face of the talking soldier that he was stalling - but for what? It was then that he saw that the soldier wasn't looking at him - he was looking at the ground - no - not the ground - one of the dead soldiers! | ||||||||||
| "A trap," he spat. He dodged to the side just as the soldier lashed out. The strike wasn't deep - but it hit its mark. Nathan staggered back and glared at the smug looking soldiers. | ||||||||||
| "I may know precious little about combat arts - but I do know that you will be ill suited to do the demon dance while wounded such as you are," the soldier remarked. Nathan gritted his teeth - he hated to admit it even on a subconscious level - but the bastard was right. | ||||||||||
| "Be wary - the cornered wounded animal - is the most dangerous of all," Nathan warned. The smug soldiers ignored the warning and attacked. | ||||||||||
| Darkness... | ||||||||||
| Nathan awoke to find himself back by the fire where we before he rested. It took most of his strength and concentration to take the bastards down - but he managed to succeed. However - he was paying for that victory now. He looked over at the flames and watched as they danced. In the heart of the flames he could see the face of Damien - laughing. | ||||||||||
| "Of all the places - of all the people - I would have to end up in the one place he has been spending most of his life trying to get back to. Ending up with the one person that would bring that miserable bastard back into my life after everything I did to get away - after all - those people sacrificed to get me away," he muttered. A jolt of pain interrupted his wallowing. | ||||||||||
| He forced himself to his feet as he looked off into the direction of the northern province - the place he knew that Damien had to be - the place he knew that Bethany was being held. Images danced through his head. He saw how angry she looked when last he saw her. Those images were almost instantly replaced with the memories and images from before - when he rescued her from the lake - the times they talked and laughed - the time they made love. | ||||||||||
| "I put off who I was for too long. Had I been stronger before - all of this might have been avoided," he stated calmly as he closed his eyes. His mind once again focused on Damien - the mad king that had forced him to flee his home - forced him into the cold sea - and almost forced him to die. "Hold on Bethany - I'm on my way," he stated coldly as he made his way through the shadow filled forest. | ||||||||||
| To be continued... | ||||||||||