Sword and Urn (Edited & Revised)

Chapter 29

I let him do all the work at first, blocking all his blows. He swung that shovel hard. He gripped it with his hand and used the mass of his other arm to pull it toward him and send the end flying toward me. I knew the skills I possessed to block his blows were not my own. Neither was the strength I had to not fall to the ground each time he struck. He screamed as he swung trying to hit me from different angles. Each time it took me little effort to block his attacks. With each blow his face reddened and his temper grew. He stopped and backed away a few paces.

"How are you doing this?" he screamed in frustration holding his shovel at the ready.

As I was about to speak he came at me with all his might. His arms rose above his head as his feet dug hard into the ground, sending him toward me in a sudden rush. I felt my weight shift to my front foot, and then I pushed off of it, spinning my back foot around. I twisted my body out of his path until my back was to him as I reached up with both hands, blocking his tremendous blow. All of his weight was forward so I pivoted back facing him and pulled my sword away. He fell forward. I slammed my pommel down onto his head with all my strength. He flopped to the floor, and lay limp. I kicked him to make sure he wasn't faking it. He didn't move. I kicked him again. Nothing. I bent down and heard no breathing. He was dead.

"Dalwark!" I yelled into the silent barn.

I pulled myself onto Speckles and we shot out of the barn back toward the road. I couldn't tell if the water in my eyes was from the wind blowing into them or from the fear I had that Dalwark would be dead. When we came upon him he was lying in the road where he had fallen. I stopped Speckles and jumped down, knowing what fell from my eyelids were tears now. I bent down to try and hear if he was breathing. I put my hand on his chest to feel if it was rising and falling.

"Take your hand off my chest!" Dalwark said.

He was alive!

"I saw you get hit by the knife. Are you alright? Where is the wound? How bad is it?"

"Slow down."

He sat up and winced in pain.

"I think I stopped the bleeding," he said.

He pointed down at his right thigh. He had tied a part of his shirt around it. There was a lot of blood, but I looked closely and did not see a flow draining past the tourniquet.

"Let's get you out of here. Come on, we need to get you on that horse," I said.

I helped him up, almost falling over when he gave most of his weight to me on the way up. I held his wounded leg up in my arms and he held onto me as we hopped over to his horse. He put his good leg in the stirrup and then swung the other over, screaming as the pain pulsed through him. It made me cringe.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry this has happened to you Dalwark."

He grabbed his reins and gave them a quick flick. I hopped back onto Speckles and we followed close alongside them so I could do my best to help steady Dalwark.

"It could be much worse. I am very happy to see you alive. How did you manage that by the way? Are the men dead? What happened? What stroke of luck has befallen us? And where is your other boot?"

"I'm not sure you will believe me when I tell you. In a way my father helped me, and now I'll be able to bury him in peace among his family."

"What do you mean your father helped you? Don't leave me in the dark lad. I can't imagine blowing his ashes into their eyes would have helped you much."

"No. It was magic."

"What?"

"I'll tell you later. Right now we need to get you some help. I hope my grandmother will know what to do," I said.

"I hope she has enough alcohol to make it so I can't feel it," Dalward said.

"I'm sure old Rosdin had a big stash somewhere back there. Do you think you can manage while I go see what I can find? I'll be right back," I said.

"I suppose so. My horse is steady, he won't let me fall off will you boy?" Dalwark said.

The horse let out a long whinny as if to ask how he could even suggest such a thing. I left them to go back to the men's camp. It didn't take long to find Rosdin's stash of alcohol. It was right next to his bed roll. I grabbed the sack of bottles. Then I searched the rest of the camp and found my little tea kettle and my box of tea. Then I headed back. Before long, I caught up to Dalwark.

"Hey, lad. I know my leg needs to be looked at soon, but I tried to trot and it hurt too bad. This is as fast as I can go."

"That's alright. Look, I found several bottles of the stuff."

"Good news at last. Thank you for going back for it. I have a feeling I'm going to need it."

We rode that way for a while, getting back to my grandparent's farm soon enough. Dalwark had a hard time getting down from his horse, but with my help he managed it with a scream or two. I glanced back into the barn. I thought that somehow I was going to see the men up and ready to fight me again, but their bodies lay silent and dead. I thought I would try and clean up the mess before anyone else had to see it. I helped Dalwark up to the door of the house.

My grandmother took a while to come and open it for us. I thought I was going to drop Dalwark. He was putting a lot of his weight on me, but once my grandmother got on his other side we got him to a bed. He started drinking right away and kept on going until he passed out. Meanwhile my grandmother washed the wound out with some clean water and packed it with bandages. I stayed and helped her by holding things and assisted in getting the bandages secure. Then I set out for the barn.

I walked Speckles and Duke past the two dead men. They didn't like walking near them. Horses are keen about things like that. I ran their stirrups, undid their cinches, and took off their saddles. Then I pulled off the blanket underneath, cleaned their saddle marks, checked their hooves, and gave them some food and water. I realized I had learned a lot about taking care of horses on my journey. Once they were settled I dragged the bodies out of the barn and covered them with a blanket I found.

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to see the two dead men. They were the ones who took my father from me. I had not been able to kill them before, but maybe that was because they had been asleep and helpless. This had been a fight, and Father and I had won.

I went back into the barn and cleaned up the blood. That was my least favorite part. It was also the last of the bad times.