One Strike
"Never give a sword to a man who can't dance."
- Confucius
Slowly Katherine inched her arm lower to her boot, trying to grab the dagger. She listened as Declan knocked the one bandit out and started moving a little faster. Her hand slipped beneath the edge of her boot and grabbed the hilt of the knife.
Taking a deep breath, Katherine forced herself to relax. She positioned the other arm beneath her body to help propel herself up. She cracked her eyes open slightly to identify the position of the bandits.
The leader was moving closer to Declan but the other bandit was staying behind to watch her. Well, there's no time like the present. Pushing off roughly with her hand, she kicked off with her feet once they were parallel with the ground. She launched herself at the bandit, brandishing the dagger.
A look of surprise lit his face but was quickly washed away. He reached for his own sword in his belt, only grabbing the hilt before Katherine was on him. Her dagger plunged deep into his thigh. She wasn't too proud of that one, and the feeling of the dagger breaking his skin and sliding in sickened her.
She didn't dwell on the thoughts running through her mind, instead focusing on what needed to be done. Pulling the dagger from his thigh she made a grab for his sword at the same time. The bandit tried to pull at it at the same time, twisting his body until it was out of her grasp.
Holding her own dagger in front of her, she didn't wait for the bandit to pull his sword out. There was no use for her to try and grab it again. No, she needed to rely on her non-existent fighting ability to win this time. She darted behind a tree, hoping to get away from Declan and the leader.
Knowing her chances were slim, out of the corner of her eye she spotted a long branch on the ground. She quickly bent over and picked it up, holding both the dagger and the branch in her hands. The branch may not be sharp like a sword, but it was about the same length and thicker.
The Gods must be smiling upon me today.
The bandit had watched as she grabbed the branch, and now he just laughed. "Really girl? You think a silly old piece of wood is good enough to beat me? Especially when I have a sword?"
Shaking her head, Katherine replied, "I don't need to beat you with the branch." She swung it at him but he blocked her with his sword. The thick bark on the branch prevented the sword from penetrating it. "I just need to distract you."
The man jumped back and looked down at his side in amazement. Blood was staining his shirt from where she hit him with her dagger. His face darkened when his gaze flicked back to her. "You...you cut me."
"Never underestimate a girl." Katherine smiled slightly but she could feel fear crawling up the back of her neck. He was angry now, and that probably meant more violent.
Jumping back, she barely avoided the tip of his sword as it sliced through the air at her. She held the branch up to block his neck blow. She pushed him back a couple steps, allowing her more room to movie. She swung the branch but he easily blocked it.
I need a new strategy, the though.
She started to swing again, and as the bandit lowered his sword to block the blow again she diverted her course and raised the branch. It snapped across his face and he went reeling back. Katherine allowed a smug smile to break her face briefly. Maybe she did have a chance at beating him on her own.
***
Declan watched as Katherine lunged at the bandit. Maybe there is something to her after all. The commotion behind him caused the leader to twist around to see what was going on. The couple of seconds the leader was distracted was more than enough for Declan.
Darting forward he swung the sword at the bandit's legs. Unfortunately the bandit must have realized what Declan was doing and side-stepped just as the sword broke the air where the legs should have been. He ducked out of reach of the bandit before retaking his stance.
The leader was now glaring at Declan. He smiled. "Killing you is going to be my greatest achievement yet."
"You are positive you'll succeed then?"
"And why would I not be?" the leader seethed.
Swinging the hilt of the sword around slowly, Declan replied, "Then let's dance."
The leader was the first to strike. The sword sliced through the air before colliding with Declan's. They continued to strike and block until they were both breathing heavily. They seemed to be equally matched fighting head-on.
Declan was trained with a sword, but did not have much experience, which meant the danger the sharp piece of metal flying towards him posed was greater than Demonica's creatures had. Surprisingly the leader had only been able to make a couple blows connect with Declan, but they only resulted with a couple cuts.
Even though his wounds with the other day were healing, he could already feel some of them beginning to bleed again as stitches pulled apart. He was pushing with all he had but his energy was quickly draining. He wouldn't be able to last much longer.
