Tales of Harmonin

Chapter 9: A Warriors first step...

Then a cute little animal comes out of the bushes! It resembles a fluffy bunny, but its eyes are located on the front of the head and it's bigger. Leo and Hector burst out laughing at Joseph's "threat.” “Aw! It looks so cute!" Monica and Shana say in unison. Joseph looks at the fluffy creature and whispers to himself, "No way... I know for a fact I sensed people..."

Then out of the tree tops a man with a sword jumps off a branch and swings at Joseph's back! Leo quickly runs right behind Joseph and blocks the attack. He pushes the attacker back and soon a whole gang of bandits come out of the forest!

Leo goes back to back with Joseph as Hector, Monica, and Shana gather in a small circle with their backs to each other. The Bandit Leader comes out and begins to speak, "Hello there, travelers. Don't mind us, we're just humble gentleman trying to make a living. We'll be taking your weapons, armor, and other valuables so that we can sell them and have some money to buy food. As for your women well... we'll be keeping them for ourselves!"

Leo: "Over My dead body!!"

Bandit Leader: "Now you see, boy, that can be arranged... ATTACK!!!"

The bandits quickly surround them and Joseph announces the count. "There's 21 in total..." Leo tenses up preparing for the fight.

Joseph: "Theres alot of them..."

Leo: "Think you can take them?."

Joseph: “It might get ugly if a few more show up.”

Leo: “Then I’ll just have to be the one to take care of them.” He looks back slightly and flashes Joseph an over-confident smile.

Joseph: “Oh? I didn’t know you were gonna be fighting too?”

Leo just smirks at Joseph's remark as they charge at their enemies! Meanwhile Hector is holding off a few bandits at the same time. He deflects one bandit's attack and then kicks another in the face. He ducks under a sword swing and uses the blunt side of his spear to hit his enemies. Then two bandits charge at him at the same time and he pulls his spear apart! He blocks the attack by the bandit on the left with one weapon and attacks the bandit with his right, smacking him across the face. He quickly knees the bandit on the left in the stomach and then hits him on the back of his head. Two more show up and he puts the ends of his blades back together, making his spear once again, "So who's next?"

Shana and Monica are watching each other's back. Shana is carefully picking her targets from afar and shooting her arrows at their clothes, pinning them to trees or to the ground. Monica is doing her best using what she learned from her fencing master. Monica's thin lightweight rapier sliced through the air as she quickly disarmed her opponents with a few quick graceful movements of her wrist. Shana pins the next bandit to cross her sights to the to the floor. But then a bandit sneaks up on Monica and knocks her to the ground! He jumps on top of her and holds a knife to her throat!

He looks her in the eyes and asks, "Are you going to scream for me?" Monica tries to break free from his grip, but he's too strong for her. The bandit begins to laugh ready to slit her throat when Hector hits him on the back of his head as hard as he can with his spear! The bandit, concussed, falls to the ground as Hector helps Monica to her feet. "Monica you ok". Monica nods as he turns around blocking an attack and then swinging his spear knocking out another bandit! Monica picks up her rapier and stands next to Hector.

"Monica don't leave my side... I'll protect you." Monica nods her head again and stands ready as the next wave of bandits come.

Joseph was standing up to his name as a "Lion Knight." He quickly dispatched bandit after bandit. He had to pick up the slack for his teammates though. They weren't killing any enemies and some of them were starting to regain consciousness after being knocked out. "You guys have to start killing these bastards! Knocking them out isn't exactly working!" said Joseph as he cut two bandits in half. He was starting to get pushed back when he bumped into somebody. He turned around and saw it was Leo. Leo quickly turned around to face his opponent. He parried his blow and punched him across the face. "Yeah well Joseph, you gotta remember we haven't killed anyone before! If me and my friends can avoid killing people we will!!" Leo quickly ducked under a spear and kicked another bandit across the chin.

