A Warrior's Path Read online

  “Seven, I believe,” the Fiu-Het said, grinning at the seer.

  The soldier snorted, “You believe?”

  Agucho eyed him dangerously. “If you think you can scout better, go find out for yourself. You should have more faith in Laernus. He predicted they would be here and how many. If you had been listening, you wouldn't even have to waste our time with such questions,” he spat.

  The soldier bristled at the shapeshifter's words and looked as though he was about to spring upon him, but one of the others intercepted. “Let's save this hostility for our enemy. They await. By all the information we have, we're evenly matched, though we have the advantage. How likely do you think it is that as many of their number are well-trained warriors as we?” he asked with a wicked grin.

  Laernus cleared his throat forebodingly. “Do not make such assumptions,” he warned.

  “What do you mean,” the first soldier asked. “Have you seen that we will fail?”

  “No,” the seer said. “I just mean that the future is not immutable. If I could see our victory against these 'enemies', as you call them, I would not say. By ensuring your triumph I might give you a false sense of confidence. You might enter a battle thinking yourself invincible. I assure you that none of us are invincible. It may be that we all die tonight.”

  Only the slight breeze rolling lazily through the valley could be heard. Everyone stood silently contemplating the wizard's words. No longer did anyone seem impatient to set out.

  Laernus sighed and rolled his eyes. “I only said that it may be, not that it will be. If we are intelligent about this, then we will all live. The first thing to do is make a plan. Gather nearer to me and I will give you my idea.”

  For several minutes, the quiet, accented voice of the seer laid out a plan to approach and attack the nearby camp. The soldiers listened, entranced by the wizard's surprising strategic skill. When he was done explaining, every one of them felt confident again that they could not lose this battle. After everyone quickly recited his part in the plan, they set out in the direction indicated by Agucho.

  * * *

  It was late, and Su-Ni was quite weary, but the cold of the night had her shivering so severely that she could not get to sleep for very long. Every once in a while she would open her eyes and look over their small fire to Marui, who sat in what seemed to be an alert meditative state. She had only ever seen one other person meditate in such a way. She mused about the young Urietsin, who she had not known for very long before he was lost. It seemed such a waste for such a man to die so young. She still held out a glimmer of hope that death had not found him.

  The young woman blinked her sleepy eyes and watched the elf for a few more moments. She noted a strange expression on Marui's face and opened her eyes wider. The elf caught her gaze and put a finger to her lips. Though Su-Ni knew that Marui had simply moved her lips voicelessly, she heard a quiet whisper in her ear say, “Someone approaches. Be still.”

  The young woman could tell that the elf was relaying her message to the others as well by the way they either cocked their heads or gripped their weapons nonchalantly. Pei-Shi, who lay nearby, slowly slid one of her swords over to Su-Ni. The diplomat, suddenly very awake, reached out carefully and wrapped her hand around the hilt, pulling it to herself. The only one of the group who was not reaching for or gripping a weapon was Marui. She was simply staring ahead unblinkingly and sitting completely still.

  Suddenly, the elf was on her feet with an arrow nocked in her bow, which seemed to materialize with the quickness she had drawn it. “Identify yourself!” she called over Su-Ni's head.

  The diplomat twisted and was terrified to see a large, well-armored man approaching from behind. He did not seem to be heeding Marui's call. In response the elf let loose her arrow to fly dangerously close to the man's head. It was a warning shot, and the soldier stopped for a moment to consider his next action. That action was to draw out his sword and charge the few steps he had left to the closest of the group, Su-Ni, crying out something that sounded familiar, but was incomprehensible.

  He barely completed his first step when an arrow and two tiny metal star shapes seemed to sprout from his face. He fell back forcefully and did not move again, his battle cry silenced permanently. Su-Ni pried her gaze away and looked back to the elf, who was again pulling taught her bowstring. Nearby stood O'eintsu with a chiun, a throwing star, in each hand. The young diplomat could hardly catch her breath. She jumped up, sword in hand, turning around quickly to see if she could see anyone else emerging from the darkness.

