Content Warning: Fight! Fight! Fight! There's some cursing and blood.

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As Li moved silently through various bushes and around the trunks of trees in the direction of where the short man had went, he ventured further and further from Rinnar.

It had been a while since Li had left Rinnar and Rinnar was getting nervous. He was still in the same thicket of bushes where they had first hid, grasping tightly on the sword in his right hand. Out of the corner of his vision he eyed the gleam of a sword in the moonlight to his right. It was the taller man and he held a sword in his left hand making his way along the front of the thicket of bushes.

As the man crept slowly, looking around, Rinnar readied Muhler’s sword. Rinnar then slowly got up and into the kneeling position. However, he made a slight scuffle sound. The taller man heard that sound and headed towards Rinnar’s direction. The moonlight continued to gleam off of the man’s sword.

Rinnar was in the bushes so the moonlight didn’t give away his position by shining off of his sword. The man was now within a few steps of Rinnar. He was looking over the thicket of bushes. The man approached the bushes and was an arm’s reach right in front of Rinnar. Rinnar brought the sword up and was readying to strike when a rabbit rushed out of the bushes and past the taller man. Rinnar and the man both jumped at the same time, however, because of the rabbit the man had turned around and watched the rabbit as it ran away and hadn’t noticed Rinnar.

“Holy fuck, that scared the shit out of me” the taller man commented.

“Whew for a second there I thought it was another soldier, haha” the man said as he chuckled to himself.

Unfortunately for him, right after he finished chuckling Rinnar sprung up out of the bushes, thrusting Muhler’s sword straight into the taller man's back.

“Agghh!!”

The taller man let out a painful shout as Muhler’s sword entered his body and exited out the front of his stomach. The man dropped his sword and looked down at the sword that had gone through him. Rinnar then pulled Muhler’s sword out of the man. The taller man watched as the sword left and its presence was replaced with a gush of blood.

The man then fell to his knees and then toppled over. Rinnar just stood there staring at the blood on Muhler’s sword and the body of the man he had killed. All of a sudden he heard a ‘whoosh’ and felt a cold numbness in his left side. He looked at where the coldness was on his side and there, embedded in his body was an arrow. Rinnar looked up in the direction and saw the short man pulling another arrow from his quiver and drawing his bow.

“Ya fuckin’ rat! After I put a few more arrows in ya I’ll gut ya like a fish!” the short man yelled.

All Rinnar could do was watch as the man drew his bow aiming at him, the cold numbness turning into a searing hot pain. A shadow then jumped out of the bushes and tackled the short man as he let the arrow loose. The arrow whizzed to the left of Rinnar and over the stream. Rinnar fell to his knees, feeling the pain creep through his body. As he was on his knees he looked over at the two people tussling on the ground ahead of him. One was the short bowman and the other was Li. Li was struggling for his life.

‘Damn it, I let him shoot Rinnar with an arrow before I ambushed him’ he thought to himself. His right hand was tangled with the bowman’s left hand as they both rolled around in the bushes they landed in after Li had tackled the bowman. They continued struggling with each other.

“I’m gonna kill you ya cunt” the short man yelled as he pulled a small carving knife from his belt with his free hand.

The man then went to strike at Li’s neck, who was on top of him. Seeing this Li raised his forearm to block the merciless strike.

“Ahhh!” Li yelled out in pain.

The man’s knife went into Li’s forearm and caught his bone. His forearm was searing as if he had stuck it in an oven. He pulled his left arm away from the bowman’s right arm and with it went the knife. The knife had been plunged so deep into Li’s arm that it was stuck in one of his bones and he could feel every painful movement of his arm.

Li rolled off of the man as the man moved to punch Li. After Li tumbled backwards a few yards, he bounced up onto his feet. The bowman scrambled onto his feet as well and immediately started to rush towards Li. Seeing this Li grabbed the knife that was stuck in his arm with his right hand and gave it a hard pull. The knife came free and with it came blood spurting profusely from Li’s wound. Surprisingly there was so much pain in his left arm that it had gone numb, Li couldn’t even feel the pain in it anymore.

Li held the small knife in his right hand as he saw the charging bowman come towards him. Suddenly Li was hit with a sense of Déjà vu, it was as if he had been in this predicament before. Li looked at the knife in his hand and it felt just right. He then flicked the knife so that he was holding the blade. He readied into a stance that felt very comfortable, looking towards the bowman again as he came closer and closer.