The leader seemed to be faltering. Declan pushed forward, easily blocking the rest of the blows. Declan felt pain erupt in his back. Still holding the sword in front of him, he turned to see the third bandit, the one he had knocked out, staggering to his feet, a dagger held in his hand. The dagger was dripping with blood, Declan's blood.
At the same moment that Declan turned the leader ran forward to strike him, but he didn't account for the movement of the sword. The blade pierced the bandit's abdomen and he was impaled on the blade.
Whipping his head around, Declan watched as the life drained from the bandit's eyes. He looked down at his hand, disgusted. He had never taken a human life before, even in self-defence. Fortunately he didn't have long to dwell on that thought.
Ducking as the other bandit raised his arms to take another swing at him, Declan raised his boot and kicked the leader away. The sword slid out with a sickening slurp. Declan sidestepped the attack and jumped further out of the way. He eyed the sword in his opponent's hands and thought better of a direct attack.
Slipping behind a tree, he waited for the bandit to approach. He reached up and grabbed a thicker limb and pulled himself up, out of the obvious sightline. He grimaced at the pull on his sore muscles. Now they were playing his game.
These bandits were not going to stop until they killed their targets, of that Declan was certain. Declan was tired of this now and just wanted it to be over. The moment the bandit stepped around the tree, Declan released his hold on the branch and jumped onto him.
When Declan stood up the bandit didn't move. Crouching down, Declan checked the man's pulse. His head was bent an awkward angle and his neck appeared to be broken. He was dead.
Declan stood up quickly when he heard a laugh and then a muffled scream. He returned quickly to the path he had just left. Anger flowed through his veins, energizing him.
Katherine was standing over the last bandit, her hands over her mouth. When Declan came into view she looked at him, her eyes widening. "I-I think he's dead." She jumped when the man jerked suddenly.
Kneeling beside him, Declan looked at his face. His eyes were wide open and black as the starless night. A large piece of wood stuck up out of his abdomen and blood was pooling in the ground around this body.
"D-Demon," the bandit gasped. He convulsed a couple more times before falling still. The darkness in his eyes slowly began to recede until there was none to be found. Instead normal brown eyes stared blankly up to the sky.
Turning his head away, Declan reached up and swept his hand over the eyes, closing them. He stood up and looked at Katherine. She was shaking and there was blood on her hands. He was unsure of what to say.
The anger left him, leaving him weak and a little unstable. They needed to keep moving but first he needed to check on her. He shuffled his feet awkwardly. "Are...are you okay?"
He watched as she made fists and squeezed her hands tightly. Her eyes closed for a couple minutes, completely silent. Finally she released her hands and looked at him. All traces of emotion were gone from her expression. "I'm fine. Let's get out of here."
And Declan was fine with that answer. He couldn't handle emotions well and frankly he did not have time to deal with them. "Good. I think there's a brook nearby where we can wash." He turned and walked into the trees.
"What do you think he meant?"
"What?" Declan stopped.
"That guy...he said something about a demon. What do you think he meant?"
He sighed. He didn't even need to think about his answer. "It means Demonica is still angry at me. She wants me dead."
"Demonica? What does she have to do about this?"
"She sent them to kill us. They were possessed by her, that's why their eyes were black."
"Oh." Katherine looked back towards the other bodies in the path. "That makes sense." Her voice was barely a whisper when she next spoke. "We...we should probably get moving."
"Yes, we should." Declan started moving further along the path but stopped when he realized that Katherine wasn't following. "Katherine?" he called.
"Mmm?" She didn't turn to look at him. She was still staring at the bodies.
"Are you coming?"
"In a minute."
He backtracked along the path until he was standing behind her. "Katherine, we really need to go. Bandits, and especially Forest Bandits, do not travel in small groups. There's probably ten or more of them combing these woods right now looking for their friends. We don't want to be here when they show up."
He reached out and grabbed her arm gently and started pulling her down the path. He had a feeling that this was only the beginning of their troubles. The worst was yet to come but they were in no state to deal with it.
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