  The camp erupted into action. Figures did, indeed, leap out of the shadows, but the scouting party, well-warned by Marui's whisper and the foolhardy actions of the overzealous soldier, sprang to quick defense.

  Two soldiers, armored as the first one in metal-plated hide scales and a simple helmet, rushed toward Komeris and Reniu brandishing swords. The veteran warriors met the charge with blades of their own. Reniu and Komeris had fought together for many years, and they knew how to compliment one another's moves against multiple opponents. Each of them wielded two curving broadswords that were much lighter than the longswords carried by these hostile fighters.

  Both of the foreign soldiers lunged at Komeris and Reniu, dividing their efforts against them. The first stabbed toward the captain's bronze-covered chest, but quickly had to get his heavy blade under control as Komeris deflected its course with minimal effort and brought his second blade slashing horizontally. The enemy barely avoided being disemboweled, and then had to execute a series of blocks that quickly tired his forearms. He had never seen anyone swing a single sword so quickly, never mind two.

  Reniu's opponent came on with wide, alternating slashes. He was a bit more skilled than his comrade, so it was a moment before the captain's bulky ally could attack, but it was only a moment. Reniu's blinding bladework was made more spectacular by his considerable size. The big man twisted his wrists deftly and worked his swords in graceful, flowery circles around him. The whipping edges of those blades came at his opponent, threatening to shred his face if he did not act quickly.

  The impressive bladework of the two veterans was a bit more than their foes had suspected, but they were completely unprepared for the next stage of their cooperative strategy. Reniu's opponent attacked. The momentum of his weapon was redirected with a flick of the big man's wrist. Reniu dipped to the side, placing himself between his captain's opponent and his own. Another sweeping circle of his sword whipped against the armor of Komeris's enemy.

  The captain grinned. Months ago the young Urietsin had defeated Reniu in hand to hand combat. He couldn't help but wonder if the outcome would have been different had they used swords instead. Komeris's opponent seemed distraught from the sudden attack at his side, and the captain took advantage of this. He pressed ahead, swords twirling.

  Reniu set the next step in motion, as his footwork brought him further around his rival. Once more his other weapon reached out and smacked the captain's challenger as he stepped by, this time on the shoulder. Still the big man was able to hold off his own enemy as he taunted the captain's. Suddenly, he lunged, both swords slashing downward. His foe leapt back, swinging his longsword desperately. He successfully blocked Reniu's attack, but yelped out as the captain's blade came from the side and slashed through a seam in the hide of his armor.

  Suddenly, the two soldiers found themselves defending against the opposite attacker as Komeris and Reniu switched opponents. They began to wonder if attacking this camp had been such a wise move after all.

  While the captain and his partner gave their enemies a harsh lesson in swordplay, two other rivals presented themselves to the two younger warriors, Denlin and O'eintsu. Though they were younger, and had not yet developed a cooperative fighting style, their foes found no easy challenge in them either.

  Denlin's challenger ran up swinging the same heavy sword that all the attackers seemed to carry. The soldier could not possibly have been prepared for the younger man's skill
with his staff. The hard, wooden weapon had a much longer reach, and Denlin immediately swung around and, using his leading hand as a pivot around his body, he brought the staff sweeping across to clang hard against the soldier's wild swipe. The sword went wide, and Denlin advanced and brought his staff over his head and down in a strike that cracked loudly over his opponent's helmet. Heavy though the piece of headgear was, it dented inward at the hit and the man collapsed. Denlin raised his eyebrows in surprise at the effectiveness of his attack.

  O'eintsu's man did not go down so quickly, but that was no indication of the dark soldier's skill. The mysterious, black-clad son of Lihou launched over his challenger's head as soon as he approached and had the man spinning to defend himself against some well-placed kicks to the back of his knees. The armored, sword-wielding soldier could hardly believe that this apparently unarmed man was attacking him, never mind that he had just flown over his head. O'eintsu, however, continued to confuse and surprise his foe. The soldier swung diagonally at the young fighter, who seemed to vanish at the strike. He understood where he had vanished to a second later when his feet were knocked out from under him by a powerful sweep. He rolled desperately to get away from the young man. Weapon or no, he knew he could be easily defeated if he lay prone.