Li focused on the bowman’s head, he was focused on a little emblem on the front of the black wool cap the bowman wore.

“Ya ready to die!” the bowman yelled as he neared Li.

Then in a flash the bowman collapsed to the ground motionless. Li was in a position as if he had just finished throwing something. He walked over to where the bowman lay and turned the man over. Right there in the front middle of the man’s head was the small carving knife embedded in the middle of the wool cap’s emblem.

‘How in the world did I do that? That felt surprisingly familiar and good’ Li thought to himself. He raised his right hand and stared at it curiously as if he had just rediscovered it.

‘This is actually a little scary, that felt as if I had practiced it every day.’ Li was caught up in thought when he heard a booming voice.

“What the fuck ‘ave ya done!”

Li looked to the right and in the distance was the fuller man looking at Rinnar angrily.

“You killed my brotha ya bastard!” the man said as he rushed forward with the two handed axe in his hands.

Li saw this and then remembered the bow that the short man dropped when he was tackled. He wouldn’t be able to make it in time if he ran so he looked around for the bow and saw it lying on top of a bush near him. He grabbed a couple of arrows that were scattered on the ground that fell out of the bowman’s quiver while they fought. He rushed over and grabbed the bow. It was a small short bow made of a dark wood.

Li grabbed it with his left hand and noticed that his hand was covered in blood. The wound on his forearm had continued to bleed and his left arm from the middle of his forearm down was covered in blood with no skin to be seen under the crimson.

Regardless of the blood, Li gripped the bow tightly. As he did this he started to feel a sensation in his arm, the pain was beginning to come back; he had to hurry before it did or else he wouldn’t be able to hold the bow.

“I can do this” Li said out loud to himself as he placed the arrow and drew back.

He saw that the man was now standing over Rinnar with his axe raised high. Rinnar was on his knees looking up at the man. Once again, as Li aimed the bow a familiar feeling crept over him. He felt comfortable as he focused his aim on the man with the axe and finally let the arrow fly.

“Say goodnight ya fuckin basta- Aggh!!”

The arrow Li had released flew through the air, soaring straight into the man’s shoulder.

“Fuck!!!” the man cursed in pain.

He looked over to where Li was standing and glanced at the body of the short man.

His face filled with rage again as he yelled, “You killed Bart you fuckin’ scum!!”

He looked back at Rinnar and visciously kicked him in the face, causing Rinnar to fall onto the ground motionless.

“Ill deal with you later” the man said as he started walking over to Li.

Li saw this and was relieved that the man hadn’t struck Rinnar with his axe at least. Then Li realized that the man was coming towards him so he once again drew back and fired an arrow at the approaching man.

The arrow soared through the air flying straight at the man’s head. CLANG! The arrow was deflected off of the head of the axe. The man had blocked the arrow with his axe before it had hit him.

‘Damn it, I’ll just aim at his legs and stop his movement then’ Li said to himself. Once again Li drew back the bow. Just as he was about to let loose he felt a snap in his left arm and the bow dropped from his grip. The tendons that allowed Li to grip the bow in his left arm had torn. They had been sliced by the carving knife when he was first stabbed and were on the verge of tearing the entire time after that until they finally did just now.

A searing pain shot up his left arm and throughout Li’s body. ‘No! Not now!’, Li started to panic. He couldn’t grip with his left arm and the pain was returning.

He saw the man approaching him at the same pace and that he was already halfway to Li. Li had to find a weapon to yield. He ran over to the bowman’s body and pulled the carving knife out of the man’s head. ‘If only I had a sword’ Li thought to himself.

Li then gazed past the approaching man with the axe and saw two swords glimmering in the moonlight. ‘I have to get one of those swords’ Li thought, focusing on the man approaching him.

He was a little bigger than Li previously thought. He was a good two heads taller than Li and about twice as wide. The axe was also bigger than Li previously thought; it was also double sided.

The man finally reached Li and stopped in front of him. Li and the big man both had their weapons at the ready. Li had a small carving knife and the big man had a great axe that was almost as tall as Li.

