Ferocity: Tortured Souls

The Price to Pay

Ace and the bounty hunter stared at each other, waiting for the first strike. Ace fired two arrows in quick succession, and the bounty hunter dodged the attack, firing a bolt at Ace. Ace rolled behind a tree, and fired back at the bounty hunter. The bounty hunter loaded a new bolt into his crossbow. Ace stayed still behind the tree, listening for where the assailant is located. Ace slowed down his perception of time, and dulled his sense of sight, allowing himself to invision the surrounding area. Doing this, it was revealed that the assailant was going across the tree branches, working his way around, flanking Ace. Ace came out of cover and shot an arrow at the branch the bounty hunter was about to land on, causing him to fall. The bounty hunter yelled and fired a shot at Ace, missing by a few inches. Ace was shocked to see the bolt barely graze him, and it distracted Ace, as the bounty hunter began to stand up. 

The bounty hunter readied another bolt, before taking out a sword and charging up to Ace. Ace didn't have time to put away his bow and get out his sword, so Ace decided to keep dodging until he was able to get out his sword. Ace was kicked to the ground, and the bounty hunter put his boot on Ace's chest, pinning him down. Nadellia began to wake up and she sat up against the tree, holding her head and she looked over at Ace and yelled to Ace. Nadellia picked up her sword and ran to the bounty hunter. He turned to look at her, and this gave an opportunity for Ace to grab the man's leg, and bring him to the ground. Ace and the bounty hunter wrestled on the ground, struggling to take each other out. Ace got on top of the bounty hunter, punching him multiple times in the face, before the bounty hunter grabbed Ace around the throat. The bounty hunter stood up with Ace struggling to break free. Ace saw that the bounty hunter had a combat knife holstered on his belt, and Ace grabbed the knife, and plunged it into the man's stomach. Ace stabbed repeatedly to the man's stomach, and the bounty hunter let go and fell to his knees. Ace fell to the ground, and the bounty hunter stood back up. "How much can this guy take?" Nadellia said. "Too much to be possible for a regular human." Ace said. Ace charged at the bounty hunter with his sword, and struck at the assailant, but he blocked the attack, and punched Ace across the face. Ace fell backwards, and rolled back to his feet before getting close and stabbed his sword into the man's stomach. The bounty hunter stood there, looking at Ace with a smile, as a stream of blood ran out of his mouth, before Ace pushed the whole blade inside, causing the bounty hunter's face to flex with pain. Ace ripped his sword out, and kicked the man's corpse to the ground. Ace looked at the man, before turning to Nadellia and going over to see if she was alright. "It's just a scratch, he only kicked me in the face." Nadellia said. "You were bleeding from you forehead, I want you to take it easy a while, to let your wounds heal up." Ace said. "I'm fine." Nadellia said. The bounty hunter was still conscious, bleeding out onto the floor, but he managed to sit himself against a tree, and pulled out his crossbow. The man's aim was shaky, but he fired the shot when he thought it was right, and watched as the bolt flew. Ace heard the mechanisms click, and Ace slowed his perception of time. Ace saw the bolt head towards him, and he quickly rolled out of the way. Ace thought he was in the clear, until he heard Nadellia's strained yell. Ace turned to see that the bolt had pierced into Nadellia's leg. "Nadellia, Nadellia! Apply pressure to the wound, I'll go find something to null the pain. Ace said inspecting the wound. Ace went off to look for an herb, within the forest. As he went, Ace kicked the bounty hunter's skull in, before heading further into the forest.

Within the forest, Ace searched, before coming across a clearing. "Here should be where the herb should be." Ace thought to himself, as he searched around. Ace found the herb, and quickly took a leaf off of it, and quickly headed back to Nadellia. Ace collected some other materials to deal with the wound. Ace grabbed the bounty hunter's handkerchief off of his corpse and tied it above the wound, allowing the blood to not travel. Ace filled his canteen of water up, and made a quick fire. Ace stuck the herbs into the canteen, and left it to boil, while Ace cleaned up the wound. After the water began boiling, Ace let it cool down before pouring it over the wound. "Well, that feels way better now. How did you learn how to treat this kind of wound?" Nadellia asked. "I learned it when I used to run with my old gang. We were constantly on the run and we held out in these types of forests up in North Elizabeth. This was before I met you." Ace responded. Ace and Nadellia smiled at each other. After Ace was able to remove the bolt, he lifted Nadellia onto her horse, and they rode off to their home. Once they've arrived, Ace's son ran up to him. "Father, those government men spoke with us while you were gone." Ace's son said. "What did they say to you, Daniel?" Ace said. "They just told us that you were going to be away, to 'handle your business' and that they will leave us alone, and let you go free." Daniel said, with an innocent expression. "Alright then. They didn't threaten you or anything?" Ace asked. "Not at all." Daniel said. Ace's daughter entered the room as Ace was setting Nadellia down. "Dad, what happened to mom?" Grace said. "Grace, let's just say that we have gotten into an accident. But she will be fine." Ace said. Grace walked up to Nadellia and hugged her before Daniel and Grace left the room. "Booker, I feel that something bad is going to happen to you someday." Nadellia said. "I'm worried." Nadellia finished. "Let's just hope that day never comes." Ace said said looking out of the windows.