  To his credit, the soldier did make it back to his feet, only to feel an excruciating pain tear through his gut. He looked down and saw two small, shiny pieces of metal embedded in the abdomen of his scale hide. The wounds were painful, but the armor had kept the chiun from being fatal. He looked back up at O'eintsu, who was advancing toward him lightly. The soldier leapt forward and stabbed at the slowly approaching young man.

  O'eintsu again dodged the strike, but instead of crouching down for another sweep, he leaned aside letting the blade stab past him and reached forward under the blade with a reverse grip around the soldier's wrist. Now the soldier was overbalanced, and all the young fighter had to do was turn in the opposite direction, using the momentum of the attack to pull his opponent over his thigh, slamming him against the ground. O'eintsu wrested the sword from the soldier's grip as he fell. With a deft twist in the air he brought the blade plunging down into its owner's chest.

  Su-Ni and Pei-Shi both noticed the directions that these enemies had come from and realized that the group had tried to surround them and face them all evenly. So, they were not surprised when their horses cried out and another attacker emerged from the shadows toward them. But this one was different.

  The man approached in a well-fitted set of studded leather armor. He was a bit thinner and smaller than the soldiers, but he wielded the same type of sword. Most unusual, though, was that he seemed not to be watching the two women brandishing their own swords in defense, rather he stared somewhere beyond at some indeterminate spot. Pei-Shi ran up to meet him with a quick downward swipe, which he easily defeated with an overhead block. The warrioress grinned at the challenge and slid her sword off of his weapon and swung it around for a diagonal slash. This too was met with resistance as the man parried easily.

  Su-Ni stood back, watching but ready, in case Pei-Shi needed her help. She was impressed as she watched the two fight. Especially at the man, who never seemed to actually look at his opponent, but still he blocked all of her moves flawlessly. It took her a while to realize that, though he was an impressive defensive opponent, it appeared he was hesitant to attack. After several blocks, parries, dodges, and a host of other evasive maneuvers, the man had not taken one offensive move toward Pei-Shi.

  * * *

  Laernus jumped back and swung his heavy blade across, blocking the deadly jab that had just come at him. It had been the most haphazard block he had made through this entire fight. He was beginning to tire, which was more dangerous to him than to any of the other warriors here tonight. He held tight to his concentration, however, and continued to defend himself with his weighty sword.

  Staring ahead, he saw the female twist her blade around in the air once, twice, thrice, then came the downward chop. In the same spot, her double did the same move seconds behind the first. Laernus brought up his own blade to defeat the real move. The first woman whipped her sword back and down to rotate under and up. The woman's twin followed exactly as the first and again Laernus barely escaped death by jumping back, the only defense against a strike that would have gone into his gut and driven upward to his lungs.

  Though the soldier-wizard was tiring, he still had a great advantage. He was seeing Pei-Shi execute her moves seconds in advance. His future sight helped him to meet an attack before the woman even made it, hence his double vision. For anyone else this would have been incredibly disconcerting, but Laernus had developed this tactic against the cruel soldiers of general Vethisir and had become an excellent defensive fighter. Most of the time, he could easily tire his opponent and wait for an opening, which came soon enough. This woman was a bit more of a challenge. It seemed that she took advantage of his constant defensive stance by raining a nonstop flurry of strikes upon him, and with her lighter blade she did not tire as quickly as the large men of Ionotu.

  Again the woman twisted her sword in the air, this time switching from one side to the other with each rotation. It was clever technique that looked very flowery, but was in reality very effective. The constantly changing location of the blade made it difficult to know where a strike might occur while allowing the wielder to easily defend herself from an attack in any direction. Against Laernus, however, it was not so helpful.

