The Eye of Chaos (Council of Champions Book One) ✔️

Chapter Fifteen: Painted People

            Kei shivered as the brisk wind blew gently against his soaked body. He staggered on his feet, but quickly balanced himself by leaning against a tree trunk. Durlock had promised that his men would find him when he began to travel towards Caedule. So far he hadn’t seen any sign of them; actually he hadn’t seen anything at all besides plants and rocks.

            On the second day of the travel he had come across a rabbit, but that little morsel could keep him from death for only so long.  Pushing himself off of the trunk, Kei continued on his way south.  He cut vines and large plants out of his way, wishing there was some kind of path laid out to cross. His katana swung left to right, and every time it hit a root, Kei swore.

            He still didn’t have all of his strength back, plus he had no clue how close he was to exiting the Mountains of Vraik. Kei spat at a tree and kicked it. Some mountain this was, more like the Forest of Vraik.

            Then he heard shouting from a few miles away, the sounds of moving and yelling. Probably a village being attacked by thieves or thieves being attacked by something else. He took one last look at the giant plants and swallowed down his fear.

            Kei snuck closer to the noise, staying hidden behind bushes and trees. A woman screamed for help as a baby’s cry was silenced, and Kei’s fist involuntarily slammed in the tree and he bit his lip. He may have sunk into killing and threatening, stealing and blackmailing, but he still had his pride and honor of a prince. Watching helpless woman be beaten, defenseless babies murdered was unbearable for him and threatened to expose his hiding place.

            He placed his hand around the hilt of his rapier and gripped tighter his katana. Kei peeked around the bush and felt all the air bust out of his body in a giant gasp. Men were strewn across the ground; children and women were chained to each other and to poles stuck into the ground.  Surrounding them were muscled men, each of their faces painted with different pictures, a mixture of white paint and red paint. Although from his teaching back when he was a prince, this tribe looked a lot like the painted people. If these were the painted people then the smartest move would’ve been to run as fast as he could in the other direction. But when he turned to go, Kei heard the neighing of a horse, and he decided to steal it.

            Normally before he infiltrated a village or someplace he shouldn’t be, Kei did a lot of scouting and preparing. But this time, he dived right into it. 

            Kei began placing large pieces of wood to encircle the camp, and when the sun started to set he was done. Lucky for him this wasn’t the smartest group of thieves; else they would have sent out a scouting party and found out his little circle.  He waited patiently for the sun to set, keeping his place a few meters away from the camp.

            Kei removed both of his swords and practiced a difficult combo Durlock had used on him before. He swung towards the nearest tree, then ducked quickly and spun around. Kei thrusted his sword forward, and pretended that the opponent blocked it. He then spun the rapier in his other hand and covered for the blocked katana. Kei bent his knees and dropped as low as he could go then kicked out his leg in imitation of a leg sweep. Kei straightened out his leg and leaped to where the opponent would be, stabbing down into the dirt.

            He wiped the sweat from his forehead and took a small gulp of what little water he had left. The horse had to in his possession quickly, and he had to be in Caedule even quicker. The provisions wouldn’t last another two days.

            There was another scream, worse than the ones before. This one spoke of loss, torture, and helplessness. As curious as he was about the situation here, it was none of his business.

            Deciding that the time was now, Kei picked up a small stick he had found earlier and twisted it on the larger piece of wood. The wood pieces dug into his palm, and the eerie crunching sound of wood on wood annoyed the Chaos out of him. After what seemed like forever he was about to give up, when the sparks flew from the stick and a fire was created. Another twenty forevers and he had set twenty one huge logs on fire, which soon spread to the nearby logs, and probably would eventually reach the actual trees causing a huge forest fire.

            Kei stumbled and choked when the realization of what he had just started hit him, but he soon recovered. It wasn’t as if he could stop it now.

            Suddenly there was frantic screaming from the camp, and Kei heard the clashing of weapons. Looked to him like the painted people weren’t all that, but when he burst through the bushes, expecting to see lost and crazed people he blanked.

            In front of him were two painted men dueling with the deadliest swords he had ever seen. The blade of the swords looked so thin, Kei was sure one swing of it could’ve pieced the air. Also some thirty painted men stared at him, some with the captured woman naked upon them, others simply cheering the fight. Now they all stared at him.

            Oh, shit.” Kei mumbled, attempting to backtrack into the woods. The two men stopped fighting and screamed something, which sounded an awful like the gurgling of blood. Kei spun around to escape, but already a few of the men were crashing towards him. They shouted and pointed at him then at the woods, and Kei realized they had finally noticed his fire.

            His heart beating so fast it threatened to pop out Kei took a deep breath to calm it and charged away from the painted people and towards their tents. The men from the village had to have been put somewhere. They wouldn’t have killed all of the men. They just couldn’t have.

            He slashed the first tent which was empty; the second tent had a man over a woman who was crying. So he killed the man with his blades, and then swung around to meet the first on comers. The first one had his face painted with tons of little black and white circles, and the only covering he wore was a small cloth over his manhood.

            Kei blocked his first swing and side stepped the second before burying his rapier into the man’s chest, and then shoved him onto the second attacker. He didn’t get to see his face since he pushed his rapier deeper into the first man until he heard the second cry out in pain.

            Turning his back on the rest, he continued to slice open the tents and dispatch of anyone who had a painted face. After ten or so tents, Kei began to doubt that any men had been captured. So he started to look for the horse he had spotted earlier, but it wasn’t in his line of sight. Which meant it was probably on the other side of the tent.

            Kei jumped into the air, leaping over an arrow and landed atop the archer, both of blades digging deep into his color bone.

            Guess Durlock’s training helped after all.

            He killed a couple more, but before he knew it, they had surrounded him and one tent. By the look their faces he felt certain that this was the one which held the men. So he took the chance. He ran and leaped through the tents flap as the arrows ripped the space where he had been. When he looked up his mouth dropped open before forming a smile.

            “Are you guys ready for revenge?” Kei swung down on the lock of the cage, and men rushed past him to fast to count. None of these men where fat, or in shape. They all looked half starved, and covered with dirt. Mixed in with the dirt Kei spotted blood, old and fresh. But each and every one of them looked determined and mad. Most probably couldn’t remember who they were or why they were mad. But Kei doubted it mattered. Those men would give their lives to protect their home and family.  

            He didn’t know if they would win, or if they even could win. All he did know was that he had a chance to get that horse and get away.