Andrew stares at the situation without volunteering to help. He was thinking about the kind of situation he would land himself in by getting involved in the ongoing issue. Marian tries all she could to stop the men but her strength was pitiful so she couldn’t do anything to stop them. She even started becoming a nuisance to the men whom were taking Annie, her mother away and one of them ends up pushing her away, she tripped as a result of the force being used to push her, loses her balance and ends up hitting her head on the floor which was rough and stony. As a result of such a fall, on raising her head, blood could be seen flowing out although not enough to be critical, it still seemed awful happening to her. She has matured a lot after three years, she no longer has that playful attitude of the former days, guess the news of her father’s death made her to be matured at an early age. She was slender, tall, lips that would tempt anyone to kiss, and her chest has started bulging to the size of little cherries. For a girl whom has just recently gotten to the age of eleven, it was a very impressive feat. Her mother still retained her looks of being a fairly beautiful woman, with slender body and nice curves. It didn’t seem like the death of her husband affected her a lot as she was still glowing, she had to hold herself strong to cater for herself and daughter.

On seeing Marian in such a situation, Andrew sighed before walking towards her, on getting close to her, he called out to the men dragging Annie away, “Hey, can you guys hold on for a bit?”. The men were shocked that someone had the guts to interfere in their issues, one of them couldn’t help but saying, “Do you know whom you are talking to?”, they didn’t seem to recognize Andrew since he was now the direct opposite of what he used to be. His hair has overgrown and unattended to making them unkempt, and he reeked of alcohol even in the daytime which made him look like a very unusual drunk.

“I don’t need to know whom am talking to, I just want to know what’s going on here”, Andrew replies the man not even looking towards them. Marian still crying narrated what has happened. The richest man in the village, Paul had his eyes set on Annie and intends to take her as his concubine. Paul was a man in his forties, whom was known for his greed. In terms of connections, he was as powerful as the village head hence the village head couldn’t do anything to hurt him or control his actions and he had someone whom was as powerful as Andrew and could go head to head with Michael in the past although no one was sure if it would be the same case now as Michael has broken through as no one knew if his guard has broken through also. Paul has a pot belly, curly mustache, was fat and tall, adorned himself with jewelry and owned two farms and other businesses around the village and even in the capital and thus commanded great wealth. He used his wealth to gain connections unlike Cornelius whom gained them based on his ancestors and past favors. He had many wives and concubines and usually any woman he sets his eyes on, he usually had them on his bed unless they were the relations of Michael or the village chief. Apart from those two, Paul doesn’t put any other person in his sight and doesn’t care about if they would agree to his decision or not. He was a real thorn in the side of the village chief and Cornelius was helpless against all his wrongdoings as long as he doesn’t overstep his boundaries. Paul sighted Annie on the market one day and from then wanted her to lay on his bed. He tried every tactic in the known to make her his concubine but she has rejected all his approach which got him annoyed and hence set her up by framing her for stealing from his farm just in order to have her in his bed. He has tried such tactics with other women and gotten away with it. He was known to discard any woman whom he has toyed enough with and gotten tired of her and this has led to the death of most of such women as they couldn’t continue living and hence committed suicide. He was feared by most in the village and most dared not to voice any complaints against him as any such person would be dead the next day without any evidence leading back to him.

Andrew got to understand all that was happening from the explanation which was given to him by Annie. He nods in understanding then took a swig of the wine he held before facing the men and saying in a tone that does not demand questioning, “Leave her and go, and I might think of sparing your lives”. On hearing the arrogant tone in which Andrew used to talk to them, the men couldn’t help laughing, it has been long after all since someone had the guts to go against Paul. “Isn’t that Andrew, what is he trying to do?”, someone from the crowd couldn’t help but murmur. The men on hearing the name Andrew couldn’t help but taking a step backward after all he was the recognized former second strongest warrior in the village and he was related to Michael. But on remembering their backer and the rumors going on about Andrew dropping from power and becoming a drunkard they were full of strength once more and starts mocking Andrew while continuing to drag Annie along without paying so much as an attention to Andrew.

Andrew doesn’t take action immediately but takes another drink from the jar before holding Marian up then at a speed no one saw, he was before the men dragging Annie away and before they could react, they were all in the floor without anything like a resistance. Although Andrew has been dropping in power, he still hasn’t gotten to that of an average hunter. He laid in the boundary right now and hence was still powerful enough to take care of these men. He didn’t even bother asking for their own opinion and just attacked directly.

The crowd were surprised that Andrew was still able to display such speed and thought that maybe he hasn’t lost his powers and fighting skills after all. Andrew didn’t bother about the gazes being used to analyze him and just held the hands of Annie and pulls her away from them. He realized that the hands of this woman was very soft and he couldn’t help rubbing their hands together but on realizing that he was taking it too far from the looks which Annie leveled on him, he coughed slightly before regaining his former composure.

Before walking too far, an able bodied man with a scar on his left eye stood before Andrew. The man had short hair which was blazing red in color and his gaze was firm. The eye on his left eye was different from that in his right eye. His right eye seemed like that of an owl and his right eye was normal like every other human. Seems like he lost his eye while hunting or fighting and hence, had to put a different kind of eye in place of it. The man whom appeared before Andrew was taller than Andrew, his shadow covering Andrew entirely. Andrew looked up to try to see whom was blocking him but without any prior notice, a force could be felt on his stomach and it pushed him backward leaving Annie in the front. Andrew had to vomit the wine he just drank while holding his stomach.

“What is he doing away from Paul?”, murmurs couldn’t help but be heard from the crowd. The man whom has appeared was the chief guard of Paul, Zed. The only man whom could go toe to toe with Michael for up to fifty moves in the past before the coming of Andrew. The scar which made he lost his left eye was actually caused by Andrew when Andrew challenged him to a duel and won by a little trick otherwise they were evenly matched. Since then he had bore a grudge against Andrew but since Michael hasn’t cut all ties with Andrew, he had to hold in that grudge lest he be killed by Michael. He was mostly beside Paul so people had to wonder why he left Paul all alone at this time after all Paul was nowhere to be found around here.

“That’s a warning. The next time, I won’t be too lenient”, Zed said while gritting his teeth in order to hold in his anger. Andrew after puking, smiles in an annoying way that would make someone feel like to punch his face before saying, “That scar does look good on you I did say. It makes you look more dashing than you formerly were”. Zed almost jumps on him and cut his head off but restrained himself and just held Annie before starting to drag her off. “You won’t be able to take her anywhere as long as am still alive”, says Andrew while moving towards Zed in an incredible speed. Zed happened to dodge the attack at the last minute and retaliated with a kick to the side of Andrew which threw Andrew off course once again. But this didn’t stop Andrew from trying over and over again to attack and Zed was able to deal with all his attacks until Andrew made an attack which he didn’t expect. He wanted to land a punch on the face of Andrew but seems like Andrew expected the attack this time around as he grabbed the hands of Zed and a knife was drawn out at a quick pace heading towards the right eye of Zed. Andrew was almost able to destroy Zed’s right eye but he escaped by an hair’s breadth with a line across the surface of his eyes which blood dripped from. This annoyed Zed and he attacked Andrew with greater ferocity not holding back and within few moves, Andrew lay on the ground with blood oozing our of his mouth. Zed drew out his cutlass and slowly approached Andrew surely and definitely with the resolve to kill Andrew once and for all and get rid of his grudge.