  Watching the twirling blade, the seer knew that he needed to take advantage of this opening or flee. He saw the woman bring her sword back across her body and down a split second before she actually did. As the momentum brought the weapon down too fast to bring it back of for a parry, Laernus lunged forward and stabbed.

  Amazingly, the woman did reverse the direction of her swing more swiftly than the wizard could ever have imagined. That, coupled with a quick dodge, kept the strike from being fatal. The attack did land, however, and raked a deep gash in her shoulder. She leapt back and clenched her jaw. Laernus could see that she was in pain and rushed ahead to take advantage of the situation.

  He heard a yell and saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. The younger woman, who had been standing by, rushed forward and intercepted the seer. He cursed himself for letting his excitement break his concentration and brought his sword up for a wild block. It was not even close, and the sharp blade sliced into his leather tunic and opened a small wound in his side. He stumbled backward as the woman rushed on determinedly, swishing her sword diagonally at him. He was practically running in reverse to get away from the dangerously close swipes of that wicked edge. Even with his broken concentration, it did not take him long to see the rhythm of the young woman's attacks. She was apparently not as skilled as the other one. With this in mind, he sprung forward with a stabbing thrust like the one that had injured the woman's older partner.

  Quite shocked was Laernus when he felt his sword pulled aside as the woman parried. The force and surprise of the strange twist he felt in his wrist caused him to release the weapon, and it went flying away. He stood looking at his new opponent, who stared back at him with as much awe as he. Weaponless, the wizard was not quite sure what to do. He looked around and noticed quickly that two of his comrades were obviously dead, and one was severely incapacitated. Clearly, the odds were no longer even. This had not gone anything like his plan. He turned and ran.

  * * *

  Su-Ni watched the strange man run off. She was stunned that he had been so easily defeated by her after he had put up a fairly good defensive fight against Pei-Shi. Furthermore, she was surprised that she had so easily disarmed him with the move that her mentor had taught her only this morning. She looked back at the swordswoman, who gave her a pained grin. Su-Ni went to her.

  “Are you alright?” the diplomat-fighter asked with concern.

  “I'll be fine. Let’s see to the others,” Pei-Shi replied as she turned to take in the campsite.

&nb
sp; Komeris and Reniu were chasing off their attackers, Denlin and O'eintsu, like the two women, were surveying the outcome of the battle, and Marui was peering into the darkness with her bowstring taught. Nearby, the soldier that Denlin had struck was half stumbling, half crawling away from the camp. The fight appeared to be over, and when all the surviving attackers were well out of sight, everyone in the camp moved toward the elf, who was still aiming her weapon into the night.

  “What's out there?” Denlin asked quietly.

  “Something,” Marui replied cryptically. “Something familiar.”

  They all stood squinting into the blackness beyond their small fire, but could see nothing. Marui scanned this way and that with her bow, a deadly arrow there, waiting to fly. She saw nothing out there, well past even the keenest eyesight of any of the humans. Slowly, the strange feeling of familiarity ebbed away, and she lowered her bow and stowed her arrow.

  “We must leave this place now,” she said ominously.

  “To go where?” asked Su-Ni, least familiar with the specific orders of this mission.

  “East. To the general's camp,” explained Komeris.

  “Do you not think there is more we can learn?” asked the quiet O'eintsu.

  Komeris shook his head. “Our orders were to return at the first sign of conflict. We have only minor injuries now. If we wait for them to bring back their brethren on that field beyond the pass, we will not survive,” he reasoned.

  “But they are so close. Perhaps if we hid more effectively,” the young warrior insisted.

  “We have learned all we need to know,” Marui stated firmly.

  “What makes you so certain now?” O’eintsu challenged.

  “The first man to fall cried out, ‘Die, dogs of the empire’ as he charged. Mark my words, our fears are confirmed. The enemy is nearby, and now they will be on the lookout for us. We must turn back. They will be coming soon, and we can no longer move so quickly.” With this last statement she nodded in the direction of the horses.