Leo gracefully regained his balanced, but didn't notice the bandit behind him. He turned around, but it was too late! The bandit was already swinging downwards with his broadsword before he had time to react! Then out of nowhere the bandit screamed and dropped his blade. He had an arrow protruding out of his shoulder blade! Leo quickly saw his chance and punched him in the throat, finishing him off with a knee to the face knocking him out. Leo looked at Shana smiling at her knowing she saved his life. She smiled back, but her smile went away when she noticed Leo's frightened look. She turned around and saw a bandit swinging a huge mace at her! Leo began running to her, but he was quickly cut off by two bandits! Shana ducked to avoid the attack, but she dropped her bow. The bandit swung again, but Shana jumped back. She quickly ran up and kicked him in the crotch! The bandit howled in pain and dropped his mace.

Shana turned around to run for safety, but didn’t notice the tree that was behind her, blocking her escape route. The bandit then grabbed her and spun her around pressing her shoulder against the tree so she wouldn't escape. He pulled out a huge serrated knife and pulled his arm back getting ready to stab her! Leo could only watch in horror as Shana was about to lose her life! He tried as hard as he could desperately trying to fight his way through the large number of enemies.

Everything felt as though it went into slow motion as the bandit swung his arm to stab Shana! She gasped as a few drops of blood splattered onto her face. The bandit dropped his knife as he looked down at his chest, seeing a huge blade sticking right out of it. Joseph pulled out his blade from the Bandit and pushed him onto the ground. He handed Shana her bow and turned around to face the other bandits to protect her. He took a few steps towards them and said, "As long as I'm alive, NO ONE WILL KILL MY COMRADES!!" He charged at the remaining bandits with a look of blood lust!

Leo could finally regain his focus seeing that Joseph had saved Shana. His legs felt weak, and he was getting ready to drop to the floor when all of a sudden the bandit leader stabbed Leo through his right shoulder! Leo screamed in pain as he pulled out the sword. He quickly turned around to face him and parried another blow. Leo swung his Katana vertically, but the Leader just blocked it. They started to swing in a flurry of attacks! Each one creating more and more sparks, but then the Bandit Leader jumped back and caused Leo to stumble forward!

The Bandit Leader tripped Leo and then stabbed him through his right shoulder again! Leo quickly got up causing the blade to go deeper into his shoulder! But as he rose up he used the back of his head to head-butt the Bandit Leader breaking his nose. He stumbled backwards pulling out his sword from Leo's shoulder quickly regaining his balance and pointing his sword at Leo, "Let me tell you something boy! Unless you kill me, I'll keep coming back to kill you and take that pretty girl in pink!"

He charged at Leo holding up his blade. Leo couldn't move his right shoulder, he still held his Katana, but his arm wouldn't move up. The Bandit Leader was getting closer and closer and Leo couldn't defend himself! His friends were too far away to save him... He closed his eyes as the bandit leader was in range and swung his sword at an angle! Then in a bright flash of light Leo's broad sword appeared in his hand, and blocked the Bandit Leaders attack! They were both stunned in amazement as Leo's instinct took over raising his left hand and summoned The Sword of Hell! The bandit leader quickly recovered and pulled out a secret knife hidden in the hilt of his blade! He stabbed Leo in his left shoulder causing Leo to drop his broad sword. He kicked Leo in the stomach knocking him onto his back. Leo sat up and stared in horror as The bandit Leader was about to stab him! But he stopped half way through his swing... Leo wondered why and noticed something sticking out of his chest. He quickly realized he had stabbed him with his Katana straight through his heart!

The bandit Leader coughed up blood and then let out one last gasp of breath. Leo quickly got up and looked at his right hand. The bandit Leader's blood had trickled down the blade, over the handle, and onto his hand. Leo looked at him as he lay dead in a deepening pool of his own blood. Joseph looked over at Leo and quickly realized what happened. Leo killed someone for the first time. He had taken his first step as a warrior. Leo stared at his hand and then let out a loud yell that made the birds startle from their nest in their trees....