Ruther sets off into town at nightfall to search for the first member. He walks up and down the streets of town in search of someone who stands out, but no success. He then desides to step into an alleyway and see if he is there. Suddenly Ruther hears splashes in the puddles of water behind him. He turns around, but sees nobody. Swift footsteps are heard from behind him again, but Ruther sees nothing. Ruther then draws his sword Haruth and equips his shield, and looks all around him.
"Where are you," says Ruther to himself.
Quickly a dagger whips by Ruther's head and stabs into the wall beside him. He turns around and there, about 15 feet infront of him, stands the first member of The Dark Sickle. It is a tall man, wearing a light metal chest plate, metal gauntlets, and metal boots, which are all painted black. His wears a black hood over his head and a thick black veil that covers his face completly from view, with a long black cape that goes over his back and to his knee. In his hands he bears two sickles that are painted black and have a red hilt. They glisten in the moonlight.
"I have never seen such a sight," thinks Ruther to himself.
The man speaks in a deep booming voice, "You are Ruther, the man we have targeted. It is an honor to stand in the presence of such a... worthy foe."
He then slides one sickle over the other and says, "It is a shame I have to slaughter such a beautiful lamb. But don't worry, once your dead your wife will be with you again soon." Ruther then charges forward at the man as he stabs at his heart, the man slides sideways with little effort and swings his sickle at Ruther's lower left leg. The man strikes it as his sickle leaves a cut along his lower leg. Ruther feels the pain, but it does not stop him. The man swings his sickle straight at his left arm as Ruther blocks it with his shield. The sickle slides off as Ruther takes advantage and jabs forward. The man jumps backwards, barely dodging the blade by a few inches. He then slides forward and strikes upwards. Ruther quickly ducks backwards as the sickle nips off a few strands of hair from his bangs. While the sickles are in the air Ruther swings straight for his right side and nails him. The man holds his side as it bleeds onto the ground. Ruther then bashes him in the face with his shield as the man crashes to the ground.
The man says as he grunts in pain "I am just the first step in your journey. There are many more along your path. You have proven yourself a worthy opponent."
He coughs up a bit of blood and continues,"You are like no warrior The Dark Sickle has ever faced, but don't worry... You will never find your wife. You will die in your journey as she will be waiting for your rescue that will never come."
The man lets out a last breath and dies on the ground, surrounded in a pool of red. Ruther searches his body for the first clue. No paper is found on his body. Ruther then sits on a box and begins to cry.
"Why?.... Why must I be forced to live with the fact I could not save my wife from her certain death. Its all my fault... Forgive me my love."
He sits there sobbing when suddenly be sees something glisten near a wall. He runs over to it and it is a pickaxe notched into the wall, holding a note on it.
It reads "Like your sword this is an important part of your journey, tools of many are used to apply another jewel to our collection as this is used to apply the next next stone in your path."
"This is used to apply the next stone in my path? A pickaxe? What could this mean?"
Then it hits him as his eyes widen. "The old abandoned mine up in the mountain peaks."
He picks up his gear, wipes off his sword, and heads for the mountain.
YOU ARE READING
The Soul And The Sword
General FictionIt is during medieval Europe. The battle lines are spilled with blood as swords, shields, and weapons of many clash as Ruther's father Harold trains him through the years in the art of combat. As an adult Ruther marries, meets a friend named Carlos...