The man then started to speak in a deep voice, “My name is Mor and I will be the one to kill you and after I have I’m going to cook the meat on your flesh and devour you like a dog because you deserve to die like a dog!”

To Li’s amazement he didn’t feel afraid. Even when he couldn’t use his left arm to its full use and was facing a huge man with an axe using a small carving knife he was still calm. Li just looked at the man, staying silent and watching for the first move.

Li felt his senses strengthening. He could smell the difference in the blood trickling down his arm and the blood of the bowman on the knife. He could hear the wind gently blowing by him; see the rushing stream in the distance behind the huge man and felt the sudden rush of something within him.

‘What is this? What is up with me, am I nervous, anxious, or is this excitement again?’ Li was baffled; it didn’t feel the same as before.

The man named Mor suddenly rushed towards Li. As he did that, Li realized what the feeling inside him was, it was bloodlust; he wanted to make this man feel fear and end his life.

Li charged towards Mor, who was also charging Li. As they drew close to each other Mor swung his axe from left to right with all of his might, trying to cleave Li in half. However, Li had foreseen Mor’s attack and rolled beneath the strike. Li bounced up behind Mor and dashed for one of the swords on the ground ahead.

Mor turned, surprised that he had missed and went chasing after Li. Li ran over and slid onto the ground and grabbed the sword which lay beside Rinnar’s unconscious body for it was the closest one. It was also a bit longer than the other.

Just as Li turned back around, Mor struck down at Li with his axe. Li raised the sword with all of his might and deflected Mor’s blow to the left of himself. When Li deflected this blow a shockwave of pain circulated down the right side of his body. Mor’s blow was too powerful.

As the head of the great axe embedded itself almost entirely into the ground, Li jumped back, trying to nurse the pain that was shooting down his right arm. ‘That guy’s blow is really strong, I cant block it head on with one arm’ Li was contemplating his options when he saw that the sword he was holding had been cracked by the blow from the axe.

Luckily the second sword was lying on the ground next to him so Li tossed the cracked one aside and picked up the slightly shorter sword. ‘If I hadn’t of noticed that crack the next attack from him would probably have been the last’ Li was stuck in thought as he watched Mor retrieve his axe from the ground and proceed to approach him.

Once again Mor swung his axe from left to right. Li rolled backwards and bounced back up. ‘Damn, he’s trapped me against the stream’ Li suddenly realized. Sure enough two steps behind Li was the stream, flowing just as it had been when Li first saw it. Li thought of his options and then decided on one. He retrieved the carving knife from his right boot where he had put it after picking up the first sword. He held it in the same hand that held the new sword with.

‘I don’t know if this will work but I sure hope it does’ Li said to himself half-reassuringly.

Mor once again approached Li, “You have nowhere to run now ya little rat. First I'm gonna smash you and then I'm gonna smash your friend over there” Mor said, his face still full of rage.

Li readied himself, placing his sword in a downwards-left position as Mor raised the axe above his head and swung down, grunting with power. As the axe came down Li swung upwards and to the right with all of his strength. Mor’s great axe and Li’s sword clashed against one another. As they did Li’s sword shattered under the power behind Mor’s strike. Allowing the great axe to continue downward.

However, because of the clash between the two weapons, the great axe’s trajectory was altered causing it to skim the very outside of Li’s right shoulder, easily taking a chunk of flesh and muscle with it. Using the momentum of the blow to his advantage, Li spun clockwise, still wielding the carving knife in his right hand.

As Mor’s axe embedded itself into the ground Mor was bent over with his head lowered to Li’s height. Using the aid of Mor’s blow, Li was able to spin around, and pierce the right temple of Mor’s head with the small carving knife.

Mor’s body went limp and fell onto the ground beside the stream where his axe was embedded and had cracked the ground. When Mor’s body hit the ground the crack in it had spread and that part of the ground gave way, sending Mor and his axe into the stream along with pieces of Li’s shattered sword.

Li still held the carving knife in his right hand and fell to his knees. With both arms at his sides he looked down at his left arm which was completely covered in blood and then over to his right arm which was also covered in blood coming from the massive wound on his shoulder.

Li looked up and over to where Rinnar lay and smiled. ‘Well that went pretty well I guess’ Li thought as he smiled, knowing that Rinnar was probably fine. As he smiled his vision started to blur. Then after a moment everything went black.